Did you see this? Ezza asked. They were laying inside their tent. Ezza had woken up early and started looking around. Humans were inventive, then he had noticed the magazine. He had been reading about this place. Granite Falls, an interesting place. Zas!

There was a grunt from the sleeping bag beside him. Zas never was a good waker. Ezza reached over and slapped the lump beside him. The lump groaned and sat up rubbing its eyes.

“What do you want? Is it the Commander?” He asked in a sleepy voice. He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to look more awake.

No. It’s a magazine, it gives you all sorts of information about this place.

“Oh, that’s great. I always wanted to be woken up early after a crash landing to hear about a Junker planet, that we’re eventually going to leave anyways.” Letting out an exasperated sigh, he flopped back down.

You are such a grump first thing in the morning. I was reading it and did you know how many different life forms you can find here? Also, there claims to be a secret area that only a fortunate few have found. It’s says there’s a hermit whatever that is – that lives there. It says here that he holds the wisdom of the land and stars. What do you say to that?

“I think it’s stupid. What kind of secret place could it have? An unmarked tent? Go to sleep and let me do the same.” Zas said rolling over.

Ezza sighed. They had an opportunity to turn this disaster into a great learning experience, and Zas wanted to sleep through it like a grump. Figures, as long as there’s not a woman or drink involved Zas isn’t interested in it. Fine, he could do it by himself.

“Where are you going?” Zas asked after listening to the rustling for a few minutes.

Where do you think?

“Hello?” Both men froze as the voice outside spoke. They could hear footsteps coming closer. “Zas? Ezza? Are you up yet?”

What are they doing here? Ezza asked.

I have no idea, and who cares. Maria is here.

You are a piece of work, you know that?

After dressing both men stepped outside the tent to find Maria and Madelynn sitting around their lit bonfire. The woman looked up and Maria bounced out of her chair and came over to Zas. Madelynn gave a small wave in Ezza’s direction, he smiled and waved back.

“Oh Zas. We’re leaving. Today is our last day. You’ve still got my number right? You can invite me to the big city any time you want.” Maria said throwing her arms around his neck. Zas smiled and wrapped his arms around her.

Woman are the same everywhere my friend. Trust me. You should make a move on Madelynn before they leave, it could help us down the road.

Help us how? You just want to be alone with Maria. I just got out of a relationship with…Her, I’m not jumping into bed with some strange earth woman. Just take her inside the tent. Use your own sleeping bag though!

Zas sighed, he wished Ezza would move on Madelynn. It would do him a world of good. Shaking his head he kissed Maria’s hands.

“So, you’re leaving and came to say goodbye. Ezza can you make us all some food? I’m starving and I’m sure our guests are peckish.” Maria giggled and swung her and Zas’s hands. Madelynn stood up.

“I’ll help you if you want Ezza. What were you thinking of making?” Ezza smiled at her, and went to the cooler they had bought. Inside were some fruits and vegetables that they had gotten from Kara the night before. Pulling several out he placed them on the picnic table. Madelynn walked over and joined him as they made fruit skewers.

Zas was enjoying talking to Maria, but was also distracted by Ezza. He could tell by his friends body language that he liked Madelynn, but his game was terrible. No wonder he had stayed single so long. Honestly, it was shocking how he had even attracted Ti’ …HER in the first place.

“Did you hear a single thing I just said to you?” The sound of questioning in Maria’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. She was staring at him with a miffed look on her face. He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

“Sorry, I was watching them.” He said. Maria looked to where her friend and Ezza stood. It was awkward just looking at them. It was painfully obvious that Madelynn had a thing for Ezza, but she had always been the shy one between the two of them. She turned and smiled at Zas.

“She works slow.” Was all she said. Zas nodded.

“So does Ezza,” he leaned close and whispered in Maria’s ear, “We should help them.” Maria giggled and leaned back against him.

“I’m going to miss you.” She said, then she straightened and began walking towards the picnic table.

Woman, in general, are a pain in the butt Ezza thought to himself. He looked up as Maria approached the table. He smiled as Zas trailed behind her.

That was quick. Finally disappoint one?

Ha! You should know a Vajjer never disappoints a lady.

I bet the Commander would disagree with that statement. You always disappointed her.

I would remind you that hag is not a woman, let alone a lady.

Ezza couldn’t help but chuckle. Madelynn smiled at him and Zas.

“You two are really close aren’t you? You seem to be able to talk to each other without words.” Madelynn said as she started pushing the chunks of fruit on skewers. Ezza’s head snapped up and he looked at Zas.

“Of course they do Mades. Their best friends, they don’t need words. We don’t most of the time.” Maria chastised her friend in a teasing tone. Madelynn blushed and looked down in embarrassment.

Lucky. Ezza sighed. Then he reached over and put his hand on Madelynn’s shoulder and gave her a warm smile when she looked at him. Then he motioned with his head towards the fire pit and picked up half the finished skewers. Madelynn picked up the rest and followed suit.

