Eden's Root (56 page)

Asher joined Gary and his group in Seeking signs of Topsiders. This was by far the most dangerous Seeking mission. All of the other Seekers tried to avoid encountering Topsiders. He never carried a gun, just his sword, but his Seek group revered him. They had all seen him in action in the training sessions. When Asher first asked her to stop joining his Seek group, she’d been offended. But she’d come to understand his concerns and if she were honest with herself, she was kind of frightened of the idea of actively Seeking Topsiders. What she did on Seeks gathering supplies was just like her old raids…it felt familiar, somehow. And her Seek group tried to
avoid
Topsiders, not engage them, whereas his…she tried not to think about it too much.

After another few minutes, the Jeeps came to a stop and everyone piled out. Gary gave his usual command.

“Everybody break up and get going,” he commanded, and as always he added, “Safe Seek to you all.” Yes, Fi thought with a shiver, you always have to stay on your toes. You never know what you’ll find out there. She bounced up and down and zipped her jacket all the way up.

“I can see you’re chomping at the bit,” Asher said as he approached from his chat with Gary. Fi laughed and bounced toward him to hug him. With her arms wrapped around him, she looked up into his eyes and her heart fluttered. Every time they separated for Seeks she worried, but she knew that he did too. It didn’t help anything to dwell on it. He tilted his head down to kiss her goodbye, his lips cold and soft on hers. His arms tightened around her as she melted into the kiss. They heard a cough behind them and separated. Asher kept his arms around her and she turned so that her back was to him and his arms circled her from behind.

“Yuk, you guys,” Sean grimaced. “That is just gross, I’m sorry.” Fi blushed and Asher laughed.

“Sorry,” Asher apologized. He squeezed Fi from behind. “It’s hard to separate,” he explained and Sean nodded.

“Yes, it always was for me too,” he nodded toward Fi with a kind smile. “But she’s going to do what she’s going to do. It’s like Maggie,” he said, his voice soft. “She’s just Fi.” He walked toward her and reached out his arms to embrace her. Asher released her and she gave Sean a big hug.

“Mmmmph,” she said as she squeezed him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Safe seek to you Sean Skillman,” she murmured.

“Safe seek to you Fi Kelly,” he responded and then turned to join his Seeking group. “Safe seek to you Asher Grey,” he said in parting and Asher answered after his retreating form. Sean’s group headed off to the west. They were seeking several communication towers and possibly a server farm in the Montreal suburbs. Fi knew that Sean was very excited about it.

Sighing, she turned back as Sean disappeared. It was always nerve-wracking, she thought. Jose approached with his bow in the sling. He smiled and approached Asher, giving him a one-armed hug, and then he turned to hug Fi.

“Safe seek to you both Fi Kelly and Asher Grey,” he said to them and they smiled.

“Safe seek to you Jose Gutierrez,” they replied, in near unison. He nodded and turned to join his Seek group. Though Fi knew they would all return here safely tomorrow evening, she still felt her stomach knot up as each person turned to leave. And now, the worst, she thought. She turned back to Asher and hugged him fiercely. Standing on her tiptoes, she touched her forehead to his and closed her eyes, feeling her breathing rise and fall to meet his. Meditating, they stayed for a time and listened to rhythm of their breath.

Fi broke the silence first. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“I know,” Asher said, his eyes still closed.

“Safe seek to you then Asher Grey, my love,” she said and leaned up to kiss him. When her lips met his, she felt her heart twist in a combination of joy and grief. His hands moved up to cradle her face and she pulled away and bit her lip. He pressed his forehead to hers once more and took a deep breath.

“Safe seek to you Fionualla Marie Kelly, my love,” he whispered and she shuddered. As she always did, she made herself pull away and walk toward her Seek group. She waved and smiled brightly as she walked away. You don’t say anything else, she knew. That was not the way the safety blessing worked. It had to be the last thing you said as you left.

----------- Fi -----------

Fi stood in front of the door to her school pod and took a deep breath. Through the window she could see the two small huddles of students already in the room. They were chatting, so it seemed like the teacher wasn’t there yet. Fi wished once again that Jose would be in school with her today. He had been coming to classes for a while, but this was Fi’s first since coming to Eden. Her heart was pounding harder than it ever had on a Seek and she felt clammy. Don’t be stupid she chided herself. It’s just school.

