Chapter Thirty

“Wow. You have quite an impressive setup.” Danni commented as she walked alongside Great White as she showed her through the traveling caravan that had come with the Gaians from the Southern Province.

Though they were constantly on the go, they were all divided into smaller groups, most likely by tribe. Each group had their own tent that they slept under each night. It was far more permanent than what she had seen some non-nomadic tribes have.

“Thank you.” The tall young woman smiled down at Danni. “It’s actually not Gaian knowledge that did this. One of the first tribes we happened across was the Nomads. Even though they had once been slavers, it was mostly their leaders, I can’t remember their names off the top of my head, who were intent on kidnapping people and trading them for food.

“The woman died some time ago. She contracted the virus and they were too far from the city to get the antidote. The man, Troy, yes, that was it. Well, Troy went mad with grief and abandoned the younger ones. We found them wandering around pretty helplessly, though they had these impressive tents. I asked them to teach us what they knew about setting them up, and well, we did the same when each new tribe joined us.”

“It’s great.” Danni grinned, tugging self-consciously on the new shirt she had been given. It was a deep purple, Chinese-style dress that fell to mid-thigh. Under the dress she wore a pair of skin-tight yet slimming black leather trousers. She knew she wouldn’t be able to wear either article of clothing for too terribly much longer, but while she could, she loved them.

“I really appreciate your tribe taking us in.” Danni continued, pushing her hair away from her face. “We weren’t really sure what we were going to do. But you came along at the exact right moment.”

“Well, I’m sure you and your lover would have preferred me to come a bit later than I did.” Great White chuckled, tossing her mane of aqua-blue hair behind her shoulders. “I wouldn’t worry too much, though. I didn’t see anything. Just heard. How long have you and Ravenscroft been together?”

“Not long.” Danni felt a flush creeping to her cheeks at the mere mention of Ravenscroft. He was still finding a new outfit instead of his drab prison rags. “We only first met at the prison.”

“And how did you manage that?” Great White arched a carefully groomed eyebrow. “I was under the impression The Guardian liked his prisons segregated.”

“He does.” Danni affirmed. “It’s just, well, one of the girls from my cell, Xenia, happened to meet Ravenscroft in the mines and he expressed a desire to escape. The six of us devised a way for me to meet with him and that’s how we met.”

“By plotting your escape. How terribly romantic.” Great White laughed. “Well, he seems like a really decent guy. You’re quite lucky to find someone like him.”

“Yeah, I am.” Danni agreed, her hand instinctively dropping down to her abdomen. “I think I’m falling in love with him.”

“Oh you think so, do you?” This seemed to amuse Great White a great deal. “It seems to me, shuga, that you fell in love with Ravenscroft the minute you laid eyes on him.”

Again Danni felt her cheeks flush. She dropped her head so Great White would not see her embarrassment, but she didn’t try and argue with her. It had always been that way for Danni. She felt in love with one glance. That was how she fell for Bray and how she fell for Ravenscroft.

“So, Danni-girl,” Great White smoothly changed the subject, obviously seeing Danni’s discomfort from discussing her personal life. “Tell me about your Mall Rats.”

“About the Mall Rats?” Danni frowned. “What would you like to know?”

“Well,” Great White frowned, “You were their leader, right?”

“Co-leader. My boyfriend, Bray, he was the original leader of the Mall Rats.”

“No he wasn’t.” Great White shook her head. “Lex was.”

“Lex?” Danni blinked in confusion at Great White’s knowledge of her tribe. “Well, I guess you could say he was a long time ago, but that was before my time. Lex was the first leader, then Amber. I guess they co-lead for a little while, but she was always the real leader.”

“Amber, yes.” Great White seemed to smile a knowing smile. “Tell me a bit more about Amber. Did you ever meet her?”

“Unfortunately, no I didn’t. Bray always told me what an amazing woman she was. He said she was born to lead.” Danni explained. “But she was killed with an explosion on Eagle Mountain.”

