《Heart Song: Ballad of the Ambassador》


 001

    <div>


    The first thing that Yujo sippe Palms saw when she opened her eyes were the twin suns of planet mem dancing in the sky.


    The sight of the two orbs, a sight she saw every time she dived, was something she would always find a childlike sense of wonder from.


    Area G, the location she had chosen for her dive, was one sector of twenty-six that made up the border that surrounded the republic islands.


    It had little in the way of cash value left. Divers stripped it clean of anything of value long before Yujo got her license three years ago. For her, the area held a different sort of value. For her, it was the sight the multi colored coral formations and the fish who made it their home.


    That sight was an infinite source of amazement for her.


    The shrill beep in Yujo¡¯s headphones dragged her back to reality and made her focus on the two suns. Between them, a long stick sat between them and flashed a light back at her.


    ¡®Alright, Alright¡­¡¯ she muttered at the stick, the boat from which she had dived from.


    She turned herself around and looked for a place to anchor herself to the ocean floor and the boat that above her. Clutching the rope that held her harness fast to the boat she took a deep breath and began to swim to the floor of Area G.


    Her method of swimming was a sequence of kicks and strokes drilled into her during her as part of her training. After a few moments she had reached the surface. She pulled out a hook from one of the pockets of her diving harness and screwed it into the ground.


    She then pulled out a length of rope that rolled out from her harness and clamped the rope''s carabiner into the hook''s loop.


    Satisfied, Yujo swam to the edge of the plane, pulled on the rope and pressed the button on her harness. A second later the rope attached to the boat jumped twice, and a beep rang in her ears. This was her starting gun, the go ahead from the Boat Hand above. Her signal to swim on and explore Area G.


    As the light green hue of the sea started to dull into darker tones, thoughts of Yujo''s home, began to play in her head.


    St. Aldrin¡¯s Orphanage for the Children of the Stars, St Aldrin''s for short, was fighting a losing battle to keep itself running. A fight that it would soon lose as its major source of funding, the War Orphanage Fund.


    The War Orphanage fund was the cornerstone of the post war relief efforts. It was the government''s means of giving the children effected by the Territory war a normal life. With the funding drying up there was nothing Rosemary Mackenzie, the director, could do. She could hold as many funding drives as she wanted but they alone could never pay the ongoing costs of running St. Aldrin''s.The moment they defaulted the child welfare committee would take control.


    The orphanage would no longer be a safe haven for children to grow up and find a family. It would become a factory. Preparing orphans for nothing of the outside world except for national service.


    Yujo had envisioned becoming a nun of the order like Rosemary. Someone dedicated to helping others like she had been helped in her time of need.


    That dream was all but dead now.


    A small school of colorful fry-fish glided past her and effortlessly washed away those thoughts. As they swam by they pulled Yujo''s attention to the ocean in front of her. Marine life of all shapes and sizes fluttered around in the green sea creating a carnival of light.


    Yujo couldn''t help herself as she gasped in wonder at the amazing sight.


    With no time to waste she pulled out a small black box, decorated with stickers that had long since faded, from one of the harness'' many pockets.


    Yujo tapped it and with a spurt a holographic circle popped into existence on the box''s surface. With a grumble she turned the box around and saw the school of fish that was swimming in front of her.


    Being careful not to scare the fish away, she tapped the top of the box.


    With the sound of a click, an enforced feature of the box''s camera, Yujo started taking photos of the school. Each photograph captured the school as it swam in front of her like it was a model. As she took photo after photo, Yujo found herself caught up in the flow of her work. Just as the last photo was taken the school acknowledged her existence and scattered like confetti.


    Now alone she began to check the photos. She tapped the box again and made a sweeping motion that passed over the box with her right hand. From the box the photographs fanned out in front of her.


    A small smile crossed her face. It wasn¡¯t much but that small sense of control was something she needed at this very moment.


    Rosemary had told her that her father, Alexi Psalms, was a famous war photographer. She had even gone as far as suggesting that some of his talent had rubbed off onto her.


    She didn¡¯t know one way or another. The injuries she suffered in the explosion that claimed his life, as well as the life of her mother, left her without any memories of her life before.


    The people in the photographs Rosemary showed Yujo did not register in her mind. They died when she was Nine. She should have been able to remember them as her mother and father and yet she couldn¡¯t.


    She got to the final photograph, the one she took as the school swam away, and sighed. The photograph was a smeared mess. Her camera had failed to capture the fish speeding away in every direction.


    Yujo then noticed a peculiar speck in the far background of the photo. Unable to let it go she pressed on the speck twice to enlarge the picture at that precise spot.


    As the photo cleared the speck became the clear image of a large striped sea mammal, a tiger dolphin. Five figures, covered in fur and wearing what a fin that covered their lower body, surrounded it.


    A feeling of dread washed over Yujo¡¯s body and her back began to tense up at the sight of the bizarre divers. ¡®Those are selk. What are they doing here?¡¯ she thought to herself as she looked for cover and found it in a large rock nearby.


    Her mind a mess of thoughts she scrambled to turn her terminal back on and reactivate her camera.


    Taking care to keep out of sight she pinched the surface out on top to zoom in to take a closer look at the scene.

 002

    <div>


    Any doubt Yujo had about what she had saw faded when she saw the image clear up.


    She had ended up wandering into a selk pack''s hunt of a tiger dolphin.


    The sight of the weapons that they were using to push the beast back made the sense of panic that was bubbling within Yujo begin to boil. In their hands they held spears with sharp arrowheads made of shells whittled down to a sharp point and fused onto the end of the staff.


    The Republic had the advantage of automatic weaponry like guns and harpoons. What the selk had was the element of suprise and their ability to hide in water for the perfect moment to strike.


    Legions of militiamen, some even considered the best, lost their lives by underestimating that in the heat of the war¡¯s many battles.


    She knew that five selk attacking at the same time would tear the large tiger dolphin apart as if it was nothing. The thought of what such an attack could do to her own body sent a bolt of dread down her spine.


    Thoughts of the attack the claimed her parents were beginning to flood her thoughts. A memory of the two figures stood over her with their spears pointing down on her body played on loop in her mind. Every other thought she should be having was being overridden by that memory.


    The only course of action became clear.


    She needed to flee.


    Before she could turn, a sharp screech rang in her ears. It was a cry harsher than the boat hand¡¯s signal. Its loud cry pulled her back to reality.


    Her breathing still panicked, she fumbled around her harness and pulled out a can out of it. On the can a simple label that read "Air".


    The haze of her fears dimmed as she could focus on something that wasn''t the selk''s spear.


    In a swift motion, one that she had done a hundred times before, she waited for a can to pop out of her harness and implode into a disk. As soon as that happened, she replaced it with the can in her hand. A hiss rang out, confirming that that she had replenished her air supply.


    It was that moment of clarity that allowed Yujo the moment of clarity to realise what was actually going on. The selk had let their prey, the tiger dolphin, flee into Area G and they had chased after it.


    A sense of anger began to well within Yujo. They were hunting a beautiful creature for its pelt and they were flouting the law whilst they were doing it.


    The border was governerd by a strict policy that sectioned off the selk lands and the republic borders. It was a policy born to keep the two races apart when peace talks broke down.


    This policy came with a cravat. Selk were allowed to enter the area if they were in the middle of a hunt and their pray was already injured.


    It was this law that allowed the scene that Yujo was an unwitting spectator of to happen. It also allowed any selk who was looking for trouble to cross the border without fear.


    The militia guards that patrolled the area couldn''t apprehend them for fear of reigniting tensions.


    As Yujo was processing everything, the pod''s leader bellowed out a cry in the selk symphonic language. She watched on helplessly as the the pod¡¯s leader, a teenager whose hair was parted into two, a dark red scalp and a flowing lock of hair that went from blonde to light red, motioned with his spear.


    On cue, the other four hunters lunged their spears forward and pieced through the creature¡¯s protective layer of flesh. As the tiger dolphin roared out in pain the leader followed through with a vicious strike though it¡¯s side.


    The final, resonating cry the tiger dolphin bellowed shook Yujo to the very core of her being. Her lip quivered as she saw the last flickers of life within the creature vanish into nothingness.


    With the deed done the pod wasted no time. They sang their songs of celebration as and started to carve the still warm carcass.


    ¡®They¡¯re treating all this all like some¡­¡¯ Yujo muttered to herself, feeling her cheeks burning in anger.


    Then she released something.


    The news press would be very interested in the photo of the selk crossing the border and would pay good money for it.


    They would make a big fuss about it and run it on the evening news-cast. That was they would always do what they always did when selk crossed the border.


    What came of that wasn''t her problem.


    She thought the selk pod had brought it upon themselves by crossing the border. They should have done a better job of keeping whatever barbaric crap they did to their borders.


    The amount of money paid for the photo turned the dive into an opportunity to get enough money to keep the orphanage running for another month.


    Yujo was about to turn her camera off and leave when could see that the leader stopped his celebration. Then he turned to his team mates and started talking. Almost as soon as the other selk replied, he pointed in Yujo¡¯s direction.


    They had spotted her.


    It only took a second to realise what she had been doing for his face to tense up in anger. He pointed his spear out, cried out, and pushed off the surface floor to launch himself at Yujo. The rest of the pod nodded and followed suit.


    A wave of terror washed over Yujo as she fumbled up from her feet to take off as fast as she could. The panic made her forget to adjust her suit¡¯s pressure as the only thing that flooded her head was a single word:


    Run!


    As Yujo swam, she glanced over her shoulder to see that the pod had already made up a lot of the distance that had been between them.


    Their bodies were cutting though the water like bullets aimed right at her.


    Her arms began to ache as she made it to her hook. Her hands, trembling, kept slipping as she tried to undo the clasps that held her down.


    A cry pulled her away to see that the selk were now within striking distance of her.


    Her body began to run on pure adrenaline as she pulled on her rope and slammed the button on her harness. This sent out an alert to the boat hand above the code ¡®Situation: FUBAR¡¯.


    Pointing at her with the spear, the leader sang out a command Yujo didn¡¯t under or care to obey as she pulled the hooks free.


    Panic still gripping her, she clasped the boat¡¯s rope to her harness and slammed the button on her chest, winding herself in the process.


    With a jerk, the rope yanked her away and back towards the ocean surface.


    She watched as the leader threw his spear after her in a fit of desperation. The bellow of frustration that followed and the frantic waving of his hands was completely unambiguous.


