tornado

We are all still pretty upset with the Ruri's firing my dad and my Uncle Uzi. I believe my parents put some extra money away somewhere that we can use if we need to, and we still get rations from the camp, but things aren't so good in the rest of Zaharia, unfortunately.

Having the new family members here has actually been a cramped blessing. Although it's harder to find a spot to relax alone in the house, the chores have been divided up even more, so it's easier to get things done. My sister and I have also been on a path to reconciliation with each other, and she's been helping our cousin Zizi adjust to living away from Zaharia. The two are practically the same age, which is also very helpful.

My mom's been pulling out of her depression now that her brother is living with us. She and Zola get along quite well, so they chat, knit, and cook together. And since Ezra and Nia hang out all the time, that leaves Zeke and I to entertain Lorenzo and Zamir. Zamir's a bookworm, so I've taken him to the library a few times to check out books, read in a comfy chair, chat with the librarian. We all hadn't seen Lorenzo in a long time since when we lived in Zahrville with the family, he was already out running around with the ZPF. He's a fairly quiet boy now, with tattoos on his back of Zaharian green and red, a line of al-Zahra below it, and a "ZZ" on his left arm for his allegiance to Zah'cary Zed, founder of the ZPF.

A few nights ago at dinner, the topic of politics emerged, and suddenly Lorenzo got incredibly angry and ranted (practically yelling) about how much he hates the Brn and how much he wishes they'd all go to hell. His dad stepped in and said what we were all feeling, that yes, we don't like the Brn either, but we don't really have a choice to do anything about it these days...

"Look what happened last time you went to try and do something about it yourself! You ran away from home, just leaving us a note that you'd gone to join the ZPF, but nothing more. We had no idea where you were and you worried your mother sick. When you finally did come home, you were hours away from dying. We are all going to just sit this one out from now on. Don't even THINK about leaving us again!"

Lorenzo kept quiet after that. In fact, we all did. We finished our dinner in silence. It was incredible.