Two Days Later.
Eventide stared out the window of the bus as it rolled down the road, watching the scenery pass him by. The vehicle had long left the city limits behind, and was now quite a ways out into the countryside. The rolling hills beyond the window were lush and green, hosting an enormous forest of gorgeous evergreen trees. The sun hung overhead in the clear sky, casting it’s bright light on everything and making it all look so alive.
There weren’t many other people on the bus that day, giving Eventide plenty of space for himself to think and get his nerves in order. It was his first day at a new job, one he had no experience with, so he was already a little jittery. To make matters worse, Fluttershy was unable to babysit Beebee due to school. She had promised to go and check on him during her lunch break to make sure all was well, but beyond that, her time was bound.
He’d never been this far away from Beebee before, and it was making him more than a little anxious. If something bad happened, if something went wrong, then his options for getting back to his son were extremely limited. Several scenarios ran through his head at a rapid pace, including the very distinct possibility that Beebee might be seen again.
Eventide started and shook his head as the bus hit a small bump as it turned down another path. Just through the window, he saw a brown sign that read ‘Welcome to Everfree National Park!’ in inviting green letters. A few seconds later, he could already see some waist-high wooden fences deterring people from aimlessly wandering where they weren’t allowed.
The bus driver, a gray-haired man with a kind smile and fabulous glasses, glanced over his shoulder for a moment, then plucked a hand-held microphone from the console. When he spoke into it, his voice was carried over a series of speakers, reaching the ears of everyone aboard with perfect clarity. “We are now arriving at Everfree National Park. Again, that’s Everfree National Park. If this is your stop, please get ready to depart.”
Eventide sat up and made one last check of everything he had with him. He had a backpack, in which was his lunch for the day, his cell phone set to silent, his new camera, his first photo of Beebee, and a plastic water bottle. Satisfied that he had everything he needed, he hefted the backpack onto his shoulders and stood up just as the bus came to a final stop. There was a mechanical hiss from the front of the vehicle before the doors swung open, allowing the sounds of nature to rush inside.
Eventide took a deep breath to steady himself, and then stepped for the front entrance, giving the driver a grateful smile as he passed. “Thanks,” he said, to which the old man smiled.
“You’re very welcome.”
As soon as Eventide’s feet crunched down onto the gravel parking lot, the bus door swung closed behind him. Once Eventide was a few steps away, the bus then went back into motion. Eventide watched as it turned around and drove away down the road before vanishing out of sight amidst the trees.
No turning back now.
With that feeling of trepidation starting to swell in his chest all over again, Eventide took a minute to analyze his surroundings.
The parking lot and adjacent office buildings were situated in the middle of a particularly dense patch of trees, with the sounds of birds singing their songs echoing all around him. The parking lot itself was fairly large and gravel based, with several vehicles and even a few families either coming or going from the trail or nearby constructs. Eventide followed one family with his eyes as they made their way for the buildings, and took note of each one.
Front and center was a hybridization of a gift shop, information center, and central HQ. A large and friendly sign could be seen hanging in front of a neat concrete path that led to the doors. The path split off into three directions underneath the sign; one leading to a public restroom on the right, one to the information center, and the last to a short dirt road with signs and displays along the way, each one going into more detail about some aspect of the park, its history and its wildlife.
Eventide’s eyes eventually settled on the Information Center. That was where he needed to be. He spent a moment to adjust his backpack before he began to walk forwards.
Stepping inside revealed that the front lobby was colored in a very nature-themed palette of lush greens and rich browns, with the lights hanging overhead providing an orange glow reminiscent of a sunrise. Off to his left was the gift shop, where a young woman stood behind the glass display case, watching with a charmed expression as a bunch of kids marveled at the knick-knacks and mementos contained within.
Meanwhile, to Eventide’s right, there were a few more informational signs, a customer service desk, and a hallway for employees only. It was down there that he would find his new boss, who was supposed to be waiting for him to show up to begin his first day of training. With a nod to himself, he set off down the hallway at a brisk pace. The sounds of the people in the lobby faded away the further he went, and an unsettling quiet fell over him.