    She didn¡¯t need to guess that whatever he was screaming at her wasn''t appropriate for a teenager to say.


    That was the last thing she saw before her body crashed through the surface. A gruff, dark skinned man grabbed her and pulled pulled her wet, shaking body onto the boat.


    ¡°The ¡®ell happened to you?!¡± he asked as he helped her up.


    Yujo flopped onto the boat and ripped her mask and goggles off and tried to get a deep breath to calm herself down.


    It didn¡¯t help.


    ¡°S-selk,¡± she said, gasping for air and coughing.


    ¡°You mean to say there was clears in the encirclement?!¡±


    Yujo shook her head when she meant to nod. ¡°Hunting. They killed a t-tiger dolphin.¡± She gasped, trying not to get upset.


    ¡°An¡¯ heaven know what they¡¯ve done to you¡­¡± he uttered. His voice making it clear that he was speaking from experience.


    He shook his head, ¡°I¡¯m going to¡­¡±


    Yujo tried to stand up, only to slump back down. ¡°Please, no,¡± she pleaded, ¡°I¡­¡±


    His face didn¡¯t soften. ¡°No. Both of our licenses are on the line if I don¡¯t report it.¡± He said fishing out his own black box from the back of his shorts before passing it to Yujo.


    "Give me your terminal."


    A groan left Yujo¡¯s lips.


    The militia made it policy to confiscate all photos of the selk that wasn''t authorized by them. If they got a hold of her terminal, she could kiss her plan of selling the photos and keeping St. Aldrin''s afloat for the month goodbye.


    As much as she wanted to argue, her body was starting to give out and she couldn¡¯t even stand, much less make her case.


    In defeat she sighed and surrendered her terminal to the boat hand who pressed it a few times. He then placed it on a dish to the side of his steering wheel.


    With a beep, the boat hand¡¯s dashboard displayed her ID and a picture of her in a dress, along side her details, Terminal ID Number and home address.


    With a nod, the boat hand handed the terminal back to her and turned around to call the authorities.


    Her own Terminal showed the boat hand¡¯s details.


    His name was Rahem Mamusul.


    The ride back to the harbor was quiet bar the sound of the boat¡¯s motor. The dull pain of decompression sickness, inflicted by her rapid uncontrolled accent from the sea floor, gnawed at Yujo''s stomach.


    The beach rolled into view. From her vantage point at the bottom of the boat she could see that a small squad of militia personnel were standing at the pier. They were also accompanied by a woman dressed in a flowing back gown with a veil that covered her hair.


    Recognizing the woman the last bit of Yujo¡¯s strength left her and she slid down to the floor of the boat with a groan.

 003

    What she did have was a talent for being imposing.


    Sitting at her table in the Orphanage''s office. She gestured for Yujo to sit down which she did. She looked at Yujo with a piercing maternal stare that shot right though the young woman''s mental defences.


    ¡°You do know what would have happened if you took that picture to the press, don¡¯t you?¡±


    Yujo tried her best to avoid Rosemary¡¯s stare and look at her feet which were currently under Rosemary¡¯s desk. There was no hiding what she wanted to do with the photograph that the militia had confiscated.


    She didn''t have to say anything to answer the question.


    ¡°So then, why were you going to do it?¡±


    A painful sense of dread fluttered in Yujo¡¯s chest. That was one of Rosemary¡¯s patented ¡®Tell me what I want to hear¡¯ questions. It was Rosemary¡¯s signature interrogation technique. One that she had employed since Yujo was old enough to take responsibility for her actions. Every time she answered one of Rosemary¡¯s questions it would be the basis for her to dig deeper with another until she snapped and she was compelled to tell Rosemary the truth.


    She looked at her feet under Rosemary''s desk to avoid her glare.


    ¡°I saw them kill a tiger dolphin. They tore it to pieces.¡± Yujo whispered. ¡°Then I got angry, figured I could get one over them and left to sell the picture before they noticed me.¡±


    She looked up to see Rosemary¡¯s glare. She wasn¡¯t satisfied with Yujo¡¯s answer.


    That was only half of the truth.


    Rosemary leaned in, looming over Yujo short stature as she shrunk back into her chair and tried not to fidget.


    ¡°Yes. I do remember that you said that to the Sea Guard, Yujo, but you know that¡¯s not the whole of it.¡±


    Yujo¡¯s fingers twitched.


    ¡°The fact of the matter is that they had critically injured tiger dolphin before it fled into Area G."


    The blush of shame on Yujo''s face highlighted her freckles.


    "If they hadn¡¯t finish it off it could have caused a lot of damage death throws. They would have gotten themselves into a lot of trouble.¡±


    ¡°I am shocked that you would be so willing to use your talents like this, Yujo.¡±


    Now it was Rosemary who was lying. She knew full well why Yujo would do such a thing. What she needed was for Yujo to accept that, no matter the circumstances, that she was in the wrong.


    Yujo closed her eyes, trying to escape her interrogation.


    ¡°I have to ask. Why do it, Yujo?¡±


    Yujo whispered her answer, her throat tightening up as she tried to keep to her original line.


    ¡°I was angry.¡±


    Rosemary paused, sighed and slumped back into her chair. She was good at getting people to confess by applying the pressure with a barrage of questions. What she didn''t have was the endurance required for teasing a confession out of someone when they were being bull-headed.


    It was time to try another angle.


    ¡°OK then, Yujo. Why were you angry?¡±


    An awkward silence between the two began to fill the room. Rosemary shook her head, regretting the fact that she ever allowed her rebellious streak rub off on her young charge. She closed her eyes and nodded before she started to talk again, this time in a softer tone.


    ¡°Yujo, you do know that The Goddess watches over us from the heavens, don¡¯t you?¡±


    Yujo tried to avoid Rosemary¡¯s gaze but eventually gave in, opened her eyes and responded with what she was taught to reply with in her teachings.


    ¡°Yes, Sister.¡±


    ¡°And you also know that she does not wish to see her children weighed down by the pain and suffering that comes with the guilt of withholding the truth?¡±


    Yujo could feel her throat tense up. The desperate, awful need to let everything go welling up inside her.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Rosemary opened her eyes and offered her hand. ¡°Then please, my child, tell me why you wanted to sell that photo.¡±


    Yujo reached for the hand, grabbed it and allowed herself to let go.


    ¡°I¡­¡± she started before she closed her eyes, and squeezed the hand as she and held on to it tightly. ¡°I want the selk to go away, Alright?!¡±


    Everything came out of her mouth like she was throwing up.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t want any part of them near me, or anyone else, Rosemary!¡±


    She let go of the hand and then sunk back into the chair. An awful cocktail of pure, unadulterated self-loathing and panic washing over her body as she pulled her legs up to her chin.


    The toxic cocktail of emotions created by the fear that Yujo had from her trauma, fed into a mindset that she was deeply ashamed of.


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    ¡°I¡­I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± Yujo whispered as tears began to stream down her eyes. ¡°I know that I what I did was wrong and how I conduct myself is not in line with the Goddess¡¯ teachings.¡±


    ¡°Oh, Yu.¡± Rosemary whispered.


    She got up, walked over to her charge and softly stroked her head to calm her down.


    ¡°I know why you feel like that and so does the Goddess. She always understands why her children cannot always walk the path of light."


    Rosemary held back the sheer embarrassment she felt saying such a corny sermon.


    "She is always willing to forgive anyone who accepts that they have done wrong and is willing to repent. It doesn''t matter matter how long that process takes.¡±


    It was pure canned sermon talk designed to help during the war and to ease the minds of soldiers being asked to kill for their homeland. As corny as it was, she found that it did the trick in helping her charges, Yujo especially, come to terms with their sins.


    Sometimes it was the only way she knew how to help Yujo when she felt low about herself and how she felt about the selk.


    Yujo unravelled herself from her little ball of depression and looked up at the woman who had looked after her for all these years.


    ¡°Rose¡­¡±


    Rosemary smiled. It was when they could call each other by their nicknames, that they both knew that they were in perfect harmony with each other. Yujo would never admit it out loud but it made her feel like Rosemary was the mother she never knew.


    ¡°That said, Yu. I do appreciate that you are trying to help the orphanage even if I can¡¯t condone how you were trying to go about it.¡±


    Rosemary sighed as she walked back to her chair to sit down.


    ¡°Believe me, I absolutely get why you are so passionate about saving St. Aldrin¡¯s.¡±


    She opened a drawer in her table and began to fish something out of it.


    ¡°I will admit, when you came to me and said that you wanted to take up the cloth I was completely blindsided. I mean, you have such a great talent for photography.¡±


    She pulled out a small album and opened it.


    Within its pages were a collection of photographs. Some were of the children and staff of St. Aldrin¡¯s and others landscapes capturing Mem¡¯s orange atmosphere.


    The rest were of Rosemary herself.


    ¡°You could go so far with your talents. Far beyond what you could do here at St. Aldrin¡¯s.¡±


    Before Yujo could protest, she continued.


    ¡°But when I see you trying your best to help the children, that tells me all I need to know about why you want to go down this path.¡±


    Rosemary closed her eyes.


    ¡°You are a good kid, Yu, and no one, not even yourself, can ever take away what you have done for this orphanage.¡±


    She then shook her head.


    ¡°That¡¯s why you need to accept that we cannot continue to fight the inevitable.¡±


    Yujo¡¯s lower lip trembled. She had a feeling that was what Rosemary was going to say and she didn¡¯t want to hear it.


    ¡°Nothing lasts forever, Yu. We need to accept that the time has come to say goodbye to this chapter of our lives.¡±


    Hearing Rosemary say that was difficult for Yujo.


    Accepting it was impossible.


    Yujo clenched her hands ignoring the biting pain of her nails digging into her palms.


    ¡°Everyone will be fine, Yujo. You don¡¯t need to-¡±


    Yujo pulled her hands up and threw them down on the table with a thunderous crash. With a single push she stood up. The chair she was sitting on pushed chair away with a loud screech as it scratched the floor.


    The action caught Rosemary completely off guard and gave Yujo the advantage. Even if she was unwittingly using it in was in pure anger, Yujo had learning the art of intimidation from the master.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t given up on St. Aldrin¡¯s, Rosemary.¡±


    Her stare and tone she took made no attempt to hide the accusation she was making.


    The guilt Rosemary felt held her down in place as Yujo turned on her heels and made her way to the door.


    ¡°Yujo. Please¡­¡±


    Yujo swung the office door open, paused and turned around to stare down St. Aldrin¡¯s director, her eyes already puffy and her face marked with tears.


