Sethe walked over her to Octavia. “Octavia…”
Octavia looked up from collecting sticks for a fire. “Yes?”
“Are you ok?”
Octavia blinked. “I think so…?”
Sethe laughed. “You can’t be ok, you’re pregnant!”
“I’m aware of that fact.” Octavia said, confused.
“Well aren’t you in pain?”
“…not right now, no.”
Sethe frowned. “Isn’t it supposed to be painful?”
“What’s with all these questions?” Octavia asked.
“I guess I’ve just been thinking… you aren’t too much older than me… am I going to have a family soon? Will it hurt to be pregnant?”
“Well it hurts sometimes but you’ll be fine. Also I’m not sure, you should start a family when you feel like it… or when God impresses you to.” Octavia paused. “You aren’t even married though-”
“Bye!” Sethe ran off.
~ ~ ~
Kaila walked over to Izara.
“Hi!” Kaila said happily.
“Hi!” Izara responded, a little sad sounding.
“So… uh, I know you already told me your story, but I was wondering, what, or how, do you feel about Adrian?” Kaila finally said.
“Well… I like him, I suppose.” Izara paused. “I do think he’s a fine man, but he struggles like us all.”
“That’s pretty deep.”
“Not really. You could say that about everyone.” Izara continued cleaning Lucida’s room.
“But… do you like him?”
“Asking a slave if he likes his master is a weird question to ask. I really don’t know him that well.”
“You know, everyone tells me that you’re all rainbows and sunshine. But I think you’re a really normal person.”
Izara laughed. “I try to be optimistic. My mother told me to always have a smile on my face and a song in my heart. It’s hard sometimes, but whenever I’m sad, I look at this necklace my mother gave me.” Izara put down her piece of cloth she was cleaning with and reached down her chest. She pulled up a slightly pink colored necklace. “This keeps me through the day.”
Kaila smiled. “I appreciate you trusting me enough to tell me something like that.”
“I don’t really keep secrets, but I do trust you. You’re smile is kind.”
Kaila smiled wider. “Thanks! I really hope you have a good day!” And she walked off. There. I have all I need to confront that rat.
~ ~ ~
Octavia put down her blanket and lied down in their little “house,” made of sticks and leaves. Her and Sethe shared a “house,” Bardo shared one with one of his crewmen, Josh shared one with another crewman, and the rest of the crewman stayed in little houses. There were about 30 crewmen, so there were about 15-20 houses. Octavia missed Josh, but Sethe was also good company. It was funny when Octavia thought about it, Sethe and her were only about 3 years apart, but Sethe seemed like more of a daughter to Octavia. Maybe not a daughter, but Octavia had to mature in those years of her and Josh beginning a new life in Shem Hadar. Sethe walked in the “house.”
“Hi, Octavia. How’s the baby?” Sethe asked.
“Fine.” Octavia smiled. “How are you and Bardo?”
Sethe blushed. “What?”
“I saw you both talking to each other the other day.” Octavia smiled with that look of ‘I-know-you-like-him-so-don’t-bother-trying-to-hide-it’ face.
“Noooo… it’s not like that.” Sethe said, quite sure in her story.
“Are you sure?” Octavia asked.
“Yeah. Really, I feel embarrassed around him. Uncomfortable-”
“So basically you have a crush on him?” Octavia smiled.
“NO!”
Octavia laughed.
“No, really, Octavia…” Sethe sighed. “Never-mind…”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize the idea of you two repulsed you so much.”
“It’s not that, I don’t see us together, but I don’t even see how he could think of me as a human…”
“I don’t think I understand.” Octavia said, quite perplexed.
“I killed him! I killed one of his crewmen! When I didn’t go down under the ship, one of the crewmen grabbed on to me and tried to hold on, but he couldn’t! It was all my fault!” Sethe began crying hard.
Octavia was shocked. “I’m… ummm…” Octavia sighed. “When I escaped, I felt guilty too. Some people think you have to have a heart of stone to be able to make it in this world, but I don’t think that’s the case. Having feeling will help you move on, in the end… that doesn’t really make sense, but I guess for me it does.”
Sethe didn’t respond, but after calming down, fell asleep. Octavia had nightmares that night of Rebecca’s beautiful face getting clawed by a lion. She awoke screaming, but realized it was a dream. Was it the right decision to go back to Rome? Maybe I was too impulsive…