“Are you so sure about that?” Great White pressed.

“Well, no, actually, I’m not.” Danni let out a heavy sigh, deciding that she could trust Great White with her speculations. “Do you remember Alana?”

“The lieutenant?”

“Yes, her.” Danni nodded, seeing that even though Alana had donned the normal prison garb like the others she still could not hide the fact that she had once been with the Chosen. “I think that maybe Alana is Amber.”

“You think Alana is Amber?” Great White chuckled. “Oh my. Let me assure you, Danni, she’s not.”

“How do you know? Did you know Amber before she died?” Danni looked at her in shock.

“No.” Great White smiled. “I know her now. She’s my leader. Eagle.”

~*~*~

“These are so beautiful!” Silver gushed, holding up the brightly colored fabrics against her slim form. “Are you sure I can pick whatever I’d like?”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t mean for you to have whatever you wanted.” The beautiful brunette Gaian named Leopard tilted her head back and laughed a musical sounding laugh. “I have too many clothes as it is. Great White is always complaining about how much I brought along.”

“Well, it is quite a bit.” Aya commented, reaching for a pair of peddle-pushers that would only be slightly long for her shorter legs. “And Silver’s right, it’s all lovely. But I’m afraid nothing will fit me.”

“Hum.” Leopard puzzled, running her fingers through her curly locks. “Well, let’s go see if maybe Chipmunk might have something that would fit you. She doesn’t have nearly as many clothes as I do, but they’d all be about your size. And maybe we can check on how Xenia, Grieco, Jenis, and Alana are doing with Minxy. I think they may have a hard time finding something that isn’t made out of leather or pleather.”

Aya smiled and nodded. “You coming, Silver?” She glanced back at the young woman who seemed to be debating between a deep blue velvet tank top with split sides and a hunter green cap-sleeved shirt that was a bit more feminine.

“Just a minute. I can’t decide.” Silver frowned, looking once again to the dark brown trousers she had selected. “What do you think, Leopard?”

“Go with the blue.” Leopard told her. “It matches your eyes.”

“I agree.” Aya voiced. Silver nodded and quickly changed into the clothes. Months of living in a prison with no privacy had given her the ability to change in front of just about anyone, and she certainly didn’t seem to mind changing in front of Aya and Leopard in the privacy of Leopard’s tent.

“Ready now?” Leopard asked, adjusting her pure black halter shirt.

“Yup. I’m ready.” Silver replied as she smoothly snapped two chunky silver armbands into place around her wrists. “Let’s go find Squirrel.”

“Chipmunk.” Leopard corrected. “I don’t think she’d take too kindly to you calling her Squirrel.”

The three girls quickly exited the tent and Leopard led them to the next one over where they had left the other girls to try and find some clothes to change into. A young Gaian, looking to be about fourteen or fifteen, was showing Xenia and Jenis several suitcases full of clothes, though Alana and Jenis were not in site.

“Hey Chip!” Leopard called to the dark haired Gaian with flaming red highlights. “How’s it going?”

“Alright.” Chipmunk told her, pushing her longer dark brown bangs out of her eyes. “I think we’ve got clothes for Jenis, but Xenia is proving to be a bit more difficult.”

“Oh gee, imagine that.” Silver tittered. “Xenia being difficult? Never.”

“Careful, Silver.” Aya furrowed her brow, remembering how much Silver had wounded Xenia when she had stood up to her earlier that morning. Silver had no way of knowing, however. Xenia had carefully buried her feelings by the time she had reached the camp.

“What?” Silver looked at her innocently. “What did I say?”

“Nothing. Never mind.” Aya shook her head, her eyes going over to where Jenis was trying on a peasant-style off white embroidered shirt that went perfectly with the cropped brown suede pants she had picked. “I like that outfit on you, Jenis. It looks great.”

“You think so?” Jenis tucked her short hair behind her ear. “I’m not sure. The shirt is a little lower cut than I’m used to.”

