Rey Kanata is a senior in high school, a girl from the city who just moved into the country life surrounding Mishawaka, IN. When she takes a class in Agricultural Science as the only elective needed in order to graduate, her life changes irrevocably...
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"Okay, I think that's the last of it," Maz sighed, acknowledging the sound of her niece's feet shuffling over the living room's carpet before Rey entered the kitchen. Cupping a hand over her cheek, her eyes shifted over the contents in the travel bag for a final inspection prior to closing it up. "Hopefully I'm not forgetting anything."
"At least it's just for the four days this time, right?" Rey sniffed, her voice laden with fatigue as she advanced straight to the fridge. Reaching for the half gallon of orange juice that was snuggled between the syrup bottle and coffee creamer on the refrigerator door bottom shelf, she continued to add for Maz's reassurance, "And you'll be at the seminar for the most part, anyways."
Maz nodded, "Yes, but I'm talking about the numerous times that I've forgotten prescriptions, shirts – underwear."
Rey snorted loudly, though the act made her wince in reaction to the sharp sting from the sore throat she'd woken up to. She'd been in a slight daze the entire day before, exerting a sniffle here and there with a scratchy throat. Now, the pain was ten times worse after taking a sip from the small glass of pulp-free vitamin C that the content had been poured into, rendering a concerned gaze from Maz as she looked to her niece from the bag on the dining room table top.
"Are you alright there, kiddo?" Maz asked, her furrowed brows triggering a genuine look of concern to spread over her features.
Rey nodded, grimacing, "just a little sore throat is all. I'm sure it'll pass."
"Huh," Maz hummed, pressing a forefinger knuckle to her lips in thought. "Do you have a lot of drainage? Or a fever?"
Rey shook her head, regarding the latter half of the question. She did wake up to some chills that morning, but quickly blamed it on the fact that Maz refused to turn the heat on even though the evening temperatures had been dropping into the mid 30s. And Rey might have stubbornly worn a tank top with a pair of cherry-garnished sleep pants the night before, so being a little chilled was certainly to be expected.
Plus, she and Ben had discussed going to the ranch later after school. No school meant not going to the ranch, and not going to either meant not getting to see Ben. Which for Rey, it wasn't an option, considering if she was on her deathbed she'd willingly crawl to school if it meant getting to see him.
"Yes, and no – to the fever that is," Rey affirmed, shrugging. "It could just be allergies though, I guess?"
"True," Maz agreed with a curt nod. "You've been spending a lot of time in the countryside as of late. It could just be that you're not use to getting so much open fresh air. Plus, it's the beginning of harvest season. You could be allergic to whatever is floating around in the air at this moment."
