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It was after church on a Sunday. You were all gathered in the basement where Mama M and Di had prepared lunch for the congregation. You don’t know how it came to be after church. You don’t remember the sermon at all. Probably because you were thinking about tomorrow. About getting on a ship, and pushing off from shore, and watching New York sink below the horizon.
It wasn’t going to be as bad as all that. You’d ridden on ships before. And you’d spent three years of your life in a tin can without even water holding it up. This was nothing. So why were you terrified?
You closed your eyes and tipped your head back until it met the wall. The conversation around you faded, replaced with explosions, gunfire, regular fire; a ship on the ocean would be better than that. One set of footsteps approached you and Father Vantas joined you on the bench, bringing the scent of ash and cinnamon. You relaxed. Something about him made it impossible to worry properly.
“You’re quiet.”
“I’m always quiet.”
“Not this quiet.”
You opened your eyes to find him leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, looking over his shoulder at you. “I’m fine.”
“The boys are going to be fine, Psii. It’s only two months.”
“I know,” you said, maybe too quickly.
“That’s not what you’re worried about, is it? You know the Lord has not given us a spirit of fear—”
“Kk,” you prided yourself on being a quick study, so it didn’t take long before you could sense a sermon coming, and it was safer to cut him off now. “Can I speak with you alone?”
He blinked. “Certainly.” So you stood and headed for the door with him right behind you. He did stop and tell Mama M that he was stepping out because she was all of their mothers and she would worry, but that was the only snag as you led him up the stairs, through the empty cathedral, and into his office. That worried him. “Psii? Is everything alright? Do you want to speak with me as a friend? Or as a priest?”
“As a friend.” You shut the door behind him and turned, pressing your back up against it. You knew you looked intimidating. Not like Di, sure, but it took a lot of guts for someone to look you in the eye and give you bad news. It took even more to stay relaxed when the two of you were alone and you were blocking the only exit. Kk was constantly impressing you with how easy he was around you.
“Ok. As a friend.”
“It’s just a boat, Kk. I’ll be fine. A little water never hurt anyone.” You refused to meet his eyes. The ceiling was more interesting anyway. There was a crack in the plaster that should probably be fixed before things decided they could live up there. You wouldn’t have time to do that before you left. There was hardly enough time left to pack.
The silence dragged on long enough that he prompted you with a “But…?”
“But I’m gonna be gone . It’s two months, Kk. Two months that I’m not here .”
“Yes. Two months at sea, with four days in Singapore in the middle. I understand that. It doesn’t sound half as bad as some of the things you’ve been through, so what has you so worried?”
An image surfaced in your mind, a silhouette in the doorway, standing over his body in a steadily spreading pool of blood. He knew you were paranoid, with good reason, but there was no call to make him think you were insane. “I don’t know. I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“...alright. Well, if there’s anything I can do to help, just let me know.”
You were still blocking the door. This was your chance. Now or never. “Kk? I know it’s supposed to be your job, but… will you let me pray over you? Please?”
“Of course. Pray away.”
So you stepped forward, setting a hand on his shoulder, and the two of you closed your eyes and bowed your heads. “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” You were never good at this eloquence thing, and English didn’t make it any easier, so you switched to Chinese. Kk didn’t need to understand the words anyway. “God, this is Kk. He’s important to me. I know that I have a lot to be thankful for, and he’s not everything, but if something happened to him, I don’t know what I’d do. I’m going to be leaving for Singapore tomorrow, and it’s a two-month round-trip. Kk’s got people to protect him, and it’s not like I don’t trust them, but I’m not gonna be here, and Di can only do so much, so I need your help. God, this is Kk. He’s important to me. I need you to watch him for a while. Keep him safe until I get back.” And you switched back to English for the closer. “In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.”
The two of you broke apart and Kk looked at you with something like a cheeky grin. “Am I really that important?” He asked, using the Chinese word.
“Shì de báichī. Now let’s get back downstairs before someone comes looking for us.” Of course he was learning Chinese. The man was on some sort of quest to learn every language in the world. You’d have to find a better way to keep secrets from him. Maybe you could pick something up in Singapore.