Martha was the tribe's crazy old lady. She claimed to have seen all kinds of things. Like beasts so large they could smash whole cities with just one foot, and small people like us, but with wings. Though she was looked down upon by the tribe, I had always liked her. Often after group, I'd come over for some tea and stories of her adventures.
I swung my hair behind my shoulders and took a deep breath. It was odd. I'd never been nervous about visiting Martha before, but now I was the one that would start the conversation.
I walked around to the side of the tent with Nathen following. "Stay here and listen," I whispered before trotting over to the front.
"Miss Martha?" I called.
"Ah, Lindsay!” Her familiar voice greeted me from somewhere in the back of the tent. "Do come in!"
I slipped in through the tent flap and shot her a grin. The lady was in her eighties and healthy. She carried a lot of raw beauty beneath her wrinkles. She said each wrinkle was a mark of each adventure she’d been on, and that those people who had only a few, well, she said they’d wasted the only life they’d ever have.
"I was just about to have a cup of tea. Would you like to join me?"
Her rare silver eyes smiled at me below her salt and pepper bangs. Her eyes helped in giving her the crazy old lady title, but she didn't seem to care. She always said that it only matters what you think of yourself. The world will tear down most people and build up only a few.
Martha sat me down in front of a small coffee table toward the back of the tent and poured us some tea. "I told you last time that I'd tell you of my adventure sailing down the Ackon River." She sat down across from me.
"That sounds like a very interesting story, Miss Martha, but I think I have a subject of my own to talk about." She nodded and sipped her tea. I drew in a breath. "You wouldn't have heard of anything like . . ." I stumbled. No matter how trustworthy Martha was, I wanted to keep this whole thing between me and Nathen. "An Upperlander shrinking, would you? Like, down to our size." I winced.
She choked on her tea and put her cup down. Her eyes went wide, but she straightened herself up quickly and cleared her throat. "What would make you ask such an odd question?" She folded her hands in her lap.
I raised my eyebrows. Miss Martha rarely thought of anything as odd. After all, her tales of adventures were far more unbelievable than any unexplainable change in size.
"I don't know, just my crazy imagination, I guess." I fiddled with my hands. She bit her lip, seemingly deep in thought.
"This world's still young, darling. I'm sure it holds many surprises." She went back to sipping her tea. I nodded and took a drink of mine, too, mainly to get a moment to think before I said anything stupid. She stared at her tea, avoiding my gaze. That wasn’t like her. She was hiding something.
"I supposed that with all your adventures you'd know if such a thing were possible." I used the softest tone I could muster. The last thing I wanted was to offend her. She nodded and bit her lip.
"I saw a lot of things in my glory days and odd changes in size and form is one of them. I've told you about the shapeshifters I once came across, if that answers your question." She relaxed in her chair.
I gritted my teeth. She was definitely hiding something.
"I'm not talking about people turning into animals, Miss Martha. I'm talking about Upperlanders shrinking." I tried to cover the impatience in my tone.
Suddenly without warning, she started full out crying. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she tried to hide her face.
I, being the awkward girl I was, could only sit and stare as she bawled.
“How do you know!?” she cried. “You can’t know! Aiden died thirty years ago!”
It was so odd to see her cry. She was always a joyful woman, choosing to look at the happy things in life. She kept on for a few minutes, blathering about things I could barely make out.
“Um, Miss Martha, what are you talking about?”
She glanced up at me, then behind me. I turned around, only to find Nathen’s shadow showing plainly through the tent wall. I should’ve thought that one through.
Her face lit up as if suddenly realizing something, and she wiped her eyes with a handkerchief.
"Nothing, darling. Nothing.” She straightened her posture and took another sip of tea. “Now, as for Upperlanders shrinking, I might know more or less about such a subject." Her eyes twinkled. "It's definitely a thing and you should definitely find your own answers. You have lessons to get to and problems to solve." She urged me off the ground and practically pushed me out of the tent. "Bye-bye now, darling!"
As soon as I was out, she clipped the button to the tent entrance, and Nathen walked around to the front.
"Well, that was odd.” I pursed my lips and shook my head as soon as we were out of Martha's earshot.
"Shapeshifters? Why would you go to her?" Nathen raised his eyebrows.
"She can be helpful . . . sometimes," I mumbled the last part. "She did say this isn't the first time something like this has happened."
"Yeah, but she also said to figure it out ourselves." He scrunched his nose. As we continued walking, the blades of grass around us shriveled and turned brown. What was going on?
"I have lessons to get to," I blurted. The dead grass was seriously creeping me out.
“What?”
Chapter 4
Lessons
I TURNED AROUND AND started walking back toward the village.
"I have lessons every day after group. All Minniemons my age and younger take them. They teach us how to harness our individual abilities and work together to garden." I left out the part about how I should have passed by now and been out of the class altogether.
"Gardening? Seriously?" He half-laughed. I didn't get what was so funny.
"Yes, seriously. It's what we live for. Now stay here." My annoyance showed through my voice.
There was a small clearing where half a dozen kids a little younger than me stood shoulder to shoulder listening to a man talk. I trotted up to the side and whispered to the girl closest to me. "What're we doing today?"
"He's gonna give us each grass seed and we have to get them to sprout," she whispered back.
Nodding my thanks, I turned toward the teacher.
"Pratt, how nice of you to join us." He glared at me while handing each of us one seed. He waved a hand, and we quickly went and found the pieces of ground marked with our name on it.
I moved the small bit of paper with Lindsay Pratt written on it and dug in that spot. When I'd dug just slightly below the surface, I dropped in the seed and buried it.
"Now," Teacher's gruff voice said. "Garden. And remember, the focus is important, but you also have to really pour yourself into it."
I took a breath, managing to forget about the events of that day and anything else that would have been on my mind.
The soil sifted between my fingers as I slipped my hand into it. Closing my eyes, I released the air stirring in my lungs.
After a minute, Teacher's voice brought me out of the trance.
"Time!" He snapped his fingers and my eyes shot open.