So I was gonna do the whole Summer dancing thing in the previous chapter, but then I felt that a) the previous chapter was getting too long and b) this chapter would not be long enough. Turns out this chapter is plenty long enough, haha.

FACT: Kat is the first ranger to wear orange in reality (Boom did dream it one). Despite this, it's debated among fans whether she is a white ranger, or an orange ranger. Hmm. What are your thoughts? White or orange?

There was an air of expectancy around the camp fire. I with the women and listened to their conversation:

"This is going to be good!"

"It's been a while since we had someone dancing."

"Summer used to be amazing."

"Look there she is!"

All attention was turned towards the fire, and I gasped; Summer looked beautiful, having braided her hair back into tight plaits, her face and arms decorated with patterns.

The music – made up mostly of traditional tribe instruments and the women singing – started, and Summer begun to move. She danced around the fire, slow, graceful movements of the hips – which I imagined would have been rather alluring to the males, especially given what she was wearing. I found myself wishing Felix could have been here to see it. It was so graceful! She used smooth flowing movements of the arms, legs and her body, and came close to the fire, so that it's burnt amber light cast her shadows against the rocks and trees that surrounded us, and illuminated her features.

I watched her, transfixed by her performance and hypnotised by the music. Something about the performance just took my breath away. I would definitely be telling my uncle about this.

"She's a good dancer don't you think?" Eyktan's voice startled me, and I jumped.

"Yea," I whispered.

"This marks the start of your training lab girl," he chuckled. "Be ready."

I was ready.

I trained with Eyktan every day for the next couple of weeks.

Sometimes it was simple things, like learning the native language. That was a pain in the ass, but eventually I picked up the basic grammar of it, and when I did, it begun to feel natural. Like an old part of me that had been reawakened. I wondered how Kat had ever learnt English after knowing such a beautiful, different language. Ekytan saw this and was pleased.

The development of language meant I could begin interacting more with the other women in the tribe, like Summer and Jeopardy. I made many more friends, and we begun to chat on a regular basis. They told me a lot about what it had traditionally been like to be a woman in the tribe on Felle, and what it was like now. Some stories were fascinating, but others made me feel sick to the core. Thankfully now, they treat their people a lot better. Kits were thriving and getting stronger.

This very fact was duly noted, as I begun to get to know Jeopardy and Bracken's kits. Their names were, and I would play with them occasionally. I suppose I was developing something of a maternal instinct, and I begun to consider if I would ever like kits of my own.

Ekytan also taught me how to find food. This started with theory, about which foods that grew on plants were safe, and which were not, and developed into him teaching me how to harvest these foods safely and effectively. He told me we should only ever take what we need, because otherwise overhunting could cause food to become scarce. He taught me how to safely use a bow and arrow, how to aim and shoot accurately. The tribe need meat too, and often killed rabbit or deer to feed themselves. Normally though, they would save this for a special occasion or when they were all hungry, because again, they wanted to avoid over hunting.

I was already a dab hand at fighting, because of my prior training on SPD, however my fighting skills and Eyktans fighting skills were extremely different. I had to learn the traditional, animal based fighting style of the tribe, but also, in some cases, we reversed the roles and I taught him the more advanced skills of SPD officers. He said that those skills would be of value to the tribe, and that they would get passed on. I felt proud about that.

That was how it went for two weeks. Same schedules, same routines.

But one day, something was different. Eyktan called me over, whilst I was chatting to Jeopardy.

"I, erm," he asked awkwardly. "I was wondering if I might take you somewhere?"

"Sure," I smiled warmly. I'd come to like Eyktan, despite his original attitude, which had begun to melt away recently. With a nod to Jeopardy, I followed my mentor.

He led me in silence through the forest, to a dense area where I'd never been before, until we came to a thick bush. We stopped, and Eyktan prompted me, "Close your eyes."

Warily, I closed my eyes, and let him place a hand on my shoulder to lead me through the bush. When I opened them, I gasped. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Flowers of varying shapes, sizes and colours grew around me, and the sun shone down clear and bright.

"Eyktan it's... it's beautiful..." I gasped.

"It's where we harvest most of our healing herbs from," Eyktan explained, a grin on his face. "The location of the herb garden is pretty much kept a secret, only leaders, deputies and healers know where it is... but I thought I would show you. I thought you would like it."

"I love it!" I exclaimed. I couldn't get my head around how dazzling it was... if there was a centre of mother nature, this was definitely it. I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed, and I looked up at Eyktan, a smile on my face. "Thank you so much for bringing me here!"

Eyktan did not say anything. Instead he looked down at me, quietly, smiling. There was an emotion there in his eyes, that I was not familiar with, and it gave me butterflies in my stomach. I studied it closely. Slowly, gently, Eyktan reached out to stroke my hair... and he was leaning in to me, closer, closer...

Then his soft, warm lips were on mine, and I was filled with the most amazing feeling. I kissed him back, gently, and we gradually got more and more passionate; it felt as if we were the only two people in the universe. I wanted to be with him, close to him, and only him.

Then, there was a beep.

I pulled away from him, being dragged back down into a sullen reality. It was a sound both me and Eyktan were all too familiar with. My watch was going off. It was time for me to return to SPD.

"I wish you could stay," Eyktan purred, nuzzling me.

"So do I," I sighed, leaning into him. "But I can't. The boss will kill me if I'm not back before dark."

Actually that was not entirely true. Cruger never really commented on my absence, but then he had greater things to focus on. He was still having a hard time getting over Kat, and spent as much time in the infirmary with Little Katherine. Speaking of Little Katherine, she was growing by the day. Dr Felix was confident that if she continued at this rate, she's be out of the infirmary within another two weeks. This pleased all of us. I guess that must have taken Cruger's mind off of me and what I was doing.

The same could not be said for my sister. I could tell Zelda wasn't happy about my barely ever being around, but I couldn't pinpoint whether she genuinely didn't like me going, or whether she felt bad because she was losing me. I felt sad for her, she was my sister and I wanted her to be happy. But the truth was, now that I knew what was really out there, I was unhappy in the restrictions of the base.

And after Zelda was allocated to take over Kat's old job, after a vigorous interview process (which was overseen greatly by Birdie may I add), I was left the only one without a proper allocated job. I contemplated this as I made my way back to the Earth station. That night was when I knew. There was no longer a place for me in SPD. I knew what I had to do.