Rin marveled at the lush vegetation around her, wondering how long it would be before such places vanished from the world forever. She would miss them. Karkov had insisted on calling her a car, but she preferred to walk. It would be a long trek, but she needed to clear her head.
Several miles into the forest, Rin became aware of an annoying lump in her pocket. Did the Proteges really keep these things on their person at all times? How troublesome. Rin smiled at the idea of this tiny self-inflicted encumbrance each Protege bore, at least until the day she replaced it with a far more onerous one.
Retrieving the sphere from her pocket, she contemplated it on the palm of her hand. Unlike Sree’s sphere, this one had been marked with a small circle dab of red paint. It was the only way Rin could tell them apart.
That damned man. How had he managed to wiggle his way out? After all this time, his wiles still worked on her. No, they weren’t wiles. Wiles would work on others as well. This just was an intimate knowledge of her. The same intimate knowledge which had lured her to a hole in the ground so many years ago.
Rin was tempted to trudge back to the Capital and take him by surprise. The protections she remembered were correct; Karkov had confirmed it. The sphere could work, but would it? If only she knew for certain. But since when had she demanded certainty?
She doubted he would be taken by surprise, of course. In fact, it probably was just what he expected. Rin was about to turn around anyway, when she realized that she did not want to.
It wasn’t just Karkov’s words. Why had she even taken Sree’s sphere on the mission? It certainly wasn’t to console the man, and there was no need to bluff when she already had the real thing. She had brought ambivalence with her.
Daryl’s observation had been an astute one, damn that boy. She could have sought Karkov any time over the last twenty years. What was she doing?
Rin tossed the sphere aside, then hastily picked it up and brushed the dirt off before continuing on her way.
She would tolerate the lump in her pocket a little longer.