Kara kept her eyes focused, her mind going along the relaxed paths he had set her on, but she followed him when he pulled out. It was painful exercising brain channels that weren't designed for the work he was putting them through. She realized that a child in his culture would have been trained in Zalez starting very young and worked through levels but he treated her with advanced ability, expected more out of her, because she was not a child, and no adult in his experience would have questioned the things she did.

Tonight she turned ever so slowly as the sun went down, and finally caught sight of him with his back to her, overlooking the valley below them, the plateau and the opposite side of Sentinel where the villages of his people lay.

Here was barren wasteland and there was the fight.

The two of them had departed the fight.

She moved very slowly, edging to the side of the fire, then away from the seclusion of their camp. In no time she was heading overland toward the entrance to the mountain. She was almost expert now at getting through the crystals, better than Rion ever realized.

The night became a velvety purple darkness as Kara ascended the path to the mountain, her intricate humming could barely be heard, but the earth made not a rumble of crystal shards coming through. Her heart beat was a frantic rhythm in tune with her indiscernible steps, and she tried not to think of Rion discovering her absence, or what the consequence might be if he ever caught her.

A fork in the darkening path caused her to hesitate momentarily, losing her timing, which could be dangerous. She had learned from sad experience to always keep moving in crystal, once committed to passage.

Her first new step was sure to draw crystal and Rion would sense her. A massive wave of disappointment engulfed her, she wanted to scream her own frustration at the turn of events. She made the step using all her skill to outmaneuver the shards of deadly crystal that came shooting to the surface. Blues and greens brought a deathly cold, and she wasn't prepared for it, even with Rion's newly made clothing. She kept moving hearing the dangerous rumbles in the earth and hoping to stay one step in front of them. Then another fork caught her off guard. She stumbled over a small red that she hadn't been able to see and caught herself on a blue, it's cold piercing the sensitive skin of her hand.

It was then that Rion sensed her.

The pain he felt was nothing to do with self, he retraced his steps with alacrity. What mind path had she followed on her own that would lead her to that kind of pain?

It was a physical pain.

He was so secure in his knowledge that she could not leave Zalez meditation alone that he never once stopped to wonder if she wasn't where he had left her. His shock was a sudden hard jolt, when he reached their fire and found the mat empty.

He stopped and listened, his stance ready.

Kara was dangerous.

Would she stay and hide, try to kill him?

He knew that part of her wanted to do just that-- very badly. And hadn't he just spent weeks training her?

No, she would run.

She was heading... he cocked his head to one side-- sensing... toward Sentinel. He looked quickly up at the mountain, just as a gigantic blue crystal shot forty feet into the air. It was quite a distance away, too far to try and hunt and peck through in the dark. Was she really this foolish to try and get through the crystal field at night? Immediately, sensing no other choice, Rion transformed.

His Salimantor vision located the unmoving girl and sighted in with incredible speed, and as soon as it had, he unwound the simplest path. In seconds he had descended to human form and was moving through the crystals, a path very similar to Kara's but infinitely faster.

He would have caught up with her, but she was running through the crystals now, heedless of the havoc she wrecked in the proven path. Reds and blues shot up not two feet, or even ten, but twenty and thirty feet in the air. Rion was dodging crystal, his muscles straining with the effort. His mind reached out seeking hers, willing her to stop before she killed herself.

She was just ahead. Her thoughts were screaming in terror at being caught and at the thrusting crystals. Rion honed in on her terror.

She dodged sharply to the west and Rion cut through an untried path as two yellow crystals shot up directly behind her. 

He kept his course parallel to hers, just out of trigger range, his steps still light and careful. He could hear the wretched sobs tearing from her in desperation. He had to catch her. She was on a course of destruction. Was that what she wanted?

Both arms encircled her waist, locking her hard into his embrace, her back to his front. She didn't struggle, she just hung there limp in his arms as the menacing crystals finished shooting in a semi-circle all around them.

"How did you exit Zalez?" He whispered in her ear, as much to calm himself as for the answer. He could feel her heart beating beneath his hand, her legs sagged and he supported her weight effortlessly. He slowed his breathing and listened to the earth settling down.

"I followed you." 

He marveled that that was possible. She had been secure in meditation mode. How could she have followed? How could she have kept her mind from him if she had been completely under the influence?

