True to her word, Zuri did not talk to Kadian until she stopped talking to Mohassen- which that meant their moments together were few and far between.
It began with Mohassen simply checking on Kadian.
“How are you feeling?” he would ask. “Are your back stitches in tact? Be careful.”
“Still in pain, but better. My back’s just fine. And I will.”
“Good,” he would say, and leave to handle his duties.
At some point, however, he stopped leaving to do work. Instead, he would do it before going to see her.
“Same as yesterday, my back is alright, and I always am,” Kadian said drearily one morning as she stared into her mirror, rearranging her twists.
“Good,” Mohassen said. “What do you have planned for the day?” He coughed.
“Wandering,” Kadian answered.
“How productive.”
“That’s all I ever do.”
“Would you like to spend a day with me for a change?”
Kadian laughed. “What do you mean ‘for a change’?”
“We...seldom spend time together unless we are training. But since we no longer need to do so, we spend minutes together, as opposed to days.”
Kadian turned from her mirror. “Oh.”
Mohassen stared at her expectantly at through door.
“Give me a few minutes,” Kadian said.
Mohassen held back a smile. “Of course.”
Kadian rushed to her sink to wash up the second he left, then to her closet. She sighed when she saw that Omose had left her a rather ordinary outfit. Reluctantly, Kadian pulled the blue t-shirt over her head and slipped into a pair of jeans. She then chose to focus her energy on her hair and jewelry.
“That was not five minutes.” Mohassen had been sitting with his back against the hut.
“You’ve kept me waiting before.”
“When?”
“I don't know. So what are we doing today?”
Mohassen stood and dusted himself off. Kadian noticed that he was wearing a wrap around similar to the one he wore when he first spoke to her- and he looked just as good in it as he had then.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
Mohassen frowned.
“What?” Kadian tried to hide the defensiveness in her tone.
“You look different.”
“I know,” she groaned.
“I meant no harm by it.”
“Oh?”
“It is a not a bad different. You look like...an American again.”
“Thanks...I guess. You look different too, I haven’t seen you in one of those in forever.”
“It would have been unsightly during training,” Mohassen said with a laugh.
A mental picture instantly popped into Kadian’s mind, and she wasn’t sure that she agreed with him. Nevertheless, she laughed and asked “So what are we doing?”
YOU ARE READING
Kadian
AdventureA series of peculiar events following a class trip leaves fifteen year old Kadian Niles stranded on the small African village of Azuraya. An even more peculiar event leads to the shocking revelation that Kadian is the village's prophesied savior, w...
