two peas in a pod (Thia)

The next morning, I think everyone might have been as happy as I was. The falcon was leaving. finally. That was probably why when I came down after breakfast, the lounge was pretty much empty. I was up pretty early but that was more because I wanted this to be over. As if getting up any sooner would get this done any quicker. Everyone else seemed to be having a lie in. The only person in there seemed to be Brain. He barely looked up when I came in. I hadn't even bothered to dress up nicely, or tie my hair back. Grateful that we could finally relax a bit, I collapsed onto the sofa and lay there on my back. After laying a while in silence, a sudden curiosity came over me that I thought might help pass the time.

"Can I ask you something?" I said to Brain.

"Shoot"

"Why'd you sign here?"

He turned towards me. "Why'd you ask that?"

"Well, Sky's dad worked in a place like this. He just wanted to live up to that legacy: and Cindy was always being pushed by her parents. James and Zee were street orphans dad took in; but you, I mean, why did you decide to join?"

He looked at me for a moment, as if deciding whether or not he wanted to answer. "Just collecting backstories then huh. Alright then. Guess it won't hurt…

"I didn't originally come from Nabula. Actually grew up in a larger state. I had an older brother growing up. Brothers, can sometimes get a bit rowdy sometimes. Apparently especially if the older is completely normal and the younger is autistic…but you'd probably already figured that out."

I looked away slightly. "Takes one to know one."

"He was always pushing me." Brain continued "Calling out whenever I did something not normal. He'd protect me from getting bullied at school but would berate me afterwards for not being able to stand up for myself."

I started to sit up, leaning back against the arm of the sofa.

"Back then I thought it was because he looked down on me just because I was born different from him. Looking back on it now though, I think I understand…he was just trying to prepare me. Make me strong enough to handle the real world on my own. But still, I hated him for it."

Slowly, I started climbing backwards to sit up on the arm.

"It must've been during the pandemic, after we were stuck inside together for far too long, that it finally reached a boiling point. I confronted him. Right in front of our parents. I accused him of being prejudiced against his own brother and he yelled at me that everything he'd done was for my own sake, that I needed to be better and after a while it…came to blows…"

Having only just made it up, my eyes widened slightly. You fought your own brother? But I let him continue, leaning forwards my feet resting on the sofa seat.

"We had to be split up after that. Ryan went off on his own and as soon as the pandemic was over, my parents took me here, to Nabula.

"I guess, I signed up just to gain some self-esteem. To prove to my family, and myself, that I could be strong enough on my own. That I wasn't completely useless…"

"I don't think you're completely useless." I said it a little too quickly, then looked away, blushing slightly. "Where's your brother now?" I asked, more to try and change the subject.

"Oh, some college somewhere. Or university perhaps. I haven't spoken to him since."

"Why not?"

He shrugged. "He started to try though, since the war started. Those letters you saw me looking through before summer…they were from him. I tried to ignore them but the more he sends, the harder that gets."

"You should talk to him." I encouraged him.

He paused for a moment then shook his head. "I'm just…not ready to forgive him. not yet."

I decided to let the matter rest for now. Maybe later, if I saw him actually getting one of those letters, I would try again then.

This little talk had at least whiled away the time until the Falcon was leaving but it also left me with another question. When that time came, I jumped lightly off the sofa and ran towards the entrance.

My dad and the Falcon were already there, while everyone else was scrambling to get in the same line they were in when he first came. They appeared to be deep in conversation. Getting a little closer I was able to catch one phrase from the Falcon. "…couldn't have a better commander than you, Annubus." And I smiled.

Once he was out the door and out of sight, everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, like they all believed they would now get a chance to rest up and enjoy themselves.

Dad soon put an end to that. "You can wipe those smug looks off your faces. You think there's now going to be some sort of holiday around here, well you're wrong. Aren't you supposed to be attending some sort of training at this particular moment?"

And they all scattered. Only me and Maggie stayed put. She was smirking slightly and I was trying not to giggle.

"It's good to be back."

I let Dad have this moment and seized the chance to ask my question before I forgot it.

"Hay, Maggie" She looked at me, glanced quickly at the others, then came to talk to me.

"There something you wanted to ask?"

"Brain mentioned a pandemic before he came over. I was curious, what's a pandemic?"

"A global illness." She answered, quickly but somewhat solemnly. "You know, like the plague."

"What was it like?" I asked, getting even more interested.

"Oh, I wouldn't know. We didn't arrive on earth until it was over. Heard it went on for a very long time though."

Thinking about this, I absentmindedly stroked my chin with my finger.

"But, if you're interested, I hear there's a book or two about it. I'm sure we could get you one."

"Really? Great!" and I skipped away happily.

True to his word, the very next day, Jay brought up the idea of all of us going out into the woods. It was just after lunch before we were all ready. Sam and Noaba were standing by the door waiting but just as we were about to leave, I saw my dad watching.

"You go on ahead, I'll catch up." I told them.

When I got close enough to dad, he knelt down and held out his hand as if showing me something inside it. "Take this with you." He said, placing it in my hand. It was a sort of small disk. "If ever you're in trouble, just press the centre and I'll know. I'll be able to find you."

I looked at him and nodded. "I will, dad."

He placed a hand gently on the back of my neck. "Be careful. But also try to have fun."

I grinned at him, then ran to join the others.

They were just passing the river when I caught up but when they saw me running up to them, they started running too. Why stop there, after all, we had the whole forest to explore. It was fine as long as we stayed within range of each other's laughs and yells. We just kept on running, until Jay just stopped right in front of me and I ended up bumping into him. when I looked properly, I could see why. There was a steep little drop right in front of us with a pound at the bottom that because of me bumping into him, Jay had fallen into. He was fine though; it wasn't that far down and the water seemed pretty deep. "Sorry." I tried to say but I was laughing as well.

Noaba appeared beside me, took one look at Jay in the pound and said, "Oh, we are so doing this." Then backed up to jump in.

"No, no, no, wait!" Jay protested, but she didn't wait and when she jumped in, she almost ended up on top of him.

"Ok, my turn." But I did wait for them to get out of the way, Jay climbing up onto the back and Noaba close behind. By which time Sam had caught up with us and I had to resist the urge to push him in first. Jumping off, I cannonballed into the water. Who needs a swimming pool when you have a pond in your backyard? By the time I surfaced, I could hear Noaba calling out, "Again, again!"

So, we spent the rest of the afternoon doing this, running back up the hill and jumping off the edge into the water. After we'd all done it once, we took off our coats and shoes and socks and left them to dry, either hanging on nearby tree branches or laying on the forest floor.

We kept doing this until we were all worn out, then we just lay beside the pond with our heads together and waited to dry.

"We should do this more often."

"How 'bout next time, you can take us riding?"

"No, I can't." Jay pointed out. "There's only one of Buddy and we cant all fit on his back."

"Then…we can take it in turns."

"Yeah, you know how to ride a horse? Even one without wings."

"Can't imagine it'd be too hard."

"It's pretty hard."

"If you say so."

I started to giggle. We should definitely do this more often.