‘Ultimately,’ Scarlet thought in the evening, ‘it was the right call to stay here, in the area.’

The day had been unpleasant for Keera and her, the reality of Verdun fully hitting home.

After breakfast, Keera had been easy to convince that staying in the area for the day was the right call, even if she hadn’t looked too convinced that travelling further up the river the next day would be wise.

They had spent the day training to move silently through the area and whenever Keera had felt up to it, she had called out her Crystal Monster and refined her control. Scarlet had noticed that there was a bit of strain on her mind after a few hours of having Cyca out but she had not shown that, considering that she would likely get more resilient and more powerful by exercising her power.

So, to make up for that part of training that Keera did without her, she had worked with Cyca to cut two slabs of wood into rough board-shapes before using her knife to refine them. As she worked, she watched Keera with her monster and she was pleased with Keera’s progress. The evening before, she had only managed to move her monster for about fifteen minutes before starting to show signs of trouble. On her first session in the morning, after Scarlet had explained some of her thoughts on controlling the crystal monster, Keera had managed to keep it under control for almost an hour.

Later, when Scarlet had gotten some gravel and sand from the river to smooth the plates she had made, Keera did another session, lasting for a bit more than an hour, doing exercises.

But the biggest reason Scarlet was grateful that they had not moved on was that both of them vanished quite often into the shrubbery, where they had dug their latrine. It seemed their digestive system was not all-to happy with the new, unfiltered water and their wholly natural diet of unprocessed food.

They explored some more of the area around their camp, finding a few fruit-bearing trees, adding something new to their diet. In an opportune moment, Scarlet even managed to have Cyca down two rabbits, which she gutted on the spot, returning to camp with her catch. Keera turned rather green seeing her return, but it did not stop her from enjoying roasted rabbit, wrapped in lettuce and garnished with the root-vegetables.

The next day, they packed their things after a breakfast of fruits and left-over rabbit, before moving further along the river. This time, Keera was leading, with Scarlet following behind quietly giving lessons. Not that Scarlet commented often, only every hour or so to correct the mistakes Keera was making, allowing her to improve upon them.

They had a decent path, following an animal track along the river and taking in their surroundings. Verdun, for all the problems they were facing and the comforts they were deprived off, was a beautiful planet. Almost totally untouched by human hands, the land was free and wild. Where before, neither of them had ever lived in a place that wasn’t crowded, now both of them knew that they were the only humans in a few kilometers.

To Scarlet, that feeling was liberating, it allowed her to stretch her psionic senses to the limit, without being flooded with human emotions. For the first time, she felt an ebb and flow of the world around her, soft but everywhere. It was like a whisper, light and almost impossible to hear but it was not just from a single voice. For a split-second, she was able to feel every living thing, every blade of grass, every tree, every insect, everything. A deafening whisper. A moment of total clarity, as she was letting her mind experience the totality of existence around her. It was similar to her hearing, in a quiet room, it was easily possible to hear the beating of her own heart. And now, in the quiet forest, with only a shielding, human mind as company, she was able to hear the heartbeat of the world. But it didn’t, it couldn’t last long, her reverie was shattered by a stray-thought from Keera that bubbled to the surface, and escaped her mind-shield. It felt to Scarlet’s relaxed senses like a psionic shout, causing her to flinch. She reigned in her senses, not angry with Keera, if not for her, something else would have caused such an effect and it could have been far worse. Just imagining what death would feel like, for some small animal to be beset by a predator, blasting their emotions out into the world.

It made Scarlet curious, to experience that feeling of expansion again, to get in touch with life. She wondered what it would feel like without Keera nearby, without any human influence at all. Not only to delve into the beauty of life that surrounded her, but also to experience the ultimate liberty.

No social norms to dictate, no customs to obey, just freedom. Of course, there would be hardship, just the work that needed to be done to sustain oneself. And that was not going into the need to have companionship, humans were a social species after all. But still, it had a certain appeal, maybe she would head out alone after they had settled it and Keera was fully and totally obedient.

During the early afternoon, as they were walking across a meadow with only a few shrubs, Scarlet started to feel a slight pressure with her psionic senses. It took her a moment to understand what she was feeling, it was unlike everything she had ever felt, a strange sensation that made the hair on her neck stand up and a shiver to run down her spine. With a whispered command to Keera, she took cover in a nearby bush, hiding from prying eyes, just in case. It seemed a good idea, as the closest thing to a native guide they had with them, Cyca, had the exact same impulse, only curbed due to the mental control, holding her instincts in check.

“What’s going on?” Keera asked, as she noticed that Scarlet had goosebumps all over and sweat was welling up on her brow.

“I’m not sure, but we need to hide!” Scarlet answered, while pulling the scanner from her pouch. It read a light yellow, slightly higher than the safe, green, level but nothing that screamed immediate danger. It would be a good idea to turn back, but Scarlet grabbed Keera’s arm when the she wanted to stand.

“Don’t!” Scarlet hissed, as the sensation she was feeling intensified. Now, Keera was also feeling it, not understanding what it was but that something was there.

Right then, Scarlet was able to pinpoint where the feeling was coming from and looked up, into the sky. At first, she wondered what kind of bird was flying high above them, until she noticed that it vanished into a cloud for a moment and her brain started to cope with perspective. Or at least, it tried.

Her mind struggled with what her eyes were seeing, not wanting to believe the reality in front of her eyes. She tried to come up with another conclusion to the input, but the only was that the being that was flying high above them was big. As in, really big.

It looked like a huge bird, more the size of an airplane than a living being but the size wasn’t even what made her mind boggle the most. It was the fact that it had a strange swirling aura around it, looking similar to the heat-haze above a fire. But at the distance, her mind refused to believe that it was that. It couldn’t be, could it?

As the bird, or whatever it was, made its path through the sky and approached the point where it would be closest to the meadow, Scarlet felt herself start to shiver and shake, wanting to cower and hide, even as she was cowering and hiding below the bush. If she had ever wanted to know what it felt like to be the mouse and seeing the shadow of a hawk above, she now knew.

And she hated the sensation. Previously, she had thought that getting enough power to stand up to the Doctor, if she ever so chose, would be enough for a good life on Verdun. But seeing the monstrous bird in the sky, she knew better. If she wanted to have her agency, her freedom, her safety, she would have to be even more powerful. Powerful enough to be able to stand up, right at that moment, and swat the bird from the sky, to impress upon its body that she, Scarlet, was the ruler of her domain.

And within her core, her heart of hearts, she knew, she would gain that power, whatever it took. Or she would die. But, as someone had once said, it was better to die free than live as a slave.