7 Phase 07: Going North

Henry whistled when he saw Colin come in wearing his hat, visor and backpack. "You look like a mixed bag."

"A what?" Colin blinked.

"A mix of high-tech and low-tech." Henry said. "That hat's totally simple and that visor is totally techno."

Colin shrugged. "I didn't get the visor for how I look with it. I got it for how I see with it."

Rita spotted him and Colin wished she hadn't. "Colin! There you are! You've been away so long! You know, I was just telling Dani, maybe Katrin's run off with Phillip! And…"

"When are we going?" Colin said as fast as he could.

Rita blinked as if surprised to find someone able to say more than one word in the middle of her chatter and then answered, "Right now."

There were two ways to get to Riverside, she explained, even as she led them north. One was to take the ferry down the river. Because the river came from the lake, they could follow it all the way to the sea by ferry.

The other was the road they were going to take.

Map image here: https://imgur.com/WYmP9qR

"It's a nice way to journey, walking beside the river and all…" she said, thoughtfully. "You know, I once…"

"Does the road go straight to Riverside?" Colin asked Henry, as Rita went on and on about what she did around rivers before.

"As long as we stick to it, yes. It branches off in the middle, and I don't know where that road goes to, but as long as we follow the river, we'll be fine." Henry said. Then, he glanced at Shiro and Meek on Colin's shoulders. "What does your wolfcat eat, by the way?"

"Shiro? I've been feeding him canned tuna." Colin said. "Because it's softer. Shiro's still a cub."

{Henry, relax, he's not going to eat your Comrades…}

"And what about your Lynxmouse? What have you been feeding her?" Henry asked.

Colin blinked. "How did you know Meek was a 'her'?"

Henry pointed. "Look at her tail. It's curly."

Colin glanced at Meek. It was true.

"You see my two Lynxmice?" Henry pointed again. "Chip is male. His tail is straight. Biscuit is female. Her tail is like Meek's – curly."

"Wow. You really know Lynxmice." Colin said.

"I've liked Lynxmice for a long time. My brother used to let me play with his." Henry said.

"Your brother sounds like a nice guy." Colin said. "My elder sister never lets me touch her ship."

"You have a sister?" Rita jumped in. "You know, I have a sister too. Total chatterbox, she just never stops talking! You know, one time, she…"

Colin and Henry shut up and didn't say a word as Rita went on and on about her sister (who sounded exactly like her) all the way to where the road branched off.

By that time, Colin was wishing he'd found earplugs somewhere. He glanced at Henry, who also looked rather tired of the chatter. He glanced at Rita, who looked like she was only just getting started.

Henry had two Lynxmice and a Redbit. Rita had an Arachnid and that walking plant.

Colin thought about that. {Mice… rabbit… wolfcat… spider… walking plant… hmm.}

Colin gave Henry a sideways glance.

Henry too, was giving Colin a sideways glance.

"Hey, Henry." He said mildly.

"Hey, Colin." Henry said, sounding just as neutral.

"I've been thinking." Colin went on.

"Me too." Henry said.

"Thinking? You know, sometimes, my mom says it's not good to think too much…" Rita started off on a whole different topic at once.

"Want to race?" Colin asked Henry.

Henry grinned.

Rita stopped when they stopped, and stared at them both as they arranged their Comrades in a straight line. "What are you two doing?"

"It's a race." Colin told her.

"Oh! A race!" Rita put her Comrades on the line too. "You know, the first race I ever…"

"Ready?" Colin asked Henry.

"Too ready. Set?" Henry asked back.

Colin nodded and took a deep breath.

At the same time, both of them shouted "Go!"

And ran for their lives.

***

"Hey, you two! Wait for me!" Rita yelped. "My Comrades can't keep up with yours! You're going to leave me behind!"

Colin grinned. {Exactly.}

That was the reason for their race in the first place. After one hour of non-stop chatter, he and Henry had both reached their limit.

"Go, Tomato!" Henry called to his Redbit, although it was already clear that the red bunny wouldn't win the 'race'.

The Redbit was the fastest of Henry's Comrades, but it was no match for Shiro. Already the little white wolfcat was leaving Colin, Henry and the Lynxmice far behind. The Redbit had only covered half that distance.

But it didn't really matter. The important thing was that Rita's Arachnid and walking plant were falling farther and farther behind, and with them, Rita and all her chatter.

They passed Jonah, Alicia and Larry on the way, all three staring as they dashed by. Larry called to him. "Hey, Colin, are you STILL chasing that white wolfcat?!"

Colin was too busy running to reply.

***

In a minute, Shiro was getting too far ahead to see without using his visor at 2x. "Shiro! Slow down!"

Shiro was too far ahead to hear him. Colin started to get worried. {How do I…?}

Then he remembered what Edward did. Colin tapped his watch. "Shiro! Slow down!"

Ahead, the little white spot slowed.

Henry stared at Colin for a moment, then tried it also. "Tomato! Wait for us!"

His red bunny slowed down too. Henry, Colin realized, learnt things quickly. He was also getting tired quickly. "We need a place to rest. Somewhere Rita wouldn't find us."

Henry pointed. Up ahead was the Riverside Comrade Home.

***

When Rita arrived at the Comrade Home five minutes later, she asked around for two boys with three Lynxmice, a Redbit and a wolfcat.

The breeders there checked around, but all of them agreed, none of them had seen those two boys.

"Are those the ones you're looking for?" one of the breeder nurses pointed out the front door.

"No…" Rita said. "That's Jonah, Larry and Alicia. But they'll do. Thanks again."

"You're welcome." The breeders watched her go.