“It looks fantastic.” Leopard assured her. “What about you, Xenia, have you found anything?”

“I think so.” The tall blonde, who stood several inches higher than Leopard, nodded. “I think it’s Great White’s though. She’s the only Gaian who is my height.”

“Well, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.” Chipmunk assured Xenia. “Great White is more generous with her things than she’d like to let on.”

“Alright then.” Xenia lifted the pure black leather catsuit she had found. She shrugged out of her flimsy prison clothes and pulled on the suit. It fit her like a glove and showed off her feminine curves expertly.

“It needs something else.” Leopard frowned, glancing down at the pile of jewelry that they had pulled out. “How about this?” She presented Xenia with a silver belt that was made of several large circles looped together. It was purely for style and not practicality, but the instant Xenia laid eyes on it, Aya could tell she loved it.

“It’s perfect!” Xenia purred. “I love it.”

“Great.” Chipmunk laughed, pushing her hair out of her face once again. “Then if you guys are all done here, I’ll start putting this stuff away. Great White might not mind sharing, but leave her stuff a mess and she’ll kill ya.”

~*~*~

Zandra had been trying to find a moment alone with Grieco since they had left their camp earlier that morning. However, the young Gypsy seemed intent on avoiding her and Zandra wanted to find out why. She had a hunch she already knew why, but she needed to confirm those suspicions.

“Well,” The attractive young Gaian named Bear cleared her throat and slowly began to back out of the tent to allow Zandra and Grieco their privacy as they changed, “I’ll see you guys outside, alright? Great White wants to introduce you all to the rest of the tribe at dinner, so hurry up. It’s usually served right at dusk.”

“Great.” Grieco smiled at the curly-haired Gaian. “We’ll be there. Won’t we, Alana?”

“Of course.” Zandra began to glance around the piles of clothing that Bear had laid out for them. The most vibrant color in all of the clothes was blue, everything else being neutral shades. Though Zandra was not a huge fan of creams, tans, and grays, she was sick of blue.

The moment Bear slipped out of the tent, Zandra turned to Grieco, her eyes flashing with anger. “You told them, didn’t you?”

“What?” Grieco frowned, taken by surprise by Zandra’s assault. “Told who what?”

“You told the others that I’m not Amber, that I’m Zandra.” Zandra accused, tears springing to her eyes. “Admit it. They’ve all been acting funny towards me since we left camp this morning. I know you told them.”

“Zandra, calm down.” Grieco shushed her, her eyes growing wide. “Of course I didn’t tell them. I told you I would keep your secret, didn’t I? Though I don’t understand why you want to hide who you really are. I’m sure they would be more accepting towards Zandra, the lost Mall Rat, rather than Alana the traitorous Chosen lieutenant.”

Zandra sniffed, satisfied that Grieco hadn’t spilled her secret. “I have my reasons. That’s all that matters.”

“Alright then.” Grieco shrugged. “If you don’t have any more accusations for me, I suggest we get dressed. It’s nearly dusk.” Grieco reached down for the blue shirt Zandra had been eyeing earlier and a dusky gray colored pair of trousers.

Following Grieco’s example, Zandra quickly got dressed herself. Though Bear’s clothes were not nearly as fashionable as the clothes she used to wear in the mall, they were fine quality and Zandra was impressed by the workmanship of them. After sorting through several different outfits, she finally found a soft gray suede tank top that would show off her well-toned arms and a pair of darker gray trousers that flared at the bottoms. She kept her black boots she had worn under her lieutenant’s uniform then went to the mirror to inspect her reflection.

“Well, Zandra,” She murmured to herself. “First you were a Mall Rat, then you were a Chosen. Now you’re a Gaian.”

“Not quite.” Grieco suddenly appeared at her side. “They haven’t asked us to be a part of their tribe just yet, and I have a feeling they won’t. As soon as the fight against the Chosen is over they will turn us out. The Gaians are an exclusive lot.”

