Eight

Edeline was tired. Her feet were tired, her back hurt, every bit of her, in fact, was either tired or in pain or both. She hadn't done this much walking since never, and had pretty much given up asking "are we there yet" after Ember's initially curt answers had turned into snarls and then finally silences. Ember had other things on her mind, such as the state of play and the surrounding participants. They were being followed and not inconspicuously. Someone high up in the trees was shadowing their moves and didn't mind if he was heard. She knew what he was and didn't worry.
Edeline was seeing things. She could have sworn just now there was a coffee shop up ahead, and inside that cafe there was probably a newspaper waiting. Edeline was addicted to her news and was already becoming agitated having gone this long without it. What would happen to that miracle baby? Had the situation improved in Guayana? Did the first lady settle on more appropriate attire? Edeline had been in the midst of all these developments and was left on the ledge in every case. Now she had to wonder if she would ever find out. She rubbed her eyes and on reopening them was dismayed to see that the coffee shop had been a mirage.
"Do you ever see things that aren't there?" she asked Ember as she trailed along, struggling to keep up with the rapidly striding child.
"All the time," Ember admitted. "It's called the Pyraeus Effect. We named it after one of our kind who had a special knack for it. Old Pyraeus only sees things that aren't actually there. He doesn't believe when we tell him about the trees. He insists there are none, only office buildings everywhere."
"Why does it happen?" Edeline ventured.
"Because of the change in our brains," Ember related. "At least that's the theory. Some people think that whatever it was that caused our condition is also the cause of Pyraeus. And the other abilities some people have, like Strikers."
"What do they do?" Edeline asked.
"Telekinesis," Ember replied. "They can move things with their minds."
"Wow," was all Edeline could think of to say. After a bit more trudging along in silence, she spoke up again.
"What kinds of things?" she asked. "Big things? Any thing?"
"Little things," Ember told her. "It's why they are good in the game. They can score from a distance without touching the ball. It makes my job hell, that's for sure."
Ember had turned around to say this, and looking at Edeline for the first time in a while she almost felt sorry for the gal. Her glance made Edeline feel uncomfortable, although she had to admit that the dress made of ivy was "growing on her" in more ways than one. The leaves wouldn't go where the sun didn't shine, relieving one of her initial concerns. Also they felt warm and snug, and even seemed to give her an energy boost. Her hair was a mess, though, and she hated to know what her face must have looked like by then. Ember was thinking the opposite, that the men were going to go crazy over this one. Edeline was probably the most beautiful woman that Ember had ever seen and the weird thing was that Edeline didn't seem to know it. She was awkward, clumsy, even goofy at times, like an eagle that thinks it's a pigeon.
"What's this?" Edeline asked, hoping to direct Ember's attention away from her person. She was pointing at a tall plant growing by the side of the path.
"Mugwort," Ember replied. She was especially proud of her knowledge of the plant life in the forest. She had studied with an old botanist, one of their own kind, for years, a sixty-four year old named Elwin who'd been blessed with a photographic memory to go along with his years in academia researching nature. It was thanks to him, and him alone, that the Canopus dwellers did not have to go around making up new names for everything in their world. They had no books, and no hope of ever having any. Their collective memories would have to suffice.
"It's good for dreams," Ember continued. "You put one under your head when you sleep and you get the craziest dreams. It's because of the smell."
Edeline pulled a leaf off the plant, held it up to her nose and inhaled. The mugwort had a very strong, very nice odor. She was about the tuck the leaf into one of the pouches her ivy-dress made when suddenly a small, hairy man landed beside her, reached up and gave her a soft slap on the side of her face, then grabbed the leaf out of her hand and leaped back up into the tree. He scurried off into the branches and was quickly gone from sight. Edeline put her hand to the cheek he'd hit and rubbed, although it hadn't hurt at all. At the sight of her startled face, Ember burst out laughing so hard she got a cramp in her side and bent over pressing her elbow against it.
"What was that?" Edeline was asking, befuddled.
"A Smacker!" Ember managed to gasp out between breaths. "You were smacked."
"I don't see what's so funny," Edeline pouted.
"It's part of the game," Ember told her when she'd recovered sufficiently to speak without pain. "You're a Ball Gatherer, remember? It's what The Hidden One told you."
"And I still have no idea what that means," Edeline responded with a serious look on her face. "Honestly, I think you're all nuts. Is this all I can expect? You get locked up in this, this place and they throw away the key, there's no way out and you just go crazy? And I'm supposed to believe it goes on forever as well? This is just great. Just great."
It looked like she was about to burst into tears once again, but Ember held out her hand and tapped Edeline on the shoulder.
"It gets better," she insisted. "Come on. We're almost there. Really, we are."
"Okay," Edeline begrudgingly replied and the two started walking again.
"You still haven't told me about Smackers," she said after a while.
"Part of the game," Ember said. "It's how the ball moves. A Gatherer finds one, a Smacker comes and takes it. Other Smackers follow it, trying to steal it. Most of the game is played between Smackers. A lot of it happens way up in the trees. Eventually a Smacker will get the ball to some place it can be used by the Striker on his team, and then it's up to the Striker to shoot it into one of the goals revealed by another team's Hunter. You see?"
"No, I don't see," Edeline grumbled. "I mean, what I see right now is a banana tree that's full of ripe yellow bananas. Is it just the Pyro Effect or whatever you call it?"
"Pyraeus," Ember reminded her, "and no. That's a banana tree all right, and I'm hungry. Are you?"
Ember pulled off a couple of very large fruits and handed one to Edeline, peeling the other herself and stuffing it into her mouth. Edeline took smaller bites of her own and had to admit it was tasty. There was an additional benefit, too. No sooner had the first bit gone down than she felt completely refreshed, from her head to her toes. From that point the journey seemed easy, Edeline's spirits were lifted, and she even made herself smile, thinking about how silly that little man Smacker had looked.
She was walking alongside of Ember, no longer following behind, when they reached the Particular tree.
"People!" Edeline declared, as Baudry and Barque looked up and then got their feet.
"Striker!" Ember cursed, and spat on the ground.