Wandering Wolves

34. Decisions

"Have you made your decision?"

I turn to see Donner walk up next to me "Maybe. Tell me Donner, why is it you joined this crew?"

He grins "Anyone you ask is going to tell you the same thing. We all owe our lives to Kate. I lived in a poor area, grew up with nothing. Alexandra and I lived off of scrapes but we made it work. Kate came along and changed everything. She gave me hope and a chance to make things better. Joining this crew has given me purpose and a reason to keep going."

The wind picks up. Everyone has gotten their things together and are ready to leave. I follow Donner back to the North gate as Boone happily runs over to him.

"Decided to say goodbye?" 

I look over at Kate. She smirks and stares at me for a moment. I then look around as Beda comes into view next to her. Stella plays with an apple in her hand as Worm tightens a knot around some rope. Alex lifts the hood over his face. Boone barks next to Donner. All eyes are on me.

"If this were a goodbye what would you tell me?"

She ponders for a moment "A tricky question. You haven't traveled with us much but I'm sure you've seen far more than what you would have on your island. I would then have to ask you, was taking my hand worth it?"

Her and I share eye contact. The wind picks up as sand passes by us.

"It was either take your hand or I'd drown. Considering what you are I probably should have drowned...but I want to see where this takes me. I don't have a purpose or reason to owe my life to you, Kate. Who knows, maybe I will find one on this journey with you?"

She grins and folds the cover over her mouth "Welcome to the crew, Mathew Hellstrand. Next time we're leaving don't take too long or else we're leaving without you." 

With a snap of her fingers everyone piles onto the sand raft. With the help of the city they built one to get us back to our ship. Thomas has packed up a very large back pack and few things are already loaded on the sled.

"Kate!"

We turn to see Julius waving at us.

"Stay in the sled" Kate hops off to meet him.

"Before you and your crew leave, I wish to give you this." He hands over a small golden box.

 "Open it once you reach your ship."

Kate nods and tucks it away. Julius gives her one last hug. His head tilts and he gives a wink to our driver who opens the sails allowing the wind to move the raft forward.

"Shouldn't we wait till she gets on?" I ask as Beda hands me some rope.

"Tie that, here" he points and I do as he says "She'll be mad of course but this is more fun."

Worm ties the other end to Beda's shield and tosses the shield into the sand. 

"Don't ruin the fun!" Reebok laughs. Did I mention he's coming along too? After a lot of debating and fighting, Kate decided to let him join. He's too stubborn to listen to her anyway when she says no.

"Hey!"

Kate pushes off Julius and runs toward us. She waves her hand up in the air saying goodbye to everyone in Maganti. She just barely manages to grab the rope of the shield "You're all dead when we get back to The Baltus!"

Stella cups her hands over her mouth "What was that? We can't hear you from all the way back there!"

Kate gives a very angry gnarl at us before we're all laughing.