With Fear or Without

30- Ready, Set, Lunch!

Sunday afternoon mimicked Saturday. The trio waited anxiously in their separate rooms, waiting for the moment those glowing stairs would appear before them. As you do.

Cleo managed not to get a bloody nose this time, so that was an improvement. After three encounters with scenarios like impossibly high cliffs, the earth swallowing her whole, and cramped spaces, she was slowly getting the hand of the realizing-it's-a-dream part. The controlling-things-around-you part still needed work. In response to total darkness Cleo managed to temporarily blind herself by conjuring the sun right in front of her eyes.

Yup. Everything was going great.

After the third trial of that day, Cleo scrambled out the glass box gasping for air after being trapped in a shrinking cube; the worst one so far. She collapsed to her hands and knees, filling her lungs desperately. She heard shuffling and footsteps as Remie squatted down beside her.

"That one really got you, huh?"

Cleo didn't want to answer. The answer was obvious enough, but she didn't want to admit she knew from the beginning that cramped spaces would be her kryptonite. Not to mention that pesky natural disasters one. Oh, and she had a totally normal thing about bugs too. Yeah, this was definitely a profession she was loving.

"It's okay to have fears, Cleo," Remie said gently. "I'll tell you mine, might make you feel better."

Cleo sat back on her haunches, still panting. "You and fears? I don't buy it."

Remie chuckled. "Heights. Terrified of 'em. I can't understand how anyone would like them, and let's not even mention roller coasters."

"I'm a total roller coaster junkie," Cleo laughed, filing away 'roller coasters' as another thing the Helopera apparently have.

Remie rolled her eyes, still grinning. Cleo found it hard to believe that Remie would be afraid of anything. She thought about her own experience with heights, not an hour before. It hadn't bothered her too much, just made her head reel. Of course, everything was a bit more terrifying after her discussion with Nolan the previous day.

After the moment and their grins faded, Remie said, "You don't have to get over your fears."

Surprised, Cleo looked into her eyes, seeing the strength in them, the determination, the endurance. Again, she couldn't see how Remie would be scared of anything.

"Most people will tell you that," she continued, "but it's not true. You just have to accept them, and learn to live with them. Fears like these don't really go away. They're part of who you are."

Cleo wished they weren't. At this moment her urge to aid the rebellion's mission was stronger than ever, a raging fire deep in her chest that longed to burn away the weak parts of her. The parts that held her back, that haunted her.

She was sure that Remie could see her thoughts all over her face. Accepting that her wisdom hadn't been received, Remie rose from the floor and held out her hand to Cleo as she had done twice that day.

"C'mon, let's get lunch."

Cleo followed as they exited the building, trailing behind as Remie led her down the main stone road. Then Remie paused to let Cleo catch up to her, following Cleo's gaze out at the rest of the city.

"Who are all these people?" Cleo asked. "They can't all be Champions, right?"

"Some of them are," Remie said, stuffing her hands in her pockets. "Some are just... people. Cooks, teachers, clothes makers, that kinda thing. They may not help directly, but they believe in the cause so they came to live here."