Lacuna

Chapter 3

Kahli hesitated as she walked the road back to the house. Sitting on the fence was a young, blonde, freckled face woman, and she greeted Kahli with a bright smile as she approached. She jumped off the fence.

"You must be Kahli!"

"I think you've mistaken be for the other new chick in town," Kahli said with a smirk.

The woman laughed. "I'm Emily! I'm your neighbor. I live with my grandmother right up there at the farm! I wanted to introduce myself and give you this." She dug through a bag at her feet and pulled out a pie. "Granny made it for you. She would have come herself, but she has a hard time getting around. But she's excited to meet you, so come by sometime, yeah?"

Kahli took the pie from Emily. "What if I'm a serial killer?"

"Ha! Well, just make sure you tell Gran you liked the pie, first, okay?"

"Unless this is all a plot to get rid of me," Kahli said. "She poisoned the pie, didn't she?"

Emily grinned and rolled her eyes. "She may have added a... secret ingredient."

"Is it love?"

Emily laughed. "So, I know you've only been here for like, a day, but how do you like Portia so far?"

"It's nice," Kahli said. "I'm not used to seeing so much greenery."

"Where did you live before?"

"Barnarock."

Emily nodded. "Ah, yep. You're not in Barnarock anymore, girl. But everyone here's really nice."

"Hm," Kahli started. "Even that Higgins guy?"

"Well, everyone else." She laughed. "Who have you met so far?"

Kahli pinched her lips together as she tried to recall some names. "Well, Presley and Gale. And, uh, Antoine. And Arlo. And some other names were mentioned, but I haven't met them. Petra and... Merlin? And Sam and Remington."

"Ah, yes, the good ol' Corps. You'll see a lot of them as they make their patrols. Arlo is the leader of the Portia branch here." She leaned in and nudged Kahli with her elbow. "And he's not bad to look at, either."

Kahli blushed. "Well, alright, then."

Emily laughed. "I hear he's single."

"That's... good to know."

Emily pushed herself back onto the fence. "There's a few cute guys around," she continued on. "Have you met Dr. Xu?" She sighed dreamily. "Gotta love a good looking doctor, am I right?"

"I guess."

"Unless women are more your style," she continued. "There's Phyllis." She whistled. "Beauty and brains, that one. She works with Dr. Xu. Sam, of course. She's a fun, spunky little thing. And Petra. Very smart. Very cute."

"I should probably just date 'em all," Kahli said.

Emily shrugged. "Might as well." She grinned. "Unless... you've got someone back in Barnarock?"

Kahli shook her head. "Nope. I, uh, don't have the best dating history."

"Are you the crazy type?"

"I like to think I'm low on the crazy scale." Kahli shrugged. "Just never had a relationship that lasted for more than a few months. They always end up being weird or assholes or boring."

Emily laughed. "Well, I think everyone here is pretty normal and interesting. You'll see. And I get the sense you're interesting, too. You'll be liked around here."