Page 88 of The Explorer
The two men embraced in a manly hug and I soaked up the lovely feeling of connection and love that was all around me.
Half an hour later, I circled over to speak to Banni, who stood touching some flowers. “What do you think so far?”
“I’ve never seen this kind of flower.”
“It’s pretty, isn’t it?”
“What’s it called?”
I shrugged. “No idea, but I’m sure my cousin Freya can tell you. She’s like a small encyclopedia.” I waved Freya over.
“Banni is curious about this flower, do you know its name?”
Freya squinted her eyes in the bright sun and touched the small pink flower. “This one is a plant native to this region called Pacific Bleeding Heart. What I like about it is that the flowers are nectar-rich and attract hummingbirds and bees.”
When Banni and Freya kept going through the flowerbeds to discuss flora, I returned to Sparrow and hugged her from behind.
She was standing with her mother Kya, who had always been one of my favorite people in this world.
“Sparrow was telling me that Banni is your boss in Europe. How long has he been doing ecological restoration work?”
“Oh, he told me that he was seventeen when he started.” Leaning back, I called out to my friend. “Hey, Banni, how old are you now?”
“Me?” He pointed to his chest and then his eyes studied Sparrow and Kya for a second. “I’ll be twenty-seven in March, why?”
“I was just trying to calculate how long you’ve been an Explorer. Since you were seventeen, right?”
“Oui.”
“So almost ten years.”
“Why didn’t you just ask him how long he’d been an Explorer instead of calculating the years?” Freya asked as if she was trying to understand how anyone could think like me.
“Because…” I thought about it and shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Freya and Banni moved toward Kya, Sparrow, and me. Kya reached out her hands to him. “I’m Kya.”
Banni looked from her face to her hands and back again. “Indiana warned me not to touch any of the women here.”
“I’m from the Motherlands. It’s taken many years, but by now my husband, Archer, understands that I greet people the way I want to greet them.”
Banni took her hands and they stood smiling at each other before he let go.
“I don’t know if Aubri told you that Archer and I run an experimental school where we have students from the Northlands, Motherlands, and Old Europe.”
Banni nodded. “You’re the parents of Sparrow, who is Aubri’s best friend. Yes, I’ve heard of you. I should have guessed that you are related to the most beautiful woman in the world. You even have the same afro as her.”
“Afro?”
Kya and Sparrow exchanged a look of confusion.
“Your curly hair is called afro hair, or at least it’s close to being afro hair. I guess now that I look closer your curls are a bit larger than a real afro, but you have the volume for sure.”
“What’s my hair called?” I asked.
Banni frowned as if that was a weird thing to ask. “Red.”
“No, but I mean is there a name for my hair type as well?”
