text: Chapter 2: &#x200B; When Leonia woke up the next morning, the smell of smoke permeated the air. Her head pounded and her body ached. After the villages encounter with the Guerrier tribe, she had tossed and turned in bed all night, replaying the scene over again in her head until she couldn’t think straight. Now, she walked into the kitchen where she saw Nanette and her sister seated at the table. June grabbed a handful of blackberries they’d been eating and dropped them next to Minuit who was waiting patiently under the table for her share. Leonia wasn’t much of a morning person and greeted the two with a groggy “hello.” She pulled out another chair and sat down next to her sister, plucking a stray berry from the table. ”Nanette,” her sister asked cautiously “why’d those people burn the headman’s place?” Leonia, who had the same question, looked over at her aunt and waited for an answer. Nanette hesitated, “Lots of folks ‘round here believe the Comb Jellies are magic,” she began, ”You girls ‘ve heard the stories. Years ago, when the waters rose from the sea and flooded everythin’ in sight, they floated up from the deep, and wandered into our bayou. They breathed life back into it. Provided us with a whole slew of living plants and animals that helped our folks survive. They been Givin’ us what we need ever since.” Her gaze turned toward the window and she continued her story. “The Guerrier ‘ve always lived on the other side, away from the comb jellies. And for a while they did ok for themselves. Trained those gators to help ‘em hunt for food and protect ‘em. But now their food sources are dwindlin’ and they’re strugglin’ to feed their families. Guess the only way they think they can do that is by forcin’ us out.” “But there’s more than enough here for both of us! Why can’t we just live together,” June demanded, jumping out of her chair. “They’ve never gotten along with us folks over here. They been fightin’ with us for generations. Ain’t never been able to solve nothin’ without violence.” Suddenly Nanette’s face brightened into a smile and she clapped her hands together. “Alright Girls, I got to get to a meetin’ now. I don’t want ya’ll leavin’ this village. It’s too dangerous out there.” She plucked one more blackberry from the bowl, popped it into her mouth then walked out the door. Leonia knew she had to get to that meeting. As soon as Nanette was out of sight she ran to her room, threw on the clothes she wore the day before and pulled her hair up. She was just shouting a hurried goodbye to June when she stepped out of the door and ran straight into Ambrose. She couldn’t help but smile when she realized it was him. “Oh, hey Lee! You on your way out? I was just coming by to--” She pushed past him and out the door, “We don’t have time to chat. We”ve got to get to the village meeting.” “Wait,” he grabbed her hand before she could get away, “they’re not gonna let us in. It’s just for the elders.” When Leonia tried jerking her hand from his grip he held on tighter. “I know that.” she gave him an annoyed look, “We’re gonna listen in from the back door and see what’s going on.” “Fine,” he sighed, giving in, “Let’s go.” \*\*\* The meeting hall was on the same jellyfish island as the hut that had burned the night before. They crossed the floating bridge that connected the two and came face to face with its burnt shell. The remnants still smoldered on the ground. They trudged past the remains and walked on towards the village hall. It sat at the back edge of the jellyfish, near a grove of tall cypress trees. They slowed down as they neared the back entrance. When they reached the door, Ambrose grabbed the wooden handle and pulled it towards him slowly until they could peek inside. Leonia turned towards Ambrose and gestured for him not to make a sound, then they both peered through the door at the village elders who were gathered inside. There were seven of them in all, including the village headman and Nanette. They stood in a lazy circle arguing with one another. “We need to defend the lands ourselves,” Old man Ducote shouted at the others, “we can’t let them push us out.” *‘What other choice do we have?’* Leonia thought, watching them bicker. ‘*There’s nowhere else to go in this world. All that’s beyond the bayou is an endless ocean.’* Virgil, the headsman, piped up from the middle of the group. “Well, we only have till the next solstice to decide. That’s when they said they’d be back.” Then he looked directly at Nanette, “what about the Drylands? I say we go there. I’m sure the folks living there would welcome us. You been there before, right?” *‘The Drylands?* ’Leonia shot Ambrose a questioning look. She remembered the stories Nanette used to tell her at bedtime about The Drylands but she had always insisted that’s all they were, stories. There was no truth to them at all, just something made-up to help her and June sleep at night. By the look on Ambrose’s face, he didn’t know anything about The Drylands either. He shrugged his shoulders and they continued listening. “I was a young girl, Virgil. Not much older than June and I don’t think them folks would welcome us with open arms. Even if they did, I don’t know how to get there and we don’t have a boat big enough. I say we stay and defend the land.” “Who’s going to defend it?” Letty asked looking around, “Us? Everyone here is either too young or too old. We’ve never had to fight before. We wouldn’t know the first thing about defending ourselves.” Nanette looked around the room. “We can train ‘em. Our ancestors fought for these lands and we can too, we have to, and we have to start