L.I.E. (Learn, Improve, Educate)

Learn, Improve, Educate

Two weeks later, Lael, Edath, Nale, Miguel, Aruna, Sarah, Patroklos and Urien were done rebuilding their house as well as cremating the corpses. Alethea, just like Simon, had perished from the unknown drug. The remaining people who fought along Edath had been missing, but the fact they communicated with Sandra before her death would only mean they had died as well.

Even if they would deal with fallen teammates in a usually better way than the average people, Edath had gone quieter, disappearing many times. Nale was training harder and harder, helping out the people who still remained in their group. With a hurt leader, Nale was trying to do everything he could, with Lael help, who would constantly motivate them to not lose their focus and hope. Miguel was also a sign of hope and strength that motivated the rest to fight. Urien and Patroklos joined forces to try to keep up with Simon's work. They had been analyzing the camera memory on Simon's eye glass in order to understand what he was working on and how he did most of his inventions. Sarah was working on improving her fighting and charismatic skills while Aruna was still fighting a battle with herself, trying to win over her PTSD, with the help of the others.

Nale had set a break so he and Urien would try to hunt something for dinner. Lael excused himself. He was going to take a bath, but his worry about Edath brought him to a part of the beach he knew where he'd most likely find her.

As he reached the place, which was also the same place she ran off when Lael killed her brother, he noticed her sitting in the sand with her feet on the water, gazing at the sky. Her unkempt hair was waving wildly on her back and her green eyes had no longer the same shine they used to have.

In the end, she's just like another human with fragilities. Lael thought as he approached her carefully. Even though it was wrong to admitted, he liked to know that she actually wasn't the whole cold assassin and despicable woman she pretended to be and fought hard to convince she was.

"Hey." Lael said, sitting next to her. She looked at him and made a tired smile.

"How did I know you'd find me here?"

"You're a good judge of character." Lael smiled too, looking at the waves that were now curling his feet. The water was cold, which made Lael shiver and Edath giggle by his reaction.

"Yeah, I guess I was hoping you'd come here so I'd see you trying to be strong while freezing your gentle feet on the water." She joked, forcing a laugh. Lael looked at her and embraced her in his arms.

"Silly me, huh? But you don't need to pretend with me, you know. It is okay if you're also cold, you don't always need to be strong. It will only break you." Aiken whispered, fondling her hair.

"That's easy to say when you don't have everybody counting on you, expecting you to never break, thinking you're the source of their own future happiness and hope." Edath replied, letting herself being embraced by Lael.

"You can also count on us. Nale is doing what he can to help you share the burden. You also said that if the leader falls, another one will appear, that's why you help us to be ready in case that happens. So you don't need to feel too pressured because you are a human too."

"Am I?" Edath asked sarcastically and slowly stood up. Lael stood up as well. "It's shitty then. I always kinda felt like I was an object in another ones hand until Simon..." she pressed her lips against each other and then continued. "Until he appeared and tried to teach me I could be whatever I wanted. I didn't understand what that was, since I always felt alienated. But apparently, what I had to do was to learn from others, since they could teach me so many different things. Then I should try to improve my abilities and skills in order to be a multifunctional human being, with values and objectives. So, in the end, I could also be able to pass on my knowledge, experience and aims to other people seeking help. «Learn, Improve, Educate», he used to say." She smiled as she looked at him. She then dropped the smile.