FALAHA'S JOURNEY: A Spacegirl's Account in Three Movements

Episode #76

"Does Arann annoy you, Falaha?" Eyuran, however, seemed to be thinking about completely different matter.

"Not really," I replied. "He feels so other. While he was our regular Arch-Nemesis in the Grand Goal, his position was always clear, though still complicated. Now, I don't know what he is thinking. He has changed. He has enough brains to plot something, yet I don't think it's the case. He doesn't make sense. I think he is frustrated and lonely. His whole family is in cocoons, after all. So while he does and says silly things, he may be falling apart inside—he's proud enough not to tell us that. It's actually more terrifying than annoying to watch someone you knew well 'not fitting in' anymore. He's like behind a glass wall, whether because we got closer while he drifted apart, or because he is unable to accept the scary reality he found himself in, or both. I don't hate him, to be clear."

"What will you do about him? Should we take him in?"

"I will, if we're unable to rescue his family. For now, it depends on how well he will work with us." I took my spouse under his arm. "Eyu, you two were close friends since before I was born and until things got ugly, weren't you?"

"Yes."

"Was he a good friend?"

"He was."

"You should tell him that. I don't think he resents you for beating him up."

"I know. Sometimes I wish we could go back to where we were before."

"He actually apologized."

"That idiot wanted and allowed me to beat him up for hurting you, and he wasn't thinking that it would get me in trouble. Some friend he is! I was stronger, yet he wasn't even struggling much, accepting my hits. And I was the idiot who crossed the line. We both ruined everything." Eyuran looked at me.

"You both got carried away with your emotions. That's why passionate people can be troublesome. You should resolve this issue before it distracts you. It is already distracting you, in fact. So we're going back to get the guy to come along."

"But that's a personal matter not relevant to the main mission. You fine with that?" Eyuran stared at me in surprise. I nodded.

"Saving my mom and your dad are also our personal matters first and foremost, so I don't see how we can't help combining these things. In the grand scheme of this conflict, Mom and Orewen could be regarded as unavoidable sacrifices for they are already irrelevant for achieving victory. However, this whole war stems from small personal matters and solving those could bring a faster and safer victory than the clash of the whole wide world in a grand bloody battle. Aunt Anika and Yajur Garai are there to fight, if necessary. We are here to tweak and weed out unresolved issues, big and small. I care about our small matters as much as I do about the grand ones. Of course, if there is some other reason you don't want him with us here, I'm listening."

"I'm fine with him going with us," my spouse replied.

"You, Baro?" I turned to the other one.

"Uuhn," was the approval.

As much as I worried about Arann being unwilling to come with us, I was relieved to prove myself wrong. His face lit up, flashing with a smile. He even had his bag prepared already—the guy was actually waiting for us to get him. I peeked at Eyuran: this one was hiding a smile. Seemed like he'd gone forward to ask Arann before I did.

Eyuran relocated to the middle. Arann threw his stuff together with our bags, climbed in without a word and took a place on the left, and Baro kept his position. I placed myself so they all could see my face.