“How?”
“It should reassure you because at the end of the day, the truth comes from inside you,” Hettie said. “No amount of teaching or rules or regulations can tell you what is right or wrong. In order to decide that, one must look within and listen to what their heart is saying.”
“That’s not very clear,” I said, slightly annoyed by all of this ‘look inside yourself’ junk. I thought I’d left Tony Robbins behind when I’d left the mainland. At the moment, I was trying my best to look inside, but the only thing I found was a bit of fear and a lot of confusion. “How about more of a ‘paint by numbers’ style of learning?”
Hettie tsked. “You’ll learn in time. You’re thinking about this in all the wrong ways. You already have the answers.”
“But it doesn’t feel like it,” I said, my voice growing louder. “I don’t feel like I know much of anything at the moment.”
“I didn’t say it was going to be easy,” Hettie said. “But it’s true. You already have the answers. It’s like a gold coin that’s been buried under a mound of dirt for centuries.”
Zin squinted. “Now we’re talking money?”
Hettie shook her head. “At first, you don’t even know that coin is there. Maybe it’s buried on your lawn, and you don’t even know to look for it. Then one day, someone tells you that you have all of the money you need, you just need to start digging.”
She paused a minute, looking between us and leaving a moment of silence for us to catch up. “You start digging, but it takes some time. See, there’s no road map to this coin, you just know it’s there. Somewhere inside of your yard. So you dig, and you dig, and you dig. You make mistakes and dig in the backyard when it’s buried in the front. Maybe you don’t dig deep enough, or wide enough, or fast enough.”
Zin moved a few steps closer, and we stood shoulder to shoulder as Hettie faced us both.
“Then one day, you find that gold coin. It’s buried in your yard alright, it just took some time to find it.”
“That’s it?” Zin asked. “Then it’s over?”
“No, then the hard part is just getting started,” Hettie said. “See, now that you’ve found the coin, it’s likely crusted over with mud, maybe a bit tarnished and dirty. Slowly, carefully you need to polish it. Dust it off. Let it sit for a bit and clean it a little every day. Then one day out of the blue, you’ll look over and that dirty gold coin you never knew existed will shine like the sun itself.”
I stood still, listening to every word.
“Throughout all of this, you can’t forget one thing.” Hettie’s eyes slid between the two of us. “At one time, you never knew that coin existed. Patience, girls. You must work a little at it every day and have patience. Then one day, you will see exactly what I’m talking about.”
Chapter 7
Hettie wrapped up her lecture and, a few minutes later, called an end to training for the day.
“What’s next?” Zin asked. “I thought you were working tonight, Lily.”
“I was looking for you and Poppy,” I said. “We closed up shop early, so I wanted to see if you two wanted to go out to dinner. On me.”
“Go,” Hettie said, directing her words to Zin. “And put some nice clothes on. You’re not a Ranger yet, and I’m still holding out hope you’ll find a man who’ll change your mind and marry you.”
“I’m an independent woman,” Zin said. “Maybe there’s more to life than swooning at big muscles.”
“Girl, of course there is,” Hettie said. “You start swooning, and I’m gonna have to have a talk with you. Look at me, I’m an independent woman. I worked with the Rangers and I had kids. They’re not exclusive.”
Zin raised a finger, resting it thoughtfully on her lip. “Hang on a second, how do I know you’re not lying about working for the Rangers? Is this another test?”
“I can prove it to you.” Hettie crossed her spindly arms. “My Ranger-ness, that is.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Let’s go,” Hettie said. “Lily was looking for Poppy anyway. Let’s go pay her a visit.”
“Where is she?” I frowned. “I was headed to The Twist.”
“She’s at Ranger Headquarters, of course,” Hettie said. “It’s her day to work dispatch.”
“I’ve never been there,” I said. “Never even seen the place. Am I allowed inside?”