Lacuna

Chapter 6

The following morning, Kahli took the completed device back to Dawa and Aadit at the tree farm.

"Will this actually work?" Dawa asked skeptically as he looked over the device.

"I'm afraid of using relics," Aadit said warily. "The church told us to use as little of them as possible. Bad things happen when they're used."

"You're afraid of everything," Dawa said with a roll of his eyes. "We have no other choice." He turned to Kahli with a nod. "Go ahead and try it."

Kahli shrugged and turned on the device. A loud sound was emitted from the speaker and the panbats reacted just as Merlin said they would. Frightened by the loud noise, they took off screeching, leaving the tree farm and heading back into the safety of the swamp.

"They actually left!" Dawa cheered. "I can't believe it! We owe ya one!"

"I'm surprised," Aadit mused. "Maybe I'll order a couple more of those from you in the future."

"We can't celebrate yet," Dawa said. "Now that the panbat issue has been resolved, we need to move quickly to heal our trees. The panbats took a lot of water and nutrients. We need a fast way of restoring them. Up for the job?"

"Well, that's what I'm here for, isn't it?" Kahli said. "Got any idea what you may need?"

"Petra mentioned she knew something about an irrigation system before. Maybe you two can come up with something."

Petra was either going to be her best friend by the end of this, or annoyed at the mere sight of her. Kahli hoped their relationship would lean more toward friendship, but she was sure time would tell.

She made her way to the research center once more and explained the situation to Petra.

"Something to revive the trees?" she said. "The ancients used many elaborate irrigation systems. I read quite a bit about them. You'll need a small engine, though. You should be able to find some in the ruins."

And to the ruins she went. She was used to the back and forth, now, especially as she started to take on more work. Go here, do that, build this, get that part. It kept her busy, at the very least, and though it left her arms sore the next day, she was sure Arlo would be impress with the new muscle soon enough.

Not that she cared to impress him. She didn't care if she impressed anyone, really. Still, as she worked tirelessly, and alone, in the ruins, she couldn't help her wandering mind. Whether it was Arlo, or Emily's incessant teasing on whether she liked him or not, or his relationship with Nora, whatever that was. She thought about the life that the people of Portia already had here, feeling like an intruder. And when her thoughts turned negative like that, they usually turned to her father. Where was he now? What was he doing? How did he feel about everything? About her? And why did he reach out to her, anyway?

She tried to push these thoughts aside especially. They were thoughts that occupied her mind far too often, late at night, or when she was working away in the workshop. It was all the same thoughts, the same unanswered questions, and it only made her grow more and more frustrated.

When she got to that point, she often shifted focus to the animals at the ranch. She had passed them a few times already; the horses, the cows, the sheep and the chickens. She decided she wanted to save up some money, build a barn and a coop and get a couple of each. A horse, at the very least, could help her with some of her larger projects, carrying them from place to place.

She had always had a soft spot for animals, though she was never privileged to have any of her own. Due to her aunt's allergies, she couldn't even have a dog to offer her companionship. And she would be damned it she couldn't at least have a dog to keep her company in the workshop.