The jeep crawled to a halt after driving several miles through green and silver woods. Chenn turned it off, tucked the key into his pocket, and jumped out of the car.
Nari hopped out too. He picked up the container with their food, and she grabbed the blanket he’d brought.
Out where they were, flowers bloomed, and lush, green grass grew in abundance. Trees with heavy drapes of gold leaves shimmered around them as the wind blew softly through their leaves. Flowered vines twined about the trees, and through the drapery. Vibrant colors burst all around them, and a wild rose bush stood in the center of the clearing.
Nari gasped in astonishment. Tears filled her eyes. “It’s beautiful, Chenn!”
The brilliant azure sky above seemed to burst upon her sight, and the sun shone, dazzling in the gold trees.
“I know. I come here sometimes because it lets me feel free. The Base reminds me too much of the prison where I spent so much time, and it makes me feel claustrophobic. So I just come out here whenever I can.”
Nari nodded. “I understand. It’s so… So perfect and lovely. I just…. I don’t know how...”
She wandered around the clearing, trailing her hands through the brilliant gold leaves. They glittered and twirled like a waterfall of liquid gold. She rubbed a leaf in her hands.
“It’s real gold, Chenn.”
“I know. They all are. The trunks are actual silver. It grows on the outside of the trunk in thin layers like bark.”
“Does anyone else know about this?”
He shook his head.
“We have to keep it that way; every person on Base would be down here stripping leaves and bark. The place would be ruined, and it won’t be pretty anymore. We can’t let that happen.”
Chenn nodded, sticking his hands into his pant pockets. “Yeah, I know.” He blushed with embarrassment, and then added, “I wasn’t sure I should even tell you. I mean, I wasn’t sure if you would tell. I guess that was stupid of me, wasn’t it?”
She laughed. “Chenn! I would never destroy this place. It’s too perfect.”
She walked over to him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him. “Thank you for showing me. It is a wonderful surprise.”
He grinned. “I thought you would like it.”
Releasing him, she walked over to the rosebush. She fingered the petals of the blood red flowers with the brilliant white centers, the drops of dew slipping down her slender fingers.
“Hanna used to love roses. Any kind really. She would beg my mom to let her cut the ones outside our windows. She was the one who always took care of them. At least, until we moved to the city. She lost a lot of her joy when we moved there. It closed her in, smothered her. She… She hated the city. And in the end, it was her end.”
Chenn felt awful. He was the reason for her pain. He moved over to her, putting his hands on her hips as he gazed at the flowers too.
“I’m sorry about Hanna, Nari.”
“Why do you keep saying that? It isn’t your fault.”
He almost blurted out that it was. But he didn’t. “I’m sorry because I love you, and I can see it’s hurting you.”
She nodded. “Thanks.”
Chenn gazed around the clearing. “You know, sometimes I wonder if maybe this place was planted. After all, it’s not as if there are lots of gold trees in the woods. Silver, yes, but not gold. And this is arranged too symmetrically. So I wonder who did it. Maybe it was someone who couldn’t stand the city either?”
“Maybe. Either way, it’s beautiful.” She leaned against him, and he put an arm around her.
“Yeah, it’s beautiful alright.”
She rested her head on his shoulder, and gazed in placid contentment at the beauty of the forest. She took a deep breath of the musty, gentle smell of the leaves. Funny that gold had a smell. When she’d owned gold on Earth, not that she’d owned much, it’d been scentless. It must be all the other trees around that caused the heady scent.
Chenn eased away from her. “We should eat, or we won’t have any time before we have to head back. We’ve already been gone a half-hour. It takes fifteen minutes to get back, so…”
She smiled. “Okay.”
Nari laid out the blanket while Chenn pulled out the two meals. They sat next to each other on the blanket as they ate the cold soup and hard rolls.
“You know, they really need to train the chef better. Back at West Base, at least they had good food. Plain, but eatable.” Nari made a disgusted face as she took a sip of the watery brew, which had bits of half-rancid meat floating on top of its oily surface.
“Yeah… They took one of the men who said they could cook and put him in charge of the food because the chef refused to work for rebels.” Chenn gave her a wry grin.
“Oh, that makes sense. Well…. Whoever they recruited is obviously a lousy cook, and they ought to fire him. I cook better than whatever idiot made this!”
Chenn laughed hard. “Maybe we should make you the cook!”
“Oh… I don’t know about that. My cooking is passable, but….”
