I groggily opened my eyes, momentary disorientation had me glancing around to figure out where I was. But it didn't take long for my memory to come crashing back down on me and a tired smile stretched across my face. I briefly wondered what time it was, hoping I hadn't slept late and was giving Guardian the impression that I was a lazy sop.

I stretched, but jerked my arms back down when the motion caused my shoulder to sting. So I just swung my feet off the side of the bed, my bare skin touching the cold stone made me shiver, but I quelled the urge to dive back into the warmth of the fur blankets. I stood up, stretching again, remembering this time to be mindful of my wounds and I noticed that for the first time since waking up in this forsaken land, I felt completely rested.

With a wide grin adorning my face, I approached the pile of clothes and inspected the new ghillie outfit that Hart had given me. I definitely needed to thank her for sure. The clothes fit me perfectly I was surprised to find. It was snug in all the right places, but loose enough that I could bend and move unhindered. If it were possible, my grin would have grown when I saw the boots on the ground. I couldn't believe it. Boots, with real soles on them. No more stepping on sharp rocks, or unpleasant splinters in the bottom of my feet.

The gloves that I found I folded and stuck in one of the hidden pockets, deciding I didn't need them just yet. Though, they looked comfortable and easy to move in too. I didn't think they'd constrict my ability to work with my hands at all. Hart was talented for sure.

Yawning one last time, I strode over to the door that led out to the balcony and pulled it open. I stepped out into the fresh air and inhaled deeply, looking out over the ocean, the sun made the water shimmer. Two large, weird looking pelican type birds floated gently on the breeze, calling to each other calmly. I smiled wide, basking in my new home.

"What!-" someone yelled from behind me, I must have jumped like ten feet in the air. I spun around, clapping my hand to my chest, just over my heart as I tried to soothe its racing. "-Are you so smiley about?" Trick finished, his voice completely normal now that he'd already succeeded in scaring me half to death. I glared at him in his comfy looking little chair that was against the wall between our two doorways.

"How long have you been there?" I snapped at him.

"Since dawn. So, yea, I was watching you," he admitted unabashedly.

"Jerk," I retorted, still trying to calm my speeding heart. "Nice shiner by the way." I smirked, looking at his bruised right eye.

Trick stood up with a grunt and that's when I noticed he was carving something. When he caught my glance he held up a warped piece of wood and a dagger. "It's called whittling."

I looked back up at his face and cocked an eyebrow at him. "So you're the one who carved the wolves into the door?"

He beamed a smile in my direction, "So glad my work is noticed. I told you, I like building," he winked.

"That's not building… That's… That's art." I finally blurted out, actually impressed with his skill.

He tapped the side of his nose and leaned forward slightly, he took on a perfect impersonation of Badge's voice. "Building is an art, lass."

I couldn't stop the giggles that escaped and Trick chuckled along with me.

"Well, the day is new, the work is long and the rewards are little. Are you ready?" he cast his eyes up and down my body and I suddenly felt a little self conscious even though I really had no reason to. I tightened my fist over my heart again. Trick turned away, heading towards his door but he stopped just before he disappeared through it and cast me a meaningful look. "And that pitter-patter in your heart isn't from your fright earlier," he teased me quickly and then he was gone. My hand dropped so fast, you'd think my chest had burned it.

"Jerk," I mumbled again lamely, unable to come up with anything else in response. I sighed and after one last look out over the shimmering water, I left the cool breeze behind as I went back through my room and came out into the corridor that held all the bedrooms. I had half expected to see Trick waiting there to tease me some more, but the hall was empty. I shrugged and headed in the only direction I knew to go.

As soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs I heard grunting mixed with muffled pounding noises. I glanced around and saw Hart practicing hand to hand on a hide sack full of something. She was so deep in concentration though that I didn't want to disturb her even if it was to thank her for the clothes. I chewed my lip for a few moments, admiring Hart's apparent strength and determination. I couldn't help but compare myself to her.

Finally I turned and headed into the main hall where I had met Guardian the night before. Runaway sat there, poring over a bowl of some kind of food. I suddenly remembered the stew last night and my mouth watered. That was when I realized I had forgotten the tray and bowl up in my room. I spun around and headed back up to collect it.

I was just coming back out of my room when Badge exited his room. "Mornin' Lass. Shall I accompany you?" his smile was warm and welcoming.

I nodded, "I'd be grateful for your company," I took his arm as he offered it to me and he took my tray from me. "You have chivalrous manners, like you came straight out of the eighteenth century," I grinned up at him.

He smiled back, "Being a gentleman is a practice easily forgotten by most," he said, shaking his head slowly. I nodded in agreement, thinking about Trick.

