Kiros

Chapter 40: I Am Strong

The cold air bit into my skin as I sat on the ground, curled up in a ball a ways from the ruins. Not too far away, Leni and Cahn spoke civilly for one of the first times ever. I watched them as they talked about the options. 

I pulled my jacket closer to my body as a gust of wind blew through. I shivered and took a shaky breath. The wind had dried my tears, and I had managed to stop crying for the meantime.

The land around the site was totaled. I didn't mean to do it. It wasn't like I could control my powers yet.

And yet, I had managed to uproot every tree around us. It wasn't just a four, five-foot radius this time. It was more like fifty feet.

When I came back to being aware, I found myself cradled in the arms of Cahn, who was holding me tightly. I remembered being surprised because it was Cahn. The young man who had been so rude to me was holding me like he thought I would break if he let go.

Then again, I probably would have.

I couldn't look up. If I did, I would see the charred remains of my ship--my home.

"--don't have another ship." Cahn's voice drifted over to me and I perked my ears, trying to hear him better. 

"Well, we have to figure out something," Leni replied harshly. "She can't stay here if she's being hunted."

I bit my lip. I wanted to be of some help to them, but after my breakdown, I was too embarrassed to even talk to them. 

I never cried. I didn't cry in front of Marilio. The last time I had cried was when Marilio was... 

Nope. I still couldn't say it. I couldn't say that my best friend was gone, even if I knew it was true. I couldn't say that Vixen was gone, even though the vision of her burnt and broken remains were forever engraved in my memory. I couldn't say that my entire life was falling apart brick by brick even though the evidence was piling up.

I couldn't say that I was the princess of some planet I'd never heard of because that's just ludicrous. They had to be talking about someone else.

And yet...

The idea sounded almost... right. I pursed my lips. The powers. The visions that Abajue had shown me when I was still welcome in Cheribuen.

A princess? Me? It was almost an impossible thought. I was an explorer. I was an adventurer. Not a princess. Princesses were boring, preppy, proper figureheads that didn't actually have the apower to change anything.

They were weak. 

I wasn't weak, right?

Thinking back on it, I had been pretty weak over the last two weeks. Was it two weeks? I couldn't even remember. 

But I did remember crashing and immediately needing the help of a stranger, something I hadn't needed in over a year.

I remembered trusting that stranger aimlessly, which got me into a whole lot of trouble.

I remembered needing his help to escape from Cheribuen and the people that wanted to kill me. 

I remembered needing his help to survive until we found the Carar. 

And now I need help to both control my powers but to get off of the stupid planet with its stupid gravitational pull. The stupid planet that started the chain of events to ruin my life.

I scoffed at myself. Way to go, Kiros. Blame the abiotic planet.

I was weak. 

I couldn't be weak. I was Kiros Asaphath, the youngest explorer in the Uphro galaxy, I reminded myself. 

I could not be weak.

That was the day that I promised myself that I would never show weakness to anyone ever again. I would not cry, I would not wince. I would not be the malleable piece of clay that I had been before. 

It's as they say: people's hearts are like dough. The more you play with it, the harder it gets.

I've been played with too much. I am not weak.

I gathered up my strength and pushed myself up. I brushed off my pants and took a deep breath. I opened my eyes and hardened myself. I was strong.

I sauntered over to the boys, being careful not to glance over to the remains. An idea popped into my head as I remembered what they were talking about. It was crazy, and it was dangerous, but then again, what on this crazy journey hadn't been so far? 

"Cheribuen," I said confidently, stopping at Cahn's right. 

"What?" The boys' eyes widened as they looked to see that I was up and walking around. I wasn't that surprised to see that I elicited that reaction from them. It was only ten minutes ago that I was weeping in Cahn's arms.

"There's a ship in Cheribuen," I explained, ignoring their shocked expressions. "In Feenk's shop. I saw it when I went looking for parts."

Cahn frowned but didn't say anything about my sudden recovery. "We can't go to Cheribuen. It's way too dangerous."

"We've got to," Leni said reluctantly. "Like I said, we can't stay here. We don't have a choice."

There was a moment of silence while Leni and I waited for Cahn to give his response. The blond boy grumbled but nodded. "Okay, so what's the plan?"

"We get in there undetected, get into the shop, and steal the ship," I said. "It's simple. In, out, done."

They looked unsure, but it was the best idea we had.

"Fine," Cahn said, his lips pursed with displeasure. "Cheribuen it is."

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Dear readers,

Wooh! A week later and I just manage to get it up. Yay me!

-flygirl1

P.S. What do you think will happen next?

P.P.S. Don't forget to comment, vote, and share! Only one chapter left to go! It will be really long.