That House

"Thank you sister!"

Holding the leaf balls I gave to him, Oliver moved his attention away from Sazzy's personal terminal and to the food in his hands.

I sat next to him, my own leaf ball in my hands, and peeled off the leaf layer. The leaf ball was incredibly fragrant, and the many colors of the balled mixture made it seem very on theme with the leaves around it.

Holding it closer to my face, I could smell the boiled berries and mushrooms, as well as the slight whiff of nuts and leaves.

Taking a bite of the mixture, I could taste the leaves first. Then, right behind the almost raw taste of the leaves were the sweet berries. Together with the berries, mixing up the taste and texture a little, was the mushrooms. In the background of all of this was the nutty taste that highlighted the contrast between each flavor.

"This is delicious!"

Exclaiming in joy, Oliver took another large bite of the ball and smeared berry bits all over his mouth. Sazzy and I chuckled, as I took a piece of cloth and wiped his mouth clean.

Face red, Oliver's enthusiasm for the balls dimmed a little. This reminded me of the times when he was still too young to eat cleanly.

"Sazzy stop laughing! I'm no longer a child!"

Oliver glared at Sazzy as he took a smaller bite of the leaf balls.

[But you are 7. You are a child.]

Hearing Sazzy's words, Oliver seemed to deflate.

"I know I'm a child."

Sulking, Oliver nibbled on his leaf ball.

[Children should act like children and enjoy life a little more.]

Smiling at Oliver's obvious wish to grow up quickly, Sazzy smiled at him.

[It may be hard to see all the good things when there are so many things to do, but without being able to appreciate the now you won't be able to enjoy the future.]

Sazzy's eyes flickered to me, and Oliver seemed to perk up a little. But he still rolled his eyes at Sazzy.

"Yes yes. I know. I've heard this line a thousand times."

Taking another big bite of his ball, he scooted closer to me and leaned his arm against mine.

I ruffled his hair a little and typed a little thank you on my personal terminal to Sazzy.

Oliver's obsession with growing up was nostalgic. I used to feel that all the time. The powerlessness of a child against two adults was an invisible pressure that crushed me day after day. In fact, it had gotten to a point that I didn't really care what happened to me. But when Oliver entered into my life, he brought along meaning and the joys of living.

"You know, Oliver. Being a child is quite helpful. It's easier for others to trust you, and you to trust them. It's also easier to make more friends. People will help you more, and a lot of other things are easier. Sure, some of them you can still do as an adult, but it'll never be the same as when you were young."

Combing through Oliver's hair with my free hand, I heard a hum from him. From my position, I saw him take several more bites of his leaf and ball and I also finished up mine. Then after eating several more, we packed the extras in a thermo-controlled preservation box to keep them fresh.

The two of us sat on the seat backs, enjoying the scenery as we rode past.

"...Sister. Could I ask, if I was never born, would your life be easier."

I twisted my head to look down at Oliver, who was hiding his face by sticking close to my arm.

I wonder why he would even think of such a thing.

"Of course not! On the day I saw you Oliver, my life changed for the better. At that time you were so small, I could carry you with one hand. But you were so quiet. It made me sick with worry. After our legal guardian left you to me, I felt as if the house got brighter. You were my gift from god."

I remembered back to the time I had with Oliver in that house. Although our legal guardians were never there, the two of us were all we needed to make a family. It was hard at first juggling taking care of a child with school, and they did pay for a professional daycare for Oliver. Just the bare minimum. But there were still the happiest days I had in my life.

"If you were not there, I don't think my days in that house would have been as happy. Several years ago, I'm not sure if you remember, but our legal guardians came to visit once. To give us an allowance in person. At that time, I was quite distraught and emotional. However, you held my hand that day and anchored me down."

As I spoke, I could see the scene from that day flash in front of my eyes. The two had just come home, from whatever 'adult business' that didn't involve us children. And that visit was the worst. As I glared at them, my blood boiling with rage, I felt a small and cold hand touch my arm. When I looked down, Oliver's calm face seemed to cool everything. And after a more or less civilized conversation, the two left.

