Composition

--Dani's Perspective--

---January 23, 2446---

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I was walking along a path to the training field when I was stopped by a tent that caught my eye. Sky was already at the field, so I snuck into the kiosk with a ton of shiny metal.

"Hey there! What can I get you for today?" The man behind the counter asked me. It looked like a jewelry shop... everything looked pretty and shiny, it was remarkable.

"What is this?" I asked the man. He explained that it's a shop where you can buy accessories for your clothing. Purely cosmetic.

A lot of the stuff was pretty. I already gave Sky his jacket for an early Valentine's Day present before we were all taken to the coliseum. Well, Rin and Ren did. That being said, I wanted to get him something for the actual day if I was still alive by then. Maybe a necklace, or a ring, or something.

"What do you guys have for necklaces or rings?" I asked. The man led me to a glass case with several rings of all colors and gems inside. There were about one hundred rings and sixteen necklaces in each respective case. No matter how much I looked at the rings, the more I thought about marriage. They were disgustingly flashy... that's just my personal preference.

"Hm... is this all you have?" I asked him again. I peered into the necklace case when one caught my eye. A necklace that looked like a flame, but upside down. It was a simple design but it had a bright gold shine to it and spoke to me. That was the necklace I needed.

"That one! Never mind! This one!" I told him, redirecting his attention away from the stash of rings in the back to the necklace case.

"Huh, nobody wanted that one. Okay, it's all yours," The man said. He opened the case and handed it over.

"It doesn't cost anything?" I asked him. He shook his head.

"We operate on a bartering system up here. You're from Sky's group, aren't you? Well, I wouldn't expect you to know about how we used to work. It doesn't matter, this Isle will be out of business soon and that means our system won't work. If I give away my stuff for free now, then customers will purchase it on The Scorched Isle once we set up civilization there. It's like advertising." The man said. A lot of what he said was gibberish to me, but if he was okay with it, then I was fine with it as well.

"On The Scorched Isle, I'll find a way to pay you back!" I shouted out to him, leaving the tent.

Right before I left, Lia walked in behind me. Once I noticed, I followed her back in. She went exactly to the glass case I was at near the back of the tent, sitting on top of a cushioned bench. She pointed into the ring case and the man nodded. I finally approached.

"What are you getting?" I asked her. I stuffed the necklace in my pocket and seemed to have surprised Lia.

"Don't scare me like that! I'm getting a ring for Sky," Lia told me. I stared at her dumbfounded for a few seconds.

"N-No! Not like that! I don't like him like that! It was a symbol in my village that meant newfound friendship or an everlasting bond. I look at him like he's my brother," Lia clarified. I was suspicious at first, but if she saw Sky as a brother, then everything would be okay.

"I want to offer him the ring to prove to him I'll forever be his friend. You don't wear this ring on the ring finger anyways, it goes on your middle one on your left hand," Lia added.

"Good thing it's not the right arm," I joked. We both laughed as we left the shop and walked towards the field together.

Just like a moth to a flame, I turned my head at the next tent over to see Xavier, Griff, and Jeff all sitting around something in a circle.

"What are we going to do?! That doesn't go there!" Xavier shouted out. He exaggerated by throwing his hands to the back of his head and falling back to the floor. I caught him laying on the floor and when he opened our eyes, we made eye contact. His face turned pink and he sat back with Griff and Jeff.

"Ha! You got caught!" Jeff joked around with him. It seems like they were laying next to some sort of training doll with organs inside of it. They were solid and there wasn't any blood. What were they doing?

"Hey Dani, need anything?" Griff asked me this time around. I asked them what they were up to.

"This is a training dummy for surgery. Helen gave it to us, the medic around here. She caught us tending to the wounds on the beach when Red died and put us under her wing. Right now, we're practicing surgery," Xavier explained.

"Isn't there a ton of tools that follow surgery... I think you're missing the whole 'opening the human body and carefully fixing what's broken' step... where are your scalpels or whatever?" I asked him. That's when Griff passionately turned around.

"Here's the amazing thing Dani! Helen explained that Humans and Arkians have a fundamental difference in their body composition. Back when we were attacked by wolves, a lot of us sustained bite wounds and other injuries. We didn't get proper care, yet our bodies healed just fine. Helen explained that our bodies instinctively know where veins, arteries, and bones go and they will heal on their own given a proper amount of time. The only thing the body can't replace are organs, but the body will rearrange all of the hard stuff by itself." Griff explained. He threw the plastic lungs in the air and caught them, declaring his findings.

"That's pretty impressive. So, even I can learn it?" I asked the group of three.

"That's right! You can be a medic with us as well!" They told me.

"Well, if the body does all of this on its own, doesn't that make your jobs obsolete?" I asked them. Jeff was the only one to react with a disappointed sigh.

"Well, sort of. The body may heal itself, but it still bleeds. We're there to stop bleeding and secure wounds so they can heal," Xavier clarified.

I spent about ten minutes playing with their training doll and memorizing the location of certain organs and where they go. This Arkian species was interesting... it was weird to think I was one of them. If I was asked before what I was, I would've said Human, but that's not the case right now.

I just had to hide this necklace from Sky until Valentine's Day... but the war interferes with that day. Maybe I should give this to him sooner than that... No! I will be alive to give it to him on February 14th, and nothing will stop me!