Nature Rules - 2022 WATTY'S SHORTLIST

What If, What If, What If

Crinae and I have an uneventful morning and at class, we're improving. I'm not making the amount of mess I did even yesterday. Mr. Cho gives us a smile or two to show his approval. I grin back. I'm relaxed and so is my sister. At the end of the day, the teacher gives us a high five and tells us to keep up the good work.

"Maybe we'll be moved into another class without the babies," Crinae says when we're walking home.

"Maybe," I say. "We still got lots more stuff to learn though."

"Maybe. Hey, think we can go outside for a bit?"

"As long as we go out the front and not the back."

We've learned that Aeternians like Crinae, Illuminaes, can give vitamin D to others through skin contact. But she needs to have exposure to real sunlight in order to refresh her levels. Before arriving at Nakimu we were outside a lot and weren't in dire need of sun. Here, we're always underground. Nakimite Illuminaes have a guarded section of outdoor space where they can recharge under the orange tinted sky.

The outdoor space was cut out of the cave and into the side of the mountain. The terrace is high above Cougar Valley and from it; you can see the trail down to Nakimu. The space is highly guarded by watchmen and if there's any sort of threat from Motos everyone's ushered inside. Only 20 people at a time are allowed out into the open air.

The terrace is small and consists of hard packed dirt stomped down by thousands of feet. Five sentinels are on top of the rise and walk the perimeter. When anything moves outside the cave walls, they're responsible for getting us back under ground.

Lots of people want to go outside and there's always a lineup at the "green space" entrance. Those coming back inside push through the crowd. No one is polite.

"Ouch," I say to a man who steps on my foot as he barges by. He grunts at me but doesn't say he's sorry. Jerk.

Crinae is shoved against a wall and separated from me. I fight my way back through the fray and grab her hand to pull her along with me. I end up stepping on someone else's foot in the melee. At least I say I'm sorry.

Everyone gets 20 minutes on the terrace and it's timed by a guard. As we inch closer to the door, I see two people in the yard are jogging on the spot while some others are doing jumping jacks. It takes some of the boredom of the wait away. But not much.

We wait and wait and wait. At last, Crinae and I get out into the air. It feels great to be out in the open and breathe in the faint and familiar smoky odour of charred earth. We're lucky today because the air is somewhat clean. Some days there's thick smog that coats our lungs. The stench is worse during the warm season.

A few minutes of running around the small enclosure and I'm panting in the heat. "I'm done," I say.

"Come on!" Crinae says, running circles around me. "It's fun."

I don't want to jog but I also don't want to leave her alone.

Huffing and puffing some minutes later, I have had more than enough.

"That's it," I order. "I want to stop."

"Ah," she whines.

"It's time for homework anyway."

"Mr. Cho told us it's not due until three days from now."

The sound of screeching and metal on metal ends our argument and invades our workout. It's not coming from the line-up. It's coming from the trail below us. The green space guards are standing still and watching something over the wall.