Song: OMNIA - The Wylde Hunt; Faun - Karuna
"I'm really jealous." was the first thing Gaige said after we materialised at our new accommodation. We were all pretty much in awe and speechless. I don't know what exactly I had expected, maybe one of those modern, sterile looking buildings or something, but it was definitely not this.
This here was much better than anything I expected. We were in the middle of a tropical looking forest and in front of us was a full little village of tree houses. And they weren't crappy little tree houses. They were amazing modern tree houses with small, winding staircases leading up to them. There were about three in each tree, connected by wooden stairs.
"Are you sure we're at the right place?" I asked Mordecai.
"Yup. They've really outdone themselves this year. Or maybe things have just gotten fancier since I left, I don't know." he answered.
"What happens to all that when we're gone?" I wanted to know. These were some pretty amazing houses and they were all new, so I wondered if they would just tear them down again or sell them or reuse them in some way.
"They'll probably use them for a few more events during the year, 'cause Artemis is big on sports and all that. And then they sell them pretty cheaply, since they've been built on a grant from some sponsors. So yeah, some poor kids from the slums might be able to afford a good life here some day. But it's more likely some company will snatch them up and make them into a tourist thing." Mordecai replied.
"Wow. That's pretty... I don't know how to feel about that." I said. This was absolutely wild to me. I had never stayed in such a nice place in my life. Not even on Aquator when I was living with my parents.
True, we were living in a middle class neighbourhood, but that didn't mean all too much on Aquator. We had a small house, I used to share a room with my sister Eden, and the house was pretty old, drafty and damp. Nothing compared to the upper middle class houses on Aquator.
"Well, how about you find yours and make yourselves at home for the time you'll have it." Axton suggested. And he was right, we probably should go and find which one we were supposed to stay in and get familiar with our surroundings. After all, there was still a possibility we'd end up not cashing in at the competition or not cashing in enough. In which case, we'd probably have to steal someone's stuff. Better to be familiar with your surroundings if you were planning to rob someone.
"Yeah, let's do that. Mordy, where do we live?" I asked.
"It's on your ECHO map. They sent the coordinates. Apparently we're on the top one, so we have to drag ourselves up the stairs all the time. We'll get a pretty amazing view in exchange, though." he commented.
"Oh my God! I wish I could just camp out with you guys here. This all looks pretty amazing. Mordy, how did you ever leave this place?" Gaige asked. She seemed to be completely blown away by her surroundings.
"Wait until you see the slums, that's where I grew up. And wait until you meet some of the more affluent locals, they're assholes, mostly." Mordecai answered. Gaige was just shaking her head.
"You know what? If I ever get fed up with Vault Hunting, I'll buy one of these tree houses and I'll live out the rest of my days here and sell mangos and everyone will know me by some alias name and I'll adopt like 10 orphan kids and all. Back to the roots, man." she said.
"You know, that actually sounds pretty nice. You can probably afford one of those houses when they go up for sale if you save up a little and do some jobs around the place. I'm sure there are some bounties you can cash in." I replied.
I knew we would need a lot of Vault Hunters to search all the new Vaults and take care of Sanctuary and Pandora in general, but Gaige was just 18 when she came to Pandora. She should get another chance at life. Be able to do something she liked, go to university, do what made her happy.
I looked down at my ECHO map. We were currently at the center of this little tree house village and our place was somewhere a bit further out. If I could trust the map there was a lake not too far from there and we would be able to walk through the forest to get there. I still couldn't believe how beautiful everything looked.
The trees were massive, old and tall trees that looked as if they had been there since the beginning of time. Everything was just unbelievably green. There were a few paths to walk on and I really just wanted to take my shoes off to be able to feel the dark, rich soil beneath my feet.
We had a few places like that on Aquator, but none of them were this sheltered and reclusive, because the places we had were absolutely overrun by tourists during the main season (which was almost the whole year). I looked around at Mordecai who seemed in a much better mood now than just a few days ago. He looked like he was genuinely looking forward to this.
"Well, I guess it's time for you guys to go on ahead. What are we going to do while you're gone?" Gaige asked.
"Yeah, where can we look for accommodation? We should probably go and find something for ourselves at some stage. Before it's too late." Axton added.
"Well, it kinda depends what kind of experience you want. I'd say avoid places like Greytown and Rivas. Things aren't fun there, I set foot in these places a couple of times and none of them were good times. If you want a Pandora like experience, maybe try Whitesands or Inman. They are really poor areas, but not too bad. You can survive there, if you can survive Pandora. If you want something really different, try small villages close to the forests or in the forests, they all should have a guest house or two. If you want luxury, try Luana or Golden Grove. That should help you to get going. I'd look for something luxury or close to those places if you want to find Aurelia." Mordecai explained. I was wondering whether we'd get to see all those places, too.
"Okay. Guess we'll check all those places on a map, then. We'll let you know where we're staying, okay?" Axton replied.
