Sister

7 - In Which A Complication Is Added

Once the rain calmed and the water under the tree had trailed away, the three girls climbed down from the tree. Sister looked over to the road and her heart sank. The valley they had traversed was full of quick flowing floodwater. Babie rushed over, Sister thought to check on her parents.

"Be careful," Sister warned, "That bank may be unstable due to the water." Babie froze in place. She seemed to be debating on the credibility of the advice. She must have accepted it, because Sister watched as she carefully made her way closer to the edge, testing each step as she went.

"Mum! Dad!" she called as she went. The door to the motor home slid open and two very relieved parents stepped out, rushing over to the other side of the bank. Sister shouted out the same warning, but she needn't have bothered as Merry and Harold stopped on the edge of the road, obviously knowing the danger of the bank.

"Oh Duckling!" Merry pressed a hand to her chest, "Thank heavens. Are you girls ok?"

"We're fine, Mum," Babie answered back, "You guys?"

"All good here," Harold gave the girls two thumbs up and a big grin.

"We were so worried," Merry continued to fret.

"We climbed a tree and waited for the water to go away," Babie explained.

Alix stepped forward, near to Babie and watched the rapids for a moment, "How do we get across?"

"You don't," Sister's arms found their way to cross at her chest as she prepared for the yelling.

"What do you mean 'you don't'?" Babie scowled, "We have to get back to the caravan."

"You can't get across there," Sister continued, "It's fast flowing floodwater. You'll get swept up the moment you try and cross it. Plus, the valley is too wide to jump. It's not happening."

"Well then we will have to wait until the waters subside."

"Who knows how long that will take. It could be days before the water dissipates, depending on where it originated from."

"This is your fault!" Ah. There it was. The yelling. Sister stood ramrod straight as an accusatory Babie stalked towards her.

"I didn't continue driving into a storm," Sister pointed out. This seemed to infuriate the blue-haired teen even more.

"No. But you just had to go running off in the middle of that storm, didn't you." The taller girl took the moment to poke a forefinger into Sister's chest. Sister pushed the arm away, her own anger boiling up.

"You didn't have to come after me."

"You have my Blessing!"

"Stop!" Sister whipped her head around to see a very irritated Alix, "Stop it, both of you. Holy crap. Will you two stop arguing for one minute so we can make a plan? This has happened. There is nothing we can do about it. So let's discuss what we are going to do now." Babie hung her head and went over to silently apologise to her sibling. Sister looked at the scene. Family helping and comforting each other. Her chest felt tight for a moment, but Sister quickly pushed the feeling aside. She had more important things to think about. 

There honestly was no way over the floodwaters and the water could take days to become safe to cross. Days they didn't have. They only had four days until the sealing ceremony. They were supposed to get to Anchora tomorrow. But if they couldn't drive...

"We can walk." Sister eventually decided. 

"What?" Babie and Alix spoke at the same time.

"Look," Sister sighed, "We can't get across here. The best course is to split up and travel on the different sides of the valley until we get to one of the towns near to Anchora. Then we can probably catch the train to the capital."

"Walk?" Alix looked devastated at the very thought.

"How far are we going to have to walk?" Babie frowned, "Do you even know where we are going?"

"South-West!" came a shout from the other bank. Sister turned to see another thumbs up from Harold.

"That's a good idea, Sweetie," Merry was nodding thoughtfully, "At a relaxed pace it should take about four days to walk to Idilly and catch the train from there. We have to fix the caravan and then we can meet you in Anchora."

"Fine," Babie assented, "We'll walk." Alix made a some kind of sound that Sister suspected was meant to represent agony.

"We'll need some supplies," Sister thought out loud.

"Heads!" Sister moved out of the way just in time to miss the backpack Merry threw across the valley. That woman had a surprisingly strong arm. The first bag was followed by two more. The girls discussed what they would need on their trip and filled their bags with clothing, blankets, water and food. Soon enough, they were ready. Sister pulled on the backpack and tightened the straps to fit her spindly frame comfortably. She pulled out a compass Harold had almost knocked her out with when he threw it to her. 

"Ready?" she asked the siblings. Alix nodded despairingly. Babie was still patting the pockets of her cargo pants.

"Mum!" she called across the valley, "I need my communicator so we can keep in touch." Merry smacked her head at her forgetfulness as she raced into the van and came back with the small, metal disk. With an underarm throw, the disk went flying, Babie just managing to catch it. Once in her hands, Babie pulled the circle in half revealing the screen inside. She tapped a few buttons on the screen before giving a satisfied nod, pushing the two semi circle halves together and placing the communicator in her pocket.

"Ready," she concluded. Sister nodded in response and headed off, following the valley. She truly hoped that they would have an uneventful trip and everything would work out. Her luck had to come sometime, right?