Not long after Kasia and his wife Luana left Jia woke up and bolted up out of bed and almost ran out of the house when she didn't see her sister. "She went to the house of worship hun, she's not gone yet. Now come sit down, I'm waiting for them to return too." He could see the relief wash over her, nobody said when she was going to go but the moment you can't see her you can only fear the worst.
An hour or two later Kasia and Luana came back home. " we're home Khalil our daughter got a healing house as a gift from the almighty. " He was shocked to say the least, never in his wildest dreams. did he think someone in his family would own a healing house. It was something that he didn't even dare dream of , He couldn't be more proud of his child to be gifted something so wonderful is a show of pride for his family. This will raise their status as a family.
The family talked about giving her the home that they didn't want to let get torn down and selling that land to that landowner. In the middle of these talks though, a young boy hugged his big sister tightly from behind with tears in his eyes claiming he had a bad dream, that she was chosen and she was going to disappear. They all looked at him with sadness in their eyes.
Kasia pulled his arms off bent down to his level and told him that it wasn't a dream. " I will be leaving Gabriel, but it's okay. I'm strong!! I'll be just fine but only if I know you will be okay too, then I will definitely be fine I promise. Will you be okay? " He put on a brave face for his sister like he always does and said he'll be fine but he was obviously crying.
Kasia put her hand up to his ear and whispered to him where only he could hear her voice, "take care of mom and dad for me okay? this will be our secret, I'm entrusting them to you." Gabriel stopped crying and wiped his eyes. furiously before he nodded his head to his sister and said "I promise"
Now that they all knew that she had a month before she had to go, they had a few things to do. Luckily when someone is chosen, their family is granted immediate time off of whatever job they own to spend it with their loved ones until they're gone.
So for half the month they all enjoyed one another's company ,told stories, joked around, went exploring, and were doing everything they could think of.Just making memories together.
The time came and Kasia picked up her great grandfather's home. now her home and they sold the land for an even greater price since he didn't have to get rid of the building. But this man he saw what power she had and wanted to pay her to use it to move around some of his pre-existing buildings.
Kasia agreed without a second thought. her family basically spent all of their savings on things that she might need and she wanted to pay them back. So day after day for the next week she moved around buildings for this man and she saved him unknown amounts of money that was hard to even calculate. She got scraps compared but it was enough to make her family fairly rich for her parents lifetime.
Her family stuck with her through each job and joked the entire time with her. It was funny that she was going to spend the last of her time working to them.
Her mother got close with the man while her daughter worked for their sake and told him one of the buildings she gave up for her gift was a bath house.
She knew that he wanted to tear one of them down and pleaded with him. Was there any way he could gift it to her. After some careful consideration. the man agreed she did make him his empire after all where everything was exactly where he wanted it to be without having to spend the money to tear things down and rebuild them.
On her second to last day she moved the last building and got her last payment and thanked the man for giving her this opportunity to help her own family.
as she was about to walk away he called out
"hey I have one last job if you are interested? Last one."
"Sure! where to?" They walked across the city and came to an empty bath house, it was a tall stone building without many windows. It had a bathing spring in the middle of a massive open room. The spring had a curved wall in the middle of it splitting it into two. It had no furnishings other than the bathing spring. There was a staircase in the back that led to a second level that only had two rooms each with a singular window facing the outside.
Kasia uses her power and he says "it's yours, this is my thanks to you for helping me. I know you're going to give all of your money to your family so this is your payment. Good luck chosen kid, you could have been a very rich little girly with that power of yours. I'm glad I got to use a little bit of it. I'll make sure your family is taken care of till that other kid comes of age. Good luck" He walks away with a huge grin knowing he's set for life now.
That night was a sleepless one knowing that tomorrow was the day that everything changes, that she won't ever see this place again. The orange skies, the red dirt under foot, her family ... everything would have changed the moment tomorrow came"
Kasia held her hand up above her face and looked at the three keys on her hand. each one had its own unique design. She had two marks left that she could use. Could she really do this? Gabriel stirred next to her and she shifted her weight around and slowly got out of bed.
She wanted to see the night sky one more time and walked outside. everyone was asleep. nobody came out after dark, but who was going to stop her now.
Kasia sat in the dirt and stared at the sky with her back against a rock. She wanted to keep a mental image of her last moments before she needed to begin again. She stared at the little red twinkling lights in the sky and wondered a very simple question.
'Will I even be able to find love there?'
(Because anyone can be chosen the day they turn 20, it would be unfair to their partner or any children they might've had, if they are taken from them. So love is banned for anyone under the age of 20. Only people that are going to stay and not be chosen can find love within their city.)
Kasia stood up and softly mader her way back into the house. Her mom was waiting at the table and offered her a drink to help her sleep. Just like always she knew what she needed . They drank these drinks together. not saying a word, just enjoying the silence while looking at each other's faces. Once the cups were empty they hugged one another tightly for a long moment before they both went back to bed without a word quietly enough to not wake anyone else. Kasia made it back to her brother's side and held her baby brother's hand as she drifted off to sleep once more.