We finished dinner and the Eltsina's took us to the square. You may be thinking that this is like a town square back on Earth, that there are a lot of shops surrounding it and lots of people coming and going. A square in the outlays is just the square. A large tiled square meeting area. The terrafarmers are equipped with everything they need for self-sufficiency. They produce everything they need for survival, are equipped with all the tools and repair equipment they need, and their cars can travel great distances in short amounts of time. The only thing they can't provide for by themselves is community. Therefore, one of the first traditions of terraforming mars was the creation of "squares." They are precisely like a town square in size and purpose, that is: a meeting place for community in a central location. But there are no shops, no one lives there, and it is surrounded on all sides by trees and flora and fauna. It is a vacant terraformed bubble. Hosting duties are divied up between the closest terrafarmers per martian terraforming quarter, roughly three months out of the year. The local community of terrafarmers meet there for festivals, commemorations, weddings, birth celebrations, and funerals. These were the first areas to be adorned with beauty in mind. They are all unique and crafted with artistic flourishes. Just as the outlay terrafarms are formed with a single-minded purpose of survival and expansion, so are the squares created with single-minded beauty and celebration.

We arrived at night, approaching from the vast flat plains one solitary and vertical black wall against the sky. This was what terraformed bubbles looked like at night from the outlays. Shapes grew into trees as we approached, and as we entered the little forest lights began to glitter in the immediate distance. It was like a fairy tail we were taught in the early grades at the orphanage. I imaged our car was ushered in by forest gnomes and serows. Our square was a large green tiled expanse, with red concentric cirlces emanating out from the middle. It was flanked by great red rocked pillars carved out of the martian landscape into Roman colonnades. Atop these pillars were lucent globes of green and gold and red, each color sublty waxing and waning in brightest. It was magnificent. The trees seemed to pulse like thick irridescent veins, throbbing with beautiful blood pumped from the square.

All around people were milling, coming toward the square; in from their cars, or wandering about talking with friends, setting up instruments and fiddling with consoles on the pillars. There was a soft and deep hum of voices hovering over the square, punctated every so often with a slight high laughter or deep bass chortle. David pulled out an instrument case from our car.
"Ready for the party, boys?" He said and walked toward the group of men with the instruments.
I saw Demetris with Edwin and Fairfax in one corner, huddled together, leaning against and glancing at all the people coming in with furtive eyes. They must have been as awed as I was. Natural, joyous celebration sprung from a spontaneous appreciation of life and beauty was foreign to us, and though I felt warm in the cool evening, I was still scared by the thick mirth flowing from the square. They were wearing their dress uniforms, their arms were shined and buffed and reflecting the light in swirls along the curves of the sinuous joints. They were fops. But they were smart and vindictive. It was best to be on their good side to avoid needless problems.

An old man stepped out of his car followed by our general in turn followed closely by Abbot, Daffyd, and Orestes. They were three of the highest performing students in our class at the orphanage and were often the figureheads of our class. It was no suprise that they would arrive with an old man and our general. This man must have been one of the first terraformers.

