Child of the Stars

CHAPTER FOUR

My ears are ringing and I jerk awake.

"Thank the stars!" Taraka exclaims, relieved. "I thought you had died!"

"What happened?" I say, getting a bit agitated. 

"Well," they start, "I don't really know. I was talking to you and then you just, I don't know, you just collapsed and fell off the platform. I jumped down, and then you woke up."

I sit up. "That was weird," I'm so confused.

"What was weird?"

"I don't know," I think back to what happened. "I think that being here brought back a memory."

"What do you mean?"

"That's just it. I'm not sure." I stand up. "You were talking to me, then I was experiencing an event in a train pulling into this station. There was a man who detonated a charge and blew the train apart. I must have gotten flung out of the train. It ended with... pain. Horrible pain."

"Huh," Taraka says, standing up and climbing back onto the platform. "I'm sure that you'll be fine. It could have been nothing."

I'm 100% confident that it was not 'nothing,' but I get up and follow Taraka. "Let's get some tickets for the next train."

Taraka nods. We head over to the automated ticket dispenser. 

Thankfully, the tickets are dirt cheap. They cost only a half-oni piece each. I insert an oni and it dispenses two tickets. 

Taraka and I sit down on a bench and wait for the next train. 

It can't be far.

Half an hour later, a train pulls into the station. After letting off all the passengers, the conductor opens the doors facing us to let us on. 

Not many people are boarding at this stop; only Taraka, me, and a family of six. 

After boarding, Taraka and I find a mostly empty car to chill in until the next stop. We don't plan on riding for very long.

When we sit down, I tuck my bow under the seat. I snuck it onto the train by hiding it under my cloak. Taraka keeps their knife in their belt. Apparently it's okay to have weapons on public trains as long as they're small. After all, the people in charge don't care about the public trains. 

Once we've settled in and the train starts moving, Taraka says, "So, Miti, I was going to ask you something when you fell back at the train station." I nod, signaling for them to continue. "What's your plan after we get out of Onaho?"

"I want to set things right." I don't suppose my plan is much of a plan. "Do you have any idea of what's going on in the rest of Enua?"

Taraka shakes their head. 

"The king and queen are doing horrible things," I elaborate, "They're clearing the last forests and having soldiers raid villages that don't pay their taxes on time, leaving almost no survivors. And they somehow make up reasons that these things are fair. Somehow people still support them. I'm going to change that."

"Well," Taraka says, moving a little closer to me on the bench. "That'll be pretty hard to do all by yourself," I know where this is going. "How would you like to have a partner?"

"I guess two people is better than one," I say, moving an inch or two to get my personal space back. "Why is it that you want to come with me anyways?"

"I didn't have a life back in Onaho," they say, staring at their shoes. "I want to feel like I have some kind of purpose that isn't being a nuisance and failing to rob people."

I grin. "Sounds good," I say, secretly relieved that it won't only be me 'setting things right.' "I'm going to get some sleep. We've got a lot ahead of us."

Taraka gives me a thumbs up and I close my eyes. I could use some extra sleep.

"Miti!" Taraka shakes my shoulder. 

"What is it?" I say groggily. 

"We've made it to the next stop," they say, "we have to get off."

Groaning, I sit up, pulling my bow out from under the bench and tucking it inside my cloak.
"Let's go," I say, getting up off the bench and heading through the door into the next car, where we can disembark. 

Taraka and I are the only ones getting off at this stop, so as soon as we leave they close the doors and start chugging on to the next station.

"So, what's the plan from here?" Taraka asks, loitering on the train station platform. 

"I'm not sure," I start, thinking about the news stories I saw back in Onaho a few days ago. "We need to get started with a bang."

"I'm not sure if I know of anything that would be a 'bang,'" Taraka says, thinking.

Then I remember a news story about an order the king issued. He wanted Nahari forest to be cleared. That's one of the last forests left in Enua. It also happens to be very close.

I grin mischievously. "I think I know of something big we can do..."

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