Afterwards, she leaves to join Francesca. They are to participate in a self-defense session for new arrivals. Drookan likewise leaves to attend warrior training for the few Dowaths not in hibernation.

  For Kaela, as she meets Francesca and walks towards the session, her mind wanders back to Kragon. He is out there, waiting on her. The longer she stays, the less safe it will be for him. Still, she thinks, should she risk leaving now, especially with the cave on alert after a spy was caught. Her leaving without good reason would look suspicious. She had to plan her exit carefully, or she could be the next one placed in a cage somewhere deep in the cave. She begins to think of an excuse.

  Hours later, she and Francesca walk the tunnels after attending the self-defense session.

  "You didn't have to humiliate her, Kaela," Francesca says. Kaela looks over at her twin, "I didn't try to humiliate her. She said she was the best, most skilled Ponu fighter. I was unimpressed."

  "The way you took her down so quickly was disrespectful." Francesca continues.

  Kaela has a moment where she wants to say something like was it disrespectful to scare the hell out of innocent people, men, women and children who, for all you know, had never done anything to you, just for fun. But she holds the thought in check.

  "Was it disrespectful for her to do her silly dance around me, trying to intimidate me with her quickness? That is why I made this so-called elite Ponu fighter submit Francesca."

  Francesca looks with concern, "You say that with such scorn".

  For a brief moment, Francesca thinks of where she has seen Kaela's fighting style before, getting in close, not letting the opponent have a breath to counter you.

  The Ponu Kaela fought, one of their best, was totally caught off guard, confused. Before she could even get her wits about her, Kaela had her on the ground, holding a limb of the Ponu fighter in a very uncomfortable position. With no room to maneuver or use her speed, there was nothing left for the Ponu but to frantically pat on the ground, signalling her surrender.

  It was almost like she had seen with the scavengers who chased her friends when they were fleeing the vault. Only they were slow, clumsy. It was like scavenger fighting style, but with the speed, durability of a Ponu. The thought leaves her mind as a silly comparison.

  Kaela, wanting to change the subject, begins to lay the groundwork for her leaving with a lie, "Francesca, I still have friends out there; we were part of a group. I promised them I would come back once I find out more about this place...if it were safe. I will be leaving soon. I am going on my own, no risk endangering anyone else, and I know they won't spare a Dowath to go with me. I may return or I may not, but if I don't, I just wanted you to know I enjoyed getting to know you.

  Francesca is silent; the thought of a Ponu wanting to leave the cave is unfathomable to her. Add on the fact that she thought a friendship was forming with Kaela, and she is stunned into silence.

  Meanwhile, coming from the other end of the tunnel, Drookan and Dmoko are walking. "You didn't have to humiliate Djenthu," Drookan says.

  Dmoko looks over at his fellow Dowath, "Humiliate!?!, will he have concerns about the Sky Reapers humiliating him when they rip his head off? He should be thankful. I taught him a valuable lesson today, to survive, you need to be strong....being around these Ponu has made us soft."

  Dmoko looks over at Drookan again, "Look at how they have taken over this cave. You've seen the luxuries they have. It won't be long before they start treating us like guests in our own home."

  "That is enough Dmoko," Drookan says. "They add value to the cave, to our people".

  "Our people!?!" an enraged Dmoko says before continuing in a soft but strained, angry tone, "Do you realize the senior advisor to the king and first in line, Dfriyo, has taken the Ponu woman Brandi as his mate? If our king dies, Dfriyo inherits the throne. We could have a Ponu as queen.

  He then looks at Drookan with concern on his face, "and you, our keeper of history, the only one of us whose intellect rivals that of the Thinkers and yet a Ponu woman has you under her hand now. Do you not see where all this is heading? With your intelligence and Dfriyo's position used against us, our people are lost. You and my sister Dmeko are friends. You could easily be more. Do not let this happen with the Ponu. Do not let her control you."

  Kaela and Francesca see Drookan and Dmoko approaching down the tunnel.

  "Ah, just who I was speaking of, the twins," He looks at them each, "Francesca and Kaela".

  Stolen story; please report.

  Kaela corrects him, "Actually, I'm Kaela, she's Francesca".

  Dmoko just looks at her angrily and walks away. Francesca giggles and then walks away, also.

  Drookan and Kaela walk, lost in conversation. A small part of him wonders if their shared Geeryo origins has anything to do with the lure he feels towards Kaela. He doesn't care.

  As they walk back, Kaela, takes a wrong turn down a tunnel. Instinctively, Drookan puts his hand on her shoulder to draw her attention.

  The touch is practically electric. They both can feel it. She gasps momentarily at the touch, but a yearning starts building in her. For Drookan, to touch Kaela was like an explosion of energy going off in his heart. That one accidental touch was a pleasurable sensation that he knew he longed for again.

  They both stare at each other for a couple of seconds that felt like more, each feeling that same pull towards each other. Then Drookan apologizes, "Kaela, I am sorry for touching you without your permission. I only wanted to prevent you from walking down the wrong tunnel".

  Kaela smiles. She knows what she must do, even though part of her wants to stay here with Drookan. She thinks of Kragon again, how he is out there waiting on her. She thinks of her life with Kragon, and it gives her mind the resolve to break away from what her heart and body are telling her to do.

  "Drookan," she says, "I have to tell you something. I am going to be leaving the cave soon, and I am not sure if I will be coming back. I still have friends out there in the wasteland. I told them I would come for them once I found out if this place was safe. I must do this alone; taking anyone with me would enrage the leadership here.

  Drookan's heart drops, but he manages a smile. "Kaela, if you do come back, which I hope you do, I will be among the first to welcome you back with a smile. Just promise me, wherever you go, that you will try to stay safe". He then escorts her back to the Ponu sleeping area.

  That night, Kaela has trouble sleeping. The urge she had for Drookan was real and strong. They would have kissed right then and there in the cave had she not regained her composure to tell her lie. Why was she so drawn to this Dowath, she thinks. She had heard Lana and Marcela's theory that, for whatever reason, certain Dowath and certain Ponu seem "in sync" with each other. They form bonds, strong bonds, even to the point of becoming a mating pair, like Dfriyo and Brandi.

  But for that to be true, she would have to be a Ponu. Her features, the attraction to Drookan, her unusual quickness, her name "the found one", the resemblance to Francesca, and her quick healing. It was like an avalanche of proof that she had been ignoring.

  She spent the night sleepless, trying to come up with reasons against each bit of proof.

  The next morning, Kaela’s mind was abuzz. She had to know, and there was one person who could help her. She had practiced the lie in her head, but it still felt hollow.

  Kaela approached Lana’s lab area, where she worked on salvaged equipment. Kaela feigned a worried expression, her eyes wide with a carefully practiced anxiety. “Lana,” she began, her voice trembling slightly, “I need a test. A medical test. When I was out there… I saw a dying scavenger; he was all bloody from a Dowath attack. I searched him for food, but I think some of his blood got in a cut I had. I’m just… really worried. What if it did something to me?”

  Lana, peering over her glasses, smiled with a detached, clinical calm. “You have nothing to worry about,” she said, her voice smooth and reassuring. “Even if it had happened, there is nothing bad or dangerous about having scavenger blood. Their genetic code is simply… different.”

  Kaela insisted, her anxiety now very real. She needed to know. Not for the reason she gave, but for herself. Lana agreed, and in a matter of minutes, the salvaged Geeryo technology had completed its analysis. Lana looked at the results, then back at Kaela, her smile softening with genuine warmth. “You’re okay, Kaela. I’m glad you came to me. And if it helps ease your mind, your blood is one hundred percent, not scavenger, totally Ponu.”

  The words hit her like a physical blow. Totally Ponu. Not mixed, not scavenger. She was a Ponu. The truth she had been running from her entire life, the one she had convinced herself was a lie, was confirmed by the very technology her ancestors had created. A cold dread seeped into her bones, quickly replaced by a sense of profound disorientation. She walked through the cave tunnels, a stranger in her own skin, the Ponu women who passed her now her people, their familiar faces a mirror of her own.

  She found Dana and forced a new lie to her lips. Her life could depend on this lie, but she couldn't wait; she had to go now. “I have to go,” she said, her voice tight with a desperation that was impossible to fake. Dana’s face fell. “I can’t sleep well thinking about the women, my friends, I left out there. I don't know if they are alive or dead. That's maybe why I've been acting so erratically. I have to go back for her.” Dana tried to convince her to stay, to send a patrol, but Kaela was resolute. She had to leave, not just the cave, but the truth it contained.

  This was it; if Dana suspected her, she could be put in a cell. It didn't matter to her now.

  In an ironic twist, Kaela's lack of preparation and skill as a spy saves her. In Dana's mind, and the mind of most key Ponu, a spy would be confident, draw little attention to themselves, and be prepared. To them, Kaela was just this poor traumatized Ponu who seemed to be doing everything in her power to draw attention to herself and seemed to have no direction or goal. Her erratic behavior was possibly putting the other Ponu in danger. Perhaps she can find peace with her friends outside.

  So Dana did not object. She hugged Kaela and said she hopes Kaela finds the peace she is looking for, that everyone needs.

  There was a rush in her step; she needed air with the weight of this revelation on her chest

  She made the long walk back to the wasteland in a daze, the familiar terrain now feeling alien. When she finally reached Kragon’s hiding spot, he saw her, not with the smugness of a successful spy, but with the look of a frightened girl, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I have something to tell you,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.