After a while, I could feel my grip on the edge of the roof slipping, and I gritted my teeth. In the next swing, I jumped to the tree, and frantically reached for the branches. I hung on for a second, before I could hear it cracking, and then proceeded to hug the log tightly, holding my hands together and crossing my legs.

I slowly slid down, the bark scratching my skin. After getting close to the tall fence surrounding the yard, I jumped off and into the bushes, trying to stay relaxed while keeping my feet together and bending my knees slightly, before landing on my feet.

Then I extended my knees after I landed, and then tucked my body in and rolled forward. I got up after rolling a little, and immediately checked myself for any damages. I had some friction burn on my arms and legs, and some scratches from the bushes, but otherwise I was alright.

I felt proud of myself for not getting hurt, and then walked back to the area where Charlotte and Claude were. “All clear!” I could hear some rustling on the rooftop, before seeing Charlotte hang down.

I quickly stood under her, prepared to catch her. When she let go, I quickly caught her, before gently dropping her on the ground. My arms screamed, but at least Charlotte was safe.

“You alright, yeah?” Just to make sure, I asked her that.

“Yup. You should get prepared for Claude now, El.” Charlotte advised me, and I nodded.

I got into position again, and waited for Claude to appear, but after a while, no one appeared. “Claude?” I called out, worried. Why wasn’t he coming down? Did something happen?

What Claude said made me laugh a bit. “El, I’m scared. I don’t want to jump down.” He replied back, and I could see his head peak out.

“Yeah, I understand you too, it’s pretty scary!” I continued. “Do you just want to try doing some small goals first?”

Claude voiced an ok, and then I instructed him. “Why don’t you come over to the edge first. Then, when you get comfortable, hang on the edge, and then finally you’ll let go for me to catch, ok?”

I didn’t hear anything after that, but later I saw Claude appearing, and he carefully walked to the edge of the roof. “Good job! Now, you’ll come here and then hang,” I pointed at the edges, and waited for Claude to go.

He sat there for a while, but eventually walked over there and then put his two legs over the edge, turned around and went down, hanging from the edge. “You’re doing amazing!” I shouted to him encouragingly. “Now, all you have to do is jump off and I’ll catch you.”

Claude hung there for a while, unmoving. Just when I was about to speak, Claude dropped, and I hurriedly catched him. When I put him on the ground, I high fived him. “You did great!”

I checked my watch; we had about 40 minutes left til the meeting, meaning we were right on time. I quickly led the kids to the square, sometimes pointing out and commenting on various things that were interesting that they hadn’t seen before.

By the time we arrived, it was almost 2 o’clock. In the middle of the square was a big tent, and in it was a table where we would all sit. It looked pretty funny, but at least we didn’t have to worry about the sun or heat a lot, so it was fine with everyone.

I let the kids go inside first, before entering. Inside, I saw Amela, the representative for the Andersons and Stanley, from the Jorges. I could still see the signs of bruises over his body, though he seemed fine.

We just had to wait for the Together and the Caesonia representatives. “Are they Claude and Charlotte?” Amela asked excitedly, pointing at them. I nodded and then Amela beamed, leaving the tent from the other side before coming back with 2 spare chairs in her hands.

“You guys can sit here!” Amela patted the seats, and I led them to the seats, taking the seat right next to them. I greeted Stanley, and he greeted me back quietly. Amela happily chatted to Claude and Charlotte, while me and Stanley waited for the meeting to start.

Soon, I saw 2 people come into the tent, and I checked my watch. As usual, the Together representative arrived right on time, and the Caesonia representative too as they went together. I recognized the group representative, who was Chave, but I didn’t recognize the Caesonia representative.

Amela soon started the meeting, and we started discussing the various topics. The Andersons’ received news from their family member that they were coming home, but they couldn’t confirm for anyone else.

Chave commented that one of the people in his group had received a message that both their brothers were coming back, but nobody else got anything. Before the topic switched, Charlotte tugged on my sleeve and started whispering to me.

“El, who are the Andersons, the Together and everything?” She asked. Now, I remembered that we had informed them we were going to a meeting, but we never provided the details.

I quickly whispered everything she needed to know so far. “These meetings are bi weekly, meaning they happen every 2 weeks. We pushed this meeting sooner though because we wanted to talk about the announcement we heard almost a week ago, remember?”

Charlotte nodded, and I continued. “The people who come to the meetings are what we refer to as groups, and usually they’re a family, like us.” I pointed to myself and her. “We’re called the Lorveas’, because our last names is Lorvea.”

“And everyone else is called Anderson and Jorge because that’s their last name?” Charlotte deduced, and I gave her a thumbs up for being correct.

“But the Together group is different. They’re a bunch of orphans who gathered together and moved to this area a few months before us, and just randomly gave themselves that name.” Charlotte oohed, looking like lots of things cleared up for her.

I ruffled her head, and started listening back to the meeting again. It seemed they were still talking about the possibilities for the returning soldiers, and I didn’t need to listen closely since I could deduce the information everyone shared already.

“I’ll try to tell you everything that you might not know, but tell me if something is unclear or you don’t understand.” Charlotte nodded, and I finally got back into the meeting. We started discussing the group sent by the heroes, and this time only me and Stanley had something to share.

Like us, the Jorges’s had gotten the offer from them to merge and they had rejected, but instead of leaving they attacked them. Turns out, there used to be 5 people in the group, but the Jorges managed to beat one of them badly, causing the rest to flee and then resulting in the soldiers being sent.

It seemed like there were some restrictions if they had to send soldiers, and there either could be a mole or there was someone watching this area, since the Jorges’ and our group were coincidentally the smallest group, besides the Caesonias’, but since they were close with the Together it would be hard to attack them.

I lowered my head to Charlotte’s head, and whispered to her ear. “As you know, our family only has 5 people currently. The Jorges’ has 6, and the Caesonias’ has the smallest, only 4. But they are neighbors with the Together, who have a total of 7 people.”

I was speaking quickly, and took a deep breath before speaking, but more slowly. “And the Andersons’ has 12 people. They’re also the oldest group here, having stayed here for about a year.”

“How about the other groups? How long have they stayed here?” Charlotte asked, and I thought about it, trying to remember before answering again.

“If I remember correctly, The Jorges’ moved here about 6 months ago and the Caesonias’ moved here about 2 months ago, around the same time we did. The Together moved here about a month ago or so, soon after the Caesonias’.”

I thought about what else to add, and then continued. “The Anderson’s are in the north, which is in that direction,” I spoke, pointing to the right of us. “We’re in the opposite direction, the south.”

Charlotte nodded, and I didn’t point since we just came from there, meaning she already knew. “The Caesonias’ and the Together are next to each other, meaning they’re both in the east.” I pointed behind Stanley.

“And behind us is where the Jorges’ are, the west.” Charlotte told me understood, and I soon got back into the meeting. Not much was discussed, but we would be alerted if there was major news.

Soon, we all stood up and were ready to leave, since everything was discussed and the goal was reached. “Oh! By the way, we can now communicate with the phones.” Amela called out, and we all whipped our heads around.