(Photo by Alfo Medeiros)

The world had gone insane, Mel decided. In the year she had been gone, people had gone from being mostly rational to crazed fanatics. In all her lives she’d never seen anything like this. Sure, there were times when people had gone to war with one another and that was a sort of madness all of its own but this was something else. This went beyond a simple land dispute, beyond insulted nobles, beyond everything else she could think of.

Across her lap lay the source of all this turmoil, a sleeping girl. Tique was barely seven years old and yet she’d already begun to remember significant parts of her past lives. One life in particular stood out and it was those memories that had apparently made the world lose its mind. Mel had only heard bits and pieces of the account and wasn’t sure how much of it was true or exaggerated. Given the trauma Tique had already been through, Mel hadn’t asked her to tell her side of things.

As it was, militias had brought down the monarchy and were now so busy fighting among themselves that no one seemed to notice that the crops weren’t being tended and that a famine was sure to come as a result. What made things worse was the fact that none of the militias seemed to be able to agree on what the exact problem they were trying to solve was. Some claimed they were trying to preserve a future for their future lives, others said there were too many, or too few, people being born and that if they didn’t resolve that issue then the reincarnation cycles could be interrupted. Others still argued that the reincarnation cycles themselves were to blame and that people ought to find a way to detach themselves from it. Although, how people were supposed to detach from their past lives was never explained.

In the end, all of the confusion led back to Tique and her past life. The one thing the militias could agree on was that Tique was the source of the problem and that killing her would help them in furthering their goals. For the past couple of months, Tique had been sheltered by the few sane people remaining and, when Mel had returned from her last expedition, had asked her to take Tique and hide her away. Everything had happened so quickly that there hadn’t been time for anyone to really explain the full truth about how all of this had happened in so short a time.

Looking out the window, wide grasslands spread out beneath them as their airship flew along. Mel wasn’t overly fond of airships but was glad she’d taken the time to learn to fly them. Traveling by land would have required them to pass through a dozen towns and it was risky enough making this journey on her own. Traveling with Tique would certainly not remain a secret for very long and the fewer people she needed to interact with the better. More importantly, though, flying her own airship meant there would be as few people as possible who would even know where Mel had gone, let alone that she had taken the girl.

On the horizon Mel could just make out the edge of the Uncharted Wastes. If the weather continued to hold out and provide them with favorable conditions they should just about be able to make it to their destination by nightfall.

Just as she thought that, the airship jostled slightly. It was normal, Mel knew, for the airship to sometimes do that. It had something to do with the air they were flying through and whether it was still or moving, humid or arid. Clouds were always a source of that kind of jostling but clear air could sometimes be just as bumpy.

Tique, who was far less accustomed to flying, bolted upright, terror on her face.

“It’s okay,” Mel said at once. Up until that time, Mel had thought Tique was asleep but now realized that the young girl had been wide awake the entire time. It was a relief to Mel that she hadn’t been thinking out loud as she often did while exploring. The thoughts she might have given voice to, had she been less careful, would have certainly terrified the girl.

“Are we safe yet?” Tique asked, her panic only slightly lessened.

“We are well on our way,” Mel said.

“Are we safe?” Tique asked again, noticing that Mel hadn’t given her a straight answer.

“I think we’re safe,” Mel assured her. “You see that forest?” Mel pointed towards the horizon and Tique, looking in that direction, nodded. “That’s the Unexplored Wastes, but to me they’re home. I know almost everything there is to know about them and that’s where we’re going.”

“And we’ll be safe because no one can find us there?”

“That’s right.”

Tique stared towards the treeline for some time, alternating between biting her lip and biting her fingernails. She was such a small thing, Mel thought, especially to have to face such terrible things. Regardless of whatever her past life had known or done, that was no reason to–

“I miss my old life,” Tique said, interrupting Mel’s thoughts. “I was sad and alone then, but I think that’s better than being afraid.”

“Can you tell me about that life?” Mel asked, trying to sound conversational.

“We couldn’t have babies,” Tique said. “So we all grew old and watched everyone else die. I was the last one.”

Mel had heard of people who couldn’t have children. While certainly tragic for those who wanted them, it didn’t sound like a reason for so many people to want to kill Tique.

“That must have been hard on your town,” she said.

“It wasn’t just my town,” Tique replied. “It spread until no one could have babies.”

“Were people sick?”

“Some people thought so, but no one acted sick.”

“Is that why the people got upset?” Mel asked.

Tique shrugged. “I told my dad about my dreams. Then some other people came over and they said they had similar dreams. Then lots of people started to get upset. My dad and his friends started going to meetings and he’d always come home angry. Then, one night my mom came and woke me up. She said we needed to go away. Dad was still at his meeting, I think, because he wasn’t home yet. Then everyone started fighting and we kept moving, living in people’s root cellars.”

She fell silent and Mel thought she knew why. When she’d agreed to take Tique, the people who had been hiding her explained that Tique and her mom had been discovered by a mob a few weeks previous and that only Tique had managed to escape. Only the attackers knew what exactly had happened to Tique’s mom but it didn’t take much imagination to figure out the overall result of her being captured.