Rita joined up with Jonah and started talking to Alicia about her hair.

Colin and Henry watched them disappear down the road and sighed with relief. "That's good."

"Hey! You two!" the chief breeder found them. "What are you doing behind the Home?"

They jumped. "Um… well… we…"

"You were hiding from that girl, weren't you?" she asked them, her mouth twisting. There was an orange bear in her arms, twice the size of the Starter Comrades, that kept pawing the air in front of them.

She ignored it, fixating them with a serious look.

Colin gulped. Henry glanced at him and tried to answer. "Uh… well…"

"Why didn't you just tell her that you wanted to part ways?" she questioned.

Colin and Henry exchanged glances. "I don't think she would listen." Colin said at last.

"Did you try?" the Riverside chief breeder asked.

"She was talking so much, we couldn't say anything." Henry told her. "We just couldn't take it any more."

The chief breeder shook her head. "Still… it's not nice to just leave her behind. She was almost crying, you know."

They started feeling bad at that point. "She was…?"

"Or maybe it was just sweat." The chief paused. "You should go and apologize to her. If she's doing something you don't like, you should tell her about it."

"We can try. But I don't think she'll let us." Henry answered.

"Try." The chief breeder advised. "Just try."

***

They walked in silence all the way to the town.

"Do you really think we should…?" Henry asked, as they entered the town.

"I don't know, Henry." Colin admitted. "But we can try."

"But you're asking if it can be done. I'm asking if it should be done." Henry said. "Even if we can do it… should we?"

"Why not?" Colin questioned.

"Because it makes it seem like we did something wrong." Henry told him. "But all we did was race."

"We did leave her behind." Colin told him. "After agreeing to come here with her."

"But she never stops talking!" Henry said. "I couldn't stand any more. If you didn't suggest racing, I would have run off."

"We could have asked her to stop talking." Colin said.

Henry paused. "I don't think she ever will."

"Me neither." Colin agreed. "But… we could have tried. The breeder said she was almost crying."

Henry paused. "Do you really believe that? The breeder also said it could have been sweat. She was running too."

"I don't know if it was." Colin said. "But just in case, I think it's better to apologize."

"Fine." Henry shook his head. "But if she talks too much for us to do it, I'm not going to try a second time."

Colin took a deep breath. "Meek? Track Rita please."

Meek found the trail easily and led them all the way to the Town Square. There was a huge crowd there. A big sign on the stage in the middle said 'The Golden Watch', and showed a gold version of their Traveler Watches.

Rita was at the back row with Jonah, Alicia and Larry. She was talking to Alicia non-stop.

"Rita." Colin nudged her.

Rita turned, blinked at him and said, "Oh. Hi."

And then she went on talking to Alicia.

"Forget it." Henry threw up his hands. "There's no point apologizing to her."

Colin tried again. "Rita, we're…"

Rita ignored him. Henry shook his head and folded his arms.

Colin glanced at Shiro.

Shiro looked at him. "Yip." He said softly.

Colin knew it then. The Chief Breeder was right.

"Rita, SHUT UP!" He barked.

Rita jumped, staring at him. "What…?"

"We're sorry for leaving you behind!" Colin told her.

Rita's face twitched.

"Aww." Alicia stepped forward. "Clumsy Colin's sowwy… How cute! Why don't you just come out and say it?!"

"Huh?" Colin blinked.

"You-Don't-Like-Her!" Alicia threw it in his face. "You don't like it when she talks. You don't like to Travel with her. She's slowing you down! That's what you're thinking, isn't it?"

"What?!" Colin stared.

"You and your fast Comrades all chasing your precious white wolfcat!" Alicia snorted. "She's using slow Comrades, like Jonah! We don't leave {him} behind."

"No, you just follow him around like puppies." Colin retorted.

"We never complain about his Comrades. We don't ever run ahead and leave him behind." Larry said slowly.

"That's because he's leading you by the nose." Colin pointed out.

"Rita was leading you, wasn't she? She's the one who told you how to get here, wasn't she?" Alicia demanded.

Colin paused. That was true. "But…"

"And you two abandoned her and ran on ahead." Alicia wrinkled her nose. "Some kind of friends you are."

"Look who's talking!" Colin flared. "You're the ones always leaving me behind!"

"And he deserves it, doesn't he?" Alicia turned to Rita.

Rita's face was white. For once, she didn't say a word. She just stared at him.

"Look, we came to apologize for that. We're sorry." Colin said. "But we couldn't take it any more. You just wouldn't stop talking, and…"

"Go away!" Rita shouted. "Just… go away!"

"Rita…"

"Shut up! You're talking too much! I can't take it anymore. Go away!" Rita said, and turned around.

Alicia smirked at Colin.

"Colin, forget it." Henry said. "We tried. She's not letting us apologize."

"But she's…"

"She's with {them} now." Henry told him.

"That makes it even worse! We have to…"

"How?" Henry asked. "She's not even listening to us."

Colin thought about that. He really tried to find a way.

But he couldn't think of a way to apologize to someone who wouldn't listen.

Still, he turned back and said one last time. "Sorry."

Henry snorted. "It's useless. Let's just go."

Colin shook his head. "You go ahead, Henry. I'm not in the mood for the Treasure Hunt any more."

Henry threw up his hands again. "Whatever, man. Call me if there's anything."

"You too." Colin told him, and felt his watch twitch, so that he knew he now had Henry's contact in his phone book.

He turned to Rita. "Rita… you too. Contact me sometime."

Rita didn't turn around.

Colin walked away from the Town Square with only Shiro and Meek.