“I see.” Zandra sniffed, annoyed with Grieco for interrupting her pep talk with herself.

“Zandra, if I were you, I’d get rid of that blue hair right away. It’s a dead give away that you were once with the Chosen.”

Zandra grimaced, realizing that Grieco was right. She liked the shade of blue, but it was forever marred in everyone’s minds as being the color of the Chosen. She quickly drew her hair away from her face and pulled it into a ponytail so as little as possible would be visible during dinner.

“Let’s go.” She muttered over to Grieco. Grieco smiled, nodded, and followed Zandra out of the tent, her eyes unnerving Zandra a little more each time she met them.

~*~*~

“Their food is delicious!” Danni commented to Ravenscroft as she pushed another forkful into her mouth. “I wonder who the chef is.”

“That would be Python if I remember correctly.” Ravenscroft grinned at her, taking his cloth napkin and wiping at a tiny bit of food that had gotten on the corner of her mouth. “He’s the male Gaian with the feathers.”

Danni nodded, following his gaze down the table where a rather good-looking Gaian sat flirting away with all the female Gaians around him. His hair was dyed black, but from his features Danni had a hunch that he had once been blonde. He had numerous multi-colored feathers decorated throughout his dreadlocks and Danni quickly realized why Ravenscroft had referred to him as the one with feathers.

“There’s an awful lot of them, aren’t there?” Danni commented, her eyes scanning the table once again. She couldn’t remember all of their names, but she tried to memorize their faces and distinguishing features. The girl sitting directly across from her reminded Danni a bit of a gentler Xenia. She was tall and willowy and wore her luxurious golden blonde curls in twisted cornrows that stopped mid-way across her scalp. She had random soft pink highlights jetting through her hair, then a lovely laurel of green leaves woven through the cornrows.

“Yeah, there are.” Ravenscroft replied. “I met quite a few of them before dinner, but you’ve got me to try and remember the names. That’s Caribou across from us, and the girl with the pink hair next to her is Kola, Great White’s younger sister.”

“I don’t remember Great White mentioned she had a little sister.” Danni frowned, glancing over to where the temporary Gaian leader sat at the head of the makeshift table.

“She didn’t. Kola told me.” Ravenscroft grinned. “After she had thrown herself at me and proposed marriage.”

Danni giggled as she focused on the young Gaian. She couldn’t have been any more than twelve or thirteen years old, though she already showed signs of becoming a woman. Kola heard her giggle and met her gaze evenly, if not a bit coldly. Danni let the giggle die in her throat.

“Hum. She doesn’t seem to like you nearly as much as she liked me.” Ravenscroft chuckled, planting a quick kiss on her temple. “Don’t worry. I’ll invite you to the wedding.”

“Ha, ha.” Danni muttered sarcastically, shifting uncomfortably under Kola’s intense gaze. She could see the family resemblance between the two girls, though obviously Great White had a much more even temperament.

“Jealous?” Ravenscroft teased as his hand dropped beneath the table and found her knee. He gave it a sensual squeeze, a squeeze that promised of more to come later when they could be alone and quickly brought a blush to Danni’s cheeks.

Danni shook her head, refusing to look back in Kola’s direction. Instead, she turned her eyes down the other way trying to remember the names of the male Gaians that sat on Caribou’s other side. There was first a rather cocky looking young man with bright orange braid-like twists. He was wearing his sunglasses so it was impossible for Danni to see if he wore any tribal markings, but she didn’t see any evidences of them.

“That’s Jaguar.” Ravenscroft commented, following Danni’s gaze. “The young man on his other side is Cheetah.”

Danni found herself smiling at Cheetah. In a way he reminded her a bit of Bray, though she couldn’t explain why. They looked nothing alike, Cheetah having bleached blonde spiky hair, but there was a gentleness in Cheetah’s eyes that calmed Danni’s spirit.

