Finding Answers

"Anna! Wait! You can't just leave!" called a young woman with short blond hair and sky blue eyes as she came running up to me.

"Why not, Nicole?" I asked her as she stopped in front of me and tried to catch her breath.

"Because it isn't safe to go out there alone. There's all kinds of monsters roaming the Wastes," Nicole replied breathlessly, chest still heaving.

"It isn't safe anywhere, you know that," I answered as I turned back to look out at the Wastes from the doorway of an old office building.

"But-" Nicole started.

"No, buts, Nic, I'm going, I have to," I said, cutting her off before she could give me another reason why this was a bad idea.

"Alright, fine. But you had better come back once you've found what you're looking for or else I'm going to hunt you down and drag you back here," Nicole threatened, smiling even as her eyes filled with tears.

"I'll come back, I promise," I replied as I moved to give her a hug before letting go and turning back to the doorway. Nicole nodded as she wrapped her arms around herself and watched as I walked out the door and towards my destiny.

As you've already heard, my name's Anna Harrington. I'm nineteen, I have long red hair and light green eyes, and I'm damn good with weapons and combat strategy. But that's not the reason why I left the only things I've ever known. The reason is hanging around my neck hidden under my shirt and jacket. It's a heart-shaped locket that someone sent me a couple of movements ago. There was no name or anything on the packaging just a plain brown box with the Settlement's location on it.

I can't explain it, but every time I touch the locket, I feel this kind of warmth move up my arm and spread throughout the rest of my body, it's like standing in the sun for a time. The locket itself is very old and has intricate Celtic knots carved into its face, it looks like it was once gold but time and the exchanging of many hands has long since tarnished it. The locket never loses its warmth, it doesn't matter if no one has touched it or not, it's still warm.

I have this unexplainable feeling deep inside my heart that when I find the person who sent this to me, I'll finally have found the home that I've longed for all my life.

I walked for two days before I came to the place where the Messenger came from. It was a small, cramped community of Humans and Others. They had made a home beside and around an old half-rusted sailing ship that was leaning towards its right side. I looked for the Messengers' Office as I slowly walked down the main road. I found it at the end on the opposite side of the street as I walked back up it.

The Office was a modest sized building that was made out of whatever people could salvage from the ship and what they had brought with them themselves. I go up to the door and I pushed it open and look around for a minute.

"Don't just stand there with the door open, Missy! Either come in or get out," said a voice from the back of the office. I quickly step inside and shut the door behind me. I walk to where I heard the voice and look around, but I don't see anyone back here.

"I'll be with you in just a moment," the voice said again. This time I can barely make out an Other on the other side of the counter. They were a rabbit Other that had multi-colored fur and wore wrap-around glasses.

"It's fine. I'm in no hurry," I answer as I leaned a hip against the counter and fingered the locket as I waited. It was about fifteen minutes later that the Other finished what they were doing and turned back to me.

"Alrighty, Darlin', now what can I do for you?" the Other asked as they climbed upon a stool hidden behind the counter. They sounded male that had a slight rasp to it.

"I would like to know if you remember the Messenger that delivered this to the Settlement twenty miles East of here," I replied as I took the locket from around my neck and showed it to them.

"Oh yes, I do remember him. He was quite the giant, barely fit through the door he did. He was an Other of feline origin with midnight black fur and a full mane of pure white hair that had braids all through it. He didn't say much just that there was a package here that he was supposed to deliver to an eastern Settlement. I had him sign all the papers for it before he took it and left," he explained brightly.

"You wouldn't happen to know where he went after he delivered it, would you?" I asked, getting a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"I'm afraid not, Darlin'. He didn't come back here once he left," he answered.

"Which means that he could literally be anywhere by now," I said as I fastened the locket back around my neck.

"'Fraid so," the rabbit replied, leaning his arms on top of the counter.

"Thanks for answering my questions, Sir," I said, thanking him for what information he had given me.

"Oh! I almost forgot! When he first asked about the package, he had an unusual accent, like he came from one of the old abandoned cities far to the West of here," he remembered, his ears standing straight up on the top of his head.

"Thanks again, Sir. Now I've got a place to start looking!" I said, waving good-bye to him as I left the office.

As I stood there in the shadow of the old rusted ship, I felt my heart start to beat faster. I was finally going to learn about where I came from and if I had any real family left. I turned to the West and as far as I could see there was nothing but dust and heat and old ruins from a by-gone time, but also a city that hid a man that had the answers I was searching for.

So, I took the first step that would bring me closer to my Fate.