Harmony

The scream woke Suria. She knew instantly that it was Pixie. She got out of bed in a rush, desperately concerned. Several thoughts assailed her. Was someone or something in Pixie’s room? Was she having a bad dream? Did anyone have bad dreams in this place?

As she rushed out across the living room she heard the front door open. It startled her significantly. She barely managed to avoid a scream herself. She quickly recognised Le, but this didn’t stop her heart from beating rapidly. At least not yet.

“You okay?” Le’s voice was a whisper.

“Yes!” Suria whispered with urgency, still shaken. “It was Pixie. I have to –” She ran into Pixie’s bedroom. Le followed her.

Pixie was sitting up in bed. In the moonlit room, a look of terror clearly showed on her face. Suria moved quickly to the bed, sat down next to Pixie and put her arms around her.

“It’s okay Pixie, I’m here. It’s okay. It’ll be okay” Suria stroked Pixie’s blonde hair and as she did so Pixie gratefully nestled against her chest and began crying, giving in to it fully.

Remembering Le was also in the room, Suria motioned for her to sit down next to Pixie as well. The more support the better. Le glanced at Suria and sat down on the other side of Pixie, putting her hand on Pixie’s knee.

“Le is here too. We both heard you scream. Are you okay?” Suria felt Pixie lift her head as if to acknowledge Le’s presence.

“Oh, thank god, oh it was horrible. Oh, thank god.” Her tears were easing as she spoke.

“What happened, sweetie? It’s okay, you’re safe now. You can tell Le and me.” Suria glanced at Le, motioning to her that she should say something.

“Yes, it okay, Pixie. You safe now.” Le’s voice had a strange, forced tone to it. From Le’s expression and forced tone, something was going on with her as well. Now Suria had two problems. Pixie first though.

“Thank you… thank you. Oh… there they are.” From Pixie’s words, the waves of peace had arrived. That was a relief and would help, but Pixie still needed to talk about what had happened. Suria also needed to find out what was bothering Le.

“So you had a dream?” Pixie nodded against her. “Do you want to talk about it, or… maybe not?”

“No, it’s okay… I… can you turn the light on?”

“Oh, yes. Sure sweetie, we can. Le?” Suria pointed to the wall behind Le. There was a toggle button there. “Just press that. Excellent. Thanks.”

In the now much brighter bedroom, Suria gave Le a look of compassion and concern, hoping to ease whatever was bothering her. Le was still clearly disturbed by something despite her attempts to keep a neutral expression. Her body language wasn’t great, and that’s what gave it away. Suria was struggling within herself trying to decide which crisis to manage, the more she looked at Le. She hoped Le had received the waves of peace as well, but there was no outward sign.

“Tell us what happened only if you want to.” Suria wasn’t finding it hard to express the compassion she felt towards her housemate and friend. She really was genuinely concerned for her. Nothing like this had happened in the nights that she had been here. They had all been peaceful.

Pixie started speaking, slowly. “I… I had a dream the first night. When I was here by myself. That dream the first night wasn’t nice, but this was way worse.”

“Go on.” Suria glanced at Le, who definitely appeared distracted, but was doing her best to hide it. Suria must do something to help Le. She partially released Pixie, who was calmer now, so that she could take Le’s hand and squeeze it gently. She could feel Le’s instant appreciative response, but it would have to wait. One crisis at a time.

“I was in a dark room, trying to sleep. There wasn’t much light. It was like this room before you turned the light on Le, but darker. Then a door opened and as soon as it did an evil man walked through in the doorway. I couldn’t see him clearly; he was just a shadow, but I there was this pure evil coming from him. I could sort of see his face but not really. He began moving towards me and I was paralysed. I tried to move but I couldn’t; I was terrified. He was almost to my bed, and then I saw…”

Pixie stopped talking. She was trying to describe something she didn’t want to recall. Suria could only guess at what it might be. She needed to intervene so Pixie didn’t have to describe anything that was going to upset her even further.

“You screamed at that point? No need to tell me anything else if you don’t want to. At least not now.” Suria’s words produced a slow nod in response from Pixie and then silence, as if she was done talking. She moved away from Suria and appeared quieter and more reflective, smoothing her own hair and wiping her eyes gently.

With Pixie more settled after having gotten the details of her dream out, Suria needed to find out what was bothering Le. She didn’t know her nearly as well as Pixie, but it was obvious things weren’t right with her either.

“Le… are you okay?” she asked, gently.

Le regarded her for a moment, as if deciding what to say. Then she spoke. “No, not okay Suria. Sorry, not good time for more problem.”

