Chapter 4: Chit-Chat and Grit

Suzanne sat down on her bed with Moi still visibly trembling in her arms. She stroked that special spot just behind her ears, and Moi's tail began to thump happily, despite her fear.

"You okay, Moi? You said that you felt like you've been here before. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?" she asked, tilting Moi's face up to look at her. Although she'd just met this creature just a little bit before, she wanted to help her in any way possible.

"Moi dunno... 'S juss... A fee-ling in Moi's chest. A bad fee-ling, Soozan. Moi iz... scayrd," she said, burrowing her face into Suzanne's neck like a child. She slowly swayed side to side out of some sort of maternal instinct. It was nice to take care of her when she felt scared.

"Moi gets scayrd wen Moi doezn't know wut iz goin' on... Makes Moi feel... unsuksesful."

"I know the feeling," Suzanne said with a pang of empathy. "When I don't understand something that seems easy for other people, it makes me feel like I've failed. I really try, Moikka, I do. It's just that I don't have what it takes sometimes. I'm not the smartest, but I try to do what's ri-"

"Hoiya Mistuh Jaee!" Moi squealed, her tail finally back to its bouncy, happy state. Suzanne opened her eyes wide. He heard all that? Well... he was her friend, so what was wrong?

"Oh! Uh... I'm sorry... I just..." his voice was barely louder than a mumble, as his hands were covering his red face. Suzanne stiffened. She didn't do anything wrong, did she? She could try to help Jay too, in hopes he wasn't sick.

"Hey, you okay? You look red, what's going on?" she asked in a rush, setting Moi to the side quickly and giving him a hug. She let go when he gave a noise like he was hurt.

"N-nothing's wrong, Suzanne..." he said, barely audible. "D-dinner's ready..." Jay hardly finished before he bolted for the kitchen, nearly colliding with Zane on his way back down the hall. Moi did a flicking motion with her tail from the bed, a devilish grin on her face. Suzanne was so confused. There was something wrong with Jay, he was never this quiet, and the redness wasn't normal, and he would always hug her back. Everyone did! She nonchalantly rubbed the back of her head, one corner of her mouth parallel with her eyes and the other turned down, a true look of befuddlement displayed on her face.

"Mistuh Jaee weelee wikes yoo, Soozan," Moi said from behind her. She tried a smile, and picked her up slowly.

"Well of course! Jay likes everyone! He's a charismatic guy!" she said. "Now, let's go get dinner."

Suzanne stepped out into the night air. Zane had briefed them on what he'd seen that day before he came back with Moikka. A dark place on the horizon, huh? Seemed like it was a little out of the ordinary and sudden, but that was why they had been sent.

"Tomorrow, I'd like to take some samples of the wildlife. Can you two go out and scout?" Zane had said during the meal. "Moi will stay here with me of course. But as long as you don't stray into the dark area, then you should be fine." Suzanne nodded right away, but at the mention of "you two" Jay had gone completely silent and red again. It wasn't possible for someone to be allergic to people.

Was it?

She kicked a rock. Suzanne had been friends with Jay since the day they'd met. This couldn't tear them apart. She'd talk to Zane at some point about this.

But tomorrow, it was going to be confrontation with Jay about this. She wasn't completely sure there was an allergen somewhere around her, but she wanted to make sure.

"I won't give up!" she said under her breath.

Hair flowing behind her, Suzanne sprinted out of the vicinity of the base, hoping for an exciting day. She and Jay had their weapons and rations for until they made it back that night. She could feel the weight of the staff pressed against her back. Her footsteps bouncing as they hit the dust. The air flowing around her, and she bent it around with her powers to carry her the ways she needed to go - towards the nearest mesa - and she pushed herself up onto the ledge, with Jay following quickly and quietly. It was their job description after all.

She smirked.

"Race ya!" she shrieked, and it was on. Suddenly the world was nothing more than a cliff face and the sounds of her breathing and laughter, the tumbling of rocks, the clatter of their shoulder and joint armor, and clanging of their weapons against their plated backs.

The sunlight at the top blinded her when she reached it, and the morning air greeted them both. At the same time.

"I don't think there will ever be a time when we're not balanced," Jay laughed, nudging her with his shoulder.

"During hand-to-hand, you would win, then the next round I would win..." Suzanne said this while turning her wrist in a circular motion, stressing how repetitive the system was. "We still have exactly forty-three on each other." At that, they both caught their breath, and Suzanne moved a stray curl out of her face that was whipping in the light breeze.

Then she focused on the landscape. It looked like patches of skin under a microscope in the middle of the desert. Mesas and canyons zig-zagged through the land. The view would have been breathtaking if she hadn't been distracted by something orange within the rocks. It was brighter than the pale pink-orange boulders.

She squinted, and noticed that it was a figure wearing a cloak, and they seemed to have really large eyes connected with gold... oh, those were binoculars. Suzanne knew their mission was supposed to be finding and eliminating corruption, but Zane said that they could use another guide while he tested on Moi.

"Hi!" she called out, waving her right arm and cupping her left hand around her mouth to better carry the sound. The figure set down the binoculars, but Suzanne was too far away to notice any features, then they shook their head and bolted. She was about to run after them, but they were running in the direction of the dark area. Clearly they were from around here, that was a given, but she could have done something a little less startling. At least she knew that they were at least of human stature.

"What in the world was that?" Jay asked from beside her.

"I dunno. Maybe a curious local?"

"Local, yeah, I would use that word, too. Especially when we haven't seen any other life except for that thing and Moi."

"Oh, cut me some slack, it's early."

"Well, whatever it was, it's gone now. So... where do you wanna go?" Suzanne thought for a moment. That could have been a good way to start out. Knowing where they wanted to go in the first place. She scanned the plateaus of stone, and saw a few bushed here and there.

"Let's go and collect some of those," she pointed into the distance, making a 'v' connecting two groups of bushes on the left, and two on the right, the center was a few rocks that created some shade as they formed a basic structure with two legs and a slab-like roof. Nature was weird.

"Alright, we'll meet up there," Jay said, putting his fist in the palm of his hand. "See ya there at around noon."

"See ya."