We reached the main hall before I could continue the conversation and now Runaway was accompanied by Trick, Guardian and two people I hadn't met yet. "Ah, there she is," Guardian said, cutting off whatever the new girl I hadn't met yet was saying. She looked at me and I almost stumbled to a stop. I could pretty much physically feel her glare. I instantly took a step closer to Badge.

"Ahh, I see Hart set you up with a new wardrobe," Guardian continued.

I nodded at him, avoiding looking at the new girl. "Yea, it's really amazing," I said with a forced grin. I felt uneasy with all the attention being on me. Luckily Trick called attention to himself then and spared me any further on-the-spot questions or comments.

"Of course it is. Hart is a woman. Women sew," he grinned wickedly. The new girl rolled her eyes but she smiled anyways.

"Stereotypical ass. Not all women sew, cook and clean," she lightly punched his arm.

Trick scoffed. "Obviously. You're too lazy to do any cleaning, and Pinnochio… well, I wouldn't trust her food if I was seven days starving!" he smiled mischievously. "I'm just saying they should," he baited her.

She shot him a glare, but I could tell there wasn't a hint of real malice in her gaze. Nor was there a single serious note in Trick's Tone. I didn't realize I had been staring at Trick until he turned to me and raised an eyebrow.

"Here, this is my good side Newbie," he turned his head, I noticed it was the left side he showed me, the side without the scar and bruise. My face heated up instantly and I hid it with sarcasm.

"I was just trying to figure out how so much stupid can fit into one small brain…" I looked away flippantly.

Almost the entire room reacted in amusement to that one and I felt proud of myself.

"Tongue like a whip, this one," Runaway said, grinning widely.

Trick shook his head. "I'll get you back for that one newbie," he promised, his lips curling up all evil-like. I fought the urge to swallow nervously.

"Annnyways…" Guardian folded his arms, getting down to business. "Runaway, you'll go with Tanner and help him check our walls, patching things up and making improvements where they can be made," he waited for Runaway to nod in acceptance. "And… Uhm, you," he gestured towards me, "You'll be working with Venus in the gardens."

I chanced another look at the girl and she was staring off at nothing, looking a little annoyed and well, as much the Goddess as her name suggested. She had flowing blonde hair and blue eyes. Her face was so stern… I would be willing to bet that even the harsh environment we lived in wouldn't dare put a single hair on her head out of place due to the fear of facing her wrath.

I bit my tongue, biting back my pleas to be given a different partner. It was an understatement to say I was intimidated for sure. Instead of begging or running away, (both of which were very appealing) I put on my big girl pants and nodded to Guardian.

"Great! Now that's settled. Badge, you guys better get going. And hopefully no delays today," Guardian put his hands on his hips. That was when I finally spoke up.

"Actually, I was hoping I could go with them today…" It came out meekly and I forced myself to stand taller. The thought of being left here with Venus, knowing Badge, Hart and yes, even Trick, were going to be gone was mortifying. But my main reason was for Killer. I was worried about how he was doing. My memories of the raptors and troodons were still fresh in my mind. Guardian looked at me with a raised eyebrow and I could see an ounce of annoyance in his expression.

"Shouldn't you get familiarized with the base?" he asked simply.

"Yes… But I was hoping I could collect a few things from my hut…" I trailed off.

That got Guardian's attention. "Anything valuable?"

"N-not exactly…"

"She wants to get her pet dodo," Hart interjected, striding into the room.

Venus and Tanner both snickered, but at least Tanner had the decency to at least try and cover his with a cough. Venus just looked on with skepticism and scornful amusement. I avoided glaring at her and offered Hart a thankful smile, hoping she had jumped in to be helpful. She didn't look back at me.

"We'll collect him for ya," Trick's suggestion surprised me and both Guardian and I turned to look at him curiously. He shrugged, "Well, we're gonna be out that way anyhow, so why not?"

Guardian nodded then looked at me, "Does that suit you?"

I gave Trick one more look and he shot a cocky grin at me. My eyes moved to Badge and he nodded encouragingly. I grinned and found myself nodding. "Yea," I said quietly.

"Then that's settled! Venus, Tanner, show your charges the base and then put them to work!" And with that, Guardian turned around and disappeared through a door.

I faced Badge, intent on telling him what killer looked like but Trick gestured to something and when I looked I saw Venus exit through a side door. I frowned and hurried after her, waving to the other five people in the room before I dashed through the slowly closing door. I hadn't gotten to thank Hart OR eat. Today was going to be a challenge.

