Peaceful Times: Caregivers 2

The unbearably loud drone of insects at midday was what drew Dayani to open her eyes. She wasn’t in the pool anymore. She lay on her side, on the longhouse’s wooden floor, the only cool place she could find. 

She heard whispering and two sets of white paws came into view. It was Stranger and Ephemera. They carefully stepped over her and the other vayron sprawled out by the front door. From the size, Dani had to assume it was Reon. They hovered by the half opened door, likely checking if anyone else was around, then quickly stepped outside. 

That was weird, to say the least. Why were they being sneaky and where did they need to go when it was this hot outside. Now having woken up with nothing else to do except suffer in the heat, she decided to follow them.

After grabbing a shawl and carefully navigating around Reon, she poked her head outside. She could hear voices towards the back of the longhouse. That was likely Eli and Rain shuffling around in the storage area. Du’an was just a white smudge hiding in the shadow of a large boulder way out in the field. She decided to circle around to the back of the longhouse. As soon as she stepped away from the shade, she felt the sun’s full heat baking even the parts of her that were shaded under the shawl. Who could ever be up and about in this heat?

Out in the distance she found Stranger and Ephemera, running under the sun. No cover, from what she could tell, and no flasks either. She groaned and after collecting some extra scarves and a backup flask of water, she was running in the same direction they were. 

It didn’t take long for them to reach their destination. When the ranch disappeared behind her, a large rock formation began rising from the ground. It was here where she watched Stranger and Ephemera seemingly disappear into the rock. She probably wouldn’t have known where to go if it weren’t their prints in the dry dirt. Multiple prints overlapping each other. This was a place they frequented.

She squeezed through a crack in the base of the rock. Inside was instantly cooler. The ground sloped gently downward and around a bend before opening up to a large space. It was surrounded on all sides by orange striated rock, offering shade from the blistering sun. The top opened up to a blue cloudless sky. All around the edge were plants of every variety growing from the dirt and cracks in the rock. At the center, a small sapling grew from a crack in a boulder. Another garden circled that one too. 

“This is where you guys run off too?” Dani exclaimed in disbelief.

Stranger jumped and spun around. “Ugh! Dani! You followed us?”

Ephie turned around too, after feeling Stranger’s sudden movements. He sniffed the air and once he recognized the scent, he too stomped his paws in irritation. 

“Sorry! I saw you two run off without any equipment. So I brought some things.” She set down the shawls and the flasks. 

“We don’t need that here!” Stranger complained. 

“Clearly. How did you guys find this place?” Dani asked while admiring the gardens.

“Ephie found it. I just helped.” Stranger explained. “You can’t tell anyone about this. It's supposed to be a secret.

“Sure, sure. Wait, did you guys grow all of this? By yourselves?”

“Yeah. All that was here was the tree. Me and Ephie brought the rest in. He’s really, really good at caring for stuff.” The two watched Ephie sniff around the shrubs and cacti, digging at the soil and pulling out dead plant matter and weeds. 

“Can you show me around?”

“As long as you promise not to tell anyone. And you’re not allowed to come back after today!” Stranger bargained.

“What? I’m not allowed to stay?” Dani asked, feigning shock and hurt. She didn’t care if she was let in the club or not. She just wanted to be sure they would be safe. If she ever needed to find them, she knew just where to look.

“Nope. No guests allowed.” Stranger looked around, wondering what to show off first. “Do you want to see our flowers? They finally came out!”

Stranger took Dani around the whole circle, pointing out every plant, its name (if she remembered it) and who planted it. Each one had a backstory and Strnger babbled on and on about how they acquired them until Ephie grew tired of their unwanted guest. He head butted Dani’s side, pushing her towards the exit. 

“Okay, okay, fiiiiiine.” She said. She picked up the things she had brought with her. 

“Promise you won’t tell anyone! I’m serious!” Stranger said.

“I won’t, don’t worry!” It was a partial lie. She wanted to tell Rain or Eli, so at least someone else would know where they had been disappearing to. 

“You know,” Dani started gently. “With all this garden space and good soil, you can grow so many hardy fruits and veggies here. Enough, to help us survive when The Dark comes…”

Stranger nodded. “I know and I want to but I don’t know how to explain it to Ephie. He’s going to be really upset if I start changing things. Plus I don't want everyone coming here and ruining all of this.”

Dani sighed. It was a child's way of thinking. As much as Stranger understood the reasoning behind her heavier responsibilities, she still didn’t get just what damage four months of total darkness could do in the desert. 

“Well you have almost four years left to figure it out.” It felt like just yesterday the world ending news was beginning to spread all over Reos. “Don’t take too long.”

She said her goodbyes and touched the tip of her nose to Ephie’s forehead to signal that she was leaving. Ephie smirked and rolled his eyes as if to say finally. 

As she trudged back up to the entrance, tears rolled down her cheeks and a sob escaped her throat. She wouldn’t get to tell Eli and Rain about this place. At the time, she was still debating if she should let them know. If she had, maybe they would have gotten to Ephie in time.