"After dinner there's going to be a celebration party in the square for you boys. All the terrafarmers in the region should be there. You'll have a chance to see everyone you're protecting." David said.
"Great! That's wonderful. What does a celebration look like? What does it look like in the outlays, I mean." Said Cadmus.
"We play music, dance, and talk. Nothing different than Roanoke I'm sure."
"Of course not. I wasn't sure if it was different maybe. What should we wear? This food is delicious, Sarah, thank you." Sarah looked down.
"Wear whatever you want. I saw the papers, I'm sure you all like to make an entrance."
"Well, we don't have much clothes. I think I'll wear my dress uniform. What do you think the others are going to wear? We should probably wear our dress uniforms so we don't look like slobs."
"Cadmus, I'm not sure the other terrafarmers will be focused on your clothes."
"What do you mean, Mr. Eltsina? I haven't read about that aspect of the outlays. Do you not care about clothing?"
"Cadmus, I mean you have an other attribute that is more curious than your clothing."
"Oh. Right. I forgot."
"Though I'm sure they'll be impressed with your fine clothes, too." Elizabeth said looking at David.
"We're used to being around each other, Mr. Eltsina. To us, we're normal." Said Balthasar.
"Well, what are we?" Asked David. We looked at each other. Memories. The past. Bad dreams.
"Our charge."
"Well, I thought we might be friends." Said Elizabeth.
"You now live in my house. That makes you a part of my family." Said David.
"This food is really delicious, Sarah." Said Cadmus
"Yes, it is very good. We're used to mess hall food." Said Balthasar.
"Thanks." Said Sarah. She looked at Elizabeth, "It's mom's recipe."
"So, Aaron, what'd you think of the farm? Why don't you debrief us all of my home?" Asked David. I had been chewing a good piece of potato when he asked. It was becoming uncomfortably hot in the kitchen.
"Well. This isn't how we normally debrief, sir."
"That's fine, Aaron. Just tell us what you thought of the place. I'm curious, too."
"Well. There are three cows in the pasture to the west, four horses in the stables. The loft has eight bales of hay. There are extra horse shoes along with farm tools in the south corner of the barn, neatly organized. There is a chicken coup west of the house with about 8 chickens in it. I couldn't see them all. To the north are the fields, Adjacent to the fields is the large oak tree, about two bodies wide at the bole and a half mile to the east of that is the copse, mostly heather trees and heath. There are some other low growing shrubs. This area is roughly 100 square feet. There are many areas to hide in the heath between the soil and the branches. The outlay waste perimeter half-circles the farm from north to west. It is mostly flat with modest rolling hills and scattered rock outcroppings. The silo is three stories high and half stocked. I'll draw us a detailed map later tonight before first watch duty." Cadmus and Balthasar nodded their heads. I was proud of my work.
"But, what did you think of our home?" Asked David.
"It is large and lacking in natural strategic defense. I'm sure we may have to post two guards depending on the threat level to the area. We will discuss between the three of us and our commander the best staging areas for the three of us to be located near at all times to ensure adequate response time to any incoming hostiles. I'm sure we can use the copse and the oak tree to our advantage, even the silo, though I'm reluctant to use damageable assets as potential battle areas and protection. Hopefully we'll never have anything close to that. The area affords us no mistakes."
"Well, I don't know what I think about that."
"Oh, don't worry, Mr. Eltsina, we won't make any mistakes."
"No, I'm not sure you understand my question. How does my home make you feel?" I looked at Cadmus and Balthasar. They shrugged.
"I don't know, Mr. Eltsina. I'm not sure I understand how that applies to us being here."
"Well, I like my home. I would hope that my guests and protectors would like it to." Sarah was still looking down, Jack was playing with his fork and Elizabeth was staring at me with David.
"Oh. Cadmus and Balthasar don't need to know if I liked it or not." They shook their heads.
"I'm not asking for their sake. I'm sorry. Let me rephrase my original question." David said. Elizabeth was wiping her mouth with her napkin.
"Forget about debriefing us. Did you like the tour of my home?" I wasn't sure if it was because the oven was still on in the kitchen, but it was terrifically hot in their house.
"We weren't taught to think like that, sir. But I suppose, when I got out of the transport, the hot wind and the dirt reminded me of something good."
"Well, I suppose that will do for now."
"I bet Dimitris' group will wear their dress uniforms. I think we should really wear them." Said Cadmus.

I arrived. The hot breeze swept around me. I could almost feel the dirty seeds in my dirty hands. Jack ran out of the transport and into the fields. He flit through the field, stopped suddenly, bent down and picked something up, ran off again, and made straight for a large oak tree which he promptly scaled. I lost sight of him in the shade of the leaves. Here in front of me was the house, squat and long and painted green, the fields, a copse, the oak tree, and beyond the dirty waste, the horizon. I put my hand in the ground and felt the dirt. It was warm. I saw Jack jump out of the tree and dissapear into the copse.
"Jack! Come help you sister with dinner!" Elizabeth yelled.
Cadmus and Balthasar were unloading their gear into the house. The sun was hanging in the air like a bouy in still water. I broke up the clumps of dirt in my hand and rolled the little pebbles around with my fingers.
"Boy, why don't I take you for a tour of the farm. The other boys are busy with your gear." I looked up at David. He was talking to me.
"Yes, sir. I'll brief them on the terrain after supper."
"Good. Let's go."
We started behind the house and headed toward the barn. David walked briskly, I followed behind him. We walked into the barn, up into the loft, and then out the door. We walked to the silo and the storage room, then to the tool shed and the drying house. He took me through the fields, showed me the big oak tree, walked me to the copse, pointed to Jack's hiding spot, walked me toward the cusp of the terraformed fields, and stared into the wastelands. He never said a word. That's what I liked about David. He crouched on his haunches, I followed. We stared. We stared until the sun dropped and touched the land. He stood up.
"Your hand. Its dirty. Wash up before dinner."
"Yes, sir."
"You been on a farm before?"
"Yes, sir."
He started back toward the house.
"Time for dinner. Sarah will be amiss."

Sarah was a young girl, no more than 13. She was wearing an apron and serving the table with Jack. She didn't make eye contact. When the table was set we sat down.
"Boys, this is Sarah, our daughter. Sarah, this is Cadmus, Aaron, and Balthasar."
She nodded her head and stared at the table. "Welcome home."
They all bowed their heads and held hands. Jack reached his hand out and put it on my rocket arm. I reached out my hand and held onto Cadmus' rocket arm, he did the same. Balthasar held hands with Sarah. This was a prayer. We had read about them. Balthasar shifted, and looked down. David stared at us. I put my head down. David began:
"Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Mars as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our tresspasses, just as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, now and forever. Amen."
To which they all replied, "Amen."