Alternate Realities

Prompt: Shoulder Touching, Marecal

Mare toweled through her hair, combing out the tangles with her fingertips. The small fire in the center of the room was dying and along with it the luxurious warmth of their bath room. If there was one thing she wished she could keep from her captivity, it was the bath facilities. The shower with unlimited hot water, the steam that would rise and coil over the shower door and mist the mirror. But in their little wooden bunker, she had to settle for just a weekly sponge bath. But at least the water was hot and the room warm and they still had soap.

She shook out her clean clothes and pulled them on over her head, dropping her soiled garments in the wash basket. It was Kilorn's turn to do the laundry. The thought occurred to her with her underwear in hand, and she paused for a moment hoping he didn't ever linger on her knickers when he was washing. She'd never liked doing the laundry. Faced with the choice of chancing his having a fetish and having to soak her own clothes, she dropped them in the basket.

The cold air pulsed around her sweeping away her relaxation with the steam. She tensed, stepping into the unheated hallway and pulled on her shoes. The space was silent, no one chatting or snoring. She edged her way to the exit curious about their entertainment options but also not ready to great the chill of the evening air. Little sparks from fireflies danced above the ground and the entire crew -well, the adults- were gathered around the fire outside. The kids ran from tree to tree playing tag.

"No, you see, it's been around for millennia! Over a thousand years! It said 500 BC, and BC must mean before change. So if it's been three hundred years since we reset our calendar and five hundred years since then, that's almost a thousand years." Ada was explaining.

Cal sat on an upturned log, a cup of something between his hands. Farley leaned into Shade both their legs outstretched towards the fire.

Farley held up a hand, index finger extended, "So you're saying that reds had a system where everyone had a say?"

"I mean, yeah, reds, but really everyone. It was before the change, so there were no silvers, yet," Ada nodded.

Kilorn had a confused grimace on his face, like he'd heard two contrasting things and needed to hear them again. His hands worked at the hide of a rabbit, tanning the skin into something supple.

Farley, with another question, "And you believe this is the same model in Montfort?"

"I think so. I don't know enough about Montfort yet, but these people, the Greeks, they elected people to represent them and they sent them to one location. It sounds a lot like Montfort," Ada confirmed.

Mare stood next to Cal and listened as Ada babbled about the establishment of a representative government. Her eyes felt heavy for the vocabulary and her mind fuzzed at the back and forth between Farley and Ada. She took a deep breath and took advantage of the only true benefit of their height discrepancy. She leaned her elbow on Cal's shoulder and tucked one foot behind her other heel. He straightened to support her, and then his hand slid out and snaked around her knee.