#2 ~ THE GUIDE

She walked down the gangplank onto the slowly gliding walkway that would take her to the center of town. She did not know where she would live, or how. All she knew was that he was there - her guide. Like he had always been before. She did not know when he would come, but she knew he would find her. She jerked the backpack over her shoulder, and set off with purposeful stride, stepping off the path and striking out across the wide yard with its containers and passengers, the sound of gulls shrieking overhead cracking against the hard silence of the sky.

It struck her that, for the first time in all her travels, she had actually been let off in a port, for a change, and not outside some hovel or grand mansion. This was going to be a harder sojourn for her than any of the others so far had been. She paused to wish it would be her last, then shrugged heavily as the thought came, unbidden, that she had always wished for that and had yet to be granted her desires. Shaking her head, as much to clear it of the unsettling thoughts as to bring herself back to the moment, she walked between the warehouses and out onto a wide road, filled with traffic and people.

She paused to get her bearings, looking around her for any sign that would speak to her of what her next move should be. And when she saw it outside the little tea shop, she smiled. Another first - she had not had to wait a day or two to find out what her next task would be. Perhaps there was a Higher One, after all, she mused as she waited for the traffic to thin so she could cross the road.

On the other side, she stopped to appraise the sign. it was wide rather than high, the name of the establishment emblazoned on it in red and gold. "Three Ways" it was called, with a sign that pointed forward and to east and west - no arrow went behind. She could surmise that it meant there was no looking back, only spreading out or going forward. Like her guide's face...

Two minutes brought her to its front door, and she pushed in without even looking to see if the place was open for business. A warm smell of cinnamon and honey assailed her, and she realized that she was hungry. Starving, in fact. Her last meal, which she had eaten alone, as usual, had been two days ago.

A wraith-like creature with jet black hair and sunken eyes appeared at her side, inviting her to sit at a small table for two by the window. She smiled her assent ad let herself be led to the place where she knew instinctively she would meet her guide. After ordering the house special tea and two cinnamon buns, she sat with her hands crossed before her, looking out the window to the street.

She closed her eyes, feeling the weight of her years, of her experiences, of her journeys, seeping into her pores, crowding in beside the hurts, the sadness, the disappointments, the utter exhaustion. She let it all wash over her. She would be no use to anyone if she were too tired to function. She felt as though she could sleep right there, her feet propped on the little bar across the legs of the table, her arms crossed over her chest, inhaling the home scents of the dining room.

"Your breakfast, ma'am!"

The whisper-thin voice snapped her eyes open and she looked up to see him standing there, his bald head bare, his eyes boring into her.

"You have come," she said simply, gesturing to the chair across from her.

One thing she could say about him was that he was courteous to a fault, and would not sit till she invited him to do so.

"When have I not?" he asked simply, seating himself without breaking eye contact. "You are my ambassador." He paused, looking over her head to the street beyond the glass widow. "And you are my friend."

She raised her eyes from cutting one of the two buns to look at him, She had heard that he was changing, growing, and she wondered if, in his new, more powerful position, he would still pause to take tea with her.

"Yes, she replied as simply. "You have been a faithful friend and guide, I know!"

He watched her eat, and wondered again how such a delicate creature could hold such strength of will, of mind, of body, and how she had managed to void being changed by her changing situations. And he wondered how she did not know who she truly was, and how he really felt.

He permitted himself a small curl of one side of his mouth, realizing that she was still caught in her dream of physical beauty, and only saw him for his usefulness and kindness to her. He was not the three-faced, four-eyed, skeletal creature she had accepted that he was. His wizardry allowed him to take any form he pleased, and for her, till she came to know herself truly, and to see the world in all its variegated hues, this hideous form would have to do. He was glad that at least she was not repulsed by him. Small steps, he thought, and then brought those thoughts back to the moment.

"There is a house here where someone is needed to bring peace, and a heart that needs to be opened to love."

He watched her as he spoke, knowing what thoughts roiled in her head. He wished he could be plainer, but part of what made her so effective was her lack of knowledge of anything but the need to heal the world. He wished he had more like her, and thanked the Higher One for sending her to him. Some day, he knew, if she did not awaken to what was left between them, that neither he nor she had ever spoken of, she would leave, and he would lose her. He could only trust that as she brought wisdom and insight to bear on the lives of those she touched, so too she would see herself, and so him.

He gave a mental shrug. No time for such musings now, here, where she might stop to wonder why he took so long to send her on her way.

"They are expecting a visitor at breakfast time. If you follow the path beyond this road, that leads into the woods, you will come upon their home by and by."

He felt her stare wash over his bald head, and staring eyes. He sat coolly, watching as she took in the blood-stained coils that twisted together like a gnarled tree trunk to form his neck. Her gaze warmed him. Perhaps some day she would see past this gruesome facade to the creature within who cared for her more than she would ever know.

"You have had no tea," she said, and poured him a cup. "Please, drink with me! I have had a long journey, and it seems this is to be my only respite."

She smiled at him, and his inner eyes saw the future. He picked up his teacup and sipped. She would rest here, renew herself, and then set off on this next sojourn...