Kaila woke up before the sun rose. She felt a butterfly of nervousness in her heart, but she knew she was going to do what she needed to do. She dressed, put her hair in a bun, and braced herself. She knew she had a look of determination on when Aviana looked twice at her. “Are you feeling ok?” Eliana asked.
“I’ve never been better.” Kaila said, calmly. She felt calm even though she could feel her heart racing.
~ ~ ~
Sethe sat down, looking into the sky. She could hear the buzz of everyone walking around, talking. Sethe wanted to ask them all about their travels, but she couldn’t seem to get up. Almost as if her life was on pause. She couldn’t move, she could only breathe and blink.
“Do you do this often?” Sethe heard a voice behind her.
She turned around to look. Of course, it was Bardo.
“Do you always startle people?” Sethe asked, slightly annoyed and remembering that Bardo was most likely around her age, making her feel less intimidated.
Bardo shrugged. He sat down next to her. “What’s wrong with you?”
Sethe didn’t say anything, but looked down.
Bardo just sat there looking at her. She sighed heavily. “You’re not going to leave until I tell you, right?”
“I’ve got nothing to do, so pretty much.” Bardo said.
Sethe looked at Bardo. She opened her mouth, and then closed it. “I always talk. Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?”
“Then will you just tell me, so we can get this sad Sethe over with?” Bardo asked.
“Maybe.”
“What do you want to know?”
“What are your parents like? Where do they live?”
“Well, my father and mother are nice people. They live in Alexandria.”
Sethe’s jaw dropped. “ALEXANDRIA? I’ve always wanted to see that place!”
“It’s beautiful. Full of items from every country you could think of. It inspired me to see the world in which those items had come from.”
Sethe felt a rush of excitement, but then remembered why she was sad. “Well… that’s nice.”
Bardo frowned. “Your turn to answer some questions.”
Sethe looked down at her lap. “Well-”
“Sethe, stop, I just want to help you.” Bardo said, and it felt like he was being sincere. But of course, Sethe wasn’t going to give in that easily. She began crying and ran off to her tent. “This is why I never got married. Women are so strange.” Bardo said under his breath.
~ ~ ~
Kaila walked up to the guards confidently. They stopped her from walking to Adrian’s room. “Oh, but Adrian requested me to visit him.” They knew this was probable, so they asked Adrian, and he allowed her to enter.
“Well, I wouldn’t have guessed you would come to me, but I don’t mind.” Adrian smiled, so cocky that Kaila restrained herself from loosing her calm composure. She walked towards Adrian with all the confidence in the world. “Adrian, I think I’ve finally figured out why you… are the way you are.” He looked quite unamused, but said nothing.
“You seemed kind, when I first met you. Then I found out you were a rat.”
Adrian still stood still, barely blinking.
“But… how had I seen such an angel? I believe that’s because deep down you are… perhaps. There’s something about you that is still… good.”
Adrian grabbed Kaila’s hand. “Can we stop talking about me?”
She squeezed his hand and smiled coyly. “No, I don’t think so.” She released it and walked to another corner of the room, back turned. “What makes you who you are, Adrian? What happened to make you a mixture of evil and good?”
Adrian wasn’t looking at Kaila anymore. He looked like a little boy, getting scolded by his mother.
Kaila was suddenly filled with reminders of all the things he had done. “Aviana, such a strong woman, filled with a good future. Stolen by…” Kaila walked over to Adrian. “…you.” She walked away to another corner. “Me?” Kaila turned to face the wall. “I was a little girl who knew nothing about anything, innocent, only thinking there was evil and good in the world. Now I realize that there are people who have a mixture of good and evil, and you are one of them.”
Kaila turned to question Adrian. “And, why do you allow them to say cruel things about you? You never hurt them physically when they threaten you. Why?” Kaila walked up to Adrian and cupped his face with her hands. He looked at her, eyes filled with obvious hurt. Kaila didn’t know whether to feel sorry or satisfied. Even though she had recited the words she was going to say, she couldn’t remember anything, looking at a cruel man who had something hurt inside of him. He did nothing but stare at her. He didn’t give any answer, he just stood there, arms crossed. She looked up at him and even though she tried to feel happy about his sadness, she could only feel his sadness and feel pity towards him. She didn’t know what to do, so she kissed him, and just stood for a while. They looked frozen. Neither moved an inch, and finally Kaila released her hands from his face, and walked away. He opened the door for her, and she walked away.
~ ~ ~
It was the afternoon, and Josiah began collecting firewood for the night. Octavia snuck up behind him. “HEY!” Octavia said loudly, startling Josiah and making him drop the firewood. “Oh, I’m sorry!” Octavia apologized and helped him pick them up. “It’s fine, just startled because I haven’t seen you in so long.”
“It’s just been a few days,” Octavia laughed. “Don’t act like it’s been years.”
Josiah smiled, and they just stood there, appreciating some quiet time together. Octavia finally looked down. “Josiah… I had another nightmare…”
Josiah put all the firewood in one arm and put the other around Octavia. She leaned into him as she began to cry softly. He stroked her hair to calm her down, but didn’t ask any questions. He knew that it would only make her more stressed out, plus he knew it was about Rebecca.
“I… what if I was too hasty?” Octavia looked up at Josiah, runny nose and red eyes.
Josiah grabbed the bottom of his tunic and wiped her nose. “Octavia, I really believe God brought us back. I was hesitant myself, but being here, I think we’ve got an amazing opportunity to talk about God with these others. I’ve been a little scared to say anything, but I’m going to try to.”
Octavia smiled and pressed her face into his chest before taking a few steps back. “I’ve missed you a lot too.” All of the sudden Octavia saw Sethe crying in the stick-hut. She could barely see, but the way the sticks bended showed a crying Sethe.
“Sethe?” Josiah asked.
“Yes… I’m going to talk to her. She’s been very emotional lately.”
“Wow, she likes Bardo that much?”
“I said that too!” Octavia laughed. “But it might be a little more serious. But actually, she seems to feel guilty for a certain dead sailor?”
“Oh… I can hear the sailors talk about him at night. They don’t blame Sethe, though. I am quite shocked how nice these sailors are, I always thought they would be so rough, but I guess not these.”
“It’s not a matter of facts for a woman, but I’ll try.”
“Why are you women so weird?” Josiah asked.
“Ugh. You married one so maybe you like the weirdness.”
Josiah laughed as Octavia walked away.