“Then I’m talking to Amory about it. Anything is better than the moron cooking for us now is. We’re likely to die of food poisoning or consumption because of his nasty cooking.” Chenn took one last sip of the foul concoction before deciding he’d had enough and turning the bowl upside down. He watched the brew spill away into the grass with satisfaction.
Nari almost spilled her soup in her lap as laughter shook her. “Chenn, don't talk to Amory about me. The best I can do is peanut butter and jelly or a simple casserole.”
“Then I'm talking to Amory. I think you’d be a great cook compared to the one we have now.”
She took a gulp of air as she continued to laugh. But she had to stop a moment later because her stomach was beginning to hurt from laughing so hard.
She looked into Chenn’s sapphire blue eyes. Something was so familiar about them. But she couldn’t place what. Then he was kissing her again, and she forgot that she’d even thought something was wrong.
Her heart thudded against her ribcage as tingles erupted up and down her spine. She shivered in his embrace, closing her eyes and melting into his kiss. Butterflies flooded her stomach, and she was liquid in his arms.
After a moment, she pulled back, grinning at him. “How long before we have to go back?”
“Another hour nearly. Want to walk through the woods?”
Nari smiled mischievously. “I’d rather climb one of these trees.”
She jumped up, leaving her bowl of soup sitting there. It was nasty and watery anyway, and she didn’t really want it.
“What?” He stood up, starting towards her.
“Race you to the top!”
“But… I haven’t climbed a tree in years! I’ll probably break my neck.”
“I haven’t either, but I have no intention of breaking my neck.”
He headed for the tree where she was already perched lithely on a lower branch.“You’re already up in the tree. I’m not.”
“You’re also bigger and stronger than I am. So that shouldn’t be a problem for you, should it?” She mocked sweetly.
He shook his head, grinning. “You’re impossible.”
She started scaling the silver branches with cat-like grace. “See you at the top!” She told him, looking down.
He sighed, and swung himself up into the tree. It was slightly awkward at first. After all, he hadn’t climbed in years. Soon the process came back to him, and he was swinging into the heights after Nari. She had a head start on him, but he began to catch up. Fortunately, she and he were both light and slender, so they could go quite high into the tree.
Chenn soon surpassed Nari. She laughed, climbing faster to catch up. Finally, they reached a height where they could go no further. The branches higher up were too spindly to go any further. She climbed up to sit on a branch beside Chenn.
Nari laid her head against the tree’s trunk, and Chenn did the same. From where they were, they could see the whole clearing below them, and much of the rest of the forest.
Chenn glanced at his watch. “Good grief! It took us nearly fifteen minutes to get up here. But it’s worth it. The view is amazing!”
“Mmm… I thought we might enjoy it. I always used to love being up in trees as a kid when we were living in the country because I could see so much more of the beautiful country around me. When we moved to the city, I had to stop. There weren’t any trees anyway, and I wasn’t able to do it anymore.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I know. I used to live in the country when I was a kid, and it was the same for me. My mom moved us to the city, and I stopped climbing trees. We stopped many things when we moved. I didn’t know how much I’d missed it until I climbed this tree just now. A little silly for a twenty-eight year old, eh?”
“Not at all. I’m twenty-seven, and I still like climbing the trees. I love being high up, but still hidden. I just wish I had more time and trees to climb.”
He smiled.
The sun slanted through the tree’s leaves, falling on Nari’s silky auburn hair, and his own blond curls. The rays of brilliant sunshine glinted on her irises, turning them an emerald green. She smiled back at him.
“The sun makes your hair look like gold, and then your eyes look like gemstones, Chenn!” She giggled.
He grinned broadly. “Why, thank you. It makes your hair look like amber, and your eyes like nearly clear green emeralds. Quite spectacular actually.”
She laughed. “It is not. I’m not spectacular, and I’m not pretty either!”
“You’re right. You aren’t pretty. You’re absolutely exquisite.”
She rolled her eyes, but she still smiled, and she didn’t object.
A gentle breeze wafted through the leaves, ruffling the wisps of hair that had fallen out of Nari’s braids.
Chenn reached out, and twirled the curls around his fingers. Her hair was so beautiful. He’d never seen anyone so entrancing in his life. She really didn’t know how lovely she was or the effect she had on him.
“We should climb back down, Chenn. Otherwise we’ll be late getting back.”
He nodded, gently unraveling the hair twined around his fingers. “Yeah, I guess we should.”
