The Dreaming: Dark Star (Book 5)

11.3. The return

They'd drank two bottles of water each and Liran's belly felt like it was going to explode. Despite that, he felt quite comfortable, and knew there would be hours to wait until they would start hiking, so he decided to try and make some small talk.

"What's it like in the city?" he asked finally, realising this might be his only chance to ask someone who'd actually been there.

Akim frowned, and turned to Liran and said, "It's nice."

"Nice? That's it?" Liran prompted.

"It's nice," Akim shrugged. "Look, I'm not supposed to divulge details of the city to suspected terrorists who have destroyed it in the future."

"Oh please!" Liran groaned. "I haven't done anything, and don't intend to. I'm not a terrorist!" He kicked the ground. "Come on! Just tell me. Tell me what it's like there."

Akim sighed. "Alright, but I'll only tell you stuff that doesn't matter." Akim leaned forward and set up the watercatcher against a rock, balancing the bottle so it wouldn't fall when the bubble deployed.

When it was secured, he leaned back and said, "Well, first off, you don't need water-catchers. There's water everywhere. We have rivers and lakes, and the ocean is all around the city. Inside the city, there are fountains on every block. Some are small and you use them one at a time, some are large enough that your whole village could fit inside."

Liran could hardly imagine. Even on the coast, where there was water as far as the eye could see out in the ocean, people still struggled to find sweet water to drink.

Akim grabbed his bag and started digging around in it. He pulled out two small packages wrapped in shiny metal and used his teeth to open one package, and revealed a small brown bar that looked to Liran like a square turd. When Akim took a small bite of it, that's when he realised it was food.

"What is that?" Liran asked with desire.

"A meal bar." Akim chewed and threw the other shiny, metallic package at Liran, then he continued, "And you don't eat meal bars. We eat real food - strawberries, apples, lettuce, cinnamon buns..."

"What are cinnamon buns?" Liran asked. He looked down at the heavy little shiny package. "A meal bar?" Liran repeated, his tone sceptical and a look of curiosity on his face. His mouth filled with saliva, and he quickly ripped open the package, and immediately sank his teeth into the thick, chewy bar.

"Take a smaller bite!" Akim yelled. "You'll kill yourself! It expands slowly after contact with saliva. Spit that out and take a small bite." Akim took a tiny bite of his bar to demonstrate, "and chew it very slowly, like this."

Liran spat out the huge bite he'd taken into his palm - it was already expanding - and took a smaller portion back into his mouth. He started chewing; it was a bland flavour - slightly sweet, slightly salty, but the texture was pleasant. It was an odd sensation to feel the food expanding in his mouth as he chewed.

After the small disruption, Akim continued talking about food. "A cinnamon bun is a soft, chewy piece of bread with lots of cinnamon and sugar and nuts inside."

"Like ma'amoul?"

"No, much softer, like a pillow or a woman's breast."

Liran laughed and Akim joined him.

Liran wanted to keep Akim talking. This was his chance to learn firsthand from an Iddy, a situation he should take advantage of. "So what else do you guys got in the city?" he asked.