    ¡°You told me to not give up when we first met. Do you remember that, Rosemary?¡±


    Rosemary could only stare off to the side, unable to answer Yujo¡¯s question.


    ¡°So don¡¯t you dare tell me that I can¡¯t save you or St. Aldrin¡¯s.¡±


    Before Rosemary could begin to protest, Yujo ran out of the door and slammed it shut behind her. Rosemary could only sit there as she heard Yujo running, hrt sandals slapping the ground as she did.


    As the sound faded away, Rosemary took her glasses off and slumped over on her chair.


    A groan of frustration slipped out of her mouth.


    ¡°Goddamnit.¡±

 004

    The way back to the dorm was a long hallway of class rooms placed on both sides. Yujo could recount what activity took place where off by heart by the fact that she had spent her entire childhood in them. Before she was even aware of what she was doing, she started to recount them.


    ¡°120: Science room ¡­ 140: Holo-lab ¡­¡±


    It was a neat little party trick. Her secret weapon to deal with children who were misbehaving or upset. She got half way down the hall before she stopped and leaned on room 240''s door. Inside she could hear a group of younger children painting.


    She bit her lip. It took everything within her not to give in and start wailing.


    It was a battle she would lose to the need to let everything out.


    ¡°Sister Yujo?¡±


    A tiny squeak rang behind Yujo¡¯s back giving her a fright. She wheeled around to see a young boy with shaved black hair. The wide smile a scar on his cheek showed the scar that crossed his left cheek with great pride.


    The sight of the young boy gave her the opportunity to put what had happened aside and smile.


    ¡°Nathan, how many times do I have to tell you that I¡¯m not a sister yet?¡±


    She then smiled and reached over to pat the boy on the head.


    ¡°Or not to sneak up behind-¡±


    Her playful banter came to a sudden halt when she realised that she was doing what Rosemary would do. Ashamed at what she was doing, she withdrew her hand and cast a sideways glance.


    The young boy tilted his head.


    ¡°Are you OK?¡± he asked, unaware of the argument Yujo and Rosemary had.


    She shook her head.There was no need to make the children worry about the closure. The staff would tell them when, or rather, if the time was right. She was arguing with Rosemary. That did not give her the right to drag the children into their spat.


    ¡°Yes, Nathanael, I am fine.¡± she lied.


    Then she realised what was not quite right with this situation.


    ¡°Wait a minute. What are you doing indoors, Young Man?¡± she asked, hands to hips acting like some sort of parental figure. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be outside playing football with the rest of your group?¡±


    Nathan¡¯s young mind came to a momentary pause to think of the answer before a massive smile crossed his face.


    ¡°OH! I REMEMBER NOW!¡± he cried out, causing Yujo to jump up. ¡°I came in ¡®cause I got banged up again!¡±


    The grin he flashed was missing several teeth.


    ¡°Oh, Nathan. Again?¡± Yujo sighed.


    ¡°Yep!¡± the boy was completely ignorant of Yujo¡¯s disappointment.


    ¡°We were playing an¡¯ I stepped on the ball which went whoosh!¡± he said showing the arc of his flight with with his arm. To prove his point, he pulled his t-shirt¡¯s right sleeve to revel a friction burn on his side. It was his proud scar from the Ball Wars.


    Trying to keep herself from laughing, Yujo knelt to his eye level and pointed in the direction of the office.


    ¡°Well if you are quick enough, you can get Sister Rosemary to look at it. I''m just done talking to her in her the office.¡±


    ¡°Talkin¡¯ cooties?¡± Nathan asked with a grin.


    ¡°Yes, Nathan." Yujo rolled her eyes, amazed at how so easily the boy had reduced her argument with Rosemary to something so childish. "The most ¡®ootie. Now march your behind to the office, mister!¡±


    With a nod Nathan ran off towards Rosemary¡¯s office, fell over, picked himself up and started running again.


    The smile on Yujo¡¯s face faded away as the boy disappeared from her sight. With another sigh, she turned around and made her way to her private room on the first floor of the building.


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    Every part of her body gave up on her the very moment she reached her room. With a loud thump she fell face first on top of her bed causing bed sheets and covers to shoot out in every direction.


    The last of her energy was spent grabbing the pillow, hugging it tight and whispering to herself sweet nothings about not giving up.


    ¡®Yujo!¡¯


    The cry of her name bounced around in Yujo¡¯s head as her world went from the light yellow of her room to a landscape stained in red. She found herself robbed her of her ability to move and cursed with an excruciating back splitting pain.


    She could recall that she was running away from something. Her tiny hands held on to two formless blobs. One held an antique camera in one hand. The other was constantly reassuring her in a garbled voice that everything would be OK.


    Then she remembered the cacophony of fury, anger and terror that ended with Yujo lying on her broken back.


    Her eyes closed and when she opened them again, two strange figures loomed over her. Their hair streaked out like a rat king billowing in the madness. They started to sing to each other in their insane tongue. The first one put its webbed hand on her face, looked to the other and sang. The other figure shook its head, blasted out a short sharp tone and then pulled out a long spear with its end touching Yujo''s chest.


    With a shrug, the first figure slithered out of the way to allow its partner to do what it wanted.


    The spear wielding figure sang something in the lowest tone it could and pulled back its spear ready to shove it into her chest and pierce her heart.


    Then the roar of The Goddess blew the figure into the air. Her explosive cry broke its head clean open as the figgure launched into the air. The other figure did not have the time to understand what was happening before it too was vanquished and thrown asunder.


    Yujo didn¡¯t know what to make of what was happening and to a certain extent she didn¡¯t care. She just wanted all this pain to go away.


    Then a figure descended, an angel, the avatar of The Goddess and the trumpeter of her roar.


    As she fluttered in and out of consciousness, she could see the angel crying out to her, holding her tiny, battered body. From the angel¡¯s arms, she could see the wreckage of the building floating away in the distance. The angel looked at her and, with a smile, issued a command from The Goddess.


    At that command, Yujo¡¯s eyes burst open to see the world painted dark blue.


    She had fallen asleep.


    Yujo groaned and pulled herself up. She looked out of her net covered window and from the dark blue hue of the sky guessed that it was midnight. She wobbled towards her wardrobe and sighed at the mess that stared back at her. As she pulled her top over head she felt a sharp ping between her shoulder blades. Grunting in discomfort, she turned around so she could see her back in the mirror.


    The sight of the intricate mess of scars covering her back that started at her. The perfectly drawn round circle that sat in the middle of her shoulder blades gave her the most pause.


    All the scars of that day still remained.


    With a sigh, she pulled the rest of her clothes off and threw them into the basket next to her. Then she opened the closet door to pull out a night gown to and put on to make the scars vanish from sight.


    She made her way to her bed, took the top cover off, and threw herself in, pulling the cover up to cover as much of her body as she could. Her world began to darken and all her thoughts, worries and concerns melted away into a dark sea of nothing.


    And then, if even only for an instant, she knew peace.

 005

    The clock projected from her Terminal ticked over to 06:30. Taking the form of a holographic baby chick the alarm screamed out at a volume far too loud to make sense.


    ¡®IT¡¯S MORNING! TIME TO GET UP AND GREET THE NEW DAY, YUJO!¡¯


    ¡°No¡­¡± Yujo mumbled and turned over again.


    She shifted in the bed, trying to stay asleep before suddenly, she sat upright, threw her hands forward and screamed ¡°IMUP!¡±


    In a half awake daze she turned around and looked at herself in her wardrobe mirror. What she saw in the mirror looked like a wet Selk covered in brown seaweed.


    Yujo greeted the creature in the mirror with an annoyed grunt. Undoing herself from the mess she grabbed her wash bag and towel to begin her morning ritual.


    At half six in the morning she would be the only person using the wash room and that suited Yujo. The room separated the showers into their own cubicles. As the warm water of the shower rained down on Yujo¡¯s body, every ache in her body floated away into nothingness. With a sigh she began to piece together her plans for the day.


    It was a light schedule. All she had was the hour service after breakfast. She had no other duties for the rest of the day. Yujo leaned her hand on the tiled wall of the shower to stretch out the last of yesterday¡¯s aches and pains. The last bit of the pain came out in the form of a contented sigh.


    Then her terminal, sitting in the washroom¡¯s sink shelf, chirped.


    Yujo turned the shower off and reached for the towel. After rubbing herself dry, she tied the towel around her body. Covered from the bust down as she walked towards the sink stall to read her terminal.


    She tapped the terminal. In response it spitted out the image of a piece of paper marked as being from a ¡°John Smith¡±.


    Yujo closed her eyes as she remembered the name. She had met ¡®John Smith¡¯ a couple of days ago.


    The two met at the weekly market that took place in Abraham Island''s capital city.


    People from all over the republic''s southern islands came to the market to sell their wares. From T-Shirts to music, gadgets and toys, all were selling their wears with the hope of getting the attention of one of the larger conglomerates. They had had the infrastructure to do business for them on a republic wide scale.


    For Yujo it was convenient as it was neatly sandwiched between her hobby and home.


    She opened the stall for herself after gotten her diving license. From it she sold prints of her dive photos, vanity shots, landscapes and all other sorts of shots both in the sea and on the surface.


    It did enough business for Yujo to allow her to dive more often and get the occasional luxury for herself. It couldn''t come close to make even a quarter of the month¡¯s rent for the orphanage.


    That sort of money would need a high paying, regular client.


    That meant she needed a contract.


    She met ''John smith'' at the last market she went to. He was tall, award man with a face strewn with half shaved stubble. Yujo knew that the name ''John Smith'' was shady as was his request.


    All he wanted was photos of sea animals.


    She would have chased him off if not for the rate he was offering for the rate he was offering. It was far too good to ignore.


    It was a suspect request but right now the money was the important part.


    With a swipe of a hand over her terminal, the message opened, and she started to read it.


    ¡®So, yoo goot som photo, yes?¡¯


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    Yujo¡¯s face scrunched up as she tried to read the message. John Smith¡¯s typing was not particularly elegant. In fact, it was was hard to call it readable.


    After a moment she decoded what the message was asking and sighed. She knew that she had nothing to show for her trouble after she had her photographs confiscated.


    This, of course, meant no photographs and no pay from her client.


    Yujo commanded her terminal to listen to her reply and started to dictate the message.


    ¡®I was diving yesterday but my photos got confiscated.¡¯


    It took only a few seconds after she sent the reply for the terminal to ping again.


