That decided in her mind, which was now clear, she sat about slowly and cautiously making her way out of the city, keeping her direction by always keeping the mountain cliffs in view ahead of her. The city, while not nearly the size of the one in which her people lived, wasn’t small, and by the time she got to the outskirts of it, true night had fallen and very soon she wouldn’t be able to see her way. She prudently decided to find a safe place to sleep until morning. She was very tired, she realized, and the lack of food and water wasn’t doing anything to keep her energy up either.

She ended up climbing up on top of a house to sleep. The roof was mostly slanted, but had flat places. She couldn’t imagine anyone would have a reason to come up here, and she was certain she wouldn’t be visible from the street. She would have to be careful not to be spotted coming down of course, but she felt it was worth the risk because she couldn’t be sure anywhere she found to sleep at ground level would be safe from a passerby finding her by chance while she slept. And she had no desire at all to repeat her experience with the people of this city. She might not get away a second time.

As she lay down on the hard surface of the roof, no bedding to make it comfortable, she started to really think through what had happened. What she had done to get away from the man who’d been trying to rape her… She’d always believed the stories. The ones that told of her ancestors having mental powers that were much greater than those her people currently had. Was that what had happened? That, in a moment of panic, she’d been able to tap into those abilities in order to defend herself? She couldn’t think of any other explanation that would account for it.

As she fell off to sleep, too tired to stay awake, she found herself wondering just what else she might be able to do with those abilities…

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to be continued

and I’m always happy to get comments (even really short ones)