Still, he pushed on. Thankfully, the friendly and earthy colors were never swapped for anything else, helping to put his mind at ease. In short order, he found the room he was looking for and sized it up. He could hear some muffled discussion back and forth inside. There were at least three voices, and he recognized one of them as the man who had interviewed him. With one last deep breath, Eventide nodded to himself and knocked on the door. The conversation inside abruptly came to a halt, and a few moments later, the door swung open.
On the other side was a tall and well-built man, looking to be in his late thirties. He had bright yellow hair, ocean blue eyes, and dark brown skin. His chin was covered in a well-trimmed beard that matched the color of his hair. He looked Eventide over for a moment, then gave him a big grin. “Well hello there!” he proclaimed in a booming voice that just screamed friendliness and goodwill before looking over his shoulder into the room. “I think the new guy’s here!” he declared before stepping aside. Eventide took that as his cue to enter, doing so without a word.
The room he stepped into was a sizable one, with a few whiteboards, filing cabinets, and maps neatly positioned on the walls. In the center of the floor was an oval-shaped folding table, covered with maps of the park and surrounding countryside in various formats, from topographic to photographic. Scattered among those maps was a series of professional-looking documents, presumably pertaining to recent reports of places along the trail that demanded the attention of the maintenance crews or rangers.
There were three other people in the room, besides Eventide and the man who had opened the door, and he took a moment to look at each one. The first one to catch his attention was his new boss, a man named Pathfinder. He had dark blue skin and green eyes. His hair was short and evenly distributed between stripes of dark purple and silver. Standing to Pathfinder’s left was a woman who was shorter than Eventide by an inch or so. She had peach-colored skin, vibrant golden eyes and long magenta hair, tied into a ponytail behind her head. Lastly, across the table from them was another man with dull yellow skin and a slightly brighter yellow head of hair that was similarly tied back. His eyes were a dark shade of amber.
Pathfinder smiled and spoke up. “Ah, Eventide, there you are! We were just talking about you. Come in, come in!” he greeted happily, stepping out from behind the table with his arms spread in welcome.
“Hi. I’m not late, am I?” Eventide asked with a hint of nervousness as he shut the door behind him, looking at all of the new faces. A small bubble of unease was forming in the pit of his gut from all of the attention that was now squarely on him, and try as he might, he couldn’t quite shove it down.
“Not at all. In fact, I’d say you’re a little early,” the tall brown-skinned man proclaimed with a happy grin before holding out a hand. “I’m Lumberjack, by the way. A pleasure.”
Eventide took Lumberjack’s hand and gave it a small shake, a smile on his face. “Oh, uh, hi Lumberjack. I’m Eventide Oath. Nice to meet you, too.”
The woman walked over as well, a big grin on her face and a bounce in her step. “Hi, there! I’m Fresia Leaf!” she declared before grabbing Eventide’s free hand and shaking it wildly, tearing an alarmed yelp out of him. “It’s so nice to meet you! Pathfinder said you have a lot of potential!”
Pathfinder frowned at the display. “Fresia, come on, ease up on the new guy,” he admonished plainly, causing Fresia to back off with a sheepish grin, leaving Eventide a little bewildered.
“Oh, sorry. I’m just excited. We haven’t had a new guy on the team since Hawk joined,” Fresia apologized before pointing at the last guy in the room. “That’s Faded Hawk, by the way.”
Hawk gave a slow nod and a simple wave. “Hello,” he stated.
Eventide nodded slowly and returned the wave. “Er, hi…” he mumbled, his voice sounding significantly more awkward.
Satisfied, Pathfinder nodded. “Okay, Eventide, we’ve got a few more minutes before we’re supposed to head out, so before we go, do you have any questions? Concerns? Anything we as a team should know?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Eventide looked at each of them one more time, soaking in his new coworkers for a moment. When his gaze finally settled on Pathfinder, his expression hardened somewhat with conviction. “Only one: What’s the plan?”
Pathfinder gave a pleased smile and short chuckle. “Right to the point eh? Good, I like it,” he said before nodding back towards the table and making his way over. “It’s your first day, so the plan is pretty simple. We have a few spots on the trail that need to be cleared up more than the rest. We’re still dealing with water runoff from the rain a couple days ago, you see. We’ve got a few water bars and rock ditches that need to be tidied, and we need to check on the culverts to make sure they aren’t clogged or anything.”
