I stepped towards the food stalls and away from Rafe, coming to stand next to Freesia. She met my eyes, before they left mine to look behind me. When she looked at me, her eyebrows were raised.

She jerked her chin towards something behind me and asked, "What's going on?"

I turned to look and realised that two C'Riel had brought large trunks and set them on either side of Rafe, and took their places beside the trunks. I turned to pay attention despite the food calling my name.

Without calling for attention, the whole room went silent. Everyone's eyes were on Rafe, who was standing in his usual spread-legged, arm crossed pose. His eyes calm, as he surveyed all of us, stopping at no one.

Some part of me wasn't happy about that, but I pushed it away. Ridiculous.

"This box contains your communication devices, your schedules and your cleaners that are suited specifically for you. They will be distributed to you. Please insert your schedule card into your commutation device so that it can keep you updated. Any changes in your schedule will be directed to your schedule card which will in turn alert your device." He said.

"Step forward and you will be handed your device."

The two C'Riel called out different names and the people started stepping to them and taking a small white box from them.

When my name was called I walked up to a golden haired C'Riel who met my eyes with churning dark blue ones.

My brows furrowed as I looked at his eyes. There wasn't much black in his eyes like in Rafe's.

The C'Riel before me raised his eyebrows and I blinked, taking the small box from his hands. As I stepped away, my eyes slipped to Rafe, who watched me silently, his eyes flicking between the C'Riel I'd shared a stare with and me. I turned away, clutching the box in my hand. I looked around for Kylee and saw that she stood with a C'Riel who was also blonde and tall, looking down at her as she carried a still sleeping Jasmine in her arms. He seemed to be nodding at something that she was saying. I pressed my lips, not wanting to disturb their conversation, so I turned and walked towards the food stall again.

Freesia, thankfully caught up with me. She handed me her box which I held with my left hand as she picked up bowls that were oval and a little deep. She quickly walked around filling in food into them, expertly handling both the bowls. I watched as she filled them with what I think was the C'Riel version of salads. The colour of all the ingredients were different though. I saw a lot of purple, a dark red, a black here and there and blue. Freesia then dropped two spork-like structures into the bowls and stepped to me, handing me mine and taking her box back.

"Shall we?" She asked.

"God, yes. I'm hungry." And I had never had food like this. We usually just took vitamins and supplement pills.

We sat on the floor, with our backs leaning against the wall. We both immediately dug in and it took everything I had not to moan in delight.

"Oh my God." Freesia groaned, not having the reservations I did.

I laughed, shaking my head, as she made embarrassing moaning sounds. I tried to shut her up by placing my hand on her mouth, but she made them louder and I burst into giggles.

"I'll have whatever she's having." A male voice said and I looked up. I met grey eyes, a smirk, messy brown hair and attitude. Lots of attitude.

I shake my head at Freesia and said, "See, now you're attracting strays."

Freesia chokes on her food as she laughs. I looked up to meet grey eyes that were surprisingly also laughing at me.

He sat down on his hunches, and held out his hand.

"My name is Reid, but people call me Wolf." He said, his grey eyes meeting mine.

As I took in his eyes, I realised why he was called Wolf.

"Wolf," I said shaking his hand and nodded, "Amour."

Freesia just threw him a sloppy salute, "Freesia."

He nodded at her, then looked at us, "Why don't you join us?" He asked, jerking his head to his right, indicating a set of sofas that were designed to look like large white tilted back C's that weren't as curved on the top.

I saw curious eyes, all Human, meet mine. I looked at Freesia and she shrugged. I nodded at Wolf and all three of us got up. We followed him and when we reached the sofas, Freesia and I sat down next to each other and to our surprise, Wolf sat down next to me.

He started his introductions of the people around us.

"Gregory," Wolf said pointing to a strawberry blonde haired guy with a pale complexion. I nodded at the disinterested Gregory, who just blinked lazily at me.

"Matthew," he pointed to a dark haired, blue eyed guy who waved shyly at us.

I grinned at Matthew.

"Penelope," he said jerking his chin at a dark haired, dark eyed, pretty girl, who smiled at us.

Freesia and I smiled back.

"Loriel," Wolf said, pointing to a blonde that was glaring at me.

How nice, I thought.

