Beyond The Walls (NOW ON AMAZON!!!)

Introspection

Hadley scrunched her face. "What's a wedding?"

Brielle clutched at her heart, feigning physical pain when Hadley revealed she had no idea about weddings or rings or the perfect wedding bouquets or tiered wedding cakes with toppers. Brielle was dramatically sprawled on the ground at the end of it.

She shot back to her feet.

"There's no way I'm going to just sit here and let this ignorance slide! You have a lot to learn! Come on!" Brielle announced, chucking the leather hide they'd been working on back into a brine bucket, and pulling Hadley onto a new adventure.

Hadley had come to learn that the cave tunnels were accessible by both narrow gangways encircling the cavern walls at different levels and connected by staircases as well a tubular elevator system hewn into the thick metal and concrete pillars that held up the slab at the top that kept the outside from coming in. The different levels of the cave's tunnels were also divided into different sections depending on what they were used for and by which tribes. Some levels were communal, and so were the suspended platforms in the middle of the large carven space. Brielle led them to one of the suspended platforms, a few levels from the crater's top.

Brielle always used the gangways and the stairs, loving to run full speed over both, much to the chagrin of everyone else walking on them.

This platform was an open, gigantic expanse holding no frosted-glass-walled boxy buildings on it, unlike all the other platforms. Thanks to the cavern's concave walls, this was the largest platform, suspended on the widest level of the cave. Despite only being held up by thick tensile cables, these platforms didn't sway an inch, even though they all seemed to be constant hives of activity. This particular platform currently held easily a hundred or so people moving around as well as on and off the platform, all busily working together to transform it.

"What's going on?" Hadley yelled to get heard over the din.

"There're getting everything ready," Brielle shouted back.

She led Hadley through the chaos, weaving and dancing besides, under and over people, until they found a spot where they could hear themselves think and speak. Brielle continued to explain what was happening.

"Most of the tribes are currently here, and that isn't usual. We prefer being out in nature." Brielle explained. "But the tribes weren't just heading over to The Caves because of the vampire dogs or the Scavengers. The rainforest is always full of danger. The dogs and the Scavengers are just another part of it. We all come back to The Caves every spring, because every year, at the Summer Solstice, we celebrate the joining of new couples from all the Wildling tribes in one massive celebration. It's called The Wedding."

Hadley watched the platform slowly transformed by ribbons, wreathes, garlands, and an ocean of flowers. It was beautiful. But Hadley noticed more than that. She noticed people looking at her. Some didn't even hide it. They openly stared and whispered to their friends. She knew what they were saying. She was Hadley Fisher. It was odd, but Hadley was getting used to it. It had been the same from that first day she'd walked into The Caves in the company of Brielle's tribe. Her blue eyes and dark skin were a contrast that had always drawn attention to her, even at the Compound. And maybe the staring was a little more intense here because it was also attached to the legacy of her name, but they'd eventually get used to it, just like everyone at the Compound had eventually stopped pointing out her and her mother's blue eyes.

Besides, no one had said anything to her that warranted concern yet, so Hadley just let it be.

Brielle turned to Hadley. "I think you should propose to Jamila!"

"Propose? Propose what?"

"You should ask her to marry you at The Wedding. And there, you'll profess your love for her, vow to care of her through sickness and health, be with her forever... that kind of stuff," Brielle explained. "It's extremely romantic! It will totally win you brownie points."