"And another instance was a couple of months before we were involved in ...all this, you bought me a beautiful flower bracelet for my 20th birthday. It made me so touched when I saw it. I love you. And you should never think otherwise."

Leaning down to give him a peck on the forehead, I could feel him tighten his grip on my arm. A couple of water droplets then dripped onto my arm.

"I love you too."

I heard a small whisper before Oliver used his arm to wipe his eyes and we went back to talking about more happy and mundane things. Like what to eat for lunch later or what we thought the Fluvius tribe would be like. Sazzy had disappeared from the car to leave us together for a while.

"If the Fluvius are anything like the Media Luna tribe, I might just develop a headache."

Oliver copied Sazzy's manner of speech, and we both laughed.

"Linda mentioned, intentionally or not, that Amanda was married to someone in the Fluvius village. Maybe if we are lucky, we can meet her."

Thinking about the picture that Linda had shown us on our first day there, I hoped that Amanda would be alright.

[I'm back!]

Appearing out of nowhere, Sazzy suddenly jumped in between the two of us with a piece of paper in her hands.

[Tom, the system of the original owner if you two don't remember, has given us actually helpful information on Amanda!]

She pushed the piece of paper into my hands before plopping down beside me. Oliver gave her a little glare.

Looking at the paper, it was a pretty normal piece of paper. But what was written on it was not.

It was a love letter.

"...How is this helpful?"

Looking at the obviously carefully written letter, I turned it around and laid it on my lap face down.

[Oh no the letter is just a favor from the original owner. He's busy in another world right now but I managed to talk directly to him this time. He then wrote this letter on the spot and requested I send it if he told me everything.]

I kept the letter in my inner shirt pocket and Sazzy moved in front of us to explain what the original owner had told her.

[As what Tom told Ava, the original owner met Amanda at the AT center. But that was around 15 years ago. After that they hit it off and they cohabited. However, what Tom forgot to mention to Ava was that the cohabitation part was only 5 years ago from now. Basically, they were already acquaintances or friends before Amanda was chased to Mors. Which was probably a reason why he came to Mors instead of any other planet.]

[Before she ran, Amanda was actually working at a research facility that we have been to before. The research facility at Vastum. Although according to the original owner, she worked in the chemistry department. It was there where she stumbled upon the secret of the preservatives.]

[Apparently she said someone who was pro-Colonizer saw her and reported her actions to someone with more power in the pro-Colonizer faction. She was then forced to run away when she encountered someone after her life. She ran to Mors, which was more 'dangerous' in the eyes of the public, but also because she had a friend here. This is when the two started to cohabitate for a couple of days before they finally found her and broke into the original owner's house.]

Sazzy laid out the whole timeline for us. Then, by piecing it with the information we obtained from Media Luna, we had a pretty rough guess of Amanda's experience.

"That attacker was killed by Helen, becoming the skeleton that Tom saw. Then Helen brought her to Media Luna where she lived there for a while before marrying out to Fluvius."

Completing the rest of Amanda's journey, the three of us sat there thinking.

[I didn't expect Amanda to be connected to Vastum though. Maybe Liz would know something?]

I pulled out my personal terminal and was about to text Liz when Oliver stopped me.

"Maybe we should wait until we get our new personal terminals to contact Liz. Also, I think we should discuss with Amanda whether she wants Liz and the anti-Colonizer faction inside of Vastum to know she was still alive."

Admitting Oliver had a point, I closed my personal terminal and the three of us sat there in silence once more.

"Other than that, did they mention anything else?"

Sazzy shook her head.

"Then I guess all we can do right now is to go to Fluvius and talk to Amanda. If she is still there."

...I frowned as I felt something at the back of my brain screaming to me that I had overlooked something.

...Wait. The original owner was alive?