nala

knife

Nala

"You kissed Torra." Andi said in agreement to Torra.

I looked over to Torra, hoping for any sign that I didn't. Torra actually grabbed the back of his neck and looked away, like every cliched book and movie my mother told me about.

"I get high once and this happens." It was completely unbelievable.

"Are you still on for Lanca?" Andi pleaded.

"Sure, whatever. Once your Committee is dead I'm going east." I shrugged my shoulders and went to our camp. "Are we going or not?" I asked. Everyone grabbed their things and packed up.

I had nothing to carry, just myself alone hiking wearing a scarf as a shirt and about the tightest pants ever sewn. Aden gave me a sword, which was zbout the only thing that could keep Torra off my mind. I kissed him.

I kissed him.

Andi stopped, making a poor attempt to make small talk but I ignored her. I continued walking, occasionally doing some tricks with the sword. I made sure that I kept a distance of at least twenty feet at all times. Torra tried to stop but I flashed him a strong stare and he kept walking. As the night got dark, we all stopped to camp.

Rimona offered me a blanket. I just laid facing away from the group the entire time. She eventually just laid it down over me.

And some point my mind got tired of thinking about Torra or the embarrassment and humiliation I was experiencing.

At some point Torra woke me up, quickly tapping me on the shoulder. We continued to Lanca, however far that was.

"We're only a few minutes away." Aden informed. We still kept walking, houses and people showing up in the land. Farmers, children and mothers were outside playing and working. This was something that never happened in Napoli.

Rimona stood beside me, telling me about what I would have to do. "All you need to do is pick a fight and win. Simple enough." She told.

"Easy enough. I need armor." I said. There was no way that a dictatorship government like this would have survived attacks of treason if they didn't know how to fight.

"We can take you to the armory before the fight but you have to be discreet. We can't have everyone knowing." Torra whispered. I stepped away immediately after him talking to me.

We walked through the gates of Lanca and it was incredible. There was a main street filled with markets and vendors. Children played with dolls and ran around the streets. Women in dresses with baskets offered apples and strawberries. I took an apple from a woman, Torra giving her a coin.

"We need to get you to the armory." Torra said. He led us down towards a vendor with an old woman selling blueberries.We passed behind her tent and through another, to be inside an old building from before the Alignment. "Roan! Where are you?" Torra yelled.

Roan?

"I'm right here!" Roan popped up from behind a table. "No way. Nala." Roan said.

How could it have been my childhood best friend Roan?

"Roan." I slid over the table to hug Roan. "I thought you were dead dumbass!" I laughed out.

It was miraculous that Roan was alive. He completely disappeared the day before my arrest, along with mother. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in the Bunker." Roan asked.

"I broke out." I bragged, only to receive a surprised look from Roan. "Didn't even get branded." I smiled.

"No way." Roan grabbed me and searched my stomach for the 'c' that was never burnt into my skin.