As soon as Newt returns to the Glade, Minho at his side, Alby and George are waiting for them. They look grim, and Newt is immediately on edge— more than usual, anyway. He hates this damn Maze that's keeping them trapped in the Glade.
Leading them to the Pit, George explains what had happened that day. When they get there, the Greenie is curled up in one corner of the cell, as far from the door as possible. He's crying silently, face covered in blood, tears, and snot. Half of it is swollen, to boot.
"Bloody hell," Newt says, looking down at the kid. "Who did that?"
"Gally, probably," Minho guesses, and Alby tries (and fails) to hide a smirk. It's no secret how fond the Keeper of the Builders is of their resident Girl Glader— except maybe to the girl in question herself— despite his efforts to hide it.
"Yep," George says. "Though I think that klunk in his hair is from Ash's shovel— she was doing Zart a favor and getting him more fertilizer from the deadheads when this shank showed up." Minho laughs quietly.
"She's fiesty, that's for sure," Newt says, a small bit of amusement in his brown eyes. "What's the plan for this one— I'm assuming we're not punishing Gally, since he isn't the one who started it."
"Right," Alby says. "I've offered Ash the option to be the one to decide what we do, but all she said is that she wants him to stay far away from her. She doesn't want to make a decision on punishment by herself."
"Should we have a Keepers Meeting, then?" Newt asks. "Might as well, right?"
Alby shrugs. "We were waiting for you to get back before deciding that," he says. "Let's call 'em up."
Three of them split off to go find the rest of the Keepers— Zart, Frypan, Winston, Gally, and Ash— while Alby goes about getting the Greenie out of the Pit. Surprisingly, he doesn't seem to want to come out, though he refuses to say why. Seems scared.
Finally, everyone who'd been invited arrives at the Gathering House, and the meeting begins.
More like the trial.
Ash sits on a bench on the middle level, looking everywhere but her attacker. Gally seems to have placed himself between them rather strategically, and Frypan is on the bench with her. Minho (who shares Keeper duty with Newt, as they're the only Runners) sits on the next one over, closer to Josh, with Winston and Zart.
Alby, George, and Newt stand on the lowest level, Josh on the chair behind them.
"So most of you know what happened already," Alby says. "For anyone who doesn't, our Greenie here decided to attack Ash out in the deadheads today."
The girl shifts uneasily, as Frypan's eyes go wide and he looks to her in concern. She looks down, fidgeting with her hands anxiously, as Alby continues.
"Thankfully, Gally showed up just in time," he says, nodding to the Builder, who nods back. Both their faces are grim and stony. "But the damage has already been done— maybe not physically, but certainly to the careful trust we have built here. I made a promise to Ash on her first day here that no one would hurt her, and Greenie decided to break that for me."
"It's not your fault, Alby," she says softly, finally looking up. Her brown eyes are soft, and ever so slightly red-rimmed.
"Maybe not," he allows. "But I'll be damned if I don't try to make up for it now. George, we agreed a long time ago— before most of our friends here ever came to the Glade— that someone who tried to hurt someone else had to be punished."
"Severely," George agrees.
Josh starts crying again, shaking in his seat. He mumbles something, too quiet for anyone to hear, but he seems to be begging.
"You got somethin' to say, Greenie?" Newt asks harshly. "You'll have to speak up."
"Please... please don't throw me out," Josh begs quietly.
Alby's brows furrow, and he shares a glance with Newt and George. "What makes you think we're gonna do that?"
He won't say, but Ash can't help but remember what she'd seen earlier, Gally crouched and angry at the edge of the Pit. Something tells her he had something to do with this, but she isn't sure how to feel about it.
Alby gives up and sighs, shaking his head. "I'll admit, that... that was something George and I had considered, back when we first talked about possible punishments." This doesn't help to soothe Josh, and he starts shaking even harder. Ash manages to catch a glimpse of Gally's face, and he's rolling his eyes.
Alby looks to Ash, calling her name quietly. Her eyes widen.
"No!" she almost yelps. "We can't— aren't there monsters out there? He'll die!"
"What if he tries this shit again?" Gally asks, only looking to Alby.
"He won't," Newt says calmly. "Whether he stays or not, he won't. Isn't that right, Greenie?"
The fact that no one is calling him by his name— only by his status as the newest Glader— is not lost on anyone.
Josh nods hurriedly. "N-never again," he mumbles. "I promise!" Gally rolls his eyes again, shifting his weight to his other foot.
"And...?" Newt prompts.
"I— I'll stay f-far away from h-her," Josh continues, sniffling.
"And if you ever need Medjack help, You get one of us—" Alby indicates the rest of the Keepers— "to get Jeff for you."
Josh agrees, nodding hurriedly. Alby looks to Ash, who screws up her mouth in thought before nodding much more slowly.
"Alright, then," George says. "Those are your conditions for getting to stay in the Glade. Now let's talk about punishment."
After some deliberation, it's decided that Josh will spend one week in the Pit, with only one meal and one bathroom break per day. After that, he'll be a Slopper until further notice. Usually that job is given temporarily to whomever is the newest member of the Glade, trading off every month. And it still will, to an extent— Josh will just have a partner that trades off from now on.
Personally, Gally doesn't think it's enough.
"You'll be lucky if we don't throw you to the Grievers as the Doors are closing," he'd told the Greenie, who had managed to earn himself a permanent place on Gally's shit-list.
In all honesty, Gally isn't sure if he had just been trying to scare the Greenie, or if he genuinely hoped for banishment.
