Akia
Time seemed to fly by after the great reveal—if it could be called that. The sun had been setting when Akia had started her story and it had since completely disappeared from the sky. The fire was down to its last few embers and barely gave off any light. Luckily the stars were out that night.
The campsite, although bursting with activity and discussion nearly an hour ago was quiet as could be. Falyn and Mina were asleep, curled up against each other, shivering slightly in their sleep.
Zeke was still in the same spot that he had been in the entire time. Despite it being so late, he was still up, staring at the flames still clinging onto life. She debated going over to talk to him, but she decided not to. What would she say? Everything that came out of his mouth infuriated her. They’d just end up in another argument.
Checking to make sure Sam was still asleep, he was one of the first to fall out and was lying in quite an uncomfortable looking position on the ground, she decided to take a walk.
“Keep a look out,” she murmured to Zeke as she got up. “If anything happens you better be all over it.”
“Glad you trust me with something,” he shot back as she walked passed him. She bit her tongue, holding back the strongly worded retort that she so wanted to say.
Once she cleared the first layer of trees, she slowed to a crawl. It was late; she didn’t want to make it too far away from the others incase they had to leave at a moments notice. Besides, she’d never been to Agathi before, she didn’t know her way around.
She stopped when she came to a fallen tree. It stretched out in front of her, blocking her path. Not that she wanted to go any farther; it seemed to be the perfect place to sit.
When she found a spot not crawling with bugs, she sat down. Looking up, she realized how gorgeous the stars were. Everyone was always so interested in the stars seeing as they were other worlds. Each one was a small, boiling body of gas, true. But inside, somewhere, there was a world inhabited by some type of creature. They could be human, they could be animals. They could even be a mixture of the two. No matter, they were out there. And some day she would visit them; all of them.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the phone buzzing in her pocket. She had almost forgot that it was there; she rarely used it. Reaching down, she pulled the device from her pocket.
“Hello?”
“I’d appreciate a call every so often.”
Akia slapped a palm to her forehead. “Oh my God, Phillip. I so meant to call you when—”
“Did you find her?” Philip asked, cutting her off. Akia rolled her eyes. He always was one to get straight to the point, no messing around. She had gotten used to it over the years.
“Yes,” she responded. “We’re on our way back now. We’re just resting for the night.”
Phillip grunted. “You don’t need rest. You need to get back. Get the moonstar here. Now. I expect you in no more than four hours.” With that he hung up the phone, leading way to a loud dial tone blaring in Akia’s ear. She ripped the phone away and flipped it shut.
He could’ve been a bit nicer. She sighed and turned her attention back to the stars. It reminded her of the time she used to spend with her dad. Every Saturday morning they would sit out on the deck and watch the stars fade away as the sun took control of the sky once again.
“They’re all out there just waiting to be explored,” he’d tell her. “And one day we’re going to discover them; you and me kiddo.”
“I wish you were still around, Dad,” she whispered. “I’m ready to explore those worlds now.”
She sat there for a while, recalling the many memories she had of her father. It wasn’t a voluntary act. If anything, she wished that the memories would disappear. Not that she didn’t want to remember her dad; she missed him more than anything. But she didn’t need to be drowned by emotions at the moment. There were more pressing matters at hand. Like how she was going to get Falyn and everyone to Lightport in less than four hours.
Just as she got up to head back to the campsite, she saw Sam walking toward her. She grinned and shook her head.
“You should be asleep.”
“Yeah well,” Sam said as he shrugged. “I was. But then I woke up and you were gone, so I went looking for you.”
Akia laughed. “Glad you care so much about me.” Sam smiled slightly, but didn’t respond.
They stood there in silence, each of them gazing off into the woods. She knew that she had to tell Sam about what Phillip had said, but she didn’t feel like bringing it up. It just seemed like a thing she would save for when everyone was up and about again.
Just as she was going to suggest that they head back, Sam spoke up.
“Why didn’t you tell Falyn the whole story?”
Akia raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean? Of course I told her the whole story.”
“No, you left out something.” Sam took a deep breath before saying, “You didn’t tell her about what Rhys had said.”
“I’m not telling her that,” Akia snapped.
“Why not? She has a right to know!”
Akia looked at him incredulously. “You want to tell her that she’s going to die? You want to tell her that everything she’s gone through up ‘til this point and everything from here on out is going to be for none? No, we’re not telling her.”
She turned away and stared back into the woods. Now that she and Sam were both away from the campsite, she was starting to get antsy. What if the Force found them while she was gone? Would they be able to fend for themselves? Surely Zeke had enough power – whatever power he actually had, something she was still trying to figure out -- to fight off and attack.
But she couldn’t leave him in charge; he didn’t know everything that was going on. He didn’t know exactly how much danger Falyn was in. Otherwise he wouldn’t have left her out in the woods the other day.
“Come on, we should go back,” she said, motioning for Sam to follow. “Oh, and did I mention that Phillip wants us back at Lightport in four hours?
“Four hours?! That would’ve been a good thing to tell me.”
They had barely taken half a dozen steps before a cool voice behind them said, “You’re still convinced that you’ll make it there safely? Really, Daughter of Kit, I thought you were smarter than that.”
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