    ¡®Selars?¡¯


    Yujo repeated the word, uttered ¡®what?¡¯ under her breath. It looked like he meant to say clears and tried to correct himself and only got it half right. She shook her head, whatever his feelings were about selk were had nothing to do with her or the contract.


    ¡®Something like that, yes.¡¯ She dictated.


    ¡®I don¡¯t have any photos for you, sorry.¡¯


    She walked over to the mirror and started to brush her hair and teeth. After cleaning her teeth to a white shine she brushed her hair back into the puffy strawberry blond plume that covered her back. Then she started to pull her eyebrows. She squeaked out a yelp of pain as she pulled out an errant lash as the terminal bleeped again.


    ¡®Actuly, Ifu coud gat som pic today?¡¯


    Yujo looked at the message and bit her lip. That wasn¡¯t going to happen. As her legal guardian Rosemary held a tight leash on her finances. She would never allow her to go diving twice in one week even if she was doing well for her self at the market.


    The spat between them didn''t help.


    Yujo shook her head. Rosemary¡¯s heart was in the right place but that sentiment was going to end up destroying her life¡¯s work.


    That was something Yujo could not sit back and watch happen. She could never hope to pay Rosemary back for everything that she had done for her but she wasn¡¯t going to let Rosemary give up without a fight.


    Another bleep from the terminal.


    ¡®Lookin for som selk tho. Pay dble?¡¯


    That clinched it.


    A single photo of a selk at that rate would give her enoguh money, combined with her savings, to afford to pay the month''s rent.


    If she could show Rosemary that even her apprentice could get the money together it could just be the thing to inspire her to fight on. She could even end up finding a solution to the problem that she wasn''t seeing in the effort to stay afloat.


    Yujo nodded to herself, bundled her night clothes into a ball and threw them into the clothes bin situated at the door.


    With a sense of confidence in her voice she gave her response.


    ¡®Send me the contract, I¡¯ll do it.¡¯


    By the time she got back to her bedroom a final notice had appeared on her terminal''s projector. It was a new contract between herself and John Smith with the new terms.


    Yujo nodded to herself, pressed the ''accept'' button that appeared under the contract and started to change her plans for the day.


    She knew Rosemary would be spending the day watching her like a hawk but she had one advantage over her guardian. She knew where she could slip out of the orphanage undetected.


    As she was growing up Yujo would spend the time that Rosemary was busy and unable to take care of her. She used that time alone to explore the old building''s halls. Over the years she had found quite a few nooks and canines that she could slip away through.


    Today was going to be the day that all that exploration paid off.


    She was going to go for a dive and she wasn¡¯t coming back without something to show for it.

 006

    Yujo¡¯s entire plan was nearly scuppered before she had even started when Rosemary kept her behind after morning service.


    It was to talk about her singing.


    Singing for Yujo was a task rather than something she could enjoy for its own sake. She could sing fine for a few lines. Rosemary had even commented that she had a wonderful singing voice. That held very little in the way of solace when she started to think about those two selk singing to each other about her fate.


    At its most mild, Yujo¡¯s panic took the form her singing off key and out of sync. When she was thinking about the events of that day or of the selk, something she was doing with the plan in mind, it became even worse.


    It had taken Yujo a whole hour to convince Rosemary (and herself) that she was fine and to put her plan into action.


    It was now half past three as Yujo stood on the baking sand of the beach.


    There was no time for preparations. By Yujo¡¯s own estimation she had four hours before Rosemary would suspect that something was wrong. Dinner started at seven o¡¯ clock at the dot and as optimistic as she was, Yujo knew that Rosemary wouldn¡¯t fall for the old ''stuff two pillows under the bed and hope that everyone assumes the person is sleeping'' trick. That all meant that she had to be back by eight to get back to her room, get into her night clothes and pretend to be sleeping.


    This was, all in all, not the most throughly thought out caper in republic history.


    She quickly pulled her diving gear on, readied a couple of cans worth of air on her diving harness and made her way to the pier where she saw only one boat hand ready.


    It was Rahem and he was busy cleaning his boat.


    Yujo uttered a curse word that was unbecoming of her as member of the cloth. If it was any other boat hand she would have used them. She knew that he would rat her out the moment John Smith sent them to the press.


    Yujo looked at the sea and thought about how long it could be before another boat hand would come to the pier. If they were all out then it could be hours. With no other options, she took a deep breath. The decided course of action she decided to take was one that she would have never do so under any other circumstance. In fact, she knew that it as both very stupid and downright dangerous.


    Diving without a boat hand was extremely dangerous for a multitude of reasons. Escaping a selk who wanted to catch her would be impossible due to their speed. That she escaped the selk boy''s wrath yesterday was pure dumb luck and mostly the boat hand''s work.


    There were also the flora and fauna to consider. The tiger dolphin, for example, was a docile creature but it provoked it could become a vicious beast. Then there was the sea plants that could suck their prey into their leafy underbellies and melt them down in gastric acid in a frightening instant.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Finally, on top of all that, there was always the timeless classic of running out of air and suffocating to death.


    Yujo was under no illusion that what she was doing was both dangerous and very much illegal. She knew would never hear the end of it if Rosemary ever found out.


    She had to do it though. The alternative was unbearable.


    Yujo walked past the pier, being careful not to sneak by the boat hand, and made her way to the shore.


    She looked at the skyline one more time before she sighed and continued to walk into the sea. As the water rose up her body her walking speed became slower and slower until she stopped completely. Everything up to her waist was now covered in green sea water. Clenching her teeth, Yujo jumped into kicked off the sea floor. Her flippers making an audible slap as she disappeared under the water.


    Rahem turned around to see the ripples that made by Yujo¡¯s dive and shook his head.


    ¡°Damn clears.¡±


    A half hour of full effort swimming lead Yujo back to the hook that she had left in the panic of the previous day''s events. With a sigh she fished out her harness¡¯ tether and clamped it down on the hook. With that she kicked off and made her way down to where she had taken the photographs of the fish. There, she sat flat on her stomach, waiting for the fish to gather.


    If the Goddess was benevolent, Yujo thought, maybe have a selk pod flow into the area to finish off a hunt like yesterday. If...when they did she would take the high paying photos and and rush home like a woman possessed.


    The hour dragged on. It was starting to dawn on Yujo that the only thing she was succeeding in doing was wasting a can of air on an unsuccessful dive. She started to feel self conscious at how stupid she had been for making it as dangerous as she had. That feeling wasn''t helped by the fact that all she had gotten to show for herself was a painful stomach cramp from sitting on her stomach for so long.


    She was about ready to turn around when she heard a song flutter into her mask¡¯s headphones.


    Recognising the sound Yujo flopped around as she fumbled with her Terminal. After a minute of frantic set up and searching she found the source of the song.


    It was the same selk pod of teenagers that had chased her off yesterday, sharpening their spears. She couldn¡¯t contain her excitement. She could save St. Aldrin¡¯s for the month and get one up on that jerk selk who had attacked her yesterday.


    ¡®Well that tears it,¡¯ Yujo thought aloud to herself, ¡®This is payback for yesterday, you jerk!¡¯


    Taking a perverse sense of satisfaction in her vengeful voyeurism, Yujo started to take photo after photo of the pod. With a final set of photos taken, Yujo smiled, thanked her Selk ¡®friends¡¯ for the memories and began to make her leave.


    Then she heard one of them bellow out something to her.


    And then her world came to a crashing halt.


    A creature, larger than any number of tiger dolphins, larger than anything she had ever seen before in her life, larger than anything she could ever imagine even existing in Mem¡¯s oceans, passed by her like a cannon ball.


    Within the instant she saw the gigantic, leathery exterior of the beast, weathered with a thousand cuts and a million stars and its gigantic red eye that glistened like a jewel worth a million zenni. She could feel the eye focusing in on her, staring into her very soul.


    Then, as suddenly as the creature had appeared, it rushed past her and in its wake unleashed a devastating jet-stream. Yujo could do nothing as the jet-stream began to pull her into a deadly water current. All that was saving her from an enviable death was the carabiner flapping wildly in the storm but still holding onto the hook planted into the floor.


    Bargaining a lifetime of obedience to the goddess, she prayed for her to keep the carabiner locked into the hook and save her from her fate.


    Then, the goddess gave her an answer.


    The entire hook pulled itself free from the floor.


    Her life began to flash before her eyes and all Yujo could do is scream. Her body was tossed around in the jet-stream it and thrown around as if it was a crumpled up piece of rubbish. The forces pulling her overcame her and dragged her off into the unknown.

 007

    The shrill cry of the harness'' alarm dragged Yujo back to consciousness. As was coming to, she realised that her head was thumping in pain. She lifted her hand to her head and felt a gash dug deep into the side of her diver¡¯s mask and onto the side of her head.


    Yujo hissed as the pain from the cut travelled down her body. The pain made her body move on its on as she was forced to take a deep breath and scream out loud.


    Now awake and unable to feel anything but pain, Yujo sat up in the cave she had found herself in. If it was any smaller she would have found it impossible to move around. The fact that she sitting in the cave''s maw and not an ugly smear on the side of the cave was a miracle.


    Patting herself down Yujo confirmed that, except for the hook, she still had her equipment. With her confidence returning she pulled out her second and last can of air and swapped it with the spent can. As soon as the spent can escaped her harness, it imploded in Yujo''s hands. The alarm stopped its wail, allowing Yujo a moment to think. Leaning back against the wall of the cave, she pulled out her terminal. With a press of a button, the time to appear on it¡¯s flat surface.


    20:46


    Yujo closed her eyes and sighed as she realised that she was now officially in trouble. Thinking of what she could do to even start to help herself she started to fiddle with her Terminal. After a few presses, she got to her contact list which only contained one name on it.


    Rosemary.


    Pressing it made her contact card appear in front of Yujo. The sight of Rosemary''s photograph made her hand waver over the "call" button. She didn''t want to admit defeat and go crawling back to Rosemary. That would be admitting that Rosemary was right. That they could do is wait for everything to be taken from them.


    But she didn''t have a choice in the matter. She had to call for help.


    With one last twitch of hesitation, Yujo pressed the card. Rosemary''s number rang out in touch tone and then pulsed as it waited for her to pick up. After a small eternity of Yujo bracing herself she was surprised to hear a soothing male voice ringing in her headgear. Her blood ran cold as a cross appeared over Rosemay''s contact card.


