At the beginning of the eighth week, Rhiannon Rose is happy to see the rain go. The following three weeks flow together like water, hazy and misty like her reflection in a puddle. She is tired of not seeing fire.

They have bonfires twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. The itch is not the same though. Benji seals all of the lighters and any tool he can think of and puts them somewhere she cannot find, despite her attempts to tear apart the house. She dismembers her arm during the nineth week to pull out a magnifying glass, which she uses to set small fires on the nights where permission isn't given. She burns the dried leaves and husks in the shed. Surely, Benji will notice they are gone, and surely he won't give a damn.

Rhiannon Rose otherwise tries to keep herself busy. Anyone who needs her help, gets it. Trouble with the irrigation system? She's less than happy to offer her services but more than willing. Flirtations thrown her way, she sends them right back, smirking lips and smooth words.

It's awful. She cannot wait to return to Neo Elysium, to become Hestia once more. If Serment is right, and there is a Hell for those who do not fear God, she is more than happy to banish herself to such a place. Where heat and fire reign supreme, Rhiannon Rose lives. She is little else if not a phoenix.

At one of the bonfires, Norbu tells a story about a town of ghosts gone up in flames. Rhiannon Rose feels heat pool in the deepest recesses of her soul. Yes, surely there is a Hell. She will do what she can so as not to beg the devil to let her in.

~~~

At the beginning of the eighth week, Cosmia is assigned along with Rhiannon Rose and Calath to sort out the irrigation system. Benji appoints Cosmia as the lead on the project, offering her any tools she might need, and as much time as it will take.

Rhiannon Rose is surprisingly more invested than Cosmia expected. Perhaps she is happy to be rid of the rougher weed-picking duties. Cosmia herself is relieved. The three rise at the same time as the others, so that they can touch the metal pipes before they are ablaze under the mid-day heat.

By the ninth week, Cosmia gets up early to set up tarps, protecting their skin from the sun's harsh rays. It is starting to cool down, and Cosmia's skin is already the darkest it has ever been. The lines that slice her body are harsh, exacting.

It is hard to catch Benji. He is often chatting to the new farm workers. They are assigned the hard labour that she was forced to do for weeks and weeks. When he isn't there, he is locked up in his office on the second story of his home. On her breaks, Cosmia stands at the bottom of the stairs, listening to see if he is coming down.

When he is washing dishes in the kitchen after a bonfire at the end of the tenth week, Cosmia hops up onto the countertop and peers at him.

"You leave a lot," she says.

He shrugs, "I've got a lot of things to do."

"Like?" she asks.

In her hands, she holds a wet towel. Her hands were sticky from the slice of cherry pie she shared with Gale, and though the residue is gone the smell lingers. Sweet, not just cherries but nutmeg, perfume her clothes. It is better than the smell of the bonfire, of burnt wood, that she'll certainly smell in the morning.

Benji looks at Cosmia and sighs, "it's a family thing, you know."

Cosmia thinks of the photos on the living room wall. Two younger sisters. Mae Mullins, the girl with something wrong with her who might be married soon, according to the Greens. Emma Mullins, the one who could never say no to a party, allegedly.

She puts a hand on her back, lingering on what remains of all her siblings.

~~~

At the beginning of the eighth week, Calath still ahs told no one what she saw in Benji's home. Still, she is eager to appease, Calath's days are spent tinkering on the irrigation system with Cosmia and Rhiannon Rose while under starlight she sneaks back onto the farm and begins repairs on the truck.

It crawls with bugs, and Calath is just as unsettled by them as she finds people uncomfortable. She starts to clean away the rusted parts. Somethings need to be replaced, but Calath thinks she can do without them. She has never repaired a vehicle that relies on diesel, and isn't even really sure how they work. By the end of the tenth week, she still cannot get it to start.

On Friday, she hides herself under the tarp and uses her wrench to tighten a lose screw on the irrigation system.

"You think that'll do it?" Rhiannon Rose asks, bent over to watch Calath work.

