Suspicion

 

It was after they had eaten, and lights about the lodging had dimmed for the evening. Flor confronted her alone in the corridor outside their rooms. The inn being one of the constructions tunneled directly into the greater wall, floor to ceiling was all of the same dark glinting stone. From the corner by his doorway he caught her attention. “Curious, aren't you?” he said. Ayleah gave a little start, and turned to face the shadowed technician.

He hadn't said it as an accusation of her behavior, but rather with the tone of one defining a rare specimen. She was somewhat taken aback by the question.

“What?” Ayleah said, pausing in the corridor.

Flor stepped closer. “I've been watching you. You're not...you don't, feel like anyone else I know, certainly not the others in the group, and we're all not too alike anyway. No, there's something different about you.” His eyes examined her shrewdly. “What are you really doing here?”

Ayleah felt the urge to step back slightly, but held her ground. “I'm trying-” and her words caught as she remembered her conversation with Kaeri. “-trying to find out what's going on.” and then, feeling a little defensive, “Same as you it seems.”

“I thought you had come with us to find your mentor. Wasn't he missing up here somewhere, or don't you remember your quest?”

“I do, and he is!” She didn't know why he was pressing her. “It's just...things seem more complicated now.” she was not upset, but rather becoming annoyed with his presumption. “You shouldn't be so quick to judge others Flor. Did you think I was some sort of evil agent that had infiltrated this community? I may be different than other people, but that's the nature of the world! There is no true normal when you look at things closely, the comparison of each thing to its ideal shows that there is no standard that exists. Whatever I am, I am on your side, and that is what is important.”

A look of concerned horror threatened to creep onto Flor's face. “what do you mean “whatever I am?” what do you think you are?”

Ayleah gave a soft laugh. “Human, Flor, human as far as I know. I think I just sense parts of the world more strongly than others do, and sometimes behave a little differently because of it. It looks like you do as well, since you were able to feel that about me.”

Flor relaxed his stance. “Well, I guess that's reassuring,” he said. “but I still don't trust these other parts of the world that seem to be coming out of the seams more often lately.” his voice lowered slightly, “To be honest I don't trust our hitchhiker. Have you noticed that every time Kaeri is nearby time seems to move differently? I have memories from the past couple days that feel like I was drugged at the time. That's not right, but that's not the only thing. During the whole business with the cliff and afterwards, I don't remember seeing them with us at all. Yet, here they are, walking around in the summit meadows.”

He paused, now accusatory again. “I saw you two from the apothecary window. You went over and talked with them for a while it seemed. You looked awfully friendly with them, what do you two talk about? How do you know this strange person?”

Ayleah paused, trying to stay confident. “Kaeri isn't...they're not- you don't need to worry about Kaeri. They're only trying to help me.” She had been about to finish that first sentence with 'not dangerous', but there was a part of her mind that knew it would've been a lie. Truthfully, Ayleah was a little scared of Kaeri, who seemed to represent boundless power.

Flor looked at her shrewdly again, but now with a touch of empathy. “It's obvious you're hiding things from all of us Ayleah, maybe even from yourself. I don't think you're an 'agent of evil' though. Just know now that you don't have to go this alone, the group supports you. For my part, you can trust me.”

“Thank you Flor, I appreciate that.”

With that they said their good-nights, and she continued on to her own room.