G 7 Ch 13 – The World Tilted

The week immediately after Gilroy proposed to Fae was chaos. First they had to get blood work done for the city council because of the close kinship, and because of Gilroy’s medical history. Then Fae wanted a formal ceremony, and Gilroy wanted to make Fae happy, but we really didn’t have the space for a formal event. Gilroy invited his coworkers and told Hakon he could invite his coworkers too.

The kitchen is the largest room in the house so we all gathered there as Gilroy and Fae exchanged vows and rings. Shortly after they exchanged their rings they walked the few feet to their new home. A house the designer had called Boone Cabin, Fae only grumbled a little about the banned Items on the lot, I think she was secretly glad they were there.

 

The following week both Hephzibah, or Z’ah as she prefers, and Hadia brought home letters from the school saying that the girls had earned A’s and were eligible to go to university now that it was safe to travel, had their birthdays and graduated from high school.

They both knew what they wanted to major in. Hadia wanted to major in communications for the journalism skills it offered, and all that Z’ah would say was that she was interested in the business major.

Travel was a whole different topic. It was sinking in that we now had the option to travel outside of the valley if we wanted, or at least I could, Cleveland was considered to old for safe traveling.

The council and military approved transport arrived early the morning after the the girls graduated. Given the world was eager to rebuild, getting into university was very easy to do. Just before the girls were whisked away, I told them to call me every day. I would be lying if I didn’t admit I was nervous about them leaving the valley. Travel had been unsafe for so long that it was hard to let go of old fears.

My first call from them.

Z’ah “We arrived safely, the dorms aren’t considered safe to live in even though some students take their chances with the crumbling buildings. We have a small one bedroom house to ourselves.”

Hadia “It’s weird, it’s all above ground. Even though there’s a good alarm and the doors are solid I find myself jumping at noises. We met our professors and some of our classmates today at the orientation meeting. The old building creek a lot and are scarey to be in.”

I was beside myself with worry when it took them almost a week to call again.

Hadia “I miss home, even though our house came with two beds I can’t sleep, I’m always tired. We hardly have any time for ourselves, we’re either in class or studying for tomorrows exams, and if we want to stay we can’t fail any of them.”

Z’ah “Yeah, busy doesn’t even cover our life here. There’s quite a few guys I’d like to get to know but no time. It’s extremely competitive to stay here once your in. We found out at orientation that there’s a ranking for who gets to stay after exams.”

Z’ah and Hadia “The university is very strict about who gets to stay once admitted. As new students we start out on probation. We can’t miss any classes or fail any of our exams or we get kicked out. Something about only wanting the best and those most likely to restore their communities. Anyone who can earn an A or four point O automatically stays on and even gets invited back to earn a degree in their area of study. If you get a B on the finals and didn’t have any failed exams you can come back on probation. The only other way to stay is get a spot on the Dean’s List which is very hard to do.”

I could hear the exhaustion in their voices and I worried for them. I shared my worries with Cleveland. He understood my concern and pointed out that there was nothing we could do to help them. This was something they had to do on their own.

While they were away I tried to focus on Hayden and push my worry’s to the back of my mind.

I hadn’t realized just how strict the probation was for the girls until an exhausted Hadia arrived home in tears after the first set of exams. Cleveland and I tried to comfort her, but she said all she wanted was a good night’s sleep. Before she crawled off to sleep she checked every single faucet to make sure they weren’t dripping. I had hoped she would have outgrown her ocd but university only made it worse.

It was a while before we heard again from Z’ah, but when she called she was both exhausted and ecstatic, she had gained a coveted spot on the Dean’s List and would get to return to the university after the short term break. I thought she had other news as well from the tone of her voice and how she was picking her words. Whatever her other news was, we had to wait until she was home to find out.

When Z’ah finally came home she tossed her clothes into the washer, took a nap, moved everything to the dryer and took off to Gilroy and Fae’s house. She was home before the dryer finished and tossing her almost dry clothes into her bag before pecking her dad and I on the cheek and leaving again for the university. All with no clue as to what she was thinking about, or why she had “needed”, her words, to talk to Fae.

She didn’t call for almost a month and when she did she sounded even more exhausted than she had the previous term, she also sounded excited. “I passed all my exams, and I’m making some good connections that will help change some of the council rules in the future.” Z’ah still hadn’t explained what her plan was or what kind of career she was planning on, all she would ever say was that it would be “good for the shop”.