Calath shrugs, "or blow up the house."

"Don't get my hopes up," Rhiannon Rose says.

They agree to send Norbu again to turn it on. He's more than happy, despite the previous outcome. Calath, Rhiannon Rose, and Cosmia stand together.

Then, the sprinklers turn on. They hear Norbu whoop out, and the three of them smile.

~~~

At the beginning of the eighth week, Kae approaches Eurydice. She waits until Eurydice's break, where she sneaks away from her work watering the corn. Even Faris would not be able to track her as she slips through the trellises, all taller than her. She waits outside the washroom to avoid Harvey in the kitchen.

Eurydice steps out and stares at her.

"I want to pick the lock," she whispers, unblinking.

Eurydice smirks, "new you'd come crawling back."

Over the following three weeks, whenever Benji isn't home, Kae slips upstairs, alone. She feigns being skittish around Eurydice in public. It seems to satiate Faris, even though Norbu raises an eyebrow at her odd behaviour. By the tenth week, more and more people join the farm, and so it is easier for Kae to slip away.

Her fingers become callused, hard and determined like she is. Maybe she would disappoint her father, but he is hundreds if not thousands of miles away from her. He is the entirety of the surviving world away, so far as anyone knows. Kae has survived. She has taken and stolen, and it has never been within her control. This is though. She learns to unlock the bathroom doors within thirty seconds. She takes the lock from the shed into the shack so late at night she can sit in the bathroom and practice locking and unlocking it in the darkness.

She is completely and utterly unstoppable.

~~~

At the beginning of the eighth week, Eurydice decides not to push Kae. When she comes, offering her services once more, Eurydice leaves her to figure out the lock itself. A practiced bounty hunter knows when she is being traced. Faris watches her, waiting for her to sneak off, to accost Kae, and Eurydice doesn't give him the satisfaction. He is not her main enemy. If she kicked Faris hard enough, his best weapon (his pretty face) would be destroyed.

So, she decides to start bothering Harvey.

It is easy enough, spending her breaks in the kitchen.

"It seems Silver hasn't given up," Eurydice says one day. "I found a map stuffed under his mattress. The casuals don't seem to know how to properly hide a stash."

Harvey pretends, in her opinion unsuccessfully, to act like it doesn't get to him. He squares his jaw, tightens his fist around spatulas, and his glare hardens. The changes are minute, given Harvey's often harsh disposition, but of course Eurydice notices them.

As the tenth week ends, the farm is busier than ever with extra workers. Benji doesn't trust her to help them along, she assumes, as the rota has her assigned to more solitary duties like tending to chickens and keeping her mouth shut. She runs her tongue over her pointed teeth any chance she gets, before turning back to her work.

~~~

At the beginning of the eighth week, Norbu would do anything to return home. He's ready through his new comic book, and he's learned all of the songs which play on the radio. Listening to it, he's now more versed in North Marcadian politics than anyone else on the farm, perhaps even Benji. He flirts with Rhiannon Rose on his break, he learns three recipes from Harvey, and he starts to practice parkour on their creaking shacks. He only stops when he accidentally kicks in a plank of wood, snapping it in half.

He can't handle it.

During the ninth week, he and Gale are eating late at night in the kitchen.

"I'm going to lose it here!" Norbu huffs.

Gale turns on the sink and begins to wash his hands. The water steams. Norbu stares at Gale's hands as they redden from the heat.

"It's been a bit quiet these last two weeks."

"Why? Because George Rooney hasn't been around."

Gale turns off the tap and flicks water at Norbu. He laughs.

"Oh, come on," Norbu says. "He is cute, I'll give you that. He's just a bit... I don't know. Comfortable."

Gale doesn't say anything. Instead, he dries his hands.

A smile begins to creep onto Norbu's face, "how do you feel about going for a swim?"

And that's how it begins between the two. Sneaking out in their swimsuits with their towels rolled under their arms. The night wraps around them. Gale is worried about the CCTV cameras, but Norbu insists there are none. He's probably right, but even he feels like he is being watched.