“Oh no, please, I am here and if I can help you I will. Something happened to you since we left the community centre?” As Suria spoke to Le, she was glancing back and forth between her and Pixie, unsure who she should be giving priority to. Pixie was now eyeing Le with curiosity and a little compassion of her own. It struck Suria at that moment how the three girls together shared some sort of indefinable bond – a unique friendship within the larger group. It was early, and it was subtle, but it was there. She liked the thought, but now was not the time to indulge it further. Le needed help of her own. Right now.

“What happened to you, Le? Bad dream as well?” Suria thought that must have been the likeliest scenario.

Le was more willing to open up. “No, not dream. I not sleep yet.”

“You’re not tired?” Pixie was now engaged in Le’s situation, and this was good news to Suria. She seemed to be over her bad dream, at least enough to focus on something else.

“I am, but I have so many thought. About everything. I go for walk outside, and then…” Le trailed off.

“Then something happened right? Something else happened before you heard Pixie? I could tell you weren’t in a good place either. You don’t have to share. But please, feel free.” Suria was putting on her most gentle, compassionate tone.

“I have memory come back to me. Not good memory. Really bad and scare me.” Le’s tone was anxious. Alarms bells went off for Suria right away. Perhaps something less than ideal was being hidden behind their lost memories.

Maybe all of them were masking something unpalatable or even downright dangerous. For a brief second she felt the walls of her existence drop away and then return again. Behind those walls was a dark abyss that momentarily terrified her. She shuddered at the thought and brought her attention back where it was needed: on Le and her experience. On Pixie, too, in due course.

“Oh dear. How do you know?” Suria was forcing her mind away from her brief encounter with a darkness she refused to name or indulge.

“I have feeling I not allowed to know this thing. I go for walk outside and I come near your house. I hear water flow under bridge and I see moonlight. I have bad memory come back then. I at sea in boat and it not safe. I in big danger with other people. I very scared and then it gone. It my memory, I know it.” Le looked vastly distracted. Suria wondered where the waves of peace were. Le looked as if she was about to burst into tears and was barely holding it together. Her eyes were cast downward.

Suria felt badly for her now, too. Another hug was in order. She glanced quickly at Pixie, got up and moved around to the other side of Le. She put her arms out, offering a hug, without saying anything. Le gratefully accepted and Suria could feel her appreciation for the comfort being offered. Pixie, at this, joined in on the hug. The special bond was strengthening, and the feeling between them was so nice in that moment. It was clearly helping Le, who was noticeably relaxing within Suria’s embrace.

Pixie spoke up, a measure of empathy in her voice. “I know how you feel, Le. The dream I had came from my memories as well. That was what terrified me the most. A bad dream I could deal with, but a bad memory surfacing: not so much. Dreams can be simply flights of fancy. A memory is much more real.”

“We need to do something about this.” Suria released Le from the hug, causing Pixie to do the same. Then she had an idea. “Tell you what, how about some hot chocolate?”

Pixie smiled for the first time since her nightmare. “Yes Suria, I’d love that. Let’s all have a hot drink.”

Le had a pleased expression on her face at being included so readily in their little group. All three went into the kitchen. Suria turned on the kitchen light with the wall button.

“The light in here?” Le asked. “They come on sometime by themself, other time they don’t?”

Suria replied as she began working the food machine. “Yes. We think it’s only during certain hours that they are automated. It’s so neat. So many convenient things in this place. I love it. It’s all so intelligently designed.”

Le, mouth open, was staring at the hot chocolate Suria had just pulled from the machine and placed on the white granite bench.

“But… how…” was all she could manage to say.

“We have not the faintest clue how it does that, Le,” said Pixie. “It makes everything, no matter how complex, in a few seconds. It still astonishes me, even now.”

“I not have words. I not even guess how machine do that.” Le was still staring in wonder at her steaming hot chocolate on the bench, in its unusual greenish, plant-like mug.

Suria wanted to check in again quickly with Pixie. “Are you feeling better now, Pixie? Maybe it wasn’t a memory and it was just a dream?” The last question was a hopeful one. They started drinking their chocolate.

“Yes, better. Thanks Suria. I’ll be okay. Not sure it was just a dream – I actually don’t know what it was.” Pixie was already sipping her hot chocolate and was back to her normal self.

“Yes I know. It’s hard to figure out where that might have come from. Le’s vision too. That was also the first I’d heard of your first night dream, Pixie.” Suria was thinking she should be writing this down somewhere. Maybe tomorrow morning. This was turning into an analysis. Two analyses, to be specific, at the same time. She felt like a psychologist, and although she had no specific memories of practising anywhere, it was quite familiar, doing what she was doing.

