Gina woke up to the late sun shining into her and Ro's bedroom. She felt refreshed and alive again. Startled, she remembered that she and Ro were starting to be on friendly terms. What a day yesterday had been.
Ro was sitting outside with one of her new dresses on.
How early is it? Gina wondered. Ro hasn't gone to training yet, so it must be earlier than I normally wake up.
"Good morning, Ro!" Gina called out, feeling chipper. "What a beautiful day."
Ro rolled her eyes. "Well, I guess if you consider it good, then good morning to you as well. I was just about to go take a walk."
Ro paused, looking rather unsure. "Do you want to come with me?"
"Yes," Gina told her reassuringly, "I would love to come. Do you have time for me to change and wash up some before we go? I just woke up."
"Go on. I'll meet you by the path."
The day was bright and happy, and a cool breeze blew in through the door before she closed it.
Gina pulled off her nightgown and washed in the tin tub that the Lia'unnians had provided for them. She had found it difficult to get used to the wonderful treatment at the Manor. At the orphanage, she shared the bathing tub with all of the other girls her age in the dorm. It had been filthy by the time she had a chance to take a bath, and cold. Gina had eventually resorted to standing in the rain when it came and taking the little bit of soap she was granted out there to wash with.
So much was different from her orphanage days. If she was being honest with herself it wasn't just the surroundings or the nice baths. She had changed. Internally she had become a better-rounded person, with confidence in who she was and what she could do. She guessed that the Manor had given her a chance to be her without restraint and that was why she felt this way.
Gina hurried to pull on one of her brown work dresses and some thicker boots. If she and Ro were going to be walking a long distance then her slippers didn't make sense.
Gina walked away from the house and onto the rock path. Squirrels dashed up leafy trees and a sweet honeysuckle scent filled her lungs. She breathed deeply. It was so nice out here.
Then she walked up to the start of the nature path around the Woodland grounds of the manor that she went to occasionally when she wanted to be alone. She had never imagined walking it with Ro.
Ro gave her a displeased look. "There you are. I thought it would be time for Vienn's lesson before you got here."
Ro tossed her head in her typical grumpy way, but her voice harbored muted affection too. It seemed to be her way of joking.
Ro was holding clothes in her arms, and Gina wondered why.
Gina teased, "I was enjoying the natural beauty of the grounds. Perhaps if you tried it some time, you wouldn't be so grumpy."
Ro took the joke literally, looked angry, and then the anger melted and she only seemed sad. "I deserved that," she told Gina. "I haven't been very good to you. I've just been so lonely and angry since my brother's death. I wasn't sure how to deal with teammates - much less friends - after not having anyone for so long. I wasn't sure if I even could have friends."
"It's ok," Gina told her openly, having closed the door on her anger towards Ro. "I know what it feels like to be alone. What I have discovered is the only way to stop feeling loneliness is to take away its power. No matter what happened to me at the orphanage, the many times I felt like an outcast of the outcasts, or when Miss Karina was particularly awful, I would remember the joy I had felt helping others before then. I could always be alright with myself because I chose to not let the loneliness make me lonely. It's our choice what we feel, regardless of our situation."
Ro's face took on a hint of reverence for a brief second before it flickered into nonexistence. "Wise words for a girl who is so young. But I only take advice from people who can keep up with me. You can't even beat me in a race."
"But I've never raced you," Gina told her, confused.
Ro was already sprinting.
"Wait! Wait, Ro!" Gina cried out, running after her, dragging in deep winded breaths. "Stop! You cheated!"
Ro's laugh flew back to her on the wind and she just kept running.
"Let's go to that tree up ahead!" She called back.
Gina pumped her arms back and forth, her dress tangling in the roots and briars on the sides of the path.
Ro touched the tree seconds before she could.
"Guess you don't have what it takes, Gina girl," Ro said victoriously between gasps.
"You," Gina huffed, "sure got me." Her hand lay on the tree and she supported herself before sliding down to the ground. She was exhausted.
"Maybe," puff, "next time," Gina told Ro.
Ro straightened up and pulled Gina to her feet.
"We've still got a walk to finish, you know. No quitting on me now." Ro looked up at the sky. "We still have a good four bells before Mr. Vienn calls us in. You ready for some serious walking?"
Gina wanted to shake her head no, but she needed this time with Ro to improve upon the things that happened last night.
"Lead the way," Gina told her, her aching muscles groaning in protest already. She shouldn't have run so hard.
They walked in amiable silence for a while, Ro lost in thought and Gina noting the landmarks around them.
There was a large felled tree that looked fried. Lightning seemed to have hit it. There were also charred grass and trees, and it looked like there were circles of space where there were no life signs at all. Was that where the Lia'unnians had tried to take off with their ship? It had to be one massive device. She pictured a boat with wings like a bird and shook her head. It all felt too strange to decipher what the word 'aircraft' meant.
"Where are we heading?" Gina asked Ro after a time.
"We're going to a small lake that the property has. I discovered it the other day when I was out here walking, and I was going to wash some clothes and take a swim in it. I thought you might want to join me." Ro seemed almost hesitant at the last part but hid it with other voice inflections. Gina noted that and answered carefully.
