resfeber

effugio

effugio- verb; to escape

Traveller thanked the two several times before sprinting back to the modest bunker where she resided. Her mother was out at the market, and her father was scrounging in the mines, trying to find the last bit of rocky fuels. The only remainder of the substance, similar to coal, was roughly 500 feet below surface, which was 300 feet deeper than most mines on Earth-habitual planets.

Traveller threw open her pine wood trunks, covered in cow leather and bolted together with brass plates. It was brought from Earth by her great-grandmother. Ignoring her natural nature of being orderly in a very un-orderly environment, the girl flung clothing into the large trunk. She delicately lowers books and other trinkets next to the pile of garments. Traveller packs more copies, paperback and hardback, bound in paper and bound in leather, as many as she could fit after putting in the mandatory items. With the help of a young neighbour, she arrived back at the Mirificus within the hour.

Traveller thanks the adolescent as Malcom grunts, lifting the trunk by himself. The captain lumbers aboard, carrying it to the cargo bay.

"Traveller Touk! What in Earth's name are you doing!?" A shout rings across the open courtyard. The young woman cringes, shoulders slumping inward as an angry Lobelia Touk stomps towards her, and the recruiting officer.

Traveller turns to face the haggard woman, "Mother...." She says with an apathetic half-smile.

"Why are you fraternizing with people like these?"

"I am furthering my education, as Daeve instructed me to do so." Traveller stands taller when she speaks of her mentor.

"With such schwuls? Traveller, I forbid it." Lobelia marches closer, spilling slurs.

Traveller crosses her arms, Tavvi Cerulean mirrors the younger girl. She was wondering who the hell this woman thought she was. With violet eyes narrowed, Traveller responds, "Mother, I am a legal adult in this galaxy and on the majority of its planets!"

"That is no excuse for you to leave your family and gallivant around with gaandus!" Lobelia grabs her daughter's skinny bicep. Getting up in her face, Lobelia continues, "You can not leave Mjoiner, you have no right. You stupid, stupid, stupid girl!!"

With a sudden surge of force, Traveller shoves her mother back. Anger grasps at the pit of her stomach. She was many things, but she was not stupid. With that shove, her mother falls to the ground, splitting the sack of teal potatoes she had been carrying. For a split second, Traveller panics. She knew for sure she would be beaten for throwing her mother to ground. But the sensation of freedom dawned on the partial human girl, confidence coursing through her veins. "Do not disrespect me, Mother." Traveller glares down at the woman, blue-green potatoes spilled around her in the dirt.

The heat and humidity of Mjoiner could not compare to the heat of Lobelia's cheeks. Her daughter scolding her in the square of the colony! The bastard child! If only 20 years ago they would have had the proper abortion machinery on the planet, then this would never have been a problem.

"The measure of intelligence is being able to change." Traveller spits out an old Earth quote, bitter memories giving her mouth a bitter taste, the metallic taste of blood. She had bitten the inside of her cheek. "Do inform me when this planet is able to change." Hands shaking with a mixture of nerves and anger, Traveller turns on her heels and nods to Tavvi Cerulean to lead her onboard.

"That was a brave thing you did back there, Miss Touk." Cerulean tells her as they round the corridor. The girl didn't respond. With a sigh, the recruiting officer began to show her the ins and outs of the ship. The girl has moxy, but with a mom like that... Tavvi was beginning to think the package could've been damaged.

Traveller was thinking of different things. She was thinking of the surreal feeling of not being held down by her demeaning mother or the misogynistic, anti-intellectual society of the Mjoiner colony. This was Traveller chance, and she knew that it had been taken, but what it could amount too... The young woman could not say.

~~~~~~

The quote belongs to Albert Enistein. The swears are German and Hindi.. Yes they are real.

Enjoy xx

-c