“Yes, I know, sorry Suria – you weren’t here then of course, and when you arrived there were more important things to talk about. Then it didn’t come back, so I assumed it was a one-off. Until tonight.” Pixie turned to Le. “Have you had any bad dreams, Le?”

“No bad dream. Just bad memory one time. Everything okay last night, but I not sleep well so maybe I not dream anyway.” Le drank some of her chocolate. Le spoke with a decent accent, with idiosyncrasies, but her meaning was always clear. Her expressions were animated and conveyed a great warmth that made the recipient of her conversation and regard feel happy. Suria liked her immensely already.

“Tell you what we’ll do,” Suria said. “We’ll talk to Gimi tomorrow. He seems to be a decision maker. I liked how he took charge tonight.”

“Rais too,” Le replied. “He organise us up on mountain. He so nice! When we wake up on aircraft he take control. He so gentle and talk so nice to us and be strong. I feel good with him. I feel safe when I tell him thing about me.”

“Let’s talk to both of them, then. But before we have our group meeting.” Suria was thinking as she spoke. “I don’t want to alarm everyone just yet. I’m hopeful neither of you have any more bad dreams or bad memories from this point onwards. But I think I’d like those two boys to know what happened to the two of you. I value their advice.”

“I do too, Suria.” Pixie sighed. Then she yawned.

Suria was not sure what the next step was. Would Pixie’s nightmare return or not? And what about Le? Then another thought. The waves of peace; where were they? Suria had not felt them, and neither Pixie nor Le mentioned them. They both looked okay now though. Maybe they had arrived, albeit a bit late. It was late at night now, so maybe the person or people sending them had been asleep.

“Will you be okay to sleep again, Pixie?” asked Suria.

“Yes of course. It’s over anyway. I’m not sure why but I’m confident it won’t come back. Thanks so much to both of you for being there. I hope you will be okay and sleep well too, Le.” Pixie sounded like her normal self again.

“Yes, both of you need good sleep for sure. What about you, Le? How are you doing?” Suria was comfortable with both of them now, but she wanted to be sure. Le looked quite calm and relaxed. Maybe it was the hot chocolate. Or the waves of peace. Or both.

“Okay now. I ask question, yes?”

“Sure!” Suria was expecting her to ask if she could stay over. That may not be ideal as it would cause Rais some worry when he woke up in the morning and she wasn’t in the house.

“Take me back to my house?” Le’s tone almost suggested she thought they would say no.

“Oh of course Le! I… we can do that, right Pixie?”

Pixie nodded. Suria went to get her slippers, Pixie did also. Le was already wearing hers. They began to walk back slowly. It was a little cool outside, but the weather was otherwise tolerable. There was no wind and the moonlight brightened the whole scene. Soft lighting from the community centre would probably provide enough light on moonless nights, but so far the moon had been out in its various phases since she had been at the village.

Suria asked Le on the way where her vision had occurred. She pointed to the bridge. Le said that she wasn’t feeling anything now, perhaps because she had them with her, or because it was a one-off.

As they parted at the door to house six, Suria and Pixie gave Le another hug, which made her smile in delight. She was such a nice girl, and was probably about Pixie’s age, or perhaps a few years older. Le’s descriptions of what she knew earlier in the night had led Suria to believe she was not much older than twenty. Suria herself was at least a few years older than that.

Suria suspected Pixie was still a teenager, though she couldn’t confirm this. There were no memories of life events of course, so in order to find out if someone had experienced something Pixie and Suria had taken to examining their knowledge of it; such as living in a particular city or being involved in a certain career. Pixie could describe how the early years of high school functioned, but not the later ones, and she knew nothing of university. Suria could talk about high school right through and university too. Maybe Pixie had left school early, but she knew nothing of what being employed was like either. Suria found it strange. Pixie acted like someone in her late teens, though. Mature, but still with some youth about her. Suria guessed her age was nineteen or twenty, so similar in age to Le. There were some missing years in Pixie’s life that were a puzzle to both of them. Pixie had said she was sure she was at least older than sixteen. So why did she have no knowledge of the later years of high school?

Le agreed to bring Rais over in the morning. Suria would go over to house two and collect Gimi. Pixie and Suria walked back quietly and Suria was glad things were going to be okay. Thankfully the night passed without anything further from Pixie, and in the morning after breakfast, Gimi and Rais were with Le in Pixie and Suria’s kitchen. Suria related what had happened, with Pixie and Le adding their own thoughts and reactions. Suria watched them closely as they spoke. Despite no indications the waves of peace were present, they were both remarkably calm and unaffected.

