I held Cathy's hands as she balanced on her feet. She wasn't quite walking on her own yet, but was making numerous attempts. Trish was sitting on a blanket beside me as she weaved a shirt and watched us. I walked backwards slowly while holding her hands as she kicked out her feet as she attempted to take steps.
I glanced over and grinned at Diane as she took a seat by Trish. Cathy decided she had enough of walking and sat down with a thump. I sat beside her. She noticed my sun locket and crawled over to try and grab it. I swiftly tucked it down my shirt so it was out of her reach. I didn't want to take any chances of her grabbing it and yanking hard enough to break the chain.
I held up my keychain watch and it distracted her. Rick was right, distraction was a very powerful tool. I grinned as a tiny blue-eyed child scampered towards Diane. Hope's small size and blue eyes were unique.
There were other infants who had been born with Heartfire, but she was the only one able to walk yet. The fact that she was walking already was shocking. Hope stumbled just before she reached Diane, but Diane was faster. Diane put her hands under her arms and lifted her to the sky without getting to her feet.
Hope cooed in delight before giggling. I grinned at the happy child. Trish shook her head before turning to grin at Hope's mother who was coming towards us. Trish chuckled, "It amazes me that her knees aren't all skinned up around the clock."
The lady sat down with a chuckle, "Oh, she does skin her knees a lot. Luckily the Heartfire heals her as swiftly as mine heals me."
Trish watched as Diane bounced the tiny giggling girl on her knee, "Does she ever get the muscle ache from inactivity?"
The mother shook her head, "So far, not yet. Although whenever she is awake, she goes full tilt so that probably prevents it."
Trish watched Hope kicking her legs in glee at the ride, "I find it hard to believe that a seven month old can even walk, let alone start to run. You are going to have your hands right full in five more months. Cathy is only eleven months and I find her a handful already."
Hope squirmed and Diane let her up. Hope walked over to a tire swing and started pushing on the hanging tire, but wasn't able to shift it much with her tiny body.
Her mother watched her carefully, "As far as Kerry can tell she is a healthy girl, her physical abilities are just developing faster. It is almost certainly due to the Heartfire. She isn't much bigger or heavier than average, although she is stronger and has quite a strong grip. If she gets a good hold on something that you are picking up, you are almost lifting her off of the ground before she loses her grip."
Diane also watched Hope, "Is she understanding more than the average for her age?"
The lady nodded, "Yes, she can't talk yet, but she knows at least forty people on sight and can understand basic commands. Thankfully she obeys them most of the time. I am not looking forward to the terrible twos. We have no idea what she will be capable of at that point."
If she was already walking, this child would be a bundle of unstoppable energy in a few years. It was a good thing that both of her parents were fired. They were going to need their Heartfire energy and stamina to keep up. We watched quietly for a bit, but little Hope just energetically pushed against the swinging tire even though she barely budged it.
Trish glanced at Diane, "By the way, have you heard anything about that guy you fired yesterday?"
Diane shook her head, "Not really. Kerry is keeping an eye on him. He was in such bad shape that he barely even got any muscle aches and a simple walk around the room was sufficient. He is still in the nursing complex somewhere."
She sighed, "Darn, I was hoping for some juicy tidbit of information."
Diane grinned at her, "You are a worse busybody than an old granny. I am pretty sure that the guy will be on his feet by tomorrow at the latest. Heartfire isn't going to let him sit idle."
Trish shook her head, "I have no clue how you blue eyed people manage. You never get a chance to sit and enjoy life. You can't even sleep in! That is torture as far as I am concerned."
Diane, Hope's mother, and I all grinned at one another. Fired life suited us just fine. I really enjoying have the Heartfire, and as odd as it was, I was kind of glad that the Swift had caused Diane to give me the Heartfire virus.
I grinned as Hope started trying to sneak away. She didn't get more than ten steps before her mother noticed. She stood up, "I'll see you later."
Diane was watching the child in amusement, "Sounds good. Have fun!"
Hope attempted to run as she noticed her mother in hot pursuit. She couldn't quite run yet, but was making an excellent effort at it.
I glanced at Diane, "Aren't you glad that I don't have that much energy?"
She chuckled, "Oh, you have that much energy, but you are far better at using it constructively. Besides, I seem to recall playing quite a few games of catch-me-if-you-can."
I giggled as I realized that I was just as guilty as Hope for trying to pull a fast one on Diane. Now that I thought about it, I usually played that game a couple of times a day when we were on our runs. My success rate was also about as good as Hope's.
I looked up to see Ace returning from a discussion with Ambrose. Ambrose was creating everything from weapons to farming implements, as well as training two apprentices. Diane watched him approach, "Feel like heading for a run?"
He nodded, "Sure."
Diane got to her feet and looked at Trish, "I'll see you tomorrow then."
Trish nodded, "Good night."
Trish knew that our run lasted for at least an hour and that we often didn't come back until after the sun had set. The sun would probably set in an hour or so, and there was no rush for us to return so we tended to run longer and enjoy the evening exercise.
I followed Diane as we passed through the gate. A few other blue-eyed people were heading out for their run as well. Ace jogged beside Diane as I investigated the flower along the well trampled path that wove through the trees.
