Maverick lived in a cabin he built with his own hands in the forest. It looked firm and sturdy on the outside with an appealing look on rainy days, but somewhat surprising on the inside due to light brown color from the wood (as if that would be what wood look like on the inside), and remarkably modern with the arrangements. The inside lacked decorating in terms of using all the space available, but to the mind of the man it was simply beautiful, good enough to suffice the peace his mind longed for.

  The man had the unusual company of an eagle during the day, and that of an owl during the night. These two animals had built their nests on the trees close to his home. They would provide him company and alert him of anything unusual happening nearby, though that was in rare occasion. In return the man provided a respectful company, and a kind gesture occasionally. One could say they were being fed some odd constituent that swore their loyalty to one another. The man would tend to his garden every day, he lived off it after all; it covered enough space to amount to twice his home in the back.

  The man had lived by himself with no company other than the two flying companions and a dog that didn’t like filth, which is why it enjoyed having its paws cleaned by the owner every time they were going into the house. One hot afternoon after his garden routine, the man decided to go into the closest town, which was about 30 miles away, to learn about what was going on with the world, watch the news and visit Cassius and his family. This man of course didn’t drive a car or any vehicle, for he didn’t believe in them to be a reason to get anywhere in his current life; he had forsaken many liberties in order to be at peace and prevent anyone from tracking him down and follow him home. Furthermore, this guy didn’t have a physical issue whatsoever with traveling 30 miles on foot, and the scene was always breathtaking and refreshing. Crossing the river, the creek, the cute and small creek, the really open space in the forest where the fireflies lit up at night, and the road between the mountains, which was just one of the routes to take in order to connect with the highway that led into the nearest town. There, he would start walking the last 5 miles from the side of the woods next to the pavement until he got close enough to town. However, due to his recently developed bad habits, he started walking on the pavement in broad daylight without the training’s awareness. Three years later he would be reminded why a man like him would need to keep being careful (because he can).

  The man had multiple checkpoints in a 50-mile radius around his home, that would store food, water, some emergency medicine, and an all-purpose tape of his own making. On his trips, his flying companions would provide guide, company, and alertness during the day and night respectively, depending on who was awake. Thankfully, when the owl was sleeping, the eagle was vigorous and eager, the owl on the other hand, at night would be aware and vigilant. His dog would walk and keep up with him for about 20 miles and would rest while the man kept on. It wasn’t a problem for the dog to rest on occasion -being by himself-, for he was not alone, the flying birds would keep him company and keep watch over him if the man indicated them to.

  All three companions had different ways to locate their human friend. The birds flew and used their eyes of course, but the dog had an extraordinary sense of smell, he could track and pin down his friends’ scents, you might be able to get him to track something else should you have a material with the particular scent in it. He would eventually catch up to the man and continue walking beside him, he would always catch up, always. The dog had a really good sense of smell, was relentless and persistent; steered away from trouble and was a good judge of character.

  On the way to the village, they decided to hunt for some food; the woods were abundant in it. There is no more perfect chance to catch your prey than when peace is attending.

  The man started to stride in a subtle and careful manner, wary of his surroundings. The dog noticed his stride and imitated as such, but following. He pressed his talons against the field and pressed onward into the forest, and as nature would have it, there were multiple dried leaves and things that would definitely make a sound once he stepped on them, but this guy knew that. He knew to avoid them as much as possible and slowly stepped on the ones he couldn’t. In no less than 45 min of waiting patiently, a deer and its mama showed up sniffing around for some sustenance; looking at the piqued look on his dog, the man decided to abandon this easy killed he’d been waiting for and settle for a rabbit he saw moving near them. The dog realized the hunt had started and slowly but surely moved toward the rabbit while looking at it in an indifferent manner. The man established himself behind a tree close to its prey. The point of this was that the dog would cleverly walk towards the rabbit, closing in on him, blocking the only but narrowest way into forest. It knew how to hunt previous meeting his friend, but it learned and perfected how to hunt by being around Maverick, especially in what was a group hunt. As soon as the dog arrived at the most optimal point where it could snatch its prey in one bite once it got close, the man threw a small rock near the rabbit, alerting and making him run in a direction opposite to the dog, and to the sound it had just heard. In the middle of this little guy’s turmoil, the dog barked loudly disrupting its original decided path, making it run with a loose and more difficult to predict route. It could do nothing but run in the small circle the man and the dog had entrapped it in. As desired, the dog stepped away from the only exit for such a small animal making its route more obvious. The rabbit rapidly moved and ran toward its salvation, only to meet a knife in its head at the end of the way. Had the rabbit decided to move in a different direction in that crucial moment, it would have met the dog's sure powerful bite either way. It was a sure kill at that point. The dog was ready, and so was Maverick.

