Flight 118: A Woman’s Future
Chapter Sixteen

Finding lots of unused and non-ruined paper was proving to be slightly difficult. Finding scraps of paper in different places to at least get started on making lists was another story.

After finding a piece of paper in semi-decent shape with no writing on the back, I wrote out an announcement so I wouldn’t have to keep repeating myself or try to remember the people’s responses.

“Notice:

We are looking for interests and talents! This way we can use what we know to help out around here, and learn what we don’t know!

Please write your name and any skill sets you have on the left column (like sewing, making candles, making soap, cooking, etc.). And please write your name and what you may be interested in doing/learning in the right column (like hunting, gardening, cooking, self-defense, etc.)...

Columns are on the paper below!”

Once I was done, I used a couple tacks I found in Eric's office to push the papers onto the tree that many people tend to pass going between the house and the tents that had been set up.

Hopefully it was in a well noticed location, but even if it wasn't I was about to go let everyone know.

I figured this was probably the smartest approach. Instead of asking what people were willing to do first, I could first figure out what people could do or were interested in doing.

There was plenty of semi-used paper, chalk, and even some markers in Eric's office. He even had some organization supplies that would help- like tacks, strings, and ways to color-code things. Just about everything I needed could be found here, along with using the chalk walls to help gather my thoughts and organize before actually putting them on paper. But I still did need books to write in.

If I had to, I could create those make-shift books I vaguely remembered having to do in elementary school. Though they were roughly designed and not the best option for long-term use. But, nevertheless, I had hope that there may be journals or something that are still able to be found in some nearby towns.

Another thing to add to the list for when some of the pack members go to town later.

The list keeps growing longer and longer, and the shifters would surely not be enjoying their trip with how many things they will be needing to try and find. But it couldn't be helped.

Silver had briefly mentioned to me in passing, after the meeting earlier, that he was not sure if he would be able to give me the cooking lessons I wanted until he saw just how many ingredients they could find.

Apparently, it was more a question of what they could find to determine what we would have time to make, than the ingredients themselves.

Silver was so ‘normal’ that I enjoyed talking to him and looked forward to getting to know him. But it probably would have to wait until those lessons because anytime we talked Jonah got all growly and possessive. Sometimes it was cute. Sometimes it was so annoying I wanted to slap his arm and ignore him. But, after my brief talks with Ana I knew Jonah was just doing what was natural for shifters.

Though, I really did look forward to hanging out with Silver some more. He reminded me of Marcus in personality, but seemed even more normal compared to everyone else.

I had asked him earlier how he spoke English so well. Not just in words but also in understanding. He had briefly mentioned that his pack had mainly settled in the Sonora area of Mexico, but their pack territory technically reached as far as areas in California and Arizona. So just about everyone in their pack grew up speaking both Spanish and English.

When I got the chance I planned on asking him more about it because it seemed very interesting to me.

I may even have to start collecting written recipes down if the practical aspect of our cooking lessons ended up not available for us to do here. That could be our make-shift cooking lessons with the practical aspect being me simply learning through trial and error on my own. With so many packs coming from so many places I really could learn a lot. Maybe even write a cookbook!

I shook my head and chuckled to myself. My mind always goes straight to books.

I turned around and walked toward the tents where Jonah was waiting already. Jonah was very rarely away from me. He only ever left my side when he had a meeting with Eric and, if I had to wager on it, I would bet he would not even leave me for those if I told him I wanted him to stay. At least, not simply stating I wanted him to stay but actually asked him to. I honestly could not imagine why I would though. I didn't really need to have him by my side all day everyday. Besides, I would probably be sitting in on the meetings now. For the most part. So, even those moments of separation will soon be decreasing in time.

I shook my head again as I reached him.

He must have been able to read the look on my face because he chuckled as he reached for my hand. "Hello, Mine. Can't get rid of me that easily. Ready to go in?"

I rolled my eyes in amusement at his statement but held his hand back and nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be."

When we ducked into the biggest tent that was being used mainly for the plane survivors, I took a second to look around.

My life has changed so much recently.

Was it really just two weeks ago I was shut in my room, being completely antisocial with no one really to call 'my people'? I was perfectly fine with that life. Well, not necessarily perfectly fine. I would have loved to have had things like a boyfriend or friends who really understood me. But here I was, two weeks later, and my life was completely different. It could not get any more different.

But, ignoring the obvious changes, I now had everything I had wanted and more in a way. I had two groups of people I belonged to and a man in my life.

If only, other than Jonah, I really wanted it. I chuckled to myself. I was one of those cliche people who finally got what I wanted and wanted to escape from it constantly.

Sighing, I realized I should probably grab their attention. Though we already were in some way, seeing as many people seemed to have stopped what they were doing to stare at us.

I took a shaky breath and my hand tightened around Jonah's. I did not even realize it until his hand squeezed mine and then his thumb began to stroke my hand in reassurance.

