Mahingga

Chapter 23: Discovered

Ako awoke in the morning feeling cold. It had been a few days since they'd arrived, and he was beginning to lose his enthusiasm. They'd stuck him in a room with a few other Pawid men, including Melovi. Ako had been awake for a few minutes, lying under his thick, rough blankets, waiting for the cold to burn away.

Melovi sprang out of bed the moment the sun shined a little bit of light on the single, tiny window on the wall, right up next to the ceiling. He whistled as he stomped into his boots and swung his gun over his shoulder. He winked at Ako as he passed and exited the room.

The other men started crawling out of bed, roused by Melovi's noisy exit.

Ako pulled the blankets over his head and rolled to his side, away from the others. He hadn't ever been one for sleeping in, but right now he felt a little useless. Additionally, his body still ached from pulling weeds the day before, which had unfortunately become a regular duty.

Another hour had gone by before Ako reluctantly threw back his blankets and got out of bed. He would have gone straight outside to find some sunlight, but he was too hungry for that. Instead, he made his way to the small kitchen area where he found some bread. It was nothing like a hearty helping of rice, but for some reason, he was starting to like it. He munched on it absently as he made his way outside where the morning sun was well over the mountains to the east.

From the shooting range, Kita saw Ako emerge and handed her gun to the Freedom Alliance man who was training her. Ako leaned against the wall to warm up under the sun as he watched Kita approach.

"Hey, I heard you were sleeping in," she said, raising an eyebrow at him.

Ako shrugged, trying not to stare at her green eyes as they sparkled in the sunlight.

"So, how are you feeling?"

"What do you mean?" Ako countered.

"Feelings. You know, like sadness, anger—."

"I know what feelings are," Ako interjected, rolling his eyes.

Kita's lips curled in a smile, and Ako had to turn his face away. Just yesterday he'd been upset with her, and now he was already getting struck by her.

"Well, I've been feeling a bit bored," Kita said. "I kind of don't like sitting around."

"Yeah," Ako said. He pursed his lips and regarded Kita. He lowered his voice to just more than a whisper. "So, what do you know about this Freedom Alliance thing anyway? I know your dad's with them, but..."

Kita sighed and took a step closer. "Well, I've actually been trying to get more information from my dad about it, because I didn't know how he ended up with the Freedom Alliance to begin with. Apparently, my grandparents had been a part of it before they left, and my dad could remember the members would often wear red bandanas. So, when he got here, he just looked around until he found some again, though it took him a couple weeks.

"Anyway, they're supposed to be opposed to all the energy warring, even though they have their own rogue military." She waived a hand towards the shooting range. "They were initially a much bigger organization before things started getting worse. Those who were in control of the energy didn't want to share it, so they just started fighting each other, and the FA lost support. They've gone small-scale and underground since then, as you can see. My dad said they've always been looking for a way to find peace, but there's just never really been a good solution until now. Even though my dad was young when he left here, he never stopped hoping that he could help bring these people peace. He's a good man...."

"So, do you think they're legitimately helping us?" Ako asked, giving her a furtive look.

Kita shrugged. "I suppose so. I guess any organization could be corrupted if they lived in a society like this, but I think it's better than the other options we've seen. Plus, I might've been mad at him, but I trust my dad on this."