Already she was feeling better. It had been a couple of days since she joined the tribe. She was on good terms with everyone for the first couple of days. Later she started to get a bit irritated with Lex and his ideas.
They had moved on and were already in Washington D.C. It was only a couple of days, maybe a few weeks later that they would make it to the coast, depending on the weather. The only thing bugging Rala is that she wished that there be a boat for them, and she wondered why Bubbles, Ray, and Faith, hadn't followed her. Maybe they thought that she turned around and went back to California to try and find a boat that way. No, they weren't that stupid. They would have realized that she wouldn't go back. Maybe they just… didn't follow. She didn't care right now though. She had to focus all of her energy on trying to find food enough for five people now. Amber would go and hunt fish, Lex would get firewood, tai-san would collect herbs to spice the fish up, and Salene would cook the fish and watch over it. While Rala went to go and find some fruit and berries to go along with the fish.
Rala heard the sound of running water. She figured this is where Amber went to fish. And sure enough, she could see Amber with a spear catching fish. It looks like she already had about six. Rala walked out of the bushes and walked over to her.
"Wow… How do you do it? How do you catch them all?" Rala asked amazed.
Amber looked up in surprise. "How do I do it? It's really not that hard, I guess. Do you want to learn?" At these words, Rala's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree lights. "Can you really teach me? Oh that would be wonderful! That way I could be of more use to you guys… other than the berry picker I mean," She looked apologetically at Amber. "It's not that I'm not grateful for all of you coming with me and letting me stay with you and join your tribe, but I wish I could be of more help,"
Amber smiled. "You're a lot of help. You help Tai-San with her medical herbs, and Salene with the fish get over cooked and tell her when it's done. You're a lot of help, really you are," She smiled again at Rala's scarlet face. She didn't realize that she actually was of some help. "Now, anyways, back to the fish. All you have to do is get a spear. I have an extra one around here somewhere… ah here it is," She beamed again as she handed the spear over. "Next you look into the water too see the fish, of course. Then you just aim… and fire!" As she said this, she also demonstrated this action by one of her own. She was lucky and caught two fish at the same time. She picked the spear out of the water and smiled. It's Just that simple. We'll try again for dinner okay? You can do it all," She smiled again and put the fish in the bucket. "Alright, lets go back to camp," Rala nodded and help with the buckets and they headed through the bushes and past the trees into a small clearing. There were 4 beds of leaves and 4 bags that they were carrying. Lex and Tai-San shared a bed of leaves, and the rest had their own. Rala was the only one without a bag, so the girls were more than happy to share their make-up and clothes with her.
A couple of days turned into weeks, and they were very near the coast now. The weather was warm, but the wind was cold, sending the chills up their backs. A day or so later they met up with a couple of people new and they joined up also. It was Dal, a young boy who had been searching for Amber since she left her city, Cloe, a bright young girl who had green streaks in her black hair. Rala really didn't get along at first with Cloe, but she tried to see things her way. After all, she was a little younger then her. Dal was great to get along with. He liked all the things she did; books, arcades, and they had a great time talking about them. Truthfully Rala was a little jealous of what Lex had with Tai-San and vice versa, but she knew that she would find someone, even if they were in New Zealand. Honestly, she couldn't get Martin out of her mind. Every time she would fall to sleep, she would see him, mad at her for not coming. A new thought occurred to her, what would he say after a year and a half, she decides to come to New Zealand? Where, they had asked her to come just that little while ago. But in that little while, a million things had happened. She was afraid for her little brother and how he was being treated, but once she got on her feet again, she would come back for him and take him back. It was where they belonged, and she knew it. She didn't have any doubts, not yet that she believed. And also, in her dreams, she pictured her happy, with her friends and brother, everyone there in a nice warm home, with the fire place going from the wood they had collected and the fire they had started. This was her fantasy. But that was all that it was. A fantasy.
After the while of traveling with limited food, she was soon loosing what little grasp of reality that she had. She would see things that didn't exist. As one such night she was sleeping and she thought she saw a vision of her brother. He was a young man, around 16 or so, he had nice clothes, nice pulled back hair, and a young woman on his arm. It was the day of his wedding. For some reason, an older Salene was the pasture, marrying them. But for some reason, Rala was nowhere to be seen. It was her own brother's wedding but she didn't see herself. But the girl, she knew her from somewhere, but she could decipher where from. In her mind she looked around at the brides' maids, saw Ebony, Amber, and Siva. For some reason a little girl with shaggy brown hair was the flower girl. And she had just started to walk the aisle. The Best Man was someone she recognized. It was Bray. He had long, braided hair, at least past his shoulders… though that is about where his normal hair was down too. He too looked wonderful. His wonderful eyes sparkling like an ocean. Filled with much to say. He looked over at Amber who smiled. Her stomach was bigger than it normally was, was she having a child soon? Ebony had a red rose on her forehead and she too was smiling over at Bray. Then she would look over at someone in the audience and wink at him. Rala looked over to the crowd to see who she was looking at and it was a tall man with white short hair. Next to him looked like his brother, who too had matching red hair. He was quietly talking to what looked like Cloe. Cloe was taller and looked more mature, but the way she was looking at the girl on Faiths arm, showed that she was still the same little girl, just spoiled.