"I wasn't." She panted. "I never am."

Rion digested this with mounting anger directed at himself for allowing his feelings for her to overcome his training and common sense. "Fool, you, for running in the field."

"I want to go home." She stated simply, not struggling. Rion pushed her head back next to his neck feeling for damage. She was unhurt. His hand explored mechanically and then slid lower to capture her palm crossed over her breast.

"Kara, why go back? You are not ready." His fingers laced easily with hers and he felt her shiver in the warm glow of the yellow crystals around them.

"I am ready. I want to go home. I have to go. I have a mission. I can't let people down.I can't...." She was sobbing.

Rion pulled her against him, his face turned upward to the moons, seeing her fair hair in the silvery glow. He ran a hand down her arm, feeling the strength. He turned her before him, pressing her cheek to his chest in a natural position as if he had done it all his life. Instead of the weakness he expected to feel at his compassion, he felt stronger, protecting her.

Kara's arm rose as if she could no longer stop herself. She encircled his back and locked there, rubbing her thumb against his skin. She moved her face against the soft warm leather of his tunic while her tears wet the front of his chest. "Home..." 

"You are home." The words were out before he could stop them and Rion closed his eyes at her pain. He glanced at the stars and the moons, the tops of the crystal, and then with purpose returned to the top of her head. He leaned her back against his arm and smoothed her bangs out of her eyes. 

"Why did you run from me?" He whispered, genuinely confused. "Haven't I taken care of you? Haven't I promised to train you? You will be the most powerful of all Searchers when I give you back. You will be invincible."

"Except from you." She whispered. "You will always be able to find me. I will never fulfill my mission for I will spend all my days running-- from you."

Rion remained silent, his arms tightened around her. She was right, she belonged to him. He would always be able to find her. 

For a moment Crevan's words came back to him. This girl, this perfect quarry that he had created was better off dead. She couldn't steal his soul, but the idea of her as his creation could steal his ability to function as a member of Quildor's most elite team. As the perfect quarry she would never be safe from him. He would find her every time, and then what? Start over again? She would really be better off dead, for his sake, for both of their sakes. His compassion had made him strong, yes, but not strong enough to overcome his weakness. Without thinking, his lips dropped to rest against the top of Kara's head, as if they were suddenly both in this together. Kara, his Kara, his poor doomed Kara.

He turned her face up to meet his eyes, two fingers gently beneath her chin, his strong body supporting hers as both of his hands gripped her face. He willed her to open her eyes, to look into his. He felt what she felt; she was completely open to him.

She was afraid. Afraid of his power over her, because she did not feel all hatred for him anymore. Hatred for Quildor, for his kind, but not for him.

She did feel safe. His hard work had paid off. She trusted him. With the unreasoning trust that was born of shared experience, shared life. In her mind, it was labeled respect.

Rion reached for her hand and brought it up to his face to examine the extent of her crystal burn. It was already blistering, a white and red pattern on her sensitive skin. Rion's eyes moved back to hers. Why?

"We're going back to camp."

Kara struggled, unhappily aware that she had been holding her breath in anticipation of something. The place on her forehead where he had kissed her burned like a brand, and as repulsive as it should have been, Kara only felt relief, as if a part of her that had been longing for something had been fulfilled.

She was right, what he had done to her was unforgivable. She could not go back, she could not go on. She would be a pariah among her people for being cared for by a Foeman, they would believe she could have done something more, killed him or gotten away. 

Was this her fate then? To be outcast if returned, or unreturned and left to serve in the fields of Auditorium?

No! She had to escape! Her only hope lay in being able to return to Sentinel on her own and to prove her worth by finding the Talisman and freeing her people.

Her mind flashed to an image of Korlon, his long hair blowing in a stiff breeze, his powerful shoulders rock hard and bulging against the fabric of his armor. His eyes alight with determination. He would come for her! He would believe in her!

She glanced up at Rion's steel hard gaze. 

Training? 

She had been taught more in this last time spent with the Foeman than in most of her years in Galantyne's service. Rion's skills were seared in her mind, and she would use them against him. He was a fool to save her. She told herself over and over, I will escape! Only next time I won't be so stupid as to leave him alive! He was right about that... running is the coward's way!

*****