Planteria

Chapter 2

   It was chilly outside, so I was glad I wore my heavy coat. As I walked, I thought about the note I had left on the kitchen table.

Gone for a trip, I'll be back soon

Don't worry, I'm fine.

I have food, water, and supplies.

It would probably annoy the whole lot of them, but that didn't really matter. I just hoped Alexa would be okay with me gone and it mainly being her and father. I took out a map I had packed and was looking at that when I had a feeling someone was watching me. I put the map away and looked around.

"Hello?" I called. "Anyone there?"

Elfer Lars walked onto the street.

"Hello Kaia. What are you doing here so late? Does your father know that you are out?"

"Hello, Elfer Lars," I said, curtsying as best as I could with my gear on. "My father does not know that I am out, but that is because I wanted to surprise him." As I talked, I tried to think of a viable reason for me to be out so late without my father's permission. However, something told me to not trust him with my real intentions, so I improvised.

"Father's birthday is coming up, and his favorite flower is a MoonGlow. So I wanted to surprise him. It is common knowledge that you can only find MoonGlows in the dark, so that is obviously when I would look for them."

"I see." He said. It looked like he was about to say more, but a fight broke out in front of the local bar.

"Excuse me," he said, "someone is disturbing The Peace." I curtseyed again as he walked away, and I quickly left before he could come back.

Walking away, I thought about the stories mother told me about the first time the Elfers came into the government. We were in a civil war, and there seemed to be no end to the violence, but then The Elfers said that they could bring peace again, a peace that would last this time. So naturally, everyone loved them and voted for them to come into power while the old government people stepped down. I was told never to speak about the civil war, though my mother said it was forbidden.

I decided to follow Elfer Lars for a bit and ensure he didn't tell anyone about me. If he did tell anyone, at least I'd know about it.

I followed Elfer Lars, keeping out of sight. He didn't really do anything interesting except patrol places and make sure people kept 'The Peace.' He had a clipboard with a list that he would check things off of, places to be at for specific amounts of time. As much as I disliked the guy, he sure was organized. At the bottom of his list, I saw 'meet with the Elfer's' written. I decided I'd follow him until the meeting, and then I would be on my way. I couldn't afford to lose any more time than that.