Looking For Hope

Chapter 9: Negotiating Boundaries and One Big First-Years Project

Author's note: this chapter is all about giving people the agency they seek. I owe this realization to my sophomore-year resident assistants, Heather and Scott. Hey, if you happen to read my book, H&S, I'd like to say I love you guys and I miss you, it's been six or seven years.

The shock of seeing a skinny Nardho successfully punched the muscular Wyatt had not completely left Moira as she retreated to her room to think, only to hear a screaming match as Nardhia and her twin brother argued, with Johan and Kenta trying to de-escalate them.

"Did you really need to punch him, bro? You really have anger management issues!"

"Hey, he deserved it! If he makes you cry again, I'll gladly punch him some more!"

"Leave him alone, you martial artist. I know how to handle him."

"No, you don't! If you did, you wouldn't be an emotional mess right now."

"That's low, even from you. Why do you treat me as if I'm a spineless creature?"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Kenta yelled, pushing the squabbling siblings apart. "Nardhia, your brother just cares an awful lot about you. Nardho, your heart is in the right place but you need to learn to respect your sister's wishes and her instincts, don't just leap in without listening. Now, I'll leave you guys alone so your older brother can sort this out among yourselves."

Kenta returned to the Writing Center and Johan took a seat between the twins, motioning Moira to just sit down on Nardhia's bed. Moira could feel that her RA would be the voice of reason.

"Okay, I'm gonna say this because I'm the oldest and the resident assistant, but also from the point of view of a Catholic. Nardhia, if you want to remain single, that's fine and I applaud you for telling Wyatt what you want instead of succumbing to his insults. What I'm worried about is that you don't seem to know what you wanted out of a relationship yet. My advice is to find someone with whom you can get closer to God and Wyatt isn't one. Someone who loves you as much as they love God wouldn't dare berate you or put you down like that."

"Thank you for your input. Yeah, I got carried away and momentarily let my worldly desires led me astray, I should have known that Wyatt was bad news when he displayed his affection too publicly, as Vannie had tried to remind me."

"Is there a way to make sure he's not gonna harass her again, though? I'll speak to Tony about why it's bad to give Wyatt access to our dorm's passcode, but is there anything more you can do or is this a hopeless situation?" Nardho considerately asked.

"Afraid not, little brother. Unless if Nardhia initiated a petition to my supervisors the dormitory overseers to put Wyatt on a restraining order. The final decision should be hers."

"Brilliant! I think I'd like to meet your supervisors and discuss my options." Nardhia said.

"Great, I'll arrange that. In the meantime, get some rest. I'm going to catch up with some administrative duty, I'll be downstairs in my office if you need me." Johan left.

Vannnie wheeled herself into the room and, reading the heavy air of the room, patted Nardhia's hand. "You okay? Need someone to talk to? Need to take a walk?"

"I'm okay now, Johan's words resonate with me and I'm not mad at Nardho anymore. But yeah, a walk sounds lovely. Where are we heading?"

"Rain told me about a botanical garden about fifteen minutes by bus from here. Supposedly they have many rare flowers and the Spoken Words club members are putting on a performance for first-year students there. Rain's not gonna be performing, obviously, but they helped decorate the stage. Wana come? It'd mean a lot to them and I happen to have something I want to tell them."

"Sure, I'd love to get to know Rain better anyway! I heard they gave Moira coffee candies. So, Moira, you coming with us? Nardho too?"

"I've promised to help him finish reviewing his essay, so maybe next time?" Moira looked up.

"Aww, what a devoted girlfriend. Aren't you a lucky boyfriend?" Vannie teased.

"Wait, what? You guys are dating? Wow. Congratulations!" Nardhia said cheerfully.

Once the girls were gone, Moira blushed uncontrollably. We are alone, huh? She thought.

"So, Moira, this essay is to prepare me for what Lee wants us to do. Remember he said specifically to find examples of incidents when the Gaburs and the Little Trees of Golden Valley did not get along? Kenta e-mailed me some good primary resources, but I'll need your help dissecting the academic tone with me and like, water it down with me?"

"Yeah, sure, link up your laptop with mine, please."

The article was titled When Gaburs Ran Amok: Deforestation Took Its Toll. From what Moira and Nardho could understand, it seemed that the Outer and Inner Little Trees had a dispute about how to manage the forests that straddled the two communities' borders. With the forests being burned to make more plantations and farms, the Gaburs had decided to steal crops and thus the farmers retaliated by putting bombs inside of shells made to resemble pineapples. Many Gaburs were massacred and wars broke out between the Outers and Inners because the Inners took offense. Fortunately, the interplanetary council intervened and build a conservation site an hour away from the village so that the remaining Gaburs could live undisturbed.

"Mother Mary, people really bombed innocent animals like that? So cruel!" Nardho remarked.

"Yeah, and it's not like the Gaburs had a choice, they were hungry!" Moira nodded.

"You've got a way of explaining things that makes me so fond of you, honey." Nardho kissed the top of Moira's head. For the rest of the day Moira couldn't stop thinking about the kiss. It didn't help that Nardho also sent a love poem of Master Damono's: No one is wiser than the rain drops that fall in June. They kept their secrets of the drops from those flowering trees. Moira, I like Damono and his poems, but let's not keep secrets from each other. Night!

The next morning Nardho sent Moira a wake up reminder and the two walked to the biochemistry building together, still cursing those humans who dared hurt the Gaburs.

Ayumi walked in a few minutes after the couple took their seats and smiled warmly. Lee was a bit late because of traffics in the boulevard outside of campus, but Ayumi did a god job covering for him. She already prepared Lee's presentation and he nodded gratefully.

"Morning, my young friends. As I promised last week, I have a story to tell about how the Gaburs co-exist with residents of the Golden Valley. That is one piece of the whole story and you guys have the rest of the pieces, right? Let's begin!"

Lee's story was that the Gaburs used to scare children but the elders of the village had managed to train the Gaburs and developed basic sign languages that the Gaburs could understand so that they wouldn't show their teeth in front of children. Apparently, Gaburs and dogs were about the same, intelligence-wise. Moira couldn't help wondering if Gaburs would make great pets.

After that, Ayumi called on some students to present their findings about when and how the Gaburs and the Little Trees became at odds with each other. Moira and Nardho received an excellent mark on their presentation, among the highest in the class, save for Rain's. Rain had presented an old article from three decades ago when the Outers were experiencing shortage of foods and in desperation started eating Gaburs' meat, offending their Inners counterparts.

"Okay, that's a wrap. Before you guys go on your merry ways, Ayumi has an announcement. It has to do with our upcoming trip, which is just two months away, so listen up!" Lee said.

"Hi guys, my family has offered to host everyone in our guest house, so you don't need to worry about hotel and stuff. Also, I have figured out activities to do in Golden Valley. I receive words of mouths that this cohort of Brave Explorers are very talented, we have musicians, artists, poets, comedians, and many more. I want you guys to come up with a manuscript of a drama production. You guys are to present the play in front of my mom and dad at the end of the trip."

The entire class erupted in standing applause and Moira's head already thought up big scenes.