    ¡®We are sorry,¡¯ The voice sang into her headgear ¡®but you are outside of the service area. Please try again later.¡¯


    Yujo shook her head. That made no sense. There was signal drones flying all over the place. Where on Mem could she be if the signal-


    The realisation hit her in the gut. Whatever had pulled Yujo into the slipstream had also pulled her into the selk lands. Now, on top of everything else that had gone wrong, she was committing a serious crime.


    A low growl slid out of Yujo¡¯s mouth before erupting into a violent scream of frustration as she slammed her hand on the terminal. The outburst drained her of the last of her will. In utter defeat she turned her head to look at the entrance of the cave and sighed.


    ¡°So that''s it, I¡¯m going to die stuck in the Selklands?¡± Yujo thought to herself and started to laugh bitterly in frustration.


    Her thoughts turned to the two selk that loomed over her broken body all those years ago.


    ¡°If only I allowed myself to go with that first one I¡¯d-¡±


    She stopped herself.


    She knew what the selk had done to their prisoners of war. It was a terrible fate that she shouldn¡¯t wish on anyone, much less herself. This wasn¡¯t how she wanted to die but there wasn¡¯t really anything she could do about it now.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    The final flicker of fight left her and she curled up into a ball to conserve heat. ¡°Oh, Goddess. Grant your foolish child safe passage to the stars and to Sister Rosemary no grief.¡± She whispered in prayer as she closed her eyes and resigned herself to her fate.


    Just as she felt herself in the the cold grasp of unconsciousness a cry rang out. She opened her eyes only to be greeted with a spear pointed at the tip of her nose.


    Holding the spear at her nose was the very same crimson haired selk boy who had chased her the day before. Before Yujo could even cry out in shock he issued another command in Symphonic that she didn¡¯t understand. His command began to blend with memories of her past and the image of the two selk leaning over her, ready to kill her.


    Her pulse quickened and spread a paralysing adrenaline throughout her whole system. The effort to back away from the spear, pulling herself by her hands, felt like she was pulling a ton of weights.


    A dull pain shot out from her back as it touched the back of the cave.


    The boy¡¯s repeated the command, sung in a commanding and angry tone. This only made her press her body against the wall harder in any attempt to get away from him.


    The two selk girls that had accompanied Yujo''s assailant shared a glance with each other. The older looking one sang her concerns to the other girl who nodded in agreement. The boy turned his head to look at the two who shook their head at him. With a sigh he removed the spear from its precarious position and threw it over to the older girl to catch. Now weaponless, he leaned over to grab Yujo.


    The very second he grabbed her arm an emerald light shot out of the back of the cave and bathed Yujo in its brilliance. In her panicked state, it took a moment to realise that the selk were backing away. Realising that they looking at something behind her she looked up to see the source of the emerald light.


    It was a large face etched into the wall behind her. The light was coming out of the slit where its eyes would have been.


    ¡°W-what?¡±


    With that ''command'', the light began to flood the cave, dividing the room in half. Yujo could only process the start of the selk boy''s angry reaction to what was happening before she began to feel her head tighten in pain.


    In an instant Yujo found herself being under an assault of images, sights and sounds. She could feel the very core of her being being touched by a force that defied all explanation. Then, the force began to showed her images of the territory war.


    Attacks on the Islands¡¯ shores, events that she had only ever read about before, played out all around her. Selk and Humans fighting each other, shooting and stabbing each other as the selk broached the shorelines. She saw scenes of raiding parties marching though towns and leaving hundreds dead in their wake. Her heart fluttered as she saw the selk taking prisoners of war back with them to face the fate that she knew awaited them.


    Then the scene shifted to a world of green under the gaze of a brilliant blue structure that sat in the horizon. Around her she could see selk living peaceful lives. She could see farmers tending crops and fisheries and a young selk girl swimming though the farm lands singing to herself. The song continued as the scene turned back into the field of emerald light.


    Yujo could feel the song translating itself into a string of information that started to drive itself into her mind. As the last few bits of information flooded into her, Yujo felt her mouth open.


    Then she sang at the light.


    As her flawless song came out of her mouth streams of red light began to flow out of the cuts in her suit''s back. Everything that had troubled her was gone, replaced by the song. This continued for several minutes before she thought of Rosemary looking for her.


    Yujo''s song came to a complete halt. She held her hand out as she grasped at the fading light and then fainted from exhaustion.The three selk looked on as the last spurts of light dissipated from both the face and Yujo''s back.


    It took a moment before the younger selk girl pointed to Yujo and hummed a question.


    The question went unanswered as the boy shouted out in confusion. He pointed at Yujo and asked something to his two cohorts.


    They could only shake their heads, unable to give him an answer.


    With a growl he ran his hands though his hair and then pointed at Yujo again.


    The girls shared another glance to each other and shrugged. Making sure not to get themselves stuck, they swam into the cave and took Yujo by the feet and back. With Yujo secured they swam out of the cave and started to swim towards the surface.


    The boy turned around, ready to follow the two when he heard a beeping coming out of the cave. He turned around and looked into the cave to find Yujo''s terminal. On its screen was a card that read "Sea Guard, respond immediately".


    Unable to read the common script of the card, the boy reached in to grab the terminal.

 008

    The holding cells in the Militia¡¯s Abraham Barracks were clean. They were well maintained and provided everything a prisoner would ever want shy of an open door.


    It was this clean prison cell is where Yujo found herself when she woke up. She had been changed out of her wet suit and into the spare change of clothes she had taken with her. When she put her handcuff bound hands on top of her head she could feel a cotton bandage covering the cut.


    ¡°Took long enough for you to wake up.¡±


    Her attention turned to the owner of the dignified yet stern voice that greeted her. He was a older man of average height. On his right hand side several medals were pinned to his jacket. His mouth was a straight line. It gave Yujo no opportunity to get a read on his emotions.


    What she did know, as did everyone else in the Republic, was his name. He was Grand Marshall Leon Rand, the man in charge of the Republic¡¯s militia forces.


    The sight of the imposing figure made Yujo''s heart skip a beat. The severity of the situation she found herself in was now much more worse. She sat up and moved her body around so her legs sat over the edge of the bed. Her head still tense with pain she looked up at him with as much reverence as she could manage.


    ¡°Yujo Sippe Palms.¡± He said, his voice booming as if it had come from on high to judge her.


    She meekly nodded.


    ¡°Last night, at approximately 23:23, you were brought to the shoreline by a selk hunting pod. Though an interpreter, they informed us that they found you in their territory."


    ¡®So I did end up in the Selk Lands¡­¡¯ Yujo thought to herself as she looked down at the floor, her freckled cheeks glowing in shame.


    ¡°Their testimony and the lack of a Boat Hand means that have you committed two very serious crimes. Also, if it wasn¡¯t for the selk you would also be dead.¡±


    The Grand Marshal¡¯s pinpoint, sharp-tonged, analysis of the situation stung. He turned around and put his hands behind his back.


    ¡°It is only good luck within bad that we also found the person who offered you the job. Had we only found you and the pictures you took you would have also been been charged with Incitement.¡±


    Yujo couldn''t say anything, he had her bang to rights.


    ¡°That person, that John Smith character of yours, has been in and out of our custody for years for similar acts of misconduct. The fact that we can finally charge him with a felony, coercing a minor to commit a crime, is the only good to come out of this whole farce.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Yujo didn¡¯t know what was worse; that the whole ordeal had was a ¡®farce¡¯ to the authorities or that she was still a minor in the eyes of the law.


    One of the left-over policies from the wartime government was the conscription. This took the form of a two year service with the militia that was mandatory of all able-bodied citizens from the age of 16. Between that age and the age of 30, everyone had to have taken the service or risk finding themselves arrested. Due to the pride in the militia during wartime no one could call themselves an adult in polite society until they had completed their service.


    That was all academic for Yujo. The severity of her crimes outweighed any sort of special factors the judges would take into account for her being a minor. As she had broken the terms of the ceasefire, that made her a potential felon.


    The pride she had felt when she got her license three years ago, all that work she did for it, was now in tatters after making a stupid decision.


    A wave of tiredness quickly washed over Yujo. She looked up at the Grand Marshal and asked another question.


    ¡°So, what happens now?¡±


    Still unable to get a read on his emotions, Yujo watched on as the Grand Marshal turned around to look down on her.


    ¡°Well, the first thing to happen will be that your guardian, Rosemary MacKenzie, will be brought here. She needs to be present when we levy the charges.¡± He fumbled around his pockets to find something, paused when he couldn''t find it and then coughed.


    "We called her as soon as you came in. According to the person who took the call, one brother Hogan, she had left to go looking for you at about 17:00 last night."


    Any sense of relief Yujo felt knowing that Rosemary knew of the situation was quickly burdened by the very same fact.


    ¡°We will conduct a meeting to establish the charges levied against you; that would be one count of ¡®dangerous diving¡¯ and a felony ¡®contravening the ceasefire¡¯. Then all you would have to hire a lawyer or have the state provide you one and then you¡¯d stand trial.¡±


    Yujo looked to the side of the bed she was sitting on to hide her face from the inescapable gaze of the Grand Marshal.


    ¡°And then I¡¯d go to jail.¡±


    A wry smile, something Yujo missed in her attempt at bitter commentary, made itself aware on the Grand Marshal''s face.


    ¡°It¡¯s not my place to predict the future.¡± He stated before turning around.


    ¡°But I suppose this empty talk until your guardian arrives.¡±


    He turned around to leave.


    ¡°If I were you, young lady, I would start thinking very hard about what you¡¯re going to say to her once she gets here.¡± He said as he walked away and closed the door to the prison room behind him.


    As soon as she was on her own. Yujo''s mind devoted everything to figuring out what she was going to say to Rosemary when she arrived. The smallest part of her hoped that Rosemary would have left her to rot. Why should she bother rushing to the aid of the ungrateful brat that had a stupid argument with her and then broke the law?


    Yujo closed her eyes and sighed.


    That was nonsense and she damn well knew it. She knew that Rosemary would turn Mem upside down for her. That bit of self reflection helped a little. What it didn''t help Yujo to do was figgure out what she was going to say.


    ¡°Hi Rose! I make a mockery of the teachings by making the whole thing with those selk personal. My anger nearly got myself killed and might as well have died! Now as my stupidity has got me facing a who knows how long sentence in capital-J-A-I-L Jail!¡±


    That didn''t sound great.


