Kate
Now the fun part starts. Is it weird that I think this is the fun part, I wonder? I mean, this is where the real work begins and I’m excited by that. This is what I can see myself dedicating my life to. And I have Rennek to thank for that. Now, not only to I feel like I have come to peace with my place in life--I also feel like I have purpose.
We are going to start by cleaning up the ruins and making it into a home base. When the others join us there will be lots to talk about. Our goal is to find a way to keep searching for more humans--to rescue them and bring them here. I need to see who is on board to help and who wants to just live the quiet life. Heck, the other girls might eventually want to go live on a less primitive planet, but to me Elysia feels right.
I can see us building a village at the ruins. We can bring a little technology in--make it more livable, with some lamps and hopefully some toilets. We can farm, lead a simple lifestyle--safe and away from traffickers and bounty hunters. It’s perfect. And it all starts with Rennek and I deciding which room along the corridor will be ours.
“This is so exciting! It’s like we’re moving in together and we’re on an apartment hunt,” I chatter excitedly. Part of me wants to play it cool, but I’m giddy. “Sorry, this is a first for me and I’m super excited. I’ve never lived with a guy before.” Luckily Rennek doesn’t seem to mind. He just smiles and lets me fuss.
“The rooms are all very similar. Did you have a preference when we looked earlier?”
“I think I might actually. You see the room there, it’s closest to the stairway that leads up to the large… I don’t know, throne room or whatever it was up top. It seems like we could repurpose that room as a headquarters where we could coordinate things and meet with people. I think it’d be good for you to be close to it. Especially once we crack the code to this beacon and the Vendari get here. You might have to take on a… a… role that…” I see him stiffen and I trail off. I feel like I really stepped in it. I know Rennek is not fond of titles and he still harbors some serious negative emotions towards his father. Gorrard said he was a king, but I really don’t know if that’s a role Rennek feels linked to. Or even wants to be linked to.
“Regardless of whatever your role is, people will want to meet with you to discuss what went wrong,” I recover… but just barely.
He grunts in response. “A good choice for a room. It is farthest from the outer walls, it is safe. If an animal breeches the walls and attacks we will be farthest from any entry point.”
“Do you really like it though?” I ask and this seems to snap him out of the funk I accidently caused.
“Anything I share with you is perfect, my sweet Kate,” he tells me with soft and caring eyes.
“Well, then let’s get cleaning! First thing I need is a broom.”
I watch as Rennek fashions me a broom out of a long branch and some ferns he packs tightly and then binds together. He is quick in his work and once he’s done I take it for a spin. It works surprisingly well! I feel a swell of pride in him… and even a little lusty. I never thought I’d be aroused by a dude making me a broom, but I’m finding his handiness is shockingly sexy.
I start sweeping the small stuff out of the room while he takes out big armfuls of dead leaves piled in the corners.
“Are we going to do the other rooms too?” I ask.
“I will take all this and burn it in the courtyard so it does not attract vermin. We can let the others clean the spaces they choose. When we are done here we should focus on rehabilitating the common areas.”
“That’s a good idea. Oh man, it’s a lot of work though! I hope the others get here soon to help--especially with the bathing room. I’m thinking that can be more of a guy’s job. Or at least, that’s what I was hoping,” I throw him my biggest doe eyes, in hopes of getting out of cleaning that old and soupy water.
“No, we will need you females to clean out the ducts. Our hands are not the right size, but human hands are perfect. You will need to climb in and feel around the bottom of the pool in search of ducts and then reach in and pull out all the solid matter,” he says scooping up the last of the leaves. I stop dead in my tracks.
“Oh my god, you’re kidding right?”
“I would never joke about such a serious matter,” he tells me.
“What’s so serious about cleaning out the nasty swamp water?”
“The eelworm of course.”
“Holy fuck, tell me you’re kidding. We need to make some damn tree houses or something, because I cannot live in a place with something called and eelworm.”
“Do not worry about the eelworm,” he says, brushing away my concern… before his eyes go dark and serious. “If you do… they can smell it and they will slither out of the water and come for you,” he says to my horror, but slowly I see the twinkle in his eyes.
“You jerk!” I swat his legs with my new broom. “You’re going to give me nightmares talking like that!” But he just laughs and carts the last of the leaves and junk out of the room.
“Freaking eelworms,” I mutter. I start sweeping the back corner and send flurries of dust swirling towards the door. As I do, I notice the indentation along the back wall. “Huh… I wonder what this is for?” I squat down to get a better look. Directly above the indent, built into the wall, is an open hole
“What is it, my mate?” I hear Rennek ask as he comes back to our new room.
“It’s like a hole… a vent? Do you think this is a fireplace Rennek?” I ask. He joins me by the hearth and examines it.
“It appears to be,” he says, focusing his gaze up into the vent. “Can you bring me my hand lantern?” He asks.
“Sure!” I run over to his bag and dig through it. When I bring it back to him I see that he has shoved his whole arm up the damned vent.
“Rennek! Don’t do that! It could be filled with crazy bugs or something!” I gasp, thinking of that scene from Indiana Jones making my skin crawl, but he just laughs.
“It seems clear on this end,” he tells me. I notice he is looking at the ground with some concern. “With as much rain as this region gets I would expect there to be signs of water flow on the ground here. I believe there is a clog somewhere higher up the line. I will go to the roof and check.”
“Need help?”
“No, it should take but a moment. You continue your work here,” he says before bounding out the door like a happy puppy with a crap ton of energy. I chuckle to myself… he must be as excited about this as I am. Maybe more so, at least--he has more reason to be. I resume my sweeping. What I really wish I had was a bunch of wet rags so I could wipe down these dusty walls, but I don’t want to sacrifice any of the clothing or blankets we have to do that.
“Kate!” I hear Rennek’s voice echoing through the vent.
“Yup! I hear you. Is there a clog?”
“No! It is ingenious for the primitive capabilities this civilization had… There is a type of cover that vents along the sides. It seems to both block--”
“Okay! Okay! Tell me about it when you come back!” I holler to him.
“I see something in the distance, I want to get a closer look. I will return soon!”
“Wow, a fireplace. Now that’s cozy,” I muse, smiling to myself and admiring our hearth. I start to look around the room to plan how to make it homey. I could put a long and narrow table against the wall by the hearth and create a kitchen area. We could put baskets underneath to store things. I wonder if Rennek could come up with a way to make some floating shelves to go above it.
A little kitchen table and a couple chairs could go in front of it. And then on the other side of the room Rennek could build that bed we’re both so eager for. It would be so nice to spend our nights in bed cuddling in front of the fire. We could put up some peg hooks for our clothes and a trunk or a dresser could go in the corner. Maybe an armoire would be best. That’s as close to a closet as we’d get here. Then all we would need is a door. Well, that and maybe nice throw rug and some rainforest decor. Hopefully one of the other girls knows how to macramé or something. Too bad we can’t do a shiplap accent wall, I think to myself and start chuckling again.