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"What did you see?" Annani asked, trying to keep the desperation from her voice.

Fenella hesitated, her gaze darting away from Annani's. "Snippets, mostly. Fragments of your memories. But none of them seemed ancient. Nothing that would help locate Khiann."

Disappointment settled like a cold weight in Annani's chest. "I feared as much. The necklace has been with me too long, gathered too many of my memories."

"It was mostly you wearing it on various occasions," Fenella confirmed. "They all seemed pretty recent."

"Nothing from earlier times?" Jasmine pressed.

Fenella shook her head. "I'm afraid not."

Annani studied Fenella's face, noting the careful way she was choosing her words. There was something the woman was not saying, some vision she was deliberately omitting. Annani's curiosity was piqued, but she would not press.

"You should try again," Kyra suggested. "Maybe focus specifically on the oldest memories, try to push past the recent ones."

Fenella's expression tightened. "I don't think it works that way. I don't control what I see—it just comes at me in a flood."

"With practice—" Jasmine began.

"Perhaps another time," Annani interrupted, seeing Fenella's discomfort. "A newly discovered paranormal ability can be an intense experience. We should not push too hard, too quickly."

Relief flickered across Fenella's face. "Thank you."

Annani carefully closed the velvet box, securing the necklace inside. "This was a worthy first attempt. I have other objects that we can try, but they will probably yield the same results. I only have Khiann's gifts. I do not have anything that was personally his."

"Which brings us back to the original problem," Kyra pointed out.

"Indeed." Annani sighed. "A circular conundrum."

"We'll find him," Jasmine said with a confidence that warmed Annani's heart. "Between my far-viewing, Mother's precognition, and Fenella's psychometry, we have abilities the Fates clearly meant to work in concert."

Annani smiled. "Your confidence gives me hope."

"Hope is dangerous," Fenella murmured. "But sometimes it's all we have."

Annani studied the three women before her—Kyra with her warrior's resolve, Jasmine with her mystic's intuition, and Fenella with her hard-won resilience. They were an unlikely trio, brought together across time and continents by the machinations of the Fates. Yet in them, Annani sensed a powerful potential, a convergence of abilities that might accomplish what had seemed impossible.

"Would you care for more tea?" Annani offered, deciding to lighten the mood.

"Yes, thank you," Fenella said.

"By the way," Kyra said as Ogidu poured more tea into her cup. "My little niece Cyra has an interesting ability. I believe she's able to tap into the minds of people she gets physically close to, and she tapped into yours, Clan Mother. After meeting you and sitting in your lap, she started dreaming about a beautiful doll man sleeping under the sand. She told me we have to find him."

Annani shivered. "Perhaps she shares your family's talent, and she somehow saw my Khiann? Maybe she can somehow lead us to him."

Kyra smiled apologetically. "She couldn't have seen Khiann as he is now. Jasmine told me what Ell-rom looked like after seven thousand years in stasis. If Cyra saw the real Khiann as he is now, she would have seen a skeleton. Instead, she saw him the way you think of him, still as beautiful and perfect as you remember him, and she also absorbed the urgency you feel to find him."

It all sounded logical, but Annani's gut told her there was more to it. The little girl could be the key to it all.

She had to see the child again.

38

AREZOO

After countless attempts, Arezoo finally produced a cup of coffee that was not pretty but drinkable. It was recognizable as a cappuccino, but not at the level the café's patrons were accustomed to.

"It takes time." Wonder clapped Arezoo on her back. "Don't get discouraged."