Previously:

     After being allowed free with a few constrictions, Sam was able to wash up and was soon told that her job would be working in the fields. Seeing Marco was in good shape and being allowed an actual area to herself. Sam enjoyed the night in the mysterious new civilization wondering who was going to be her teacher the next morning.

Present:

     Sam didn't know at what time she passed out or worse, that she had fallen asleep outside the shack leaned against the wall. She didn't hear the gentle german voice trying to wake her up or the light taps on the forehead. Nope, instead, it was the sudden and jolting cold of water being poured on her face that caused Sam to shoot right awake and a gasp.

"The hell?!" Yelled Sam while looking up at the offender.

     No Surprise, Jamir was sneering down at her with an empty water bottle in his hands and Miles with his fingers pinching his nose.

"We tried waking you up, didn't you notice you had a bed?" Said Jamir while tilting his head down at her.

"Sorry, guess I'm a heavy sleeper. And I totally meant to sleep in the dirt out in the open." Replied Sam, Sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Well guess you really miss the dome than huh? Maybe you'd like to go back?"

     Sam was surprised that the dark man was this chatty, usually he was just grunts and glares. She would rather deal with that side of him than this treatment. Still glaring back at Jamir, Miles spoke up.

"Sorry to interrupt you two, but we need to go see Juda and get her going on her chores."

Juda? The same guy from the Market Place?

     Miles offered Sam his hand to help her up and she ignored it as she pushed herself up to a standing position.

"Lead the way." She said.

      Jamir walked ahead with Miles while Sam stayed back a few feet as they walked by the patches of crops. The path they were on was just a soft sand surface with a gentle hill on the side that went up to dirt fields. The dark brown soil almost appeared black against the bright red sand and they slowed down coming up to a figure on his knees with deep blue robes and a straw hat was wide enough to cover his shoulders.

"Juda, I would like you to meet Sam. Sam, this is Juda and he's one of our farmers here. He'll show you the ropes." Said Miles.

     The figure straightened up from his crouched position and sat back on his feet looking up. His white beard in a puffy braid was immediately recognizable against his dark skin. He looked at Sam with surprise and a kind smile. "Hello again!"

"You?!" Was all Sam could muster.

     Juda let out a chuckle and nodded. "Yes, me. I didn't expect to see you again either. What a small world we live in."

     Completely ignoring Miles and Jamir Sam went on, "But how? I saw your shop destroyed. With the signs that the Ghost had killed you."

     Juda frowned and made a quick glance at the pair of men beside her. "I don't know what had happened after I left the tower, but I promise you. It wasn't the Ghost that hurt that shop."

"But-" Sam was about to begin a new round of question until Miles interrupted.

     "Sam, you'll be working with Juda. He's a resident of ours and not the tower. Please understand there is a lot he can not tell you about our way of things. I would appreciate it if you didn't ask too many questions about our interactions with Sulla. "

     Sam looked at Miles with many questions running through her head but resigned with a nod. I need to keep my head down for now.

"Good! I'm excited to work with you Sam, right now I'm weeding these tomatoes and I would love your help." Cheerfully said Juda.

"Okay." Said Sam as she walked over to Juda and got down on her knees beside him.

     Miles spoke again, "We'll be back later to check on things and with water. See you two later."

"Goodbye boy." Replied Juda.

     Sam let out a little giggle and tied her back with a hair tie.

     Turning his warm brown eyes to Sam he started to inform her about what she would be doing. "First thing, you'll need to tell them you want a hat. The sun rays coming through the ceiling will burn your fair skin in an instant and it won't be very pleasant. Unfortunately, I don't have anything for you right now so if you're ok with it, I would like to lend you my hat."

"What about you?" Asked Sam with concern.

     Juda smiled, "This old leather skin can handle a few hours in it, at least better than yours." Taking off his hat and handing it to her. " Go ahead, put it on, and snitch up the string to your cheeks."

     Sam grabbed the wide and stared at it, it was basically just a shallow cone that had no padding on the inside. Putting it on, it completely covered her face and the point rested on the top of her head with the slope going way past her shoulders. It shaded her and her body, turning to Juda she offered her thanks.

     "Now to the job, what you're looking for is any plant that doesn't match these," Juda said was grabbing a tall stalk that was growing plump tomatoes. "When you see them, pull them out and toss them inside this sack. Also while you're going down the rows, look at the crops for any dead growth. This will be yellow or brown leaves growing on the plant and it isn't beneficial to the growth of the tomatoes. Do you understand everything so far?"

     Sam nodded and looked at the dirt, it was mostly clear with a few small weeds growing here and there.

     "For now I'll have you staying by my side and as you get used to your job you can go off on your own. While we're weeding we'll also be plucking the tomatoes that are ripe and ready to eat, but we'll get to that later. Right now just focus on dead growth and weeds."

     Sam nodded and stayed close to Juda as the crawled through the rows of crops and dirt. It was hard work, especially when she came a crossed tall weeds that had roots growing deep the ground and it took all of her strength to pull them out. He even eventually showed her what to look for when looking for ripe ones and helped with that. They were both sweating pretty heavily at the suns moved through the sky and Miles did return with water and straw hat of her own for Sam.

     Thanking Miles she got back to work with Juda and they soon cleared a whole field with a full sack of weeks and two baskets of tomatoes. The second sun had fallen and the first sun only had a few hours left in the sky.

     "Good job today Sam." Said Juda while standing tall and proud looking at the work they had done. "It's a lot easier with two people and I can already tell you're a hard worker. I can take it from here for today, wait here for Jamir or Miles and they'll take you to get washed up and back home. You're going to be sore tomorrow and I can tell you are burnt even with the protection. Make sure to ask for aloe tonight." Holding out his dirt-encrusted hand to Sam, she took it with her own caked hands and shook it.

