Academy Island

Insomnia

My head jerked up, finding Silas in the act of setting his stick gun to rest against the back of the log pile. My eyes narrowed at the imperilment. The scuffle of many more feet approaching and a happy woof distracted me, just before Max bounded over, his tail wagging before settling down by my feet. A jar smelling of camphor was placed by my side and Nathan crouched down by my foot. I cringed in as the noise level rose, everyone present talking at once over my head. My eyes settled on Max as sat at attention, his chin up, his eyes darting back and forth between his preoccupied master and I.  I hesitated before putting a hand out to him. He looked so different when he was at attention, I wasn't sure if it was all right to bother him. I ran my hand over his fur, petting. He put his nose outreaching with his tongue for my forehead, barraging me with dog kisses once he got the first lick in. I let him, closing my eyes, the exhaustion of the day catching up to me as I petted his rough fur and listened to the men discuss the days events. Silas rested against the back of the log pile next to me, putting a big hand out to scratch at Max's head with me as he listened to the exchange with dark eyes.

"We'll take extra precautions until we figure out if we have anomaly or a regular resident. We're going to need volunteers for patrol and everyone needs to be alert. Any takers?"

Silas raised his hand and Nathan lifted his chin in lieu of a hand, both still busy with my ankle. My fingers twitched. I felt like I should be doing something, but I didn't know if I would mess up their well organized methods or not. A jumble of conversations crisscrossing over my head faded into incomprehensible murmuring that made my eyelids feel heavy. Their nets needed considerable mending. More torches needed to be set up along the new clearing. An emu trap had to be reset. I leaned my forehead down against Max's for just a moment, aware only of the buzzing and the feel of something cool being smoothed against the ache in my ankle when the whole world jolted and I snapped my head back upright. Nathan's hands paused over the top of my ankle.

"Hey, she's about ready to nod off. Where should we put her?"

Everyone stopped talking at once and looked over, making my cheeks burn. Nathan finished rubbing the cooling balm over my ankle, my foot in his hands and his lips set grimly. I blinked hard and tried to open my burning eyes wider, not wanting to miss what they were discussing, especially if they were going to discuss what was going to happen with me. Nathan stood and wiped his hands on a cloth while Kota squatted down to my level, adjusting his glasses as he did so he could get a better look at my face. He searched my eyes seriously while I tried not to blink and then nodded to himself.

"We'll put her in North's quarters since it's nearest the kitchen. He's not using it right now and she needs to recover."

Nathan put the cap back on his jar of balm and scratched at the back of his head. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea. What if he walks in on her? They weren't that far out, and I'm sure they saw the flare."

"We'll leave a note on the door. Silas, have you got a shirt she can use as a nightshirt?"

Silas nodded and Kota scooped me up just as Luke and Gabriel were approaching the group, a stack of covered dishes divided evenly between the two and the doctor at their heels. Luke looked after Kota's departing back, his eyebrows scrunched and disappointed. He lifted his stack slightly and I caught just enough of a whiff of hot mango to make me stuff my face in Kota's shirt.

"Hey! Where are you taking her? We just brought dinner out."

"It'll have to keep. She's exhausted. We have a lot to discuss tonight anyway."

My eyes fluttered open, barely catching the outline of Punky, Max,and the doctor following us to the door of one of the more weathered huts. I wanted to stay and listen, not fall asleep like my eyes wanted to. I didn't feel like I had much choice as a bolt was undone and I was escorted into a room of shelves crammed with tools, some of them machine made and others like a caveman had chipped them into something usable and tied them to wooden handles. Projects still being worked on laid in wait on a central table I was carried past to a hanging canvas hammock covered in brown animal skin and random objects. Kota waited with me in his arms while the doctor moved the things covering the hammock and Punky flapped out an enormous shirt he'd been handed at the door. I was set in the cleared hammock, eyes wide at all the fuss, and before I knew it the doctor's coat was off my shoulders and over his arm while Punky held out the shirt I was supposed to wear to bed. I gathered it up in my arms, covering the bow he'd tied so nicely for me earlier. The doctor handed me another skein, helping me tip it up so I could drink the surprisingly sweet contents. I licked my lips after, ashamed at all the attention but glad for it all the same.

