None of it mattered since we weren’t in positions to make decisions anyway, but still the discussion got heated. The Motlanders were disturbed when we raised our voices, but luckily the French were worthy opponents when it came to arguing. They all debated fiercely, making great points, except Belle, who didn’t participate but silently doodled on a piece of paper.
When Jonah called off the meeting after having asked us to lower our voices several times, the other delegations left the room while we Northlanders gathered in the corner to process the day before splitting up in different tents.
Thor was our future ruler, but since he was three years younger than Indiana, Aubri, Freya, and me, he relied on our opinion.
“I’m not going to be quieted down by the Motlanders. If they can’t take some cussing and shouting then they shouldn’t have invited us,” I exclaimed.
Freya’s head kept turning as the rest of us summed up what we had learned.
“What is it?” Thor asked her.
“I saw Belle throw out her notes and I wonder why she’s not saving them.” When the French delegation left the room, Freya had moved to the trash can in the corner and pulled out the papers.
None of the others paid her any attention but the way she straightened out the crumpled-up papers and widened her eyes made me curious, so I waited for Freya as we all left the room.
“So?”
Freya lifted her gaze to mine. Her long brown hair was braided, and she wore a loose green dress that stopped halfway down her thighs. “It’s not notes, it’s drawings.”
“Oh.”
“They’re good. I think you’ll like this one.”
I took the paper she handed me and saw an artistic drawing of me and Belle.
“She drew you as a giant.”
“I can see that.” The resemblance between the drawn giant and me was undeniable, and as a fun detail a ladder stood leaning against my chest with a doll-sized version of Belle balancing on top. In the drawing her head was leaned forward to meet mine with her eyes closed, and her lips pursed as if she wanted to kiss my nose.
“She’s talented.” Freya showed me a few other drawings. One showed Victor shouting with bulging eyes and smoke coming out of his ears. They revealed that Belle had a sense of humor.
“I’m keeping this one,” Freya said with a smile and moved to the others, who were already halfway out the door.
Folding Belle’s drawing, I slid it in my pocket wondering if the kiss she had drawn was a matter of her gratitude toward me for using my size to help her earlier today. I was raised to protect the weak and seeing how the young girl had depicted me as a giant made me proud.
I might be sixteen, but I was already close to seven feet like my father, Magni. If I could use my size and strength to help someone as small and innocent as Belle, I would be honored to do so.
CHAPTER 3
Belle Dupont
11 Years Later
En Route to The Northlands
December 2465
Belle
From the time I was a little girl, I’d learned that men and women were equal, that altruism is the way for a society to not just survive but thrive. And that emotions must be controlled at all costs.
I was taught in school to follow rules, and to speak with purpose, not on impulse.
Some of my classmates qualified to become Academics and continued on a rigorous path of studying. I on the other hand was put in the practical category with others who couldn’t sit still, pay attention, or keep up with the pace of the gifted children.
My initial disappointment that I wasn’t good enough lessened over the years as I began working with babies. The joy of caring for them, singing to them, and being around small miracles was far more satisfying than anything I could have imagined. The only thing I liked more was drawing and painting.
By some miracle I’d been chosen to be part of a delegation of five people that got to leave our country each year for an international summit that lasted a full week. No one else I knew had ever left Old Europe. We French were skeptical of the outside world and focused on rebuilding what had been destroyed during the Toxic War. If not for the endless discussions with the delegation members from the Motherlands and Northlands at the yearly summits, I would have never questioned the fairness of our society.
The summits typically happened during the summer, but this year it had been postponed to December and I couldn’t wait to visit my dear friends Freya and Aubri.
Sitting in the cramped aircraft, I was wrapped in blankets and the warmest clothes I owned. The drone wasn’t built for long distance traveling, and it was always a miserable experience for us to travel back and forth from the summits.
Victor, Celeste, Simon, and Isaac, the other four in our delegation, were all academics and chosen because they were among the smartest people in our country. Compared to them, I was the odd duck.
At home I lived in a small apartment below ground while the other four all lived above ground. Rank mattered and taking care of babies wasn’t considered a job conferring status.
The constant rattling sound from the drone worried me. I was pressed into the corner with no more than a sliver of window visible from my spot behind Victor and Simon.
“Is there something wrong with the drone?” I asked, but either they didn’t hear me, or they ignored me.
My friend Banni was an Explorer and he used these drones every time he and his crew went on expeditions to clean the area around us of radioactivity. The machines were built to carry heavy equipment and fly over treetops to spread seeds. They weren’t built for transporting people from one end of the world to the other.
“I have to pee,” Celeste shouted from her front seat.
“Again?” Victor’s tone was sharp. “We can’t keep landing for a toilet break.”
“It’s not my fault that my bladder is small. I’m pregnant!”
When we landed for the third time since we left four hours ago, I heard the three men talk.
“I wish we had drones like the ones in the Northlands. Their drones are so large they even have built-in toilets,” Simon said.
“Na-huh.” Isaac wiggled a finger in the air. “Not all of them. I’ve seen Thor’s drone on the inside, and it didn’t have a toilet. It was a lot faster than this old piece of scrap though.”
Victor stood with his arms crossed, looking in the direction Celeste had gone. “Anything is faster than our drones, but it doesn’t help that she has to pee every five minutes.”
“Do you think our slow drones are part of the government’s strategy to make us stay?” Simon speculated.
Isaac snorted. “Hardly. Where would we go? It’s not as if any of us would ever want to live in the Motherlands or Northlands.”
“I don’t know about that. I liked that beach we went to in the Motherlands, and the Northlanders might not be the brightest, but they know how to party,” Simon pointed out.
“All done.” Celeste came back in her colorful outfit. “Quit scowling at me, Victor. Until you’re pregnant you don’t get to complain.”
“Did I open my lips?”
“No, but your gigantic brain was sending out complaints so loud that I could hear them.”
“My gigantic brain wants to get this hellish trip over with.”