Collected wisdom had said it was abandoned, little was said about its condition, which, after only a minor examination, left her wondering if it honestly was a 'safe house' after all.
The wooden base had been eaten away enough to leave light between the panels. At the heart was an iron grill with ash stains from fires long passed.
Heather's examination didn't go much further, as soon as she'd taken a seat, she'd sunk into the floorboards. Not 'spreading' so much as 'spilling' herself. It only took a few seconds for Nomonda to arrive, but Heather had long fallen asleep.
Her mind travelled back in time; floating without wings over the oceans to her home, the Rolling Heaven's needle. People were talking all around her, but no words came out. She had to be no older than eight.
Heather blinked without eyelids. She remembered this, at any moment her brother, Tau, would walk through the front door.
The rest of the family sat around an oval table, fifteen chairs. All occupied. Her mother sat at the head, her father at the other.
Heather on her right, her baby sister on her left. Their cousins sat around them, facing the door. At the centre was a long flat box, painted black and engraved with the name Tau. The box was beautiful, gold melted into the engravings. Inside, a sickle sword, stunning, the most beautiful she'd ever seen. 'Aunty Diane' made it herself. Heather's eyes were taken away from the door and were drawn to the box. There was smoke coming from it, the table too.
Heat pressed onto her skin, making her sweat and itch, for some reason no one cared. She started to wheeze.
"Damn it, I'm sorry, I'll fix it." Eight-year-old her said.
She watched in disbelief. The wheezing was getting the better of her.
Heather woke up facing the rail, through the spaces in the wood she saw how high up she was. A trembling fear struck her. It was as if she had fallen off. There was smoke everywhere, a small fire burned at the heart of the tower, filling the room. She inhaled, letting clean air fill her lungs making her lightheaded, weak.
She faced the centre, the smoke stinging her eyes.
"Nom-" Heather hesitated and scolded herself. "Dawn? You awake?"
She got no reply. "Day, Dawn, Noon, Evening anyone?"
"Evening, ma'am," Lindi said from just in front of her.
Heather dropped her head back down to the wood.
"Did you start a fire?" Heather asked through the floorboards.
"No ma'am"
"Who'd be so stupid?"
"Not sure"
"I'm too tired to be angry." Heather/Night sighed. "I'm too tired to stand."
"Night?" Lindi asked.
"Evening."
"You ever done that before?"
"What?" Heather/Night asked.
"Lumber House was nothing like I imagined. It was amazing! I've never seen so many watching so few so vehemently. My body is still shaking."
"Chances are it's because all you've eaten in a day are berries. I'm no different. What have you got in your bag?"
"Mostly jars, the others took the best stuff, Twilight and myself were stuck with pickled goods, I have the worst of those. Pickled onions, peppadew, baby corn but no meat." Lindi/Evening said.
"It's fine, I'll have the peppadews." Heather said sitting up.
Both girls sat up next to each other, Heather pulled dried snake from her own bag, sharing a small portion.
"Ma'am?" Lindi/ Evening asked.
"What, Evening?"
"You, Dawn and Day, said something about a great battle with the Umbaleki, I've only ever seen the Umbaleki a few times in my life. What's battling them like? What happened?"
Heather sighed. "It's something better read in the records as it was a while back. But basically, it was an attack gone horribly wrong, that went horribly right." Heather grinned. "It's my second year a thousand kilometres from my family and hadn't seen a single battle. As I'm sure you've seen. For Black Air Raiders, there rarely are any grand battles. We do surveying, record keeping, we keep track of our statues. Since, of course, defiling them is defiling our gods and everything we stand for.