Rose and I walked slowly up to our little room. I put Jonathan's family picture up on the carved shelving and sat on the bed staring at it. Rose joined me and held my hand tightly. We sat in the quiet until the dinner bell rang.

“Will you come with me?" I asked her softly.

“I agreed to eat with these strange men, but will you come, too?"

Rose sighed and squeezed my hand. "I'm not leaving through those damned portals," she said bluntly, “so I best do what they want."

I smiled at my friend and was truly glad she was here with me. If we had to change, at Least we could do it together.

Welcome back....

Sorry about the confusion with Rue and Runen's families - the names are too similar. Rue and his Brothers were fake masters, kept our heroine in the wall, and wanted to know about Earth. Runen lived in the mountains with the women and tried to rape her to "teach Damien to share". Should have used more different names.

Read and enjoy..

Dinner with Arik and his Brothers was strange. The men were farmers at heart. ALL they enjoyed talking about was plants, soil, and weather. It wasn't a wasted evening and they did educate Rose and me about what we were eating. It gave the men great pleasure to tell us about the different items we'd picked off the food tables.

Rose and I both made a real effort to behave the way everyone thought we should. We talked to the men and looked at them. Every time Rose looked down I'd pinch her thigh or arm to make her look up. For our first real try, I thought it went very well.

After dinner they insisted we come see the Earth plant they were growing. The women had brought them cuttings and told them it was a plant that originated on Earth. It had been found near a naturally occurring portal before the women shut the thing down.

Rose and I followed the men out the dining hall and into the main thoroughfare. They walked briskly and we had to run to keep up. Finally, I said something.

“Arik, humans walk slower than this! Could you slow down, please?"

The men found our pace slightly annoying, but they understood humans were different. They walked us out to the garage or transport storage space and climbed aboard one.

“I don't know if we're allowed," I said Looking out at the dark night sky.

Arik Laughed hard at that. The noise got the attention of the many other men out here, most appeared to be guards. Since this was their main entrance, that made sense.

"Allowed by who? There is no one to ask permission. You are free to come and go as you wish. Come with us, please. We want to know if it looks as it should. Hannah and Kennedy are too busy to go out and look with us."

It felt like getting into the back of a van with strangers offering you candy, but I climbed on. Rose followed, but the look she gave me was priceless.

“Use the stored solar energy and don't stay out too long,” one of the guards called out in warning.

“Don't make us come out to find you. There is no field work that can't wait until the sun rises, Arik!"

Before I could really feel good about this Arik's Brother raised the craft and we were outside. The men didn't turn on any lights and sped down the mountain slope. Luckily there seemed to be a path they were traveling, because otherwise it would have seemed like we were just wildly careening in the forest.

The moons spread some Light and I was amazed at the scenery. Through the trees the mountains in the distance glittered in certain places. Closer to us I noted that several plants also reflected the light and some of the Leaves almost glowed. This must have been what Hannah and Kennedy saw when they flew away from me. It was unbelievable.