It was a beautiful day out in the woods, though not very silent. Birds were chirping everywhere, not to mention most of the group was busy making a fuss over setting up camp.

Sam had decided everyone needed a chance to get outside and enjoy themselves, and had convinced Seto to bring them all out to where they were now.

Seth was off to the side by himself, looking curiously over their surroundings. Bugs and animals could be spotted here and there, and he found himself fascinated by a certain black and yellow beetle.

‘Could that possibly be something with the compound I’m looking for?’ he thought, and suddenly someone called his name behind him, scaring the beetle into flying away. He stood up and ignored the call, going deeper into the bush after the insect instead.

Sam blinked and watched him go, raising an eyebrow. “Where’s he going? I needed help here…” she complained, and Seto sighed as he walked over. “How in the hell did you get tangled up in the tarp?” he asked, and she smiled sheepishly. “Um…I’m not sure. Help please?” she asked. Seto rolled his eyes.

Deeper in the woods, Seth had slowed down in his wandering, having lost track of the beetle and was getting distracted by the various species of moss and flowers around him.

“Oh, it’s Asclepias…and there’s Amelanchier canadensis” he pointed out to himself as he went along, pausing to watch a trail of ants make their way up a tree.

He continued on this way for a while before noticing he couldn’t hear the others anymore, and looked around. “Hello?” he asked, but the only answer he received was the chattering of a squirrel up on a branch.

“How far did I go?” he wondered aloud, and turned around. ‘Was that where I came from? Or was it over there…’ he thought, looking over his shoulder. “Ummm…” He stood there for a moment pondering his location, when he heard a low rumble in the air above.

“Yaaaaaahoooooooo!!” a voice cried, and the trees were suddenly windswept a little as a girl sped past with a jetpack, circling around overhead. Seth blinked up at her and squinted. ‘Geri? No…that girl has a jetpack. And Geri’s not blonde’ he realized, and there was only one other girl like that he knew of who would fly around so manically.

“Kaolla! Hey Kaolla!!” he yelled, hoping he’d get her attention. Luckily, she paused in the air, looking around for the source of the call. Looking down, she spotted him and her face lit up before she blasted down, somehow managing to land neatly at his side without ripping the ground apart.

“Hello! Why are you way out here, huh?” she asked, eyes bright with excitement as always.

“…I’m not sure” he answered. “I think I was looking for something”

“And you got lost? Haha! But why didn’t you bring something to fly with? I made this jetpack so that won’t happen to me!” she told him, turning around to show him the jetpack, which was designed in such a way that it was clear it was her work, what with her signature eye symbol.

"I'm also working on a new project by myself, I think this one will be one of my best! It's all about..." Kaolla chattered, pausing to bring out what appeared to be a draft sheet before she continued talking, pointing to her various sketches every now and then to better explain herself.

As she continued talking about her inventions, he found himself drifting off into his thoughts. Kaolla was an extremely intelligent girl, he knew that from working on projects with her in the past, and he liked the way she never looked down on him like everyone else did. She was one of the few people he could actually hold an intelligent conversation with.

Seth listened vacantly to her speak of her plan of combining molecular atoms to create a new source of weaponry as he began to study her looks, absentmindedly noting that he found her bright green eyes attractive with the way they stood out against her dark skin.

He couldn’t help but wonder how she always had such a happy aura when she was married to someone like Kaian. Maybe she would get tired of him one day.

“…and that’s how it will work, eventually.” Kaolla finished, putting the paper away and snapping Seth out of his reverie. She caught onto him immediately, leaning upwards to his face, tilting her head with a mischievous smile. “Were you daydreaming? What was it about?” she asked.

He was slightly taken aback at how close her face was to his all of the sudden, and stumbled away a bit. “No, nothing” he answered, and she put a hand over her mouth as she looked at him in speculation.

“Oh, I see!” she cried, looking as if she’d figured out something amazing. This time Seth didn’t have time to move away when she jumped and grabbed his arm. “Does Seth want to kiss me like Matthew wants?” she asked innocently, yet seriously as she stared at him. Seth stared right back, unable to find an answer.

‘Kiss…Kaolla? But she’s…Kaian would try to kill me again…well she is nice’ he thought frantically. Kaolla looked on impatiently before taking his silence as an invitation, leaning up and pressing her mouth against his.

She flicked her tongue out over his dry lips and leaned against him, lingering for a few moments before backing off, lifting a finger to her lips. “Don’t tattle!” she winked with a smile. “You’re much nicer than Matthew is, so I gave you a gift!” she explained.

Seth was practically speechless while Kaolla pressed a few buttons on her jetpack. “We should go back right away now, there’s going to be camp food! I’ve never had it before so I don’t wanna miss it” she told him, grabbing onto him, and they blasted off into the sky without warning, making their way back to camp.

He really hoped she got tired of Kaian one day.

END.