89 Phase 76: Incoming
Colin arrived back at his Home Base in time to get a call from Dad. "Colin, you're supposed to wake up early today, remember?"
"Oh yeah…" Colin said. "It's been a long night. Let me get a few thing settled and I'll Wake Up."
"I'll be waiting for you." Dad said. "We'll have an early breakfast together."
"Fine." Colin sighed and cut the link.
{Well, I did sleep very early last night, and I told Dad I'd wake up early too. I will keep my word.}
"Shiro, are you up for another overday training?" Colin asked. "The Wilds here are all our friends, but I think they'd be willing to train with you. Otherwise, you can head across the river and see what you can find on the plains. Just make sure you all have enough rest so that you're fresh when I get back, okay? We're going to be busy."
"Yip." Shiro reassured him.
Leaving the day's training to Shiro, Colin Woke Up.
***
{It's five in the morning. Whatever's Dad thinking…?}
Colin washed up, went down, and found Dad at the breakfast table laden with cereal and fruit. "Mornin."
"Good morning." Dad said, using his spoon to cut flakes of a banana into his cereal. "How's your Travels in Nakama World?"
"Messy. I keep going back and forth between Crescent Continent and Lamico Continent. I always seem to have things to do in both places. And Crabby Island, of course. Katrin's there."
"How's Katrin?"
"Bad. She lost all her Comrades when the Green Men attacked the towns."
Dad froze. He gave Colin a serious look. Colin figured he better start talking fast.
It took Colin quite some time to explain. Breakfast stretched past an hour, something he wasn't quite accustomed to. By the time Colin got to the destruction of Floras Town, Dad was looking very serious.
"Colin, what are you getting yourself into?"
"Forester work?" Colin guessed.
"Are you going to be a Forester the rest of your life?"
"No." Colin shook his head. "Just for a while, until the trouble on Lamico settles down."
"That could take months." Dad said.
"We've been there two nights and already we've done so much. Satrox says we more or less ended the war already."
"Maybe. But the place will still take a long time to recover. What happened to Traveling?"
"I Travel." Colin protested. "A lot."
"To the same places over and over again."
Colin paused. "Okay, so I should go farther. See new places. Meet new people."
"So far, you've just been getting caught up in your friends' troubles. Satrox and Katrin are good friends, but…"
{One got me caught up in civil war. The other one kicked me off a cliff.} Colin nodded slowly. "Maybe it's time I Traveled alone for a bit."
"Maybe." Dad said. "It's good to make friends, but don't be trapped by them. Do you have enough money to Travel?"
"I owe Abby a bit over twenty thousand Clira…" Colin thought. "But when I sold those Tames to the Comrade Home just now, they paid me over fifty thousand, plus a few hundred Home points.
Dad laughed softly. "A profit of thirty thousand Clira in one night. That's quite amazing for a thirteen year-old. Oh, and by the way… is Katrin still angry at you?"
"I don't know. She just… I just… well…" Colin stopped.
"Take it easy." Dad advised. "Don't force anything. Especially not yourself. You're not supposed to do everything for everyone. Sometimes, they have to cope with their own troubles on their own."
"But in Katrin's case, I think it's my fault." Colin said.
"You had one point right." Dad told him. "You're both too young for that sort of thing. You're both making mistakes."
"Fine, we're both at fault." Colin guessed. "But she is going through a rough time, and I don't want her hurt more than she already is, but when she talks to me like that, I just…"
Dad laughed softly. "There's an easy answer to that."
"There is?" Colin blinked.
"Yes. As you said, you're both too young. Your reactions to each other over this issue, the reason for the anger, the fears and the hurts… it's all very confusing, isn't it? Half the time, you don't know what you're saying, except that it's definitely not what you wanted to say."
"Yeah! That's it!" Colin agreed.
"So all you need to do is say everything you want to say before you get confused." Dad explained.
"You mean, don't let her talk?" Colin blinked.
"I mean, write her a letter."
{Dad,} Colin concluded, {is a genius.}
***
On the tenth night since she and Colin joined Nakama World, Katrin was starting her nightly routine checking on her new Comrades (all given to her by Colin) when her watch beeped and flashed red.
A notice said, Incoming Text Message.
Katrin blinked, and opened it. It was from Colin.
.
Dear Katrin,
I really don't want to hurt you any more and it seems every time we talk, I end up making you angry, so I'm writing this letter to you instead.
How have you been?
.
The letter went on to describe the things that happened last night, covering the destruction of Floras Town, getting two new Comrades, and Waking Up Early, and his Dad suggesting that he Travel more and write to Katrin.
.
I'm probably going to do a lot more of this… I don't know where I'm going to go, or how far, so I guess I won't be able to see you much. Maybe that's a good thing, for now.
Do let me know what you've been up to.
.
It was signed, simply, "Colin".