He smirks to himself as he stands in line for dinner. His words had clearly left an impact on the kid. Alby had mentioned Josh hadn't wanted to leave the Pit when it came time for the Keepers' Meeting.
He exchanges a look with Frypan as it becomes his turn to be served. His portion seems to be just a little bit bigger than everyone else's, though that could just be his imagination. But Frypan winks at him— so no, definitely not Gally's imagination, then.
Gally grins back, before heading to find a table. He debates going to sit with Ash, who is sitting alone and only picking at her dinner, but before he can, her table fills up with the bodies of Newt, George, and Minho. He starts to head toward an empty table instead, but Newt calls him over, pointing to a stool nearby.
Sheepishly, he grabs the stool and sets it on the ground at the end of the table, between Newt and Minho. George is on Newt's other side, and Ash on Minho's. Ash meets his eyes for a moment, and smiles shyly, before going back to her dinner.
She finally starts eating it, too.
Minho looks between her bowl, Gally's, and finally his own. "Did you guys get more than we did?" he asks.
Ash tries not to laugh, but Gally doesn't bother holding back. "It's okay, Minho," Ash says. "Next time, you can be the one to be either a victim or a hero."
"Aww, did you guys hear that? Gally's a hero," Newt echoes, and the girl blushes.
"You know what I meant," she mumbles, before shoveling some more mashed potatoes into her mouth, keeping her eyes down.
"Wait, so am I not?" Gally asks, feigning confusion. It only makes her blush harder, but that had been Gally's goal all along.
"Yeah, I don't think any of us know what you do mean, if it wasn't that Gally's your personal hero," Minho adds.
Scowling playfully, Ash reaches over with her spoon and steals some of his potatoes, before grabbing her own bowl protectively and scooting away. Minho protests, trying to get his potatoes back, but she's too quick. The other three laugh at their antics.
Their laughter only gets louder— after a brief, shocked silence— when she finally whips out her knife and jams the end into the table, keeping a divide between her and Minho. The Runner doesn't seem to know whether to be scared or amused. Ash smirks, quickly finishing her own dinner, before looking over to him.
Innocently, she asks him, "Are you gonna finish that?" Minho shoots a small glare at her, but she just laughs it off, taking the knife back out of the wood and putting it away. He relaxes once more, scarfing down the last of his own dinner.
About an hour after everyone else has gone to bed, Ash sneaks out of her room to go toward the bathrooms. Gally had offered to meet her there so they could plan out her lessons. She'd been reluctant to talk about it in front of anyone else, even their friends at dinner, and he'd somewhat understood.
He's already near the bathrooms, waiting for her. Leaning against the wall, arms crossed, glaring off in the general direction of the Pit. Ash is once again reminded of Josh's behavior at the meeting, but chooses not to say anything. Whatever Gally had said to him beforehand, it can stay between them.
"Thanks," she says first thing, and Gally practically jumps. He clearly hadn't heard her approach, and rubs the back of his neck with a sheepish look on his face.
"Sorry, I zoned out," he says, but she shakes her head and laughs quietly.
"Not your fault," she says. "I've been told several times that I'm very quiet when I move. I think I nearly gave Frypan third degree burns the other day…" Ash trails off, trying to figure out why Gally's just staring at her. "So… self defense?"
He nods, pushing away from the wall but keeping his arms crossed. "I'm free most evenings after dinner," he says, "unless there's a major project going on, or something with some kinda deadline."
"Isn't that usually when you'll be trying to relax, hanging out with friends?" she asks. "I don't wanna take away from that…"
"I'd rather not sneak off from work during the day," Gally says, quirking one eyebrow.
"I'm not asking you to," she says quickly. "I know how important both our jobs are— people are counting on us."
"Then the only other option I can think of would be at night, while everyone's asleep," he says slowly. "Just like this."
With a sigh, Ash pushes some hair out of her face. "I don't wanna be a bother…"
Gally shakes his head. "I don't sleep much anyway," he admits. "It really wouldn't hurt me… hell, might even help tire me out, you know?"
She cracks a smile, and reluctantly agrees.
"Okay, cool," he says. "We got that settled. You wanna start now, or wait until another night?"
"The sooner the better," she decides, and he smirks.
"Okay then," he says. "Here are the absolute basics: keep your center of gravity low— but not too low— and try to use your opponent's own weight against them."
She nods along, recalling some of the fights she'd seen on bonfire nights. Gally drops into a stance as though he's standing in that sand pit, with his knees bent just a little (not nearly enough to bring him to her height) and his arms up defensively. Ash raises her eyebrows, studying him in the dim lantern light.
"I hope you don't want me to take a shot like it's bonfire night," she says dryly, and he laughs quietly, shaking his head as he relaxes once more.
"Nah, just giving an example," he assures. "How much do you know about weak points?"
"Nose, throat, groin, knees, shins," she lists off. "And I'm sure there's more. I did manage to kick him in the crotch earlier, at least. Didn't really do much…"
"What angle were you at?" She goes quiet for a moment, and he grimaces. "Sorry, you don't have to…"
"It's okay," she murmurs, then speaks up. "He had my back to his chest at the time, so I brought my ankle up as hard as I could. Believe me, I know my knee could've done a much better job."
Shuck coward, Gally thinks, watching her face. Sneaking up behind her when she's all alone. He knew damn well what he was doing was wrong. Anger bubbles in his stomach, but he forces himself to shove it aside and focus on the here and now.
She's okay, and that is what's important.