They enjoyed breakfast and decided to end things by playing a game of horseshoes, once the girls found out the boys had never played before. They split the teams into Maria and Zas, and Ezza and Madelynn. Ezza and Madelynn won, mainly because Zas and Maria celebrated every point, and eventually walked off to celebrate more privately in the tent, effectively ending the game.

Ezza and Madelynn sat around the fire, Madelynn talking and Ezza nodding in agreement every once in a while. Finally Zas and Maria came out of the tent. They both smiled and took seats by the fire. The four of them talked until close to noon, the check out time.

“It’s been a blast,” Maria said to Zas giving him a hug. “Don’t lose my number now. Promise you’ll use it?” Zas smiled and promised her. After all, she may be useful down the road. Across the lot at the picnic table Madelynn was saying goodbye to Ezza.

“I had a good time hanging with you and Zas. I wouldn’t mind keeping in touch. I mean if you don’t mind either. I’m not trying to force you to talk to me or anything.” Madelynn looked down shyly at her hands. Ezza reached over and patted her hand. When she looked up he smiled at her. Then he pointed between them and nodded. Madelynn’s smile was almost as bright as the sun. She pulled a paper out of her pocket and handed it to him. It was her phone number.

Oh finally! Way to go!

Shut up Zas.

Madelynn leaned in and gave Ezza a hug goodbye and then went to pry Maria off of Zas. Waving goodbye all the way down the path, they were finally out of view. Zas let out a tired sigh and fell into one of the chairs.

Tired? I thought you were having fun.

“Oh I was, I was. That woman must be a goddess on this planet. I wonder if they have a training camp for that skill here.” Zas said leaning back and closing his eyes.

You are…there’s something wrong with you.

Zas grunted in reply. After a few moments he opened his eyes.

“Well, what should we do now? Find more woman?” He asked

I would like to explore. The magazine I read said there are woods here with many forms of vegetation and insect life, as well as animals and places to gather aquatic life.

Standing, Zas motioned for Ezza to lead the way. They stopped at the tourist booth for directions and then set out.

If Ezza could’ve he would’ve jumped for joy. It was stunning. Trees as tall as the sky, huge boulder formations, an obscene amount of small animals and insects running or flying through the air, plants of every kind and colour all over the place, and of course what humans called water; large lakes and ribbons of it. Amazing. Zas of course spotted the one thing his heart desired. A dwelling with a chair.

Maybe there’s a bed and woman in there.

I’d say you disgust me, but we’re beyond that now. All of this and you want to laze and nap? Ezza said motioning to their surroundings with his hands.

This may surprise you my friend, but I didn’t go through the Academy to become a scientific researcher like you. I went for pilot and combat status. Since I don’t see hoards of people coming this way intent on killing us, or any nearby ships to pilot I’m taking it easy.

A little too easy. What if we’re caught? I don’t want to be an experiment on this planet. Their technology and research methods are so primitive.

You do what you do, and when the time comes, I’ll do what I do best.

Feeling slightly vexed, Ezza watched as Zas headed towards the dwelling. Shaking his head he turned to look at a stand of trees with smaller plants all around it. Intent on learning everything he could and filling it away for documentation later when they made it home, he headed off to try to get samples of the vegetation; thoughts of Zas and his crappy attitude swirling around in his head.

 

He’s never going to change.

Zas sighed as he realized the truth of that thought. Ezza was always a straight shooter, so it really shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that he wanted to get down to business right away. If he was totally honest with himself, Zas was feeling unsettled too.

Since coming to this planet he had felt useless. The people here seemed friendly enough, heck at least one of them was REALLY friendly. He’d never run into it before. Sure, he’d been on missions where’d they crashed before, but then at least the indigenous people had the sense to attack him. He’d put his skills to use then for sure. He’d rescued crews both his own and others that had been stranded and been useful then too. After all the simulated hours at the Academy he’d honed his skills for things like this. Guess I should have taken that peace elective after all. At the time every pilot had laughed including him, it had seemed like a joke course. Shows what Zas knew. Now here they were, stranded, and he was useless to his Pairing.

Zas walked up to the door and knocked, it just opened on its own. He stuck his head inside.

“Hello?” He called out. No answer, so he closed the door and walked back to the chair on the porch. Beside it sat one of those cooler things. Reaching inside he pulled out some food and then sat and watched Ezza as he ate. Wait, where was he?

Ezza had travelled from plant to plant taking little pieces from everything. Along the way he had come across the lake and found a human male standing there holding a stick with string attached to it flung out into the water. Ah yes, fishing. He had stood and watched for a bit, but it seemed to make the man nervous so he had moved on. Soon, he had found himself near a large cropping of trees and boulders with no sign of Zas or that dwelling anywhere. Where was he? Shrugging his shoulders, he turned back to gathering samples, moving away from where he had been. He was still a little miffed at Zas’s attitude from earlier. Serves him right, he should learn to do his job. He can just come find me.

  

Ezza nodded satisfied that he was in the right. Standing to take a sample of some hanging plants, he noticed an open space behind them. Curious he lifted them out of the way. Behind stood a tunnel large enough for someone to walk through. Even though it was dark inside, there seemed to be a faint light further along and a sweet smell to the air.

 

 

The Hermit!