When I caught up to the other girl, I trailed carefully behind her. She led me to an adjacent building, pointed at it and said, "Forge." Then she just kept walking. The whole "tour" was like that. "Greenhouse… Watchtower A and B… Front Gate… Storage shack… Bunker…"

My shoulders were slumped as I followed her around, wishing I could see more of the base that was my new home. "The field. That's everything." I watched as she turned on the spot while I stood there, staring at the large empty field in front of me. I wondered what they used it for but dutifully I rushed after Venus.

"Hey newbie!" Both Venus and I turned at Trick's voice. He was striding towards us, a grin on his face and my spear in his hand. "Thought you might want this," he held it out to me and I mechanically took it from him. "I'll have to see how you use it. Give you some pointers or something."

Venus made an unattractive noise in the back of her throat and we both looked at her. "She doesn't look like the fighting type."

Trick raised an eyebrow. "I think I'll let her decide that in the end."

Venus looked like she was on the verge of getting angry. "Look at her. She wouldn't last a day."

"Really? Because… I'm pretty sure I've already lasted ten," I shot back defensively.

"Luck," she quipped back, her eyes narrowed.

Before I could retaliate, Trick's voice cut in. "I dunno Venus. When we found her she just looked determined."

"And?" she folded her arms.

"And.. when we found you, you were crying because you had dirt under your fingernails." Trick's voice wasn't sarcastic or accusatory. It was like he was just stating facts.

His remark still infuriated Venus though, but she took it out on me instead. I caught the full brunt of her glare. The force of it almost felt like it would knock me back a few feet. Trick let out a low whistle.

"I hope you're both still alive when we get back. Would be a shame to lose the only pretty faces to look at for miles around," he winked, flashing us a wicked grin.

I narrowed my eyes and folded my arms but Venus… she practically swooned over his remark. Suddenly she didn't seem so scary to me anymore.

"It's gonna be hard admiring anything when I give you a second black eye," I muttered.

Trick chuckled, shaking his head. "Alright, alright," he said, holding up his hands and slowly backing away. He looked at Venus and winked, "I'll bring back some more seeds if I have the time to find any."

He turned to leave and Venus looked at me. I wanted to smack that smug look off her face. Clearly she was pleased that she had gotten the last bits of attention from Trick. Like I cared. I gripped my spear tightly, holding back the urge to poke her with it. At least she wasn't trying to incinerate me with her eyes anymore…

She turned around, overly pleased with herself and twitched away. I shook my head and reluctantly followed. If I tried to sway my hips that much while I walked, I'd probably break something.

I settled on looking up at the sky to avoid the sight of the girl in front of me and noticed surprisingly how much closer to the giant green lighted tower I was now. I wondered what it was for and debated asking Venus but discarded that thought as soon as it had come.

We made it to the greenhouse and I saw pipes with taps attached to the ends of them. I followed the piping with my eyes and noticed that there were large metallic canisters stacked up, all connected to each other. It took me a moment to realize that they were to collect rainwater to water the crops with. I nodded at the impressive display. There were eight reservoirs and a tap set up for every four plots.

There were five floors though all the upper levels weren't as large as the foundation and were set up in a way that still allowed sunlight to reach every plant. The first floor was stone while the others were made of glass and there were no walls or a ceiling. Just beams were holding up the whole structure. I saw panes of framed glass leaning up against a small wooden shed off to the side. I decided the greenhouse was probably still under construction.

Venus reached for a ladder that led up to the next floor, pausing just long enough to shoot me some orders. "Dispose of any weeds. And don't pick the actual plants. They're worth more to us than you are. Baskets are over there. Pick whatever's ripe." Then she was gone, up the ladder and doing her own thing. I sighed.

"How the hell am I supposed to know what's ripe or not?" I asked the dead air, sighing loudly as I headed for a basket. I squared my shoulders, deciding I would just do my best.

Basket in hand, I went to the first plot and examined the contents. The weeds were easy to distinguish so I got busy pulling them out while I studied the fruits. I sighed with relief, the ripe berries on these plants were definitely the yellow ones. They looked plumper and juicier than their smaller sickly green counterparts. So as soon as the weeds were gone, I cleared the plant of all the ripened berries.

Before I knew it, I was halfway done with the bottom floor. I bent down and started to pull the weeds from my next plot when suddenly water came pouring down on me. "Ack!" I jumped up and away from the cold liquid. I glared at the tap when I heard laughter off towards the reservoirs. Venus stood there with her hand on a lever, freeing the water to cascade through the pipework and to the plants. I scowled at her and waited for the water to stop so I could return to my job.

