The Beauty of the Night

Beautiful Hope

The morning was unlike any other Morgan had experienced in her four months on the planet Zix. This morning, instead of unleashing the feral women into the woods to descend upon their prey, they were fed from great steaming pots: fluffy eggs, well-seasoned and tender vrole meat, pukka, a purple root plant that reminded Morgan of sweet potato, and cups of steaming hot milk with a sweet flavor mixed in that Morgan couldn't identify.

She ate cautiously at first, looking around to see if anyone else was as off-put as she was. But instead of nervous smiles, the women around her ate heartily, jostling each other with a definitive air of excitement and tension buzzing about them.

"Eat," Nk'ea said softly with a gentle jostle of Morgan's shoulder. She smiled warily at the woman beside her. She was Kazor, and young. She had soft curled hair the color of night that settled around her shoulders like a cloud of sheep's wool. Her skin was deeply pigmented, with a rich red undertone that reminded Morgan of the earth. Her eyes were wide and innocent, a brilliant shade of caramel rimmed wide black pupils. She had a hard set to her full mouth which opened easily in a smile. She was almost painfully beautiful, excepting the scar that ran from her right ear to her chin.

Nk'ea had arrived a month ago, and from the moment she arrived in the dens, she decided that she and Morgan were to be friends. Blood bound, she had called it, and Morgan had thought she wanted to be best friends. But when Nkea sliced open her palm and offered it to her in a gesture that Morgan didn't recognize, she understood that it went deeper than that. Nk'ea wanted to be her blood sister. And despite Morgan's outward reluctance, and all of the warning bells that went off in her head at the first sign of friendliness, she'd mimicked the gesture to Nk'ea's great pleasure. And that was that. Morgan no longer slept alone, no longer endured the taunts of the other women. Nk'ea's youth and appearance of innocence belied her sharp, easily roused rage. In the month she had been here, she had already been embroiled in at least five fights, dragging Morgan along with her. But as much as Morgan wanted to push the girl away, she couldn't.

"Do you know what's happening?" Morgan asked as she speared the vrole meat with her fork. She almost moaned at the taste. She hadn't tasted anything this good in...in forever. Her stomach grumbled.

"Today is the Blood Challenge," Nk'ea said, her mouth full of egg. She ate ferociously, as though she were scared that the food before her would be snatched away in moments. It came from her upbringing among four brothers, she'd confessed once to Morgan. They were why she came to the blood dens. She wanted to be strong.

"What is it?" Morgan asked, carefully taking in her surroundings.

"Its for anyone who feels they are ready to leave the dens," Nk'ea answered, oblivious to the sudden rigidity that had frozen Morgan's spine. But even as her spine froze, something warm bloomed deep in her chest. Something Morgan had let die months ago. Hope. "But only one can leave. They fight each other until there is only one left, and she faces the Den Master."

Everything else moved too slowly after that. Leaving the dens was the first step to getting back to earth. Getting back home. She needed to participate in the Blood Challenge, and she needed to win. But could she? Was she capable?

"Are you okay?" Nk'ea asked a few hours later, as they bathed. "You've been so quiet."

Morgan nodded silently, scrubbing at her skin as if that would make the nervousness go away. Nk'ea was silent for a moment longer, then,

"You're going into the Blood Challenge, aren't you?"

She asked the question more as an accusation, drawing Morgan's carefully guarded gaze. Morgan didn't answer. She lathered her hair next. As much as she had thought about it, she hadn't had the strength to cut it. That would've been going to far. That would have been admitting defeat, admitting that she was stuck here on Zix and that she was adapting. So she kept it long and braided into a severe bun at the base of her neck. She massaged that area.

"Why, Morgan?" Nk'ea asked, her voice now sounding hurt. "Couldn't you wait for me? For us to leave together?"

"Only one person can leave at a time," Morgan pointed out with the information that Nk'ea had shared earlier.

"I'll be alone," Nk'ea protested.

"You're strong. You'll be alright," Morgan answered, ducking beneath the heated water of the hot spring to rinse herself off. As she toweled dry, Nk'ea approached and sat beside her on the rocky ground.

"Do you think you can win?" Nk'ea asked softly. Without knowing, she had spoken to the depths of Morgan's fear. Morgan paused for a long time.

"I have to try," she answered.

"There are other ways to leave the dens," Nk'ea answered. "Less dangerous ways. At the end of your year here, you'll become eligible to leave. You won't need to fight."

Morgan met Nk'ea's soft brown gaze.

"I don't have a year," she answered. Already, she had been trapped on Zix too long. "I have to go back home."

"Where is your home?" Nk'ea asked softly.

"I'm not from this planet," Morgan answered, laying back to survey the way the den opened up to the sunlight above. "I'm from Earth."

"Earth," Nk'ea repeated. "Is your family there?"

"Yes," Morgan answered. "They think I'm dead. I have to go back home to them."

Nk'ea nodded, and was silent for a moment longer, thinking.

"Then you have to win the Blood Challenge," she finally concluded aloud, turning to meet Morgan's eye. "So you can go back to Earth."

Morgan nodded firmly.

She needed to win the Blood Challenge. She had to.