Lana walked but leaned on Vorden on the way back. She wanted sleep. That changed though when she saw her tree. In her rescue, the roots of the tree were damaged really badly. The tree was now dying. Lana immediately started going through the stages of grief. "I need to get my stuff."
Vorden grabbed her. "You need to go to bed. Dobin, watch her while I empty her bedroom and get her bedding for her."
Dobin nodded and escorted his protesting sister to the dome. They left the door open because Lana's print was the only one accepted. The others got to work emptying her lab praying they didn't mess up her research.
Almin showed up a few minutes later with Lana's watch and put it on her then got the explanation as to why the tree looked so bad. The teacher also showed up after receiving the notification from General Mike. He immediately asked if he could help preserve her research. At the moment, the tree was focusing what energy it had left to transport people up in the tree and out of the tree to safeguard Lana's stuff. Everyone was moving as quickly as they could. Vorden had the least amount of stuff to move so he was done quicker. He brought her boxes in and placed them the end of the couch, stacking the blankets on top. Sil would be angry if others found out his girl had such clothing. That was for him only. At the moment he was watching from the back of the head rather than the front so it wasn't bad yet. Once her bedroom was empty, he began working on the storeroom. Most of what was in there was for transport and holding food. Since they were planning to be gone, there was no food except for jam. The rest was packing materials for holding the food such as wrappings and pie tins. While Vorden liked she was having fun, she was too good in his book to spend in the kitchen. He had to admit, however, it was an easy way for her to make money since she didn't have to actually buy food to cook it. He didn't know where to put the stuff in the store room so he just pulled them out of the structure.
Once he finished, he went in to switch places with Dobin. He needed to get ready for school. When Dobin got out of the shower, he saw how Vorden was holding Lana as she slept and crept close to him, careful not to wake her. "How long have you been with my sister?"
Vorden wanted to deny it but the truth was they all had some kind of feelings, it was just Sil that had serious feelings. Dobin saw the look on his face and patted his shoulder, "it's okay. I approve."
Vorden smiled and just held her close. He allowed her to get three hours then got her up for a shower.
At the rate the packing was going, Vorden had a feeling they would be all be missing the morning classes. Dobin decided he should help, relieve a person let them shower, and get everyone ready that way. While in the tree, packing her lab, the teacher called the general to update him that all her work was affected by this event. The whole team was broken to see her hurting so much. Right now the goal was to support her and be there for her. It took two hours to carefully pack everything. By the time showers and packing were done, it was lunch time. The guards had shown up and were outside the door.
Meanwhile the general was searching for the sergeant to get answers.
The rest of the team went to afternoon club classes. An hour later Vorden woke Lana and got her in the shower. She still had dirt and blood on her. She was still exhausted so he switched with Sil because the idea of undressing her just wasn't his thing. He had given Sil the update of what had happened since Sil didn't catch everything. While he was seething that his girl went through that, there was a peace that the boy who wanted to hurt her could no longer be a threat to her. He was very upset that he was not the one who made the kill. It was his job to take care of her and he wasn't there. He wrapped the sleeping baby in her dirty shirt and put him in the top of her bag once again since it worked last time. He then carried her to the bathroom and got them both cleaned up. She woke up some in the shower but there were things that needed to be done. Soon they were outside with the guards, Vorden back in charge, and the messed up uniform she was wearing the previous night was in Vorden's hands. Off to go get a couple of replacements. Then Vorden took her to the library.
He had transferred all the money he got from the military that he had not used over to a non-traceable card. It was time to go shopping for her. He didn't tell her until they were at the computer. She was shocked and surprised. They looked at clothes and jewelry. She didn't get much because the school year was almost over and she would have to move anything she bought to the second-year building. The most important thing was she was able to determine what Sil thought was acceptable civilian clothing for her and she liked those outfits. They could agree on this which meant more than anything to her. She no longer had to stress over how she should dress and could toss those crazy orphanage clothes.
When they were done shopping, Vorden and the guards walked her back to the agricultural area. Inside, she chilled on the couch with legs outstretched.
"You know we need to talk to Quinn about what happened, right? Did you see Peter?" Vorden said.
"No, but I heard him and yes, I do need to talk to him and Logan. I needed to see Logan this evening anyway. Give me a sec."
When is a good time to come up and talk?
After dinner would be best. If you could bring a sandwich, it would be better.
I will need Quinn there as well.
I'll invite him. Rest.
Okay, see you this evening.
"I need to make some bread…"
"Alright, let's get to work…"
By the time the others returned the kitchen had been fully tested. 8 breads for sandwiches were made and the place smelled heavenly of fresh-baked bread. Vorden stood guard with the guards while she grew food. She grew way too much so she would not need to grow food every day. She wanted to be back in classes tomorrow and figure out where to do her research now. She also went up to her tree and withered it rather than allowing it to suffer. The area looked naked. Bare.
Once everyone had eaten, it was time to go see Logan and face Quinn.