“Shit,” she said under her breath and turned the handle. The room was painted a cheerful robin’s egg blue rather than the drab grey of most pods. It was lit by soft halogens that mimicked daylight. Fi found in annoying. It was too bright. Some psychologist at Diaspora’s way to cheer up this windowless tank, she thought with irritation. There were long multi-person tables with chairs, and Fi spotted an empty table. She put her head down and walked quickly toward it and dropped into her seat with her head down.

There were about ninety children under the age of eighteen in Eden, which when divided up into age groups, made for a very small pond. Fi’s high school group included only thirty-two students, which was almost the number that had ridden the bus with her to her former school.

“That’s her, right?” she heard the whisper. Fi closed her eyes and sighed. It’s only been five seconds and already it had started. As soon as she found out that Jose couldn’t come with her today she should have skipped. It was Asher’s stupid fault that she was here, she thought, annoyed. If he hadn’t pled the case she’d be doing something…anything else. She sighed at the rustling around her. Now she regretted giving in. Two boys behind her continued their debate.

“Yeah, I think so, that’s the girl,” the second boy responded. He looked like he was a year or two older than her and was over six feet tall with thick dark hair. “At least I think so,” he continued. “Heard she had red hair anyway.”

“She can’t be the one,” the first boy whispered incredulously. He was a smaller boy, maybe younger, Fi thought, looking sideways so that they did not see her. He had narrow features and long shaggy brown hair, giving him a wolfish appearance. “Look at her!” the little wolf’s whisper was fierce with conviction. “Is she even five feet tall?” Before she could stop it a laugh burst from her throat, and she clapped her hand over her mouth. She didn’t want them to know she was listening, but she’d been unable to stop herself.

Heads swung around at the noise. Just then a tall man strode in through the door and the whispering stopped. Ah, Fi thought with gratitude. Now she would have peace. She wasn’t a fan of sitting in class and having a teacher drone at her, but she preferred that to small talk with the students. It’s not like I was a social butterfly before, she thought. Still, she wished Sean could be with her again, or Jose. She had kind of gotten used to having friends around her all day long. Though the thought was childish, she allowed herself to have it anyway. Sean was, once again, off changing the world with geniuses and their tablets and Jose was planning a hunt for an upcoming Seek.

Of course, Fi thought, I don’t really have to be here either. Once again, she grew mad at Asher. If he hadn’t insisted, there is no way she would have been sitting in this horrible little chair waiting to be bored out of her mind. The teacher laid his things near a desk at the front corner of the room and pulled out his tablet. He turned, his face flushed.

“Ok class,” he began. “We have a new student, so I’m going to do some introductions.” His hands pressed together in front of his chest and he interwove his fingers several times. He was fidgeting, Fi realized with a groan. This was not going her way.

“First,” he bowed his head in what seemed like deference, “I will introduce myself to our new arrival.” He stared straight at her and smiled. “I’m Dr. Anthony Darden,” he began and her eyebrows rose. A professor was teaching high school? “And I can’t tell you what a pleasure it is to have the opportunity to teach you,” his voice was fervent.

Jeez, Fi thought, annoyed, I can’t wait until everyone in Eden starts to ignore me like in the old world. From the corner of her eyes she saw the other students staring at her and sighed. Great. In an attempt at politeness she managed a wan smile. He nodded, satisfied.

“And now, though you all know this already,” he chuckled. “This is Fi Kelly,” he extended his hand to indicate her. Like they couldn’t tell who the new person was in a ten-person class, Fi thought. Despite his point that they had all known this already, there were still murmurs and whispers when he made it official with his introduction. A couple kids actually started to clap for goodness’ sakes, until they saw her face. She didn’t do a good job of hiding her horror. Though she tried to smile, it came out wrong. Everyone was watching her and she realized that they expected some kind of response.

“Um,” she began, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “Hello everyone,” she finished and dropped her eyes. God that was lame.

“Uh, well yes,” Dr. Darden stepped in, sensing her discomfort
finally
, she thought. “Well, we can all get to know each other later,” he said and turned to grab his tablet. “For now let’s get back to balancing equations.” Low groans filled the room while Fi sighed in relief. She hated balancing equations, but it was better than any more of this excruciating examination by the colonists. As she put her head down, she heard a whisper.

