He playfully winked at me and swam away on his back, his black eyes still smiling at me.
I pushed my own slightly damp hair in the back now, realizing he probably had known all along I was nearby.
I should've walked away earlier. Something inside of me had warned me not to be alone with him.
He felt too much like V.
But he wasn't.
I had so many questions but I didn't know if I could ask them. Who was he? Was he really V's brother? What happened to him? Did V know he was alive? Did his parents know?
There was only one question that felt safe to ask.
I stepped from the shore onto dry rocks by the water.
"What's that plant you used?"
I pointed to the floating leaves in the water. He blinked, looking a bit taken aback, but happily swam back to the shore. He picked a flower there.
"They call it soapwort," he said, handing it to me.
The flower was pink and hanging from a long, leafy stem. It had a sweet smell I wished I could bottle.
"Thank you," I looked back at him, as he got closer now. Small drops of water fell from the long strands of wet black hair around his face and neck.
"Look," he said, picking a few leaves out of the plant, gathering them in his hand, and rubbing them together like I had seen him do earlier. "You can make soap with it."
I picked a leaf between my thumb and index finger. Rubbing it between my fingers, I realized the soapy texture didn't even need water to appear.
"You're not used to this, are you?"
I looked back at Vincent, observing me with an amused look on his face, his eyes going between the green foam on my finger and my curious eyes.
I hesitated, not sure of what he meant.
"Nature. Plants. Being outside?" he continued. "It's all new to you, right?"
I stayed quiet, studying him in return. He seemed to know more about me than I knew about him. I feared I would have to hear that word again, the one that Kira used to talk about me.
A debt slave.
But he went in a different direction.
"You were in a clinic most of your life, I heard?" he asked, his body drifting on the surface, legs seeming anchored to a rock under the water.
I looked back at the flower between my fingers.
"Yes," I replied, caressing the delicate petals. "We didn't have much nature there. No clear skies either," I added, looking up to the stars above us.
Just like the last time, the night sky above the oasis was breathtaking.
When I looked back, Vincent was watching me. Only his eyes and nose broke the surface. His shoulders and long arms floated beneath the moonlit water.
"What about you?" I dared to ask.
He didn't answer. He seemed to wait for me to develop, to clarify the questions I really wanted the answers to.
"He said you were dead," I added, hoping it would make him talk.
We both knew who I was talking about.
"It's what they told my parents, yes," he confirmed, his fingers playing with the bubbles on the surface.
So what V told me was true. Or at least, what he thought was the truth.
"What happened?"
He was silent for a moment.
"It was a long time ago," he frowned. "I was about six or seven years old. On a school trip in the Western Mountains," he looked behind his shoulder at the eternity of dunes ahead of us. "Back then... It was still safe to go. Our group got captured by rebels. They wanted us as hostages."
He dunked the back of his head in the water again, gazing up at the stars.
"I think V went to the same kind of school?" he added, though it wasn't really a question. He must've known. He seemed to know a lot about his brother.
V's name coming from a mouth identical to his was disturbing, to say the least. It was also interesting that Vincent knew V had changed his name.
"We were all sons and daughters of the highest-ranked citizens. It was a strategic move to kidnap us. But they didn't expect the government to shift its stance on hostages... The operation was silenced. They claimed we'd all been killed."
"Why?" I asked, horrified.
"No liability that way. No pressure to negotiate. No resources needed to get the hostages back... if there are no hostages," he explained. "And a great reason to double the pressure against the rebels. A few kids made it out, though. Sons and daughters of the highest authorities. I heard they were sent to the Stans to silence their survival. Perks of being the top of the top," he chuckled. "But not for the son of boring scientists," he added, looking back at me. "I wasn't saved. Nobody came for me."
I didn't know what to say.
There was something so cruel in the idea that a government could sacrifice children just because their parents weren't important enough.
Our eyes locked again, and I couldn't help but wonder about how he reacted when he learned what his boring scientist parents had invented following what they thought was his death.
He was just six years old, then.
"We camped in the mountains and moved between canyons for a full year. At some point, I got really sick. I think it was the mumps," he brushed his hair in the back. "Many kids got sick, actually..."
He frowned a little before shaking his head from the memory.
"My whole face and neck were swollen for a long time," he said, gesturing with his fingers around his face to show the size of the swelling.
His fingers were wrinkled from soaking so long in the water, the dirt scrubbed from beneath his nails.
"I remember passing out a lot back then," he said, almost amused. I wondered how he spoke so easily about something so traumatic that had happened when he was so young. "And one day, I remember waking up in Tardigrad."
"Tardigrad?" I echoed.
He looked surprised that I had never heard of it.
"It's where Kira and I come from."
"Firinne too?"
"No. Firinne's from the West. She joined us a few years ago."
I nodded, trying to take it all in. He seemed to realize I really didn't know much about them.
"They call us the Autonomous Territories. But we call ourselves Tardigrad."
"Why were you imprisoned?" I asked without any preamble.
He was so quick at answering my questions, I wanted to ask a hundred more.
Vincent hesitated, weighing what to answer.
"I was caught doing something illegal."
"What did you do?" I asked back already, my eyes widening.
"Nothing that's illegal in Tardigrad," he scoffed.
"But what did you do?"
He smiled.
"I can't tell you that."
I didn't insist.
"And the medications? Why couldn't your group get them the legal way?"
He tilted his head slightly, studying me like someone deciding whether a child should hear the truth.
"I wonder that too," he said. "Why wouldn't medication be shared with anyone who needs it?"
He looked at me like I had a lot to learn about the world. I knew his question was rhetorical, so I remained quiet. I was asking too many questions already, revealing how little I knew about... everything.
