I watched as Diane climbed up the ladder to our old treehouse. Diane had insisted on going up first in case it had somehow been booby trapped, but considering it was still locked, it was unlikely. The lock clicked and Diane slowly raised the trapdoor cautiously.
She looked around carefully, "All clear. You can come on up."
I swiftly climbed the ladder to look around. Everything was as we had left it, other than that big picture of Diane's old friends that Matthew had removed for safe keeping in his office. Matthew and Diane's old Foraging group had stopped by to visit with Diane. Matthew had also returned the picture to Diane, along with the treehouse key that she had left in his care. The picture now resided in one of the trailers to return with us to Sanctuary.
Diane quickly checked the bedroom and bathroom, but other than Matthew, no one had been up here as far as we could tell. Many of the traders were going to try the treehouses since the trailers were much too crowded to sleep with Heartfire hearing and awareness. There were no trees within the fence either, so hammocks weren't an option at this stop.
I opened up the shutters to get some fresh air and gazed at the trailers just to the side. Faintly glowing blue eyes moved around the trailers as some were preparing to sleep on top of the trailers. Others were heading out for runs or just returning. A sentry sat silently on watch. Several caravan guards were taking shifts all night to prevent any surprises.
Diane was also opening up shutters. I wandered over to a different window to look at the Fort. It was mostly dark at this late hour, but I could still see some people ogling at the glowing eyes in our camp from various windows. Diane had always kept her eyes dimmed here, so who knows what they thought of the trading group now.
I headed to the bedroom and grinned at my old elevated bed. It still held a fond place in my heart and I clearly remembered all the hours and effort that it had taken Diane to get it up there for me. I climbed up and got comfy as Diane also got ready for bed.
The day had been pretty easy. About half of the trading had been done today, but the rest would occur throughout most of tomorrow. Then we would start to organize and pack up to leave the next morning.
"Laura, could you please fetch me twenty leads for these alpacas?"
I nodded and went to fetch the requested items. It didn't take me long and I swiftly came back to hand the ropes to the trader. It was tempting to go with them and see the alpacas since I had never seen one in person before, despite the fact that I had been in this place for several months in the distant past.
I didn't follow the small group of traders though, mostly because Diane wasn't in that group. My nervousness had somewhat come back with our return here. When I was with Diane, I was fine. I had also been fine with Rick and Donovan since I knew them so well.
I knew that the traders would protect me, but I really didn't want to be found away from the trader group. They were bringing the alpacas here anyways, and I was much more comfortable hanging out in the trader caravan setup.
I climbed on top of a trailer and looked around. It was late afternoon already, and there were animals everywhere. Four different kinds of chickens, three different kinds of wool sheep including almost thirty with that special wool we were after, a different variety of milk goat, half a dozen angora goats, some llamas, more piglets, meat cattle, more dairy cows, another breed of turkey, and a pair of big plow horses.
More were probably on their way, including those alpacas. I bet that four of the trailers were going to be full of animals. The Fort had been eager to trade off extra animals before the snow fell and grazing became scarce. We had brought an entire truckload of solar panels and related supplies just to trade for the animals and both sides were very happy with the end result.
It would be a two day drive heading back to Sanctuary, and with this many animals, it was not going to be easy. I saw one trailer being loaded with feed, seed for planting, and several mechanical planters and harvesters that were designed to be pulled by horses. Roland almost needed more trucks and trailers...
Roland had said that we were going to stop at a settlement tomorrow evening, so I hoped that the trade goods we promised those people were near the doors. I didn't want to unload an entire trailer just to get to it. I went down to help Diane with the cooking. The flatbread was almost done and I flipped it in the pan as Diane checked the stew.
The trading was almost completely done. Diane turned to me, "The stew is ready. Can you let the others know?"
It was going to be an early supper since the food had cooked unusually fast. I nodded and went off to let those around the trailers know that supper was ready. Most headed towards the fire although a few were just finishing up whatever they were doing. I looked around to ensure that I hadn't missed anyone who might have been out of my sight.
I grinned and headed over to the gate as Trish, Nathan, Matthew, and Ace approached. I met them just inside the gate. Trish was carrying her daughter, "Hey Laura, how are things going?"
I grinned at her, "Pretty good. Stew is ready if you want to join us for supper."
