I got my lips pursed kissing the mascarons

"I've already received pay. I don't need thanks." She said in a lilting tone of voice that made her words seem to flutter like birds in a breeze. "You are very well mannered though and I appreciate your courtesy. You should at least get some coffee so that we don't appear odd."

"I see no plate. You haven't eaten. Join me then." He said softly as his eyes registered those around him who might overhear. "It will look odd if only I am eating."

"I'm fine thank you. I'm not hungry."

"I'm a skilled worker. I make good pay and also receive a discount. Please. I insist." He said and maintained eye contact. She was gorgeous but he was being sincere and not improperly forward. "If you don't intend for our meeting to last long enough for us to dine, well, that's fair enough. I won't keep you longer than you wish."

"Why do you wish to hear what I know?"

"Because Kyriena Kaskauliené deserves more than the apathy of our government." He said and she could see that he meant it. "If I can find the answers they won't even look for, then I will do what I can to address that."

"Even if it's dangerous?"

"Even so. She was loved. People I care about care enough for her that it is my obligation to do what I can." He said and accepted that he was going to make these words his truth. It was the right thing. Without question. "What I will do in the end? Well, that will be whatever is necessary. I will know when the time comes."

"Then let us get some food." Yasmine said and pushed her chair back. "I'm in no rush if you're not."

.

She had fish and a barley soup. He had roasted pork on rice with a cup of noodles. The food was excellent and not expensive and he understood why the place was so busy. That was another reason that the woman had chosen this place. Electronic eavesdropping would be impossible.

"How old are you? Wait! Let me guess!" Yasmine said after finishing her soup. She eyed him closely and then declared, "You're twenty-nine."

"I am. And I'm also impressed with your powers of observation." He said and smiled a small but honest smile. "Does my age say something to you?"

"It tells me that you're old enough to not be foolish but young enough to still have that fire."

"Fire?"

"This life is cold. This world quenches flames. It wants us to be meek and subservient." She said and tilted her head slightly to one side. It was a small movement that only heightened her beauty. "Some never lose that fire. They learn to keep it within and share it only with those deserving of it."

"You see that in me?"

"I see my husband Afshin in you. He was older than I. Almost forty when he died. But he kept his passion. He was determined to be good no matter the world around us." Yasmine said and her eyes locked him inside of her moment. "You are not related to Kyriena but you are willing to be here, during your own time, and willing to spend even more of that precious time trying to bring some sort of justice to her and her family. You aren't being paid for this. I've asked. I know. Which is one of the reasons that I agreed to meet you."

"And if I may ask, what are the other reasons?" He said and wondered just what she truly saw in him. "You need not share if you'd rather not."

"Money was the second reason. I barely get by and I am not ashamed of that. The government has put me in these conditions." She said and almost smiled. She noticed that Haven noticed that and that in turn drew the actual smile out. "The third reason is that women are dying and we haven't been able to get anyone to care. You appeared to care, so I took this chance. And now, seeing with my own eyes that you do indeed care, I am glad that I came."

"I'm glad that you came as well. And also glad that I haven't disappointed you. Yet." He said and grinned when she almost laughed at his last word. "My father, bless his soul, made sure that I understood that people must care for and look out for each other. It's our duty to do what is right and show kindness and compassion to all in need. I try my best to live up to the example he set for me."

"You honor your father properly. What was his name?"

"Hergren Eldon Culyagaer. He shaped my heart. He is forever in it. I will not fail the trust and faith he had in me." Haven said and had a brief image of his father's smiling face in his mind's eye. "I will cause no harm to the innocent. I will not disgrace my name nor bring pain to my mother."

"You truly are a man. A decent man." She said and seemed to look into his very soul. "So then let me tell you about Kyriena. And the others."

.

He took the tram ride home lost deep in thought. What Yasmine had told him didn't seem to make sense. Shadowy men stalking women, lurking in parks and alleys. It seemed almost impossible that such activities were escaping government notice. The actual crimes also didn't fit the pattern of the normal government ordered disappearances. All of the missing women were ordinary citizens. Not involved in any questionable actions nor involved with men who might be. They were all young and single and employed in proper work.

Someone was targeting them for that very reason. They were young and single, living alone, with nobody to protect them. They were utterly ordinary and thus beneath the notice of the security services. Haven suspected that someone either in the government or with ties to someone within it was responsible. If you knew what cameras weren't working and where the security patrols would be at any given time, you could carry out your deeds with something close to impunity. That was how smugglers and drug dealers worked.

He had agreed to meet Yasmine again. Despite his entreaties she was going to seek further information where she could. Haven warned her that doing so might make her a target as well. "Then avenge me as well." she'd told him with a strange smile. "It isn't only men who can be brave."

This was true. He did not dispute that. He also knew that bravery often turned out to be fatal. She was her own person though. Capable of choice and he himself had no right to try to direct that choice. All he could do was hope that fate might choose to be merciful.