Katrin sighed and tapped her watch. "Colin."
The call went through, and he took the call. "Hmm?"
"Why are you sending me a letter? We can still call each other no matter how far away."
"But what if you get angry again?"
"If I get angry? What, you're saying it's my fault, now?! You're the one who…"
Colin cut the link.
Katrin growled and sent a reply to his letter.
***
Colin's watch beeped. Incoming Text Message.
He let out a breath in relief. Katrin.
The text message was rather short. It only had one word, in fact, and only five alphabets in it. The rest were just there to set the tone.
.
IDIOT!!!!
.
Colin sighed. Even Dad's idea didn't seem to help all that much. He replied her anyway.
***
Katrin heard the beep and saw the flash of red. Incoming Text Message.
She opened it. As expected, Colin again.
.
Look, we're both at fault, right?
Can't we call it even and stop fighting?"
.
Katrin had three things in mind she wanted to do, say or do and say, but she settled back and thought. {I have to calm down. At this rate, we're only going to keep fighting again. Mom said it right? Think before you speak… see what happened when I went ahead without thinking…?}
{But every time I hear from him, I just… aargh!}
Katrin laid her head in her lap and let out a low moan.
Mika squeaked. He looked up at her with bright, curious eyes. {I had eyes like that once. Curious and clean, a bit concerned, but not really worried. But now… this is chaos.}
"What's wrong?" a soft voice asked her.
Katrin got up hurriedly. {Oh, scrap, I'm in the Comrade Home. It's a public place. What am I DOING?! Blasted Colin… why am I like this just because of him?!}
She turned. "Sorry, just taking a break. Can I help you?"
Soft eyes. Gray, like the sea. A fair, handsome face, loose, yet tidy hair, black and short.
A boy, about her own age… carrying a blue bunny. He wore a white heavy coat and a thin yellow scarf, dark blue jeans and black sneakers.
He looked familiar. Somehow.
"Yeah… where's the Breeder?" he asked.
"Sorry, she's out for an hour or two. I'm filling in for her. What can I do for you?" Katrin asked.
"Well… I'm here to deliver a package." He said. "From an anonymous donor. Something about baby Lynxmice, I think."
Katrin stared. {Another perfect habitat from the anonymous donor? Who keeps SENDING all this stuff?}
"Just put it here… no, wait! Help me open it!" Katrin said. That thing was as big as herself. "This is for baby Lynxmice?!"
"Well, Lynxmice cubs, I think it said." He grunted, pulling off the brown paper wrapping.
Katrin whistled when she saw it. The whole thing was like a complicated playground sized for tiny Lynxmice. Slides and wheels and merry-go-rounds, tunnels and climbing structures, stuff Katrin didn't even recognize or know the names of, but figured that the Lynxmice kids would love it.
"Mik!!" Mika jumped at it, clawing at the insides longingly through the bars of the cage. "Miik!"
"Okay, okay, go ahead." Katrin let him in and he dashed in at once, scurrying up and about the tunnels and slides in a hurry. "I better go get your brothers and sisters."
She got them, and let them join Mika, then looked around for that delivery boy to thank him.
"Huh?" Katrin blinked. "Where did he go? Don't I have to sign a receipt or something?"
She looked around, but couldn't find him.
The delivery boy was gone.
***
Colin was almost at the Wood Owls nests when his watch beeped and flashed red. Incoming Text Message.
{Katrin.} Colin sighed. {Took her long enough.}
"Colin," it read.
Okay, I'll give this a try. Hmm. Let's see… the recovery is going well. Thanks to those perfect habitats from the anonymous donor, all the Comrades you gave me have the best of conditions to recover in.
That donor sent a super-playground for baby Lynxmice today. I think I'm being watched or something. Maybe it's my boss, the local Breeder. I mean, who else would know the kind of stuff I need so quickly?
Mika loves the playground. He and his siblings are running all over it, playing with everything. I put in a few other baby Lynxmice from different parents and they enjoyed it so much that I put the parents in too. Even Meek's running around with her kids in there. I think that's an amazing improvement. She's all but recovered already, and it's all thanks to that anonymous donor.
Oh, I met a cute boy today. He was the delivery boy for the super-playground. He's got a nice, soft voice. You should hear it sometime.
Edward called yesterday, and said we could build the farm at Hot Springs instead. It seems that when deserts get lots and lots of water, something called Flood Plains come up and growing things in that kind of place is simply amazing. He's very excited about building a new farm at Hot Springs, especially since nobody else has thought of it yet. Abby says they'd consider buying over our land at Sunshine Ruins, so the J-Knights might run a base there or something.
Hot Springs is just next to the Forest of Legends, isn't it? We'd be like neighbors. Guess I'll be the girl next door, huh?
Uhoh. Rall's got his paw stuck in a honey jar again. I better go save that bear. Write soon, okay?
Love,
Katrin.