    In fact it was probably the worst thing Yujo could say to Rosemary right now. The fact that it would be the thing that she said to her on the cusp of losing of St. Aldrin¡¯s made even worse.


    In utter defeat, Yujo sprawled herself out on her bed and fell asleep.

 009

    A cacophony of symphonic ranting rang out in the chamber of the selk High Council. These nine selk were the custodians of the nine pillars of selk society. They were were the few of the queen''s court that she gave absolute trust to manage the kingdom as well as her affairs.


    Some sitting at the table also held the honour of being some of the few friends she had.


    When she called an emergency meeting in the middle of the night they were all concerned. The queens¡¯ council was a relatively new one. The previous monach''s council remained in power after the passing of the king, to insure his will was executed to the last as was the custom.


    This would be the first time since the death of the last of her father''s concil that she had called a meeting of her council.


    An old selk whose right eye was marked by a scar and sealed snorted a huff as he reached for the plate of gel drops on middle of the table.


    ¡°Missy best have a good reason for this¡­¡±


    Before he could reach the bowl he felt the sing of his hand as it was slapped away by an elegant female selk. She wore a light blue toga that covered her slight form and shimmered in the light of the room.


    ¡°I hope you''re not saying Her Majesty has taken leave of her senses.¡± She sung in a warning tone.


    ¡°I didn¡¯ sing anything of the sort.¡±


    He grabbed for the gels again. This time he was able to pull one away before she could reprimanded him again. Taunting the toga wearing selk with a wry smile, he bit into it.


    He chewed on the gel a couple of times, letting the sweet tang of apple hit his tongue, before he swallowed. He then shot a stern look at her.


    "I could visit my brother and my nephew if I wanted to be treated like a pup, Orthodox Whakale.¡±


    Another Selk; a young dark green haired woman with a darker upper pelt, stretched over and picked up a gel.


    ¡°And how are Masters Nuaka and Oia, Hunt Kahopno?¡± she asked, pecking at the gel.


    ¡°Same as always, Kamwaimae.¡±


    There was no attempt made to hide the small chuckle of pride that punctuated the statement. ¡°Oia is coming into his own, though. The ol¡¯ pain in the rump finally gave ¡®im the OK to get a pod together and go huntin¡¯.¡±


    ¡°Bagged himself a big one the other day.¡±


    His smile couldn''t be any wider. ¡°That pup¡¯s gonna go further than his parents and us old bulls ever did!¡±


    Kamwaimae hummed a thoughtful tune to herself as she nibbled away at her gel until it was gone.


    As Kahopno reached for another gel, the room erupted into a flurry of sounds. The council turned around to see the noise was being blasted from the instruments held by a small group of retainers that stood guard at the door.


    ¡°The Queen¡¯s Council of Nine, please rise for your Majesty!¡±


    On command, the council stood and preformed a one-handed bow, as did all the retainers in the room. The double doors swung open and from them an elegant female Selk swam through accompanied by two heavily armoured guards. The straight flush of royal blue hair that flowed down to her waist highlighted her slight frame. The chain of pearls encircled her lower body and around the dorsal fin that lined her back. Those were mark of the royal family and told everyone in the room that she was the genuine article.


    The music came to an end and the retainer who announced her entry continued his announcement.


    ¡°The Council of Nine welcome Queen Ankahe¡¯a the Second to the meeting. May she guard our lands from the darkness over her borders evermore!¡±


    The queen swam over to the table to take her seat, designed to accommodate her dorsal fin, and sit down. As soon as she sat down, she motioned to the rest of the table, allowing them to also sit down.


    Everyone was silent as they waited for the queen to begin the meeting proper. Every one in the room wanted to know the reason for their summoning.


    As soon as she opened her mouth a gargling sound rumbled out of it. She snapped her mouth shut, the blush burning through her porcelain white face-fur. In a small panic she looked at her council who in turn gave her confused look.


    Another awkward moment followed. Then another member of the council raised his hand. His hair was a tidy short cut that showed the peaks of his hair¡¯s dark blue gradient. The queen nodded and he asked the same question that what everyone was thinking.


    ¡°You haven''t eaten today, have you, your Majesty?¡±


    The queen shook her head. She coughed and motioned for one of the retainers. Understanding the situation as soon as she made the motion they picked up the plate and stood beside her.


    Forgetting herself she swiped the first gel she could see and began to eat it. It took only two swift bites for the gel she picked up to disappear into her mouth. The gel gone, she patted her plump, dark blue lips clean and let out the smallest sigh of satisfaction she could.


    The queen closed her eyes and signed. ¡°I''m sorry everyone had to see that. Yes, Merchant Apoehaka, I did not have the chance to eat anything today.¡±


    Kahnopo looked at her with his one good eye. ¡°I dun¡¯spose that¡¯s got something to do with why you brought us here?¡±


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    She nodded. ¡°I was in commune with the royal idol since first light.¡±


    ¡°Excuse me?!¡± Whakale blurted out in response. ¡°Why were you in commune with the idol for that long?¡±


    Kahnopo¡¯s eyebrow was now arched. ¡°More to th¡¯ point, are you sure you should be holding this meeting if you¡¯re this hungry?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I am. This matter cannot wait.¡± The Queen said with complete certainty. ¡°What the idol has made clear to me is of the upmost importance.¡±


    She turned her attention to her retainer who nodded. Pulling out a collection of scrolls, they began to swim around the table. As they passed each of the council members they handed out a scroll to each of them before handing a copy to the queen. The task done, they returned to her side.


    The council, now apprehensive about what the scrolls contained, exchanged a mummer. With a swift motion, they undid the wax seal and opened their scrolls. Then they read its contents. By the time they had finished, the room had gone deathly quiet.


    The Queen bit her lip, wondering who would be first to make a comment.


    It was Whakale who spoke first.


    ¡°Your Majesty. The scroll suggest a Hume¡¯rl trespassed into our land. Not only that but that she sang with an idol that we never knew about?!¡±


    ¡°That¡­¡±


    The Queen sighed.


    ¡°¡­That is what has happened, yes.¡±


    The mummer blossomed into a full-blown rabble.


    ¡°Could everyone please calm down?!¡±


    Kamwamae¡¯s command brought the rabble to its end. She looked at the queen and softened her stern expression.


    ¡°It¡¯s OK, Ankahe¡¯a. I understand the importance of the issue. That a Hume''irl-¡±


    Whakale stood up from her chair in a pique of anger. ¡°Never mind the Hume''irl, Justice!¡± she exclaimed, drawing attention to herself.


    ¡°The fact that somehow there¡¯s been a thirteenth idol we haven¡¯t known of for all this time? That is what we should be focusing on!¡±


    ¡°Oh spare my heart, Great ID.¡± Kamwaime uttered to herself out of hearing, shaking her head.


    ¡°Yes, I am aware of the ramifications of a thirteenth idol. Orthodox, I have every faith that you and the rest of the orthodoxy will be able to handle all that.¡±


    The orthodox didn''t hide how much she was at her wits end.


    ¡°And I suppose you''d have the experience to know that, farmhand?!¡±


    Kamwaimae could only stutter, astonished at the act of sheer disrespect.


    ¡°Alright, alright, that¡¯s enough.¡± Apoehaka said with a weary wave.


    ¡°We¡¯re all a little tired so I suggest we let Her Majesty explain the situation and go from there. Does everyone agree?¡±


    After a second, everyone murmured in agreement.


    ¡°Good. That¡¯s better.¡± He turned to the Queen. ¡°Your Majesty, If you please?¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Merchant.¡± The Queen said.


    ¡°As the report says, a hunting pod found the Hume¡¯rl with the unidentified Idol and handed her over to the Hume authorities at yesterday¡¯s twilight.¡± She surmised.


    ¡°When I started my daily commune with the Royal Idol at first light, it did not stop until a few clicks ago.¡±


    The queen bit her lip before she continued; ¡°Besides what I have told you the royal idol''s song was... strange... this morning. It would only utter a vague mumbling to me.¡±


    She hesitated, not wanting to continue.


    She then closed her eyes to will herself into action.


    "It was the same same utterances sang during the Great-"


    She stopped herself but it was too late. She could feel the entire room cool as she mentioned the great hunt.


    Every selk knew of the twelve Idols¡¯ wisdom. Since the beginning of time the children of ID, the great creator, sang their council to the Royal family and the Orthodoxy. It was their advice that allowed the selk to tame the lands and calm the savage seafloor.


    During the Territory War, as humanity referred to the great hunt, the idols would only sing the same same confused tune. Without their council the kingdom fell to the whims of the ocean¡¯s current.


    The kingdom¡¯s desolation became hunger. That hunger, blamed on humanity, turned to anger. That anger fueled the King¡¯s war machine and gave him his soldiers.


    The queen sunk into her chair. She looked every last one of the ten selk ages that she had lived.


    Kamwaemae looked around, waiting for someone else to speak up and when no one did, shook her head. Pulling herself from the table, she stood up, swam over to the queen, looked into her shimmering gem blue eyes and squeezed her hand.


    The queen grabbed onto Kamwaemae¡¯s hand and nodded. She whispered her thanks to Kamwaemae and asked her to take her seat. She stood up and cleared her throat.


    ¡°I have a plan. It is not without risk but I believe that if this succeeds that we will be able to reclaim the colonies.¡±


    The council mumbled to each other in response to such a bold claim. The queen¡¯s retainer began to pass over another set of sealed scrolls to the members of the council who wasted no time in opening them. They read the contents. Then, they looked at the queen whose demeanour didn¡¯t change.


    ¡°Let us work together with the hume and end the Great Hunt once and for all.¡±

 010

    ¡°Honestly, Oia, undo your hair!¡±


    The selk boy flinched, his tidy red hair staying perfectly still as he came to a stop. He had hoped that his grandfather wouldn¡¯t have noticed that he had been keeping his hair tidy.


    The stern looks on his grandfather¡¯s face gave away told him otherwise.


    With a sigh and a pitiful utterance of ¡°Yes, Grandpa Nuaka .¡± His hair began to undo itself. The waves of the sea reformed it back into the left heavy cow lick of blond hair and a layer of dark red top-fur on his right.


    Nuaka smiled, ¡°That¡¯s better. Just because we¡¯re meeting the Justice today doesn¡¯t mean we have to put on airs.¡±


    With that bit of advice, he turned around and swam ahead. Left to himself for a moment gave Oia the chance to mumble some misgivings to himself. As soon as he was sure his grandfather didn''t hear his back talk, he swam up to him to catch up.