Mel rested a comforting hand on Tique’s shoulder. What had those people imagined up to themselves? Certainly it was a terrifying thought, an entire land losing the ability to have children, but what did they think they would accomplish? There was no sign that such a thing had begun to happen here, had there? She figured that if that had been the case then she would have heard about it.

“Do you have kids?” Tique asked with such an abrupt change in mood, going from solemn to bright, that it startled Mel.

“No,” she said.

“Are there kids where we’re going?” Tique asked, her cheerful tones becoming somewhat muted.

“No,” Mel replied again.

“There were kids at some of the other places mom and I stayed at but I wasn’t allowed to play with them,” Tique said, returning to her former self.

“Were there kids in your town?” Mel asked, and then added, “In this life’s town.”

“Yeah,” Tique replied and her eyes regained a bit of their happiness. “I use to get to play with other kids all the time.”

“Were there any kids younger than you?” Mel asked, a nagging thought growing in her mind ever since Tique had told her about her past life.

“Yes,” Tique stated firmly and shot a glare at Mel. “Lots of kids were born after me. No one has trouble having babies because of me.”

Clearly, Mel had not been the first one to hint at such a thought and Tique had heard such accusations enough times to know exactly what Mel had been thinking.

“I’m sorry,” Mel apologized but Tique just crossed her arms and leaned away from Mel.

“It’s not my fault,” she muttered as tears began to run down her face. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Mel didn’t know what to do. She’d never had any kids of her own, and although plenty of her past lives had had children, she’d never paid those lives much thought. She was too busy exploring and having adventures to dwell long on those more domestic experiences. While she watched uncomfortably as Tique cried and sometimes managed to croak out what sounded like ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’, Mel hoped very much that her relationship with the little girl would improve. She absolutely did not regret taking the girl into her keeping, but an indeterminate amount of time with a child that she did not understand or got along with very well did not sound like the makings for a very pleasant time. Of course, Tique hadn’t had a very pleasant time for quite a while now and Mel felt a stab of guilt for thinking so much about herself and not about Tique and her well being.

Below them, trees began to speed past as the airship crossed over into the Unexplored Wastes. Mel waited a few minutes, flying low above the canopy to ensure that anyone who may have seen them flying out into the wastes wouldn’t see where she set her course. After a few miles, the ground began to drop away beneath them and Mel turned the airship to face into the now setting sun. In another hour or so they’d reach their destination and–

The airship jolted, but this time it didn’t feel like the usual turbulence. The airship shook again and this time Mel heard the bang of an explosion. With no time to think, Mel pulled Tique from her seat, held her tight against her body, and kicked the emergency hatch open. It was intended to be used as a means of escaping after a crash but as more explosions rocked the airship Mel knew they wouldn’t survive this crash if they stayed inside the airship.

In an instant, Mel and Tique were free-falling. A moment later, the airship, which was already pocked by burning holes in its hull, exploded in one final blast. The shock wave of the explosion pounded into Mel, driving the breath out of her lungs and leaving her feeling as though every inch of her body had been hit by a massive club.

The next few moments were filled with Tique panicking and Mel trying, unsuccessfully, to calm her down. In a rush the canopy enveloped them and pain became the only thing that Mel was aware of for some time. However, the pain did not yield to unconsciousness or death, as Mel had expected it would, and eventually she began to be aware of her surroundings.

Night had fallen in earnest by this time, though there were spots around her that glowed with the familiar aura of fire. She did not try to move at first, instead waiting until she was cognizant enough to recognize which parts of her body were badly broken and which ones were merely in pain. How she’d survived was principle among her thoughts, considering they had fallen from such a height. As her vision grew more steady, she was able to make out more details around her. She was laying on a rather soft bit of ground near one of the many bogs that were scattered throughout the Wastes. Beside her was a large willowy tree whose roots she had narrowly missed on her landing. The tree’s branches, many of whom she could see were snapped, must have slowed her descent enough that, when combined with the soft ground of the bog, had allowed for her to survive. Still, as she began to test out her body, she was both unsurprised and discouraged when she found that both her left shin and forearm were broken. Several of her ribs on that side also felt as though they were broken. Fortunately, none of the broken bones looked like they would need to be set. A basic splint would suffice for now.

“Not good,” she murmured.

Broken limbs weren’t unknown to her. She’d been injured many times before and had learned to take care of herself but any one of these injuries would have made survival difficult. Together, they made her seriously doubt her chances of ever getting out of this place. However, she’d been in tight spots before and she’d never allowed herself give up.

“There’s some straight sticks,” she told herself, “lash some to your leg, and some to your arm. Take your time. Go slow. Don’t make them worse by rushing. Use tree roots for rope. You can replace them later with proper bindings.”

