The Iron Skeleton

Chapter 17

Brant yawned and sat up in his bed, awakened by the whooshing sound of his door sliding open. Keira padded into his quarters with a tray in her hands. A teapot, two cups, a jar of honey, and some spoons sat atop the platter.

Keira sat down gently on the edge of the bed, the tray resting in her lap. "Hey," she began with a smile, "you slept well, I hope?"

Brant rubbed his eyes. "I did. How'd you know I'd be awake just now, though?"

She shrugged. "It's been a couple hours, so I figured you'd either be awake already, or wouldn't be too bothered if I woke you up."

"Well, this time, your timing was impeccable. Now, what've you got here, tea?"

Keira nodded. "Yep! I've got green, black, and Aaron's favorite, Klovanian nettle."

"I'll take the nettle."

"Sure thing. How much honey?"

Brant shook his head. "I don't like sweet stuff."

"What kind of alien are you?" Keira asked with a giggle as she poured boiling water into his cup.

"We're all aliens to someone, aren't we?"

"I guess that's true. Speaking of which, where're you from?"

Brant smirked. "Klovania."

"Ah, so that's why you so readily...gotcha." Keira paused while she poured water into her own cup and stirred in a spoonful of honey. "So, what's Klovania like?"

"It's hard to summarize." Brant said thoughtfully, "Certainly not a land to breed quitters and wimps."

"Huh. Why's that?"

"Well, to put it simply, every plant and animal in the land is out to kill you. If you're gonna venture outside the town, you'd better know exactly what you're doing."

Keira nodded. "I guess I can see the deadly animals part, but how do the plants seek to kill you?"

"Every single one of them is covered in thorns, thistles, poison, some sort of mechanism to hurt or kill. And they benefit from heavy clustering, too. You can just walk around a single bush, but when you've got a hundred sprawling across a whole field, you've got a problem."

"Wow, that's insane!"

"It is." Brant replied, nodding gratefully as he took the steaming cup from her hands. "And where're you from? Somewhere more so-called civilized?"

"Oh yeah, for sure. I'm from Commercia myself. You ever been there?"

He nodded. "A few times, yes. It's not half bad."

Keira giggled. "Well, it's certainly more than half good, too! I do have to say though, it's a bit crowded for my liking."

"Well, when everybody wants to live in one place, things start to clog up."

"Yeah, exactly." She watched as he took another sip from his cup. "Remind you of home?"

"It does. Not the same as drinking it from freshly picked leaves, but still good."

"I'm sure." The brunette paused for a moment in thought. "So, do you have any siblings?"

"I do." Brant answered, slowly inhaling the aromatic steam, "Four sisters, three brothers."

"Woah, that's a lot. How did your parents even handle it?"

"Like any other parents would. Believe it or not, that's a pretty average size for a Klovanian family."