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started to ease. He found his sight was returning
with each repetition, as well. Finally, the eye cleansing stopped and he looked
around. He was, as he had thought, in the underground passages beneath the city.
The openings onto the alleyways above allowed slivers of light to reach these
passages below, enough to see without benefit of an electric torch. Two things were
distinctly noticeable: the smell of the passages and the smell of the girl.
    He turned to look at her as she put
the water back in her bag. She had jet-black hair, cut short, like a man would
wear. Her white skin almost gleamed in the darkness of the passage, spoiled
only by the fiery mark behind her left ear. Her ears fascinated him. They
curled upward and back at the top, with dozens of feathery-like pieces along
the back from the midpoint of the ear to the top. Her ears were fantastic. He
searched his memory for the species his mother described as having such ears,
as they rarely visited Caldot. Was it the Artuesee? No, their ears curled in the
other direction and besides, hadn’t the Artuesee moved to the west side of the
city? The Arlians? Yes, that’s right. The Arlians had been persecuted by the
Graeliths and had become a difficult and reclusive race. When they did visit
the city, they were well known for violent outbursts, prolific body markings,
and obnoxious children. At least that would explain the smell. At that moment,
she looked up from her bag and glanced at their surroundings. Her face was
quite attractive, with strong cheek bones. She had piercings in her thin, left
eyebrow with a tiny silver chain stringing the piercings together. She was
intriguing.
    “You done looking?” she asked, as
she turned to look directly at him with intense, dark eyes.
    “I suppose so.”
    “We should move. The Graeliths may
still return.” Without a response, she turned and began moving toward the
passage to his left.
    He watched her for a few seconds
and grimaced as a slight breeze carried her scent to him. Wonder how long I
can hold my breath? Eros took a deep breath and followed.

Chapter 6
     
    As Tip exited the transport
station, he walked quickly toward the narrow lanes leading to the main shopping
street. The narrow passageway was dark and damp. Each drab little house sat
inches from its neighbor with the curtains pulled tightly across the windows. Occasionally
a curtain twitched, as though someone was peering from behind it, but no one
was visible and no one else wandered the streets. No children played outside
and no neighbors gossiped like they always did in Kentish.
    Tip missed Kentish already. He
longed to be eating one of his mother’s delicious pies or even her stewed
vegetables. The open fields were home to him, not these dreary, dirty streets. He
stopped. Maybe he should just go back to the transport station. And then what? The
council would never allow him to return. They would force him to leave yet
again, and by then, the Graeliths roaming the area might know of the mark he
bore. Risking the lives of his family and the others in Kentish wasn’t an
acceptable option. Still, he really wanted to go home. He cursed the mark, as
tears came to his eyes. The mark destroyed everything, everything! He crossed
to one of the buildings and leaned heavily against the wall. There, he let the
full force of his despair wash over him. First Trul, then Sri, and now him.
    He closed his eyes as he thought of
his brothers and their fates. Trul had been killed, but what had happened to
Sri? Perhaps he survived and joined the Miyran warriors. Sri defied the Liput
stereotype. Granted, his mechanical skills were stronger than those of anyone
outside Kentish, but for a Liput, his ability was only mediocre. Sri was
relaxed and unflappable. Tip began now to appreciate how useful such a skill
could be for the marked. He laughed as he remembered how irate his mother
became when Sri refused to be ruffled by a neighbor’s complaint about some
mischief he had created,