"Sounds like a plan. Tell us if you need help or anything." Mordecai said. I waved at Axton and Gaige as they made their way back to the Fast Travel station. They waved back quickly and then were on their way. I looked back at Mordecai who smiled down at me. He looked really, genuinely happy and I hadn't seen him like that a lot when Jack was still alive.
"You wanna go?" he asked.
"One second." I answered and bent down to take off my shoes. I really, really wanted to feel something under my feet that wasn't sand. The earth felt cold and soft under my feet and I regretted not taking my shoes off sooner.
"Barefoot? Really?" Mordecai said with a smug grin on his face. I just shrugged. This was nice. There was no reason not to be barefoot.
"Yeah, I don't see why not. This soil? It looks really damn good. Compared to all the sand and rock on Pandora." I replied. Mordecai laughed and shook his head.
"It is nice, yeah. Let's go. I think we have a good bit to walk until we get to our place." he said and took my hand, walking ahead. I did my best to keep up with him, but since I was still limping a little I had to walk pretty fast for that.
"Talon will appreciate that we got a place so high up." I told him.
"He will. It's funny. When I was still living here, we always thought the people living in their little tree houses were a little backwards, you know? The original tree houses weren't even close to whatever this is. They were really simple. This here is some new thing. Luxurious tree houses have apparently become some sort of fashion. So yeah. This is really weird to me. I just missed so much while I was gone, you know?"
"Yeah, I know what you mean. It's like a completely new place, I guess."
"Yeah, that's what it feels like."
"You gonna show me where you used to live?"
"I don't know, it's not the safest place and it's not the nicest place either..."
"I'd be interested to see it. Hell, Mordy, I wanna know everything, how you grew up, where you're from, all that. Would be a wasted opportunity not to go and see all the places you've ever been." I said with a smile.
"Really? I mean, people usually don't take much of an interest in me as a person. You sure you wanna go?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure." I answered. It was a little like I was on a quest to know even more about Mordecai's very identity. I wanted to know every little detail, get a first-hand impression of this place and how he grew up and just... I wanted to know and see as much as possible, just because I really loved this man with all my heart and soul.
"Alright. I'll see if we can go some day. Maybe my old house is still standing." he replied with a faint smile.
"That would be so cool."
"Yeah, well, it was already falling apart when I still lived there. And that was 25 years ago. Anyway, looks like we're here. That's the tree we're gonna live in." Mordecai said and pointed at a tall tree, only surrounded by a few other trees. It had the three tree houses in it, like all the other houses, a winding staircase leading up to all the houses. There were some small lights wrapped around the railing of the stairs that faintly illuminated them. It looked really beautiful.
"Wow. This is so exciting, let's go!" I replied and quickly made my way up the stairs, taking two steps at once. I really wanted to see what the houses looked like on the inside. And I wanted to get changed into something that looked less scabby than my usual Pandoran clothes.
It looked like no one had moved into the house on the first level yet, but the second level house seemed to be occupied and from the way it looked it was two girls living there. It was a total mess. If I learned one thing from the hotels and resorts on Aquator, it was that girls' rooms were incredibly messy.
I went up the last bit of the staircase until I got to the platform with our own little tree house on it. This was amazing. There was some sort of pad in front of the door, it was supposed to work with a retina scan. I touched the screen and it lit up.
"Please look straight up for a retina scan." a female robotic voice told me. Mordecai had only just gotten up to the platform with Talon on his shoulder. I looked up and saw a tiny little scanner that scanned my eye quickly.
"Scan complete. Welcome home, Nova." the voice said with a little clicking noise. That was probably the door being unlocked. Awesome.
"You gonna stare at the door forever or you gonna go in?" Mordecai asked, grinning at me smugly. I laughed and shook my head.
"Well, I'm sorry I'm taking some time to admire how smoothly this all went down." I replied and opened the door. There was a strong smell of freshly chopped wood coming from inside and everything just looked new and modern, but still cozy. It was absolutely amazing.
It felt a little like the tower in Tundra Express, just warmer and more welcoming. There was a small kitchen and a cozy looking living room right there, as well as a door at the back of the room, probably leading to the bathroom. In the middle of the room there was a steep staircase leading upstairs, to a second floor, which I presumed had to be a bedroom. My mind was blown.
"Whatchu think, Mordy? Can we survive here for a month?" I asked, not really expecting an answer.
"This place looks great. I'd say we can just about survive." he replied, sounding just as amazed as I did.
I went inside and put down my backpack and my other bags, still taking in everything. There were a few terminals all around the house, probably to control any sort of application that was in the place. I slowly walked up the steep stairs and peeked into the bedroom. There was one massive double bed in it. When I looked up there was nothing but leaves. The place had a fucking glass ceiling and it was the single most amazing thing I had ever seen in my life.
"Holy shit, Mordecai, come up here and look at this!" I exclaimed, walking up the rest of the stairs, my eyes glued to the glass ceiling.
