TTT Vol. 2 pt. 10

We joined up with the kids and guards to set up a little picnic area for everybody. We were right at the edge of the island at that point, but obviously not close enough to be in any danger of accidentally falling off. Still, we were close enough that we could feel the wind brushing against us far more than we ever could near the island’s center, which was where the village was set up at. There wasn’t an entire forest in the way to break up the wind. There were other islands nearby with forests on them, sure, but they weren’t close nor frequent enough to disrupt—or rather, to keep the wind disrupted before it could reach us.

Feeling that wind was always nice.

There was only one problem with it all.

I never really thought of my past life when I was in the village. All I thought about was what work I had to do and how I would spend the rest of my life with Lada and Korova while probably working for a refusing-to-die Granny.

But when I was at the edge of the island looking out over the endless sky?

I thought of how… far away I was. I thought of how we were practically removed from civilization out on our island, and I thought about how I used to be a member of that civilization. My old life was somewhere out there beyond everything else.

I couldn’t help but to think about if there were answers waiting for me out there. Somewhere beyond the endless sky and all of its floating islands. The main continent was home to so many different cities and people that there had to be somebody who knew something about me.

But the chances of finding anything out were next to impossible and I knew that. Not only that, but there was a significant risk of me getting killed by somebody mistaking me for a Corrupted. If that already almost happened here, by the nicest people I knew, then the chances of it happening elsewhere were practically guaranteed.

There was also the problem involving having no idea where to look. Just because there were people to ask and places to investigate didn’t mean I would ever get any answers.

I just wished that I could stop having those moments of doubt—those moments of wanting to find out about my past self. I already made the decision to focus on the present instead of the past, but I refused to properly move on.

How could I?

No matter how hard I tried to force myself to, those feelings came back regardless of what I tried.

At least I had good company to keep me distracted. Well, mostly distracted.

Anya had been asking me question about question about me ever since she got all the kids and guards set up with the food and drinks. She got all of them together in one spot, herding the adult guards just as she did the children, before bringing me to a different spot where we could still see them but wouldn’t be listened in on.

She probably asked me more questions within ten minutes than anybody else did ever since I arrived to the island. Not even the island’s doctor, Leon, asked me as many questions as she did.

I loved it. Not only that, but she was just so pleasant about all of it!

Everything about Anya radiated a calm, pleasant sort of energy. From the way she dressed to the way she talked and even walked—everything about her was just pleasant. Lada was cute, quiet, and calm even if she only seemed calm due to a lack of expressive emotion. Korova was large, loud, and took what she wanted while making sure that everybody knew she was around with every step she took.

But Anya was just… normal. Pleasantly normal. Also, while she still clearly had a nice body just going by the way her hips stuck out and how her sweater was pushed out in front of her chest, she wasn’t as… distracting as the others. She had a nice figure, but a normally nice one. Not an exceptionally, “how are you even possible?” one like Lada and Korova.

The best thing about her was her mind. She loved to ask questions and I loved to give answers. There were few things better in the world than inquisitive minds!

Few things better than inquisitive minds…

“Mommy always gets annoyed when I ask her too many questions,” a small, familiar girl said while looking up at me.

“Well, sometimes people can get annoyed when they’re asked too many questions,” I explained, placing a hand on top of her head to pat her and mess with her hair. The way she squinted her eyes as I moved her head around was an adorable sight that made my heart feel as if a thousand daggers stabbed into it. “That’s why you’re always welcome to come to me when you have any questions. I promise that I’ll answer every question you could ever think of for your entire life.”

“Why do you like answering questions so much?”

“Because. There are few things better than an inquisitive mind. It is the thinkers and questioners who change society and create new technologies that improve the lives of everybody. Or to put it more simply, the more questions you ask, the smarter you’ll be. You want to grow up to be smart like Mommy and Daddy, don’t you?”

“I do!”

“Good! So, what did you try asking her this time?”

“Umm… actually, I showed her this.” The girl pulled a note out of her pocket that had dozens upon dozens of questions scrawled onto it. “I’ve been writing down every question I think of all day! I thought it might be less annoying if I ask her all the questions at once instead of whenever I think of them.”

“I… I can see why you might think that would help, but that’s probably going to overwhelm anybody but me. But still, I’m proud of you. You came up with a hypothesis and experimented to see whether it would work or not. Now, what is your conclusion?”

“Umm, my conclusion is that Mommy will say ‘go ask Daddy’ even if I save all my questions for once.”

“That sounds about right. Now, let’s get through this list of yours. What’s first… ‘Why can people feel emotions?’ You know, let’s save that one for last. What else is there… ‘If clouds are made of water then how much do clouds weigh and why don’t they fall?’ You… are thinking of very good questions. Let me look one more time… ‘Is water wet?’ You know, I used to think there was an obvious answer to this, but the answer to that actually feels more complicated than the others now after hearing some of my colleagues debate it. Let’s… go back to that cloud question.”

“Tenta?” Anya asked, reaching out to touch me but hesitant to do so as if worried that she would make things worse. “What’s wrong? Are you sick? Do you need help?”

I felt… wet.

When I brushed a tentacle against the front of my body underneath my eyes, I realized why.

I was crying.

It was impossible not to with the overwhelming pain burning within my heart.

I… I had a daughter. A wife. Part of me already suspected that going by some of my dreams and random memories, but it was likely confirmed with that last memory.

That wasn’t all it made me remember, though.

It made me remember that they were dead.