“A culvert is basically a small water drainage pipe,” Lumberjack chimed in, following Eventide and Pathfinder over to the map.
“Okay…” Eventide nodded along, paying close attention.
Pathfinder pointed to a few points on the trail. “Here, here, and here. For the first two spots, I want you to just watch, listen, ask questions, and learn, Eventide,” he said intensely, flicking his eyes up to the new employee. “This is hard work, and we use a lot of heavy tools and deal with heavy items, like trees and big rocks. We don’t want you to hurt yourself because you didn’t have a good, clear idea of what you were doing.”
“We’re going to have to tidy up the trail corridor while we’re doing this,” Hawk added with a slow nod. “Water coming down from the mountains probably put a bunch of debris on the trail. We also had some heavy winds out here last night, so that probably made things even worse.”
Pathfinder pointed at him with a nod. “Right, good point. We’ll tackle that as we come to it, but I don’t think it’ll be too big of a hassle for now. Right now our main priority is dealing with the water situation. Outside of that, though, it’ll be a pretty mundane hike, I think.”
“Alright. When do we get started?” Eventide asked eagerly, hefting his backpack a bit.
Pathfinder looked up at him. “Eager to get started? Alright, I guess we can head out sooner rather than later. We’ll get your uniform sorted, and then we can hit the trail,” he said before turning his attention to Hawk. “Hawk, you and Lumberjack go and get the tools. Fresia, go get the truck ready.”
“You got it!” Fresia gave a playful salute before heading out the door at a brisk jog, while Lumberjack and Hawk left at a more moderate pace. The former gave Eventide a friendly smile and wave before they disappeared from sight, leaving Eventide and Pathfinder on their own in that room. Eventide watched them go, then turned back to Pathfinder as he straightened up. He gestured for Eventide to follow him, and the two stepped out through a door at the back of the room that led out into another hallway.
After a short time of walking, Pathfinder glanced over his shoulder at Eventide and gave him a warm, reassuring smile. “You nervous, Eventide?” he asked gently.
Eventide started at the question. After a moment, though, he offered a slow nod. “I guess you could say that. First new job in a few years, and I’ve only ever worked in retail. This is kind of a leap for me.”
“Well, don’t worry,” Pathfinder said as they turned into a somewhat smaller room. Against the left wall was a long clothes rack with several duplicates of the same uniform in varying sizes, for both male and female body types. “Like I said, it’s hard work. But it is also really rewarding, and we get to be out in nature a lot. If you stick with it, I’m sure you’ll do fine.”
“Well, here’s to hoping,” Eventide replied with a small chuckle, nodding his appreciation before turning to the clothes rack.
Pathfinder shuffled around him to slip back out into the hall, giving him one more look of encouragement. “Go ahead and find one that fits, then meet us out back. Just follow this hall and take the exit,” he instructed before turning and walking away, his footsteps becoming distant before fading altogether as the door swung closed, leaving Eventide all alone in the quiet of the dressing room.
Several seconds passed where his nerves once again crept up on him. Eventide took a deep breath to stave them off, then set his backpack down on the floor with a heavy thunk. He then turned and made his way over to the rack, examining each uniform and searching for one that fit.
All the while, his nerves continued to eat at him. “Alright, Eventide, you can do this…” he mumbled to himself in a clearly anxious voice while reaching out for the first uniform he saw that looked to be the right size. “New job. New people. New location. It’s scary, yeah, really scary. I mean, what if you let them down, right? What if you come up short, or screw something up? What if this is a bad idea? What if…”
He abruptly slapped himself across the face to stop his rambling and shook himself. “Stop that, Eventide! Yes, it’s scary, but that is no excuse! You…” he looked down at the ground and took a deep, calming breath. “You’ve got a son and a dog to take care of… if nothing else, you can’t let them down...”
He closed his eyes for a moment to picture Beebee and Buddha sitting side by side in their home, staring at him with big, happy eyes and encouraging grins. A small smile graced his lips at the mental image, and he felt his anxiety decrease to manageable levels. “You’ve come this far already. You’re not going to back down now...” He then opened his eyes and took his new uniform.