The Messengers of Sanctuary

18 - Chicory

Chicory was at long last, ready to leave again.

At one point, the naive little ball of heartfire had assumed she might stay a month or so after going home. With plans like this though? That was impossible. She'd even managed to track down Gabe and get him that payment. Then she'd tracked down Kerry to renew her EPI pen, and then...well before that actually she'd had to report to Amber. Who was...arguably the most terrifying person to report to.

Chicory could still hear the words that Amber had made her promise, "I will communicate with my team, I will report any relevant findings to Sanctuary, and I won't do anything dangerous without River okaying it."

Initially, she'd asked, why River? But Amber had simply given her a flat look and said some nonsense about River being far more responsible.

Which was stupid, it wasn't like River would allow her the same courtesy, if he decided to attack a band of robbers then Chicory wouldn't know about it any sooner than the robbers would. Sparks...she wouldn't put it past River at all to do just that. Perhaps she should have a chat with him? The anxious girl glanced at River, but he wasn't giving away his plans that easily.

After writing up a firm plan of action, characterized by River's helpful but offensive use of the whiteboard. Really, couldn't he have at least looked less smug after saving her like that? She was definitely taking this too personally...either way, after the meeting she'd tracked down Amber a second time to tell her about River's plan and to tell her about the Alliance and how they wanted to speak with someone soon because Chicory had forgotten that part before.

And then Amber had the audacity to agree with River's plans, so now Roland and a few other traders would be looking for airplane parts and upping their already existing distant plan for getting heartfire into the air.

All Chicory had to do was assign a couple of people to scout out the ideas for new bases, and go with River to check out this 'Ironwood' place.

She didn't much like the plan, mostly because River hadn't told her any of it until just then. There was no way he'd made any of that up on the spot. Chicory would have yelled at him about it if there was any such thing as a private conversation in Sanctuary, but there wasn't.

Plus he left the safe zone every night all night for inexplicable probably zombie-related reasons, so she couldn't just track him down.

But as the two exited the gates, their packs laden with fresh supplies and determination, Chicory realized that she could finally confront him about it and figure out just where he'd gotten those ideas.

She just had to figure out the perfect timing for it...

---

The perfect timing turned out to be nonexistent.

Once, Chicory thought she had a good moment, but then River stared off into the distance with a strange, brooding expression on and she finally realized why he bugged her so much. The sane zombie in front of her, the nightstalker that she didn't understand...well he reminded her of those villains she would always date in her self insert fanfictions.

After realizing that, Chicory died of mortification, figuratively.

In the literal, she simply gave him the silent treatment, which he took in perfect stride. In fact, he seemed to prefer being silent. Chicory's instincts for social interaction were not prepared for that, even though River had displayed every possible hint that silence was his preference.

After it finally hit home that Chicory had no idea what she was doing, and she'd already stopped talking to River for three days, they were already halfway to Featherwood. By then there was no chance that she would speak to him until he spoke first. She was dedicated at this point.

As they continued on their journey, Chicory couldn't help but feel the tension between her and River. It was as if an invisible wall had been erected between them, making it difficult for them to communicate. She wondered if this was how River felt all the time, cut off from the rest of the world.

Doubtful, but it made her happy to think about it.

Their journey was going smoothly until they came across a narrow ravine that seemed at first glance to be impassable. Chicory frowned as she surveyed the gap. She was no stranger to climbing and had even scaled a few mountains during her first trek through the Rockies, but this was different. The sides of the ravine were steep and jagged, with no clear handholds or footholds.

Gah, she would have to find her previous path, she hadn't seen any sign of this obstacle the first or second time through. Though they had been trying to make the route more direct. She concluded that they would have to build a bridge here eventually if they wanted that.

Too bad it would take several hours to build a bridge properly, and they didn't have many large trees in this area.

"We'll have to find another way around," Chicory said, turning to River.

But River had already begun to climb down into the ravine. "What are you doing?" Chicory called after him.

The sparking man didn't answer, but instead continued to climb down the ravine. Chicory hesitated for a moment before following him. She wasn't sure what he was thinking, but she somehow trusted him enough to follow his lead.

As they climbed down, Chicory could feel her heart racing. The rocks beneath her feet were slippery, and she had to hold on tight to the jagged edges to keep from falling. Chicory knew in theory that if she fell she would probably be fine, but she apparently had a problem with heights... She could feel River's presence below her, steady and unwavering. It was as if he knew exactly what he was doing, even in this treacherous terrain.

Finally, they reached the bottom of the ravine. Chicory breathed a sigh of relief, but her relief was short-lived. They had made it down, but now they had to climb up the other side.

Chicory looked up and shook her head. It was too steep. "We can't do this," she said, her voice trembling.

But River once more didn't say anything. Instead, he began to climb up the side of the ravine, his movements slow and deliberate. Chicory watched with annoyance as he made his way up, his nightstalker strength making the climb look effortless.

Chicory knew she couldn't quite match River's strength, the tests that Diane and Ace had done only proved that, but she wasn't that much weaker than him. She began to climb up, following in River's example. It was hard, and her arms and legs didn't appreciate the climb. This took different muscles than running, but the heartfire was there as always, lending her more energy than a human should possess.

Finally, they made it to the top of the ravine, Chicory collapsed onto the ground, groaning, "I thought I was going to die!!!" River sat down beside her, his breathing steady.

For a few minutes, they sat in silence, but as Chicory looked at River, she realized something. He wasn't just a zombie. He was a person, just like her, even if he absolutely refused to act like it.

"Thank you," Chicory said finally, her voice soft.

River glanced at her with confusion. "For what?"

"For helping me with the meeting before," Chicory said, cringing, "I just realized that I never thanked you."

River smirked. "Chicory, you don't need to thank me for that. I already know that the way I did it has been bugging you all week."

Chicory blinked at him, "WHAT?'' She tried to figure out how he could possibly know that, but she was coming up empty. "But-but you never said anything?!" she continued sputtering.

He simply shrugged. The sparking man shrugged. "I don't like people, you understand people but you can't work with groups. I figured that out when you were up there. I wouldn't have said anything if people were actually participating."

"But what if we hadn't thought of some of your ideas?"

River shrugged again. Apparently indifference was his entire ballgame. "I would have added them at the end or something."

Chicory pouted, folding her arms contemptuously, "When did you even have time to think of all that stuff?"

"I'll leave that one up to your imagination."

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