During the week, Flora’s time was strictly regimented, with a task for every moment. On the weekends, though, her time was her own. Lately, she’d been spending that time outside.
Their house was small, and it felt even smaller now that Skye was older - Flora didn’t think she’d ever taken up as much space as Skye did just by entering a room.
So, instead of spending her weekend stuck in that little house, she went out to the park.
She’d been sitting on a bench, looking at the natural beauty of the environment, when someone called her name. “Flora?”
She turned around. “Wren? What brings you here?”
He smiled. “I like to get out on the weekends. I usually stay closer to home, but I felt like venturing further out today. I’m glad I did.”
Flora blushed. “I’m glad you did too,” she mumbled.
“What was that?”
“I said it’s good to see you too.”
She looked away. “I’ve been busy.”
“I know, little miss overachiever.”
“Hey! I’m not that much of an overachiever. I just want to achieve my dreams, is that so wrong?”
“What are your dreams?”
Flora hesitated. She hadn’t told anyone else about this, but… “I think I want to be a botanist.”
He nodded. “I can see that. You can do science with plants. That seems fun.”
She grinned. “I think so too. What about you? What do you dream about?”
“I don’t have a dream job or anything like you do. I want to have a close family, and I want to like… live off the land, you know? Live a sustainable lifestyle.”
“You want to be a homesteader?”
“Nah, that would be way too much work. I just want to like, have a garden, maybe some chickens, get a rain barrel, you know? Raise kids who respect the environment.”
Flora nodded. “That’s a nice dream. I feel like I’m scared to dream of a family.”
“Why?”
“Because mine fell apart. My mom left when I was still really little - I barely remember her, but most of what I remember is her avoiding me. My dad left later, and I still have some contact with him, but it’s not really a proper parent-child relationship. I live with my aunt Willow now, and she’s great, she loves me and does everything she should, but when I think about having a family someday… it just doesn’t feel real. It doesn’t seem like something I could have.”
She got choked up at the end of that.
Wren patted her on the arm. “Hey. If you want a family, I believe you can have one. And you don’t have to have a traditional family if you don’t want to!”
Flora wiped her eyes and smiled at him. “I think I do want a family. I just struggle to believe that people can stick around to be my family.”
Wren looked at her. “I think you’re worth sticking around for.”
-------
Skye was excited. She was spending the day with her dad.
Her mom dropped her off at the door, but Skye insisted on knocking herself.
The door was opened by a big, unfamiliar man. “Hello there. What’s your business here?”
Skye, fearless, smiled up at him. “My name’s Skye Doe! I’m here to see my dad.”
He smiled. “So you’re Conor’s little girl! I met you when you were a baby, but you won’t remember that. Come in, I’ll bring you to your dad.”
Skye waved goodbye to her mom and walked inside. She was led behind the house to a shed, where she heard a familiar voice coming from inside.
“I found this on my latest expedition. Can you tell what it is?”
A child’s voice responded. “It’s an artifact!”
The door opened at this point, and the older man called in. “You have a visitor, Conor!”
“I’m Anna. Who are you?”
Skye frowned. “I’m Skye.” She gestured over at her father. “This is my dad.”
Anna’s eyes were wide behind her glasses. “Really? I didn’t know he had kids. Why don’t you live here?”
“Oh.” Anna tilted her head. “Do you like artifacts too?”
“What are artifacts?”
Conor had turned around at this point. “Do you want to learn about my work, Skye?”
Skye’s eyes lit up. “Yes!”
He ushered her over to the work table. “This is an artifact, what you see right here. I excavate them from the ruins of ancient civilizations, clean them up, and try to reconstruct what we would have seen them doing in ancient times.”
“What would they do?”
“These artifacts, when put together properly, can have amazing powers.”
That was vague, but before she could ask what he meant, the man who’d brought her in poked his head through the door again. “Conor? Anna? Pack meeting.” He looked over at Skye. “You can come too, if you’d like.”
Skye shook her head. He didn’t try to persuade her. The others filed out of the shed, and Skye was left alone.
Skye intended to wait patiently. She only made it a few minutes before her gaze was drawn back to the artifact on the table. It had amazing powers, her dad had said. It didn’t look like it had amazing powers, but maybe they were hidden?
She picked up the artifact and turned it over. Maybe there were batteries inside? She’d watched her mom fix her alarm clock a while ago after it stopped working, and the first thing she’d done was take off the panel on the back and change the batteries. Skye had found it fascinating, the way all the little parts fit together to do something none of them could do alone. Maybe this worked the same way?
With that in mind, she turned the artifact over, looking for a part she could pry off to see the working parts inside. She found a seam, worked at it until there was a crack, and until finally the whole side of the artifact came open. Before she could look at what was inside, the door opened, and a loud gasp sounded from the doorway.
Skye looked up, while Conor was already rushing over to grab the artifact. “Skye, what have you done? You’ve broken it!”
Anna, standing just behind him, just stared at Skye with owlish, disapproving eyes.
Conor placed the artifact carefully back on the table before turning back to Skye. “What were you thinking?”
“I was trying to see how it worked…”
“By breaking it? Skye, you’re old enough to know better. Anna’s never broken any of my artifacts.”
“How should I know about-”
“Why don’t you go back to the house. I’ll join you when I’m done with this.”
As instructed, Skye left the shed, but she lingered outside for a little longer.
Standing outside, she heard her father’s voice once more, now much gentler than when he was speaking to her. “Do you want to watch me fix it? Be careful, I’m going to reattach the side.”
Skye made it back to the house. She locked herself in the bathroom before she started crying.
Author's Note: I finished writing Chapter 20 today! I'm planning on taking pictures for the rest of the generation tomorrow, and then the uploading spree will start. You have about a week before the heir poll opens, and then you'll have about two weeks to vote. Hopefully you can choose a favorite! Next time: romance!
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