~~~

At the beginning of the eighth week, Gale misses the orchards. He misses climbing trees and stargazing, and he misses when he wasn't forced to face Eurydice most mornings. She still kicks him at the table, and one morning he nearly twists around and stabs her with his fork, but Faris catches his arm.

He needs a break.

And that's how it begins with Norbu. The two of them, sneaking off every other night to the pond. They bring along Faris one night, Cosmia joins another, but the pair are the only constant besides the rippling water and the galaxy above them. The cicadas don't even join in regularly.

"The blond suits you, you know," Norbu barely looks over at Gale while he floats on his back.

Gale reaches up to his hair, feeling the strands. It'll grow out soon as well, probably right before they return. If Gale decides to stay, he'll miss blue hair dye. Maybe he will go blond permanently, or maybe he'll figure out a way to change his hair completely.

"Thanks," Gale swallows.

Norbu kicks up, splashing Gale. Then, Gale pounces, trying to wrestle him in the water. Their laughter blossoms in the moonlight, a mysterious and ancient flower. Their bodies press together, their faces close.

It's Norbu who kisses him first. Wet and warm and here and ready. And Gale presses himself back in, folding himself in tightly. It's Norbu who removes his bathing suit first, but it is Gale who is left clutching for oxygen. It feels like space. It feels like there isn't enough oxygen left to fill his wanting body.

~~~

At the beginning of the eighth week, Harvey thinks he is aware of everything going on at their farm. Eurydice is plotting to break down Benji's reinforced door, and so she's trying to get under his skin. Norbu is bored and wreaking havoc. Calath is working on the truck per his instructions. As usual, he does not know what Titus Silver is thinking.

The farm has more and more people on it. Titus always takes his break with Harvey. They sneak into the shack where Titus sleeps and barricade the door with the dresser. No one ever approaches, even to knock. Harvey feels the days ticking by, each one more solid and sure than the last. He wakes up in a cold sweat most nights, sure it has become exactly midnight, one day closer to their return.

Halfway through the ninth week, while they are dressing, Harvey spots something peeking out from inside of Titus's pillow. He pulls it out. It is a map back.

"You're still thinking of running away?" Harvey asks.

Titus chuckles, pulling his shirt over his head, "Harvey, what made you think I wasn't."

"Well, it seems more hassle than it is worth."

The man beside him shrugs as he does up his trousers, "there's a chance that they won't let me stay. I need to find my brother."

Harvey has people for that, basements where he can go when someone needs to be found. They find people in Neo Elysium, and even those that try to slip to Underpass City. The map leads to a place people go who do not want to be found though, and even Harvey must admit where his limits lie. He had thought Titus wanted to be found. In fact, he had thought so desperately.

Harvey tells Calath to hurry up with the repair at the end of the tenth week.

~~~

At the beginning of the eighth week, Titus is exhausted. He stares at himself in the mirror, finger pads pressing into the puffy bags under his eyes. His hands are callused now. His shoulders broader, muscles taut over his bones, under his skin. The change is more marked in him than many of the others. Norbu was always lean and strong, and so was Eurydice. Kae hides beneath baggy coveralls so he cannot see how her legs have toned. The most unchanged is Rhiannon Rose, who does not look any bulkier than the day she arrived.

Lucky for her, because the muscles on her false limbs would not have responded to the labour.

The only soft touch Titus ever feels is from Harvey. They do not caress. Harvey's hands are not delicate, but callused too, even more than the others. He grips him firmly, trails kisses down his neck, across his ribs, playing him like an instrument. Titus forces his hands to grip the wooden bunk, to feel something that does not give like Harvey's flesh. Titus feels raw after their encounters, skin stripped back, ready again to cook in the sun. He feels unmade. He feels like pieces.

Toward the end of the tenth week, they lie down on the small mattress, shoulders pressed together, eyes turned above them at the wooden planks carrying the upper bunk. Everything here is wood. Nothing here has any give.