I nodded at her and the introductions were over.

They didn't have bowls with them, so only Freesia and I were eating-me consciously, her less so.

But when conversation started amongst them, I settled, comfortable at not being stared at.

Once Freesia and I finished our food, we stood to return to the food stalls. This time I load my bowl with a little bit of everything. I could tell that everything had a lot of vegetables in them. Somehow on C'Riel they'd found the perfect balance between nutrition and taste, that burst across my palette.

"So, what does your schedule say?" Wolf asked as soon as we settled back in our places.

I blinked, then shrugged.

"No clue."

"May I?" Wolf asked, indicating to my box.

I looked down at where it was resting near my thigh on the sofa and looked back at Wolf. I nodded, getting back to my food.

"This is so good," Freesia said around a mouthful of food, "What is it?"

I laughed, "I don't know." She said.

She pointed at a mashed vegetable and said, "This tastes very similar to potato."

I stilled.

"You've...tasted potato?" I asked, looking at her.

Who was she?

She stilled as well, her eyes flicking to mine and I thought I saw a flash of panic.

"I..I'm-" she started, when Wolf dropped a hand on my shoulder and turned me around to face him.

I blinked up at him while he stared down at a transparent rectangular device with a black material surrounding the edges. So this was my communication device.

"It needs your print chip to get activated." Wolf said.

I pressed my bracelet to the bottom of the device and the transparent part, which I realised was the screen, immediately turned blue.

Then Wolf took out a small rectangular looking chip and inserted it into the side of the device, where a small opening was provided.

Was that my schedule card?

Then a tabulated column popped up on the device's screen, letting me know the days and the places I needed to be.

"What's a Day Order?" I asked Wolf, as I leaned in to look at the device.

"We have names for the days on Earth. Here they have numbers. They, unlike us, run on a nine day week. Day One to Day Six are working days while Day Seven to Day Nine are not."

I nodded, taking this in and realising that the Day Two that had been displayed on my wall in my room now made sense.

Wolf looked up at me in shock and I blinked, "What?" I asked.

He pointed to an 'I' on the screen that was tabulated under some of the days.

"You've been assigned Infant Care." He said, his eyebrows raised like he couldn't believe this.

My brows furrowed, "And...that is bad..?"

Wolf shook his head and handed my device to me and pulled out his own. As soon as my device realised we weren't looking at it, it went blank. A thrill ran through me as I thought of exploring it. But I got distracted as Wolf handed me his device.

"Look," he said and pointed to his schedule.

There were F's, C's, and one K.

"F stands for Field, C for Cleaning and K for kitchen." He told me.

I handed his back and him, still confused.

"Okay." I said.

He shook his head, "You don't get it. You've been assigned Infant Care. No one has been assigned Infant Care. At least as far as I know." He said, his eyes scanning the room before coming back to mine.

I shrugged, "What's the big deal?" I asked.

Wolf leaned closer, his voice dipping low, "What makes you think the C'Riel will let us anywhere near their children? Their future generations? They haven't even let us do much of Kitchen work, for fear we might tamper with their food. So why would they let you do Infant Care?"

I just stared at him.

What could I possibly say?

"Are you good with children?" He asked.

"I've never really taken care of them..." I said, my sentence trailing off as I wondered something.

"Who sets up our schedules?" I asked.

"The District Leaders." He said and I gave him a blank look.

Was I supposed to know who they were?

He threw me an exasperated look, "The C'Riel male and female who introduced themselves to us in the Hover? What was her name? Anya?" He asked.

I nodded.

"And the male...he never told us his name." Wolf mused.

"Rafe," I said, almost absentmindedly, as I turned to look behind me, my eyes searching instinctively.

"Seems a very Human name." Wolf muttered.

I looked back and him and shrugged.

"How do you know anyway?" He asked.

I threw him a smirk and stood up, finally noticing that Freesia had struck up a conversation with the dark haired girl who'd smiled at us. Her name didn't come to me.

When Freesia saw that I'd gotten up she started to get up as well.

"Are you done?" I asked, pointing at her bowl.

She nodded. I took the bowl from her and told her, "I've got it. It's fine."

Freesia blinked and a mask fell over her face. "You don't need to do that." She said.

