"Pay attention because what I'm about to say could save your life. You too Grant, there have been some upgrades since you left." Ranger Jacobs commanded with all the authority of Nimma's former drill sergeants. Even Eridani was paying attention like her life depended on it.
Selmmie and Eridani had come to see Nimma and Grant off on what Selmmie was now referring to as the big misadventure. That was an improvement over the previous adjectives and phrases she'd used such as, idiotic, foolhardy, a suicide mission, cursed, and Nimma's personal favorite–'a childish attempt to get me back for the restraining order, which is in the best interest of the case by the way, and if you really cared about me, you wouldn't be taking the hottest man in the city with you. What am I going to do without my eye candy?'
"These are state of the art GPS tracking systems; they are solar powered, water proof, can be dropped from sixty feet without sustaining damage and connected to our private network. We will only check your position if we have reason to believe something has happened to you. Such as you're overdo on the return, the tracking system sends us an alert that it's been turned off, or the primary unit, Grant as the guide will be carrying, tells us it has sustained damage or total signal loss. Rangers will be sent to the last recorded location to search for you. If you enter the emergency code 000 we will get a ping on your location immediately and come for you.
"Nimma this unit is yours, it's the backup. I've already linked it to the primary it has all the same functions as Grant's only it's in dormancy mode. If for some reason the primary system fails, is damaged, or shut off, this one automatically wakes up and we will assume the worst and send Rangers to your location. This red light will begin flashing and you will hear three beeps to let you know this unit is now active. If it is not an emergency, and you and Grant are fine, but there has been some accident with the primary unit enter code 111. If you do this we will know that you don't need assistance and let your trek continue uninterrupted. You only have one minute to enter that code before the function locks and we send people after you.
"Regular cell phones don't work in those mountains you will never get a signal up there. I would give you a satellite phone but they are all currently in use by our Rangers. This means that you two are truly on your own up there. If for some reason the two of you are separated hit 5 just once. This will automatically give you the location of the other unit, how far apart you are from each other, and lead you on the most direct route to meet up again. Keep in mind that these will not be able to tell you what type of terrain is between you so be aware of your surroundings and don't rush. Remember there are caves and cliffs you may not see right away and you don't want to fall.
"Nimma," Jacobs continued after a breath. "You read the material on edible plants and how to purify water when you run out. You passed the test with a 93 not as high as I'd like but acceptable. You have pictures and descriptions of those plants in your packs along with water purification tablets, fire starters, and other equipment Grant can give you a crash course on. Due to your military experience you're already familiar with the MRES you'll be eating and how bad they taste."
"Why do they taste bad?" Eridani questioned.
"They're small bars designed to give you a hell of a lot of calories and nutrition tasting good isn't required," Nimma told her. "Wanna try one?"
"Yes." The girl said it confidently. Nimma smirked and handed the girl a bar. Eridani took one bite, spit it out, and ran for the drinking fountain outside the Rangers station while screaming obscenities.
"That's was mean," Grant said.
"She shouldn't have tried sneaking a beer from my fridge the last time I babysat her." Nimma shrugged.
"She did what!" Selmmie snapped.
"Never mind." Nimma turned back to Ranger Jacobs. "Thank you again for voting yes on this permit."
The Ranger just nodded his head. Apparently he'd been the deciding vote on whether the permit would be approved. "Say your goodbyes and let's get going." The Ranger put his hat on and walked to the truck.
"Grant, make sure Bright Eyes doesn't do anything stupid."
"Will do, Selmmie." He shot her a dazzling smile and by God did Selmmie blush harder than Nimma had ever seen. Eridani came back and gave Nimma a big hug requesting a rock or some other interesting thing from the mountains. Eridani then pulled Grant away and demanded he show her a correct anchor knot using a shoestring.
"Nimma," Selmmie put a hand on Nimma's arm, "you will be careful right?"
"Of course I will. You have nothing to worry about. Grant and I will come back."
Selmmie gave her a tight hug.
