by V. L. Dreyer
Melody was obviously one of them. She was sitting on another couch nearby with Priya and the rest of her gang, but she only had eyes for Ana.
"Yeah, I see it, too," Skye said softly, right beside my elbow.
I jumped in surprise. "Dammit, Skye! Again with the sneaking!"
“Sorry,” she said brightly, clearly not meaning it at all. “But I see it, like I said. Melody’s got the hots for Anahera."
I could only laugh. "Everyone’s got the hots for Anahera. I've seen you looking at her like that."
"Hey, you have too!" she replied, nudging me with her elbow. "Let's just agree that she's everyone's girl crush and move on."
"Who's got a crush on a girl?" Hemi asked, appearing in the doorway nearby. Skye and I exchanged a look, then laughed and shook our heads.
"I'll let you explain the joke," I told her dryly, then I made my way out from behind the counter and over to Anahera and the kids.
She looked up as I approached, and gave me one of her heart-stopping smiles. "Good morning, Sandrine. You look very well today. You're practically glowing."
"Likewise," I replied with a smile. "I can still hardly believe that we've arrived, and yet here we are! Have you figured out where you're going to hold classes yet?"
"Not yet," she admitted. "I think for the first few days the children and I will set up shop in one of the sound studios on the other side of this level. Once the elevators are working, I'd like to move the children farther upstairs, so they can be closer to the dormitories."
"Sounds good," I said, nodding my approval. "Let me know which room or rooms you want, and we'll make sure to keep them aside." I glanced over at Melody. "I hear you're the new Queen of the Dorms. How was it last night?"
"A little uncomfortable, since we don't have any beds yet," Melody replied. I was surprised to see a smile on her usually sour face, and her eyes were bright and alive in a way that I'd never seen before. "They're up on level seven. It's a bit of a hike, but the view makes it so worth it!"
"Mama, did you see the sky when the sun came up this morning?" Priya asked. "So pretty! So much pink!"
"I did," I said, smiling at her. "I bet it looked much prettier up that high, though. Did you get any sleep at all last night, or did you spend all night awake, whispering with your friends?"
Priya giggled and hid her face behind her hands, which was all the answer I needed. I laughed and shook my head, then I looked back at the others.
"Okay, we need to get started for the day," I told them. "Anahera, Melody, can you take the kids who will be studying with you off to one of the other rooms, so I can organise things? I'd like to see class started as soon as possible."
"I have enough books and such put aside that I should be able to find something for them to do," Anahera replied. She rose to her feet and beckoned to the youngsters around her. "Come, children! Time for school. Melody, dear, could you please go fetch the littlest ones from their parents and bring them to us, as well? We can watch them while the adults work."
Melody nodded vigorously. She grabbed Priya and the twins and ran off. Poor Solomon was left behind, looking lost and bewildered. I took pity on him, and addressed him next.
"Hey Sol, you want to work with the adults today?" I asked. He shot a confused look at me for a second, then his eyes brightened and he nodded. "Good man. We're going to need all the help we can get. Come on!"
The youth hurried after me as I went over to a nearby table, pulled out an empty chair, and vaulted up to stand on it. I waved to everyone, but they were too wrapped up in their conversations to notice.
"Hey!" I tried again, but only a few faces turned towards me. I sighed, put aside all attempts at decorum, and cupped my hands around my mouth to shout, "Hey, guys! Shut up for a second!"
The room fell deathly silent for all of three seconds. Then, right on cue, everyone started laughing. I slapped my palm against my forehead. Well, at least I had their attention. The laughter passed swiftly, and when it did they were all looking at me.
"Okay, we've got a lot to do today," I called, projecting as much volume as I could so that everyone could hear me. "I figure eventually we're all going to find our own places and know what needs to be done, but for today I'm going to get everyone started by playing drill sergeant. If any of you can think of something you should be doing that will benefit the group more than what I ask you to do, just sing out. First of all, everyone who has already been assigned guard duty for the day shift, please go stand over there with Michael so I know that you're already occupied. Anyone with technical training or experience with electrical stuff and solar power, come here please. That includes anyone apprenticed to an engineer or electrician at the moment."
A small group of people stood up and came over to me, including Gavin, Zain, and Jim.
"I want you guys to work with Simon to extend the solar grid," I told them. "Requisition whatever you need from the supplies, you have my permission. Simon said something about a stash of extra panels, so talk to him and see what he knows. I also want to get the elevators working again as soon as possible."
"We'll take care of it," Gavin said, saluting me. The rest of the group did the same, then they filtered out of the room and went off about their task.
I waited until they were gone, then looked back at the larger group. "Okay, plumbers. I think we have a plumber, right?"
"Yeah, me," a voice called from a table on the other side of the room. Someone stood up, and I immediately recognised him as Petera, a member of the Waikato Iwi. He came over to me and gave me a grin. "You want me to make sure all the loos work?"
"How'd you guess?" I replied, grinning back at him. "The loos, showers, sinks. Once you've checked them over, I'd like you to track down whatever makes the water flow around here, and make sure that it's all in working order, right back to the source. You got an apprentice yet?"
"No, not yet," he replied. "I could use some help, though. It's going to be a big job."
I glanced up and looked around at the crowd. "It's not a pretty job, but it's one of the most important. Anyone interested in apprenticing to our plumber?"
Silence was my answer – at least, for the first few seconds. Then, I felt a tug on my sleeve. I glanced down to see Solomon looking up at me, his eyes shining with excitement.
"Really?" I asked, a little surprised. "You want to be a plumber?"
The mute boy nodded vigorously.
I raised both brows. "You do know that means dealing with everyone else's poo, right?"
Solomon just nodded harder, then stood up straight and thumped himself on the chest. He tried to say something, but I couldn't quite make out his words.
"I think he's trying to say that he knows how important it is," Petera said, looking at the boy curiously. "And it is. Making sure everyone has clean water is the most important job of all. Right, boy?"
Solomon made a noise of agreement and gave us both a thumbs-up gesture. Petera laughed and clapped the young man on the shoulder, then he looked up at me.
"Well, that answers that question," he said. "Looks like I've got myself an apprentice."
I nodded and grinned at them both. "That's great. Thank you for volunteering, Sol. It means a lot to everyone. If you two need anything, go see Skylar. She's handling all our stores."
"Will do," Petera agreed cheerfully. He waved to me, then took Solomon and left as well. I watched until they were out of sight, then looked back at the others.
"We've got plenty of food," I told them. "But I'd like to get some fresh stuff coming in as soon as possible to keep our reserves going until the gardens are reliable. I want ten of you to spend the day down at the river, fishing. Volunteers?"
This time, hands went up all over the room, and everyone laughed. I picked ten people at random, and sent them off about their business.
"Doc, Rebecca, Aaron, and Hemi," I called. The four people I'd named stood up and came over to me. "I want you guys to get the sick bay organised. Consider it a high priority. E
very life here is precious, and accidents always happen at the most inconvenient moment. I believe there's a hospital nearby, so I'll arrange a trip out there over the next few days. For now, just make sure we're as prepared as we can be. Make up a list of anything that we're running low on, and I’ll send it with the scavengers when they go check out the hospital."
"Of course," Doc replied, adjusting his glasses. He glanced back at his new assistants, then beckoned for them to follow him and headed out the door.
"Johan,” I called. “You're a vet, right?"
"I was, yes," he replied, grinning at me.
"Cool. I want you to take care of the horses and livestock," I said. "Find somewhere safe to keep them, and make sure they'll be healthy and comfortable."
"I know just the place," he replied. "I'll need some help getting the fences back up, though. Say, five people?"
"Volunteers?" I said, looking at the others. Sure enough, hands went up all over the room. Johan picked his five people and left. I switched my attention to the next item on my agenda, and looked around for a familiar face. "Richard, where are you? Wait, I see you. I believe you were a gardener, correct?"
"Yes," he replied softly.
I gave him a smile; Richard was a shy soul, but sweet and gentle. Even though he was older than me, my instinct was to protect and nurture him. "I'd like you to be our head gardener, since you know more about plants than any of us. Would you be happy to take on that role?"
Richard gave me a rare smile in return and nodded. "I… would like that, thank you."
"Good," I said, silently pleased that he'd accepted. I'd come to like him a lot in the months that we'd known one another. "What I want you to do today is take ten people out and scout the gardens around here. There will be a lot of plants growing wild. Some of them we can pick now and eat, but there will also be some we can dig up and transplant into our gardens here."
He nodded his understanding and stood up. "We're well past the coldest part of winter now. We should try and get the garden in soon so that it can grow through spring."
"I'll leave that in your capable hands," I replied. "If you need more people, just tell me or Skye."
"Ten should be enough for today," he replied. He cast a nervous glance over his shoulders at the group, then shot me a helpless look. He didn't need to say what he was thinking: he was too shy to ask for volunteers.
"Who wants to help with the garden?" I called. Hands shot up again, and I picked ten people for him. Richard hurried out, and they followed after him. "Now, the rest of us are on 'unskilled labour' duty," I said jokingly, making air-quotes with my fingers. “That means scavenger duty right now. What we need to do is fan out and search the surrounding area. Bring back everything that's important or useful, so that we can store it safely inside the walls of Tumanako. Eventually, I want that to include things like books, movies, music, and even photographs, but for now let's focus on furniture and supplies, particularly beds. Let's break up into teams of five and six people – unless I'm forgetting something? Or someone has another idea? It kinda freaks me out when you guys are this quiet." The group laughed again, but a hand did pop up at the back of the room. I pointed to the bearer and called his name. "Yes, Nick? What's your idea, mate?"
"A chicken coop," he called back. "I was a tattoo artist before the plague, but that isn’t really useful anymore so Ropata's been teaching me his carpentry voodoo. I bet we could build us a real nice coop with a little bit of effort."
"That's a brilliant idea," I replied, pleased by both the concept and the sentiment behind it. "Do you need a few people to help you?"
"Nah, we can handle it," he said. He shot a glance at Ropata and grinned. "Right, Teach?"
Ropata laughed and nodded. The two of them stood without any further prompting from me, and hurried out the door. I looked back at the rest of my people, but no one else had anything to offer.
"Well, then," I said. "Let's get to it before it starts raining, shall we?"
A spontaneous cheer went up from the remaining citizens of Tumanako, and then we divided up and went our separate ways.
***
It was nearly sundown by the time the rain finally started to close in. I’d picked the people no one else wanted for my team: Warren, Quentin, and Kurt, who were the three most standoffish lone wolves of the pack, plus the silent, eternally-sullen Charu, and poor, nervous Isabelle. Even though she’d been with us for over a month now, she was still struggling to settle in and make friends besides me. Whenever she could, she glued herself to my side and followed me like a lost puppy.
At first I’d found it a little confusing, then mildly annoying, but then I’d finally realised that she was just feeling anxious and found my presence comforting. After that, I forced myself to relax and just let her do what she needed to do. She wasn't in the way, and keeping her close meant I could watch for opportunities to help her expand her social circle. The only problem was that her constant anxiety made her a little irritating at times, and not everyone was as patient with her as I tried to be.
I was in the middle of helping the men strip a bed down to the base when she suddenly came rushing into the room, wringing her hands.
"It's raining," she told us, in the kind of voice that usually meant the sky was falling. "Oh goodness, it's getting terribly dark. I think we should go back."
"We will," I said, keeping my tone calm and reassuring. "We're okay, though. We've got lots of time. Why don't you go look in the back bedroom and see if you can find anything useful?"
"O-okay," she stammered, then she hurried off without another word. I glanced back at the others and smiled indulgently. They weren't as tolerant of her antics as I was, but they seemed content to leave it at dark looks and frowns.
"I think we can get this back before dark," I said. They didn't respond, so I shrugged and gave them orders. They’d shown time and again that they weren’t interested in debating anything, but they’d follow orders. "Quentin, Warren, take the top mattress. Charu, you and Kurt take the base. Who's got the tarps?"
Quentin raised his hand, then unshouldered his backpack without a word and fished them out. I left them to it and went off in search of Isabelle.
I found her in the back bedroom, looking lost and confused. I cleared my throat, and she jumped.
"Oh, Sandy," she said, letting out a sharp breath as though I'd given her the fright of a lifetime. "Sorry. I'm just not sure where to begin. I'm not very good at this."
"It's fine, really," I reassured her. "Let's walk through this together and I'll teach you. What do you see here?"
"Well, I think it was a baby's room, or maybe a toddler's," she replied, lacing her fingers together in front of her as if to protect herself. "I mean, I guess it must be. There's a crib over there."
"You're right," I said, fighting the urge to laugh. Her obvious desire to please struck me as humorous, even though I immediately felt guilty for feeling that way. I shoved the feeling aside and focused on educating her. "So, we've got the crib, a few baby blankets, some toys, and a chest of drawers. What's in the drawers?"
"Oh, um…" She paused and shot an uncertain look at me. I nodded encouragingly towards the drawers.
"Go on," I instructed gently. "Take a look and see what's in them. They won't bite."
Isabelle nodded nervously and went over to do just that. She opened the top drawer delicately, using just her finger and thumb, then poked the clothing inside. "Just… just baby clothes, I think. Some cloth nappies." Suddenly, she let out a blood-curdling shriek and leapt backwards, almost bowling me right off my feet.
"What? What is it?" I cried, grabbing her shoulders to steady her.
She turned towards me, white as a sheet and trembling all over. "There's a spider in there! A big one!"
Just at that moment, the men appeared in the doorway, weapons in hand and ready for a fight. I heaved a sigh and waved them away.
"Everything's fine," I said. "I'll take care of it."
Charu and the ot
hers lowered their weapons and left, but not without shooting scornful looks at Isabelle – and she wasn't oblivious to it, either. By the time they were gone, she had tears in her eyes and was wringing her hands pathetically.
"I'm sorry. I just… I don't know how to do this," she admitted. "Henry just sort of took care of everything, even if he was horrible to me. I never had to survive on my own."
I took a deep breath to push down the sense of disdain that kept rising in me. I had no right to feel like that, not after what she'd been through. Ten years at the mercy of a man like Henry would have broken just about anyone's spirit, even mine.
"It's completely okay," I said with as much kindness as I could muster. "Look, I know you're really trying your best, but you've been miserable today. How about tomorrow I assign you house duties instead, something you’ll enjoy. What do you like doing?"
"Enjoy?" She stared at me as though I'd just sprouted a second head. "I… have no idea. I'm just, you know, used to doing what I'm told so that he wouldn't hit me. I don't know what I like doing."
"What about before the plague? What did you like doing then?" I asked. She just shrugged. I sighed and nodded. "Okay, here's my idea. Why don't we let you try something different every day, until you learn what you enjoy doing? You can swap it around later, or learn something new – with a population this small, it's not like you're going to be married to whatever career you pick for the rest of your life, you know?"
Isabelle nodded and looked down at her feet. She was silent for a few long seconds, then gave me a shy smile. "Okay. I think I'd like that. Thank you for being so patient with me. I know I'm not like these other people, or… or like you. You're all so strong and independent. I wish I was more like you."
My heart melted more than a little. I reached out and put my hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I hope you never have to learn to be like me, Isabelle. You don’t need to be. You just need to remember what it’s like to be you again – and you will, with time. How would you like to help out at the school tomorrow? I know you like kids. Or maybe you could help Skye with the inventory?"