The girl in that memory—she was gone. She would never return. Nothing in my memories or dreams told me that, but I just knew.

Remembering that filled me with not only sorrow, but rage as well.

I had no idea who or what that rage was directed at, but I knew there was something important I was forgetting. Something incredibly important.

My tentacles trembled, desperate to lash out and change how fate turned out.

But that was impossible.

All I could do was sit there as the memory of my daughter’s face drifted away from me. She was the same girl who I dreamt about before, but I always forgot her face and I was about to again. No matter what I tried, it was impossible for me to hang onto the details as they slipped away one by one like a fleeting dream.

The emotions attached to the memory followed suit.

“Tenta? I—I think I should go grab the guards,” Anya said. “They can get you back to—”

I’M FINE.

She looked relieved as soon as she saw me write something. “Are you sure? I struggle to believe that somebody is fine when they begin to shake and cry like that.”

I REMEMBERED SOMETHING SAD THAT I FORGOT ABOUT. I’M FINE NOW. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONCERN.

“Oh… if that’s all, then I suppose you don’t need to visit Leon.” Anya placed a hand over her chest and sighed. “What a relief. You really did scare me there.” She looked over to where the children were sitting. “And now I’ve realized how unprepared I am if anything happens to any of them. All I know to do is to find a guard who can help me get them to where they need to be, whether that is at home or with Leon. I am… not a very energetic woman, you see.”

YOU SEEM VERY ENERGETIC TO ME.

I was thankful for the topic change.

“Aha… maybe when talking. I more so mean when it comes to my physical ability. Even this outing has been… exhausting, to say the least. But the children have been so bored lately that I couldn’t stand sitting around not doing anything for them.”

YOU ARE A VERY GOOD TEACHER.

Anya smiled and let out a relieved sigh. “Thank you. I know we’ve only just met, but it means a lot to me to hear that from the one everybody is going around calling a hero.”

YOU’RE MORE OF A HERO THAN I AM. EDUCATING THE YOUTH IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT JOBS IN THE WORLD.

“Aww, geez. You’re going to get me all flustered if you say things like that.”

I MEAN IT. IF YOU EVER NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. IF IT MEANS HELPING A TEACHER, I’LL DO ANYTHING.

“Anything? Do you… really mean anything?”

YES.

I knew that there was nobody on the island who would take advantage of anybody else—well, Granny excluded. Granny absolutely loved to take advantage of me and Lada. But, to be fair, the inn was her place and she let us live there and do whatever we wanted as long as we did all of our work. That aside, it was because I knew there was nobody-excluding-Granny on the island who would take advantage of us that I knew it was alright to offer, literally, anything.

Especially when it came to a teacher! A teacher! How could a teacher ever have anything but everybody’s best interests in mind?

“Then… would you mind accompanying me on an outing tomorrow night? After your work is done, of course. And if you don’t have any plans. It could always be another night if you are busy tomorrow’s!”

I THINK I WILL BE FINE FOR TOMORROW.

“Oh, good! I’ll drop by the inn tomorrow night to check.”

IT’S OKAY. IF YOU TIRE EASILY, I WOULDN’T MIND DROPPING BY YOUR PLACE TO PICK YOU UP INSTEAD.

“Honestly… I would appreciate that greatly. Do you know where the town’s reader is?”

YES.

“My house is right behind there! There’s a little alley that goes around to the back where my house is. A nice and cozy entrance tucked away from the main street. The view from my porch might just be the back of another building, but at least it’s a private view I can enjoy without interruption!”

APPRECIATING THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE IS IMPORTANT. YOU WILL RAISE GOOD STUDENTS IF YOU CAN PASS THAT ON TO THEM.

“I try. I really do. But of course, sometimes it is difficult to get a child to appreciate something as simple as enjoying the back view of a building in peace.”

THAT’S UNDERSTANDABLE.

Anya nodded before looking over at the kids again. I looked, too. Looked like they were all done with their sandwiches and drinks. The guards included. That meant my job there was done and that I could return everything to Granny, and I doubted she wanted me to stay there for longer than I needed to.

I HAVE TO GO NOW. THANK YOU FOR THE CONVERSATION. I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO TALKING TO YOU AGAIN.

“Ah, I suppose I have kept you for long enough! I will be looking forward to tomorrow night… very much. Oh, random question. Red or black?”

RED.

Anya lit up a little at my answer. I wasn’t sure what was so exciting about that question and answer, but she liked it. “Red really is such a beautiful color, isn’t it?

I LIKE IT, YES.

She nodded a couple of times before standing up and patting her lap to get any grass and dirt off of it. “I’ll help you collect everything since I know they probably left those jars sitting all over the place.”

IT’S FINE. I HAVE ALL OF THESE.

I wiggled my tentacles.

I CAN DO THE WORK OF TEN PEOPLE AT ONCE WHILE STAYING IN ONE SPOT.

“Doesn’t that tire you out?” Anya asked.

IT USED TO, BUT WORKING FOR GRANNY HAS TRAINED ME. WORKING FOR HER IS THE ONLY THING THAT TIRES ME OUT NOW.

She held a hand over her mouth and giggled. “That does sound like her. Alright. Well, I will at least gather the children to keep them out of your way.

I wanted to let her know that she really didn’t need to do that, but I also didn’t want to shut down every single attempt at her helping me. So, I nodded my body.

THANKS. I WOULD APPRECIATE THAT.

I noticed that she was looking at my tentacles instead of me ever since I wiggled them, but I didn’t think too much of that.

But I really should have.