     Juda grabbed the sack of weeds and threw it over his shoulders. "I'll come back for the food later, have a good night." He waved his hand as he walked away.

     Left alone Sam took inventory of her own body, she did feel tight especially in her lower back and her hands felt like they were burning in some spots. Along with her arms and legs, looking down, she could see she was turning a bright pink. So this is a sunburn, It feels like how my skin felt when walking through the desert with Marco. Hot and stretched too tight. That was a miserable time.

     Sighing and sitting down in the dirt, she didn't have to wait that long for Jamir to come walking over with his usual frown on his face. Taking a good look at Sam he opened his mouth and let out a heavily accented statement. "You look like shit again, first time working a manual labor job like that?"

     Sam groaned at his tone, too sore to care about matching his aggression. "No, I used to fix engines. This is just the first time I've done this type of work."

     Jamir let out a huff and waved her over to follow him. She quickly got up, or at least, as quickly as she could and followed him to the springs.

"You have twenty minutes to be in and out." He said sternly.

     Sam looked at him wide-eyed and stared down at herself. Her clothes were caked and her skin felt dirty as well. "Only twenty? What do you expect me to do with these clothes? Doesn't look like you brought any?"

     Jamir looked surprised for a moment but quickly hid it under layers of disinterest and shrugged. "Not my problem."

     Sam stood with her mouth agape and quickly stormed off into the springs in anger. Fuck that guy. Quickly throwing off her clothes and getting in the water Sam wasn't ready for the burn that she would feel where her skin saw too much sun. Gritting past the pain she quickly scrubbed her skin clean and got out, to cooler air feeling good on her skin. Sam still angry, saw no other option than putting on her dirty clothes, and stormed out of the cave to see Jamir there with a bag and a green plant in his arms.

     Glaring at him she didn't say anything and walked past him back to her shack. He followed a few steps behind and stayed silent. Once back to her shack he called out to her.

"Juda came by and wanted to give you this plant. Also, here, some clothes."

     Sam stared at the plant and the bag, "Thanks, a little late, but thanks." She reached out and took the bag and plant. Jamir turned to leave but Sam, still staring at the plant. Spoke up, "Um, Jamir?"

He turned and tilted his head at her waiting.

"What do I do with this plant? I'm assuming that it's the aloe Juda was talking about but, what do I do with it?"

     Jamir let out a sigh and walked up to Sam. "Let's go inside and set it on the table and I'll show you."

     Sam nodded and walked inside the shack leaving the door open. She dropped the bag on her bedroll and set the plant on the tiny table she had. Jamir walked in and made the whole room feel 10 times smaller, his large frame almost reaching the rafter. He slowly walked over to the plant and her and grabbed on one of the thick leaves.

     "See this? You rip this off as close to the stalk as you can get." Jamir proceeded to rip off the leaf and lay it flat out, "Then you grab a knife and you're going to peel this thick skin off." Grabbing his own pocket knife, Sam watched in wonder as he expertly flayed the thick dark green off and showed a translucent slimy gel underneath. Jamir quickly pointed to the gel and instructed Sam, "This is what you're going to use. Mix it in a bowl into a slime and spread it over your burn. Leave it alone after that."

     Sam nodded and Jamir straightened up. "Need anything else?" Sam quickly shook her head and stood out of his way to the exit. Jamir nodded and hastily left the shack. Sam remembered what he said about the gel and got a bowl to complete the process. Stirring until it was mostly liquidly she shed her clothes again and rubbed the aloe where she could feel her skin burning. Feeling instant relief, Sam was already feeling better and swore to keep that plant alive.

     Walking around to the bedroll she opened the bag and was greeted by her old clothes on top and quickly spotted her bra. Thank god Grabbing that specific article of clothing she shuffled through and saw just variations of the clothing she wore today. Which worked well for the type of work she was doing. Throwing on her bra and putting on some clean clothes she stretched her body before bed and sat on her bedroll. Feeling exhausted Sam wanted nothing but to sleep, but a knocking on her door caused her to groan.

"Come in."

     Her door open and Marco peeked his head in, "Are you trying to sleep?" He said in a timid voice.

"Eh, not yet. Come in Marco, what's going on?"

     Sam lit her lantern and patted her roll for Marco to take a seat. He came rushing over and sat cross-legged facing her with a giant smile on his face. "I came to see how you're first day went? You look a little burnt."

      Sam gave a soft smile and told Marco how her day went, she was happy to learn about farming, it was amazing to see how that happened. Sam also shared how she knew Juda from before and was happy to be working with him. She wanted to ask more about Juda and how much Marco knew, but she didn't want to get the kid in trouble.

"It's starting to get dark, shouldn't you be getting home?" Sam asked Marco.

     Marco looked dejected and looked outside, "Yeah, probably should. But I wanted to see you. Do you mind if I visit?"

     Sam quickly said, "No! Not at all, I would love it if you kept coming over. I just don't want you to get in trouble."

      Marco shrugged, "I'm not worried about it. They know where I am and they don't mind as long as I'm not too late."

     Sam smiled, "Well I'm glad to see you again, but I do need some sleep. Come back tomorrow?"

"Yeah," said Marco with a smile.

     Sam waved bye to Marco and laid back in her bedroll. I am going to be sore tomorrow, going to have to build up some muscles. Sam got under her blankets and quickly fell asleep to the wind whistling through the holes in her shack.