    ¡°So what¡¯s going on anyway?¡± Oia asked.


    Nuaka sighed. ¡°Well, you remembered how ragged Kahopno looked when he gave us that summons this morning?" If I were a betting bull, I¡¯d wager that the council was up all night talking about your hunt.¡±


    Oia stopped in place. "Wait, why were they doing that? We got the hum''rl out of our lands. Isn''t that enough?"


    ¡°When it comes to the hume, Oia, nothing is ever that simple.¡±


    Nuaka turned around and gave his grandson a reassuring smile.


    Oia struggled to smile back.


    ¡°If were you I would be ready to tell your side of the story again. If only to put everyone''s minds at ease.¡±


    ¡°O-Oh¡­¡± Oia voice wavered as he realised he¡¯d have to give his testimony again. ¡°Yes-sure-OK.¡± each word coming out in a rapid yet orderly fashion.


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t be like that, my boy. It¡¯s hardly the ocean boiling over¡­¡± Nuaka assured his grandson and pointed forward. ¡°Now come on, the office shouldn¡¯t be that much of a swim from here.¡±


    True to his grandfather¡¯s word, Oia saw the Embassy of The Justice looming over the horizon. It was a impressive building. Whilst it was made of the same hard clay used in all selk construction, it''s white finish gave it its own unique character.


    It was lit up by a string of light balls wrapped around it. Each one housed an ulkui, a thumb sized insect with an ever-glowing bottom. For a few scant scraps of algae each day, the insects within the ball lit the building up for all to see.


    The sight of the majestic building made Oia¡¯s top fur stand on end. He had been told about the Embassy before but seeing it with his own eyes made him realise just how grand it was.


    ¡°You can see why your uncle hates it, can¡¯t you?¡± Nuaka cracked a joke at his brother¡¯s expense. ¡°He loves the job to bits but absolutely hates is the stuffiness of everything else around it.¡±


    ¡°Sell me to a Hume, if he still had his good eye he¡¯d probably just skip the work and just go hunting himself!¡±.


    The bout of laughter that ensued went on for a good while before he noticed that it wasn¡¯t shared by his grandson.


    ¡°Oh, er, sorry. Kind of lost myself there, pup¡­¡± he said patting his grandson¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Look, it¡¯s probably nothing. We¡¯ll get this done in no time flat and then how about I help you fix your spear, ok?¡±


    Oia looked at him, rolled his eyes, and sighed.


    ¡°Yes, Grandpa.¡±


    A few moments of swimming lead the two to the Embassy''s doors. After an exchange of words with the guards, the doors opened to reveal Kamwaimae. The obvious lack of sleep was given away by the bags imprinted in the face-fur under her eyes.


    ¡°I am so sorry for taking your time, Lord Nuaka.¡± She groggily apologised with a bow.


    ¡°It¡¯s just Nuaka these days, Justice.¡± He said with a laugh and ruffled Oia¡¯s hair. ¡°That¡¯s his title now.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡± Kamwaimae said and turned to bow in Oia¡¯s direction. ¡°I suppose that would make you Young Lord Oia then?¡±


    The title of the West Coral Tribe¡¯s chief was vacant until he came of age; but it wouldn¡¯t do to get on a Council member¡¯s bad side just to correct her.


    He blushed, "Yes, Justice."


    Nuaka noticed his grandson blush and laughed out loud. ¡°Don¡¯t be like that, Oia, the justice is already accounted for.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid so, Young Lord Oia.¡± Kamwaimae smiled as she pulled out a blue pendant, the traditional attire of a selk wife, from under her dress and brushed it off. ¡°Let¡¯s go inside and talk about why I asked you two here.¡±


    ¡°By your leave, Justice.¡± Nuaka confirmed and with that the three swam in.


    Kamwaimae and Nuaka started to exchange gossip and other such affairs as they swam though the embassy¡¯s halls. Oia, left out of the conversation, started to look around.


    His swimming slowed down as he passed the portraits of all the previous rulers. When he reached the end, he stopped to take a good look at the imposing figure of King Kamepaikin the 3rd. The queen''s father, the selk responsible for the Great Hunt, stared back at him.


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    His Grandfather had told him that Hume were creatures of habbit and hunt had turned them violent. He agreed with that statement to a certain degree. Hume, to Oia, were another beast to deal with. A pest you dealt with just enough to make them go away.


    They were a nuisance, he thought, and that was that.


    Kamwaimae called him over with a song, dragging him out of his thoughts. As soon as he caught up with the two adults Kamwaimae opened the doors to her office and invited them in.


    Oia gasped at the sight of the well-formed clay chair that sat behind an ornate marble desk. Behind it was shell lined displays filled with scrolls bound in various colours of wax end caps. With a little bit of difficulty he could make out the labels. Each label made mention of a legal case and was marked with the same name mark, an idol surrounded by water.


    Kamwaimae motioned for her retainer who swam up to her and handed over another scroll.


    ¡°You might be wondering what brings you to my offices today, Young Lord, sir.¡±


    Kamwaime¡¯s question broke Oia¡¯s line of thought and brought him to attention.


    ¡°Well, yes, Justice.¡± Nuaka said calmly as he sat down on one of the chairs and offered the other to Oia to take.


    He motioned with his hands, ¡°After all, I¡¯ve retired from the hunts and my grandson¡¯s only just getting started.¡±


    Oia did his best to keep his snort of annoyance to himself.


    With a nod, Kamwaimae handed the scroll over to Nuaka who carefully pulled the wax cap off to roll it open. As he read the contents of the scroll the concern on his face became more and more evident.


    When he finished the scroll, he placed it on the table and looked at Kamwaimae as if she swore at him.


    ¡°Kamwaimae¡­ This is madness¡­¡±


    She nodded. ¡°I can understand your objections to this. We both know how much you suffered for being a vocal opponent of the ho?oku but¡­¡±


    With a sigh she swam over to the window to look out onto the capital that lie on the horizon. ¡°¡­ the queen came up with this plan though consultation with the royal idol.¡±


    Oia perked up, ¡°That¡¯s right, Uncle did say something about the idols acting strangely, didn¡¯t he, Grandad?¡±


    ¡°If I didn¡¯t know any better, Kamwaimae, this is starting to sound like¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Kamwaimae nodded. ¡°The idols are starting to act like they did during the great hunt.¡±


    That statement gave Nuaka pause. He then realised that Oia was snorting to himself in aggravation due to being ignored.


    He shot a look to quietly tell his grandson to behave.


    Oia noticed his grandfather¡¯s wordless command and sat upright.


    ¡°The Orthodoxy made her feelings about the matter quite clear. When the council out voted her seven to two on implementing this plan she left the meeting. She said on non uncertain terms that she wanted no part of it.¡±


    Nuaka hummed in thought and closed his eyes.


    ¡°No part of what?¡± Oia asked with bemusement as he pulled himself forward, picked up the scroll from off the table and read it.


    He squinted as he tried to make sense of the complicated text within. After a moment of reading the scroll Oia squinted at a certain word and then looked at the Justice.


    ¡°This plan involves use of the ho?oku ritual.¡±


    Kamwaimae closed her eyes and nodded.


    Oia shot out of his chair, ¡°Why are you asking us to break the law?!¡±


    Nuaka shot the look again, ¡°Oia, calm down¡­¡±


    Ignoring his grandfather, Oia let his hair shift to the neat, bright red straight cut. He slammed his hands on the marble table.


    ¡°You''re the Justice, aren''t you? So why are you asking us to ignore-¡±


    ¡°I said that is enough, Boy!¡± Nuaka shouted, bringing Oia¡¯s rant to a halt by the piecing stare his grandfather had trained firmly on him.


    ¡°Calm. Down.¡±


    Oia sunk back into his seat with an utterance of ¡°Yes, sir¡± and in turn his hair turned back to its normal cut.


    Kamwaimae opened her eyes. ¡°I understand that this is a heavy burden that I am asking you and the young master to undertake.¡± She sat back down on her chair. ¡°While you have every right to refuse the queen recommended you for this task. She said that you are in the pest position to help this plan to full based on your efforts during the great hunt.¡±


    Oia opened his mouth to ask what she meant by that. The thought of crossing his grandfather again made him quickly close it again.


    ¡°Ah, so that¡¯s why¡­¡± Nuaka said with a sigh, his expression softened but the concern was still obvious.


    ¡°Alright then. It¡¯s a yes.¡±


    ¡°Grandad?¡±


    The look on Kamwaimae¡¯s face as she whispered her graces to the great Id gave away just how relieved she was to have his support.


    She smiled, "Right, let''s get to work then.".

 011

    Yujo started at the clock that sat on the wall on the opposite side of her jail cell as it ticked over to 5.45am. It was the third day since being brought into custody and it was starting to feel as if she had forgotten how to sleep.


    The first was a misdemeanour. ''Reckless Diving without proper supervision.''


    ¡°If you are found guilty of the misdemeanour you will be sentenced to serve 30 days. However, that will be moot because you will have served that time here waiting to go to trail."


    For an attempt to soften the blow, the Grand Marshal was not succeeding.


    "Your license would also he revoked and you would be barred from taking the test again for a year"


    Yujo recalled her attempts to somehow bore a hold though his head with her mind if only to get him to stop talking. By the time she got her license back she the orphanage would only be able to talked about in the past tense.


    ¡°There is also the matter of that year only starting after you have served any other sentence."


    "You mean the felony."


    Yujo''s drilling stare had no effect on the Grand Marshal.


    "Er, yes. Crossing the border is a serious offence which has a minimum tariff of five years.¡±


    In five years time, no one would even remember that there was a St. Aldrin¡¯s in the first instance.


    ¡°Then there¡¯s the matter of your national service.¡±


    Yujo wished she could forget that part but her mind wasn''t having any of it.


    ¡°As you passed the legal minimal age for enrolment as a convicted offender you will need to undertake your national service as part of your sentence."


    Seven whole years because of one stupid mistake.


    Yujo knew that being acquitted was a forlorn hope. No court in the land would acquit her of the diving charge. With that assumption of guilt, throwing the book at her for the felony would be easy.


    The ceasefire had provisions for the selk and the unpredictability of their prey. It offered no such safe harbour for the republic''s citizens.


    Being flung across the border was no excuse.


    It was far too much of a stretch to expect whatever argument the two-bit public lawyer she would be provided could do anything. They more than likely point out to the law¡¯s allowance for the selk hunts and base their case on that. That would be shot down so fast that it wasn¡¯t worth the energy to even entertain the thought.


