Naraka - Ch.6

 We pass many halls, and many rooms again. But it all goes by me in a blur. I'm too nervous and excited to notice anything any more. The two emotions intertwine and blend together, making my heart thump loudly in my chest.
 From various glances thrown to me by Alexis I know she and Amilia can hear it. It's kind of disturbing – when you think about it – that they can hear that. But for this also, I can't get my mind to stop and notice.
 Finally, when – if my sense of guidance is right – we're in the middle of the . . . building, we stop. Before we go and meet them, as Amilia tells me, we should wait until they're done with training. But of course, as she says, we can watch.
 So we walk up a spiral staircase that takes us more than a storey high, and that pours out onto a balcony. There I see a courtyard is laid out in the middle of the building. A courtyard with ground half made up out of sand, and half made up out of grass. On the courtyard I see a big group of young people training their muscles in all sorts of ways.
 They are human, without a doubt. I try to count them, but they're all so far away and moving so quickly, that it takes me some time. At last – I think – I count seventy-four of them, a little less girls than boys.
 ''They are all survivors,'' Amilia whispers, and though her voice is as quiet and soft as a breath; she startles me for a moment.
 I looked at her with questioning eyes, and though she keeps her eyes on the courtyard, I know she sees it.
 ''All fighters, like you,'' she says as her eyes dart mine and she throws me a quick smile.
 ''And not just physically,'' Alexis murmurs, her eyes at the courtyard as well.
 My daze that makes everything blur is starting to wear off; everything becomes clear again. Though, apparently, that doesn't include these women's words. ''What do you mean?'' I ask Alexis.
 She doesn't look at me as she speaks. She just stares off into the distance with eyes that look far away. ''They're all witty: surviving on their insights, just as much as their strengths. They all have their own way of taking on the vampires. And of taking on life in general.'' Her eyes jump to mine, the looks in them friendly. ''Like you,'' she adds.
 I think this through for a moment, mulling it over, and then realize something very obvious that I hadn't thought of before. ''They are all travelers,'' I state, and Alexis confirms my statement with a nod.
 All those humans have had a life like I had . . . I think I'll get along with them.
 We watch like that, on the balcony, for another twenty minutes or so. At first the recruits are all training by themselves, doing many different things. Like running, climbing, weightlifting, push-ups, and go so on.
 Then, for the last ten minutes, they all do something together. They call it 'yoga' – never heard of it. They stand behind each other in eight perfect rows. Then they do all sorts of exercises, all intent on stretching your muscles as far as you can.
 ''Okay, training is over!'' one of the three coaches yells.
 Among the coaches are two men and one woman. They all look fairly young – about Alexis and Amilia's age – and they all look ridiculously attractive.
 Just before the great group of recruits is about to part, Amilia calls out to the coach who spook ''Millow! Could you hold on to them for a minute longer?''
 He turns around, noticing us for the first time as it seems. ''Sure,'' he replies.
 Amilia smiles and takes a step to stand on the very front of the balcony. ''Recruits!'' she calls to all of them. ''A new fighter has arrived,'' she gestures her hand behind her – to me – and beckons me forward. I do as she wants, but with uncertain steps. ''This is Marianna. She's one of us now.''
 Some smile, some clap, some wave - they all act very supportive, but not in an overwhelming way. I like that.
 Then all the recruits slowly leave the courtyard. Some in groups, some one at a time. As I watch I can see the boys and the girls tent to stick together. Probably has to do with the separate quarters, I think.
 Amilia tells me they're all going to the 'dining room' to have breakfast. I don't think I've ever seen a dining room in my life, which makes me curious - but I'm guessing it's a big house thing. When I see all the recruits are gone from the courtyard, we head down the stairs from the balcony.
 There, Alexis says goodbye to us. She hugs me and I try to hug back but I'm not very successful. I stare after her as she leaves and suddenly feel a little lonely.
 "C'mon," Amilia says, "Let's get you some breakfast."
 We walk down the hall we're in, and another one, and another one. After quite a walk we stop in front of two heavy wooden doors. Amilia opens them with way too much ease, but after the days I've just had, I'm passed noticing.
 I peek through the opening of the doors and see a great chamber with a very high ceiling - everything primarily white again. Before we enter Amilia turns around, to me. "And now you're on your own," she says simply, with a smile. She kisses my cheek swiftly and walks away.
 Well . . . let's have it then.  

 I walk through the doors without another moment passing. And when I'm in, I've got clear view of the whole room. In it, I see several tables, all filled with recruits. Here, again, I see the girls and the boys stick together. In the whole room I see only one table where they mingle. On a whim I decide to approach that table.
 As I walk through the room, passing the tables with recruits as I go, I feel like a . . . I don't know what but it's weird because everyone stares. Not obvious open-mouthed kinda stares - thank heaven for that! - but every single one of them peaks at me at least once. It makes me feel uncomfortable, and weird. I walk faster.
 I see nine people around the table I'm heading for: four girls and five boys.  They all look up curiously as I come to halt in front of their table. But no sooner then that, since they seemed all to be caught up in one heavy conversation.
 "Is it okay if I take a seat?" I ask when no one says anything.
 "Sure," one of the girls prompts after a while, since the rest seem to have lost their ability to speak.
 I smile at her in response, trying to lighten the mood, but it barely helps. Then I pull one of the empty chairs from under the table and sit down - with a whole lot of awkwardness, I might add.
 "What's your name?" Another girl asks. She sits right next to me.
