"So, in addition to looking for Ayads we are also searching for a girl, who's locked up somewhere?" Necia asked.

"Yes, more or less," Vito answered, shrugging his shoulders apologetically.

"What do you mean more or less, that's not an answer: that's avoiding to answer!"

She was a bit upset. Actually, she didn't really know why; perhaps because she was outside of her comfort zone. She had never traveled outside of Westerland before and this world seemed strange. She couldn't put her finger on it, but the feeling was there. It was like she couldn't see the threat for real, like she didn't even know what it was. It freaked her out. She had always been the brave one, but she didn't feel that way right now. Instead it was the blind young man who was brave. It was shameful.

"Necia, I..."

She just looked at him, waiting for him to continue. He seemed reluctant for some reason and that made it even harder. She had to know what she was up against.

"I'm sorry Necia, I haven't told you everything because I find it hard to talk about."

His white eyes seemed to plead with hers. This time they looked straight at her, it was almost eerie, like he could see, like he could see her. She could also see the pain in his eyes, perhaps she was too hard on him. It wasn't his fault so much as her own.

"Perhaps we can talk about it when you are ready, we should get going. What about if I go to that apothecary and then head back to see if our order is ready? I really don't think you should be seen. That picture of you is quite accurate."

She could see him relax: he hadn't been ready to tell her yet. She didn't know how much pressure to apply, perhaps he would snap and then refuse to trust her again. It was better to play safe.

"I will tell you, I promise. Just not today, not here. I'll meet you at the south end of the village when you're done."

She was reluctant to leave him, but she knew that he didn't want a babysitter. She watched as he turned a corner, then she left for the store despite the urge to dart after him.

-----

An hour later Vito stepped out of the forest when he saw a familiar form. Tension fled his body and he realized just how nervous he had been. He didn't like that feeling. He still didn't trust his new vision enough to be totally comfortable, but that was just a shitty excuse. He was ashamed of himself, scared like a little boy left alone in the dark. It was pitiful. Embarrassing.

He was glad that they would be on their way. The fact that there was a picture of him in that store still sent shivers down his spine. Why would they be so interested in finding him? It wasn't as if he'd done anything. The only reasonable explanation was that they wanted to find the two assassins through him. They had killed quite a lot of Magisters in a very short while: both the ones that had imprisoned him, and then the ones that had chased after them. He shuddered again when he came to think of that interrogation. It hadn't been very pleasant at all.

When Necia came sufficiently close he could sense that she was more edgy that usual. He couldn't describe it, but he saw it quite clearly. It was like she sparkled with tiny little flames that instantly vanished upon creation.

"What is it?" he asked. He could have sworn that she scowled in return.

"Well if you have to know I dyed my hair, it looks awful."

He smiled, she seemed to be very touchy with her appearance. "I'm sure you look fine!" he answered, trying to soothe her, but it didn't work.

"I'm a Sigyn, I'm supposed to have red hair, not black. It looks like I've got a crow in my hair."

He couldn't help but chuckle then, she had very strange ways of expressing herself from time to time.

"Laugh away," she spat out. He raised an eyebrow. She was clearly upset by this. He couldn't really understand why. Now when he looked closer though he thought that he could sense something in her aura that hadn't been there before. She was uncertain. Her hair must have been a large part of her identity. He actually felt sorry for her then.

"I'm sorry Necia, I didn't mean to make it worse. To me you still look the same, to me your fire is still burning as bright...and it's only color, it will wash out. Don't worry."

She didn't answer, instead she helped him mount his horse. Somehow he felt that she didn't want to talk, so he let her be.

They continued like that for several hours, and halfway through he had gotten used to her silence. It wasn't very relaxing for him though, the voices in his head always messed with him when it was too quiet. Now they were screaming in unison and those were the worst moments. It was like they harmonized into something beautiful yet deadly, like an ethereal choir of terrifying voices.

When the night swallowed the last bits of light they slowed to a halt and made camp. Necia had uttered a few phrases, like yes and no to direct questions but nothing more. After a while he had given up. He didn't think that she was one of those who could be lured into talking: she had to come out of it herself.

When they finally lay down it seemed like that time had arrived.

"I'm sorry Vito, I'm not handling this very well. You should have gotten another traveling companion."

"Why would you say that?" he asked.

"I will disappoint you. I'm scared like a little rabbit, like a mouse. I will fail you."

"Why? You don't know that yet, you cannot know that yet."

The devastation in her voice tugged at his heart. She seemed strangely innocent considering her race's reputation.

"Courage is something momentary, it isn't something you can plan. You have no way of knowing if you are too scared or not before the danger is before you. Worry will gain you nothing."

He knew he should be saying this to himself. Always the preacher...but did he have the right to preach?

