Kayrin meets Teigan, Sray and Silfiya talk

And for a complete change of pace we have some thoughts on how Teigan and Kayrin may have met. Maybe. At least their first face-to-face interaction.

The Kinus bolted out of the brush and Kayrin's horse tucked tail and lurched forward. The boulder loomed in feont of them and Kayrin tried ti guide the mare around it, but she slipped as she tried to kick the snapping jaws ar her heels. Kayrin thrust herself from the saddle with her arms and tucked her head as she rolled on the rocky ground.

There was a hiss and a snarl amidst the scatteringt of rocks. Kayrin lurched to the far side of the boulder from the noises. She pulled her rifle out of the shoulder scabbard and propped her back against the rock. She was going to have a good bruise from rolling on it, but thankfully the rifle was intact. She held the gun across her body as she tried to catch her breath and orient herself. Her head was pounding with the rapid beating of her heart. There was another scuffling and a yelp and something retreating. Footsteps approached. She swung around the boulder with the gun raised and cocked, finger floating over the trigger.

What she was down the sights surprised her. It was a man, but not like she had ever seen before. His overall complexion was dark, but his chin, neck, upper arms and fingers were paler with an even darker black tracing his features. His clothing appeared to be made of a single long piece of cloth wrapped loosely around his body. His bright lavender eyes were wide open in surprise and he held up his hands while stepping back.

---

"Would you mind walking with me, Ms. Hillenbohn?" Sylfiya DeTowr asked in Kamenan as they passed each other in the hall. "We'll get some air outside."

"Yes, Ms. DeTowr." Sray replied in kind and fell into step beside her. "You know, DeTowr isn't a very Kamenan name." Sray stated.

"You are right, it isn't." Silfiya said matter-of-factly. "It is Elayan. My late husband was from the Southwest coast."

"I am sorry." Sray apologized as she opened one of the doors that lead outside.

"Don't be." Silfiya waved it off. "He has been gone a decade, you couldn't have known. I met him after I trasferred to Dohman by the coast a couple years after your mother left under the pretext of continuing my linguistic studies. It was about as far as I could get away from there. Kayrin wasn't coming back and I didn't like how Tayran was handling things and didn't want to get involved."

"Get involved?" Sray questioned.

Silfiya nudged her glasses further up her nose. "Why did your family leave your father's people and move to Jon?"

Sray was caught off guard by the question. "Oh, well, there wa strouble with the Humans. They thought my mother had been taken. She took the three of us to meet my grandparents and tell them to leave the Klamon alone and we were going far, far away. She told them to leave us alone too and not bother following."

Silfiya nodded. "Well there are limits to what I can say at this point, but there was a lot of comotion at Tayran over your mother and no one was going to listen to me about it so I left. I met Sherod in the city not long after arriving. When he and our son died I transferred to Enegema."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Sray asked.

"Because I believe it is valuable for you to know how I ended up here."

Sray was silent a moment, then she glanced around them. "You said you met my father the other day." She hesitated and again glanced over her shoulder. Kamenan may not be commonly spoken here, but she couldn't be too careful. "You met my father, how well did you know him?"

"Well enough to know he was goof for Kayrin and I was sorry to hear she was widowed as well."

Sray took in a deep breath and blew it out in a long stream, fluttering her bangs. She rubbed her upper arms and then tucked her hands into her elbows.

Silfiya looked at Sray with quiet curiosity. "Well," Sray began. "Well that." The school had introduced her as the daughter of the widow Kayrin Hillenbohn. Like in Jon everyone thought her father was dead. Silfiya DeTowr had known him. She knew what Sray was, perhaps it would be safe enough to have this one confidant. "It is a bit of a thing. A bit ironic that my mother has been pretending to be a widow about as long as you have been one."

"Did he stay behind?"

Sray gave a tiny shake of her head. "He left everything and everyone behind for us." Sray said.

"Yes, that sounds like the Teigan I knew." Silfiya nodded.

"You know his name." Sray was surprised.

"I told you I knew him." Silfiya replied. "I am glad he is still alive. I imagine it wasn't an easy decision moving so far from everything he knew and everything you all knew."

"We have each other and that is enough." Sray said.