Rais suggested they monitor the situation for any more occurrences and let them know. He would keep tabs on Le, and Suria should do the same for Pixie and report anything further. Gimi agreed, saying there was no need yet to do anything drastic just yet and hopefully this was the end of it. If anything else along these lines surfaced, they would try to figure out where to find help at that point. They were all in agreeance and headed off as a group to join the other seven villagers at the community centre for their meeting.

Suria was looking forward to what might transpire at this meeting as she walked over to the centre with the others. She cast her eyes down at the intricate weaving of earthily coloured stones that made up the path from house three to the community centre, along the stream, momentarily captivated by its design. She couldn’t help but wonder at the portion of the message that referred to them all having arrived safely. This was it, then, it was just going to be the twelve of them in this village. There were twelve bedrooms too, within the village. Clearly there was a plan behind everything. The burning question was: who was behind the plan?

Suria walked into the kitchen with Pixie and they each made a hot drink which they took with them into the gathering room. The others were talking amongst themselves, probably still sharing some of their stories so far. They were continuing to get to know each other, so the conversation was vibrant and animated. Suria was quietly pleased at how well everyone was getting along.

She glanced at the big glass screen. As Arias had predicted the night before, the message was still there. Quite convenient that Pixie’s copy wasn’t necessary for the moment, so they could all read it when the discussion started. Pixie nudged her.

“What does it mean: ‘diagnostics are maintained elsewhere’?” she whispered.

Suria whispered back: “The diagnostics or the elsewhere?”

Pixie grinned at her. “Both. I don’t know what diagnostics are. Elsewhere is a more general question. It sort of implies there is another building or something not here in the village.”

“Yes, I agree. Uhm, diagnostics… I know in medical terms it means data that reports on a person’s health, but in this context I think it means data on the centre itself. Not sure why.” Suria regarded Pixie carefully to make sure she was understanding her. She did not respond; she was still reading the message. This prompted Suria to study it some more. Rais’ voice broke her out of her analysis of the words of the message. He was sitting with Gimi. The two of them were clearly positioning themselves as leaders amongst the group. She didn’t mind this at all.

“Hello everyone. I hope you sleep well.” Rais briefly brushed his right hand through his short dark hair as he spoke. It was kind of an alluring and charismatic gesture, if entirely unintentional. Rais had a real presence about him, enhanced by what must have been a solid night’s sleep.

In consideration of his greeting, Suria knew for sure they all didn’t sleep well. She patted Le, who was sitting next to her, on the knee, and responded herself: “Not all of us, but we’ll get there.”

“I hope so.” Rais flashed her a brief but knowing look, aware of course of their drama the night before. “Gimi has said I run meeting. Hope you all are okay with that.”

“Of course, Rais. We appreciated your leadership up on the mountain. We all worked together but your drive and decisiveness was so helpful.” Tau appeared tired still. Something had happened to him overnight. He was trying to conceal it, but she couldn’t imagine what had happened and didn’t know him well enough yet to ask him.

Gimi spoke next. “Yes, thanks Rais – and thanks all of you up there for doing your bit. It sounds like you worked together well, and you got here safely. That’s fantastic. For all of you: I’ve been talking with Rais this morning and we’ve been discussing leadership. We both are of the opinion that the group needs a leader. I could do it and would be happy to do it but it’s a bit out of my comfort zone. Not so for Rais. He says this is natural for him. My sense of Rais is that he is compassionate and thoughtful in his leadership, considering others in all he does. He has my vote. However, I am happy to defer if anyone else wants to express another opinion. I know there are some strong personalities here and I don’t want to get anyone offside.”

Suria was pleased with this development, even more so that Rais was keen to do it. Leadership would allow things to run more smoothly, she knew. It would be important for whatever it was they would need to do for each other and for the village until the second message arrived.

Arias was the first to respond. “I do not know Rais very well, but I have a good first impression. He is kind man and he think of others before himself. I am happy if he is leader.”

Rivo’s was the next voice of support. “I am also happy for Rais to lead. He and I work well on the mountain, but I am happy to do hard work and leave decisions for others to make. I think it is nice he wants to do it.”

“If we have a leader, what does that mean?” asked Neca.

Gimi responded immediately. “It just means someone can coordinate and make decisions. We make better progress as a group that way, and everyone benefits. Leaders don’t need to order anyone around or tell people what to do. It’s more subtle than that. I think it will be a good thing for all of us.”

