The Way It Is

making friends - part 1

This was not going as planned. I just wanted to get the meeting over with. I should have been on my way back by now. Why all the drama?

"Lieutenant! What in stars name is going on?"

I bark at him louder than intended. The baby he holds in one arm and the small child in the other snap their heads up towards me.

What in the blazing stars! He was supposed to confirm a meeting time, not bring back the stranger's offspring.

"Sorry, Marshal. They said they would meet now as requested, but I had to agree to carry their Healer's kids." The word 'healer' is said with obvious derision. "She has to attend the meeting apparently, and she wouldn't come if she couldn't bring her kids."

The poor young man looks annoyed and scared at the same time. Granted, I probably look ready to rip him apart, and he is just trying to do as I have told him. It isn't him really that has me on edge. I don't want to be here. And I had said, "Get them here as fast as possible. Get it done, Lieutenant!"

Ugghhh.

"That doesn't explain why you're carrying them." My face pinches into what feels like a permanent scowl.

"Ummm ya. Well, they are carrying some, really, old human. He is their leader."

Seriously? OK, this surprises me. Honestly, it probably shouldn't, but it does. I expected the Human radicals to have a leader that held their position by sheer intimidation and power. Not loyalty or respect for their elderly.

"So if I understand you, there is to be a baby, a toddler and an old disabled person at this meeting?" the scowl I am wearing starts to hurt.

This planet makes my head hurt in ways I didn't know it could.

"I - I guess so."

I glare at him. He can do better than that. No need to stammer out the truth like you are afraid of it. If that's how it was, then that's how it was. Just say it.

"Yes or no will do, Lieutenant."

"Yes, Marshal."

He is going to spread rumours later about this. I can hear him now warning everyone, "It's one of those days. She's in one of her moods..." I feel my eyes roll heavenward.

I turn to see four people struggling to carry what looks like a pile of bones on a rickety makeshift bed, made of several sticks crisscrossed, from the tree line. On top of the sticks, roughly sewn rags barely keep dry grass in, and it is hard to imagine it holds much comfort.

This isn't looking good. The people carrying the bed don't have much more meat on their bones than the old person. I still can't tell if it is a man or woman. Out of curiosity, I continue to watch them, not caring if my staring makes them nervous.

There is a young woman in the front left corner, and she seems the strongest. Maybe her youth or the fact she gets larger rations to nurse her offspring?

The man on the right looks middle-aged for a Human and almost as skinny as the old Human, which I can see now is a man. The other two bringing up the rear, each holding a corner, don't look too skinny, but neither man seems healthy.

They all have dark circles under their eyes, and the hollow of their cheeks showed the sharp bones of their skull.

Damn. It looks like starving it is then.

I look back to the small child and baby as they awkwardly lower the bed near my cooking fire. They at least look healthy. I find comfort that they still have some food for the kids.