Evening Festivities
"Why did I agree to do this?" Amber muttered.
"I'm starting to wonder the same," the man next to her said.
"Look...I know we haven't exactly been on the best of terms but can we stop with the passive aggression?"
The man gave an inquisitive look at her. He blinked and gave a light shrug after a beat of silence between them.
"Fine… I'm Amber," she stuck her hand out.
"...Edward," the man replied before shaking hands.
Amber knew the simple action by no means made the two of them friends, but it did mean the situation was less awkward for her. After clearing her head from overusing her implants, she spent the day helping the clan recover from the attack. Helping the injured, gathering scattered supplies, and repairing damage had run her ragged on top of the desert heat. Now, three days later, she had changed into one of her only remaining sets of clean clothes and was standing with her...acquaintance to join a banquet in the tent in front of them. While her duster needed to be repaired, she still had her hat, bandana, and her equipment. She felt incomplete without it, but she was a drifter and no self respecting drifter would let a single piece of clothing define who they were.
"So...shall we?" she asked as she adjusted her hat slightly.
"Hmph, into the Abyss we go as my sister would put it," Edward said with a ghost of a smile on his face as they entered the tent.
The first thing that came to mind for Edward was that the banquet reminded him of home. If the Bazaar had stirred up memories, the rowdy nature of the guards eating food all but thrusted them to the forefront of his mind. Memories of submarine crews entering the Angry Moloch and starting a night of drinking songs came flooding in.
"Aha! Our two guests of honor have arrived!" one of the guards called, causing a roar of approval to fill the room.
And no one's drunk yet. At least I think they're not, Edward thought to himself.
"Come in! Come in! We have been waiting for you. The food isn't going to eat itself and you two have more than earned your share," the man from earlier, Jasah, said.
"You are too kind," Edward said politely.
"This is going to be an interesting night isn't it," the girl (no, Amber) stated with a smile.
Jasah laughed and directed them to one of the large pillows on the ground next to a large platter of food. Edward grabbed a plate and helped himself to a couple slices of meat and a generous serving of grains. The others in the room were doing the same.
They bounce back from tragedy rather quickly. Then again, they are one of the great merchant groups of the surface, Edward thought as he scanned the room.
"-lling you that she really can fight like that. I saw her deal with a group of archers in seconds with a sword," a voice said to the side, "Ask her yourself."
Edward cocked his head to the side and saw two guards nearby looking in his general direction. It took him a moment to realize that they were looking at Amber rather than him himself.
"Those are just rumors. No one can move faster than the eye can see and fight at the same time," one of the guards exclaimed.
Edward once believed the same until the skirmish. He glanced towards Amber who was busy eating. She looked like a frontierswoman in his opinion with the hat and pistol holster rather than a formidable warrior.
Still thinking about it… When will you accept it that it's none of your business Ed? The surface will never make any sense to you, he rolled his eyes and cut another slice of meat.
"Fine, I'll ask her then," the first voice from guards said before they walked over and tapped Amber on the shoulder, "Excuse me but my friend over there doesn't quite believe me when I tell him you're a drifter. Do you mind proving him wrong?"
Amber looked up and saw the guard standing over her. Her confused expression then turned to the other guard.
"Uh sure. Want me to do anything in particular?" she asked, setting her plate down and standing up.
"Eh, figured you do that magic trick of yours. The speedy one I mean," the guard said.
"Yeah!"
"Show us what a drifter can do!"
"Prove it!"
Amber had suddenly felt very small as she became the center of attention. She tried to give off a nervous smile to lessen the anxiety but she wished she was anywhere but here. Her tail started to curl around her leg and her ears folded against her head.
Can I leave please?, she thought nervously.
"All right! That's enough! Leave the poor girl alone, you animals!" Jasah called out loudly, causing the guards to groan.
"It's fine Jasah. A quick dash never hurt anyone." Except my head.
"If you insist," Jasah said before turning to the guards, "Clear a path!"
A path was made from one end of the tent to the other. Rugs, pillows, and platters were moved out of the way. Amber stared down the path, still feeling nervous with all the attention focused squarely on her. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves and adjust her hat, she dashed forward.
Edward watched the entire scene and was amazed at what he saw. Now that he had rested and was not having adrenaline flood his veins, he could see the "magic trick" Amber had performed. As far as he knew, it was unlike any form of magic the Coalition had ever recorded. Amber had moved so fast that she had left after images of herself and covered roughly five meters in the blink of an eye.
Definitely some kind of obscure magic. That or whatever kind of implants she was talking about before are involved, he thought to himself.
The room exploded with exclamations and questions. How did she do it? Could all drifters move that fast? Did drifters really come from Central Town? Was she from Central Town?
"That's enough! Go back to eating! We've had drifters traveling with us before and we'll have them again!" Jasah came to the rescue for Amber.
With that everyone returned to eating. Edward returned his focus to his meal as well.
"So...you're a Europan," a different guard said as they walked up.
"I am," Edward turned his head, taking a quick mouthful of food.
"Mind answering a few questions?"
"Depends on the question."
"Here we go again," Amber muttered next to him, having her hat cover her face and trying to look as small as possible.
"What's Europa like? That's where you're from right? Europa?" the guard asked
"It's the Europan Iceshelf," Edward said dryly.
"Did business near there once," Jasah said as he came over with his own food, "Near the Vaulter Citadels."