“Agreed.” Suria wanted to voice what she was already thinking. “All groups need leaders, especially in situations like this where there is a lot of uncertainty. I think as long as we can all put our opinions forth – and I feel like we can – this will work out. I’m happy for you to lead, Rais.”

“Me too.” Gimi had a bit more to say. “Leadership is about coordinating people, understanding people and keeping the best interests of the team at heart. I’m confident Rais can do all of that, even though I just met him yesterday. Best of all, he wants to, right?” Rais nodded in response, quite humbly.

“Got my vote. Happy for you to do it buddy. I’ll back you in.” Rocsi added her agreement.

No-one else spoke and there was a moment of silence. Acceptance amongst the group was clearly there. There hadn’t been that much discussion about it – everyone had agreed to it readily, judging by the nods of approval and some smiles amongst them all. It was the right thing to do, to have a leader. It would be beneficial for all of them. She felt the group cohesion strengthen at this decision.

Suria glanced at Rais. He looked up at the pause in conversation. “Thank you everyone. I do my best; I take advice from anyone. I will not be the right one here all the time. I thank you for opportunity. I now ask us all to give thought about message. We discuss more.”

Suria read it over yet another time. There was silence as everyone else did the same.

Rocsi, unsurprisingly to Suria, broke the silence. “My first thought: where in tarnation is ‘elsewhere’? Oh, sorry Rais, are we doing the hand thing again?”

“Yes, thank you Rocsi. We do hand before we talk.”

Gimi’s hand went up. Suria watched with amusement as he then made a fist out of it and gently punched Rais in the arm. Rais was clearly lost in thought.

“Oh… yes, Gimi?” he responded.

“You know what, Rais? I reckon we’re big people. We can respectfully have a group discussion without raising hands.”

“I was kind of thinking the same thing,” said Tau. Suria agreed as well but chose not to speak.

“I am happy with that. Let us continue the discussion. Gimi, you had more to say, I think?” Rais had accepted his first bit of advice. It was the correct decision, even though it was a minor thing.

Gimi looked surprised at Rais’ perception. “Yes, thanks Rais. In answer to your question, Rocsi: elsewhere to me means there is another village or town somewhere, and I’m sure you know that. The bigger question is, if there is one, what do we do about it.”

“That’s exactly what I mean, Gimi!” Rocsi’s words were spoken emphatically. This intrigued Suria. She shelved that thought for now. There were too many other issues to deal with.

“There is another place! A bigger town!” Rivo spoke quickly in his excitement. “We have map we get from the aircraft. I will go fetch.” He was out of the room in a flash.

“Map! Oh my god, we have been searching for a map for days! What’s on it?” Rocsi asked, in general, as Rivo was already gone.

“I never looked at it, Rocsi, but the boys did, and without it we wouldn’t be here. I’m amazed you all found this place without one,” said Bia.

Le concurred. “Yeah, how you get here without map?”

Arias explained to the aircraft group how they all did it. Suria reflected on her own situation for a moment and how she almost went the wrong way. Had she not turned around, she would never have seen the village and would have ended up on the other side of the forest which could have led anywhere. Rivo returned as Arias was finishing the story.

Rais spoke again. “Some of us from aircraft have seen map. Rocsi and others want to see it, go look now.”

Rocsi hadn’t waited for Rais. She was already on her knees in front of the large, low table in the centre of the room, patting it gently with her right hand, waiting for Rivo to get the hint. “Over here please, my Italian friend.” Suria giggled, watching Rocsi.

Suria felt Pixie leave her seat on the couch next to her, joining Rocsi. Rivo complied with Rocsi’s request, smirking a little at her eagerness. Suria knew Pixie had also been keen to find a map, and her eyes were full of anticipation at what she might see on it. She noticed something right away.

“Oh… wow! There really is a bigger town. Versena, it says. It’s on a big lake. Look! Let’s go! I want to see it!” At these enthusiastic words from Pixie, Suria jumped up from the couch, moving next to Pixie at the table to have a look at the map for herself. Arias had joined them too, along with Gimi and Neca. It was a bit hard for everyone to see at once, so they passed the map around the table.

Suria was now getting an overall impression of their region for the first time. She could see the lake now, and the shaded area on the map with the word ‘Versena’ on it, as Pixie had said. What she was looking for was their village. She wanted to know what it was called. She found a cluster of dots and eventually confirmed that this cluster was the village after a nod from Rivo. She was disappointed: there was no name on the map.

Arias had either not realised this or didn’t really care. He was too busy responding to Pixie. “Oh yes, mina, I go with you!”