  The man would come bearing gifts every time he visited his friend; bringing the grapes he grew in his sweet garden and a type of flower that would only grow in the soil of his home, which would be the centerpiece of the meals during the nights of his stay, and in this occasion some rabbit for dinner.

  Upong arrival, Maverick noticed people didn’t stare at him as much as before. They weren’t as suspicious as before and had a strength about them the size of a mountain. A strength no other town had. Things had changed around here, and for the better. And it was all thanks to that guy’s family.

  “Would you like some coffee?” said Cassius’s wife to Maverick.

  “No, that’s quite alright” said Maverick, trying to not be any trouble.

  It had only been two years since Cassius, and his family had moved to that town to watch their girls grow and be away from the chaos that ensued in the city with the new world order that had begun to spread around their world.

  “Come on Mave, it’s no trouble, we make it every morning”. Said Lola, Cassius’ wife.

  Maverick gave a hint of a smile as usual when near his two friends, and accepted the cup of coffee that was, to his taste and mind, immaculate. Lola would use leaves that grew quite often in their yard as filters, added a hint of honey for sweetness and put a small flower petal on top for some flavor. It was a sight to look at. The creation was gracious and beautiful; the smell itself was radiant and would heighten the senses.

  She would soak the leaves in multiple containers for multiple purposes. Some with other natural components for medicine, some with fruits, water and vegetables for compost or regular food ‘which wasn’t regular in any sense really-, flowers, and basically everything that had any resources that could have a reciprocal enhancement with the leaves. She would often work and develop new ways to use the leaves that were so special and eventually had taken over as the most important resources in their family’s lives. With time as trades were made all over town and beyond for the qualities of the leaves, everybody would benefit greatly. People began to whisper and say that the person who cared and nourished these leaves in their garden, had to have been special, magical in some way, in tune with nature, so that the sun would speak to them.

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  Nobody other than the family and Maverick knew about the whereabouts of the leaves and their caretakers, for attracting the attention was not something any of them desired. Therefore, the family would ask Maverick to deliver a bag of leaves every now and then for the right price at the right markets to the right people that would keep anonymity of him and had a verbal non-disclosure agreement that they wouldn’t reveal anything about Maverick or the leaves. They usually didn’t know much anyway, just that Maverick was a secretive and reserved person, meant business, and one day started bringing these unique leaves from somewhere and were sold for a fair price to the very end. Maverick trusted them somewhat, specially one of them who was loud at times when he wanted, but his words betrayed his honor. It was a business relationship with a professional, and that made him more likeable to his eyes.

  On the other hand, Cassius worked as a cook in what would be considered a dinner 2 block from his house for a few hours on the weekends. He would also teach a language that was spoken in the rest of the world and where he was from. Somehow, one day someone learned that he was from the capital and knew the universal language, and offered him to teach a class that prepared people with the knowledge to be able to communicate with the rest of their world. Merchants, other teachers, young people, and construction workers would go and pay the small and reasonable fee that would account for his services. This would take place once a week at the end of the afternoon for almost 2 hours, in the city hall of the small town -which was basically a poor and abandoned construction that took place decades ago but couldn’t be finished due to lack of preparation- in one of the rooms that was used for town meetings.

  Now, Cassius would be so kind as to not only teach and impart his knowledge on the language at hand but also share some of his experiences and explain the ways of the culture and such. He tried to do as much as he could to be honest and reciprocate their investment in those classes, and he came to quite enjoy his time as a teacher. The rest of the week he would work as a carpenter across the street from his home; he would get work done in the reasonable work hours at the workshop, just in time to get back home at the end of the afternoon to be with his family. His work in the shop was quite successful and did well; apparently people from other towns liked his work and would buy it when the merchants took them in their carts to deliver and sell goods all over. Thus, the town didn’t arouse suspicious of his family owning the leaves, for they were making a living doing a couple of other things, when in fact the one thing that brought the most revenue were the leaves, as they would be sold as fast as they could.

  On top of that, Lola also had a couple of things going on besides her work on the leaves. She would teach science in the same building as his husband during the day while their kids were at school. Even though every town outside of the capital and the other cities were to only teach science approved by the capital, although Lola, stubbornly decided to impart all her knowledge to her students, prudently, but it was nonetheless all of it. They were all astonished after every class, for they didn’t know some of the knowledge was prohibited by the capital, therefore they didn’t fear it. The town was so far away, it hadn’t been reached by the repressing clutch of the new and reformed capital yet.

  “…DNA is made of chemical building blocks called nucleotides…” said Lola, in the middle of one of her classes.

  “The teacher’s family sure have become a really vital asset to this town, it’s amazing how much knowledge they possess.” Said Kuvira, a young woman in her 20s, to a young woman sitting next to her. “Do you think we will be getting any more classes after spring is over?”

  “Dunno, don’t care. I hope not. I’m tired of having to listen to this woman ramp on about some stuff we can’t really see, or how the sunlight does this or that.” Said the obnoxious lady.

