Chapter 3: Faith

Matt woke up sometime before sunset. His sleep had not been comfortable; his head had laid on the hard wooden desktop rather than being cradled in his arms, leaving his face blotched and red, and in his sleep his body had twisted to accommodate the angle of the chair he was sitting in, leaving his muscles sore. With an inward groan he sat up in his chair and looked around, barely recognizing his own room as he struggled to push through his groggy disorientation. As his memory started to fall into place, he looked to his bed where he saw Karana still sound asleep.

He turned back towards his desk and looked down at the paperwork he had been putting together before he fell asleep. Blinking to clear the sleep out of his eyes, he started to reread what he had been writing. His initial thought was to let Karana sleep while he completed what he was working on, but his cognition now fully restored, he glanced out his window to check on the position of the sun, and remembered that he was meeting Karyn at the Steaming Sheep in fairly short order.

Matt let out a soft sigh as he turned toward Karana. He was tired, exhausted even, the awkward rest having done little to restore the energy lost from his injury and the ordeal of the past few days. Truly it was a miracle that he had woken up in time for the meeting at all. His eyes drifted closed, as he hovered between getting up and going about his evening and getting back to his rest. Get up Matt, he said to himself quietly. Get up, it's time to get up. Finally he shook himself out of his lull and called out softly, "Karana, you awake?"

Karana was sound asleep, and didn't so much as stir in response to Matt's voice. She was laying on her side, curled up in a little ball with the blankets pulled tightly around her. Her breathing was steady and deep, and Matt could see that many of the lines of concern, alertness, and fear that he had seen on her face since their first meeting had smoothed in her rest. Matt was suddenly even more reluctant to awake her, realizing that two nights ago in Jeuno was likely the first time she had spent sleeping in a warm, safe place in years.

But, they had a meeting to get to, matters to discuss. With some reluctance Matt rose to his feet and walked over to Karana and put a hand on her arm and gently shook her. "Karana," he said quietly. He gave her another shake and said, "Karana, it's time to get up," and gave her a third shake. Immediately, Karana's eyes flared open, as she spun on to her back to face Matt. Her arm twisted out of Matt's grasp and around his forearm, her hand reaching for his bicep and gripping it as her other hand shot up, the crook between her thumb and forefinger aimed straight for Matt's throat.

Matt was caught by surprise, and for a second his field instincts kicked in. His free hand shot in and gripped Karana's wrist, intercepting her hand before it struck his throat. In the same motion, his other hand reached under her elbow, and both hands gave a quick tug upward, using her own momentum to pull her up half way off the bed, dangling from his hands. Caught off balance with no foundation from which to launch any further counters, Karana insisted on struggling, her hands and arms wriggling this way and that as she tried to find some opening she could exploit to extricate herself from his expert grasp.

But the rather educated, technical manner in which she had reacted to Matt's perceived threat and the tenacity with which she fought when it was thwarted were not what was burned into Matt's mind for days on end after this event took place. What really caught his attention was the look on her face as she struggled. It was not the emotional, frustrated angst of a teenager who was irritated from having been awoken from her afternoon nap. Her expression… there really was no expression. Her eyes were blank and stared at Matt with a sharp focus that lacked any recognition, her lips were drawn tight, neither breathing heavy or struggling. It was cold and calculated, almost unnerving.

"Karana?" he said, after a few moments' struggle.

She continued to struggle briefly, when the strange expression finally seemed to fade from her face, and her struggles slowly subsided along with it. Her gaze warmed to one of confusion, and to Matt's mind it seemed like she was finally recognizing him.

"Oh. Hey Matt," she said rather blankly. "Sorry you caught me sleeping I guess…" her last words were mumbled.

Matt gripped her arms a little longer, almost unsure of whether he should release them or not, but slowly let them slip through his fingers, letting her lay back on the bed slowly, before finally releasing them completely. "It's okay. Are you okay?"

Karana lay back and closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. When she opened them and looked up at Matt, the expression was gone, and regarded him the same way she always had. She nodded slowly and stretched as she sat up and twisted so her legs hung off the edge of the bed, "Yeah I'm fine. Why? Something wrong?"

Matt's first thought was to ask Karana where she had learned to react like that. But as he watched her transform back into a young girl, he thought better of it and shook his head slowly, as if he wasn't quite sure and was considering his answer even as he gave it. "No no… nothing… nothing is wrong…" His voice trailed off incoherently before he finally caught himself and forced himself to focus, "It's time to get up, though. We're going to meet with Karyn in a little bit."

Karana nodded and started to compose herself a bit as Matt rose and looked around. He saw his scythe leaning against the wall and stared at it for long moments. Just getting dinner, he thought to himself. It's a short journey I'm sure we'll be fine…

He then turned back and watched her as she smoothed out her outfit and made herself presentable. In his mind he saw a strange mosaic of the innocent expression he saw in her now, the stark terror he had seen in Jeuno, and the cold and calculated, almost mechanical expression he had seen just a few moments prior. Shaking his head, he grabbed one of single-handed blades and slipped it under his cloak as he led Karana out of the house.

"I was planning to show you around a bit before we go eat, but we overslept I guess," Matt said as they left the residential area. "Still there's one stop I want to make."