Rivo was next to speak. “I want to see it too! Now I have rested, I can leave any time.”

Rocsi agreed. “I’m down with that. Get me on that train right away.”

Rais gently interrupted. “We must make sure everyone want to go. Prina, what you think?”

Prina spoke a little more solemnly. “That walk yesterday was so hard. Even for you Rivo. It looks to me like it will be a long walk. Can we wait a few days? I will go, I just want to rest first.”

“Me too.” Tau spoke next. “I also think there is a hidden meaning in the message – that we need to stay here. We are supposed to sustain the village.”

These words from Tau prompted Suria to once again read the words in the message from her kneeling spot next to the central table. She heard Gimi respond to Tau’s words and turned to face him.

“Yes!” Gimi’s deep but gentle voice had conviction in it. “That’s what I was trying to say earlier. The message talks about exploring the local area. I take that to mean the immediate vicinity around the village. I’d say it’s implied we don’t make the trip to this place here.” He pointed back at the map.

“Versena.” Pixie was smiling as she pointed to it and verbalised it. Suria concurred with her joy in pronouncing the name. It promised so much to them.

“Yes, Versena.” Gimi replied, grinning at Pixie.

Surprisingly to Suria, from what she already knew about his enjoyment of hiking, Rivo agreed. “I would like to walk too. But I agree now. The message say we stay in the village until we get told something else. Maybe in two weeks?”

Suria identified a dilemma and spoke up. “This is perhaps something we need to think on a little. Go or not go? We may need time to consider both options. As Rivo said, there’s no rush.”

Rais spoke, his words indicating he had been studying the group and found someone who he wanted to hear from. “Le, you tell me walk yesterday very hard for you. How you feel about other walk – long one this time?”

Suria turned to Le, as everyone else did. She was silent for a few moments before she spoke. “I okay if walk in a few days. Not now. We maybe wait for next message. That okay too. I trust good people here. We work together and we keep village nice. I only know how to play music so I not know what I can do for village.”

Arias responded immediately to Le’s words. “Music! We have music instruments here! We must show you the rest of… this place.” He moved his arm expansively outwards in a circulating motion. Suria silently agreed it was time to do this. If they all were to engage with the village as the message expected them to, then they could find things to do amongst all the equipment and specialty rooms in the community centre. It was definitely time for her new friends to check out the rest of the community centre.

Arias remembered something: they had a leader. “Rais, amigo, our new leader: you okay with a tour?”

“Of course! Let us visit rest of this place. Now is our village, we learn what to do next. To take care of it, like message tell us.” Rais was quite keen on the idea.

Suria got up with everyone else. Rocsi had a hold of the map as if it were something she was going to defend with her life, lest it get out of her sight. They began the tour, with Arias leading the way. If they were all to have roles, as Le alluded to, Arias was already defining his: waiter, tour guide, general nice guy, and probably handyman as well, if something needed fixing. She felt he would do just about anything if it helped others, but he was enjoying the host role at the moment. Arias first went left and into the clothing and fabric room.

Prina, as expected, loved this room. She had talked of her interest and knowledge of clothing design in their introductions the night before, and her delight was obvious to Suria when she saw the possibilities. There were enough clothes, more than enough, on the shelves for all of them, but the presence of fabric and machines left an avenue for creativity as well.

Once they had all had a good look at this room, Arias gently ushered them along to the next room. It was a favourite to all those who had visited it previously: the art and music room. It should probably also be called the library as there was quite an extensive array of books in this room. Based on Le’s comments earlier about playing music, Suria expected an animated reaction from Le once she saw it. She even made sure she got into the room first, so she could watch Le’s face. Knowing she had had a bad vision the night before, Suria was hopefully that when Le saw what was in this room, it would cheer her up. Arias had set up the tour so well. There was no mention of what was in there before they all walked through the door. He might be trying to surprise Le as well.

There were quite a few gasps and expressions of appreciation, but Le showed no emotion whatsoever. It was a total surprise to Suria. Instead, she scanned the room and then the musical instruments as if searching for something. Suria was mystified. Le liked music, and there were guitars and drums, and a few woodwind instruments, so what was Le looking for? Then she remembered: the piano was Le’s favourite instrument and there was no piano in this room. Suria was disappointed for her.

Le didn’t share Suria’s mood though: she was fixated on a box in amongst the other instruments, sitting on top of a small table. Suria hadn’t noticed it before; it had a chair in front of it and was a decent size. She went over to help her. Arias and Rocsi had wandered over as well, to see what Le was up to. Suria glanced around – Gimi and Neca were at the painting area with Pixie and Bia. That left Tau, Rais, Prina and Rivo browsing in the room’s library.

