Phoenix

Island

The island was bursting with intrigue. From the tips of the treetops, to the underground nooks and crannies, nothing was without hidden wonders. Ollie, Jacob and Apple attempted to show her everything they could in as small amount of time as possible, and by evening, Ash returned to Phoenix House as exhausted as if she'd undergone another induction.

She'd seen everything from secret cubby houses, to hummingbird sanctuaries. She'd been shown where the vines were long enough to swing from one side of the river to the other and where hundreds of butterfly pupae cocooned under leaves, deep in metamorphosis. Children her age and younger smoked out beehives to collect the honey and plugged the rubber trees for resin. Every Wanderer had a job to do, young and old, whether it was fishing, hunting, gathering, cooking, washing, cleaning, building or repairing dormitories.

Ash's favourite place had been the gardens, dotted about the island where the soil was richest. It was where the Wanderers harvested the food products that couldn't be naturally sourced—everything from herbs and vegetables to fruit trees. Apple had explained that it was the Terra Flora house that took care of the gardens as they were the ones that understood the soil best. Respectively, Phoenix House did most of the cooking, Aqua Mizuri the fishing, and Spiritus managed a small wind farm being developed to pump fresh river water to each of the houses and the gardens.

Apple plucked vegetables from the earth for Ash to try until she felt dizzy from the overload of new flavours and smells. Her favourite vegetable became Bittercup, a small orange bean that oozed a sweet, slightly tangy liquid that changed flavour as she chewed—going from bitter to sweet to sour and back to bitter again. Her second favourite was a small, red flower, given to her by Gunner, who'd been busy plucking weeds from a vegetable patch when they'd passed. Upon sucking the sweet sap from the stem, a warm, waxy substance coated her tongue and slid down her throat, inducing a surreal calmness, similar to the feeling she'd had when drinking Shorty's tea.

Gunner took the flower from her mouth. "Not too much, Sprout. Dartstrom is good for alleviating stress, but drink too much of it and you'll end up like Shorty." He winked. "With no fear."

Apple rolled her eyes. "It all makes sense now."

Ollie looked at her, aghast. "Takes more than a bit of Dartstrom to be as brave as Shorty."

Apple snorted. "Would you call it bravery or stupidity?"

Ollie glared. "Leave off. Shorty's my idol. I wish he was in Phoenix House."

They'd proceeded to bicker about the difference between bravery and stupidity all the way back to Phoenix House, by which time, their arguing had became like the wind through the trees, a background noise, barely noticeable and yet, somehow, comforting.

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