The little girl had stopped her little prance up the isle and took a seat in the front row. Salene began to recite the words that seemed ancient. Rala hadn't heard the wedding vows since her mother's marriage, when she was six. Faith looked over at his bride and smiled. In his eyes was pure love for this mysterious woman, but something in those blue eyes. They were missing the spark of recognition of something. Something was missing from his heart. Rala tried to think of what was gone, but the only thing she could see missing was herself. She wondered, if this was her brothers' wedding, then where was she? She knew she wouldn't miss it for the world, so where was she? She looked up and down the aisles and still no sign of her.
Faith was just about to reveal who the woman was under the veil but someone shook her in the reality part of her mind. She woke up to find what looked like Amber over her. Rala rubbed her eyes and sat up. She looked over at Amber who had a scared impression on her face. She tried to figure out why she had woken her up and secretly hated her for it. Was it a vision she had just then, or was it, yet again, her fantasy dream.
"Is something wrong?" Rala asked a little stupidly.
"You were sleep talking, you were saying things like 'where' and 'where am I' things like that. I was worried you were having a nightmare," Ambers expression turned scared to relieve when Rala muttered that she was fine and it was nothing to worry about.
A couple of days went by and they had found a boat. They eventually found the keys in the mini-compartment. All they needed now was some extra gas. It was around noon and Rala was relaxing on the front of the boat, staring at the waves. She hadn't told anyone about the "vision" she might have had. She figured that she had been hanging out with Tai-San a little too much, and maybe some of the spiritual aura had rubbed off on her. Still, just to be sure, she didn't tell anyone. Tai-San knew something was wrong since the night Amber woke her up. She tried and tried again for Rala to tell her, but there wasn't any way to crack the hard case that she had barricaded her self in.
Rala was afraid of what Tai-San would make of the dream, so tried hard to avoid her. Lex was getting annoyed with her actions and threatened to make her spill or he would have to resort to violence. Of course he would only say this when his girlfriend wasn't around.
She looked up at the sky and wondered how long it would take for them to finally reach the land of New Zealand. She saw the moon was still out, and it was still full from last night. She wondered if her brother was looking at the same moon, wondering where his big sister was, and why she seemed to hate him so much. A silent tear fell down from her eyes, down her cheeks and into the water. More began to fall and she grabbed her legs close to her and rubbed her eyes on her knees. She wanted someone to hold, someone of her own, like Faith, someone to tell her it was going to be okay.
Salene had noticed this and she sighed. She wanted to help her but she just kept pushing people away. She is an innocent child, lost in this huge world, without anyone to help her along… no one to call her own. Salene felt pity for this young girl who had lost more than she could imagine. She didn't loose her brother to death, but she lost him from herself. She pushed him away too much and he wasn't coming back. And apparently only recently had she noticed. Amber seemed to have noticed Salenes worry.
"Don't worry, we'll get through to her, so stop worrying. That's the last thing we need right now is two people crying," She smiled but her eyes too were filled with worry for her friend.
Rala had began to cry a little harder, still trying to cover it up, and began to rock back and forth. Tai-San couldn't stand it, she walked over to her and put her arm around her shoulders to calm her down. She said something to her and Rala flung herself to her crying on her shoulder.
The next day they were off on their way. Rala still kept to herself except to Tai-san. Every night she would tell her, her dreams and Tai-san would record them, and try to decipher what they meant. But so far she couldn't tell what they meant. But harder and harder she would try. She promised Rala, that she would get to the bottom of her dreams.
Lex was getting a little jealous of all the attention Rala was getting from his girlfriend. Tai-san would merely snicker at his behavior and tell him "Dame Desu." Which her friend from school had told her it meant, "It's no good", and smile at him. Amber was still a little worried for her friend, and she was afraid that she looked like she didn't want anything to do with Rala's problems. Salene was having some of the same worries.
On the sixth day of fish and travel by boat, Rala got out of her bed and when she did so, she had woken up Amber, and Amber wondered what she was thinking. Rala's eyes looked shaded over, as if something was blocking a window into her soul. All that you could see is a dark expression, and at first glance, Amber was afraid.
Rala lifted up a something in her right hand. She held it over her head and went down hard. Amber only realized a split second before, what she was trying to do. She ran over and grabbed her arm. Amber's eyes too, were cloudy, but with tears.
"Rala! What do you think you're doing?! Are you trying to kill yourself?"
Rala dropped the knife and to her knees. She put her hands to her face and began to cry. She didn't like the world she was in, and thought that it would be easier to just let life go, than to stick it out. She began to cry harder at the thought that had just crossed her mind. Maybe this was why she wasn't at her brother's wedding, maybe if Amber didn't wake up in time, that was what the future would have been like.