now.” All the elders began to speak at once and their raised voices soon turned to shouting as they struggled to be heard over each other. Their voices echoed and boomed around the hall. After a few more minutes of failing to discern a word, Ambrose and Leonia closed the door behind them and began making their way back home. “Ambrose, the summer solstice is only three months away!” They had just stepped foot back on their own jellyfish and Leonia’s mind was reeling, “Our people can’t fight off the Geurrier. What are we going to do? And The Drylands? What was that about?” “I think we can take ‘em,” he said grinning and punching the air, but Leonia had her doubts. In Nanette’s lifetime, their people had never had to go to war. Had never had to deal with a threat like this. Decades ago, there was a peace treaty between them and the Gurrier people, but it looks like that was over now. “And about the Drylands Lee, it makes sense. The world’s much bigger than you think. We couldn’t have been the only people to survive the flooding.” They continued their walk in silence then Ambrose suddenly stops, “Lee! Come with me.” He grabs one of Leonia’s elbows and drags her toward his home. He barges past the doorway, ignoring his mother standing in the kitchen and heads straight for the hut’s backroom. Ambrose’s grandfather had passed away a couple years ago but his room still looked exactly the way he left it, a mess. A large, unkempt bookshelf took up most of the wall on the far end of the room and piles of paper were cluttered over a small desk and chair. Items that had been salvaged after the great flood were scattered about in random places. “What are we doing in your grandpa’s room?” Ambrose ignored her question and rifled through a drawer in the desk. After another minute he pulled out a small, rolled up parchment, bound by a piece of string. “Found it!” He untied the string and unfurled the paper. Her curiousness got the better of her. “What is that” Leonia asked as they both stared down at the document. Then, her eyes grew wide. *‘It’s a map*’. Hand drawn, and by the looks of it pretty old as well. Its edges were wrinkled and parts of it were torn but it was still in fairly good shape. It looked nothing like the maps they had seen of the world before the flood. This one depicted a large mass of land surrounded by water and three separate chains of small islands. Another portion of the map simply read ‘The Bayou’ and was illustrated as a tree surrounded by dark water. “Is this a map of the drylands? She grabbed the map from Ambrose’s hands and continued to study it. “Hey--” “Can I borrow this?” She was already beginning to formulate a plan. If this map is real then the Drylands do exist and that means there’s hope. “I don’t know,” he frowned and gave her a knowing look, “Why do you want to borrow it?” “I just want to show Nanette and ask her if it’s real. And ask her why she and everyone else have been lying to us.” She lied. She didn’t plan on showing it to Nanette at All. Ambrose had never been able to tell Leonia ‘No’, and a look of defeat crossed his face. “Fine. I guess you can borrow it but I want it back in the morning.” \*\*\* Storm clouds had begun to gather in the sky and cover the stars as Leonia grabbed her leather pack. She slung it over the side of her pirogue and it hit the bottom of the boat with a solid thud. It was filled with items she thought she might need on her journey: a pocket-knife, length of rope, some gator jerky, a fishing line, the map, and a few other things. She hated sneaking off like this, not telling anyone where she was going, but if they knew her plans, they would have refused to let her go. She needed to get to the Drylands and back before the summer solstice arrived. Hopefully, a tribe over there could help them. Maybe, they’d be able send a boat for her people or even send fighters to help them defend their lands. At Leonia’s feet, Minuit canaried out a few small chirps and rubbed against her legs. “No Minuit, you can’t come with me. “ Leonia gently patted her head and nudged her away. She had just spent the rest of the evening with June and Nanette, eating dinner and telling stories like nothing was wrong. Savoring every last moment before she snuck off in the night. Even Nanette didn’t mention what was about to take place. Probably trying to give everyone one last day of normalcy before their world was yet again turned upside down. Leonia was just trying to hold on to them for a little longer. Just in case she didn’t it back home. As Leonia stepped into the pirogue it rocked back and forth under her weight. She grabbed the sides to steady herself, sat down, and then picked up an oar. She launched herself away from the comb jelly’s shores and took one last look at home. *‘Goodbye Aunty, goodbye June,’ she thought* then glanced over at the hut beside it, ‘*goodbye Ambrose.’* She wanted so badly to take Ambrose with her, to have his lazy smile and goofy laugh along for the ride. She would have asked him to come along, and he would have probably said yes, but she needed him here in the Bayou. He wasn’t as lazy as other people thought him. He was stronger than they knew, he could be serious when needed, and he could help protect the island. He could be the strong leader they needed right now. She knew he had it in him. A moment later, Leonia heard a splash in the water. She looked out and groaned, “you pesky rat.” Minuit swam up to the side of the pirogue, leaving a trail in the water behind her. She grabbed the capybara under its arms and lifted her inside. “ Well, I guess your coming with me after all.