Page 85 of The Mentor
I pursed my lips upward. “I don’t know about that, Shelly. I would say that a fifteen-year-old Motlander teaching at a school in the Northlands is not only historic but outrageous too.”
A smile grew on Shelly’s mouth and it lit up her whole face, making her eyes sparkle with amusement. “You really think so?”
“Absolutely!” I gave her a hug. “Come on, you outrageous young woman, let’s get all these kids back to the hotel for some lunch and an afternoon full of exciting lessons.”
CHAPTER 21
Live a Little
Archer
The low giggling of Varna, one of the two mediators that had been following us around since we arrived in the Motherlands, attracted my attention. Finn was at it again: making jokes and melting the ladies.
Walking over to stand next to him, I whispered with some annoyance. “Honestly, Finn, do you think you can stop flirting until we get out of the cemetery?”
Finn turned his attention from Varna. “I wasn’t flirting, I was just making conversation. Isn’t that right, Nirvana?”
The woman giggled some more and looked completely smitten with Finn.
“Knock it off, will you?” I told him and leaned in. “The press is here and I don’t want us to look like crude idiots who can’t even respect the peace of the dead.”
“Oh, you’ve got it all wrong, Archer, I’m very respectful of women, dead or alive,” Finn said with a serious expression.
Some of the boys started talking among themselves and I moved on to quiet them down
“This is boring,” Oscar complained. “Why do we have to visit a graveyard when we could be at the beach?”
“You can go to the beach later, right now you’re learning about what happens when you die in the Motherlands.”
“But it’s just a forest,” Hunter pointed out. “There’s not even a gravestone.”
“What was that?” Kya asked and zoomed in on me and the boys.
“Nothing,” Hunter said quickly.
“I thought I heard you talk about gravestones.”
He looked around and shrugged. “It’s just a strange graveyard, that’s all.”
“There’s nothing strange about it,” Kya said calmly and came to stand in front of us. This is what the urn looks like before it becomes a tree.” She was holding an earth-colored biodegradable urn in her hands.
“Okay, but how do you fit people into that?”
A few of the kids snickered.
“You fit their ashes into it,” Kya explained patiently. “Then you plant it in the ground and watch your beloved ones return to nature.”
“Does that mean you’re going to be a tree when you die too?” Oscar asked her.
“I hope so,” she said and looked to me as if to challenge me to ridicule the idea. I didn’t, because I fucking loved the idea of becoming part of the forest.
Nicki raised her hand. “I heard that people used to plant the trees in their houses and gardens.”
“That’s true.” Kya nodded. “But it was banned in 2405 after a woman killed herself in distress that her mother’s tree had died because she forgot to water it.”
“Another ban.” Marco rolled his eyes. “Honestly, what’s up with all your bans, rules, and laws?” he asked. “I swear you can’t even fart in this country without having to make sure the wind blows in the right direction or you’ll offend someone.”
“We don’t have rules about farting,” Raven said quickly but then she turned her head to Kya. “Do we?”