Le had gotten the box open. Inside was a keyboard, with lots of intriguing dials and buttons above the keys. Suria helped Le get it out of the box and place it on the stand. They figured out how to turn it on. Suria thought it was unusual that there was no power cord and she didn’t understand what was providing the power to make it work. The food machines and the clothes washers were the same. There were no power cords anywhere. It was a total mystery.

Le sat down and played a series of notes. The sounds were vibrant and full, as if coming from a real grand piano. The notes brought everyone else in the room to where Le was. The whole group gathered around, but Le was up again and searching a nearby shelf for some sheet music. She picked out a music sheet, placing in it the sheet music holder. It was entitled ‘Moonlight Sonata (Beethoven)’, and Le began playing it after a moment’s pause. During this pause, the room was absolutely silent in anticipation.

The piece was beautiful. Suria didn’t think she had heard it before. As Le played, she was all concentration. Her straight dark hair moved softly back and forth across her face as she moved slightly while accessing the various keys on the keyboard. Despite her intense focus, there was a mystical, far-away look to her facial expression. To Suria, it was as if she was receiving the skill to play from outside of herself. It was captivating.

Suria glanced around at the group. All were engrossed by the music and by the person playing it, but some individual reactions stood out to her. Arias was staring unashamedly at Le in admiration. Rocsi was in tears. Suria herself had goose bumps, and then she felt Pixie briefly take her hand and squeeze it. She glanced at Pixie, who was emotional too. Le’s playing had touched them all.

At the end of her piece, which she said was only the first movement, many expressions of appreciation followed, with Rocsi giving Le a hug, asking her if she wouldn’t mind playing that again some time. Arias, Rais and Tau in particular were also clearly moved by hearing such a beautiful piece of music played live, just for them. Le was radiant, clearly enjoying the effect she’d had on her new friends. Suria was so glad for her. She had a skill that was of value to the group.

Suria also marvelled once again at the strength of feeling that was present in this place. When there was a significant moment like this amongst this group, the emotions were powerfully felt by everyone. It might be the mountain air. It might be the special bonds between them, even at this early stage. It might be something else. She had no absolute answers at this point. Le promised everyone she would play again but didn’t want to hold anyone else up from exploring further. They gradually dispersed away from the keyboard.

After quite some time exploring the rest of the room, they all eventually moved on to the gardening room, which interested a few of them also. Bia, Tau and Rivo were the keenest to work in the garden and saw many possibilities given the array of seeds available. Arias picked the right moment to suggest that there were clearly many activities for the group to engage in to sustain the village, as the message had asked them to do.

At this point in the discussion, Rais spoke up. He directed that they should have a quick check of the next room and have their meeting in the garden outside, to discuss what to do next., collectively speaking. The next and final room in the centre had the camping and sports equipment in it. They all had a quick look at the equipment before moving out into the garden.

Once outside, Tau had a question.

“I know those food machines are really nice, but would anyone like me to cook something for them? I really miss doing that. I’m quite a good cook, I think.” He looked uncertain, as if his suggestion might not get any responses. He still looked tired as well.

Le responded passionately: “Oh yes, Tau! I want to taste your cooking. You make food so nice up on mountain. Here you have real kitchen. I like to try your food!”

“Me too!” replied Pixie enthusiastically. “The machines make basic ingredients, which allows anyone to be a chef if they want to be.”

Tau looked a good deal happier. “I kind of knew this, but I didn’t think anyone would want my cooking when the machines can make anything they want.”

Arias found the perfect response. Suria loved him for it. “Oh, I will always prefer your cooking, Tau. You make it with love. Something the machines can never do.”

Tau looked like he wanted to give Arias a hug. For a moment, Suria thought he was going to. Tau was smiling more than she had seen him so far, and that made her happy. His devotion towards cooking and doing something others would appreciate was obviously a love of his. It was nice to see him realise he would get to indulge in his favourite activity.

“That it then Tau?” Le was continuing her encouragement. “You cook so well up there but now we have real kitchen. You make dinner for us tonight?”

“Oh sure – I’d love to.” Tau was visibly moved. “Thank you all. You’re so great. I have already found some stoves in the main kitchen I can use. They had covers over them, so they were easy to miss. I need to decide what to make, now.”

“We can prepare a group meal! I will help you cook, Tau. All good chefs need assistants, right Tau?” Rocsi was facing Tau as she spoke. “I think I used to enjoy cooking too. One of the goddamn things I can’t freakin’ remember. I want to help.”