A few more plants later though, I paused and studied the fruits on them. I chewed my lip. Some of the berries were a light purple color while the others were black. They all varied in sizes too. There were some purple ones larger than the black ones, and vice versa. I remembered the black berries I had tried eating and well… didn't fruits and stuff usually get darker the riper they are? So I decided that that's what these probably were. So, I filled up a second basket and finished weeding all the plots. I walked over and placed my second pile of gathered goodies next to the first, feeling proud of myself as I stretched out my aching back.

Venus saw me standing there and pointed to the shed and called out to me, "There's a barrel of fertilizer in there. Sprinkle all the plots with it."

I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly while I headed over to do as I was told. I opened the door and the smell almost knocked me on my ass. I threw up my hand to cover my nose. Several compost bins were inside, all chock-full of feces and thatch and swarms of flies zoomed around them. I grimaced, grabbed the nearest barrel to me and pulled it out the door, slamming it shut behind me. Only then did I allow myself to breathe again.

Venus had a smirk on her face when I returned and I thought about breaking the glass out from underneath her for a short moment.

"Use that pulley system over there to get the barrel up to the higher levels," she called down to me, not looking away from her work.

I nodded. "What do I use to scoop the fertilizer with?" I asked, casting my eyes around.

"Your hands."

I stared at her for a moment in disbelief. When she just kept working I groaned quietly then got to work. The sun was setting by the time we finished. We had stopped once during midday to eat and then got straight back to work.

Venus handed her baskets down to me, then climbed down the ladder herself. "What are the names of all these?" I asked, gesturing to the baskets in front of me.

She rolled her eyes, acting like I was an extreme burden. "Rockarrots, Savoroot, longrass, tinto berries, azul berries, narco berries, stim berries," she listed off all the plants she had collected from the upper floors. Which in my defense, added up to only a little more than the whole bottom floor put together.

When she got to my baskets though, her look of annoyance turned to anger. She glared at me. "Amar berries, and these were SUPPOSED to be mejo berries. Do I have to hold your fucking hand?" she asked harshly.

"What's going on?" Guardian's voice behind me made me jump and I cast my eyes down, ready to be reprimanded again for my mistake.

"DodoBrain over here just ruined our next mejo berry harvest. That's what." Venus said venomously.

"How'd she do that?"

"She picked the ones that weren't ripe."

"I'm sorry! I didn't know…" I frowned, hoping this wouldn't get me booted from the tribe. Messing up on the first day... Slick move.

"Didn't know how to pick berries?" Venus spat.

"I couldn't tell which ones were the ripe ones." I pleaded with Guardian, knowing I'd get no remorse from Miss Priss.

"You didn't tell her how to distinguish them?" Guardian's voice was serious.

Venus looked taken aback. "Well, I thought- No." she rolled her eyes.

"Then, as a failure to properly teach her, that falls on your shoulders. Now take responsibility and go pick the ripe ones. Hopefully we can make it work with the shortage next harvest." Guardian settled it very diplomatically and I silently sighed with relief. Venus glared daggers at me, but turned away with a wave of her hair and stalked off. Dumping my second basket of useless berries in the barrel of fertilizer on her way past.

Guardian turned to me and offered me a smile, "Alright, help me take these baskets to the storage shack. I'll show you how we make peace with other tribes," he winked at me.

I nodded and immediately began scooping up some of the baskets. As I was bent over, something rubbed against my behind and I almost tumbled forward. I shot up, ready to smack whoever it was but instead I found myself taking a few steps back quickly.

"Don't let her get in the baskets!" Guardian rushed forward, trying to block the large creature. It's elongated nose that reminded me of a very short elephant trunk rested up on top of his shoulder as it tried to push its way past Guardian. I quickly began picking up the baskets again while also trying not to spill any of the contents.

"Toss a handful of the Azuls over here." Guardian grunted and I hesitated for a moment trying to remember which ones were the azul berries, but soon as I remembered, I rushed to do as I was told. The berries plopped to the ground at the creature's feet, rolling away in different directions. The animal quit its advancement in favor of the easier meal and Guardian took his chance. He picked up the remaining baskets and ushered me away with him quickly. I followed closely behind him, casting glances behind us.

"Phiomia. That's what that thing is called. We never chased it off the grounds because they're completely nonaggressive and their droppings are good for fertilizer," He informed me. "And believe me when I say she produces a lot..." he chuckled.

"Huh," I muttered as I followed Guardian through the grounds.

Sorry my lovelies for the slow upload this time. I found myself at a loss to concentrate because I got really sick for a few days there. Thank you for the feedback from the last chapter. These are about to really pick up! Stay tuned (: