Although Oasis is marked on the map in a precise spot, when we arrive there, it's just a huge alcove of rocks. Amelie's shoulders slump when it appears there is no Oasis, at least, not here.
"Let's walk around it. Maybe these rocks are a decoy, so anyone would assume it's just a pile of junk and leave. Wouldn't you do that if you wanted to keep your town safe?"
"I've done worse to keep my town safe. Let's go left, I guess."
About a quarter mile walk around the large cliff-face looking pile of rocks, we find an opening in the rock face - a path? Amelie gives me a look, and we both steady our hold on our weapons. Far down the dirt path surrounded by rock, two people, a man and a woman, dressed in what looks like old potato sacks bear their own weapons. The man raises one hand, palm to us and fingers splayed - the universal sign for "stop". We stop, loosening our hold on our guns - a show of peace. The man comes forward, staring all the way at Amelie.
"Outsider! You have arrived! Please, come closer... I have something of the utmost urgency to speak to you about! Do hurry, He doesn't like to be kept waiting!" I look at Amelie, and she looks at me. He? "I'm so glad you're here. It's been a while since anyone's visited us, and He's been waiting for someone like yourself to arrive. If you wouldn't mind following me, I'll bring you right to Him."
"Sure. Lead on."
"Excellent! Please, follow me. All will be explained soon." Not soon enough. I'm suspicious, gun still drawn, but curiosity kills. We follow him through tall wooden doors into a forest. My god, the trees. The leaves! The grass, so much grass everywhere. A wooden gazebo in the middle of a rounded space cleared of tree life, with a small basin in the center of it. The old man leads us to the gazebo, though he doesn't spare a glance at me - looking only at Amelie, as if he were a blind man finding sight for the first time, and she was the sun.
"I am Tree Father Birch. You have no idea how overjoyed I am to see you! Normally, Outsiders are forbidden inside Oasis, but He has made an exception. To meet Him, you must undergo the Ceremony of Purification. Once that's complete, you'll be able to speak to Him. Whenever you're ready, we may begin."
"Him? Ceremony? What does this ceremony involve?"
"It's simple, really. You drink the sap from the basin here in the Pavilion. The sap will purify your mind and body of anything harmful that could possibly hurt Him. I assure you, nothing harmful will happen to you."
Amelie looks at the "sap" in the basin. It sure looks like tree sap, though it's been two centuries since I've seen any. Thick and sticky. I reach over to touch it, to test it with my own hand and another strange tree person scolds me from afar. Amelie takes me out of earshot of these wacky people. "I'm gonna do it. My curiosity is peaked. You know what to do in case that stuff kills me, right?"
"Of course. I don't like it, but I don't have to like it."
"See you on the other side. Tree Father Birch? I'm ready to start the ceremony."
"Very good! Take your place in front of the basin, and let's begin."
Quickly, all of the other tree folk dressed in their strange potato sack garb circle around us, around the basin. I take a step back, exiting the circle, needing my peripheral vision clear in case this goes haywire. With everyone in place, Tree Father Birch motions to Amelie that she should drink from the basin. She steels herself, cups her hands in it, and takes a sip. She tries to mask the disgust on her face, with no luck. Immediately, I see her eyes lose focus, her muscles relax, and her face flush with pink. She grips the side of the basin for balance. Every instinct in me screams to scoop her up and run from this strange place, but somehow, at the same time, I know she is in no danger. One by one, these strange tree people all chant something, so weird I would never be able to catch it all.
"Soon, you will pass peacefully into sleep, outsider. And when you awake, you will witness His glory firsthand." Tree Father Birch steps forward to catch her before she falls, unconscious. He lays her down on the wooden ground gently, then turns to me for the first time. "You will carry her through those doors," he points behind me, "and wait for her to come to. She will know what to do then. She will sleep for around one hour."
I carry her through the large wooden doors behind me into a grove. It's beautiful; green trees as far as the eye can see, a bed of grass covering the ground instead of dirt and sand. Pools of beautiful, clear blue water puddle sporadically around the place. If it was better protected on all sides, I would want to live right here in this grove for the rest of my unending life. I find a particularly soft-looking bed of grass and lay Amelie down on it, sitting next to her head leaning my back up against a tree. It's quite pleasant in here. It smells fresh, like life, like sweetness. Not like death and bitterness and dust like most places in the Wastes. I find an old book in Amelie's pack that I think might be one of the old Sherlock Holmes novels, though the first few pages are so worn it's hard to tell; a few snack cakes, a bottle of water, and I settle in for my hour of waiting.
Just as the detective and the doctor are in the midst of solving their mystery, Amelie wakes up suddenly with a snort. She rubs her eyes and glances around, panicking when she realizes she has no idea where she is, and that she can't see me.