“Sounds great. I help too. We all help.” Rais was ready to move the conversation on.

“We have other thing to discuss,” he continued. “What to do about Versena. Do we go or not go? We have some who want to explore, but others who agree with the message and want to stay. I would like us all to agree. Your thoughts, please?”

Arias was the first to reply. “I have a compromise?”

Rais looked inquiringly at him. “Yes?”

“There is a path to a lookout. I saw it on the map. Before yesterday, when all of you guys arrive, we talk about going up there. We might be able to see the lake and maybe Versena from up there. I think it will take a day to get there and back. Is that right, Rocsi?”

Rocsi was already studying the map and responded quickly to Arias’ question. “Let me see…there is no path on the map, but there is definitely a flat spot near the top of the mountain on that side. It should provide decent views down towards the south. As for your guess on taking a day, I think that’s about right, buddy. Probably not a whole day, but most of it.”

“How far, Rocsi?” Rais’ tone suggested he was warming to the idea.

“About twelve kilometres, round trip. All of it up hill on the way there of course.”

“I thought you work in miles, Rocsi, in America?” Rivo’s question was interesting to Suria also.

“The general public does, yes, but I’m a cartographer – we are bilingual in that regard. I know all of you use kilometres, so that’s what I gave you.”

“Ok, it settled then?” Rais asked the group.

“Yes,” Le responded. “But we not camp out this time?” Le’s question was to no-one in particular, so Rocsi responded.

“We can do it easily in a day, no problems, my wonderful, talented musician friend.” Rocsi’s certainty and appreciation of Le made Suria glad.

Prina was next to speak. “When do we go? Can we have a few days? I want to start some clothing projects and I think Neca wants to paint.”

“Of course, we go in few days. Maybe one week. Everyone okay one week? We do projects here first and then Versena later?” Rais’ tone was gentle, but decisive.

“We have two weeks until next message, so plenty of time.” Arias’ support sealed it, as far as Suria was concerned. He was the explorer of the group, based on what he had told them about his life in Chile so far. The bits he could draw out of his knowledge bank anyway.

Gimi hadn’t spoken for some time, but he was keen now. “Just on that,” he said, “we do have plenty of time, but I really like the way everyone is trying to work together and compromise on things. Experiment or not, we shouldn’t forget about what we’re supposed to do. The message told us, or kind of implied, that we should as much as possible try to work as a team. Do things by consensus. One in, all in. By that token, one of us hurts, all of us hurt. We dig in and do what’s needed to support them. I know there are waves of peace out there, but it doesn’t mean we should let them take care of it all by themselves.” Suria hadn’t felt the waves of peace in some time. Hadn’t needed to.

Bia responded immediately. “I love that, Gimi! I love that we strive to be together, to work together. I want that for sure, but we should feel free, yeah? Do our own thing from time to time? Be alone if we need to?”

Gimi regarded her for a moment. His intellect had most subjects covered, but that Bia had found a flaw in his words. He was genuinely impressed she had found it. “Of course you are right!” he said. “We work together but yes, we need to have time to ourselves too. Really good point, Bia.”

“I totally agree, but I’m hungry. Lunch, everyone?” Pixie had also found something unspoken that Suria agreed with. Rocsi too, apparently.

“Oh yeah, I want some food!” She was already moving towards the entrance to the kitchen, which was around the other side of the community centre.

“Anyone for some games after lunch?” Arias remembered something Suria had temporarily forgotten as well. The large central room at the back of the community centre had games in it. “We have not shown you the games room. We can play some games before we make the dinner.”

Neca responded to this. “That would be fun, Arias. It would also be lovely if Le would bring her keyboard in and play for us.”

“I can bring in. It not so heavy. I like practise and want to play. I not remember but I miss it.”

“I don’t care what you play, Le. I am sure it will be pretty.” Arias was clearly enamoured with Le, except Suria was fairly sure she was oblivious to the fact.

She was happy they were gradually finding out more about their surroundings. Especially the presence of another town. Having a map was clearly helping everyone’s state of mind. She had one nagging thought that wouldn’t go away, however. The path in and out of the village was not on the map. There was nothing but green forests and mountains between their village and Versena. Would it be even possible to navigate their way there, if they had to? The message had not provided any guarantees whatsoever, as nice as its tone was. Maybe the next one wouldn’t either. At least Versena held some promise for them. Her worst fear, if she could call it that within the realms of the waves of peace, was that they would all get up to the lookout and not be able to see any sort of passage to Versena. To Suria, it represented their best hope of resolving their memory problems.

It was a tenuous hope at best, and it was pretty much all they had.