Nathan shook his head, "Nah, we just finished eating. Thanks for the offer though."
It didn't take long to reach the fire. Diane grinned as she saw her friends approach. I quickly took a seat beside her before I lost my favorite spot. I always sat on Diane's right hand side if I could.
Diane grinned at Matthew, "You left those group members of yours alone without supervision? For all you know, I could have told them where the spare key for your office is located."
Matthew made a face, "I wasn't aware that you knew about that key. I will have to find another hiding place for it now. Technically the Group Leaders are only responsible for their members during the working hours."
Diane clearly didn't believe him, "Well, that just gives them a lot of time to have fun at your expense then."
Matthew sent a very light punch at her shoulder, "The insolence that poor Roland has to put up with. I don't know how he manages."
Diane grinned at his teasing words and playful punch, "You managed to survive having me in your group for so long, so I am sure that you will survive what they are about to do with your office."
I giggled at their playful bantering. I didn't doubt Diane's claims though, although I have no idea when she managed to pull one of her old group members aside to plan this. Matthew didn't look too worried though. He probably didn't have much reason to be since most groups were a very close knit bunch.
They wouldn't do anything really bad or nasty. Now if Diane had been in there helping them, then he would probably be more worried since Diane was a high energy whirlwind with too much imagination and a lot of experience at pranks. I wondered how she had found out about that key...
Trish looked at the animals in various pens around the camp, "I can't believe you are going to get all of those critters in those trailers."
I grinned at Trish, "We have a lot of practice."
Trish burst out laughing at my dry tone, "I bet you do."
We kept visiting as the sun slowly started setting. Nathan or Trish occasionally paused to look around with a wondering gaze as a sea of blue eyes slowly started glowing in the lower light. They didn't seem overly bothered or uneasy about it though.
Trish had seen Diane's glowing eyes before though, on the evening before we had left. Ace and Matthew had also seen Diane's eyes, which was why neither of them seemed at all surprised or troubled.
Trish leaned over to peer at my eyes, "I still can't believe how pretty your eyes are. Much nicer than your old color if you don't mind me saying."
I grinned at her, "I like it too."
Even with my blue-tinted view in the darkness, I could tell that her eyes were brown. Trish was still staring into my eyes. I recognized that entranced expression and quickly blinked before glancing at the fire. Somehow I had trapped her eyes like I had seen Diane occasionally do to others.
I looked back at Trish, but she was gazing at the fire with a content expression. She didn't seem to realize what had just happened. I was relieved since I didn't mean to do that. It wasn't scary, as I well knew that from when Diane had occasionally trapped my eyes, but it could certainly come as a surprise.
Nathan yawned, "What time are you pulling out tomorrow?"
Diane smirked, "About an hour after we wake up."
Matthew gave her a long look, "And just what time does that classify as?"
I guess he did remember Diane's odd sense of humor. Diane's eyes glowed a bit more strongly, "Probably around 5am."
Trish groaned, "That sounds like pure torture. How can you stand that?"
"We just wake up at that time, so it is really easy."
Trish shuddered, "You wouldn't get me to do that without a lot of coffee. Real coffee, not this tea and dandelion root stuff."
Nathan chuckled at his wife's obsession with coffee and sleep. Trish yawned and shook her head, "I hate for you to leave without waving you off, but Cathy keeps me up usually until two in the morning. You know I was never much for early mornings. Make sure you come back occasionally to visit. Let me know the current mail chain when you find out, so we can exchange letters more often."
She looked sad at the thought of us leaving without waving us off. Trish glanced around the group. Matthew would almost certainly be up to see us off and she knew it. Trish tilted her head at Ace who was seemingly mesmerized by the fire, "Hey Ace, are you planning on getting up to say goodbye?"
He glanced at her with a slight grin, "I will be up, but there is no need to say goodbye since I am going with them."
What? I stared in shock, I didn't recall hearing anything about this and this was something that I know I would have heard of. I glanced at Diane, but she had also been taken by complete surprise. Nathan looked stunned and Trish's jaw dropped, "This is the first I have heard of this plan."
At least I wasn't the only one in the dark on this one... Ace shrugged nonchalantly, "I already spoke with Roland and the Base Commander. I planned on leaving quietly and for it to surprise most people. I have contemplated joining another settlement for quite some time and this turned out to be very convenient."