I just shrugged, "I'm heading there anyway." I said.

Then I put my device into the pocket I had on my pants. I checked to see that it sat snugly and didn't fall out as I walked.

As I headed towards the large rectangular structures that came up to my waist, where I'd seen some of the people drop their bowls into, a hand caught my arm.

I turned to look at Kylee and smiled.

"Hey," I said.

Kylee grinned at me and adjusted a still sleeping Jasmine in her arms.

"I'm sorry I couldn't sit with you. I was with.." She paused, her eyes flashing down before she looked back up at me.

The structures, as soon as I came close, opened up and I placed my bowl and Freesia's inside it.

I turned to look at Kylee expectantly.

"With..?" I prompted.

She bit her lip before shaking her head.

"Nothing. Take down my chip ID so that you can connect to me."

My eyebrows raised.

"Your chip ID?" I asked.

"Here hold Jasmine and give me your device." She instructed.

I immediately took Jasmine from her arms after handing her my device. When Jasmine settled into my arms, somehow I felt a measure of comfort, I didn't know why though.

Jasmine typed something on my device and handed it back to me, but didn't ask for Jasmine back. I didn't mind, somehow.

"I'm listed under the people you can contact." She told me, pointing to her name on the screen.

My brow furrowed, "I have Anya's too." I said.

Kylee nodded, "Yes, so do all the other girls. The men I suppose have..um..the other C'Riel's."

"Rafe," I said again, before I could stop myself.

Kylee's eyes snapped up to mine and I thought I saw a flash of happiness.

"You know him?" She asked, a wide grin spreading across her face.

I just laughed and shook my head, "We've met." I said, lightly.

Kylee smirked while throwing me a suspicious look and I snickered, "Please. No." I said, because she looked like she was going to tease me.

Kylee grinned then and held her hands up in a universal 'surrender' symbol.

"Hey, I'm not saying anything." She said, then mimicked zipping her lip up and tossing the key away.

Somehow it occurred to me to ask about the blonde C'Riel that she has been talking to, but I figured since she hasn't brought it up so maybe she wasn't ready to talk about it. Or maybe it was nothing.

"We will be starting our education tomorrow," she said, her expression solemn.

I blinked, "Really?" I asked.

She nodded and then her face lit up, "I think your father might be an Educator?"

I blinked. Educator?

I groaned. "Oh man. He's probably going to teach math. Or physics."

Kylee laughed and then I asked, "How do you know anyway?"

Kylee smirked and said, "I have my sources," and I just rolled my eyes. I had a feeling that her source was blonde and not Human.

"So what's on your schedule tomorrow?" She asked.

I shrugged, "A bunch of Cleaning and Field work." I said.

She nodded, "Me too."

"I think I have Infant Care the day after." I mused.

Kylee's eyes widened, "You've been assigned Infant Care?" She asked and I nodded slowly.

She just shook her head, "I think you'd do good. I don't think I could take Infant Care." She said and for the first time I saw the part of her that did not appreciate being dumped with a child to take care of.

I couldn't judge her, because she was really young and in her perception this was unfair.

I threw her a small smile, "I don't know if I can contribute to Infant Care...the only child I've been around is Jasmine and she isn't fussy. I wouldn't know how to handle them." I said, voicing my worries.

"What if I accidentally hurt them or I don't know what they want or something?" I continued, my brows furrowed.

Kylee seemed to be thinking, "Maybe you should look for Anya and voice your worries to her and ask her if you can shift yourself from Infant Care to something else." She said finally.

I blinked. "Of course, yes. I'll do that right now." I said, already looking around for her.

Kylee then took Jasmine from me and said, "I'm really tired, I think I'll go to bed."

"Oh, has Jasmine been assigned to a Nursery yet or is she to sleep with you?" I asked, remembering that Rafe had said she would be part of one when I'd asked if she needed a print chip.

Jasmine threw me a surprised look, "Assigned to a Nursery?"

Her whole face lit up and some part of me felt a little sad. I could understand why she was happy, but Jasmine was her only family left...

"I'll enquire about it." She said and waved good bye and left, heading towards the cylindrical elevator.

I turned around and sighed. I had to look for Anya. I didn't know if I could find her in this large room filled with so many people. Rubbing my forehead and took to searching for her.

