Eben had a secret which she managed to successfully keep. Almost. But in the end, it didn't matter. (Prompt: 004 Autumn)

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Leaf Season

Closing her eyes, she lifted her face toward the warm sunlight. "Leaf season," her mother might have said on days like this. It'd be cold again later, but right now, she gave in to the impulse to open her jacket. Seasons were one of the things she'd missed after she'd gotten up to the Stations, and autumn had been her favorite.

A rustling sound came from her right, startling her out of her reverie. It was followed by a sound of dismay. "Oh, no! I didn't mean to do that."

True was frantically gathering up dry leaves and examining a tree branch.

"I only brushed up against it," she argued. "I didn't mean to kill it!"

"It's okay," she answered. "The tree's fine. It's just fall."

"There's nothing wrong?"

"Nope," she answered. "The leaves change colors and fall off when the trees are getting ready for winter. If you hadn't brushed against the branch, the wind probably would have knocked them off later."

"Oh." True examined a leaf. "Why's it all yellow?"

"It's dried up. I don't know exactly why. You can ask Yale the next time you have class."

The girl made a face. "How'd you learn it? I thought you lived in the Quads like the rest of us."

Caught, Eben couldn't think of an answer that didn't give her away. She tried a diversion instead. "Have you found any more of those berries? Devon and your dad wanted us back before dark."

True showed her a full basket. "I knocked the leaves off 'cause I was getting a last few from under the tree."

"All right. Let's start back."

"Really, Eben, how'd you know about the trees?"

The child was entirely too sharp for her own good. "I just heard it around. Come on, let's go."

"Are you an Earth-res or something, that you know about trees? That's it. You are, aren't you? Why haven't you said anything?"

The girl was entirely too perceptive, as well. Eben sighed, bending down until they were mostly eye-level. "You know how people talk about Earth residents on the Stations."

"But things are different here. Bess' being an Earth-res is helpful. You probably would be, too."

"It's complicated, True. Nobody knows because nobody ever asked, and I'd rather keep it that way. Okay?"

"Oh," she answered. "I get it. Mazatl doesn't know."

Eben closed her eyes. She should have known better than to think nobody would notice the two of them.

"I won't tell him." True picked up the basket and started walking. "But I don't think anyone would talk like that about you here. Nobody talks that way about Bess, and Morgan doesn't seem to mind when she mentions being from Earth."

She looked after True's departing form, wondering whether she should explain that Morgan's influence had been what always saved Bess from the worst of the prejudice. And they hadn't lived in the Quads, either. It was different on the upper levels.

A gust of cold air blew up, making her shiver. Zipping up her jacket, Eben suddenly wished things were as simple as True believed.

Walman stopped in his tracks as the tent flap closed behind him. His entrance hadn't been particularly quiet, and an exit wouldn't be either. Rather than making more noise by leaving, he settled for an intense study of the tent poles.

"It's all right."

He blew out his breath and looked toward the cot. Eben was lying on it, eyes closed, body utterly still. Too still. A blanket and some extra tent material lay on the ground at the foot of the cot, but Mazatl was kneeling next to it. He wiped the last of the dirt and sweat from her face before dropping the cloth and looking up.

"I, ah, I came to tell you that Zero finished digging."

"Yes. We'll need to wrap her up."

"Julia's still wiling to help —"

"No. That's fine."

"Maz, you don't have any obligation. You broke up, what, a month ago?"

"A little longer." He stroked the side of her face. "But it wasn't bitter. She was a good woman, a fine person."

Fumbling with his hands, Walman moved to the foot of the cot. "Yeah. She didn't deserve to die like that."

"She didn't deserve to die at all, especially not on a planet."

"Especially not on a planet?"

Mazatl straightened Eben's shirt. "She hated the idea of being buried in the dirt. I never understood until a couple of weeks ago. True asked me if we ended it because she was an Earth-res."

Walman blinked. "I didn't know Eben was an Earth-res."

"Neither did I. I'm not sure how True found out, but she looked guilty when I told her I hadn't known about it."

"It explains a lot, though," said Walman. "Unusual things she knew, the way she and Bess got to be friends."

Bess had also wanted to be here, but she could still barely stand. Now that Eben was gone, she was the worst off, which he realized, made sense. Their shared childhood exposures to toxins and economic hardship probably hadn't been the best for their immune systems.

Mazatl picked up the blanket and started wrapping Eben up. Blinking back to the moment, he moved to help, supporting and turning the body as gently and respectfully as possible. "I'm surprised she kept it a secret."

"I'm not. She was adamant about going back to the Stations."

"Even though she liked it here sometimes?"

"Everyone likes it here sometimes. Not everyone likes it enough to stay."

"I guess that's true."

"I just wish," Mazatl said softly, "that keeping her secret had turned out to be worth it."

Outside, they could hear the others moving toward the headland, voices subdued, gathering for the funeral. Walman opened the tent flap, secured it back, then bent to help pick up Eben's body. In the sunlight, the yellow outer wrapping rustled and crackled, sounding just like autumn leaves.