It always bothered Alexis how she had to wait for Rektor. Often Rektor down right refused to be held as they traveled. They had time before they could use the beeper to talk to Sarah so they started what was referred to from the men clans as a stroll. Rektor described that as men became 18 years of age they were pushed out of the clans for a period to allow them to think. As they returned it was said they understood the clan better. Rektor joked to Alexis that his last 15 years of life have been just one big stroll. However, he proposed this not for himself but for Alexis. So, as she walked she looked down and Rektor would be leaping to another place and looking around for a few minutes before jumping again. She didn’t mind it but did he have to try and jump and land on her breasts every time and make a whoosh noise. Men are interesting creatures Alexis thought.
“Babe, remind me again why I need the stroll?” The question was asked as Rektor perfectly timed the jiggle of her breasts being at the up most point and used her right boob which he named Costello from a guy who didn’t know baseball, whatever that was from the time of before growth, as a diving board.
“Because in such a short time your life has changed so much. The stroll is not about the destination but rather the steps. A time for reflection. A time to relax and be yourself, to know yourself.” As he said in midair and then performed another series of flips.
“That’s the most flips you have done so close to the ground. But I haven’t changed as much as you claim. Have I?” Alexis stopped walking and Rektor stood where he was and raised his hand holding his palm flat. This was the cue that Rektor wanted to be picked up. Alexis wrapped her hands around his tiny torso being sure to squeeze tighter than usual for pay back for using her boobs as a take-off zone for the whole day.
“I think you have changed a lot, think about what you have learned. Start with me Alexis.” Alexis placed Rektor on her right shoulder and increased the speed of her walk. She kept her route in the boundaries Rektor laid out before they started the stroll to avoid all clans. “Before you met me, leapers to you were a fairytale. Banishment which is odd for males but is almost unheard of from your society. Couple that with as you said in your stories with being probably the next leader of your clan and that is a huge change.” Alexis knew he was right but there was no shutting him up if Rektor started talking. “Now, you have a male lover who has seen your body which I may add is breath taking.” Obviously, the world’s biggest blush came upon Alexis. “Follow that up with us not being alone. We are not alone as giantesses and giants. There are actual people, people who never changed. We saw vehicles actually move and we met Sarah who you kissed.” Rektor was never going to let Alexis forget that. “Sarah actually said we maybe the hope we need to bring the world back together.”
“And the battle, I understand the battle I would prefer to skip over that.” Alexis was normally never blunt however the death and her hands being stained with blood. The simplistic rage that drove her to lose control was something that she didn’t want to talk about. Rektor understood and just gave a slight head nod.
“What better way to put it all in perspective than the stroll?” Rektor was saving that line for when he knew Alexis would bring up the purpose again of the stroll.
“Well, where are we going?”
Rektor shook his head a little. Thankfully due to his position Aleixs didn’t see. “It doesn’t matter as long as we stay out of the areas of the clans.” They continued to discuss all topics as they walked until they came to a strange place.
“Rektor, don’t these looks like the cannons that the normal people used?” She slowly picked up one of the cannons that were in a row. The sight wasn’t lost on Rektor, something he couldn’t bring of moving was picked up effortlessly from his love. The cannon was very green, Rektor said that depending on the metal it may change colors over time. The cannons faced a field and after the field there was a tree line. The field was probably at her estimates a mile and a half. As she looked across she saw statues of men on horses and statues of men holding flags. She also saw right before her feet besides the cannons an odd rock formation.
“Rektor, since when do rocks end up like these? It’s as if they were put here on purpose.” She pulled back the vines that covered the rocks and it looked like a wall ran the length of the side she was on.
“Alexis, I think we are on a shrine of some sorts to an old battle. These rocks may have been used for defense the same way some clans use them to protect their clans.” Rektor walked to the plaque he saw and started to rub away the dirt and grime.
“Why would they need rocks, didn’t you see what they could use, they had vehicles and one that actually flew.” Alexis slowly bent down and looked at the plaque Rektor was trying to clean. With a little saliva on her lip she spit on it and used her thumb to gently clean the dirt.
“Just because they have those things now doesn’t mean we always had those things as a people.” Rektor finally could make out the big words and discover what this place was. “Alexis this place is called Cemetery Ridge.”
“Do you know anything more about this Cemetery Ridge or this shrine?” Alexis asked with her normal inquisitive tone which she has had since they played 20 questions when they first met. Rektor was always shocked how fascinated she was for the time before growth.
“Not a whole lot, I’m sure Sarah will know more and I’ll ask once we see them again. What I do know was this was a fight in something called the American Civil War.” Rektor began walking soaking in the history.
“What was this civil war?”
“It was a fight between two sides for freedom. I don’t know who one but one side believed that some people should be ruled as slaves while the other didn’t. Many men lost their lives fighting for what they believed in.” Rektor said as he walked in the direction of one big hill, a smaller hill and an odd rock formation in the distance with more statues upon the land.
“I hope the ones fighting for freedom won. It seems like we are in the middle of another civil war as you said. Both sides have nothing but contempt for the other and don’t believe in freedom or that the other side is nothing but dirt. All people are equal. No matter the size, we are equal. I just don’t know if we can win this war.” Rektor looked at Alexis who he never heard speak of her ideals as eloquently as she just did.
“I hope we can have freedom and the war will be over too, whether in this lifetime or another.” The couple walked and cleaned the plaques and saw the names of the fights. Little Round Top, Big Round Top Devil’s Den, Pickett’s Charge, all places where people fought for what they believed in and died for that cause. Just before dusk they came to a different place.
As dusk was coming they came to a different place. It had a different rock formation. They were lined in rows with names and numbers upon the rocks. Rektor said this place was a grave yard for the fallen men of the battle. Out of respect Alexis stayed out knowing she would never be able to step without walking across a grave. Rektor stopped at the monument and Alexis saw he start cleaning the first couple of lines. He must have read them because he cleaned faster and wanted to know what it had to say, after it was fully cleaned Alexis needed to know what was on it to cause her lower to look so stoic.
“Rektor, shout what it says, for you to look lost in thought it must be something worth knowing.” Alexis kneeled and waited.
“It was spoken by someone named Abraham Lincoln. It’s simply called the Gettysburg Address. So, this place must be called Gettysburg.”
“Ok, Lincoln spoke it, so what did he say?” Alexis said losing her patience knowing the light was going down fast.
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
As Rektor walked out of the grave yard he looked at Alexis who had the same expression upon her face as he did. That if these men fought and died for what they believed in so must they, they were more inspired but the words of this deceased man from years ago then they have been from their elders. They wouldn’t fail each other or their hope. Alexis picked up Rektor and brought him closely to her lips. They embraced in a long slow kiss as they never felt closer together as they did right now. Whatever will become of them maybe a mystery but they knew what they had to do next.