During the process of searching, I realised the nape of my neck was feeling really hot. So I ran my fingers through my hair to see if it had dried because I didn't want to braid it while it was wet. When I noticed that it wasn't wet anymore, I quickly split it into three portions and started plaiting it, securing a lock of my hair around the bottom to hold it. But I knew that wouldn't last long, my hair could be a little unruly sometimes and untwine itself from the braid. Sighing, I pulled the braid forward, letting it rest over my shoulder, down my chest.

When I reached the walls, a small Identity Screen popped out and I blinked.

There were rooms here?

Maybe Anya was inside?

I quickly ran my bracelet over it and the door appeared and opened. I stepped inside carefully.

"Anya..?" I called, looking around.

I stilled when I realised what this room was. The walls of the room were shifting waves of blue. It was reflecting from a large dip in the middle of the room. Which was filled with blue shimmering liquid.

I drew a breath in as I realised what it was.

Water.

I was looking at a pool.

I slowly walked towards it, almost scared it would disappear. I crouched near the edge and looked in. My own reflection stared back at me. The shorter strands of my hair that had escaped my face and curved under my chin, the long braid that wasn't resting on me anymore because I was leaning forward. My face seemed paler than usual and the red of my hair stood stark against my skin.

I reached a hand forward, my finger reaching out to touch the surface of the calm blue pool.

"What are you doing here?"

I jerked and had to steady myself with a hand on the ground beside me, or I would've fallen into the pool.

Pressing a hand to my chest, I stood up.

"You scared me." I told Rafe.

I expected his arm to cross and just as I thought it, he did it. I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling.

His eyes narrowed.

"What are you doing here?" He repeated.

I looked back at the pool, before turning back to him.

"I was looking for Anya." I told him, looking back to the pool again.

"For what?" He asked.

I threw him a look, "Aren't you awfully curious?" I asked.

I went back to my crouching position and reached out a hand again. This time nothing stopped my finger from touching the water.

When my finger touched it, I dragged in a deep breath.

We weren't privilege with water on Earth. Our water levels were replenished with liquid nutrients that was created in labs for our consumption.

Was this how water felt?

Would silk feel the same way? Soft, but yielding.

Smooth and curling around my fingers, it felt exquisite.

"Why were you looking for her, Hills?" He asked.

I sighed and stood up, "You're totally ruining my moment her, Rafe."

Rafe met my eyes with an unyielding look that almost willed me to answer him.

"I need her help." I confessed, heading towards the Identity Screen so I could leave and resume my search.

"I am your District Leader too, I can help you." He said from behind me.

"Yes, but she sets my schedules." I said as I lifted my hand to run my bracelet over the screen.

"What is wrong with your schedule?" He asked.

I sighed. He wasn't going to drop this. I turned to look at him, with his dark hair and dark and bright eyes.

"I've been assigned Infant Care. I wanted to ask Anya if I can have that shifted."

"Why?" He asked again.

Running my fingers through the bottom part of my braid, I looked down.

"I don't know how to take care of children." I said, dropping my hand and lifting my eyes.

He then dropped his hands and took a step closer. We weren't in anyway standing close to each other, but we were closer than before.

"Why did you tie your hair up?" He asked, his head tilting to the side and his eyes traced the length of my braid.

My mind reeled a little at the change in topic.

My brows furrowed, "I was feeling hot." I said in explanation.

"If you wore your suit you would not feel that way." He said.

I blinked, "It's night time." And I didn't have a night suit.

"You can order for night suits, if you wish."

I just waved my hand. "No, that's fine."

"Have you seen Anya?" I asked, bringing the topic back to the matter at hand.

He was quiet for sometime, then he walked towards me.

"You have been assigned Infant Care based on your abilities and the observations made of you while you were on C'Riel." He told me as I quickly stepped aside to let him through.

He ran his bracelet over the Identity Screen and when the door opened he started walking away, before stopped as if he was hesitating about something. Then he turned his head so that I could see his profile. His sharp nose and the steel of his jawline.

"And I have never been wrong before." He said and left.

____________________________________________________________

Okay! Yay. Hope you liked that! Hopefully updates will be more often. ❤️ Vote and comment my BAE's.

Until next time pretties.