"Dave?"
She nodded. "Weird choice, I know. It was disturbing to see them move in perfect unison, but that's how I knew where the lab was and that the young scientist was Dimitri. He works for them now, or rather, pretends to. I could tell that he wasn't happy about his situation and was just playing along to survive."
"Makes sense. He was hired by Navuh, but now his boss is gone, and he has to obey other masters. Eluheed was afraid that the eight would break free and cause chaos."
"I didn't get the impression of chaos." Syssi set down her cup. "Which fits with what we can tell from observing the island. Then the vision shifted, and I saw Dimitri again, but in a different setting. He was with a beautiful woman who was wearing a waitress uniform. They seem to be in love, which made me emotional. Two prisoners found each other in that darkness. They were holding hands across the table and looking into each other's eyes." She sighed. "Young love. Although I don't think they realize that they are in love yet. It seems like the very early stages of a relationship."
Kian was quiet for a moment. "Why do you think you were shown Dimitri and his love interest?"
She had a good idea why, but she needed to tell him the rest first so he would understand.
"There's more." Syssi reached for her tea again. "The vision shifted to another couple. I think it was Dr. Petrov and a woman who works in the brothel. They seemed to have connected as well."
"Another love story in Navuh's hellhole?"
Syssi nodded. "I think I was shown these four people to realize that there is still good on that island, and that we can't just bomb it indiscriminately as a distraction to extract Khiann and his companions."
Kian frowned. "I never said that was the plan."
"I know, but you thought that, and the Fates paid attention. They showed me the two couples so I could stop you from doing it." She tilted her head. "Have you been thinking it?"
"Among other things. I don't have a plan yet."
"There could also be another explanation. They might be connected somehow to Khiann's extraction. Maybe they know something, or they'll be in a position to help, and the Fates wanted me to know that we can trust them."
Kian rubbed a hand over his face. "I wish the Fates weren't so vague."
She chuckled. "Wait until I tell you the third part. If you think that the first two were unclear, you will be scratching your head about the last one."
He winced. "I can't wait to hear it."
"I saw Mount Ararat." Syssi took another sip from the tea, trying to put into words what she'd seen. "I was hovering midway between the base of the mountain and its peak when a portal opened to another world."
"What do you mean by a portal to another world?" Kian's brow furrowed. "Like in a science fiction movie?"
"Precisely." She was relieved that they had a point of reference. "It was like a tear in reality, shimmering at the edges, and through it I could see auroras, but they were much more vivid than those we've seen in Alaska."
"Could it have been somewhere in Scandinavia or maybe Russia?" he sounded hopeful.
"I don't think so. I could see mountains in the distance, and they were taller than anything I've seen on Earth. The whole thing had an alien vibe. There was a figure standing near the portal's threshold, and I had a sense that it was a female, but not much more. Then the portal collapsed, and the vision ended."
Kian was quiet for a long moment. "A portal to another world. At Mount Ararat."
"I know how it sounds."
"It sounds like the Fates are being deliberately obscure." He leaned back against the couch cushions. "We asked about Khiann, and they showed you prisoners on the island, then a mountain in Turkey with a magical doorway to another world. I don't see how any of that connects."
Mount Ararat was probably connected to Eluheed's charges, but it had nothing to do with Khiann.
"Neither do I." Syssi rubbed her temples, the headache pulsing behind her eyes. "A scientist and a waitress. An older researcher and someone from the brothel. A portal with auroras. How does any of this lead us to Khiann?"
"Maybe it doesn't. Maybe the Fates are answering multiple questions at once, and we're supposed to sort out which answers go with which questions."
"That's not helpful."
"No, it's not."
Syssi leaned into her mate, suddenly exhausted. The visions always took a lot out of her, and this one had been more intense than most. "I feel like I'm holding puzzle pieces that belong to three different puzzles, and I can't make them fit together."
