two days left

The next morning, Charlene was already standing outside the domicile.

ReNew said, joking, "I wonder which building that hot fate lives in."

"Stop it, ReNew!" Charlene replied, stretching her muscles and jogging in place. She started singing the theme song to Rocky...

"She's ready!!!" Charlene jumped up and down. "I'm feeling good!!"

"Dad had me climbing, running, fighting, and even flying yesterday. Dad was unstoppable when we went one-on-one!"

"But today's a new day."

"It's time for the student to surpass the teacher!"

"You got that, ReNew!!"

Seth had trained and tested Charlene with everything he could the day before. She passed with flying colors, and today was going to be no different.

Seth exited the dome.

"Look at you, little grasshopper," he chuckled.

"You are going down today, Dad." "What will we be doing first? A two-mile run?" She stretched her arms and elbows.

"Nope."

"Well, then, how about some rock climbing?"

"Nope."

"Don't tell me you want to do some boxing, old man." She laughed hard.

"Wrong again."

"Dad, we only have two days left. What do you have planned then?"

"Well, I figured you've excelled at everything else: physical attributes, mental, even psychological. You're pretty good at it. I think we should work on something you're not so good at. We'll spend a day doing that. Follow me."

For the life of her, Charlene couldn’t understand what her dad was referring to. What didn't she excel at?

Seth and Charlene proceeded down the long path into the woods. Since their confrontation a few days ago, they hadn’t really talked, just trained. The woods were beautiful, bursting with life—birds chirping and flying over their heads. Flowers bloomed at a single touch. Charlene was so fascinated by all the wonders of the woods.

"I could really get used to this place," she said, splashing her feet in the creek. "Okay, Dad, you said we weren’t going on a hike or a run. We've been walking for a while."

"We can work on your patience if you like."

Charlene raspberried at her dad, the sound echoing through the woods.

"This place is amazing, but it’s starting to look more like a forest. Are we working on my geography skills or something?"

The further they walked into the forest, the thicker the brush became. It got to the point where her dad had to move branches to continue. They came upon a beautiful waterfall, water flowing around a cliffside, surrounded by what resembled fireflies.

"It’s still daylight; are those fireflies, Dad?"

"Yes, those are fireflies. The animals here look like the ones we have on Earth, but they’re a little different. All the animals you see in this realm are herbivores. They only eat plants here."

Charlene squealed with excitement. "You mean I can pet a tiger?"

"If they let you. The ones I’ve met are real jerks."

"OK, hold your horses, Charlene. This isn’t a Disney movie. There’s still real danger here."

Seth pushed through the brush and into a clearing. He saw lights twinkling in the distance.

"There we go. Come on, Charlene."

"Come on, where are we going? I don’t see anything?"

"Look in the distance," ReNew said.

Charlene squinted and saw something moving in the woods.

"Are those people?"

"Welcome, welcome, come feast with us!"

Charlene recognized the man right away. He was her teacher from the seminary from two days prior.

"Close your mouth, Charlene. That’s becoming a bad habit," ReNew giggled.

Charlene extended her hand. "I wasn’t expecting to see someone out here in the forest." She shook the tall, handsome man’s hand.

"Greetings again, daughter of Seth. My name is Epistata, but everyone calls me Professor E. My nickname was given to me by your father so many moons ago."

Professor E and Seth bumped elbows. They wrapped their arms around each other’s shoulders and walked off, leaving Charlene all alone.

"Great," she muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Let’s go explore. Look at this place," ReNew said joyfully.

"No, I’m good," Charlene said, trying to sit on a log when a horde of little children came running up to her.

"Who are you?"Where are you from?" "What’s that in your hair?" "Can you do my hair like that?"

"Yes, I can do your hair like that. What are your names?" Charlene asked.

"I’m Baxtsy, and that’s Betsy. We’re twins," they said together. Betsy climbed onto Charlene’s lap so she could get her hair done first.

"No fair, no fair!" Baxtsy whined, starting to fuss and throw a little tantrum.

"I’ll do both of your hair, no worries. What’s your favorite color?" The children started shouting out colors, and Charlene eagerly obliged them.

She blinked her eyes and said, "Pimpity poppity boo!" just to entertain the children.

Rainbow colors embraced and twisted in the girls’ hair. Even the boys received a patch of colors in their hair. Everyone shouted with excitement.

"Yeah!" they cheered, running off to show their parents their new hair.

"Ha ha ha! You did an awesome job!"

Charlene spun around to see who was talking to her. "I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you were over there."

"Don’t be. I’m sorry, my name’s Issa."

Charlene immediately looked at the ground. It was the boy from the other day, the one she followed into seminary school. Her face flushed red.

She didn’t know what to say. She’d never talked to a boy before.

"I saw you the other day in class, but we never got a chance to speak. You’re the daughter of Seth, right?"

Charlene’s mouth went dry. "Um, um..."

"Say something, you’re starting to sound intellectually challenged!" ReNew urged her.

"Do you need anything to drink? The feast is about to start." Issa reached out his hand to help her off the log. Charlene was melting inside. "We can get something to drink over here." She followed Issa to the gathering.

Seth stopped talking and looked over his friend Epistata’s shoulder to find his daughter walking with some boy.

"Who’s that walking with Charlene?"

Epistata smirked. "That’s my son, Issa."

Idris, trying to be funny, said, "How cute, Charlene’s made a friend."

"Oh no, she hasn’t!" Seth said quickly.

"Come on, guys," he added. "The gathering feast is about to start."

They all sat down at a long wooden table made with real chairs from Earth. Seth had been gathering all the sec he could find in this realm.

Anyone different from the council was sent away, never to be found again. Seth, Idris, and Professor E had been saving as many as they could. They took them away at night, right under the council’s noses, and brought them into the sanctuary in the forest.

Charlene sat, pondering.

"This feels like déjà vu or something."

She couldn’t place it. She looked at her dad and mouthed the words, "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves."

It was one of her dad’s favorite movies when she was little. He used to play it on DVD.

Her dad looked at her, winked, and grinned. He nodded his head, yes.

A moment later, a really tall man—thick in girth—and a tiny man came and stood beside him. Everyone said simultaneously, "Big John, Little John!"

The drink Charlene was drinking shot out of her nose as she gasped, unable to hold back her laughter. She turned to her father.

"Dad!"

A private joke between them. They both laughed.

With all the turmoil going on in the realm, it was nice to see her dad could find a little piece of joy in this chaotic situation.

Charlene ate until she was full and stood up to join in the music and laughter around her, her dad standing beside her.

"These fates are so different from what we saw when you first came into this realm."

"I like them better," Seth said, looking down for Charlene’s approval.

"Yes, I don’t see what’s wrong with them."

"There’s nothing wrong with them, but they’re different from what they know, and change is scary for fates, whether they’re fate or human."

"I understand, Dad. We have to help them."

"One step at a time, princess."

On their way back to the domicile, Charlene and her father sang along to the music until they were out of earshot, making their way out of the forest.

Along the path, Seth turned and told Charlene, "You passed with flying colors today. You’ve made a new friend, you know how to socialize and relate to fates, and you showed empathy for the sec. I saw how you improvised with the children."

"Oh, you saw that, huh?"

"I wonder if he saw you with Issa?" ReNew teased.

"Stop it, ReNew!"

"Yes, ReNew, I saw the boy talking to Charlene."

She thought to herself, How does he keep doing that? "