A Life Without Destiny, Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“How long have you and your friends been traveling? You all eat as if this is your first meal,” John said as he passed Amy’s third bowl of porridge.

“We don’t know exactly how long we’ve been traveling or where we are exactly.” Raye said between spoonfuls.

They were all walking in a hallway in a rather large house. It was nicely furnished, though nothing appeared to be overly extravagant. Apparently John and his family were a powerful family in the area. The village he had referred to seemed to be more of a city than anything else. There were at least a quarter of a million people residing there. But the odd thing was that they all knew the same gossip. News traveled fast and everyone, meaning nearly all busybodies in the two hundred fifty thousand people in the community, knew of the mysterious travellers that the Thampillars had come across. Many people thought they were survivors from Capital City for many had heard of the beginnings of small towns near the area. Others believed them to be angels sent to protect them. Everyone else either didn’t care, or didn’t know.

Chantelle skipped gaily beside Katrina, regaling her with wonderfully descriptive stories of the town and her favourite* people. Katrina, despite being extremely tired, tried to give the endearing child her attention. However she was distracted. She had been sneaking glances towards the girls’ faces as they travelled. They all looked hardened and quite ready to rest and relax. She had wanted to be a good leader, but this was all too much for her. How was she supposed to be their leader if she couldn’t gain their respect and friendship? Katrina had seen the looks the girls had given her…Darien. A look of approval and respect. They had chosen him as a leader, and the way he walked ahead of all the girls he knew it. They had been travelling for a long time and Darien had been affectionate, but he hadn’t been all too inclined to talk to her. It was as if he blamed her too for all of this. Had she not pursued him, none of them would have been in this situation.

Mina was beginning to drag her feet when the young girl, apparently named Chantelle, happy chirp that the door to their left was the girls’ room. She also said that there were enough beds for all of them. Mina was tired but didn’t protest sharing a room. In a normal situation she would ask if the girls would have their own rooms. It wasn’t that she hated Katrina; it was just that she didn’t know her. None of them could have known that if Serena left, this would be their fate. Mina walked into the room. There were in fact five single beds. They were reasonably covered with duvets, and small soft pillows, but Mina just walked past them. She instead headed to the large window. It stretched into the ceiling and nearly reached the floor, and as she look out she saw the most beautiful sight she had ever seen in her life.

Beyond the moon, lively as it was, was a small speck. Venus. She had tried a multitude of times to see Venus in the night time, but had found it extremely hard. Now just looking out the window and seeing it was astounding to say the least. She knew it was Venus. She had always had a special liking to the planet as a child. The only time she ever stayed awake during astronomy was to hear the teacher explain how Venus got it’s name. As she grew older she persuaded the producers of the show she was signing with to rename the sailor scout Sailor V, in honour of the planet. Mina blinked at that thought. She life… it was gone. She wasn’t famous in the current here and now... where ever that was. Mina didn’t have fans, or family here. Her…destiny was gone, and now she had no idea what to do.

Darien felt his hand be pulled just as he was about to kiss Katrina goodnight. Looking down he saw Chantelle pulling him forward.

“You aren’t going to share a room with them Darien. Daddy says it isn’t proper. Come on, hurry! Daddy says once your down freshening up you need to talk to him in his study.” Chantelle said to him with one of the cutest pouts he’d ever seen. Chantelle was definitely a daddy’s little girl. You could tell from how well she pulled the pout.

Darien looked apologetically towards Katrina, who nodded her head. It was weird to see Darien with a little girl. Katrina herself, though nice enough, hadn’t been great with kids.
As the two contrasting figures continued down the hall Darien took the time to study Chantelle.

She appeared to be a normal healthy, innocent, young girl. So why was she surrounded by grime and ash of Earth. Was her future bleak? Would she be able to become a doctor if she wanted? Was that even an option for girls here? There were so many things that were straight off the bat odd to him about this place. It was as if they were in a world with no phones, no electricity…no technology. But how could that be? If the moon was prospering then surely there must have been some wealth that spilled over to their near-by neighbours of Earth. Darien was beyond confused, but hoped that his questions would find answers when she spoke to John in a few minutes.

