A Time Story

Chapter 9- part 1

She opens her eyes, and the world came alive with color. The grass is a million feathers as she lies there, at peace with the forest grove. Even though the dirt is course, its embrace is just as sweet. Sunlight enters the evergreen thicket revealing an explosion of blended colors. Amber, brown, tortilla, and green join together in soothing harmony. The most pine air and sounds of the forest add more to the earthly picture. The patter of a stream, the chirps from the trees, the rustling of the leaves.

"Blleaggue!!" makes an unusual noise. It wasn't among the sounds of the forest. In fact, it was Zoe who threw up a bit of a ways from her.

"Up Rylan, were losing daylight," Soma orders.

How strange. In that moment, Rylan must have forgotten her name. Or maybe it was only her imagination. Rylan might not have been thinking of her name at that moment.

Soma turns to Zoe, "That's what you get for not reviewing the rules on teleportation! Serves you right for all the trouble you put us through."

Rylan forgets her previous grievance and goes over to help her.

"Are you okay?" Rylan asks in a kind voice. She holds Zoe up so she doesn't fall down.

"Yeah," Zoe gags, "that felt... really awful."

"If you two are done making out, we've got ground to cover," Soma strides onward.

"But, why the hurry?" asks Rylan. "Are we late or... something?" Rylan suddenly remembers that Soma hates questions.

"I hate wasting time," she says. "Of all the things you have, it's the worst one to lose."

As they travel down a dirt road, Rylan becomes fully absorbed by her surroundings. She hears every scrunching step, every acorn fall to the ground. The animals go about their business, separate yet one with the forest. Their chatter forms a silent greeting, as if nature welcomes their arrival. And despite her unnatural origin, Rylan feels apart of this harmony too. Something here loves Rylan in a way she cannot understand, without any visible source, without a mother to hold her close. The trees sing them a lullaby as the reach the forest edge.

When they pass the last tree, the path winds across a wide-open field. Rylan feels life breathe all around her, through every blade of grass. A pretty green glow permeates each one, dripping with mildew from a previous rainstorm. Yellow flowers bring them company, their patches scattered far and wide. Some flowers are white with tiny seeds that soar with the wind. They pass oak trees dotting the path, stretching to the shoreline ahead. The field is surrounded by forests except on their right where lights glitter a distant land. And above, Rylan lays her eyes upon the endless blue sky. Fluffy clouds travel across, each soft enough to lay on. Rylan would fly up there if she wasn't afraid of heights, and making Soma mad.

"If you fly away, I'll sever your legs!" Soma warns. "Until we anchor, stay as far away from other people as possible. No walking towards anyone else! No talking to anyone else! Don't even look at anyone else!"

Zoe flew away on her hoverdisk during Soma's speech. Rylan sees her zoom off towards the lights in the distance.

"No! You idiot!! GET BACK HERE!!!" Soma flies after her and they disappear over the ridge.

"You can explore if you like," Theo tells Rylan. "Just stay in the field."

And Rylan happy does. She hops and rolls in the field as the child within her springs to life. The field's slopes are the most fun to roll from. Her laughter seems to agree. She explores the grass several times and finds a pretty red insect with black spots. A yellow flower sits beside it, which Rylan picks and stores in her sphere. Near the dirt path, she sees insects marching in and out of a dirt mound. Each one takes a piece of a cracker and carries it to their tiny home. Rylan looks up when she hears a yellow bird land a couple decimeters away. It flies away when Rylan bounds towards it. Perhaps it was shy.