Community Gardens (A Keeper of the Lost Cities story)

Community Gardens

"𝒀𝒐𝒖'𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒚𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒃
𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖?
𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒅?"
                          - 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙶𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚜, 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝙹𝚘𝚔𝚎𝚜

    content warning: illness, mentions of death

    "Hello," Sophie smiled as a young boy, who couldn't have been more than twelve walked into her tent. His Exillium uniform was much too big for him, and he was wearing the hood, which hung so low on his face Sophie wondered if he could even see. He was Ambi, with the purple handprints on both of his arms. "What seems to be the issue?"

Sophie had permanently retired from both Team Valiant and the Black Swan ever since the war with the Neverseen had ended almost ten years ago. Stina led Team Valiant now, and the Black Swan was run by the new Collective, which consisted of Maruca, Biana, Dex, Rex, and Linh. Sophie herself ran the medical tent at Exillium, helping kids who were just trying to survive. After she had acquired a particularly nasty injury when she was seventeen, she began to pay attention to the medicine Elwin and Livvy gave her. She asked questions about the ingredients, the healing process, everything. Eventually, when the war ended when she was nineteen, Elwin offered her an apprenticeship. She worked diligently with him till she was twenty-two, when she got a job at the Exillium medical tent.

The boy pulled back his hood, revealing ice blue eyes and messy blond hair. Sophie almost flinched, but reminded herself that it wasn't him. He had been gone fourteen years, and was much older now. "It's my sister," he said, in a quiet, nervous voice. "She's really sick, and couldn't even come to school today."

Sophie nodded, already pulling together a bag of elixirs that she might need. "I'll see what I can do. What's your name, by the way?"

"Astin." Of course. Astin. Not Keefe. Ever since the second Mr. Forkle's death, and the Council declaring him a hero, the name had risen in popularity, along with Errol, Loki, Leto, and many more of his alibis.

"Well, Astin, my name's Sophie. Could you bring me to your sister?"

Astin shifted on his feet. "Won't I not get my bead for tomorrow if we leave?"

"I'll talk to Coach Rohana," Sophie assured him. "Stay right there." Coach Rohana had been her instructor when she had gone to Exillium, and Sophie was sure she'd let Astin go.

She left the medical tent, coming over towards Coach Rohana. It was lunch, so everyone, including the coaches, were outside. Coach Rohana was levitating a fruit around to entertain some younger kids. When she saw Sophie she stopped, said something to the kids, and walked over.

    "Hello," the woman said smiling kindly. "Is there anything I can help you with?" Despite her rough exterior when Sophie had attended Exillium, Rohana was quite kind once you got to know her.

    "Yes, actually," Sophie said. "Do you know Astin, the Ambi? Apparently his sister is sick and I need him to bring me to her so that she can get help."

    Rohana nodded, pulling something out of her pocket. " Of course. Here, take these," she said, pressing two beads into Sophie's hand. "For Astin tomorrow, and for when his sister comes back." Sophie thanked the woman and went back to her tent, where Astin was nervously fiddling with his bead necklace. It was a single loop, so he couldn't have been there for years, but it had still been a long time. Why the poor kid was there, Sophie couldn't imagine.

    "Your coach says it's fine," Sophie said, handing him the beads. He tucked them into his boot, reminding her of Amy. For reasons unknown to Sophie, Amy had always liked to keep her money in her shoe, making it slightly damp and smelly when she took it out. Sophie had always thought it was gross, but now she smiled softly, remembering the sister that she hadn't seen in years.