Speaking aloud the steps she needed to take helped to distance herself from the pain and kept her from going into shock. It was almost beyond her ability to withstand the pain as it was as she began to move about. She avoided moving her body as much as possible, grabbing whatever she could with her relatively uninjured right hand. Pulling at the roots was by far the most painful part of the operation since she had to use the weight of her body as leverage and that meant straining her torso. Every tug felt like knives in her chest, highlighting each and every broken rib. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much she’d be able to do for those. Broken ribs were one of those injuries you just had to hope you never got since they were so slow to heal and incredibly painful the entire time.

Mel had no idea how long it took her to bind her wounds. It was a small relief that none of the broken bones had punctured the skin but she found plenty of other open wounds from when she’d crashed through the tree. Moss grew thick here, fortunately, and she used pads of moss to act as temporary bandages to keep her wounds from bleeding too much as she worked. Those wounds would need to be cleaned properly of course, and soon, but for now she just needed to keep from bleeding out.

It was nearing dawn when Mel was finally able to get up, using a long, forked branch as a crutch and steadying herself against the tree trunk. The wreckage of the airship had burned itself out during the night and no more smoke rose into the air. That was good, since it would make the task of any search party looking for their remains unlikely to be successful.

With the growing light of day, Mel set about the unwanted task of finding Tique. She knew it was incredibly lucky for her to have survived the fall. It was too much to hope for to expect Tique not to have perished in the crash. They’d been holding hands right up until they hit the canopy so she knew Tique wouldn’t be far away.

It was with some considerable shock and amazement then when she found Tique, sitting quietly just on the other side of the tree, resting her back against the trunk. Her face was a mess of deep cuts and bruises and her right arm was cradled awkwardly in her lap, but she looked otherwise alright. There was a trail of twigs leading from Tique to an impression in the bog where a surprising amount of twigs and feathers also lay.

Looking up, Mel could see the branches where Tique crashed through the tree and saw the remnants of what must have been, until very recently, a substantial bird nest. Tique must have hit it and, given her small size, been able to use it as a cushion in addition to the soft boggy ground.

“We’re probably to two luckiest people alive,” Mel said.

Tique didn’t respond. For a split second Mel thought that perhaps Tique hadn’t survived after all but the girl was obviously breathing.

“Hey, can I take a look at that arm of yours?” Mel asked.

Again, Tique gave no sign that she had heard or seen Mel. It wasn’t easy, getting back down to sit beside Tique but she managed it. She looked Tique over carefully, checking to see if there were any signs of head trauma or other injuries she hadn’t yet seen. When she was certain there wasn’t anything else, Mel turned her attention to Tique’s right arm. It didn’t look broken, which was good, but it was dislocated at both the shoulder and the elbow.

“I’m going to fix your arm,” Mel told her. “It’s going to hurt a bit but it’ll feel much better later on, okay?”

No response.

Mel shifted herself around so she could better perform the operation. The elbow would need to be set first, then the shoulder. With her own left arm broken it was going to be painful for both of them since Mel needed to use both hands.

“One…two…three!” Mel counted and then, with a pop, set Tique’s elbow back into place. They both cried out in pain but Tique recovered much more quickly than Mel who had to put pressure on her broken arm for some time before the pain subsided enough for her to let it go. Setting Tique’s shoulder would be no less painful and it took an incredible amount of will power to overcome the fear and trepidation over the pain she knew was sure to come.

“Ready for the next one?” she asked through gritted teeth but didn’t wait for a response.

Mel gave no countdown this time and just forced the shoulder back into its socket. Again the each cried out. This time the pain was too much for Mel and she blacked out. Upon awakening, she was relieved to find that not much time had passed as it was still quite early in the morning. Tique still sat where Mel had found her, staring off into the distance as though Mel weren’t there. Not wanting to move again just yet, Mel remained lying on her back where she had collapsed.

“We need to see if we can find our supplies,” Mel said as much to herself as to Tique. “This bog saved us but it might also swallow up whatever else has landed on it. One of us will need to go out and see what can be found. There was food onboard, and supplies to make a shelter. We may even find some clean bandages.”

The sun continued to climb and neither of them moved from their respective places. Mel had no idea what was going on with Tique. Was she injured in some way that Mel couldn’t see? It didn’t look like she’d been hit in the head that hard, all things considered. Maybe the terror had been too much for her and she’d just shut down.

“Tique,” Mel said as midday approached. “I’m getting real thirsty and I bet you are too. We need to find some water to drink or neither of us will last much longer.”

Tique shifted her weight slightly. Was that a sign of recognition or was Mel just looking for a sign where there wasn’t any?

“Here, come on,” Mel grunted as she began to ease herself back up. “Stand up.”

Tique’s blank expression didn’t change but as Mel got to her feet Tique followed.

“Good girl,” Mel sighed, wincing as she tested putting some weight onto her broken leg, “Let’s see what we can find upstream, shall we?”

It was going to be a slow and painful search but Mel had made a pretty good mental map from the night before regarding where she’d seen the burning wreckage. Those would be the most likely places to search and most of them had, quite fortunately, been upstream where they would also find fresh water. The bog, for all of its benefits, was certainly not a place to find fresh water.