Just as he was about to enter the tunnel, a hand clasped his shoulder. Jumping, he spun around to see Zas with a scary look on his face.

By the Mates Zas! You scared me. Ezza said holding his hand to his chest and trying to catch his breath.

Oh, I scared you did I? Imagine my surprise when I get settled at the dwelling, and look up and you’re nowhere to be found. Imagine having to track your Pairing through unknown brush on a foreign planet AGAIN, because your Pairing is a genius idiot incapable of minding his own safety. Imagine that.

Oh he was ticked. So now this was his fault? Where did Zas get off. It was his job to help get them off this planet, but was he doing it? No. No he wasn’t, instead so far he had slept with an earth woman and then sat back and relaxed. Now he was attacking me because I’m actually doing my job. This was ridiculous.

At least I’m doing my job. Have you found a way to keep us safe and get us home? No? Then try harder instead of stopping. I found this tunnel and I’m going through it. I’m exploring like I’m supposed to do, do whatever you want.

Zas’s mouth twitched and settled into a furious grin. He wasn’t mad at Ezza, it was more himself. Still Ezza’s words pricked at him. Twerp.

Fine let’s go. I’ll do my job and keep you safe, and I’ll find a way off this damn planet.

Zas pushed his way ahead of Ezza into the tunnel. Wide eyed, Ezza followed him. It was easy enough to tell that Zas was furious with him, but Ezza couldn’t bring himself to apologize to him about it. Zas was right he shouldn’t just take off on him like that, yet he’d done it twice now. Ezza’s shoulders slumped, he’d have to find a way to make it up to him.

They walked for a bit when the tunnel finally opened into a heavily wooded area. Barely any light filtered down, just enough so you could see everything in a dusky, shadowy way. There was a small footpath worn into the ground that weaved further into the trees. The sound of running water could be heard upheld as well.

Are you sure about this? Zas asked Ezza.

Yes, I believe we found what I was talking about this morning.

This morning?

The secret place in Granite Falls and the wise man, the Hermit.

Zas nodded his head. If this was what Ezza had his mind and heart set on doing, then the only way to make it up to him was to do it. He wouldn’t be useless to Ezza any more. He’d prove he was a Pairing capable of helping, even if it wasn’t in the conventional way. Taking the lead he started down the footpath, listening carefully for Ezza’s footsteps behind him.

All around them, they could hear the sounds of animals calling out, but instead of the peaceful feelings they invoked back at camp, in the dim light and almost suffocating surroundings, the calls sounded ominous and warning. Still they pushed ahead. They reached a small stream with clear running, fast waters. Inside swam fish shimmering and glinting in the dim light like jewels underwater. Ezza wished to stop and examine them, but Zas didn’t like the atmosphere here, so he grabbed Ezza’s arm and pulled him forward.

They came across a small meadow that was more brightly lit the anywhere they’d seen since coming out of the tunnel. Moss grew on old stumps and in flowered patches on the ground. It looked comfy and inviting. Zas wanted to make a stop and rest for a bit, but Ezza pulled him onwards. If it looked to good to be true, it usually was. Ezza had learned that the hard way at the Academy.

Next came a crossroads. Each place lead into shadows, one overgrown with tree roots and barks and whines coming from it. Across the way it was shadows and eerie silence. That left behind them where they came from or ahead of them. The way forward was covered in a large web of sticky strands.

I vote for going back. You’ve had your fun, it’s got to be getting close to night by now. I say we go back to the tent. We can always get more supplies, and then come back another day and do more exploring. Besides, we could try catching some of those fish we saw earlier. Zas had been looking back down the path, now he turned back to Ezza. What do you say? What are you doing?

Ahead of him at the web, Ezza was taking a long spindly stick and thrusting downwards through the sticky strands.

I’m getting a sample. Ezza said twirling the stick to wrap the strands around the stick.

Zas sighed and then looked past his friend. It was faint, but there was light at the end of this path. Zas picked up a stick lying on the ground and began hacking at the web with it.

Oh, I only need the one sample. Thank you though.

I’m not getting you a sample Ezza. Look past the web and tell me what you see.

Ezza squinted.

Oh! Light! We found the end of it.

Yes, so let’s hurry up and get back to our tent. I don’t feel right about these woods.

Both men cleared a path through the giant web and continued ahead. The light got brighter the closer they came to it, stinging their eyes and bringing tears. Finally they stepped out into it.

They were in an open glen, lush with greenery and birdsong, bugs and animals flew and ran and crawled upon the ground. In the distance stood a waterfall emptying it contents into a deep basin in a rainbow torrent. The water flowed out of the basin and into a river which disappeared over a cliff. Another dwelling stood in front of them, surrounded by a well-kept, but wild-looking garden. Just at its edges stood a human male holding a pail and pouring water over the flowers. He looked up and his mouth opened in shock.

What do we do now?

That my friend is easy. Now we do what we do best.

Ok, that would be?

“Hello. My name is Zas, and this is my best friend Ezza.” Zas said moving forward. He had smile on his face and confident stride. Ezza did his best to keep up and look friendly himself. They approached the man.