Jonah's voice was loud as it rang out through the tent. Not because he yelled but because his voice carried and seemed to have a presence of its own. It was probably something he got from being an alpha. But his voice itself seemed to capture everyone's attention even as he asked for it.

"Hello everyone. I know we have not been around as I am sure you would appreciate. I just take responsibility for keeping Emilia away. Just as you are all settling in here, she is settling in alongside me and I must admit I am quite protective of my time with her," he smiled sheepishly. "Still, we didn't exactly come to hang out. If you will, please give my mate your attention. Thank you."

He looked down at me and I stared at the room with burning cheeks and wide eyes.

The squeeze of his hand on mine once more knocked me out of the mini freak out I was currently having.

I cleared my throat but my voice still came out slightly hoarse, "Um yea. Sorry guys. I uh... well I had an idea today and have run it by Alpha Eric and well... I don't know about you guys, but I am super stir crazy here. Who knows how much longer we will all be here but I figured you guys probably felt the same. So, I figured we can simultaneously start helping out around here, as well as maybe learning some new things to settle into our new lives here."

Licking my lips I cleared my throat again, "I found some paper and posted a make-shift signup sheet on that-uh- central tree outside. You know, the one you pass going up to the main house? Anyway, if you guys have any special skills and can help out, you can let us know. Or if you have anything that you probably need to learn now in this... new world of ours, then you can also request that there. Like learning how to fight or find ingredients out in the wild. You know, stuff like that. It's not a guarantee or anything but -uh- yea... it's a start and it'll help give us something to do while we are here."

I sucked in a deep breath as I finished. I hated speaking to groups of people. Especially as the center of attention.

No one said anything as they stared at me and I slowly began to panic. Jonah chuckled, "Well, that's all we came here to let you guys know. Not much to it."

I looked up at him again, smiling gratefully as his words caused everyone to stop staring. Some people returned to what they were doing and others got up to head past us out of the tent with some smiles or whispers of "great idea" aimed my way.

I was smiling when movement in the corner of the tent caught my eye.

Clarisse.

She stood there with a look on her face I could not really figure out. Then she slowly leaned away from the wall, gave me a small smile, and left.

I was not sure what that meant but I was assuming she was not ready to talk yet.

I felt like a horrible person because I was relieved she had not come towards us to talk. I would talk to her when she was ready. But even though it felt like it was days ago already, it was hard to forget her outburst had only happened that morning.

I really did not enjoy the idea of revisiting that topic on the same exact day it had happened, if she happened to still be thinking the same thoughts.

I really did not think she meant it. But sometimes it was hard to remember she was still a girl who was suddenly ripped away from her family and friends. I mean, she was 18 years old and we were all ripped away from everything we knew. But she and the two kids who had survived the plane crash must be having a particularly difficult time.

Then again, most kids tend to be resilient when given the opportunity.

So, I was sure she would feel better once she calmed down and realized there was no going back, that she had to learn to adjust to her new life. Once she realized this was probably one of the safest places for us to be right now I would be there to help her through that when she needed me. Even if I had to take her back with me to Jonah's pack after.

If she wanted to, of course, and did not end up having a mate.

Thinking of the other two kids made me want to check up on them. If I remembered correctly, one of them had been traveling by themself on the plane and the other had been traveling with both of her parents. One parent had passed away in the crash itself and the other was one of the people who happened to have passed away when I had left looking for help.

Both of the kids seemed to have taken to staying together and we had tried to get them to stay up at the main house in one of the rooms when we first got here. But the girl who had lost both of her parents had not spoken a word since then and we did not want to try and separate the two of them.

The boy, who had been traveling by himself, was 10 years old and named Liam. I had never understood why parents would let their little kid travel on a plane without them, but his parents probably would regret their decision for the rest of their lives.

The girl, however, was a teenager. Since we could not get her to speak we didn't actually know how old she was yet or her name. But we were pretty sure she wasn't of mating age- meaning old enough for her mate to be able to tell she was his mate. At least, she looked younger than 16 to me, and had yet to find her mate. But she was not exactly meeting all the wolves who were coming through either.

I just wish I could get her to say something. I had tried to talk to her a little when I could, but I had not been down to the tent in a while and she did not really come up to the house.

She kind of just stayed in her makeshift bed most of the time.

I whispered to Jonah that I would be right back and walked to the back of the main tent, passing by the makeshift door to the sleeping quarters and headed to where her bed was.

I could see Liam chatting away softly to her, telling her all of the things that were going on around the territory.

I could tell she was listening to him simply by the intelligent and analytical gleam in her eyes, but she didn't respond.

Liam's voice broke off when I approached and then a big grin spread across his face as he chirped a hello to me.

Smiling I sat down on the edge of the cot across from them and said softly, "Hi Liam. Do you remember me? I haven't had the chance to visit in awhile."

He answered in a voice that made me think he really wanted to say duh. "Of course. You're the one they all talk about who saved us."

I chuckled, " I am. Though, I'm not really the person who saved you guys. But that is what they call me." I glanced over at the girl slowly and softly asked, "How are you guys today?"

