“You see the futures of strangers?” she asked.
“Tev,” he said.“Like I said, quite useless.”
“Not to them maybe,” she tried.“Have you ever tried to find them?”
He jerked his head in a nod.“In my younger warrior spans,tev.I liked to see good things in their futures.It comforted me in a way.But the bad…their tragedies, their losses, their accidents, their fragile decisions made…those I did not like.”
“Like what?”
He ran an absentminded hand down her back and then said, “When I was fresh from warrior training, one night I saw a vision of a young female.She lived inLopixa.She was no older than six or seven rotations.She liked to play and walk along the cliffs that stretch just outside the outpost.She liked to watch the light on the sea.”Taylor’s gut clenched, not liking the tone of his voice.“In my vision, I saw her fall from the cliff when she stepped too close.”
Taylor’s throat closed.“Vikan…”
“I heard her scream in my mind.I heard the wind screaming past her.I heard this…sickening sound.And then I heard nothing.Just silence.”
Oh my God.
“Vaxa’an knew of my gift.We were close during warrior training.He was my friend and even though he was not Prime Leader yet, he helped me journey toLopixa, though we were not suppose to leave the Golden City at that time.We searched and searched for this female, long enough that I feared it was too late.”
“Did you find her?” she whispered, hardly daring to move.
“Tev,” he said.“Because Vaxa’an had accompanied me, there was a celebration the night of our arrival to welcome him, that drew most of the outpost’s population.I searched for the young female while Vaxa’an saw to his duties at the gathering.”Vikan went quiet, his hand still tracing down her back.Softly, he said, “And I found her, along the outskirts, very near to the cliff that I had seen her fall from in my vision.”
“Was she okay?” she asked, almost afraid to ask.
“Nix, she was dead,” he told her.
Taylor gasped.“Oh my God.Vikan…”
“A pack ofxrivallawere drawn close to the borders.The scent of the cooking meat and game from the celebration attracted them.And the guards were at the gathering, so the outskirts were unwatched and unprotected.When I came upon her, there was not much left of her, but I recognized her just the same, like an imprint in my mind.”
Taylor looked down into her lap, her eyes filling with tears, not just because of the little girl’s fate, but because of the strained emotion she sensed in Vikan’s voice, how deeply it affected him, even still.
“So you see, it is quite useless,” he said softly.“She had a worse, more painful death, because I tried to interfere with her fate.I was punished, as was she.”
She turned in his arms and reached forward to touch his cheek.His gray eyes flickered to her, frowning when he saw her tears.
“It’s not your fault, Vikan,” she whispered.“You only tried to help her.”
He was silent.Then he said, “I always think of her when I walk that cliff.”
“You still go there?”
“Tev.As a reminder, sometimes.But now, I always make sure our borders are safe and patrolled.At all times.”
“Then maybe you’ve saved others in the process,” she told him, wanting to comfort him.“Others that could have met a fate like hers, but haven’t through your actions.”
His forehead met her own, his horns tangling in her hair.
“I can only hope so,” he said.“But I never tried to interfere again, no matter what I saw.”
“You still see them?Visions?” she asked softly.
“Tev,” he said.“They’d become worse since…”
“Nitav,” Taylor guessed when he trailed off.
“Tev,” he said, pulling back from her forehead to look at her.“And I confess that to dull the pain and keep them controlled, I turned toyikava.”
