Nia is an Argentinean woman who had been kidnapped along with the rest of her family when she was a small child, and subjected to torture and rape by military guerrilla forces, before being dumped back into the care of people she didn’t know. Her parents “disappeared” and she hasn’t seen them since. She ran away from Argentina when she was a teenager and moved to the U.S. She now runs a hikers’ outfitting store in the Toluca National Forest, in Oregon.

Jarod met her when they were teamed up to search for a missing ornithology student named Victor in the mountains of the Toluca National Forest. During their time together Nia was able to see some of Jarod’s DSAs (of him as a child in The Centre) and he explained some of his past to her. When caught overnight in a forest cabin as a cold front blew in, Nia and Jarod made love.

The dynamics of that encounter were interesting from a psychological standpoint. As Jarod was unfamiliar with sex, it was Nia who initiated all contact between them. Jarod at first tried to avoid her kisses by explaining to her,”I’ve never….” Nia gave him a reassuring smile, and continued with her foreplay, eventually getting Jarod to relax enough to lay back on the floor… with Nia on top of him.

After the love-making, Jarod withdrew to another part of the cabin, distancing himself from Nia as he watched her sleep. When she awakened and went to him, he remained in a passive position, sitting on the floor at her feet, and made no attempt to initiate any contact himself. He simply looked up at her, dolefully, and accepted whatever attention and affection she was willing to offer him. She sat beside him, took his head onto her lap, and cradled him like a child. Eventually, he returned to the “bed” with her and slept there the rest of the night.

Jarod’s reaction to this interlude seems to indicate that although he wasn’t “afraid” of the sexual contact Nia offered, there was a part of him that was very uncomfortable with the whole situation, and needed a lot of guidance and reassuring throughout the night. It was another moment, too, when Jarod — once again — was reminded of just how much life experience he had been deprived of by The Centre. Although sexually fulfilled, he made it clear that he was not an altogether happy man at the moment.

The next morning, when the “threat” of immediate sexual contact was no longer present (as there were other people in the room), Jarod seemed much more at ease with Nia, smiling and joking with her even as they lay side-by-side on the floor.

After rescuing Victor and seeing to it that his attacker was incarcerated, Jarod left Nia in Oregon, explaining to her that there were people searching for him who might hurt her if they found out she’d been associated with him in any way. Although their parting was painful for both of them, Nia understood Jarod’s need to go and didn’t pressure him to stay. It was interesting, however, to see the moment when Jarod, realizing that Sydney and Miss Parker had found out where Nia lived, returned briefly to Nia’s cabin to make sure she was all right when Miss Parker and Sydney confronted her. He kept himself out of sight, but was at the ready to defend Nia if she needed him. Once sure that Nia was safe for the time-being, Jarod reluctantly turned his back on the cabin and left through the forest.

Nia later discovered that Jarod had left her the gift of a music box that played the tune “Three Blind Mice” ala The Three Stooges.