"So you have said, though I do not see why I was not captured by them on
my journey through the plains, if they are as powerful in this quarter
as you say," I replied.

"As I said, the timing of your arrival was very fortunate," he said, "At
any other time you would have surely been caught, and then your fate
would have been uncertain, but yesterday was the Zard's new year, the
Kootch Patah, on which they spend all night in celebrations and
revelries. Because of this, they were all soundly asleep on your trip
through the prairie, very possibly laying at your feet, covered by the
tall grasses."

So my fears were not as unfounded as I had thought, was my predestined
deja vu, then, real as well? Only time would tell.

"I am indeed lucky then, as you have said, not only in the Zard's
unattentiveness, but also in finding of your secreted habitation, as
well as your friendly welcoming of me," I said.

"I must confess," he chuckled, "It is not merely from a one-sided
hospitality that you are welcomed."

"Indeed?" I said.

"Indeed," he answered, "For your appearance and the circumstances of
your arrival are almost uncannily the realizations of one of our most
ancient prophesies, one which we have longed to have fulfilled."

"Is that so?" I rhetorically asked.