With Eyes Like the Moon & the Stars

I awoke before Natasha the next morning, and my very first thoughts were that I was incredibly hungry. It wasn't until then that I realized I'd lost the bag that had contained what little food and water I'd had. I must have lost track of it in the chaotic events of the day before.

According to the watch I always kept with me the day was still young; it was just after eight o'clock. That meant that there would still be plenty of time for me to search for something to eat.

I got up and looked around myself. The room around me was rather large, perhaps two hundred feet long and one hundred feet wide, with a impressively high ceiling and a single doorway that would have been big enough to provide an exit and entrance for trucks and cars. Though the fact that the only light was that provide by the open door made it difficult to see well, I could tell that the room was completely empty, with the exception of ourselves and a few miscellaneous wooden crates. My guess would have been that at one time this had been a warehouse of some sort.

A moment later I glanced at Natasha to see that she was still asleep, and when I found she was I went to the door to examine our surroundings. I suppose I'd secretly hoped to discover a place where I might find some food and water, or that I'd dropped my bag just outside. Unfortunately, no such discovery was made. I did, however, notice something.

If I looked very carefully I could just barely see a figure walking far down the street. However slowly, they were steadily coming closer.

Back inside I could hear Natasha moving about. I disappeared back into the shadows to consult with her.

Her thoughts upon awakening were not unlike my own, and as she saw me approaching she chose to voice them.

"I'm hungry." She mumbled, sitting up. "Do you have anything we could eat?"

I knelt beside her. "No, but I'm working on that." I said. "But for now stay quiet."

"Why?" She whispered.

"I think," I glanced through the doorway again. "I think someone's coming."

Her fear was plain on her face then, so I did what I could to reassure her.

"It's alright." I said soothingly. "We're safe in here, I promise. You just need to stay quiet. Can you do that?"

She gave me a feeble nod, and I returned to the door careful to stay quiet myself. I peered through the door way and saw that the person was much closer, so close, in fact, that I could see who they were.

The person slowly approaching was a young Adran soldier, but not just any Adran soldier. This was the same one I'd met one day earlier. He walked down the street, seemingly unarmed, though I reminded myself I must assume nothing. He was carrying nothing but the same bag he'd had with him yesterday.

"What could he possibly want now?" I whispered to myself.

"Who?" Natasha asked.

I only turned around to shush her before continuing to watch the young soldier as he approached.

I backed against the wall, closing my eyes and holding my breath as he passed by the warehouse. And yet, just as had happened the day before, a sound was made just as soon as I thought he'd gone. I had turned to silently walk back to Natasha, and being the clumsy person I am I tripped over my own feet and landed in the dirt.

I lie there on the ground a minute, cursing myself, and the poor lighting, and the world in
general when I heard the young soldier turn around and begin heading in our direction again.

"Who's there?" He called.

This time, sensing he wouldn't have given a warning by calling out had he intended simply to kill us, I stepped cautiously out of the warehouse and faced him.

"Hello again." he said as though he were greeting an old friend. I looked him over. He looked as exactly as he had the day before: black hair and pale skin that were very out of place in Lucia, and dressed in his uniform.

"What do you want?" I asked, crossing my arms in obvious disapproval.

"What do I want?" He asked, and just as he had the day before he took off his bag and began searching through it as he spoke. "I don't want anything. I just thought perhaps you may need some help."

"Some help from you?" I asked him. "I thought I made it very clear yesterday that I do not want your help."

He only chuckled. "Oh you made it crystal clear, trust me. That's why I never did say I thought you wanted my help. I said I thought you needed it."

I had opened my mouth and begun to respond to that, when I very suddenly stopped and began paying attention to the object that he had just removed from his bag.

It was a small bag made of tan fabric, and it had a picture of a tree stitched on it in black thread. It was the type of bag that one would wear over their shoulder, and it took me no time at all to recognize it as the one I'd lost yesterday. He smiled, pleased by my look of disbelief, then he tossed it to me.

"I thought perhaps you might be needing this." He laughed.

"Where did you…" I was still quite surprised and having trouble forming sentences. I started again. "Where did you get this?"

"You dropped it yesterday when you stopped to help that girl." He answered. "I would have given it back sooner, but the Lieutenant took it and kept it for himself." The expression on his face revealed he had very strong hatred for the Lieutenant. "The greedy pig. I do wish I could see the look on his face when he discovers someone stole it from him."

I opened the bag and began removing various items and inspecting them. My water bottle, my food, a few changes of clothes, they were all there and, for the most part, exactly as I had left them one day earlier. I looked at the young soldier again. Still, for some reason, I was not quite ready to trust him.

"And how did you know it was mine?" I asked, staring him down with suspicion as I replaced the bags contents and closed it up. He seemed unfazed by attempts to make him feel uncomfortable.

"I'd been watching what was going on down that street for a while." He explained. "And I saw you drop your bag when you stopped to help her."

"Well…" I asked. I was still trying to disprove his story, but growing very desperate. "Well, how did you know where to find us?"

"That was simply luck. I had guessed you wouldn't get very far since your friend's leg was badly injured, so I just decided to have a look around the place where'd I'd first seen you. And I ended up here."

"Well," I said, struggling to find another flaw in his explanation. I accepted my defeat. "Alright." And with that I left him in the same way I had the first day, turning on my heal and striding back into the warehouse.

"I have to go now." He called after me, acting as though the conversation had been ended by him. "But I will be back."

That last part had caught my attention. I stopped walking. "What?" I said. "No, don't… come back…" But it was pointless. He was already headed back the way he came and paying me no attention whatsoever.

***

I returned to Natasha, who gave me a questioning look, to which I replied with a simple, "I'll explain in a minute." Then I held up the bag. "I've found some food."

That caught her attention for sure, and as I pulled out a small loaf of bread and split it into four pieces she watch me eagerly. I handed one piece to her and kept another for myself, saving the last two for later.

I sat down in front of her, and as we ate our bread and emptied the small water bottle that had been in my bag as well, I shared with her my first encounter with the young Adran soldier.

"How strange." She said when I was done. We were finished eating by now and I had begun occupying myself by replacing the bandages on her leg.

"Would you trust him?" I asked her, looking up from my work.

"I guess so." She answered. "He's just trying to help, isn't he―" Here she cringed in pain as I tightened her bandages.

"Sorry, have to keep them tight. Helps stop the bleeding." Then I continued the conversation to help distract her from the pain. "But what if he doesn't just want to help? What if it's… I don't know, a trick of some kind?"

Natasha thought about that possibility. Evidently it hadn't even occurred to her. "You know, you're right." She said. "We'd better be careful around him."

"I'm trying my best." I pulled tight her bandages one last time, causing her to cringe yet again, and then I back away. "Finished."

She was very obviously relieved that I was done. I put the rest of the bandages back in the first aid kit and shoved the old ones aside with the rest of our garbage. Then I cleaned up the remains of our small meal and when I'd at last run out of things to tidy up I again took a seat across from her.

"Do you think he really will come back?" She asked.

"I certainly wouldn't be surprised if he did."