Chapter 2

“Oriel, put your tools away quickly. We have to go home.” Her mother was already dashing to toward the shed, plants long forgotten. Oriel grabbed up the can and trowel and followed.

The Greensmaster was still at his post. “I doubt that it’s anything truly serious, but I’d best not tarry if I were you. Soon as everyone else is out of the Gardens, so am I.” The previous time the alarm had sounded was when Oriel had been bathing. It had turned out to be a stupid blind cavern whale knocking into the Shield one too many times. Oriel secretly suspected that it had done it on purpose, and had never cared much for the creatures since.

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Deirdre and Oriel arrived back at their Settlement house to find the two other families already waiting in the lobby. The first was an elderly couple, Renfel and Mischa, whose four children had long since grown and started families of their own. The second family was Orran and Kelma, and their son and daughter, Nezra and Jorem. In two years’ time, Oriel and Nezra were to be partnered.

“Deirdre, Oriel, how good to see you,” laughed Renfel sincerely. “But where is old Morla?” He was asking of Oriel’s father.

“He is, I suppose, reporting with the Mages and Shield Guardians. Or he ought to be.” Deirdre pursed her lips. Oriel’s father was a mage, and since the alarm had also called for Mages, he should have been reporting. If were calling for the Mages along with the Shield Guardians, it had to be more serious than just a cavern whale.

“Mother, do you think Papa is alright?”

Deirdre snorted. “Of course he is, the scoundrel. He is a mage, after all. Mages are always hardier than those of us who aren’t.” It was true that in the Settlement those with magical abilities lived longer. That is, unless they died of exhaustion. Deirdre, however so much she complained of her husband, prayed daily that Morla maintain the stamina and vigor he had had for years.

“Of course he’s fine, dear. You know how he is. He’s very like all of the Mages,” Kelma said, gently.

Oriel smiled. This same conversation had been spoken every time the Mages had been called in with the Shield Guardians. And every time, Morla had returned home with a smug grin on his face and arms full of embraces.

Kelma and Deirdre had moved into the dining alcove to talk more, and Renfel and Mischa were sitting quite comfortably on one of the sofas in the lobby. Orran was leaning against one wall, deep in thought, and little Jorem had taken over the other sofa, already fast asleep.

Nezra took Oriel’s hand. “Do you want to go chat?” he asked. She nodded. “Sure.”

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Their conversation began the way most conversations between them began. “So we are to be partnered in two years,” Nezra spoke slowly, lying on his back. Oriel sat with her arms folded over her knees. “Mhm,” she replied.

“How do you feel about it?”

“Alright, I guess…you?”

During their rehearsed lines, neither looked at the other. “Good, I suppose.” Then they looked up, and changed subjects. “So what did you do today?”

“Gardening,” said Oriel, flatly.

“Which section?”

“Northern Section Three.”

“You poor thing!”

She shrugged. “I suppose. I did walk the length of it at least four times. No, five, because we had to evacuate. What were you doing?”

Sitting up to lean back on his arms, “I was archiving.” Nezra began to chuckle.

“What’s funny?”

“Nothing.” The look on her face made him rethink his approach. “Nothing, really. Just the amount of nothing that happens.” Oriel blinked at him. He sighed. “How long has the Sagen Settlement been around, do you think?”

“Oh, I don’t know. A few millennia? A century? Certainly long enough to know that a black sky isn’t very cheerful.”

He smirked. “You and your sky…well, I was going through some of the old documents today. According to them, this place has been here for exactly one thousand years.”

“That’s a long time.”

“It is.”

They were both quiet for a moment. “And what have we been doing all this time, anyway? We being the Settlement, not you and I, I mean.”

“Well, aside from eating, sleeping, gardening, fishing, and archiving,” he said, counting each one on his fingers, ” I don’t know. But a thousand years is a long time. Maybe there’s something adults get to do that we don’t know about, something that’s made each one of those thousand years worth it.”

“Either that or there is no way out of this place,” she said bitterly.

“Or maybe there is no sky and this is all there is! After all, what is a thousand years? Just a thousand years of life and death and monotony. For all we know this may be the only inhabitable place left on Eltras.”

“It might be…Eltras? Is that the name if our world? I didn’t know it had a name.”

“It is and does according to those ancients scrolls in the archives.”

“How old?”

“Eight hundred, nine hundred maybe. Some of them don’t have dates. But old, yes.”

“Very old…do all those scrolls tell of a world not protected by magic bubbles, of a world with a sky and land and air?”

Nezra looked at her for a while. “Yes, they do.”

“How many people do you think longed to see the sky? People here, I mean.” She sat up fully and turned to face him.

Nezra took her hand in his, and she laid her head against his shoulder. “Every one of them, Oriel. Every single one.”

---

They continued to sit there. The silence was deafening. Once again they did not look at each other. Even when they heard the projected voice announce that everything was all right again, they did not stir. As it was evening by their time, they did not have to.

When Nezra finally thought to return to his family’s rooms, he noticed that Oriel had fallen asleep. Her face was that of contentment. Not wanting to disturb her, Nezra reluctantly but gently and carefully picked her up into his arms and carried her back to her room. Although he didn’t bother getting her settled underneath of all the sheets, he placed a coverlet over her sleeping body. He noticed her boots still on as he was about to leave. He removed them, and set them where she would find them.

Nezra did not turn to look back at her as he left her room to return to his own.

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A/N: Omigosh, there is a second chapter! And a third is in the making. But it won't be here for a couple weeks, due to real life inconveniences. Thank you so very much, reviewers. I really liked the fact that you actually gave critiques, and not just "zomg!1 this stroy is awsome write mroe". I'd like to mention that this chapter was already written before I posted the first, but when I typed it up I /tried/ to incorporate those things you mentioned.

I actually get around to explaining some things about the Settlement in the third chapter, but please keep asking questions. I love to hear your ideas and opinions on this small work of mine.