Dream Searcher

4

 

         Adria’s sixteenth birthday and the days before it came and went in a blur. Still, it was a birthday she’d never forget. Her parents had given her a pair of boots; her mother had even sewn a new dress for her. It was so much more than she could have hoped for. Much more than she could have asked for. But the best gift, they saved for last. 

            “You’ll need a new pair of boots for when you’re travelling up the Deltera mountains,” her father said. 

            Adria looked up from admiring her new boots. Had she heard him correctly? Her whole body suddenly felt as if it was floating. She set the boots down beside her and ran up wrapping her arms around him. 

            “Oh, thank you Da. Thank you!” She turned and squeezed her mother. “Thank you mum. How’d you find out?”

            “The Searchers’ captain—Fenyald, I think was what he called himself—told us.”

            Adria let goer mother and crossed her arms over her chest, one eyebrow raised, “Co-captain, mum, Fenyald’s a co-captain.”

            “Yes, co-captain. Anyway,” she said, “he came to our door and asked for you yesterday morning, just after breakfast. I’d just sent you to get flour so I said you weren’t here and he said, ‘When you see her, tell her to come to the ward in four days’ time.’”

            “And now here we are,” Adria’s father finished. 

            She clutched her hands to her chest, barely containing her excitement. “I’m going to be a searcher!”

➳ 

            To Adria, the two days she had to wait seemed like decades, and finally, she was standing in front of that door again, her hand raised to knock. Before she did, she dropped her hand and turned to her parents, who had come to say their farewells. She hugged them both, eyes filling with un-spilled tears. 

            “I’m going to miss you,” she murmured against her parents’ thick coats. 

            Her dad petted her head like he used to when she was little. They hugged for a long time, cherishing each other’s warmth and closeness. Adria broke free, turned back to the solid door, and dried her eyes. She knocked. Once. Twice. And then the door opened, and she was greeted by the same woman who answered it the last time. Adria’s shoulders relaxed. At least this was familiar. 

            “Come in.” The lady opened the door wider so that there was room for Adria to pass. 

            Adria turned around and watched her parents’ loving faces disappear behind the closing door. It might be a while before she saw them again, and she didn’t want to forget what they looked like.