"I'm honored that you would take me with you to somewhere so interesting. I wish that I had known to bring washing clothes."
"We'll come again."
The lake turned out to be fairly close.
They reached it around ten in the morning; which was not bad for their late start. Lessons would start at eleven.
The pair went up to the edge of the water and Ro started on her washing. The clearing held wild animals at the edges of the forest on all sides, and the water reflected the sky overhead, showing the billowy clouds floating by. Gina lay down and tried to find shapes in them.
"There! That one is definitely a turtle reading the newspaper," she giggled to herself, lying on her back with her face pointed upward.
"What's a turtle reading a newspaper?" Ro asked in surprise, setting her wash bin aside.
"The cloud," Gina told her, pointing out the one she had spotted.
"The children at the orphanage invented all sorts of games to entertain themselves, and sometimes when we were all outside working we would try and make shapes and figures out of the clouds."
Ro grunted. Gina wasn't sure if it was approval or dislike.
"What do you see?" Gina asked curiously.
"Well," Ro began, looking around for inspiration, "that one kind of looks like a... oh I don't know. Maybe a... a bear?" Her voice grew more excited as she got into the game. "Like a big bear with some honey. And.... that one over there looks like a flower; a flower that's grown back after winter and is just budding. And that one looks like a ball gown!"
"There you go!" Gina said in encouragement. "You've got the hang of it now."
"You turn Gina. What do you see?"
Gina looked at the sky for a minute, then pointed to a large fluffy cloud, that resembled a pompous face. "That one looks Amryn when he's bragging."
Ro snorted in laughter and they both broke out into fits of laughter. Gina laughed until she cried.
When Gina finally felt like she was done laughing, Ro looked back up at the cloud, giggled, and they started laughing again.
Ro pulled herself together first, letting out a final laugh.
"I really need to finish the rest of these garments and then we can swim, ok? I have to get them done or I won't have anything to wear."
She laughed again as she sat up, then she went back to washing the clothes.
Some of the dresses she scrubbed had many patches in them and looked worn through. Others were fair looking and unstained.
It reminded Gina of their group. From their combined old lives they had forged something new and powerful, and it remained among them along with their old problems and concerns; binding them together.
She wasn't sure how the rest of her life would play out, but as long as she could laugh with Ro, she wasn't scared of her future anymore.
When Ro finished doing the laundry, the girls slipped out of their thin outer dresses and left them lying on the bank.
"You good?" Ro asked, mischief in her voice that Gina felt she should be worried about.
"I'm ready. This will be fun."
Ro danced around by her. "On the count of three, we both jump in.
They counted together, Gina going into a jumping stance.
"One... Two..." Gina counted, tense. "Three!"
She soared high in the air and came crashing into the lake's cold water with a loud splash. Waves rippled around her in delight and swirled in excited circles around her legs and body, wrapping her in a watery embrace. Gina decided she like swimming.
She looked down at the bottom that was almost invisible to her at the surface of the water and scrunched her toes in the soft sandy mixture that lay beneath her. The lake was squishier than she had thought it would be.
I'm glad that I landed somewhere I could put my feet down on the bottom of the lake, Gina thought gratefully. I've never tried swimming and I'm not sure that I would have been very good with deeper water.
"Here I come!" Ro called out, jumping in after Gina.
"Ahhh!" Gina cried out, as a wall of water split away from where Ro landed and soaked her. "You didn't jump with me!"
Gina flung some water at her.
Ro just laughed and ducked her head. "You were so excited about it that I had to mess with you a little."
They laughed and splashed each other and swam around some. Gina had never felt so good in her life.
"This is the most fun I've had since the training sessions here. I needed this, Ro. Thank you."
"Ah, well. I had to get the wash done anyway. Speaking of the wash we ought to be cleaning ourselves off and heading back to train with Vienn. He can be really tough if you don't get there on time."
Gina mimicked Vienn's voice. "You there- do five hundred more of those exercises. And don't let me see you slacking!"
Ro grinned. "You've got talent, my friend."
Gina curtsied in her wet clothes to an imaginary audience. "Why thank you, thank you."
They dried off their clothes as best as they could and let the sun do the rest of the work. Then they slipped into their over dresses and walked back down the path, Ro carrying her washed clothes.
"Why couldn't you wash those back at the cabin, Ro? We have enough water." Gina asked her, wonderingly.
"It's none of your business!" Ro snapped. She immediately looked sorry.
"Oh, Gina, I'm sorry. I just... it's an old habit. My reasoning was that I feel like the Lia'unnians have done so much for me, and for all of us. They gave me a home when I didn't have one. So, I wanted to help them with some of their water. Otherwise, they have to go and fetch it themselves."
Ro isn't what I thought she was, Gina thought, unsure. Gruff yes. To the point, definitely. But mean and cruel? No. I imagined her as a horrible witch, but I was wrong.
"I'm sorry too, Ro," Gina mumbled incoherently under her breath. Perhaps someday she would find the courage to be able to say it for real.