Hiding in Plain Sight

[Adrian Kane]

Arikan

The Farm. His eyes narrowed, resenting this woman’s ability to crawl her eyes all over his life. Suppose he should flattered. The Wheel deemed it necessary to flash moments from his world into the mind of a stranger. She clearly did not grasp the enormity of what she drew or she would be cowering in the presence of greatness. Then again, she ran like a frightened child when she first glimpsed his face, and Valtin claimed she was of the Black. Perhaps she knew more than she let on. The way she looked at his chest as if she could peer to the bone beneath made him frown.

“Tell me how you see these visions. Do they come to you in your waking hours? In a dream? A trance? Do you black out and discover them?” he moved through more of the parchment as evidence of the many moments glimpsed unnaturally. Arikan himself was not the only subject, but he had neither the inclination nor the patience to search for faces of the Chosen. The farm was a pivotal moment when his life teetered on the sword edge of fate, but the outcome was fixed. There was little to manipulate in the awareness but that he had been at that location. Perhaps others may reveal past locations of the Chosen, but he may chase down leads that were years outdated if the Farm was anything to go on.

He considered Valtin then. The dreadlord would not recognize the same faces that Arikan would know. Yet as he studied his servant of the dark, a thought passed.

“Why have you been hidden from me? I searched for you in the dreamworld. I searched for all of you, and I found nothing but bones and dead souls. Tell me how you evaded me.”

Valtin swallowed, glancing quickly at the Black Sister at his side. He even went so far as to put up an arm as though to blockade the Aes Sedai from Arikan’s path.

“Do not be angry, Great One. I thought you dead. Everyone thought you dead. Had I heard even a whisper that you were not, I would have-”

He scowled. Valtin absolutely had a whisper that he was not dead. The proof lay strewn all around them. He left the papers behind to confront the dreadlord eye to eye. “You would have what?”

“Umm,” he started. “I don’t know how she does it, but-“ his gaze slithered to the woman at his side. The same woman he positioned himself to protect. Arikan followed his servant’s gaze to find Miraseia as Valtin finished his sentence. “She kept us hidden, and I kept us alive.”