Page 39 of Dark Destiny: A New Thread in the Tapestry

"Adaluh."

Annani tilted her head. "It sounds familiar, but then it reminds me of Dalhu, so that might be the source of the familiarity."

13

KHIANN

The first thing he did when he opened his eyes was to check whether she was still there. Sometimes he just listened with his eyes still closed because she often told him stories even while he slept, and those stories were wonderful.

Annani.

He knew her name now. Annani. Daughter of Ahn and Nai. She had repeated it enough times for him to remember, despite how scattered his mind felt. It was still difficult to hold on to a complete thought, to follow it from start to finish before it dissipated like smoke on the wind.

The names of her parents, which she said with such gravity, were supposed to mean something to him, but he did not know who Ahn or Nai were. He was just glad he managed to retain the names in his fragmented mind from one waking to the next.

Annani was looking at him. "There you are, my love."

She always said that. Always called him her love, and he liked it, even though he did not know why she called him that. He was supposed to know, but he did not.

He wanted to say something to her, to thank her for her vigil and to ask why, but his throat refused to cooperate. It had scared him at first, but Annani had promised him it was temporary and that he would be able to talk once he got better.

Better from what?

Had he fallen sick, or had he been severely injured?

Annani had said something about stasis, but he did not know what it meant.

He did not know who or what he was, but he had the sense that his body should be doing better than it was. That it should heal rapidly and not at this agonizingly slow pace.

Then he thought of something that he was not sure would work, but he needed to try.

He raised his eyebrows.

The small movement took an absurd amount of effort, but he made it happen, which was not the case with his throat and his hands. He had enough strength in his fingers to squeeze Annani's hand in response to her questions, but he couldn't do much more than that.

Annani's beautiful eyes widened. "Did you just raise your brows on purpose?"

She was still holding his hand, so answering her was easy. He gave her fingers one squeeze.

"Do that again," she said. "Lift your eyebrows. Or just one. That will be enough."

He did it again with both because, for some reason, it was easier than isolating just one.

Then he lowered them, pulled them together into a frown, which was less difficult than raising them, held that for a moment, and then released it.

Annani let go of his hand and clapped in glee. "This is wonderful. I thought I saw you smiling earlier today, but I was not sure. Now I know that you actually smiled at me. Can you do it again?"

He felt the muscle move on the left and not on the right, and then the right came along after it.

Was he smiling?

Given Annani's response, he was.

She started laughing, and the sound was so beautiful that Khiann felt the tingling all the way down to his toes.

"That is the worst and most beautiful smile I have seen in the last five thousand years." She clasped his hand once more. "Do it again."

He repeated the smile.