Worlds Apart

Discoveries

"Eadric," I begin in an almost singsong voice.

"Yes, mam."

"Oh for gods-"

"You better not try to hit me!" He frantically orders.

"What, I-I'm not gonna try to hit you! Why would I even-you know what? Just shut up for a second!"

"Will do." He promises.

"Alright. As I was goddamn saying, I am not on my period right now."

"But you said you've got cramps, don't you? That's a sure sign."

"Not when you have an implant." I inform him impatiently, raising my left arm injected with it.

His eyes narrow in confusion if not subtle repulsion at the foreign term as his eyes dart to my arm. He looks over the bulky sleeve for a moment, assessing before he looks back to my exasperated expression, more lost than ever. "A what?"

"An implant. It's like this little chip that gets surgically implanted underneath your skin to regulate your hormones and stop your menstrual cycle." I inform him.

He eyes my arm for a second before shaking his head in denial. "Bullshit. I would've noticed it by now."

"Not if you weren't looking for it. Besides, you can barely see it underneath all the bruises and shit on my skin anyways, but you can feel it. Here," I inform him as I begin unzipping my guards jacket.

He eyes me warily. "You're not gonna throw that at me, are you?"

"Okay, if you don't actually shut the hell up, I will legitimately punch you in the face."

"See!" Eadric points to me as though having proved himself to an entire goddamn court.

"Eadric!"

"Alright, alright, I'll stop. Show me the implant." He beckons with a hand on his hip.

"Unbelievable," I mutter with an exasperated sigh before I resume unzipping the jacket. Once finished, I pull the fabric over my left shoulder down far enough so the brachialis muscle over my arm is exposed. I begin pressing the pad of my index and middle finger down the inner side of my arm until I eventually feel that familiar bump right before the base of my joint. "Here, it's here."

I point to the space on my arm where the implant lies, watching amusedly as Eadric's face contort into an expression of pure disgust once he located the solid bump over my skin. "That's insane, and not natural." He concludes by the time he pulls back.

"No shit it's not natural," I scoff, "but it's all we know, and it keeps us protected."

"Protected?" He asks, narrowing his eyes in question. "Protected from what?"

Well, this just got awkward. "Uh... I-I'll tell you another time." I conclude with a pat over his shoulder before walking off with Alfhild in tow.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"To find Lesedi!" I call back before resuming my search for this woman who has apparently accompanied all the other warriors on this journey. I saw another woman walk up with the other Barons when they were called earlier as well, but ever since the defeat of the Mountain, woman have taken to celebrating more with their families, and celebrating ensues other responsibilities if one is not careful. Frankly, the amount of female warriors dwindling does not all that much bother me, however, as I know many of them belong to Eerika's troops and could not have ventured here even if I wished them to. As Eerika showed me early on, women can be trained much differently than men in certain aspects of combat, and Eerika excels at every single one of them. I am glad I got to train with her even if only for a short amount of time before everything essentially went to shit. It takes some time, but soon enough I have located a tanned woman with long, graying blonde dreadlocks twisted over her shoulder into a side half updo chatting off to a group of kneeling warriors who seem to be completely enthralled in her story, and I tie off Alfhild along the scraggly tree just aside some of the other horses before approaching group somewhat hesitantly.