The Zodiacs

21. Suma of Scorpio

"What are you doing out here, mysterious girl who ditched training last time?" Tau questioned, dropping onto the edge of the large boulder in front of the cave. He handed her a piece of the chicken he'd cooked a few moments before for everybody to eat, but she was the only one who hadn't picked up her piece.

Suma looked ahead with her piercing blue eyes, the short brown hair held down by the bandana on her head neatly falling over her forehead. Its edges fell past her eyebrows, but didn't dare to touch her long eyelashes. "Thinking," the girl mumbled, wiping the damp sweat-created shine on her tanned skin.

"About me, I'm sure," Tau nodded, taking a bite of his drumstick while watching her reaction.

She shook her head. "Not exactly."

"Why not?" The older boy questioned in confusion like her response didn't make much sense. "You're an attractive lady and I'm reliable, attractive, mature, and can cook. I'm like every girl's dream," he joked in an attempt to bring light to the Zodiac who'd been quiet ever since they all met. It wasn't that she was nervous like Asarte had been, but simply had no motive to join their conversations.

The mysterious air following the silent, expressionless girl intrigued the older boy. Were it not for his age, he would have remained silent and unbothered like most of the young Zodiacs. But the burden of being the oldest made Tau bear the responsibility of bringing the group together along to Akil.

"If you're trying to hit on me, I'm not interested," Suma answered, picking at a piece of chicken and tossing it into her mouth.

Tau shook his head, kicking the back of his heels lightly against the rock they both sat on. It was much larger than the average boulder often seen in the desert; he hadn't been the one to pull this out of the ground like he'd done with his bed, meaning it had been here for years. "I would never," he answered sarcastically. "For all I know, you could be a minor like Asarte or something."

"I'm twenty-two," she corrected him, informing the boy that she was, in fact, the third oldest one of them all after him and Akil.

"Oh!" He gasped in surprise, taking another bite of the delicious chicken in his hand. If he'd had access to more seasonings and a more efficient stove, it would be a hundred times better than it was right now and the slight dryness wouldn't make him frown everytime he bit into it. Then the idea popped into his mind to build his own stove. "Then consider yourself being hit on."

Suma snorted at the light tone that had returned to his voice with the joke, glancing toward him when he nodded confidently. "Okay," she nodded. "And you can consider yourself being turned down."

"Harsh," he frowned.

She shrugged, not as bothered by the offense he'd taken to her response. That was how she worked, honest without a care how much it hurt others around her. As long as she was comfortable. "Blame it on my Zodiac," she mumbled.

But Tau shook his head, not satisfied with the diversion of responsibility off of her and onto her birth month. "No, I think you're just a dry individual when it comes to conversation --also slightly rude, but unintentionally," he answered. "It's crazy how contrasting water signs can be. I mean, look at you and look at Keket. You're total opposites."

"There's things we all have in common," she spoke, looking down at the food in her hand like it was an object to admire rather than ingest. "Just like there's things we don't, and could never."

"We could," he shrugged. The girl was closing doors that hadn't even been opened like some type of mad hypocrite. "For example, we all couldn't have imagined ever meeting people who are like us with abilities and marking signs, but we did. It's just a matter of how you look at the world in front of you."