The Search for the Eoz Potion

20. The Yllopian River Dragon

Claire was relieved when Tellis said she was going with Hailey. She was still mad at her, still felt abandoned, but she was also worried. The contradiction made no sense to her, but she accepted it. There was more in the Garden than either of them knew. Even if Hailey didn't believe that, Claire did not want her to have to learn the hard way. When she told the others that Hailey's plan was to find the potion in No Man's Land, Tellis looked concerned. It was then that she said she would follow her and encouraged Josef, Zack, and Claire to keep heading the way they were as Aileen stayed back to collect more members of the SG.

With just the three of them they were able to travel quickly. Josef quietly led the way while Claire and Zack followed closely behind. They didn't talk about much at first. Josef and Zack pointed out some of the more interesting features of the garden as if they were tour guides. Every now and then Clair would have a question about where they were headed, but Josef was always short on details. After an extended silence, Zack asked her something that seemed to be weighing on him.

"Do you think Hailey's going to be okay?"

"I don't know," Claire admitted. "But I'm glad Tellis went with her."
"How did the two of you end up friends?" he asked with a laugh of confusion. "You're both so different."

"Yeah, I'm not sure I'm her favorite person in the world."

"She'll be okay with Tellis," Josef interrupted to assure them both.

They walked on a little further before Zack continued the conversation.

"What makes you think she doesn't like you?"

It hadn't been that long since she'd said it, but long enough that she had to think for a minute what Zack was talking about.

"Well," Claire finally responded, "It's probably my fault. Most people like her. She's funny and gets along with pretty much everyone." Then she thought about the Hailey she'd gotten to know in Yllop. "But she puts up walls. Her parents are kind of hard on her and I think that's how she deals with it."

Zack nodded.

"And what about you?" he asked. "What's your family like?"

Without getting into too much detail, she told him about her parents' divorce and not seeing her mom much anymore. Being even stingier on details, she told them both about her brother. There was something about Zack that still reminded her of him, and it made it difficult to talk about it. The two both had the same gentle kindness that seemed to come so effortlessly. The more time she spent with Zack, the more she missed her brother. But something unexpected seemed to happen at the same time. As she and Zack spent more time getting to know each other, she felt herself starting to come to terms with her separation from her brother.  She started to realize there might be other people out there who could give her the same friendship and companionship she felt she had lost.  Of course they'd always miss each other, but she started to realize that him leaving might not need to be the end of anything.  It could just be a change, and that change didn’t necessarily need to be all bad.

As they walked, Josef pointed out some birds flying that fed in the river. He seemed excited by how close they were getting to the Yllop RIer, but Claire didn't quite understand why. According to the map, the only thing on the other side was a quicksand field, and she tended to agree with Hailey that it was unlikely that the potion would be hidden there. That is not to say, however, that she thought Hailey's plan to backtrack across the garden was a good one. Claire was consistent in her belief that the SG knew best where to look for the potion, and if Josef felt that heading toward the river was what they needed to be doing, then she would follow along.

While she was looking up at the birds easily and riding the breeze without concern, Claire tripped over something and stumbled to the ground. She was able to catch herself and landed on her hands and knees, but the shock of the fall scared her. She had seen so many new things that made so little sense to her since coming to Yllop, she was not ready for more. But when she looked back at what had tripped her up, all she saw was a small pile of fruit next to a bed made out of leaves. Zack reached his hand out to help Claire up while Josef knelt down to inspect the camp to be sure it was safe. On the ground, he noticed a symbol made of a few overlapping lines drawn in the dirt.