She eased herself into a standing position, and then she climbed down a level. “See you at the bottom.”
He laughed. “I beat you up here, Nari. So how do you know I won’t beat you down?”
“I don’t. But I have confidence that I will.”
He got up, and by the time he was scampering down the tree, Nari was nearly a fifth of the way down. He hastened to catch up, but he was careful too. He didn’t want to lose his footing and plummet to the ground. If he even survived, it would be a nasty accident.
Fifteen minutes later, he and Nari reached the ground. She had beaten him this time, and they stood panting on the ground.
“Well… That’s our… exercise… for… the day!” Nari panted.
Chenn laughed a bit, but he was too out of breath to do much. They walked over to the blanket, and collapsed onto it, sides heaving as they tried to catch their breath.
When he had his breath back, Chenn remarked, “You should dump that foul liquid before we go back.”
She gave him a wide smile. “Yeah, I should!”
“Glad we agree.”
She shook her head, amusement sparkling in her eyes. She picked up the soup, and chucked the contents out in the grass. “I bet even the animals won’t eat the meat and veggies in this stuff.” She made a gagging motion. “It makes me sick just smelling it.”
“That’s why you’re going to cook from now on if I can arrange it!”
She glared at him. “Thanks!”
“You’re welcome.”
She got up, picking up the containers, and the water jugs that Chenn had pulled out. He stood up, and picked up the blanket, folding it up, and putting it into the jeep. Nari put the jugs and containers into the truck on top of the blanket.
Nari climbed into her side of the jeep, and Chenn climbed into the driver’s side. He turned the key in the ignition. The jeep purred silently into life.
It leapt forward on the rough terrain of the forest floor. Nari sat back, savoring the wind in her face, and the fresh, crisp air.
The two of them sat together, silent, as Chenn drove them back to Base. Neither spoke until fifteen minutes later when they got back to the Base and Chenn parked the jeep. He turned the key in the ignition, the car powering down.
Then Nari said, “Chenn, thanks for all of this.”
He grinned. “If you liked it, it was worthwhile.”
She leaned over in the jeep, hugging him. He moved back a bit, and then he pressed his lips against hers, tight and sweet. She responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back.
Again, she got that flutter in her stomach and the tingles rushed up her spine. A soft sigh escaped her as she wrapped her arms around his neck. But she knew it had to end soon. They had things to do.
She pulled away, wishing she didn't feel so empty when she did, and whispered, “That’s my thanks to you for the lunch, Chenn.”
He smirked. “Good enough, I suppose.”
She gave him a slight shove, rolling her eyes at him. She pushed the door open, and climbed out, taking the blanket with her. “Where did you get the blanket anyway, Chenn?”
“Oh, well… I used one of the spare blankets.”
She laughed. “No wonder it looked like mine.”
“They all tend to look alike.”
She smiled, shaking her head. “You think I don’t know that?”
“Nope. But I felt the need to be redundant.”
“Of course you do...” She huffed, giving him a mock glare.
It felt good to behave a little childish once in a while. Everything had been so serious lately that it felt almost oppressive to Nari. This afternoon with Chenn had made her feel younger and helped her loosen up and enjoy life for once.
He gave her a self-satisfied smile.
She shook her head again. “You are so self-righteous.”
“Nah!” He waved off the notion with a grin. “Couldn’t possibly be true.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, maybe a little.” He gave her a sheepish grin.
“A little?”
“A lot?” He winced.
“Yeah, that’s closer to the mark. But I don’t actually mind, and I know you're just pretending, so quit with the penitent behavior. You aren’t sorry for your arrogance, so don’t pretend you are!”
He laughed. “You’re right… I guess I’m not. I’m just naturally cocky and arrogant. People tried hard to beat it out of me on Earth. Never succeeded.”His tone was jovial, but Nari noticed pain glittering in his eyes.
“I’ll bet.”
They walked arm in arm to the door. One of the guards stopped them as he came out.
“Wherever have you two been? You’re on duty here in the next five minutes.”
“Yeah, we know that, Soldier Greene.” Chenn spoke, tensing beside Nari.
“So long as you do, Soldier Covalenti. Soldier Eaton.”
Nari nodded to Greene coolly. She didn’t like him much, and the feeling was mutual.
When he was gone, she turned to Chenn. “I’m going to go get the stuff returned to the kitchen.”
“Okay. See you on patrol.”
She smiled at him. “Yeah, sure!"