Battle Scars

Chapter 52: Political Love

Chapter 52: Political Love

Chapter fifty two: Political love
My wounds healed relatively quickly, thanks once again to the ointment from Asia. However, it was still a couple of days before I was back to normal. I'll admit my curiosity finally got the better of me, and I spent quite some time studying the side of the bottle it came in as Preston and I sat in the cafeteria one day, waiting for the others to join us for lunch.
"Why couldn't you be Asian?" I sighed, in fake annoyance. "I really wanna know what they put in this stuff, but it's all in Asian characters and I can't read them." Preston laughed, and took the bottle from me.
"Sorry, I only do Arabic or English," he chuckled.
"Well you're useless then," I joked.
"Hey, I'm not completely useless, I do know a bit of Asian from working in communications for so long," he pointed out.
"That's true," I smiled. "But the question is, can you read any of the ones on there?" I watched as he squinted at the side of the bottle. Jerome, Vikk, Mitch, Em and Ivory entered the cafeteria at this point, and made their way over to us.
"Oh, I know this one means danger," said Preston. I started laughing.
"It worries me that the only word you know is danger, as well as the fact that it says it on something I've been using quite a bit."
"It's probably the warning to keep out of reach of children or something," laughed Preston. The others joined us at this point, and looked very confused.
"What are we keeping from the children?" Asked Mitch, with an amused look on his face.
"The children deserve to know too!" Exclaimed Jerome, in mock indignation.
"Sorry Jerome, it's only for those of a mature age," I giggled.
"Hey, I'm older than you," he pointed out.
The seven of us got lunch from the cafeteria, and ate it quickly. Today was an important day. Our forces had finally broken through the soviet lines in India, and sent them packing. We were now in possession of India, we just had to make sure they were willing to work with us. For that reason, another hovercraft trip was in store, this time with Mitch, Jerome, Preston, myself, and of course Vikk, who was an important player in this particular part of the plan, much to Mitch's annoyance. The two of them tolerated one another, but it was clear it would be months before they could forgive each other. Added to that, both Jerome and Preston were wary of him. Both of them always supported Mitch, and they were worried that he would try to break up Mitch and I.
As for me, I was stuck in the middle of all of this. It was an unfortunate and prickly position, because I couldn't have anything to do with Vikk without upsetting Mitch, but spending time with Mitch upset Vikk, especially when it was in front of him. As a result, I spent a lot of time with Preston, who at least understood how I felt about both of them.
"You realise you can't avoid them forever," Preston had told me earlier that morning.
"I know," I sighed. "But at least I can wait until they're ready to lay off each other a bit. It annoys me too when Mitch deliberately does things that annoy Vikk. I don't think he realises that."

So as you can probably imagine, I wasn't looking forward to being stuck in a hovercraft with the four of them. However, I wanted to see India, and I didn't want to be left behind again, so I was going. Em and Ivory both opted to remain behind and run things from the base. Ivory had a lot of experience from working in African communications, plus she'd been helping Preston with his work since she'd arrived in Canada, so she could continue on from him whilst he was gone. Emily, meanwhile, was working on a project that she herself had thought of, which entailed creating a universal language translator. She was working with a bunch of other people to encourage countries to develop their own culture and break away from the monoculture that the soviet had tried to create for the world, and this included the revival of all the old languages that they used to speak.