“Next to Cheetah is Minxy.” Ravenscroft continued his description of the Gaians as he reached a rather feisty looking young woman with bobbed black hair and half of her face painted blood red. She eyed Danni suspiciously, though not unfriendly. She was dressed in all black and red leather and Danni could tell this woman’s favorite color was red.

“Minxy is actually the former leader of the Gaians’ younger sister.” Ravenscroft went on to explain. “Before Eagle they were led by a woman named Silver Fox. She was rather exclusive of outsiders, though she brought Eagle into their tribe when she was injured. A few months later Silver Fox died from the virus and Eagle was leading the tribe. Or at least that’s according to Crow, the young man dressed all in black next to Python.”

Danni nodded, no longer really listening to Ravenscroft as he continued to describe the Gaians around the table. Danni’s thoughts where on Eagle, or rather, the woman she knew was Amber. Great White’s revelation still hadn’t sunk in for Danni. She didn’t know how to take it. Somehow she had felt that Amber was never really dead, but now that she was only a few hours away from meeting Bray’s former love… She didn’t know how to react.

“Danni, are you okay?” Ravenscroft interrupted her thoughts, his voice gentle and full of concern. “You feeling alright?”

“I’m tired. That’s all.” Danni lied. “I think I’m going to turn in early tonight.”

“Here,” Ravenscroft rose to his feet. “I’ll take you back to your tent right now. I don’t want you to over-exert yourself. I know tomorrow is going to be a long day. It’s still several miles to the Gaian village.”

“I’m fine, Ravenscroft.” Danni shook her head. “Just a little tired. I can find the tent on my own.”

“Just the same, I’d like to walk with you.” Ravenscroft insisted.

“Please,” Danni pulled him back down into his seat. She locked eyes with him and silently begged him to understand. “I sort of need some time by myself. Great White told me something that really was quite disturbing and I need some time to mull it over.”

“What did she say to you?” Ravenscroft’s flashed with anger.

“No, nothing like that.” Danni shook her head. “And I’ll tell you, I promise I will, it’s just, well, I need to think for awhile. Alright?”

Ravenscroft still seemed reluctant to let her go, but at long last he nodded. “Alright, but as soon as dinner is over I’m going to come and check on you, okay?”

“Okay.” Danni gave him a tired smile. She leaned over and planted a quick kiss on his lips, despite the pink-haired Gaian’s jealous glares. “I’ll see you later.”

~*~*~

Danni picked the way back to her tent in the semi-darkness, careful not to trip over any of the exposed tree roots. She had feared that the tent she would be sharing with the rest of the former prisoners might be occupied already, but thankfully it was empty, so she was able to find her pallet and ease herself down, laying on her back so she could see her small stomach protruding in front of her.

“Hey you, little one.” She put her hands on the growing bulge. “How are you in there? You doing okay?” Danni continued to talk to the small child inside her, whispering to it and telling it of what had been going on around her. It had been a long time since she had been alone enough to talk to her baby.

After she had run out of things to say, Danni closed her eyes and allowed her mind to take her down that dangerous path of memories. In her mind she still missed Bray dearly, and it disturbed her how quickly her heart had forgotten about the man she had once told herself she would love for the rest of her life. Apparently there wasn’t enough room in her heart for both Ravenscroft and Bray.

Danni’s thoughts took a sharp turn in the direction of the woman who had held Bray’s heart before she had. Amber. Or Eagle now. Deep down inside Danni knew Amber hadn’t been dead. That was probably why she had assumed Alana was her, but now the truth came out. This mysterious leader of the Gaians was Amber.

“Amber,” She murmured softly into the night, practicing what she would say to her when she finally met her. “I know we never met each other, but we both loved the same man.”

She tried several different variations of her speech, but nothing sounded right to Danni’s ears. She continued to think for several more minutes as the long day began to steal over her. Before she knew what was happening she was stifling a yawn and struggling to stay awake. By the time Ravenscroft had found his way into her tent after dinner had finished she was long asleep, dreaming of the important meeting the next day.