We tended to follow Diane when we ran. I didn't care where we went and Ace had no real preference. Diane just picked a direction at random when we went out unless we said something. I took a deep breath of the air as I enjoyed the damp cool evening air among the trees.
Diane tilted her head and looked around before altering her course as she headed north and west deeper into the forest and towards other cliffs. I looked around in interest, I hadn't run this far before and the terrain quickly became rough and rocky. I had no idea how the numerous trees managed to grow in the shallow rocky soil.
Ace was looking around as well and I doubted he had been here before either. Diane clearly knew the terrain. I wondered when she had come here without Ace. Perhaps it had been the day he had given blood. But she also just as clearly had a destination in mind.
"Where are we going?"
Diane grinned over her shoulder at me, "To a spot I found once before. If the fog comes up like I think it might, you will see why I wanted to show it to you."
Now I was even more curious, but I also knew that Diane wasn't going to say anything else. Ace looked curious as well. We had seen a small wisp of the beginnings of fog here and there already, but I hadn't noticed anything odd about it.
We had gone further into the mountains and there were lots of cliffs towering above us as we carefully jogged along slippery rock chips. Diane headed towards one cliff and I gasped in surprise as I saw a narrow crack going through the cliff. The sun was just starting to set, but it was apparent that the sunlight never managed to hit to bottom of the crack that went all the way up the cliff.
Moss grew on every surface and a hand-wide trickle of a stream wound its way through the cliff. The air was noticeably cooler and was crisp with a damp rock and moss smell. I originally thought it was a cave, but now I could see that the crack went all the way through the rock to the other side. This cliff may be tall, but it wasn't that wide.
We had to walk single file through the crack since it was so narrow. We came out the other end and I looked around the small valley. It wasn't that big, maybe the size of a small football stadium. Small spruce dotted the area and wild flowers grew everywhere. It looked really pretty. I found it hard to believe that Diane had found this tiny hidden place.
Diane headed to the side of the cliff and climbed up to a small ledge that was quite some distance above the ground. I followed her and Ace climbed up behind me. I looked around. The sunlight was rapidly fading and the air here was cool enough that a thin haze of fog covered the valley floor.
I didn't understand what Diane meant about the fog. It looked like fog. It was thicker here than it had been outside the valley, probably due to the temperature. I looked at Diane in curiosity, "This place is pretty, but why did you bring us here to see fog? We saw some along the way."
Diane smiled as her eyes glowed a bit brighter in anticipation, "Just wait. Within half an hour we should know if what I saw once before will happen again."
I somehow doubted that she could be any more vague if she possibly tried. I looked down at the valley in confusion, "What did you see?"
She grinned at me, "Just wait and see."
It must be a surprise then. I pulled out a board game to play as we waited. The three of us played with frequent glances below. The fog thickened, and as I put my game away, the fog was so thick that I couldn't even see the tops of the small trees. It was solid fog that looked more like water since it was so thick. The sun had also set.
Diane grinned at the fog below before looking back at us, "Come and see."
Her descent was more of a freefall from the cliff than actually climbing. Ace and I took our time like sane people. To my surprise, Diane swiftly sprinted off into the soup like fog. We could hear her though, and knew she had stopped not that far away.
I let go of the rock and turned around. It was blue. All I could see was blue swirls as the fog reflected back the light from my eyes. I blinked in surprise and confusion. I glanced back, but Ace was just as startled as I was.
My eyes tried to glow brighter, but I could still barely see Ace's face due to the fog even though our arms were almost touching. We slowly started walking in Diane's direction. It was captivating with the way the fog swirled and rolled around us.
We got closer to Diane and she started walking towards us. I knew she was just in front of us, but the fog was much too thick to actually see her. I could see the light from her eyes though. It was odd, the light from her eyes was much dimmer than ours.
Diane's voice was amused, "Dim your eyes a bit."
I concentrated as I dimmed my eyes. Instead of it being harder to see, it became easier to see as less light reflected back. It also made the fog look even more magical. I had always felt that a thick fog was magical to walk through before, but with my glowing eyes it created spectacular shades of blue in the mist that swirled as the fog itself shifted. There were simply not words to describe it.
I looked around at the landscape, "The fog is so pretty... It never looked like this before the zombies came."
Diane chuckled, "I know. It is because of our eyes. I used to see this a lot around Wainwright during the night."
This is what she had been running through some nights? I envied her. This was amazing. We slowly walked around the clearing inside the cliffs. Even the flowers looks spectacular as they were bathed in the blue mist. Eventually Diane led us back to the crack in the cliff.
The fog slowly flooded out of the crack and into the drier area outside of it where it dissipated. I was sad to leave the mist behind. It had been enchanting. We slowly started heading back, it would take us over an hour of running to get back to Sanctuary.
The air in the main forest wasn't as cold as the air in the small cliff valley and there was almost no fog out here. There were a few faint wisps of fog, but nothing thick enough to create a magical landscape. I ran through a few, but the result was disappointing.
We were out much later than usual, but I thought it had been worth it.