“Hey, Fi.” It was the first boy, the tall, older one. “Psssst, Fi,” he said and she turned reluctantly. “Want to come sit with us?”

Her heart sank. She didn’t know what to do. Even though she didn’t want to join them, saying ‘No’ would seem cold. Nodding, she grabbed her tablet and moved over to join the two boys and the two girls who were seated at the long table. With the numbers, she was still ‘odd girl out’ at the end of the table, which gave some relief. Dr. Darden issued an assignment and they began working on it at the table. The students were mostly nice, she thought. The two girls were named Sara and Lisa and the boys were Simon and Teddy, the little wolf. When they had a break because they’d finished ahead of the other group, Teddy broke their silence.

“So did you really survive out there for like two years?” he whispered to her across the table, his eyes wide, his gaze impressed. She saw that the others’ eyes were wide as well, though Simon’s expression was a little different. She nodded and they all exhaled. Fi’s heart sank lower. This was going to be a long day.

This time it was Sara. “I heard that you were in charge and that you, like, fought off grown men and stuff,” she said, not even really asking a question. Fi was surprised at Sara’s expression. Her dark eyes were intense and she seemed almost, well, excited. Fi felt pained, but there was no getting around the truth. She nodded again and Simon gave a low whistle that startled her.

She saw that he was grinning at her. Oh God, she thought, taking a deep breath. That was what was different about his expression. Now that she was a little older, she recognized attraction when she saw it. The whistle got Dr. Darden’s attention and he chastised them for getting ‘off-task’. They put their heads down and got back to work. Regardless, Fi knew that the floodgates were opening and that she would only get peace while they worked, and she was right.

Once class was over, the entire group of students
and
Darden gathered around her to ask questions. They were so excited, and she knew that they deserved news from Topside, but she just didn’t want to be the one to answer questions. Mostly she stuck to nods and one-word answers.

“Do you really have a gun?” Yes. “How did you learn to shoot it?” Shrug. “Did you ever shoot anyone?” Yes. That was a tough one, her stomach had knotted up answering that question, but she couldn’t lie. “Did you fight off a platoon of soldiers?” No. “Were you starving?” Mostly.

“I heard that both your parents died of Sickness,” someone began and then was shushed by Darden. At least he realized the limits of personal questions, Fi thought angrily. I’m not a lab rat to be poked. Just then the door opened and in swept Asher, to Fi’s great joy and relief. Her face lit up into her first real smile of the day.

“It was nice to meet you all,” she said brightly, grabbing her bag and running toward the door. Asher stopped her at the door by blocking it with his arm, and she frowned at him in confusion. Didn’t he realize that she was desperate to leave? Knowing full well that everyone was staring at them, he leaned down and gave her a soft, lingering, kiss. Gasps filled the room and she smiled into his lips as he kissed her. She covered a small laugh with her hand as she pulled away. “Oh,” she whispered, glad that he was so demonstrative now.

“Hello my love,” he murmured and pulled her close as she melted into his side. With his arm around her, he turned her toward the door and took one last glance over his shoulder at the students. As they walked out he asked her, “Did you have a good first class?” The door shut behind them and the entire roomful of people stared at the door, stunned.

Lisa spoke first, her voice breathy. “Who the hell was that?”

Simon answered with a frown. “That must be the guy…with the sword.” His tone was wry. “Asher, I think.” He shook his head. “Obviously her boyfriend,” his disappointment was palpable.

Lisa echoed him. “Yeah,” she sighed, “obviously.”

----------- Fi -----------

Life in the colony stabilized for the Family, making Fi a little sad and wistful at times. As much as she loved her new life, she also missed having her Family around her. That was why she was so excited that they had all decided to have Christmas together. The door to her pod slid open behind her and Asher floated into the room.

“Hey Ash,” she grinned and gestured him over to the bed to sit. There was only one other tiny chair in the room, so the bed often doubled as a couch. “I have a surprise for you,” she said in her best mysterious voice. His eyebrows rose as he approached and leaned in to give her a soft kiss before sitting on the bed.