Chapter 1
She pulled her tattered jacket closer to her body, taking a deep breath in hope of some hidden warmth. Each step on the pavement became more and more difficult as her body was ready to shut down and collapse. Energy had left her long ago as she hadn't had any scrap of food in over three weeks.
The past two years had been tough – on a new planet, learning a new culture, all while trying to survive. If she hadn't had been militarily trained, she probably would have died in the ship's crash on Earth in the first place. She was better than that though.
She stopped suddenly from her continuous walk and plopped herself onto the hard concrete in a nearby alley. She took even more deep breaths and pulled her jacket tighter. She wasn't used to these kinds of temperatures even though she was biologically supposed to be. She took a surveying glance around the alley to see how it had been affected by other homeless, helpless people. She'd stayed her e numerous times over the years, hoping to "claim some territory", but it always ended up being looted or taken over by someone in a similar position. Eventually, she just gave up.
She slowly but surely took her hands out of her jacket and reached into her small handbag. Steadily, she pulled out a beautiful journal that immediately brought tears to her eyes. She brushed her hand across the cover to feel the soft, smooth cashta that bounded the pages together. If only she were still on Mars – she missed her life so much. Opening the front cover, her father's beautiful handwriting blazed off the paper in his famous red ink.
In a world not your own, always remember, never forget.
She quickly closed the book as to not let herself get emotional. It was far too cold to cry.
She gently packed the book back into her bag. Reaching in, she felt her hand brush against the ice cold, smooth feeling of her mother's faylas – royal beads. She pulled them out only to be weakened by the emotional strain and to find herself bawling despite her efforts. Her mother carried these beads everywhere as they symbolized all that she was to Mars – strong, beautiful, united together by fragments of Mars' own soil. They were a symbol of hope just as her mother was. They were meant to be passed down to her when she became of age at ten years and she married her intended – Tenk'al, commander of the first Martian regiment and her second in command. However, with Rachel's sudden death, they were given to her early to show her early arrival to the position as the leading female of Mars.
She quickly placed the beads back into her bag, wiped her eyes dry, and climbed to her feet. She didn't know where she was going or what she was doing, but she knew she needed to go somewhere. She continued down the alley and turned back onto the sidewalk to run smack into a hurried gentleman.
"Excuse me, miss. I'm terribly sorry. I'm in such a hurry that I'm not paying attention, am I?" he said as he looked at her sympathetically.
She looked up at him and immediately had to take a deep breath. The man in front of her was a startling resemblance of her father, Ranar. The same sandy blonde hair, cut right above the eyes and ears, the same excited brown eyes that she had missed for so long, the same tall, built frame that she had clung to so many times – it was as if Ranar was standing right in front of her. In such awe, she couldn't find any words to speak.
"Miss, are you okay?" the man asked as he stooped down to look at her at eye-level.
She didn't know what else to do. Lack of energy, overwhelming sense of hunger, complete awe of the man in front of her – all Renee could do was pass out.