"Are you sure you can carry that?"
Kiara smiled at the ant as she tucked the bundle of brown grass under her arm. "Yup, this is nothing!" She had recovered quickly from her burns, and after being given a pair of supple grass boots, she had been reassigned once again. She now worked above ground as part of the Reconstruction Team, cleaning up the scorched patch and helping with the collapsed pit before the ant hill.
Teams of ants cut down the burnt stalks, then cut them into even smaller, more manageable pieces. The burnt foliage, while unsuitable for food or most crafts, was taken to the site of the tunnels being rebuilt, where they could be mixed with the silt and dirt and used to refortify the walls and ceilings. Kiara hummed to herself, walking in the sunlight.
"Always in a chipper mood, aren't you?"
Her smile sagged as Kady trotted beside her. "What now, Bug-breath?"
"I was just thinking, Human-eyes, that our lunch break will be coming up soon." He shifted his own bundles under his arms. "Maybe you and I could sit together during it?"
She groaned loud enough to make several bugs look her way. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not interested!"
"Maybe if I keep asking, you'll change your mind?"
She rolled her eyes behind her glasses, then paused for a moment. Just a couple levels down was Flik, talking with the engineers and gesturing at some blueprints he held. Her expression brightened again as she waved and called, "Hey Flik!" She skipped down the scaffolding that had been erected during construction, and stopped before him. "It's been a while since we last talked. How's the inventing going?"
Kady remained where he was at ground level, staring after them. Kiara's soft gaze behind her glasses as she looked up at Flik, one foot drawing circles in the ground with her toes. He huffed and shook his head, marching on with his bundles.
For lunch the ants prepared makeshift communal tables for all the workers to sit at: a feast of seeds, berries, and droplets of water lay atop them. Kiara found an empty seat, and worked on breaking her piece of berry and seed into bite-sized crumbs.
"Well hello there, Kiara." She looked up at Slim and Heimrich approaching. "Can't blame you for sitting by yourself," Slim said. "You know how ants are with picnics."
Kiara laughed. "I'm not by myself on purpose, you can sit with me."
"Danke!" The two sat beside her, Heimrich already gathering a large portion of food onto his own plate.
"It's not a vacation to Ant Island without at least one feast to go along with the mayhem," Slim commented.
"Hah, yeah, it's just one thing after another." Kiara took a bite of berry, and wiped her mouth with her arm. "I heard you guys would be moving on soon?"
"Soon." Slim nodded. "Vacations don't last forever, after all. Eventually we have to hit the road and get back to work."
"Hmm." Her eyes cast downward. "It's too bad, really. It'd be nice if you could stay longer, wouldn't it?"
"Ooh, look at zat berry!" Heimrich said suddenly. With a grunt of effort, the disproportionately small wings on his back started flapping.
Kiara laughed again. "Heimrich, I hate to burst your bubble, but you'll never fly like that. Just walk—"
He lifted up into the air, and slowly crossed the distance to the food he sought. Kiara stared after him her mouth hanging open.
Slim leaned down near her shoulder. "It's not all so bad, leaving certain things behind. Otherwise nothing new ever happens."
She closed her mouth. "I guess so."