Cevic

Chapter 7

“Some people see right through the world. Some people see right through lies. Some people see right through you.”

 

Fear and remembrance

 

“We’re going to experiment today,” decided Rezia, as she cautiously and slowly, at the speed of a bicycle, drove the blue car.

 “That doesn’t sound very good,” I said wryly.

 “It was kind of Princess Isha to send the Cevic fruits to us, but I’m sure we’re going to stay here for longer than the fruits will be able to sustain both of us,” she said matter-of-factly. “We’re going to train you to eat human food.”

   I groaned, feeling all of a sudden hot, and unwound the muffler from around my neck. “Do I have to?”

 “Yes, you have to,” she said, giving me a hard look. “If you’re going to be in your comfort zone forever, you won’t be able to see the world with human eyes.”

  I was actually excited to test out human food, and I had wanted to for a long time even before arriving on Earth, but fear held me back. What if it tasted horrendous, and I had allergies to it and died?

  “You won’t die,” deadpanned Rezia, as if she had read my thoughts. “The worst thing that can happen is that it’s not very delicious.”

 “Is it delicious for you?” I questioned.

Rezia shrugged delicately. “Bearable.”

 “I can’t trust your taste buds.”

 “Your taste buds and mine are exactly, literally exactly the same, my prince,” she said wryly, rolling her eyes. “We’ve been eating nothing but the same fruit and the same water from the streams for all our existences. Aren’t you getting tired of that?”

   I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. “I guess it is stupidity to be so stubborn. Okay, I will.”

 “Good.”

 “Why are we going this way?” Rezia was taking an unfamiliar route, swerving to the left when it should have been to the right.

 “We’re going to the biggest library this town has,” she explained, looking straight ahead the road, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “It has necessary resources that we need- computers and lots of books.”

  “I was researching today at school during lunch in the school library,” I said tensely. “It took me ages to figure out how to use it, and it earned myself an odd look from the librarian, but it was worth a try.”

  “What did you find?”

  “I was searching blindly on the Internet, and typed in ‘lungs of the Earth’. I came across something neither of us expected or guessed.”

   “What is it?” she demanded.

  “Forest.”

 Rezia raised her eyebrows, as she drove into a more deserted grey strip of road, confusion doggedly written on her face. “Forest?”

  “Yes. Forest,” I said, impatiently, “synonymously lungs of the Earth. Earth once had many trees. Recently humans have been chopping them down to make way for buildings. Trees take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen during a process called photosynthesis. That is why they call the forest the lungs of the Earth.”