Tumia

Rules

"Harder, Thalia!" my father yelled as I kicked the bag for the hundredth time.

Throwing another kick, the bag flew across the room, and he smiled. Out of breath, I grabbed my water bottle. We had a break from classes this past week, and my father had been making me practice combat every day since then.

While everyone else was stationed around the base, I was stuck in the gym, working out. "You've gotten better," he said proudly.

I had been in training all my life, though my father was rarely around. When he was, he never missed an opportunity to train me like a soldier. Mother opposed it, but she had little say in his decisions.

"Can I go now?" It had been almost five hours of intense workouts, and I was exhausted.

"Your form is still off. I taught you better than to be sloppy," he commented, ignoring my request and replacing the punching bag.

Rolling my eyes, I got back in place. Staring at the bag, I backed up, then leaped forward, landing a hard kick to its side. I was a bit sloppy today, not expecting to spend my afternoon here.

"Are those creatures bothering you at that school?" he asked, making me pause as I drank from my water bottle.

Ava and Michelle must have mentioned my bruise from the other day.

"Not at all," I mumbled.

Sweat dripped down my back. He gave me a nod, indicating I was done.

"See you tomorrow, Dad," I said, picking up my bag and leaving the gym.

It had been a few days since I ran into Vorian in the tree. I hadn't told anyone because I was still confused about what he was even doing up there.

Walking outside, I saw Halle and Jake leaving the corporal's room. They noticed me quickly, and Jack jogged over with his sister following behind.

"Thalia! Hey, funny running into you," he smiled as we all walked back to our rooms.

"Yeah, meeting with the corporal?" I asked, pointing back at the building.

"You could say..." Jake replied nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Were you working out? You're all sweaty," Halle commented.

"Yep. Gotta stay in shape," I joked.

We got to our building and went our separate ways. Halle was two doors down from me. I thought she would go into her room, but she grabbed my arm, stopping me.

"Has your father told you anything?" she asked.

I didn't know what she was talking about, so I shook my head. Besides commanding me not to trust the Kratens and forcing late-night workouts, he hadn't told me anything.

"Interesting," Halle said, letting go of my arm.

"Do you guys know something I don't?" I asked.

Halle had always been secretive, liking to play games and ask random questions when she wanted to share something.

"I was just asking. It's nothing big, Thalia," she deflected quickly.

Jake stayed quiet, which was incredibly weird for him. He usually talked the most. I kept my theories to myself as they clearly didn't want to disclose something to me.

Entering our building, I said goodnight to the twins and walked to my room. I took a quick shower and watched the sun begin to set. Dinner had started 30 minutes ago, but I decided against attending. I'd probably sit at a table for an hour listening to Michelle complain.

I had a couple of dinners in my fridge that my father delivered yesterday morning for after my workouts. Popping the plastic in the microwave, I walked to my desk to grab a book I had started before we left Earth. It was a picture book about Tumia, mainly the forest. Dr. Evans had gifted it to me, noticing my interest in nature.

On my desk, my eyes caught the cloth Vorian had given me when I was bleeding. For some reason, I kept it, washed the blood off, and now it sat on my desk as a reminder of him.

It was silly, but I didn't want to forget his kind gesture. The sound of the microwave brought me back to reality, and I laughed at my thoughts of the alien. Grabbing my meal, I sat on the bed, flipping through my book. There were many marked spots I had highlighted. These were all plants I wanted to see once I landed.

Since being here, I hadn't explored much of the forest, which was one of my goals. It was harder than I expected. We had military at every corner, watching everything, and it seemed we weren't allowed anywhere besides the base or school.

Laying in bed, my thoughts shifted to Vorian again. He was a fascinating Kraten, and I was curious about him. Though he was a soldier and our kinds technically didn't like each other, I let out a huge groan and flipped through more pages of the book as I ate.

There were so many plants in the forest that I wanted to see badly. Maybe I could ask Dr. Evans about them in the morning. Closing the book, I turned off my night light and went to bed.