“The forest?Really?”Eilidh stopped beside her and hoisted the bag she carried higher on her shoulder.
Some distance before them, the others in their group heard Eilidh's loud voice and turned and glanced back at Morlie, shaking their heads.
Morlie swallowed.Moments like this were when she felt like a fish out of water around her new friends.The things that blew her away they took for granted because they ate it or saw it all the time.
“Yes.Where I come from, there are no trees.No more, anyway.It’s just a lot of shabby structures left over from the wars that people have repurposed into living spaces and shops, selling even older, broken, repurposed shit.”Morlie continued in the direction of the others.“And dirt, so much dirt for miles.”
“Even refurbished things can be made beautiful when done right.”Eilidh moved alongside her.
She glanced over at her walking companion.“That’s the problem.In the Dispatch, we didn’t have the proper tools to get it right.”Morlie sighed as she reached out and dragged a hand along the rough bark of a tree they passed.“But I heard things are better in the Consumer Providence where the government’s established.Supposedly, any trees that were behind the wall got cut down to build up that area.”
Eilidh stopped, her brow furrowed as she eyed Morlie.“I don’t understand.How can your leaders create things for themselves without ensuring their people have what they need first?”
It was her turn to look back at Eilidh.“See, that’s the difference between humans and your kind.The only people my government seems to worry about are those with large numbers on their account books.”
The other girl's frown deepened.“I’m sorry this was your experience before you and your sister came to live with us.”
Came to live with us.Morlie rolled those words around in her head.She tried to make them stick.She tried to force them to settle in her mind and make this place feel like home.She and Kai had four strong walls around them and more than enough food anytime they wanted it to fill their bellies...but the thought wouldn’t stay.She knew if Kai came to her and said they were leaving, she’d miss Eilidh and the others, but Morlie would have her gaze set on the horizon, looking for their true home.
But Kaiwasset.So, she was set.
“I’m glad I met you, too,” Morlie answered honestly.
“Come on.I know what you need to see, tree hugger,” Eilidh teased.She jogged toward the others in front.
Morlie ran to keep up with her.
“Hey!I have an idea.”Eilidh stopped when she got to Fafner, Linda, and Anguis.
“What’s up?”Fafner, who also carried a pack, gave Eilidh his full attention.
Winded, Morlie could barely hear through the large amount of blood rushing in her ears from the mile or so run she did to catch up with the group.She took deep breaths, trying to fill her lungs with much-needed oxygen.She may have felt ten times healthier, and some foreign energy seemed to be pulsing through her body since she awoke, but it didn’t give her the stamina to keep up with her new friends for a long time.However, she didn’t complain or ask them to slow down for her.She refused to let anyone ever see her as weak again.
“I think we should give Morlie an experience she hasn’t had before.”Eilidh slipped her pack off and dropped it to the ground.
“I’m game.”Linda smiled.“What did you have in mind?”
Hanging out with them the other night, Morlie learned Linda’s current training was with the security detail, and she loved it.While Morlie had been around them, she’d seen how willing Linda was to wrestle around, run, or challenge someone to lift a heavy object faster than her.The long-haired blonde wanted her position in the thunder to be a sentry.Today, when Linda arrived at the meeting point in front of the great hall, she invited Morlie to come out the next day and watch her learn how to wield a broadsword.Linda was a warrior through and through.
Eilidh glanced up.
Linda, Anguis, and Irad followed her gaze up, then smiled back at Morlie in unison.
Morlie looked up, then focused on them again with a frown.“I don’t get it.What are we about to do?”
“Climb trees.”Anguis’s gaze was bright, and beneath his vest shone the same hue as the sun-filled violet sky.
“We used to do it all the time when we were dragonets and juveniles, but not in a while,” Fafner declared as he dropped his bag at the base of a tree.
“Then we became young adults and had to start training to see where we would best serve the thunder.”Linda sighed, but it didn’t reduce the joy reflected in the markings along her arms.
“But, today, we play,” a smiling Eilidh called out.
Linda and Irad had already scurried up two trees and were seated on thick branches, staring down at them.
Fafner hung back, leaning against a tree as his soft-blue gaze rested on Eilidh.
Her friend’s eyes were on him, too.