If he planned to surprise people, then he was certainly doing very well considering he managed to take us all by surprise. I took a closer look at Matthew, he didn't seem that surprised, almost as if a rumor had just been proven.
Ace fidgeted a bit as he looked at Diane, "I hope you don't mind if I help you with the fighting training."
Perhaps he was worried about not mentioning it to his favorite sparring partner. Ace was a bit old fashioned and reminded me of the Japanese samurais in the movies my dad used to watch. Keeping secrets from close friends was not something he would normally do if it might affect them.
Diane didn't seem at all bothered by the sudden surprise. She rubbed her hands together with a devious expression, "Oh, this is a surprise, just wait until the others learn that I plan to have you help me whip this bunch of hooligans into shape."
A couple of faces fell in the background as they realized that there were now two fighting trainers. That may have been why Ace had been nervous, he didn't want to displace Diane as a trainer and the others were certainly going to try to get him to teach them stuff considering that everyone had seen that video at least once. I wasn't sure why he had been worried, Diane wasn't one to get jealous of a position.
Ace seemed to realize this now as well. He relaxed and laughed, "I will be delighted to help you with that. They cannot possibly be as fast as you are." He must have noticed the expressions on the other people's faces as well.
Diane grinned in amusement as she played the devil's advocate, "They have been fired for nearly three months, so they aren't that far behind me at this point."
Ace didn't seem that concerned. "Until they can sense the heat as a constant presence, they are handicapped. If all else fails, I will let you handle the energetic ones while I supervise. Oh, there are some others that are planning on coming as well."
There were more people? How did they all manage to keep this a secret? The gossip vine in both the Fort and in our group worked so well that it amazed me that a mouse could run down a hallway unremarked.
Diane was curious, "Who else is joining us?"
"Several in fact, and some of the names were somewhat surprising when I heard them. Most are also leaving quietly."
Names... I wanted names... Was it people I knew? Could Rick or Donovan possibly be joining us? Ace's mischievous avoidance of the information we wanted also made Diane roll her eyes as she gently bunted her toe against his leg.
Her childish reaction made him chuckle before he finally gave in, "Dave and all of his Trader Group have decided to join, Lisa, Monica, Charles, Seth and a good chunk of his Foraging group, and Frances are all coming along."
Dave's group was coming! This was the best news I had heard in a long time! We might have to keep Todd and Nick separated though, having two mischief makers together might be too much for our sanity.
Monica and Seth were actually married and had two kids around my age. I was disappointed that Rick and Donovan weren't coming, but it hadn't even occurred to me until Ace mentioned that others were coming. Matthew once more didn't look surprised, so he either heard about it or had known that they had planned to leave Wainwright Fort.
Nathan was shocked, "That is a lot of people. I am surprised that they kept their departure plans a secret. I don't get why Dave would leave though, he is doing the same thing here."
Ace nodded, "Roland has a much better trading setup and Dave is hoping that he can get his own set of trucks to form a second trading group based out of Sanctuary. Roland made it known that he plans to come by a minimum of three times a year so there is no need for the Trader Groups anymore."
Now I saw what they were planning. Roland would have two trading groups out and trading instead of one, and that would make Sanctuary much more prosperous. Others were also avidly eavesdropping on this new information. Not that it was that hard with Heartfire hearing around a fire...
It wasn't long before they were yawning and I was itching for a run. Trish and Nathan eventually excused themselves and took their leave. Ace accompanied them, although he said he would be returning after dark with his stuff.
I followed Diane on our run. Running through the old familiar forests was still somewhat odd, as if I was trapped in a dream of a distant past. I preferred my current life and tried to shake the nostalgia from me. It still left me unsettled and I made sure to stay close to Diane in case anyone or anything tried to get me to stay at the Fort. I was very glad that we were leaving tomorrow.
Diane left me at the fence as she went to go for a longer run. I headed up the treehouse, it was the only thing I kind of missed from Wainwright Fort. I had already asked Diane, but there really wasn't any way to securely hang my bed at Sanctuary from the stone ceiling. The best she would be able to manage would be a bunk bed style where I got the top bunk.
My current bed was fine and we were in the same room, so I told her not to bother. I still liked Sanctuary better than Wainwright Fort. I yawned a bit as I snuggled deeper into my pile of blankets.