"Amelie, I'm here," I gently put my hand on her shoulder. She turns to look back at me, bleary-eyed and uncomprehending for a moment before realizing she's safe. Her face relaxes, and she reaches up to take my hand and hold it in both of hers, then pressing it to the right side of her face. I rub her cheek gently with my thumb, but her eyes snap open, suddenly alert, and she faces the center of this rotunda of trees and life, staring right at the largest tree I've ever seen.
"I know what I have to do. I don't know how. It was like... like a weird dream, I guess. I saw things. I know what I have to do. I'm going to go talk to that tree." She stands and marches over to the tree, a good fifty paces away.
"Um. Amelie?" But she's too far now. And too determined. "Okay. You go talk to the tree. Give it what-for." Sure enough, the other side of the tree must have something to say, because she has a full conversation with it. I start to stand to gather up our things, packing away my book and the trash from my snack when she comes back to me.
"Don't bother with that stuff. I have to do something for Harold. It'll be quick, but I need you to stay here. Harold has nothing against you, he just doesn't like strangers in his tunnels and I already took the sap so I'm all cleansed and, well, whatever. Keep reading your book. I'll be back soon, okay?" She starts to walk away and I catch her by the hand.
"Do you want to perhaps tell me what you're up to? Or who Harold is?" Please, God, don't let Harold be the tree.
"Oh, Harold is the tree over there." Of course. "He's very nice, and he asked me to do him a favor. He's lived a long and miserable life, and he wants me to end it. It's not like killing, it's like... mercy. His heart is down in some tunnels underneath us, underneath all of Oasis. It's just something I have to do. I'll be safe, okay? I have stealth boys in my pocket in case there's anything down there."
"Okay. Be safe. Please. I lo... I want you to come back to me in one piece." I kiss her hand, and she kisses mine back. She walks away from me, leaving through the large, double doors we initially came from. I settle down in my spot to continue reading my book, lost in the thought of how close I came to saying that godforsaken L word. I know how I feel. But I can't get myself to say it. What am I afraid of? I don't even know what the contract could cause in me if I admit my feelings toward... well, anyone, regardless of if they are the contract holder or not. Friendship, romance, sex... it's all mostly foreign to me because I am terrified of the outcome. Amelie has helped me navigate friendship. But what happens if I can't take it anymore? When I have to take her in my arms and love her once and for all? I'm almost too afraid to find out.
I wait for Amelie for slightly less than an hour, telling only by the movement of the sun, lost in my book. She trudges back into the woodsy rotunda looking sad, almost defeated. Disappointed, maybe. She makes a beeline for me, and I stand to greet her with my arms wrapped around her, rubbing small circles on her back with my thumb. She lays her head on my chest, inches under my collarbone, arms around my waist.
"What happened?"
"I couldn't do it. Come with me to talk to Harold, you'll understand."
To my surprise, Harold is actually... a humanoid tree. A tree with a face. And a voice. 200 years on this post-apocalyptic planet, seeing the things I've seen, and yet I'm surprised.
"Hi, Harold."
"Amelie," Harold breathes in a low, grumbling voice, "You couldn't do it. I know what you did. I understand."
"I'm sorry. I wanted to help you, I swear. But Leaf Mother Laurel gave me a bottle and said that it would help your plants grow, and spread across the Wasteland. I'm so sorry, Harold. I had to do what's best for everyone."
"I know. At least things," He breathes a long, rattling breath, "aren't all bad. I've been around 200 years. What's 200 more?"
Amelie smiles at him. "Bye, Harold. We'll come back and visit one day, I promise."
"Please, don't be strangers. It's nice to be visited by... people who aren't crazy."
We decided to make a picnic a few meters behind Harold, as not to disturb him, but so we could appreciate the plantlife. Soft grass, softer than anything Amelie had seen in her whole life, most likely. She spent a good ten minutes sitting on the ground, running her hands over the beds, over and over again.
"I wish I had a camera so I could capture this moment forever. You look so happy."
"I just never thought I would see anything like this in real life. Not in my lifetime. I was always sure humanity would get back to this point eventually, even if my dad's whole Project Purity thing doesn't work out and even if no one had ever stepped in with Harold's heart. But to see it, to see all this... God. Maybe we really are a little closer now than we were before. And I can't believe it. I can't believe how fresh and clean the air is here."
"It is definitely a strange sensation in my gravelly old lungs." Amelie scoots over to me and I lay my arm around her shoulders, using my other hand to pull her face to my chest. "I like it here."
And with a happy sigh, "Me too."
(AN: I had a strangely tough time writing this chapter, even though from the beginning I've wanted them to go to Oasis and for Charon to get in touch with his potential feelings - I guess just feeling like I have to stay faithful to the dialogue and that questline is a little hindering for me. I might rewrite this chapter later. I'm sorry if it feels super weird to read. But thank you all for reading, for following and faving, and reviewing. I appreciate you all. :3)
