The day was cool, and the ride was long as I rode behind my new husband, my hands on either side of his waist. Tired, I leaned my body against his broad back.

He smelled of soap and fresh water. Something about him made me giddy but calm at the same time.

After quite some time of no talking, Caleb said, “Are you always this quiet, Emerald?”

I felt shy. “I apologize. I have no clue what to talk about.”

“Tell me some things about you. Do you know how to cook, for instance?”

“A few things. I’m no chef, I’m afraid, but you will not starve.” I pulled my head from his back and sighed.

He chuckled, and I found I liked the deep sound he made. “There’ s not a lot I’ll require from you, wife. Cook, clean, and care for our children when they come along. I hunt for the majority of our food. You’ll have to learn how to clean the animals.”

“Then I will learn,” I said. My eyes ran to the sky where the two suns burned, one a bit brighter than the other. “Do you miss Earth, Caleb?”

“Sometimes. We had a different lifestyle there.” He made a short laugh. “My family was wealthy and sometimes with wealth comes corruption. My father strayed from his marital bed, and my mother told him that if they were to stay married, they had to leave.”

“So, to get your father away from the other woman she made her whole family leave the planet?” I was shocked.

“We could’ve stayed, but we would’ve had to find our own places and ways to make a living as our parents had spoiled us terribly and we had no idea how to do it. Mother said the mansion was to be sold to pay for our passage to Euthenia. There was nowhere for us to go so my five brothers and I came with them.” He sighed, and I could tell things had been rough for him.

“And the woman your father left behind? What about her?” I asked.

“Not sure. He certainly never talks about her. That whole thing made me want to learn how to provide for myself, and I have. I built my own home, but my brothers stayed with my parents some kilometers away from where you and I will live.”

The ride went on, and we got quiet. I took in the scenes as we rode past them all. To one side of the trail we rode along, there was a field of blue wheat. Somewhere near there must have been a small abode where the farmer who raised the crop lived.

The other side of the narrow trail was left alone, a bordering field which was to remain vacant. Though after looking hard, I saw evidence of small campsites where people who were venturing into the forbidden cities would spend their last night before they made it out of the settlement area they were supposed to remain in.

“Tell me, Caleb, do you yearn like so many others to go to the cities of Euthenia?”

He shook his head. “I have no want to go anywhere out of our borders. I have a few brothers who do wish to push their limits here. They constantly try to bring me around to their rebel cause. Something I have no interest in.”

“That’s a shame. Why does our kind have to always grasp for more than we’re given?” I asked him as well as myself.

I also had no want to take any more than I’d been given. I’d overheard my father many times though speak of storming the capital and taking the castle.

“Have you heard any of the talk that has been happening here of late, Emerald?”

My arms went around him as I rested her head again. “My father said a battle is imminent. He and some of his friends held meetings in our shack. I’ve seen weapons in the rafters of the attic in the shack. I cannot tell you how happy I am you came for me. I want no part of any rebellion, and I’m glad to hear you don’t either.”

A large, dark, red forest appeared. The smell of mineral laden soil wafted in the air.

“Are we getting close?”

“Yes, we’ll go through the forest for a while, and then on the other side is our home.”

A new home was about to be mine and my stomach knotted in anticipation. A shiver ran through me as I looked at the edge of the red forest.

One of the two suns was eclipsing at the top of the tree line. My heart pounded as I’d dreamt the same sight only just the night before. My voice quivered as I said, “Caleb, look at the sun. What’s happening to it? Is it burning out?”

He chuckled. “That’s an eclipse, Emerald. We had them on Earth as well. You’ve never heard about them?”

“No! What does it mean? I mean, I dreamt of this last night.”

“It doesn’t mean a thing. It’s a shadow falling across it, that’s all. The fact you think you’ve seen this sight before is just your imagination playing tricks on you.” He kicked at the equine’s flanks as the animal hesitated to walk into the dark forest with the red hues and shadows.

It moved forward with great hesitation. The light faded as we entered the forest; the sunlight filtered by the red trees and the fact that one sun was disappearing.

I shivered at the cold that took me. The lack of sun made it cooler than it had been. Caleb pulled at a bag, taking out a cotton wrap, and handed it back to me. “It gets kind of cold in here. I brought this to keep you warm.”

“That was nice of you, thank you.” I pulled it around my narrow shoulders.

My eyes darted around at the many trees and bushes. “Have you heard any scary tales about these woods, Caleb?”

“Not that I recall.”

With a quivering voice, I said, “I’ve heard stories of lost little boys and girls who came into this forest and never came out.”

His laugh filled the air. “So, I have me a wife who believes in fairytales and ghost stories?”

My cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “One never knows, Caleb. Don’t make fun of me!”

My eyes were wide as I looked up at the giant trees. They were thousands of years old, and I was in awe of their size and age. I thought it was horrible the Euthenians were allowing the Earthlings to cut them down to build themselves homes. Though they did need something to build their homes out of.

A scarlet leaf fell from a branch high above my head, and the equine was moving so slowly I was able to catch it. “Look what I caught!” I held it out so Caleb could see it.

“Well, seems you have a thing to remember the day I brought you home.”

I smiled at his sentiment and held it to my chest. As if I’d ever be able to forget the day my whole life changed.

The light began to glow as we neared the edge of the red forest. I saw a meadow of purple grass with black stones strewn around as if they’d been tossed around with no regards to where they’d land.

A stream trickled through the grass. My eyes followed the clear stream of water, and then a house came into my view.

Caleb turned, and I could see he was smiling. “There she is, Emerald. Tell me what you think.”

I was near shock. The tiny house had a roof that looked as if it was made of the purple grass surrounding the house on all sides. Red wood walls were glued together with a gray mud. The only word that came to my mind was, ‘horrid.’

The scene surrounding it was beautiful. The wavy purple grass offset by the majestic red forest in the background worked well in nature. I supposed that if built better, the home would look fantastic. It was a hut; no windows, one door and it was pitch black inside as the door was standing open for me to see inside.

I managed to choke out, “You built this, Caleb? Alone?”

“My brothers helped me some, but it was mostly me. Do you like it? It matches the surroundings. Don’t you think?”

“It does, yes. I like it. You made it, so I like it.”

The closer we got, the more things I saw wrong with it. Cracks in the mud let in small pin holes of light. I knew if light could get in, so could insects. I hated insects.

We pulled up; Caleb got off the equine and then held his hand out to help me. He surprised me as he scooped me up and carried me into the darkness of our new home.

“It’s a tradition to carry your wife over the threshold.” He put me down after he brought me inside.

I saw nothing but dark shadows. He lit up a lantern, making the inside appear. I looked down and found red dirt covering the floor. “I’ll sweep this out straight away, Caleb. Where might your broom be?”

“No, silly! It’s a dirt floor. Like one of the latest things people do now. It’s pretty, right?” He gestured to the walls. “See how it matches the wood?”

“You’re right, it does.” I ran a hand through my hair and tried hard not to break down and cry. “It’s larger than it looks like it is from the outside. What about some walls to break up the rooms, Caleb? Are you building them later?”

“I like the place all open. No little rooms, just one big one. You can set up your kitchen wherever you’d like to. You can move the bed around to wherever you like. The beauty is you can do with it whatever you like to, with no walls to get in your way.”

I looked around the shack he built with no windows or floors or separating walls. Then I realized something very important thing was missing. “The bathroom! Where is it?”

Caleb’s eyes sparkled at me as he answered, “I bathe in a natural spring in the red forest.”

“Okay, what about going to the bathroom, Caleb?” I began to twist my hands in front of me.

“I go in the woods, you can too.”

My unhappiness at his words began to show on my face. I felt her bottom lip beginning to quiver as tears threatened. “Perhaps a quick walk around the outside,” I spun around to go outside before he could figure out I was about to burst into tears.

I turned and walked back in quickly as he was rapidly at my side. “I’ll go with you.” I didn’t want him to see me crying.

I acted as if some dust from the floor had kicked up into my eyes, and I used my sleeve to dry my eyes. “You know I really should just put my things away. Is that lump of old blankets where we’ll be sleeping?”

He nodded, and I swallowed hard. This was going to be much harder than my life had been.

“How long have you lived here?” I asked as I placed the bags I’d brought on the ground, near the make-shift bed.

“I haven’t. I’ve been at my parents’ house. I was waiting for you until I moved all the way in. I have more things to pick up from their place tomorrow.” He sat on a small wooden chair.

“Oh! Good!” I sighed. “Okay, so we’ll have some more things.”

“Of course, we will, wife,” Caleb said with a chuckle. “What do you take me for, a cheap man?”

“No, of course not. So, for tonight, dinner. Where is the food?”

“I need to set up your kitchen. There’s a box here with some things for that. Where do you want me to set that up at?”

“Anywhere is okay,” I answered.

His eyes leveled on me as he said, “I want you to decide, Emerald.”

My words came out quietly, “Over here by the table and chairs.”

I was unsure how I was going to take living in this new place in this way. One thing was for sure, the lack of a bathroom was going to make life so much harder.