Randy leaned in and kissed Hazel the way he had ten years prior, and this time he didn’t get punched.
Chapter Thirty-six
Year 2080, Argartha
Milly lay in the tall grass soaking up the sun, a swarm of huskie puppies covering her like ants on a honeycomb. The air was sweet, the sky blue and clear. Pepper had given birth to a litter of eight mixed-breed pups, but her partner in crime was a mutt with no recognizable characteristics, so Pepper’s genes dominated. Milly didn’t name the pups, nor would she. She loved them so, and as they licked her face and pawed at her hair, tears leaked from her eyes. In a few weeks the young dogs would go off to their homes, and Milly hoped to do the same.
It had been over two years since she’d arrived in Argartha, and finally the day of her hearing had come. Argartha valued duty above all else, and one did their duty before any rights beyond food and shelter were granted. Milly had trouble dealing with this early on, but she’d gotten used to it. One of the lessons from orientation that stuck with her was how socialism had been vilified in the old days and blamed for the loss of freedom. She’d thought that made sense, until she lived in Argartha for a few months. Living in a socialist society provided more freedom where it mattered. Did she really need to decide what she ate each day? The food was always great, and way better than Respite’s. Did it matter that she couldn’t own a gun, or weapons of any kind? Grasping this idea took a little longer given the way she’d been traumatized by virals, captivity, and savagery as she’d traveled halfway around the gone world, but eventually she came around. Violence solved nothing, and in Argartha, crime of any kind got dealt with strictly and swiftly. All this seemed a small price to pay for safety and support in a world that remained many generations away from any type of societal normality.
She’d learned going home was more complicated than she’d initially realized. She could go home, and she would be granted passage. That was certain, she’d earned it busting her butt as a sanitation worker for the last two years. The hearing wasn’t about her at all; it was about Respite, and whether an emissary should be sent to the island to determine its viability as a partner. Should the citizens of Respite be invited to Argartha, and would the Argarthians provide passage to those who wished it?
Loneliness tugged at her, even as the pups drenched her in affection. Tye had joined the Order of Historical Preservation and Milly hadn’t seen him in months. He was out on assignment in Washington, and before he left, he’d told her he didn’t intend to go back to Respite. That hit her harder than Peter’s death. Tye had become her surrogate father, and without him she didn’t know how she’d get along. He’d been with her from day one, when they pushed out to sea with all of Respite watching. She understood why he’d decided not to come with her, though. Tye would turn seventy-two soon, and Haven was twelve years older than him and most likely dead. The journey back to Respite would be long and perilous, so she understood his reasoning, even if she felt betrayed by it.
The twelve o’clock whistle blew, and a crow cawed, and Milly thought of Larry, as she did every time a bird squawked. It wasn’t Larry, and there’d been no signs of the bird since they’d passed the guard post into the outer lands. She figured the white one-eyed crow believed his mission completed, obligation fulfilled, and had gone on to live the rest of his life.
Robin worked as a cleaner at the hospital, and she’d been offered a nurse apprenticeship. She’d turned it down and planned to come back to Respite, and it warmed Milly’s heart. She didn’t want to be the only member of the fellowship to make it home. Milly and Robin remained close as they navigated the unusual world of Argartha, but even they drifted apart as the currents of life took them in different directions, and Milly had been surprised when Robin announced her intention to return.
Ingo enrolled in the academy, and Milly hadn’t seen him in over a year. He was training to rebuild the world, and she’d been forgotten. Tester never appeared, and Ingo explained that he’d been rejected. Tester always joked he was one in a million, this time it had been one in eight.
Though she planned to plead with the council, Pepper and Turnip wouldn’t be permitted to accompany her home, no doubts about that. Traveling halfway around the world was a challenging endeavor for a community that barely had enough resources to support the city. It was akin to space travel back in the old days. Her passage by sea would be part of an exploratory mission that would take her down the coast and through the old canal that connected the two massive oceans to where she hoped to find her boat. It had been thirteen years since she’d hidden the boat in the underbrush, and if it wasn’t there, she’d have to stay with the expedition and return to Argartha, and that would mean she’d most likely never see Respite or Randy or Curso again. Milly wondered if she’d see Hansa. Probably. The girl found her before, what was different now? Milly would have a knight with her, that’s what.
Milly got up off the turf and wiped her