But there was one last question I wanted to ask.
"You never thought about going back?" I asked. "Trying to see your parents again?"
"I thought of it. But I found another family here," he said, glancing over his shoulder at the party across the shore. "I was so young... And when I got older... When I started having those thoughts, around thirteen or fourteen... It was also the time I got more... involved with my community here."
I stayed quiet, my fingers curling around the flower in my hands.
"What about you?"
"What do you mean?" I looked up from the delicate petals.
"You never thought of going back?"
"Going back where?" I tilted my head, genuinely confused now.
"Where you were born," he snorted, as if I was missing a joke. "You're not from the City, right?"
"No. I'm from the clinic."
He laughed.
"But you were somewhere else before the clinic."
I blinked.
"I don't remember it. I never thought of it."
None of us did at the clinic. We just knew we were born with a debt and our lives had to be dedicated to reimbursing it.
"Really? I can look it up if you want. You were found as a baby near Solarov, I heard? That's a start. Do you want me to find out more?"
I frowned, realizing the girls really had told him everything they knew about me. He must have been hiding in the tunnel for some time already, long enough to communicate with Firinne and Kira before today.
"Sure," I answered, not sure of what he could find anyway. "I don't see why not."
It seemed harmless to let him try. And maybe I was curious too.
We stayed in silence for a while, the water lapping softly around the rocks.
"Do you think your brother knows?" I asked at some point.
"I don't see how he would know," he said, before glancing back at the group. "I should get going now."
"Of course," I feigned indifference, but deep inside, I wished I could have asked him even more questions.
Where was Tardigrad? What was their world like? Were all of these people coming from there?
I stretched out a hand in his direction, wanting to help him climb out of the water and join me on the shore.
But he didn't take it, and instead, swam away on his back already.
"I'm naked," he said with an innocent smile.
For a split second, my eyes dropped to the water below his visible waist before snapping back up to his face. He was already grinning.
"Oh—"
He burst into laughter and swam away.
I disappeared back through the moringa trees, feeling the flush of red spread all over my skin.
When I reached the other side of the shore, Vincent had already emerged from the lake, water dripping from his hair, a rag wrapped around his hips.
The older woman I'd seen earlier with Kira approached him.
"Matriarch," Vincent greeted her.
She ignored him, her eyes and fingers trailing the veins of a heavy leaf in her hand.
"It's going to rain," she said solemnly.
"Let it come," he replied.
Someone handed him a shirt, and I looked away, too scared he would catch me looking at him again.
I walked away to find Firinne.
Many children were gathered around her. She had a stethoscope around her neck, something I'd seen my whole life at the clinic. The way she moved was exactly like the doctors I had met.
Was Firinne a doctor? She looked like one as she finished examining the last child.
"You shouldn't have brought them. The journey can be dangerous," I heard her say to the parents nearby.
"It would've been just as dangerous to stay," a mother replied, eyes full of worry. "It's spreading fast in our village. We weren't sure the shipment would arrive in time. It seemed safer to come to you."
Firinne had no answer. She simply nodded slowly and checked again with each group that they had received their fair share of medication.
Vincent appeared by her side, dressed in the same warm, earthy clothing the others wore.
"It's time to go. We have a long way back," he told her.
She nodded, and they embraced briefly. Some of the group had already started covering their mouths and noses with masks, a few slipping on bulky goggles.
I realized then that, of course, they had traveled through the dunes until the oasis. My eyes drifted along the dark mountains of sand in the distance, wondering how far Tardigrad was. Some groups had begun to head out already, jumping into cars similar to those I had seen around the Belt. They looked old and rusty.
"Bye, Kirana," Vincent teased, his tone mocking for the sulky redhead who strode past him without saying goodbye.
"Get lost," she muttered, rolling her eyes as she passed by me and followed Firinne inside the shed.
When I glanced back, Vincent's dark eyes seemed to have been waiting for me.
"Good luck, Sade. I owe you one."
Before I could answer, he jumped into a car waiting for him. Firinne called my name, and I followed too, closing the trapdoor behind us.
We returned with nothing, a stark contrast to how we had arrived. We were lighter, quicker, and more focused on moving fast. I couldn't tell if it had been an hour or five ever since we left.
"Thank you for your help," Firinne said when we reached the tunnel under the house. "I don't know what would have happened if the shipment had been delayed any longer."
She let out a long, weary sigh.
"You can count on me," I told her.
At first, I meant it as a polite gesture. But something in Firinne's eyes told me she took it to heart. She squeezed my hands in hers, her gaze heavy, filled with the same despair I'd seen earlier when she was with the children. Behind her, Kira's expression softened. She even smiled at me before they left, and I closed the tunnel door behind them.
The adrenaline surged again as I climbed the ladder, after Poly had launched the mosquito mist. I was still at risk of being discovered. But the house was silent. I checked on V. He hadn't moved much, still curled on his side, asleep in his makeshift bed.
I lay down on my bed, thinking sleep would take me quickly. It was long past my bedtime after all. But instead, I watched the sun rise behind the tall wall, casting light across the ivy leaves.
My thoughts drifted to the cars crossing the desert, on their way to Tardigrad, a place I knew nothing about.
Eventually, I fell asleep, my thoughts still floating around, thinking of a man in the water, laughing.
What did you think of these chapters? 🫣
I'm so excited to get your feedback!! 🥺
🗓️ Next chapters: this Thursday, September 25th 🗓️
PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO VOTE 🥺
Thank you for being here ❤️ We're about to enter the last weeks of updates (I will post more chapters every time) and your support since early July matters a lot to me 🥺 Thank you, thank you, thank you.