The doors shut behind the last of the passengers and the bus slowly moved away in a cloud of dust and diesel fumes. The new arrivals all gathered their luggage and trooped inside the bus depot, out of the breezy fall weather. The only people left on the platform were two women and one young girl.
“Is this She… Sheattle?” the girl asked, sounding bored. She had long black hair that hung freely behind her and was dressed casually, in jeans and a t-shirt. The girl had a large, purple jacket tucked under one of her arms. She looked to be about ten years old. She slouched and hunched her shoulders, digging her hands deep into her pockets. “I thought you said it was going to be big and interesting. This place is boring.”
While the girl might not have raised any eyebrows, her two companions would have. Easily taller than most men, they were both striking, and the way they carried themselves suggested that they knew it. “For the second time, it’s Seattle, your highness. No ‘h’ sound. And no, for the third time, we’re not there yet,” the one on the girl’s left said calmly and stared around. She had long black hair, like the girl’s, while her companion’s hair was blonde. She was also dressed more casually, while her companion wore a skirt and blouse, with a long coat over it.
“This is taking forever, Themea,” the girl complained loudly to the dark haired woman. “I hate sitting on the bus all day. It’s smelly and boring. I want to get there now.”
Themea endured her tantrum calmly. “I wasn’t the one who arranged our travel plans, Diana,” she reminded her. “You can take that up with Veria if you want to.”
“Patience is a virtue,” Veria responded tersely. She pulled an expensive pair of sunglasses out of her pocket and put them on.
“Why can’t we fly there?” Diana demanded. “I wanted to see an airplane anyways. You promised to take me to see one.”
“Look up,” Veria said shortly and started to gather their bags. There were many of them and they were quite large, but she held them as if they weighed nothing at all.
“Veria isn’t fond of airplanes,” Themea whispered to the girl.
“I am not afraid of them,” Veria snapped.
“I didn’t say that now, did I? I said you weren’t fond of them, which you aren’t.”
Veria grunted sourly and shifted the bags in her hands. “I understand the concept perfectly, I do not mind that a man invented it, I admire that it is modeled after a bird’s wings, but I still do not trust it. Besides, planes crash,” she said as if that explained everything.
“So do boats,” the girl pointed out, smiling. “And you’re not scared of sailing, are you?”
“No, your highness, boats sink,” Themea corrected her.
“Same thing,” she sniffed, the smile disappearing as she was corrected.
“If a boat sinks, I can swim,” Veria said as she led them inside the depot. “If a plane crashes, I don’t have many options other than fall.” She led them away from the other people in the depot to a secluded spot in the back.
“What about sharks?” the girl asked her spitefully. “You could be eaten by sharks in the ocean.”
“I would pity the sharks,” Themea said quietly as they passed a crowd. A few men in the crowd eyed them appreciatively as they moved past. Themea smiled back at them, but the look Veria gave was withering.
“Pigs,” she muttered as she set the bags down.
“They’re not all that bad,” Themea said, looking back.
“You encourage them too much.”
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“So what if I do, there’s no harm in it.” She sat down on the bench and motioned the girl to sit down next to her. Diana pretended she hadn’t seen it though and stood a few feet away, staring around the depot. Themea shrugged and pulled out a small book from her bag and started to read.
Veria sat down next to her and folded her arms, watching Diana. “Don’t stray,” she commanded, very much like you would a dog.
“Where are we?” Diana asked again, stressing each word.
“I’m almost positive you know how to read English, your highness,” Themea said without looking up from her book. “So why don’t you tell us.”
“It says Smallville, Kansas,” the girl sulked, reading from the wall.
“Which is where in the United States?” Themea prompted her. The girl muttered something low. “No I don’t believe that’s the right answer, or the right language for that matter. Whoever taught you that word?”
“I’m telling your mother you said that,” Veria said quietly. The girl shouted something else at her in another language, making people turn around to stare. “That too,” Veria said without blinking an eye.
“Well she certainly is broadening her horizons on this trip,” Themea replied. “At least her mother will be happy about that.”