  After class ended, while everybody else was leaving, Kuvira approached Lola.

  “That was really amazing stuff you talked about today, I never even imagined we had some sort of coded information inside of us that made us, well, us.” said Kuvira respectfully.

  “You have no idea how much there is out there that remains hidden in plain sight, we just have to learn about it enough to be able to picture it and sometimes even see it” replied Lola, tenderly.

  “I’m so grateful that we’re able to have you as a teacher in this town. I had never thought we would ever be able to afford this type of resource, let alone of this magnitude. Oh, I’m sorry I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable!” said Kuvira.

  “You certainly weren’t young lady. Your name is Kuvira, correct? I’ve seen you around the crops working with your father. He mentioned to me that you’ve been really helpful applying some of the knowledge you learned about plants from some of these classes” replied Lola.

  “Yes! I took into consideration the levels of humidity when planting some seeds, and theeee positioning so they wouldn’t run into each other as they grow” stated Kuvira, humbly and passionately, almost lost in thought.

  “How is that working for you?” asked Lola.

  “They have taken less digging work and less time to start showing their heads out of the soil since we planted them. It’s all thanks to you really. Crops are all my family, and I have to offer to this town, and to ourselves, and to able to increase production even by a month or two, is an achievement I’m really grateful for. Thank you.” Said Kuvira while bowing her head to Lola.

  “Well, you’re most welcomed... it is my pleasure really, I’m glad we can help this community, we have been welcomed into it, and I certainly plan on paying that debt.” Stated Lola.

  Kuvira looked slightly puzzled by Lola’s statement, but she didn’t question it too much in her mind. This woman was her idol, after all.

  “If you’re interested, I could teach you some other stuff I haven’t been able to teach to the class due to our priority schedule and broad topics. Some specifics and detailed information. I was planning on starting a second class made of students that would like to go into more depth regarding these topics. What do you say?” asked Lola with a smile on her face, and now curious about the girl in front of her.

  “Oh wow, really? I would love to be a part of it. I’m not sure how I could afford it though. I’m not even sure if we’re gonna make it until the end of spring here, we haven’t sold any of our crops yet, and…,” said Kuvira.

  “Don’t worry about it” Lola cut her off mid speech. “It’s free of charge, or at least, the payment from the standard class is enough for both classes. It’s a special class for those who are interested in it, that’s it. After all, knowledge is power.”

  With that final remark, Kuvira wondered if she should try to make more Lola’s words than what they seemed to be at face value.

  “Thank you very much, I really appreciate it. Could I ask who else is part of this group?” asked Kuvira.

  “There is only one other young girl like yourself, her name is Flor. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of her, you might have, this town is small enough for everyone to know about everyone else.” Said Lola.

  “Is she the girl that got here a month ago and lives by the stables?” asked Kuvira again.

  “Precisely. I’ve been tutoring her for the past month. She came here after her family died in a terrible accident in the unattainable mountains in the east. They were looking for a lost horse, but the rain was not on their side or rather didn’t agree with them. She refused to go back to their town. Sold all her things and house and eventually got here to one of the furthest towns down south. Her family had experience with horses. She came to an agreement with Paul from the stables to let her sleep there, and she would help him with all the work.” Said Lola.

  Kuvira remained and listened intently to all her master had to say about the girl. She imagined the class wouldn’t be for her only, but to share it with only one more student somehow made her aware that some amount of trust and expectation was being placed on her.

  Lola continued “I vouch for her. We’re not starting these special classes until the end of the semester which is 3 months away. I want you to tutor her until then. After all you’ve always gotten the best grades in the whole class”.

  Kuvira blushful, smiled.

  “I’ll continue tutoring her as well, but Kuvira… she also needs a friend. A lot of people continue to avoid her, and she could do more to help herself continue moving forward. That’s why I’ve also included her in this class. I also don’t have a lot of time, so I want you to fill in the gaps.” Said Lola.

  She saw herself in Flor.

  “But ma’am, how are we gonna get her up to speed before the end of the semester is over? I mean, there is over one year of information since you’ve started teaching.” Asked Kuvira slightly worried.

  “Don’t worry, she’s smart, just like you. You’ll see.” Stated Lola.

  Kuvira didn’t press the matter any further, but she wondered.

  Just as she was looking at Lola while she left, she caught a glimpse of a man near the exchange center, the trading area. A dog was near him while the man seemed to be discussing some trading deals with some other people. Even though Kuvira had only seen him once or twice before, she figured he must be an acquaintance of the Cassius’ family, due to his unmistakably clean outfit, and seemingly practical visible gear as well. On a second look, she noticed how he had tied his boots in a slip-fashion, providing good support to his legs.

  “So, he comes from the capital as well, huh?” muttered Kuvira to herself.