Chapter 321

It wasn’t Rose’s fault she couldn’t reproduce. I couldn’t blame her for making a choice to stay here. The portals on Earth were notable in their tendency to crush creatures using them. Blaming her for not wanting to die like that was wrong.

For a little while I swam in the water. I felt better than I had in days, more awake. Something really had been eating at me. I’m surprised it took the men this long to ask Rose for help. They must have been trying to rouse me themselves and I hadn’t noticed.

I swam slowly back to shore and realized how crummy I felt. My muscles all hurt and I was just exhausted. My impulse was to curl into a ball on the beach and sleep. Rose would not hear of it.

“I have seen depression many times here,” she told me. “Girls, that give in and give up, die. You must stay active.”

We walked the beach and swam in the shallow water. Rose refused to let me just sit and mull. It was an uphill battle not to complain about how I felt.

The me