“What horizons?” the girl exploded. “This world is dull and boring and full of men. The people stink and they eat horrible food and there are men. Everywhere.” She waved her hands around. “I hate it here. I want to go home.”
“So do I, but until we have done and seen everything your mother wanted us to, we can’t,” Veria told her. “Now be quiet and wait for the bus. There will be things to do in Seattle, but you must be patient.”
“I don’t want to,” Diana stomped her feet in frustration. “I want to go home. I order you to take me home.”
“No, dear, you can’t order us to do anything yet. Your mother made that very clear to us.”
“Why did she do that?” Diana asked suspiciously.
“Because she knows you,” Veria said shortly. Themea chuckled softly into her book.
Diana went stiff with anger for a moment, at a loss for words, and then she turned on her heels and stomped away, her hands fists at her sides. Veria made a move to get up and follow her, but Themea caught her hand. “Leave her be for a while. We’ve been cramped together for the past two days.”
“We are supposed to be cramped together for a few days,” she protested. “We’re her guardians while she’s here. She shouldn’t leave our sight.”
“She won’t,” Themea reassured her, gesturing over her shoulder. “This is a small place, she can’t get far. Besides just how much trouble could she possibly get into?”
At the other end of the building a small ground of children her own age were gathered around a machine set against the wall. The machine was emitting loud noises and flashes of light as one of the children fiddled with the buttons and controls on it, but Diana wasn’t interested in that. What did interest her was that there was a girl about her own height with long dark hair just like her own who was standing in the crowd. Drifting over casually, Diana feigned interest in the game as she eyed the girl out of the corner of her eye.
“She’s right,” Veria said quietly as she and Themea waited on the bench.
“About what?” Themea asked casually.
“She’s not learning anything here at all. This is pointless, as well as being dangerous.”
“It hasn’t been the most pleasant of trips, has it?”
“She’s a monster. I’d heard she was bad, but it’s like trying to teach a stump. A willful, disobedient, contrary stump.”
“I wouldn’t render her into kindling yet. She does show some promise,” Themea protested gently. Veria simply looked at her. “Occasionally,” Themea corrected. “When she wants to. And when there is usually something in it for her,” she amended finally.
Veria grunted and got to her feet, scanning the crowd. “Where is she?” she said tensely. “I lost her for a moment in the crowd.”
“She’s back with the other children. They’re playing a game, I imagine,” Themea nodded back towards the group in the back.
Veria frowned and then looked at her. “Diana is playing with them?” she asked. Themea started to nod when she suddenly stiffened and blinked several times. She and Veria stared at each other for a moment and then almost as one, they turned around and vaulted over the bench. In a display of speed and agility that was incredible they dashed through the crowd towards the children in the back. That is it say, Themea dodged her way through the crowd, Veria was like a bulldozer, if people hadn’t gotten out of her way they would have likely been trampled.
She reached the children first and pulled a girl from the crowd who was wearing a purple coat and had long black hair. The girl yelled loudly as Veria held her in the air with one hand and turned her around. It wasn’t Diana. Themea reached her a second later and stared at the girl in shock. Then she looked helplessly around the depot. People stared at her and Veria as they bustled around, carrying their bags and tickets. Outside, she could see busses rolling away, full of passengers.
“What was that you said about kindling?” Veria growled quietly.
“Tomatoes and fresh corn, get them while they’re… freshly picked I guess,” Clark said as he set two giant crates on the counter of the general store. Moving one off the top of the other, he spread them out and smiled at the woman behind the counter. “I’ve got a few more crates in the back of the truck if you’re interested,” he offered her.
The woman smiled back, laughing. “Well, you’re getting quite the green thumb, aren’t you, Clark? I haven’t seen crops that look this well since your father was your age. You’ll do him proud.”
“Umm… Thanks,” he said uncertainly. He picked up the crate and started back towards the door. Then he stopped and doubled back. “I’m not taking the farm, you do know that?”
“Oh, of course you aren’t.”