Crushes, Autumn 97

Skyday, Redleaf 10, 97

Claire is 47, Joe is 43, Daniel is 14

Daniel had been spending way too much time with Elle zan-Ace lately. He'd become a man three months ago, and now had an apprenticeship with Elle's uncle. So did she. Since they started working together, Daniel had really got to like her. Too bad it wasn't going to happen.


It was obvious that Elle wanted to be "just good friends". The fact that she was more interested in Daniel's older sister Alexa should have been enough of a clue. But... she understood him a lot better than most Sims.

Granted, she didn't quite get Daniel's interest in SimNation's technology,

but she knew how hard it was to pass on old toys to the younger children, even if it was part of the Nuidya rite of passage. He wouldn't have mentioned that to any of the other young men in Kulo Seeri.

Every evening now, he lay outside on the grass watching the sun set and the stars come out. He'd been hoping to see a shooting star for a while - not that he was convinced that wishing for Elle to suddenly decide she liked boys would do anything.

Tonight he'd actually managed to spot one. Wait... was it meant to be coming this way?

**********

Claire and Joe woke up to what felt like an earthquake. Daniel wasn't inside yet - probably still out stargazing. Was he OK out there?

They found him lying outside, just like every night - except most nights, he wasn't lying underneath what looked like a burnt mess of SimNation sciencey stuff.

"Daniel, no... not after Armando, we can't lose another one!" Claire collapsed to the ground, crying. A crowd was starting to gather. Obviously, the impact had woken up everyone in the village.

Joe, who had been a doctor in his old hometown before joining the Nuidya, knew it wasn't too late to save his son. With some help, he and Claire managed to move the fallen thing (satellite was the city word, Joe explained - not that anyone cared what it was called at the time). He'd never saved anyone's life before, but he had to do whatever he could now.

Daniel came to around sunrise. He needed a lot of help moving afterwards, but at least he was alive,

and still managed to scarf down the celebration meal as if he hadn't eaten for days, even though it was more than a little overcooked. Before long, he was almost back to his old self - as long as he didn't have to go anywhere.

"I say whoever designed that thing needs to be locked up for life," he said. "It's obviously defective. I was trying to get Elle to crush on me, not to get crushed myself!"

**********

A few days had passed. Daniel had made a surprisingly quick recovery - he could stand on his own now, and walk too, as long as it wasn't too far. He still wasn't up to going back to his apprenticeship yet, but he was getting a lot of visits from other members of the tribe, which filled up most of the time.


He hadn't seen much of Elle lately. She was covering for him at her uncle's workshop, leaving her with less free time - Daniel wondered if she was mad at him for that. On the other hand, he'd been spending more time with the tribal elders, picking up on things that you didn't need to be young and active to know - things like the tribe's history, legends and stories of what it was actually like living through the Arzep's time as chief. He was starting to consider changing careers and becoming a lorekeeper someday.

Some of them had more unusual things to share. For example, Jill zan-Ace, Elle's stepmother, actually learned magic before joining the Nuidya.

"How does it work? Did you have to study it from a book or something?"

"It's usually a bit of study and a bit of hands-on experience, but however you go about it, it's worth all the effort once you've completely mastered the skill."

Maybe he could do the same. Jill had taught her husband a few spells when she first arrived, saving quite a few lives during the flu outbreak of early spring, but they hadn't taught anyone else yet, and neither of them were getting any younger. They could probably use someone to pass their knowledge on to.

"Do you think you could show me how to do it?" he asked.

Jill laughed. "I can show you a lot more than that, young man!"

**********
Five Minutes Later

**********

I've said it before and I'll say it again. £!^£$@!*& ACR.