6.
"Rela, there is something I must say, and I must say it in words."
Morning. The third day of his being here. I nodded.
"I don't think I want to go on from here so quickly. You are a special person and... I hope you will let me stay with you more than a few days."
"Yes!"
"But if I stay here, I will eventually bring you great danger. If I stay here, you will begin to see into me, and learn the things I am hiding inside. Unless I teach you how to hide your power, disguise what you know, and forget what you will learn from me, you will be in danger, too."
"From who?"
"From the watchers, when they come for me."
"No."
"Yes. Probably. Perhaps another long moon, or a little more, before they will have followed my trail of knowledge through the city of Calinova, and then out here, into the wilderness."
"What did you learn that could be so terrible?"
He frowned. I can't tell you yet. I must be sure you can hide it.
"You don't trust me."
"I trust you, yes, but... you must learn how to hide your feelings and powers. Or the watchers, when they come for me, will take you, too."
Then I will learn how to hide, I thought.
It is not enough, Rela, I... I need more from you. If I teach you what I know, then I must ask you for even another great work, which will send you into greater peril.
"What could that be?"
"After they come for me, I will need you to go on in my place, north into the land of Tao Pablo, to deliver the message I am carrying."
"North? But you come from Calinova, in the south...."
He frowned again. That is part of what I have learned. What I know goes beyond one land into another.
"But..." I felt sad, and selfish, saying this, "how can you stay here with me if you really must go on into the other land, to talk with... to tell whoever...."
"You have already seen that much of me... I... I am afraid you already begin to know too much. I must teach you how to hide what you know."
"Is that all?"
"No, my dear friend, I... I want very much to stay with you, for my own selfish reasons, but... there is more."
"You need me to take your message for you. Because the watchers know who you are."
He shook his head, but smiled. How far you see into me, after only two days with you....
I cannot help it... I... I think I am falling in love with you, Jorak.
Then I must teach you how to protect yourself, before we fall so deep into each other that no one will ever be able to pull us apart again.