After a short walk, they stopped at the entrance of what seemed to be a large building in the center of the town. He raised his head to look up at the towering structure, and Karana followed suit. "This is Metalworks, the industrial center of the city, as well as its capitol building."

Karana trudged along after him as he led her past the foyer and down some well-lit corridors. Her ears perked up as in the distance she began to hear some curious sounds – metal clanging or grating on metal, the hiss of an engine releasing steam, the roaring fires of the bellows, and even the occasional explosions. Those sounds grew louder and more focused as they approached an archway, beyond which lay a large, open room. As Karana stepped into the room, she stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening as she looked around and took it all in. The walls reached high past the second floor and met the ceiling, intricately crafted of stone, wood, and metal, rather than coaxed and shaped out of a naturally large phenomenon like the Great Star Tree. Two large elevators moved were pulled up and down in opposing directions.

He led her to one of the reliefs in the large room and down a dimly lit staircase, at the bottom of which stood a blonde woman who stood at the entrance to a small chamber. Beyond the archway, Karana could see what looked like a small, tastefully designed shrine. The blonde woman heard the steps and turned towards them and smiled in recognition, "Welcome, Matthias. It is good to see you again."

Matt nodded, "Thank you Elayne."

As they continued forward past her into the chamber, Karana looked up at him and said, "Geez Matt. You know everyone around here."

Matt grinned, "I've lived lifetimes, Karana."1 He stopped before the shrine, as did Karana who watched curiously as Matt knelt down on one knee and clasped his hands over his knee. He bowed his head and began softly whispering words, of which Karana could only catch a hushed consonant or two. She waited uncomfortably, glancing around the room to distract herself from having to watch as he prayed until he was finished, at which point he stood up and turned back toward her.

"What were you praying about?" she asked with forced curiosity.

Matt smiled, "You."

Karana raised an eyebrow, "What about me?"

Matt tousled her hair as he stepped past her toward the door and said, "I'll let you know if it's ever answered."

They said goodbye to Elayne and began to head back up the stairs. As they reached the main floor Karana said, "I never figured you for the religious type, Matt."

Matt turned towards the entrance of Metalworks with Karana following beside him. "Why do you say that?" he asked.

Karana shrugged, "You've been through so much, seen so much. I sort of figured you for the 'I believe in myself' type."

"I do believe in myself," Matt replied. "That's why I'm confident that my decision to put my faith in Altana was a good one."

As Karana frowned, pondering his words, Matt continued, "It's through Altana's grace alone that I'm standing after all that I had been through. And I have never seen anything that didn't reflect some divine glory or horror beyond what we perceive."

As they reached the entrance and exited Metalworks, Karana gazed at Matt pensively and said, "You sound like my mom."

Matt looked over at her as they walked, regarding her curiously, "Yeah?"

"Yeah. She was really religious too. She used to always say I was meant for something great, and these hardships proved it. The tough times we faced were preparing me for some great things I was meant to do."

Matt smiled and nodded, "Your mom was wise. I'm sure it's true."

Karana shrugged, "I dunno. Always sounded like superstitious wishful thinking to me."

"Oh I don't know about that." He turned to Karana and gazed at her with an almost amused smile, "You know, Perih told me your thieving skills were far beyond anything she had ever seen in someone your age."

Karana scowled, "Matt…"

Matt grinned, "No, no listen. Do you know why Windurst is so peaceful and has such a low crime rate? They have the mithra, who are expert trackers, and then the tarutaru's magical abilities. No one gets away with anything. Ever. But you eluded them for three years. Three years," he repeated emphatically. "Starting when you were twelve years old."

Karana flushed embarrassedly as Matt continued, "You have skills many seasoned adventurers would love to have and soon, once you come of age, you'll be ready to head out into the world and find your own adventures. I'm not suggesting you become a professional thief, but you are truly skilled and capable. No question about that, even your captors acknowledged it."

Karana sighed bitterly, "And look where those 'skills' got me."

Matt smiled gently and put his arm around her shoulders, giving her a reassuring squeeze, "It brought you here, where you are being given a great opportunity to start over, and direct those skills toward a positive direction."

Karana allowed herself to be comforted a moment, and thought about this as Matt patted her shoulder and released her. As they continued walking, her eyes were downcast as she mulled over everything that was said. But as they reached the edge of the Markets and was about to cross the bridge over into the Port, she beamed and grabbed Matt's arm excitedly and asked, "Could I really be a professional thief?"2

"No!" Matt snapped, and grinned at her. Karana could only giggle and continue forward.

1 Reference to Test of the Twins by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

2 "You'd think people would catch on that maybe searching out and recruiting people who readily admit to amoral lawbreaking isn't a Nobel prizewinning idea. In the groups I played in Junior High, there was always the thief who loved to practice his pickpocket skills on other members of the group. In retrospect it doesn't make a lot of sense to filch a couple medieval quid from a heavily armed swordsman who's spending his time and energy killing ugly beasts so that you can share in the loot, but Junior High School D&D players have never been known for their social insights." – Lore Sjoberg on the Thief class in Dungeons & Dragons.