The ride in the hovercraft was largely uneventful. I ignored the other guys, and helped Preston in the control room, which was an interesting experience. When we finally arrived, and landed in India, Mitch had to meet with the rebellion leader in India, and Vikk went to talk to his family. We were learning from previous mistakes that moving anyone that somebody important cared about to safety was a smart move, because if we didn't The Soviet would take the chance to get back at us by killing them.
Meanwhile, Preston, Jerome and I went to see what the country was like. Leaving Vikk to be reunited with his family, we walked around the city we'd landed in until we came to an area of open fields. We wandered around for a while, enjoying the peace, in contrast to the city we'd left behind us.
"I knew this country was poor," commented Jerome, "but I don't think I envisioned this in my head."
"I know what you mean," I agreed. "The thing that gets me is there's so many kids running around with no one to look after them. They're left to fend for themselves because most people can only just afford to care for their own family. It was a bit like this in Africa when we went there, remember Preston?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "It's like it in some parts of Arabia too. Hopefully it's something we can try to fix once the rebellion is over. These people don't deserve to live like this."
"Hey, what's that?" I asked, indicating to a face that could just be seen through the tall grass of the field we were passing. Preston and Jerome followed my gaze.
"It's a little kid," said Preston. I nodded. The face realised we had seen it, and ducked into the grass again.
"Hey, it's ok," I called softly. "We can help you." There was silence for a few moments. Then the figure reappeared. It was now evident that it was a little girl, possibly about six years old. She wore a brown tunic around her body that was torn and fraying around the hem, pants that were caked with mud, and shoeless feet that had obviously borne the brunt of the hard landscape. She stared at us in amazement, before finally whispering one word.
"Water?"
It was at that moment my feelings got the better of me. The first thing that came to my mind was the time I had found Ebony up a tree in the arena. Once she had been convinced to come down, she only wanted one thing, and that was water. Wordlessly, I reached for my drink bottle, and unscrewing the lid, I held it out to her. She ran over to us suddenly, and grabbing it quickly, she poured the entire contents of the bottle down her throat. After draining the last drops, she peered into the bottle, as if checking if there was any left. I smiled a little, and knelt in front of her. She looked at me with large brown eyes, asking for more. I wondered where the rest of her family was, if she had any.
"Hey, what's your name?" I asked her softly. She looked up cautiously at Jerome and Preston who stood behind me, before responding.
"Savarna. My mother told me it means daughter of the ocean." I smiled at this.
"Where is your mother Savarna?" I asked her. She shrugged.
"Gone. One day she went to the market. Lots of days later, gone." I stared at her. She had been abandoned. How was she so casual about all of this?
"How long ago?" I asked. She shrugged once again.
"Long time. Maybe two long times." She had a funny way of expressing herself, but considering she'd been surviving like this on her own for a possible 'two long times' she was doing well to be able to put words together. I glanced up at Jerome and Preston.
"We can't just leave her here," I said. "Can we take her back to the city? At least she'll be able to find better shelter there." They nodded.
"Definitely," agreed Jerome.
"Abby, you do realise you can't save all the starving abandoned children in India right now, right?" Preston warned me.
"I know," I sighed. She was just one in who knows how many. "But she's right here. We can look after her at least for a bit. Besides..." I broke off, not wanting to mention Ebony. But Preston understood.
"Ebony, right?" I nodded. I turned back to Savarna.
"Come on," I said, extending a hand to her. "We'll take you to the markets to find somewhere for you to stay."
She took my hand, trustingly, and together, the four of us headed back towards the city.

We found Vikk with his family about an hour later. He smiled when he saw Savarna.
"I didn't think you'd last very long here without adopting someone Abby," he chuckled.
"Oh shut up," I laughed.
"Anyway, this is my mother and father, and my little sister and brother," Vikk introduced us. "Actually mum, maybe you can help here, do you have anything that would fit the little girl?"
"I do actually have some of your brother's old clothes that might be useful," smiled Vikk's mother. "Your sister's clothes are all way too big, unfortunately, but better than nothing, am I right?" She disappeared into the house, evidently to go and look. Vikk chuckled.
"She loves doing things like this," he explained. "She works for the missionaries here." I smiled.
"Thanks Vikk, it's a big help." I squeezed Savarna's tiny hand, and gave her a smile. She returned the smile, and hid behind my legs, a little overawed by all the people that now stood in front of her.
Vikk's mother soon appeared, holding a tiny light blue jumper, and a pair of black pants. She handed them to me, with a cheery smile.
"There's a wash basin indoors, feel free to make use of it," she smiled. "Vikk can show you where it is."
"You'll have to be quick about it Abby," said Jerome. "We have to leave pretty soon."
"I won't be long," I assured him. "You guys go and meet Mitch, Vikk and I will catch you guys up as soon as we're done." Jerome and Preston looked at each other sceptically, but finally nodded.
"Ok, we'll see you guys later," I said.