The Morningstar Brigade

Chapter 48

XXXXVIII

ELI

153 A.E.F.

Asylum Chapel

The next few days were surprisingly peaceful. Eli would wake up early in the morning and head downstairs to make breakfast. Daken and Lila would slowly rise out of their beds as the scent of freshly cooked breads and wafts of sweet spices drifted up through the rafters. Once the meal was prepared, all three would sit down at the table and eat together. Their teeth tore through buns and devoured fresh peaches. After carefully checking to make each window blind was completely closed and reminding Daken for the third time not to let anyone see Lila, Eli would throw on his Brigade overcoat and walk out into the town. The moment Eli left, Daken would begin to chase Lila all throughout the chapel. The two of them laughed like banshees as they tore through the home in their lighthearted chase. When they inevitably collided, they would collapse onto the ground into a heap of flailing limbs as they wrestled. Daken would always win. Lila would always let him.

And each time Eli came home to find his meticulously organized books strewn and carefully arranged furniture strewn across the floor, he would simply smile and shake his head. As night fell over the town, Eli would sit in his chair beside the fireplace and read the worn pages of an ancient book as the dim flames crackled softly. Lila would soon walk over and sit beside him as he asked questions about Earth. She would gaze into the flames and tell Eli of a world flush with life, where fresh streams babbled with shimmering fish and vibrant green meadows teemed with deep-brown rabbits. For those few, happy days, they pretended to be a family. They were a family. Or as close as any of them had known.

Three sharp raps on the chapel front door shot through Eli like a cold bullet. "I've got it, I've got it!" he called as he scrambled to his feet and stumbled over to the door. The Fisher clumsily strapped his sword to his side and hurridly straightened his dishelved shirt in a desparate attempt to look somewhat professional.

"Is it them?" Lila asked nervously as she descended the stairs.

"I don't know who else would have the nerve to knock on a chapel door as loud as they can in the middle of the night," Eli replied as he began to reach towards the doorknob. "If she sees you, things are going to get messy," he noted, stopping and looking over at Lila.

"She? Who exactly is this contact of yours?" Lila grumbled as she positioned herself outside the doorway's field of view.

Three more loud knocks on the door echoed through the chapel. "I swear, if you don't get off your concecrated ass and open this damn door, I'm kicking it in," a voice growled from outside.

"Well, I can already tell this is yet another bad idea," Eli muttered to himself as he turned the doorknob and threw open the door.

The woman standing in the doorway looked about four or five years younger than Eli and Lila. Her hair (at least what was left of its natural color) was black, but the long jagged locks were streaked with every shade of blue under the sun. Her face, beautifully formed, was painted with a perpetual smirk. And her eyes, though a brilliant blue, always seemed to shine with mischief. She wore a black tank top underneath an unzipped brown bomber jacket and a pair of dark-grey combat pants, her hands buried deeply in the jacket's pockets. "Well, well, well. Look who got their Fisher threads. Congrats, Ellie. It looks like time's been kind," she remarked as she stomped inside.

Eli looked down in horror as the woman tapped her boots against the chapel walls. He winced with each kick as she spilled more and more mud onto his pristine floor. "Oh, yes Artemis, please do come in. What's that? Wipe your feet outside? No, don't be ridiculous! Why would anyone bother with something as civil as that?" he grumbled under his breath.