"How are you even going to live?" Harvey tries to mask the question with a sneer. He's been doing that a lot, Titus has noticed. "Silver like you, no spoon."

"Same way I lived here," he points out. "Hard labour in exchange for a place to sleep."

"You're screwing the rest of us," Harvey says.

"Don't you mean I'm screwing you?"

"You are screwing me."

Titus scoffs. He sits up, head scraping against the top bunk above them. He doesn't look down at Harvey.

"I more so was emphasizing that you don't care what happens to the others," Titus yawns and scratches his neck. "Not even Faris."

Harvey doesn't answer. And maybe they both are wondering if that is true.

Titus gets up and starts to put his trousers on, just as Harvey goes to snatch his hand. He misses. Titus doesn't see it.

~~~

At the beginning of the eighth week, Faris is happy when Benji sits him down that morning and runs him through the schedule.

"I'm going to be gone quite a bit over the next few weeks," Benji says. "Now, I ain't putting you in charge exactly, so keep your shirt on. Just... I need somebody who knows the schedule and can dish it to the seasonal harvesters."

"Can do," Faris smiles.

And so that is what he does. When Benji slips off the farm, or when he is otherwise locked in his office, Faris directs the farm workers. He gives Norbu different tasks each day to keep him from running laps around the farm and beyond. After lunch, he checks in on the irrigation system and listens to Calath as she updates him on its progress. He helps Harvey with dishes and meal preparation. They only feed their immediate flock and not the seasonal arrivals, and soon Faris is able to take over for Harvey whenever he needs to sneak off.

At the end of the tenth week, he is sitting in the living room when Benji enters. He's got a book in his hands and a doe eyed expression as he stares at Faris.

"You're not supposed to be on break."

"Harvey and I traded," Faris explains.

Benji looks down the corridor and then back at Faris, "listen, I know you're a maths kind of guy. Would you be willing to help me with the books?"

Faris nods, making sure his smile is just wide enough. Together, they sit on the couch. Benji runs through the expenses they owe the Lord for water, electricity and land use. The utility charges are projected to be only slightly higher than the previous year, but triple the cost when his mother ran the homestead.

"Can't lower it," Benji says.

"What's it from?" Faris narrows his eyes.

Benji scratches his neck, "degradation. There are leaks and power surges all the time. Getting it serviced will be double the cost of the bill, and I'm trying to save up the money instead to get back a larger portion of the farm. I'm about three good years off from being able to afford to service it properly."

"If the programme is successful, how many workers would they send out next year?" Faris asks.

"I'd get twenty-five," Benji doesn't smile. "They say I need someone else living here though. One worker per dozen, or there abouts. My sisters... well, Rooney's got a cousin I might be able to convince to stay. Might have to marry one of Holly Lee's granddaughters though. I've got a year to figure it out."

Benji pauses. Faris scans the books again, reading over. The energy and water charges are astronomical, more than the cost of personal food use, gasoline for the truck, and miscellaneous expenses combined.

"You good, Faris?" Benji asks.

Faris sits up, "fine, yeah. Why?"

"You were... you know I'm not just interested in your well-being because you're a big help," Benji says. "I think that city out there right screwed y'all up. And I know you were stuck in the panopticon the longest. I was only in holding for a bit, but my throat afterwards felt too tight. And I just want you to know, if you ever need help, I'm here for you."

Faris swallows. He blinks, and can feel his face heat up. A blush is invisible on his tawny skin. Still, he presses his knuckles against his cheek and wipes at them.

"It wasn't easy," Faris says. He's surprised it's true. "These last ten weeks have helped, but they haven't been perfect. Thanks for checking in."

Benji pats his knee. He closes his book and walks out the door.

~~~~~

At the beginning of this week (lol), I got my days confused. Genuinely. I thought today was Sunday, so we are going to pretend this was on time because it was ready on time. Anyway, now it is week 10! We're flashing to the last two weeks ahhh! Any predictions, either relationship wise, or what people will end up wanting at the end, or what's up with Benji's family, or who's spying, or anything? As always, let me know in the comments!