Regardless of how she might have appeared to an outside observer, or even how tired she actually was, Nis did not fall asleep on the airship. Instead, she sat there on her seat, eyes closed, listening to herself breathe. This was something her dad had taught her to do when she was little after waking up from a particularly disturbing dream where she’d relived being killed in a war.

“Listen to your breathing,” he’d told her. “In, and out. Focus on how it sounds, how it feels.”

Nis remembered how it felt, being wrapped up in his arms and sitting there on his lap, her ear pressed against his chest while she listened to both his breathing as well as her own. For the first time in a while she found herself deeply missing her parents. Sure, they’d never had a particularly close relationship but it was moments like this when she remembered the little things they’d done for her, things most any good parent would have done for their child, that she recognized the real love they had for her. What must they be thinking now? Nis was their only child and it was supposed to have been her responsibility to take care of them in their old age. Already she’d been taking on more of the work at home before the archives took her. It was little comfort when she remembered that they’d been given an apprentice in exchange for Nis.

Footsteps approached and then stopped beside Nis’ seat. She opened her eyes and found Lesch standing there, looking down at her.

“The other man who was tracking you, Gorvis, has been caught,” she said.

Nis furrowed her brow.

“Why didn’t you tell me before we got on the airship?” she asked.

“I only just got word of it.”

“How?” It wasn’t Nis who asked the question and yet it was spoken through her mouth.

Nis stiffened but didn’t feel any other signs of her past life rising to the surface. Lesch must have noticed the momentary change in Nis since she took a step back, her eyes nervously looking Nis up and down as if searching for any signs of an attack.

“We just…I mean…” Lesch fumbled.

“Never mind,” Nis said, waving her on. “I’m glad we don’t have to worry about that any more.”

“Of course,” Lesch replied before making her way back to the cockpit.

Tun and Fel were both looking at Nis with interest, though Fel was obviously finding it easier to keep her curiosity to herself. Sure enough, Tun spoke up before Nis could get back to pretending to be asleep again.

“You had people tracking you?” Tun asked. “Did your parents send them? What do you think First Respite will do with them?”

“Yes, no, and I don’t know,” Nis said in a bored voice, hoping Tun would take the hint and leave her alone.

“Huh?” Tun gave her a confused look.

“Yes, there were people tracking me,” Nis sighed, “no, my parents didn’t send them, and I don’t know what’s going to be done to them.”

It took a moment for Tun to catch up even though all Nis had done was answer his questions. He must not have much experience with people actually giving him answers to his rapid-fire questioning.

“I kinda feel bad for leaving our parents,” Fel said softly. “Tun and I talked a lot about our other lives but never much around our parents. It just upset them. When we left we didn’t think we’d be gone for very long. A few days or a week at most. We just wanted to see if we could find the places we remembered. See if they were actually real.”

“Yeah,” Tun said, his voice much quieter and more subdued than was his usual voice. “Huh, I’d almost forgotten. I guess we won’t really be going back there, will we?”

“I don’t plan on going back,” Meric said.

“I can’t go back.” Nis said and regretted it immediately as Tun regained his usual excitement upon hearing Nis’ admission.

“Why not? Are you a criminal? What did you do? Is Meric your accomplice? Oh! Do you even have parents? Are they dead? Did you –

Fel elbowed Tun hard in the ribs, causing him to double over and begin gasping for breath. She grabbed him by the ear and pulled him up until her mouth was right beside his head.

“Absolutely none of that is any of our business,” Fel stated harshly. “You were told to leave them alone. Is that so hard for you?”

Fel let go of Tun’s ear with a light shove and Tun retreated back into his chair, still gasping and rubbing both his side and his ear.

“I’m sorry,” Fel said. “Tun loves meeting people and sometimes he forgets that not everyone shares his…eagerness.”

“It’s fine,” Meric replied. “If things on our end hadn’t been so , um,” she glanced over at Nis who shrugged. “Well, if our trip had been a bit easier we’d probably be fine answering questions.”

“Is that why you’re face is bruised?” Tun asked.

Meric turned a flat stare towards him.

“Yeah,” she said, “and it’s not something either of us like talking about.”

“Okay, sorry,” he mumbled.

“What about you two?” Nis asked, hoping to ease the tension that had been growing. “How was it for you, getting to First Respite?”

“Pretty nice, actually,” Fel replied. “Sentle isn’t very far from Patience so we just borrowed a river boat and sailed on down.”

“Borrowed,” Tun laughed. “I don’t think we can really say we borrowed it, anymore. It’s not as if anyone’s going to be returning the boat.”

“That’s true,” Fel said, her expression falling somewhat. “I hope it doesn’t cost mom and dad too much to replace it.”

“They have other boats,” Tun shrugged, and then added after a brief pause, his voice more solemn, “I kinda wish they’d sent someone after us.”

“Maybe they did,” Fel said, though without conviction.

“They said it wasn’t very common for…for people our age to show up,” Tun said. “That’s why they didn’t let us keep going for so long. Made us wait in case our parents came looking for us. I guess they’re just more used to having adults arriving, looking for answers.”

It hadn’t even occurred to Nis how strange she and Meric must have appeared to Lesch and the others when they’d arrived. Of course it would primarily be adults who would venture out into the Unexplored Wastes. Nis, even with all of her dreams about Mel’s life, had never considered going out there on her own. At most she’d only ever considered it as something she might do when she was older. When she was grown.

“How long did it take you to get to First Respite?” Nis asked.

“About a week,” Tun replied.  “Right?” he asked, turning to Fel.

“It was nine days,” she said. “But we took it pretty slow since we weren’t exactly sure what we were looking for. We’d go a ways, stop, look around, then go a bit further. I bet we could have made it to First Respite in half the time if we’d hurried.”

“That’s not very far away at all,” Nis remarked. “How has no one from Sentle ever found First Respite before?”

“No one ever goes downstream,” Fel stated.

“Why not?” Nis asked.

Fel was about to answer when another voice spoke up.

“I command them not to venture into the Unexplored Wastes. Nothing good ever came from that place and I will execute anyone who disobeys my will.”

It only took Nis a few seconds to realize that she had been the one who spoke and now everyone was looking at her, Fel and Tun with confusion, and Meric with concern.

“I’m sorry,” Nis said at once, rubbing her face and feigning a yawn. “I’m just still really tired. I sometimes say nonsense when I haven’t gotten enough sleep.”

She didn’t bother to see whether or not her lie had fooled any of them and instead turned away once again and buried her face into her bag. She wanted them to carry on talking but even Tun seemed to have found himself at a loss for words. No one had told her how long the flight would take and she hoped it would be over sooner rather than later if this uncomfortable silence was going to be all she had to look forward to for the rest of the trip.