 "Marianna," I answer her, my cheeks burning a bit at the way everyone around the table is looking at me.
 The girl smiles. "I'm Kate. And this are Tess, Charlotte and Jane," she says as she gestures to the three girls sitting next to her.
 "Hi," I say lamely.
 They all smile politely, not saying anything.
 "Hey, what about us!" One of the boys says, cutting over our little interaction.
 The corners of Kate's mouth twitch, but she tries not to show it. Instead she rolls her eyes dramatically at the boy who spoke. "Four names are more than enough to have to remember at a time. Besides, we're the only ones important at this table anyway," she says with mocked air, while horribly failing at suppressing her grin at the end.
 And with just this one sentence the whole lot of them throws themselves in a heated discussion of boys versus girls. After a while I feel even comfortable enough to take part, by scoring a point in stating the fact that women, on average, live longer. They all accept it, but the boys are already ready with the next thing that will 'make them better'. As the conversation is pulled away from me as quickly as it came to me, Kate winks at me without anyone else noticing - it feels very private. I'm too baffled by this gesture to return it. And when I recover I'm not sure whether I would've wanted to or not.
 After having breakfast with those other recruits I do know one thing though - for certain - I've gotten terrible at socializing since my life's been drained so much of it in the last few months.
 When breakfast ends, and we're walking through the halls to the girl's quarters, Tess - one of the other three girls - tells me she's my roommate. She seems sweet. Quiet, but sweet. Which makes me wonder how she survived the wastelands . . .
 At the girls quarters Tess pulls me away from the group and shows me my new room. My bag with all my things in it is already lying on my new bed - which does not surprise me at all.
 "Do you like it?" Tess asks, seeming honestly curious.
 I let my eyes slide over the entirety of the room again. It's quite big. So much even, that it's more like two rooms in one. But of course, the way the furniture is arrange helps giving that idea, too. The two beds stand in the furthest corners away from each other. At both ends of both beds stands a desk with a chair. And next to both beds stands four food high bookcases, so you can't see each other sleeping,
 The colors of the room's walls and ceiling are all a creamy white. The floor is the same dark brown wood as all the doors and the furniture in this place. Tess's side is personalized with pictures and posters of all sorts of things. My side looks as sterile as can be. I'll have to change that.
 "Yes, I do," I whisper in answer, not able to hide my awe that this is now my own place.
 I've almost never had a room of my own. Only a few times when I was traveling alone. But I was never in as much a danger as I was when traveling alone, so then, especially, I couldn't stay long in one place. So none of those places became to feel like a home.
 "It's strange, isn't it?" Tess says, saying out loud the words I was just thinking - freaky!
 "What is?" My voice comes out sharper than I intended to, because of the alarm I suddenly feel.
 "Having your own room," she clarifies - can she read minds or what?
 I nod slowly, the look in my eyes suspicious, I'm sure.
 Tess looks at me uncomprehending for a moment and then laughs as understanding crosses her features. "I only know what you were thinking because everyone thinks that their first day here," she explains.
 That makes sense, I admit to myself. I loosen up a bit.
 "Where did you come from?" I ask her, feeling curious in how much her life has been like mine.
 A slightly pained look crosses her face. Pain - something I share with her. But I'm guessing most of the recruits do.
 "I'm from a safe city," she says.
 Okay; never mind having had a similar life - that's definitely not the case.
 My face sours without me wanting it to. Tess notices and hurries to explain herself. "But I wasn't like the average citizen,'' she says.
 I frown. "What were you then?"
 She frowns, too, but because of thinking about something painfully instead of being confused, like me. "My brother was banned a few years ago, so I became a member of the resistance."
 Sure wasn't expecting that!
 "What did your brother do?" The words are out of my mouth before I know it - too late to take them back.
 Her frown deepens. "He hid someone from the authorities and was declared a traitor when they found out."
 I want to ask further, my curiosity flaming, but this time I can stop myself.
 Another question comes to my mind. A very pressing one, also. And now I'm finally talking to another human I dare to ask.
 "Can I ask you something?" I caution her before hand.
 "Sure," she says simply, but a moment later I see she registers my seriousness.
 "What do you know about these people?" I ask, my question purposefully as vague and open as I can make it.
 She blinks. "About the immortals?" She asks to verify, and I nod in answer. "Uhm . . . " she starts and then stops, seeming completely lost.
 "What is it?"
 "Well," she starts slowly, still looking lost. "I'm not sure what to tell you."
 "Because you don't know anything?" I state more than question, my eyebrows raised.
 "No," she contradicts me, "because I'm not sure what I should tell you," she says, looking nervous now.
 So much for the rebel. How on earth did that girl end up in any resistance?!
 I raise an eyebrow sarcastically. "And who thinks you shouldn't tell me things," I say, my voice sharper than I wanted it to.
 Tess narrows her eyes at me. "Marianna, the immortals have done nothing but help us. In return they ask us for only one thing: patience. You'll get to know what you want to know in time, but no sooner than that. So if you want to know anything at all about them, you should ask them. And they'll decide whether they want to tell you or not."
 I'm slightly baffled at her little burst. But the passion she's suddenly shown me does explain more about her life and character. I decide I still think she's likable and sweet, but I don't think she's my kind of person.
 "Okay," I reply in the hope to calm her flaming eyes down a bit.
 "Okay," she repeats dryly. She turns around, away from me, and walks over to the door. "I'll leave you to settle in then," she whispers and leaves the room - my room.
 And hers . . .