Being free

The arbiter watches from the expanding sea of stars.

A girl, blanketed in soft satin over her cotton tunic, watches the nightsky. She can hear the wind calling out to her.

"Weyn--"

That must be her father's voice.

Weyn does not regret going out on a journey in her final months.

Her neighbor Trong wasn't wrong to question her decision. The roads are longer than she thought, and there wasn't as much food as she had hoped.

Still, there were places to be and food to enjoy.

Weyn likes being as close to being free as she had imagined. She doesn't know how to say it but the journey made her feel more like herself.

Weyn looks back to the time she couldn't capture a beast for her to ride around. She thought about how to do it, and she stopped thinking when she saw it kick a dog to death.

She already had a gun then, gifted from one of her neighbors who participated in raids, but she feared that she would kill the beast, which went against her intention.

Weyn didn't know how to handle animals, small and large alike, but she hoped that something good would happen but it didn't.

Seeing such curious creatures, however, didn't feel like a waste of a trip.

There were also plenty of food to take in the area.

In Walleight City, Weyn encountered a foreigner but he didn't seem interested in harassing her. A part of her hoped that he tried something so she could shoot him justly, but it wasn't such an important matter.

Weyn went to a different direction assuming that the foreigner already scoured the area.

It was lucky for her that she found an open clothing store. There were signs of people taking the stuff in the store, but it wasn't closed to being cleared out.

Weyn dreamt of trying out different clothes. She received one nice article from her friend, whose father had a job at the city, and that moment sparked something in her.

Weyn has no good idea of what's supposed to look good, but her body can tell her which clothes feel good to wear.

Another thing Weyn did was find a bicycle with a sidecar, so she can travel quickly while carrying the treasures she found.

Weyn wanted to get a car but she couldn't figure out how to ride one, even though she found a few that posed no challenge to break into.

Weyn spent some time exploring the city. She sought the joy of having stuff other people had.

And sometimes, she found the other effects of the arbiter's influence.

It wasn't so unusual to find bodies around the city. Weyn even found a mass grave in the woods near a complex of tall buildings.

Weyn had never seen such a big pile before then.

She thought how strange it was that the bodies on top of the pile seem almost unharmed, as if they were merely sleeping, eyes closed or not, and very much never breathing.

From beneath the grave appears the first monster Weyn has ever seen.

She has heard her neighbors talk about creatures like this, humans who have transformed into something else. It was said that being killed by one will trap one's star on earth.

Weyn didn't want to be trapped so she ran away with no hesitation.

She decided to leave the city then.

Weyn traveled east as she planned. She couldn't find anything that could help her navigate. Her thoughts stopped at finding a map but she didn't even manage to do that.

She knows enough move away from the sunset.

The road east stopped more than a few times, but Weyn simply followed that path that was there. She didn't think much of it, even if she might have inched back west.

Weyn passed a dead village and met an old man who passed the time watching the sky.

Weyn didn't understand the words he was saying but she felt like she understood what he meant.

The old man believed that his family wasn't supposed to die. He and his wife couldn't see the arbiter in the past, but that didn't remain true.

The wife started seeing when the wife gave birth to a daughter, whom she conceived before the arbiter appeared. The man started seeing soon after that.

Yesterday, the wife and the daughter died.

The old man felt relief. He was never going to be able to provide for his daughter.

He liked knowing that his daughter passed with her mother, instead of having to continue on knowing that she'll die from neglect.

Weyn had dinner with the old man. She heard a sad story, but it came with a curious dinner.

She also tried a fuzzy drink even though the Children aren't supposed to.

She wasn't so worried about this matter, hoping that the arbiter will not punish her because she didn't like it.

Weyn found the old man dead in the morning. His body looked different from his wife's.

Weyn thought about burying the old man, but she could foresee how much work will go into this, so she just covered the people's bodies with whatever she could find.

Weyn didn't know if God will receive those who aren't His Children, but she prayed for them anyway.

Weyn continued west and passed another dead village. She gave up after searching the first house because of the smell.

The villagers must have died not too long ago.

The surrounding area had its bounties, but Weyn doesn't know what wouldn't kill her.

Further down the road, Weyn found a herd of cattle.

Weyn thought killing one for food but she decided against it believing she couldn't carry even a good chunk of meat.

She continued her journey thinking to herself that she might not even kill anything with one bullet, that it's a good thing she didn't waste her time with the matter.

Weyn found a lake.

Weyn filled up as many containers as she could, with water of course.

She thought of a method to catch fish on shallow waters, which involves hoping something jumps into a separate pool.

Weyn caught a single fish. It looked ugly and inedible. Weyn roasted the fish over open flames, the one simple way of cooking something.

It was an edible and unpleasant meal.

Rain poured.

The road ahead was flooded.

Weyn endured the elements taking shelter under a tree she remembered seeing a while ago.

She swore that she'll find something to take shelter in when she finds the next village.

Weyn rode around the floodwater. She found another tree, one closer than the one she used for shelter, and a good bit larger.

Weyn couldn't find where the road connected so she followed the water upstream.

After several attempts, Weyn caught another fish with a new method, using her clothes as a makeshift net.

Weyn found a jungle, or what might be a jungle.

She turned back, and rode along the water downstream instead.

The journey back felt longer than the journey forward.

Weyn had forgotten where the turn was, and she couldn't find the way back home.

The food was going bad, and the water was starting to smell funny.

Weyn hoped to find the next village soon.

She noticed that she hadn't found a place that had the kind of food she would want.

She never even found salt, or anything that could make eating more pleasant. Still, she remembered how to use God's blessing to make something taste better.

The new season begins with a series of rainy days.

Weyn couldn't continue any longer

She caught a fever and other things she couldn't name.

Weyn wondered where God's arbiter is. She realized she stopped seeing it just when the sky is covered with rainclouds.

On a sunny day, Weyn decided to find a place where the ground is firm and dry, perhaps one with a beautiful view.

So, Weyn arrived--

She prays once more for her father and for her teacher, and the fellow Children who left her and those whom she left.

"Weyn--"

The wind calls, again.

Weyn opens her eyes in the cold darkness of the night, and the sky is bright with billions of starlight.

It seems that she was sleeping, perchance dreaming.

She can feel the cold blood course through her veins.

Firelight appears before her, and her cheeks warm up.

Weyn thought about the happy things in life.

Her teacher tells her a story.

Her father sings from the other room.

Sweetness fills her mouth.

Someone embraces her through the clothes she's wearing.

Someone kisses her. She tries to reach out but she couldn't move.

A rich scent wafts over to her.

The road stretches infinitely before her.

Weyn runs forward. Her arms grow into wings.

The world has gone silent--

"Weyn--"

A father holds his daughter over his shoulder. She is a child again.

The two looked out to the other side.