I didn't react outwardly but I was shocked when her eyes slowly moved to meet mine.

That hasn't happened before.

I paused, almost feeling like a hunter who does not want to scare the animal they were hunting. Whatever she was or was not about to do, I did not want to say or do something and end up stopping her.

There was a very small, almost imperceptible, tilt of her lips before she looked down.

Not realizing I had tensed up, I slowly relaxed once I realized that was all I was going to get from her. It was not much, but it was more than I had gotten before.

Gently clearing my throat I slowly stood up. "Well, I will let you guys get back to whatever you were doing before. But our offer still stands. If you guys wanna come up to sleep in an actual room- in an actual bed- at the main house, you can. Just let me know and I'll make it happen. It might be nice for you guys. Have a nice bath or shower, and a comfy place to sleep."

After a few moments of a long drawn out, and admittedly awkward, silence I nodded and said bye to them, then left.

Leaving that section of the tent, I met up with Jonah who was talking to the doctor of our group. Where I had somehow gotten the position of delegate between the survivors and pack, I had noticed the doctor seemed to be the real leader of our motley group of strangers. Something I was more than fine with.

The older man smiled gently at me as I approached. "That was a good idea, Emilia. Though many are still healing and will be for a while, or helping do small things around here, I have noticed people getting restless. It'll also help if we can find some way for those who are feeling better but still confined to their bed to be productive. So they aren't trying to move before they need to."

I blushed a little in embarrassment but waved a hand in the air, "Oh it was nothing. Honestly, I only even thought about it because I was bored myself."

The doctor chuckled. "That's alright. At times, I myself am bored. Not necessarily because I have nothing to do, but more because none of us are really used to only doing one thing and one thing only. But still, it was a nice idea. One that has me thinking, maybe I could even help train some of the Shifters in some of the medical aspects."

He looked over at Jonah with a slightly sheepish look on his face. "Not that I am saying you all don't know how to do things. I'm sure you guys have some kind of knowledge to have survived this long, but I'm sure I know some things you guys don't."

Jonah smiled at the doctor. "No, you are right. We do know some things that managed to be passed down or that we learned through trial and error. But I'm sure many people would enjoy learning more from you. I will let Alpha Eric know your suggestion. Maybe other packs would even be interested and you can have people to train from other packs, as well."

I perked up a little, "Great idea! Like a mentoring program!"

The doctor chuckled, "Yes, a mentoring program. That would probably help keep me busy once I don't have patients like I do now."

Someone called for him from somewhere near the tarp-like door separating the main area from where I knew the beds were for those healing still.

I nodded and said goodbye as the doctor looked at us and said, "Excuse me. Duty calls."

As Jonah and I walked out of the tent I told him about my little side trip to see the kids.

"I'm concerned for the girl. But I think she is slowly starting to get better. I was thinking, if they are up for it, maybe we can get her to participate in something. Like maybe when Silver and I are cooking. If we can. I don't know."

He pulled me to him and placed a gentle kiss on my head, "I think that's a great idea if she is interested. I think she just needs some time to come to terms with everything. I'm thinking along the same lines with Clarisse. You can't push them to suddenly be okay and adapt with everything. Heck, you and some of the others have done better than I would have thought you would. But they will get better. It's just something they need to do themselves."

I nodded in agreement. It was something I had thought of to myself, so I knew he was right. It did not make things easier though.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, "Do you know when the Shifters Eric is sending to see if they can find the ingredients and supplies we need are getting back?"

It was close an hour or so before the sun was going to set. At least, that's what it looked like to me. So, the Oaxaca pack could not be that far away from arriving. So, it would kind of help if they got back soon so we could know if we would be having the taco night or not.

But, also, I did my best writing at night.

It would be cool if I could get started that night on some of my book ideas I had.

Jonah shook his head, "Not really. Unfortunately, it's hard to put an actual time on their trip because none of us know whether they will find things or not. Or how many places they will be looking through. But, I'm sure Alpha Eric and Luna Ana have ideas in mind for dinner. I must admit, it feels quite nice for me to not be having to worry about things like that while we are here." He chuckled and gave me a wry grin. "Right now, Marcus is dealing with all of that for our pack. I'm sure he's going to whine for days once we get back."

My eyes widened slightly, "Oh poor Marcus! Who knows how long we will be here."

Jonah laughing with a little evil-looking grin on his face made me roll my eyes. But I couldn't help but laugh along with him.

For an alpha wolf, he sure did act like a little boy sometimes.

Shaking my head I said, "Okay, let's get inside. You can help me start writing all of that stuff on the walls in Eric's office down on some paper. That way, if they happen to find some empty books or journals, I can start writing it all down from our room tonight."

Jonah took my hand and nodded, "Okay. Anything for you, Mine." He grinned and winked at me.

I rolled my eyes in amusement but shook my head.

I swear, life would never be boring with him by my side. If for no other reason than his crazy attempts at getting 'brownie points'.

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