East

"Very well," Batu said and stepped away. "I see no more blood. Any pain elsewhere?"

I was about to ask if he had x-ray vision to see through my clothing when I glanced down and realized the layer of white silk I wore was completely sheer. I started to laugh, a little embarrassed but more amused than anything.

"No pain," I said. "Sorry about …" I waved to my body and bent down to grab one of the heavier layers from the pile.

"Dressed as such, you can speak to any man any way you please, Moonbeam," he said.

I shot him a warning look, and he smiled.

There was something about Batu I kind of liked. More than I should have. The sense of familiarity I experienced with Carter and Taylor wasn't there, but neither was the threat of danger. I wondered again if part of my empathic memory chip remained active, because I should've feared Batu after the show he gave at the castle.

But I didn't.

"Is Flowers … Monkey safe?" I asked.

"She is. She is close."

"Close enough I can see her?"

"In time." Laid back and allegedly a sworn guardian, he was also not about to trust me with the location of the girl he thought was keeping me here.

What a weird dynamic. To be nice and smiley - but secretly distrusting and occasional of unspeakable brutality. I didn't know his intentions or even if what he said about being my protector was true. I gazed at him, concerned I was starting to rely on someone I shouldn't.

Again. Like John, Nell, Carter and even Taylor. I was too trusting when I left for my first adventure. At least now I was questioning whom I chose to trust.

"What concerns you, Moonbeam?" Batu asked. He was rifling through a pouch on the table near his bed. Retrieving bandages, he returned and knelt beside me.

"I'm not concerned."

"You are a poor liar." He sat back on his heels, eyes on my face.

Ugh. I had grown some during my time in the Old West, but I hadn't yet mastered the ability to mask my true feelings. "I don't belong here, which shouldn't surprise you," I replied.

Batu slowly began wrapping my arms with bandages once more. "You left once before, many years ago, after blessing my grandfather," he stated. "Why have you not returned to the sky if you feared my uncle?"

"It's complicated," I murmured. "And your uncle destroyed my ability to leave."

"How?"

"I had a … tool. It let me do things that might have helped me leave. He destroyed it."

"This is good."