Harmony

An Experiment?

Experiment? What experiment? This American woman, whom Le could now see was Caucasian, with short, dark hair, had spoken as if she was wanting answers to something. That was the last thing Le had expected. She and her companions were the ones wanting answers. She stopped walking, having no idea how to respond. Rivo had stopped as well.

She heard Rais before she saw him. He had kept walking, his boots crunching on the gravel of the path as he strode confidently forward and past her to the front of the group. To him, this was nothing out of the ordinary. He would handle it. She gratefully let him do it.

"Hello!" His Azerbaijani accent was exceedingly enthusiastic, as he had been most of the day on the walk down. "My name Rais. These people my friends. I am sorry, we have no information for experiment. We need help. We are tired. We walk all day, down the mountain. You can help us with food and place to rest, it make us happy."

The American woman, having been joined by five other people, had stopped in her tracks at Rais' words. Le tried to work out if her expression was shock, or disappointment, or compassion, or confusion, or all of these things. In seeing this, she glanced at the woman's companions and saw similar. A solidly built Polynesian man stepped forward towards Rais. As her eyes locked on him she saw dignity and compassion in his body language. In fact, she doubted she'd ever seen such sincere compassion in her life before. If only she could remember.

"Hello Rais. My name is Gimi. Welcome to our village. You and your friends look like you could use something to eat and a place to rest. Please come with us and we will give you as much help as we can." Gimi's gentle yet strong voice was providing the support that Le's group needed after such a long day. Not to mention the night before.

Le dumbly followed, relieved they would get to eat soon. The initial looks of shock from the villagers were intriguing and even puzzling. It wasn't the reaction she had expected, and it mystified her. Then there was the American woman's mention of an experiment. Those aspects of the meeting between her friends and this group of villagers made no sense whatsoever.

Trudging indoors to supposed sanctuary, Le had an eerie thought that she'd been in a similar situation before and was mildly frustrated she was unable to remember what the circumstances were. Gimi suggested they drop their backpacks inside the door, which they gladly did, and remove their boots if they wanted to. They all did both. Le glanced around once she got inside. This was some sort of large-scale kitchen, with strange looking black boxes on the benches, some other white boxes as well, some tables and chairs on the far side, and not much else. It was nonetheless impressive, with its dark timber floor and shiny white benches and cupboards.

Gimi was continuing to talk. "This is what we call the community centre, or at least the kitchen part of it, where we gather to have meals and do other... things. There are other rooms in here too." Gimi sounded uncertain, as if he had just learned these things about the village himself.

Prina was the first to question it. "You... you are not living here are you?"

A woman of Chinese appearance replied, in perfect English. "Well yes, but I understand your question. This is not our home. We'll explain all of this very soon. Please, come with us. We will get you something to eat and you can tell us what happened. We will tell you what we know after that." She immediately came across as a lovely, tolerant and supportive person. Despite her tiredness, aching feet and hunger Le felt warmth towards this woman.

"You all look tired. Please rest here and we will bring you some food." The blonde woman standing next to the Chinese woman had a European accent she couldn't place. She was quite tiny, too. Shorter even than Le herself.

The American woman had been in conversation with a man of Hispanic appearance. She spoke again. "All of you new arrivals: I am so sorry for my hasty words when you first got here... I..."