"If you say so," Edward shrugged and turned his focus back to his food.
Truthfully, the Vaulters were the only group of surfacers he had an idea of before coming to the surface. He had seen a few of their own submarines ("bathyspheres" as they were called) on a number of occasions and they provided the Coalition with plenty of cheap high-quality titanium. But he had never visited any of their strongholds or bothered to visit their lands. As far as he was concerned at the time, he simply wanted to put as much distance between himself and the Iceshelf as possible.
"So what's it like? You live in underwater cities right?" the guard asked further.
Amber overheard this and started coughing as something attempted to go down the wrong way, "What?!"
Can I please actually eat my dinner? "Yes, we have underwater cities and creatures that come up from the Abyss. And before you ask further, yes we are crazy enough to keep living there and travel in submarines," Edward answered with his typical expression.
"And I'm the crazy one?" Amber asked, teary eyed from her coughs.
"And what about this 'Central Town' I hear about so much? I've been hearing about it but so far the only thing I know is that the individual next to me hates the desert," Edward cocked his head towards her.
Amber rubbed the tears out of her eyes and glared at Edward. She had became the center of attention again.
"Of course my life is complicated, " she muttered, again wishing she could just be ignored.
Despite the uncomfortable situation, she pondered the question. How did one describe Central Town? It was an easy question to answer and impossible to put into words. The only form of civilization surrounded by miles of devastation. A place where people cling to a long dead past, dreaming about what once was. Treasure trove of technology unrivaled anywhere else in the world buried under skeletons of dead families. The Crystal Forest standing as a testament to the sins of her-
"I can answer some of that for you," Jasah said, breaking Amber from her thoughts.
Almost immediately, all of the pressure had disappeared. It felt so strange to be thinking about...her former home after everything that has happened. Had she really left only a short time ago?
"The region is an ancient battlefield, one where the Titan War was fought. No one knows what the purpose of this conflict was or why it started, only that a single community survived it," Jasah explained.
"Let me guess, it was in the center of it all," Edward said.
"Correct," Jasah said, "In the wake of the Titan War, much was lost. With no means of leaving, the survivors gathered at Central Town proper and began to rediscover their past. Warriors and explorers known as the drifters slowly emerged during these times, former soldiers looking to rebuild what they had destroyed. In time, merchants managed to reach the community and exchanged supplies for the lost relics. Over time, some chose to leave for one purpose or another...much like our friend here has done. Most remain to prospect the relics, looking to fully establish Central Town into a proper community."
"Huh...sounds a lot like how the Coalition started out," Edward mused.
Amber rolled her eyes but continued listening. It was strange to hear about Central Town from someone who had never been there. Much of what Jasah had said was correct...except for the reason why most stay.
Mom, Dad...you wanted me to leave… Was it because of the past holding us back or because I was afraid of the future?, Amber thought back to her parents.
Amber knew the real reason why anyone would stay in Central Town. Everyone knew of the golden era before the Titan War and held onto it. It was an infectious dream, to live in cities where towers reached the clouds and technological wonders blended science and magic together. A time where one lived without need, without want, without fear, without regret… Everyone, from the most cynical drifter to the most bright eyed child had heard the tales and dreamed of going back in time to see it for themselves.
The technology to rebuild the past waited in the ruins. Amber knew the feeling all too well...that burning desire to fix the mistakes of the past. Her people had created the Crystal Forest, an eternal monument of dead innocents and the worst atrocities committed for the sake of survival. The mere thought of undoing the damage, to let those trapped souls pass peacefully, to let nature take its course...it still burned inside of her.
"Enough of ancient history and distractions. This is a banquet, let us feast!" Jasah declared loudly, cheers of agreement followed just as loud.
Amber blinked and returned her focus to her food. Despite resuming slowly, she had quickly returned to a regular pace. The rest of the night saw her enjoying the meal and making small talk with the guards without being the center of attention. Despite the instances of awkwardness and memories of Central Town, she had enjoyed the banquet.
But the thoughts about her parents stuck with her. Before going to sleep, she pulled the letter her parents had left her with the tablet and reread it. As her thoughts about Central Town drifted back up, she recalled their hidden pain that she grew up with her entire life.
"Why did you stay?" she asked the letter, "Why didn't we leave as a family?"
Edward had surprisingly enjoyed the evening. It still had the haphazard nonsense the surface had no shortage of, but he still had enjoyed it. The banquet reminded him of a simpler time. Memories of the Angry Moloch came back, a place where strangers could put aside their cynicism and enjoy themselves over a meal and a drink (or five).
But he was also surprised to see different sides of Amber. While he still did not trust her, he did believe she could earn that trust. She most certainly was the most confusing surfacer he has met so far, but in her he saw something that reminded him of himself.
Leaving a dangerous home on a journey of self discovery… As much as you want to ignore her, the two of us have a lot more in common than we realize, Edward thought to himself.
He tried to put the thoughts out of his head by reading Three Klicks Deep but he kept getting distracted. After five minutes, he had relented and put the book away to settle in for the night.
Admit it Ed, he thought, The sooner you accept that the surface is more similar to home than originally thought the better.
This was easier to think than to actually accept of course. Even bonds built in bars and diners back in the Coalition go through building trust over weeks rather than minutes. How did surfacers cling to this life of readily accepting others?