"I'm scared too," he continued. The words were sour on his tongue, he didn't want her to know, but why should he lie to her?

"I think you are brave," she answered. Her words didn't stick to him though, he didn't feel brave.

"I can assure you that I'm no braver than you are Necia. I feel stupid for thinking I could do this on my own. At least you're with me now. If you hadn't I don't know what I would have done."

The fire crackled between them, and beyond there were the sounds of the forest around them, soothing in their own way. Those were the only sounds as Necia had gone quiet again. It wasn't the same silence this time around, but it was still a silence.

For some reason he felt like telling her about his past, he needed to get it out there. He didn't need her to understand, he needed to. He opened his eyes and looked with unseeing eyes towards the sky. He imagined the stars, their tiny lights. He wondered if he would ever see them again...

"The day I was born I was carried out into the forest. I was laid on the forest floor with a thin blanket wrapped around me. The one who had carried me in her womb for nine months abandoned me, just like that. No one claims to know why, but I. I know why she did it. She was scared, so scared that she gave up, gave in to her fear and let that make her decisions for her," he paused, forcing his voice to become steady again.

"When she found me I was crying out my last strength. No one has told me how long I lay there alone, but I think it was a stroke of luck that she found me when she did. It was a N'aian girl, Juno. She was young then, almost a child. She had run away from home and ended up in a part of the forest they rarely traveled. She told me, years later, that she had heard a faint whimper. Thinking it was an animal she had drawn her bow, aiming to strike. When she saw me she released the arrow in shock, but it missed me."

"They told me she ran through the night to get me to their settlement. She never boasted about saving my life, and I don't think I ever thanked her enough before it was too late..." he couldn't continue. His eyes burned with suppressed tears while thinking about Juno. She had meant a great deal to him, more than he had ever dared acknowledge to her face. She had said once that she was his guardian angel, and he had just laughed it away, like he usually did. Now he wished that he had made her realize that that was exactly what she had been all those years.

"Hey..." Necia sounded concerned, and he smiled behind the tears.

"I'm sorry. I've never really talked about this. These memories hold more pain than comfort."

"You don't need to tell me."

"Yes I do, you wanted to know," he replied, trying to smile again but other emotions were in the way.

"I was brought up among the Gaians. In the beginning I couldn't really understand why I looked different. I wasn't able to play like the other young ones, and I used to cry, feeling out of place. That's when the voices started. I was seven at the time, and my world got a hell of a lot scarier. The voices kept me up at night, screaming out their agony. I told Juno, and she just hugged me. I think that she didn't know what to say. When I learned that not everyone heard those voices I made her promise not to tell anyone, and she never did. Now I'm telling you. I'm telling you that I've always been scared."

"What voices?" she asked, and he could hear that she was reluctant to say anything. It was almost an allegation, yet it didn't sound as she meant it like that.

"I don't really know, but I believe it is the voices of the dead."

"Doesn't Qumo know about this?" she said, her voice strained, probably fighting the urge to show what she really thought and felt.

"No, I think I've kept this secret too long, it's almost impossible to talk about it. I don't know why I'm telling you."

"I'm glad you did."

This time he could muster a real smile in response, not a big one, but a small, almost tender smile that seemed to ease a part of the tension in his body.

"Then a few years ago I started to have strange dreams. They showed me the same place every night, and I knew that I would one day have to visit that place. My journey started there, as my guardian angel took her last breaths. I left, and days later I found it: a pitch black pool in the middle of a circular clearing. It was as terrifying as in my dreams, perhaps even more so. I thought that I would die in that pond, but I knew that I didn't have a choice. Fate had already decided for me. I can't remember exactly what happened, but I woke up on the other side of it with an image of a face nailed in front of my vision. That same day I found the Nyx who carried that face. Then I started to have visions."

He chocked a little on his last words. The visions were still alien to him. He didn't know if he even wanted to acknowledge what those visions were in fact visions. Some part of his mind kept reminding him that perhaps he was just plain crazy...hearing voices of the dead, seeing the future. He realized how all this must sound to her.

"You must think I'm crazy."

"What do you mean with visions?" she pointedly avoided his question, and he sighed. He didn't know if he could answer hers.

"I've seen things that later took place. So far the things I've seen haven't been entirely correct, there have been slight differences, but those differences have meant everything. For instance I saw Vigilante and Milo kill each other, but luckily they didn't."

"So they're false visions?"

"I don't know. Perhaps. I would be happy if they were."

"Why?"

"The last one I had was about Annie, and she didn't look too good. I hope I'm wrong."

"She seems to be important to you, we'll find her. Don't worry!"

He felt her words lace themselves around his heart. He had needed the reassurance, but it felt wrong to ask. This had started with Necia's fear and ended with his own. He felt bad, but he couldn't muster to say anything now. He would have to make it up to her somehow.