“Here we are!” Chantelle chirped. She looked up at Darien, who appeared to be a giant compared to her tiny stature.

Darien looked at the door ahead of him. He was ready to relax. He just really wanted to know all the information. Afterwards he would relax and in the morning could begin formulating a plan to all this. But then again this could…

“Well are you gonna go in? The doorknob isn’t going to bite you, ya’know?” Chantelle said in a voice that clearly stated cheek. Chantelle had gotten away with cheekiness a lot because most of the time it got her what she wanted; the person to smile. And today she was rewarded with just that and blown away.

As she chatted with tall pretty blonde girl she had looked at the stoic man. He didn’t look like the type to smile very often and now Chantelle felt bad for everyone that would never see his smile. It was truly something. Perhaps he could be what this world needed.

“You know what Chantelle? Could you just show me the way to your dad’s study? I’d really like to just ask him some questions,” Darien said kneeling down so to be eye to eye with the girl who immediately protested.

“No I saw you out there. You. Are. Tired. Don’t push yourself when you can’t go any further. My mommy does that a lot and then she gets really really sick. You don’t want that to happen do you?” Chantelle said with a stern face that looked incredibly adorable to Darien.

“No I don’t, but if I don’t have some of my questions answered I just might die of curiosity. You know what it’s like to be really really curious but no one will tell you the answer to your question right?”

“Yeahhhhhh,” Chantelle was in turmoil. More than once this week had she been with questions and no one would tell her the answers to them. She hated that feeling, she like knowing. Knowing made her feel smart.

“I guess I could take you to daddy’s study,” Chantelle said slowly, “But only if you promise me once your done you’ll go immediately to bed! I don’t want my daddy getting to tired, he’s already a workahol… a workahully…someone who really likes to work.”

“I promise, I cross my heart,” Darien proclaimed softly, making a big show of crossing his chest with a dramatically pointed finger. Chantelle giggled.

“You’re silly a bear,” Chantelle said as she dragged him back the way they came, “You better not forget the way, because daddy won’t let me stay up. I keep telling him I’m already all grown up and I should be allowed to hear what the adults talk about after bedtime. He says I’m still a small grown up and small grown ups need sleep. Do you think he’s right Bear?

Darien smiled softly at the nickname. “Yes I do agree with him. Small grown ups need all the rest they can get, because once they become big grown ups they won’t be able to rest as much. Plus after bedtime grown ups just talk about stuffy boring stuff. I’m sure you don’t want to hear that.”

“No I guess not..,” Chantelle said. “Well here we are! Daddy should be inside, but knock first. I have to go to bed. My bedtime was an hour ago.”

“Oh I’m sorry Chantelle, have I been keeping you up?” Darien said, knowing full well the mischievous little girl had planned this.

“Yeah, but you’ve been fun to talk to. Not as fun as Ren and her mommy, but no one is as fun as Ren’s mommy.”

“Maybe you can introduce me to Ren’s mommy one day, then she can teach me all about how to make really good conversation,” Darien said once again kneeling to the girl’s level.

“If you really wanna, I’m visiting them next week. If you’re still here you can ask daddy if you can come!” Chantelle exclaimed, her eyes shining with excitement.

“Well I really wanna, now off you go before someone spots you!”

“Night Bear!” And with that Chantelle gave Darien a big kiss on the cheek then ran off.

Darien smiled softly again. He had smiled more in the ten minutes of talking with Chantelle than he had since all of this began. Looking back to the door Darien braced himself. Deep down he knew he wouldn’t like the answers that awaited him behind the door.

Just as Darien reached for the doorknob, silently thinking that maybe Chantelle was right and he was afraid the doorknob was going to bite him, her heard….

“Darien!”

Turning around, a woman with black sleet hair was running towards him, with two wolves just behind her.

Continuing soon...