"Listen you need to take care of yourself and Eridani. This is the key to my gun safe. I want you to stop by my house and grab one. There's even some pepper spray you can give Eridani. I know you don't think the Towers will try anything if they find out about this but it would make me feel better knowing you have it. You probably don't need it but I reserved some time at my gun range for you tomorrow. Just ask for Ashleigh she'll take care of everything."
Selmmie bit her lip. Her father was an expert marksman and he'd taught Selmmie to be one as well. Though Selmmie had never owned a gun she'd kept her skills sharp down at the range with Nimma occasionally. Nimma hadn't had much use for guns since her nerves were damaged so they'd mostly just sat in her safe for the past two years. Nimma instead began to carry pepper spray as her weapon of choice. It was safer for everybody. While Nimma was a very good marksmen Selmmie had always been better.
"Okay." Selmmie took the keys. "But I won't give Eridani any pepper spray. The last thing I need is for her to use it on somebody that annoys her."
"She wouldn't do that," Nimma snorted.
"Yeah right."
🌺
The meadow was just as Nimma remembered it. She helped Grant pitch the tent and tried not to think about the last time she'd been here. The grass was green, flowers were beginning bloom, and the stone arch sat high on the edge of the meadow.
After camp was set up and they got a fire going Nimma went to sit under the arch. From there she could see the trail they hiked to get here and the outskirts of Star City as the street lights began to come on. Nimma had Regina's journal and she traced the faded flower that was imprinted on the leather cover.
"You've been pretty quiet since we got here." Grant came to sit by her.
"This place brings back a lot of memories."
"Good ones?"
"Yes but they're sad too."
"This is where it happened huh?"
"Yup. I never was able to understand why a mother would just give up her child like that. Before I found this I really did think that she died up here and that's why she never came back for Rosemarie. Now that I know she lived so far beyond...what would motivate someone to do that? I can't imagine Selmmie walking away from Eridani for any reason."
"I can't say. I couldn't ever do that to my daughter."
"What's her name?"
"Alsyne. She's with her mother right now up north. Whatever reason Regina had it must have been a strong one. Haven't you come across the answer in that yet?"
"I haven't read much of this actually; the first couple entries and the last one where I found the poem."
"If I were you I'd of blown through it already."
"I have a complicated relationship with that part of me." Nimma didn't elaborate on that.
"You know I've always admired your ancestor a great deal."
"You believe her version of the story then?"
"I do."
"Do you want to see her?" Not many pictures existed of Regina and those that did all belonged to the Rigel family. They had been reluctant to relinquish anything to do with Regina, and as such the widely circulated images of her were drawings based off second hand descriptions. Few came close to her actual likeness so the images most were familiar with from their textbooks didn't look much like her. Photography was slow making its way to Myras. By the time it got there Regina was already an outlaw.
"Here." The photo she passed to Grant was taken sometime after Rosemarie had been born. Even more unique the photo was in color which for the time would have been insanely expensive. No doubt she'd paid for it in stolen gold.
"You have her hair. She's smaller than I thought she would be."
"That surprised me too. Aside from the blue hair she and I don't look much alike do we?"
"Not really. Wait. Are those scars on her face?"
"Yeah she had them before she came to Myras but I don't know what caused them. I don't know if anyone did."
"She's not smiling."
"Few people actually smiled in pictures back then. Although I admit she does come off as hostile. The baby's smiling though. Look." Nimma pointed to the infant that sat atop Regina's lap.
"Hmmm," Grant said as he handed the photo back. "Why does Selmmie call you Bright Eyes?"
"You don't want to know," Nimma laughed.
🌺
Dawn broke right through the arch as Nimma knew it would. She and Grant had risen an hour before sunrise and broken down camp. The light from the rays shone on a the small path that Nimma would never have seen otherwise.
"Ready for this?" Grant asked while marking the direction on his compass.
"Let's do it." Side by side they walked into the tree line.
**Term Glossary**
MRE(s)-Meal Ready To Eat