"You don't need to do so much for me."

A smile turned the doctor's mouth as they turned their backs, giving me privacy to change. I slipped the shirt over the top of my head and unbuttoned the makeshift dress quickly, pulling it out from under the tent I'd been given as a nightshirt. Punky chuckled when I began folding it, pulling it unfinished from my grasp and bopping me on the nose when I tried to hang on to it. I let go and rubbed at the spot he'd tapped, confused, unsure if so much touching was normal or not.

"You just worry about getting some well-fucking-deserved sleep. I'll see you in the morning first thing and we'll get you properly measured, yeah?"

I stared after the wink he gave me. He was whistling as he left, a happy tune that wound back to the campfire we'd left, growing quieter along with his footsteps. The doctor chuckled after him after he left.

"Well he's on cloud nine."

I lifted my gaze from the door. "Huh?"

Kota grabbed a neatly folded square of linen from one of the shelves and began unfolding it, spreading his arms wide so he could lay it over the top of me. "I think we're all pleasantly shell shocked. It's not everyday that a girl just drops out of the sky."

I gaped at him as he spread the cloth over my knees, following it up with the animal skin that had been set to the side. I felt muffled when he was done, sheet almost too high up against my chin and overwarm.

"There. I'll leave the window open a bit so you can get some air."

He reached over the top of me, unhooking a dried twisted vine from the edge of the windowsill. The window was opened a crack, enough that I could see bright stars on a background of black with a smattering of silver rimmed clouds cuddled up to them. Fresh air touched over my face, clean and just a hint of coolness. It made me think of the night I'd spent out in my tree, cold, wet and scared. I was still scared, but at least I was comfortable, and maybe I now had some company...even if I wasn't sure about them or their intentions just yet. He moved away, letting me and the hammock swing after his weight was off it. I watched him put away the extra sheet on a shelf on the far wall and begin hunting around the shelves, the doctor hanging the skein on the wall where I could reach it during the night. He pointed at it sternly.

"I don't want any of that left by morning."

I nodded obediently, happy to finish it off. He chuckled and ruffled my hair, leaving the hut with a good natured 'Good night'. I put a finger to my lip, biting at the knuckle a moment when a quick look around revealed no other hammocks available. I wasn't taking somebody's only bed, was I? I ran a handover the taut sheet, worrying at my lip with my teeth and looking down at how my feet had completely disappeared under all the coverings. Whoever usually used this hammock must be huge. I swallowed, throat suddenly dry.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to stay here?"

His answering hum, attention distracted with the discovery of a piece of paper, wasn't entirely convincing. He began scribbling something down on it with a pencil at the table, his eyes calculating. "You're tired. Get some rest and we'll talk about what to do about it in the morning, all right?"

He beamed at me, a tired smile that I only barely noticed with the pause his words had given me, and lifted the cover of the brass lantern by the door, blowing the only source of light out and closing the door behind himself. I rocked gently to a stop, hyper aware of the sound of him hammering his little note on the front of the door, then his footsteps, walking around the hut and then off towards the campfire where I could still hear raised voices. All the fatigue seemed shocked out of me now that I was abed and worried about what they wanted "to do about it" in the morning. That hardly seemed fair with how tired I was.

I sagged into the hammock that I'd been tucked into, laying my head against cool canvas that wrapped around my head like saran wrapped from the backside, worrying on his words. I rolled my head back and forth against the fabric, trying to get used to it so I could go to sleep. It was too unfamiliar, too many worried thoughts swimming through, stirring up fears of what plans they were making about me. I gave up and sat still, listening as the camp activity quieted eventually down to nature's serenade. Hours passed this way without sleep, the dismaying ebb of my thoughts and the occasional passing of footsteps unable to make peace enough for unconsciousness to takeover.