Inherently Innocent

Lights Will Show The Way

"Stop moving, I can't braid it like this."
"I literally have my hair so short that it's impossible to braid."
Liliac let go of the lock of brown hair between her fingers. She didn't need anything to tie it with. The accumulated sweat and grease made it stick together in its braided style. Thyme was now the proud owner of two erect braids, jumping from his head like horns.

"You were saying?" The purple haired nymph smiled. The expression made her close her eyes for a second, and when she opened them again the sun was too sharp on her hurt eye, prompting her to uncontrolably wink for a while.

"That's gonna look lovely for the rest of the day," Thyme patted his own head to feel his hair. Then he added, half joyful, half ironic,"Thanks."

"I'm sweating buckets. Can't we start moving again?" Golshan took turns to raise his arms and fan them with his opposing hand.

"If someone hadn't messed up and tried to eat whatever that was instead of wheat," Liliac started.

"It was a weed that resembles wheat!" Golshan crossed his arms, immediately showing in his face how disgusting it was to feel his own sweat against his pale green skin again. "I wish Peony was here to bake us some cookies. I'm tired of just eating raw fruit. I miss that little girl's spark."
Liliac wondered if Golshan was speaking literaly. Were there electrical ishine? If there were ishine that could move stone, why wouldn't there be those that created lightning? Wait, was that how the girl cooked their cookies?

"Are those weeds, or wheat, even native to this continent?" Thyme asked. As usual, Liliac had no clue what he was talking about, but listened closely.

"I don't think so. They're probably remnants of the last time humans were around these parts," The boy kicked the grass. Those were the few human traits he had in all their glory.

"What?" Lee asked. "Remnants?"
"Yeah," Golshan doubtfully scratched a rose petal that grew behind his ear. Thyme carried it from there.
"There's no way there could be aloes, or roses, in this part of the world. Humanity might have left this planet, but they left their terraforming behind. I wonder if they left a house between these abandoned fields. There may be a hidden city somewhere. Like Atlanta."

"Atlantis?" Golshan couldn't close his mouth in disbelief.

"How do you know so much about the planet, Thyme?" The girl asked.
Nobody said it, but Liliac audibly reacted with an oh when she realized. Because he went to school beyond the third grade of primary.

"Well, hair session is over. Let's move," Golshan fixed his bag in his back. Liliac had noticed when he picked it up from the floor of the mountain caves, abandoned by its previous, human owner.

The boys looked at each other. Thyme was still on the floor, Golshan looked down at him. Lee even felt embarassed to see them stare at each other. She undertood Thyme's feeling of guilt and regret, definitely better than anyone else. She had had her own fair share of bad attitudes, and of broken dirty nails after so many attempts of climbing out of that hole. Thyme liked spending his time with Golshan, but Thyme needed time.

"So," She cleared her throat and stood up. Her vision became foggy and her mind light for a second before everything was normal again. "Could we find a city if we deviate from the path? We're still several days away from the settlement, and even more away from the full moon."
Thyme raised his eyebrows. His little hair horns rose too.
"I mean... Yeah, sure," There was a big revelation going on behind his brown eyes. Liliac could see his gears moving like the visible cables that adorned the program's walls. There was no effort to hide it, proud in showing it. "We have nothing else to do but wait, don't we? And it'd just be a day or two of diversion. Golshan," He stood and touched the boy's arm. The green-skinned ishine shivered before smiling. Thyme had to stop his words at such reaction. His face became involuntarily saturated before he asked. "Can't you sense where old human buildings could be?"