Kaatje Jones
15: Kaz - Seeing
There was a building, a gathering inside the sauna. The air was getting thicker, and not just from steam. She was highly conscious of the robe she had removed once she took her seat, of the condensation gathering on her naked skin. When the door flap had closed, it had blocked all light but the faintest flicker from the fire, seeping through tiny gaps in the skins, barely enough to make out Owen’s bare torso across the sauna. Even this faint flicker had disappeared. Was this what Owen’s world was like all the time? Kaz sat there, breathing in the thickening, heated air that scalded her lungs, straining her eyes to see something, anything in the blankness.
She saw.
She saw Owen on a huge green plaza across from a man wearing a blindfold so white that it seemed to give off a soft glow, though underneath the white, there was a shadow deep enough to fall into.
She saw the buildings around the plaza, the grand palace and temples, all constructed of such precise stonework that a blade of grass could not pass between the stones, even though the architects had used no mortar. She saw the mountains surrounding it, green and lofty. They seemed to be watching the scene, the two men who, she somehow knew, were about to do battle, though she wasn’t sure why.
She saw.
She saw a circle of people, all unfamiliar, holding hands, with herself and Owen at the center. She was shedding lightning, the bright light swallowed by the shadow surrounding Owen. She saw a hovering in the air around them, bright and steady and quavering and holding on tight.
She saw.
She saw a dark gasp of a cave, breathing the menace of loss and damp.
She saw a waterfall advance down a river, toward a vessel too small to survive.
She saw Vidar, smiling at her. She saw his smile turn to a grimace of rage, then a smirk of satisfaction. She lashed out.
She saw darkness, nothing.
She saw light, raw energy, creation.
She saw a llama watching her with interest.
She saw a leap of flame, a twist of sunlight.
She saw Owen embrace someone, she couldn’t tell who.
She saw Owen falling, falling.
She saw tears.
She saw the outline of Owen’s torso, heard the hiss of steam.
She shook.
She knew she had to get them out of this village quickly. She knew where they had to go. She knew that Owen must go with her, that he would never be able to return to his simple, straightforward life. She knew that it was incredibly important that he not stay. She knew that whatever was going to happen to them, he must be involved. There was another way; there always was. But this time she couldn’t see it.