Children of Cayde-6 (Eve's POV)

Chapter 6 - The Farm

"That hawk is still there," Dawn said. She was still trying to get me to talk, even after nearly one month after my silence first began. I really did appreciate her efforts, but it seemed that nothing would get me to talk again. Not even my most cherished memories brought my hopes up. I had lost almost all my hope, hope that my family was still out there, and hope that everything would be okay in the end. I never paid any attention to my thoughts, because it distracted me from surviving. Though today must have been different. I was thinking about a reunion because I knew that at least one of them was alive. I must have spaced out because the next thing I knew I tried to jump on a ledge on a mountain. But instead of landing on the cliff, my face and the cliff met. I could sense it, the darkness. It was coming for me. Though instead of embracing the darkness that always threatened to take over my life, I fought it. I knew the very next thing that would happen and my body tensed up thinking about it. My back slammed against the ground, knocking my breath out, and I rolled down the hill I never even knew was there. When I finally stopped rolling I was on my stomach and I naturally began coughing. Once my breath came back I let out a sigh and rolled onto my back.

"Would you look at that?" A commanding, feminine voice boomed from nowhere. She held her hand to help me up, and I instinctively took it. When I saw her face to face I saw that she was a female human who had some tribal dots making am oval from her forehead to either side of her nose. "And you're in worse shape. Hey, Captain, you know this one?"

A voice I knew answered from behind the nearby ships, "I don't know, probably-" The person who was answering came into full view, and I could hardly believe my eyes. I was paralyzed from shock and I felt as if my heart stopped beating. "Oh my god!" she quietly exclaimed.

"Anne?" my voice was finally found. I could barely process what to do or say.

"Oh my god, EVE!" Anne rushed forward, and I finally plucked up the courage to move towards her. Once we met we wrapped each other in a tight hug, and I felt a few tears fall from my eyes. Anne broke the hug and cupped my cheeks in her hands, "You made it!" she nearly shouted in pure excitement. I let out a light laugh in response. Anne let go and stepped back, "After the story Spade and Leon told me, I thought you didn't make it. How?"

Dawn came out, "She barely did. It took me about two days of searching to find her."

"Two days?!" I was shocked. It seemed I was out a couple of hours, not a couple of days.

"Okay, look, it doesn't matter now. What matters is that you and Dawn are here and safe." Anne pushed away from the topic in her usual sense.

"Touching reunion, but, unless we want to get caught, we ought to head back." the woman interrupted us, and for a darn good reason.

"Right, I'll take my ship back," Anne said, "And Eve can take the other ship."

My eyes widened in shock, "What! I...ummm..."

"You a pilot?" The woman looked at me questionably.

"Only the best pilot in the whole Guardian force." Anne patted my shoulder.

I looked back at Anne as she boarded her ship. I had only flown once, all the other times were in a training session.

I heard the screech of a hawk and quickly turned around just in time to see the hawk land the woman's arm, "That hawk. It's yours?" Dawn asked. I knew animals could be tamed, but I never thought I would be able to see it.

"Names Hawthorne, and this here is Louis, the best pilot we got." Hawthorne finally introduced herself and her hawk. She eyed me up and down, "What about you? Fit to fly?" I spoke no words and only nodded. She threw a shotgun to me, "Let's go then, 'Guardian'." Hawthorne mocked. I didn't care though, I hardly believed myself to be a Guardian. I was clumsy and inexperienced, and could barely hold a gun right. I studied the shotgun, which was something that I, once again, had heard of and read about. It had a spread shot and was more for close range, deadly and effective. Though I had no idea how it worked, the only gun I had any experience with was a handgun.

I got in the cockpit, and I could already feel a long-forgotten smile rise. I kicked the ship into gears, causing it to make a low rev. This was already so much nicer than a Guardian ship. I lifted the ship up and followed an to a place they called the Farm. It was a quaint area, a clearing in the nearby forest. It looked as if it were abandoned before it was made into a base. I landed the ship and turned it off, the passengers leaving their seats.

I got out of the cockpit, "Would you look at that. I can already hear people asking for another ride." Anne called after me. She jogged up to me.

"It wasn't anything special," I told her, "I just flew as anyone else would."

"Yeah," Anne slapped me on the back, jolting me forward. She was always stronger than she thought, and she was stronger than Spade based on several occasions. I kept my mouth shut about this though, after all, I didn't want to ruin Spade's ego. Not that his ego was big. He just thinks he can do things that he really can't.

"Have you heard from anyone?" I asked, the sorrow I felt clear in my voice.

Anne continued walking, "Not since Spade babbled on about how he was going to kill Gaul." I nodded my head. I looked to the ground, rubbing my left arm. I felt the guilt that had silenced me again, and I wondered where we would be standing if I didn't rush forward.

"Earth to Eve. Hello?" Anne waved her hand in front of my face. I hummed in response, "You spaced out again," Anne told me, "You keep it up and you won't get past that rock," she joked. I chuckled. Anne walked ahead, and I followed after at her pace. Anne gave me a tour of the place, showing me the main scout posts and her job, she was the scout leader. It made perfect sense, she was a hunter, and a damn good one at that.