    Even if the lawyer was able to successfully argue Yujo''s case it wasn¡¯t like the jury wouldn¡¯t disregard it anyway. They all knew that upsetting the status quo risked upsetting the ceasefire and dragging both side to negotiations.


    She knew first hand where that lead. She had her scars to prove it.


    There was also the selk perspective to conciser.


    They would want nothing less than the stupid human to go rot in jail forever for being stupid enough to go anywhere near their precious ocean and-


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    She stopped herself.


    Those sorts of thoughts were starting to become random rants and they were not helping.


    She sat up on the bed. As she turned upright she saw that it was 8.30am. On time with her thoughts, the breakfast slid though a fitted slot in the cell door. The guard who delivered it would return in half an hour. This was to pick up the plate and also to ensure that Yujo hasn¡¯t tried to do herself in with the plastic spook.


    Overcome with hunger, Yujo walked picked up the tray and sat on top of the bed to eat the scrambled eggs. They were a little too punched up with salt and pepper for her palette but otherwise it was not the worst breakfast she ever had. If it was any worse than the food she had at the hospital it would be good grounds to sue the militia on grounds of cruel and unusual punishment.


    The first year of Yujo''s life memorable life was spent in the hospital getting her broken back fitted with a prosthetic.


    CyMail, short for Cybernetic Malleable Auto-Intelligent Ligament, was a system that allowed amputees to control and integrate their prosthetic though a medically implanted interface disc. This came at a cost of putting a significant load on the amputee''s capabilities which in turn would stunt the body¡¯s development. Whilst preventing this issue was as simple as taking the CyMail off at night this wasn''t an option for Yujo and her spine. This left her shorter than most people her age.


    The guard¡¯s tapping of the cell door and curt grunt of ¡°Are you done?¡± dragged Yujo back to the reality of her half-eaten breakfast. She looked at the small sliver of scrambled eggs and the small bit of toast that sat on the plate and decided it wasn¡¯t worth the effort to eat it.


    After placing the spoon on the plate, she walked over to the door, tray in hand, and slid it though the same hole that it had come through. The guard then slid a drawstring bag though the same hole and grunted something about making herself presentable.


    With a click of the door, Yujo knew that she could expect some privacy to wash herself. After a quick shower, she pulled the bag open and pulled out the spare T-shirt and pare of shorts. They were both far too big for her body and the cord keeping her shorts up dug into her sides. She knew it was asking a bit much for perfectly fitting clothes but these cloths, she thought, was just ridiculous.


    A clean change of clothing was necessary as today was the day she would have to confront Rosemary about what she had done.


    The Grand Marshall had told her that the reason it had taken that long for them to contact Rosemary was due to her spending the last three days scouring the beach and its surrounding plaza for any sign of Yujo.


    Yujo didn¡¯t want to think about it. She was more concerned about what would happen Rosemary saw her again. She turned over on the bed and tried to grab whatever few hours of relative freedom she had left.

 012

    When Yujo woke up from her nap her hazy vision focused on the clock. When the fuzz cleared, she read the time as 11am. Knowing that she needed to be presentable, she willed every bit of energy to pull herself out of bed and move over to the sink to see herself.


    The first thing that came to her attention was just how much of a mess her hair was. She pulled her hand though her hair. Its normally soft bloom was now a tough, entangled mess. Yujo bit her lip, shook her head and pulled the sink tap¡¯s lever up.


    Cold water rushed out of the facet and swirled around in the small white bowl accompanied by a unique hiss. Cupping her hands into the water, she pooled it into her hands and threw it upwards. The water slapped her face. In that instant the images that the eye in the wall sung to her flashed rapidly in her mind. They were still utterly indecipherable but they did serve as a painful reminder of what happened.


    She took the towel lying on the top of the toilet set, patted herself dry and took another look at herself in the mirror. A shrunken wreck of a person might have been staring back at her but at least she had a clean face.


    A buzzer rang out and the hallway door opened wide with a creek. A platoon of militia personnel dressed in various ranks walked through.


    In front was the Grand Marshal.


    Yujo¡¯s knees felt weak as the cluster walked towards her cell and the Grand Marshal ordered a guard to pull out the key to open the cell door. If she was going to make a run for it she would have to do it as soon as the door opened.


    ¡°Yujo Sippe Psalms,¡± he ordered in a voice deserving of his commanding figure, ¡°You are to come with us. Is that understood?¡±


    Defeated before she could even start, she slowly nodded and offered no resistance as the guard locked a pair of handcuffs over her arms.


    With a wordless shift of his head, he ordered another two guards to Yujo¡¯s side and turned to face him.


    ¡°Follow us.¡± He commanded and started to walk out of the jail with the rest of his marshals.


    With no choice but to obey the order, Yujo held her head low and walked out of the jail hall and into the main reception. There Rosemary was pacing up and down across the reception sitting area. The bags under her eyes made it clear that she had not slept at all since Yujo last saw her.


    Yujo could only watch as Rosemary noticed her and began to rush over only to be denied physical contact with her ward by the Grand Marshal''s hand. She stepped back and gave him a stern look that only made Yujo flinch.


    ¡°I assume you are Rosemary McKenzie?¡± He asked in his cold tone.


    ¡°Sister, Rosemary McKenzie, sir.¡±


    If he was bothered by the correction or the tone Rosemary was taking with him, he wasn''t showing it.


    ¡°That¡¯s one of my wards that you are roughhousing. If you would be so as kind and give me a moment to talk to her I would very much appreciate it.¡±


    The grand marshal looked at her. ¡°That is not possible now, Mam. Now if you would follow us¡­¡±


    Now it was Rosemary¡¯s turn to block him.


    ¡°No. Not until I can talk to Yujo¡­¡±


    He gritted his teeth and muttered something about needing some damn coffee.


    ¡°Listen. I understand you want to talk to your ward but-¡±


    Yujo closed her eyes as she watched the war veteran refusing to not step the metaphorical land mine that was Rosemary''s temperment. In an instant, she had pushed herself forward and pointed her finger right at his face.


    ¡°Alright, you best listen to me, pal.¡±


    Rosemary¡¯s accent slipped into a central mem drawl.


    ¡°As part of my order, Yujo is goin¡¯ nowhere until I can talk to her. I am aware of my rights as well as Yujo''s as citizens of Abraham. Is that perfectly clear, Grand Marshal?¡±


    The room fell silent as the casually dressed Nun stood mere inches away from a war hero. The same war hero it could be argued, who lead to the republic to victory during the war. Yujo closed her eyes, waiting for him to have her arrested for her actions.


    ¡°Could someone please get me that damn coffee.¡±


    Yujo opened her eyes and saw one of the militia personnel had gone to do just that.


    ¡°Fine.¡± the Grand Marshal spat tersely. ¡°You have two minutes to talk to Ms. Psalms but after that you will stop screwing around and come with us to the interview. Is that understood?¡±


    ¡°Yes, That¡¯s perfectly fine by me.¡± Rosemary said with a shrug.


    With a motion from the Grand Marshal, the two guards moved away from Yujo to allow her the space to talk with Rosemary. The weight of it all made her ready to burst into tears right in front of Rosemary. It took everything to stop herself as Rosemary held her in an embrace.


    ¡°You are still in a whole load of trouble, Young Lady.¡± Rosemary whispered to her.


    Yujo barely squeaked out an ¡°Uh-huh.¡±


    ¡°But I''ve seen far worse scrapes. Now come on. We¡¯ll face this together, ok?¡±


    Another squeak of confirmation slipped out of Yujo.


    "Atta girl.¡± Rosemary cooed, ruffling her hair before stepping away.


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    Satisfied that she had calmed Yujo down, she backed off and allowed the guards to return to their positions. With that, the Grand Marshall ordered Yujo, Rosemary and their guards out. On the forecourt of the HQ a militia jeep that was waiting for them.


    An hour''s drive later, Yujo and Rosemary found themselves sitting on a bench on the waiting room bench of Abraham¡¯s Militia Grand Hall.


    Rosemary was the first to cut the silence between them.


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to ask why you went out for a dive and why you did it without a boat hand, Yujo. I can hazard any number of guess for that. I do know for a fact that you would never do something as downright stupid as crossing the bolder.¡±


    Yujo, staying silent, looked up at the ceiling and watched the single long light bulb flicker.


    Her still dried out hair waved slightly as she sighed.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Rosemary smiled. ¡°I know you are, Yujo, but we both know you would go and do it again in an instant if you thought it would do anything to help St. Aldrin¡¯s.¡±


    Yujo said nothing, her guardian knew her too well.


    ¡°Honestly¡­¡± she said as she got up to kneel to Yujo¡¯s eye level. ¡°We are far too alike. When I was your age¡­¡±


    She paused to think about how to finish her sentence. ¡°Well. I did a lot of stupid things. Things I did because I believed what I was doing was right.¡±


    Rosemary bit her bottom lip. She was trying to prevent this from being about herself. She drew her breath and grabbed Yujo¡¯s hands.


    ¡°I will always be there for you when you do the stupid things you do because you believe in them, do you understand, Yu?¡±


    Yujo nodded.


    The door next to them opened and the grand marshal motioned both them and the guards inside. The inside of the room was sparse. Besides the table, the only real item of note was the lingering smell of synthetic nicotine. It stuck to the back of Yujo¡¯s throat, causing her to cough.


    ¡°We only had enough time to make one of the break rooms into something presentable.¡± The Grand Marshal, now dressed in a tidy shirt and tie, explained as he sat himself in a chair on one side of the table. He motioned Yujo and Rosemary to sit on the other.


    It was then that Yujo noticed the young woman with cream brown skin and chestnut velvet hair that flowed to her shoulders standing next to the marshal.


    She was also dressed in full uniform. The standard regalia of a typical militia unit which consisted of a black jacket, a long skirt and a small tidy beret sitting on top of her hair.


    Yujo recognised her as a member of the communications unit. A thought passed her mind and made her wonder if she was the one that caught her communications with John Smith. She noticed Yujo and recognised her existence with a smile. She then noted something on their terminal and pressed its surface.


    "Interview on the 12th of Augustus started 1205 MST." She said to her terminal, her accent an obvious hint that she came from the Obarian islands. She then turned her attention to the Grand Marshal.


    "You''re ready to go, sir."


    ¡°Thank you Ensign Mamusul, he said, motioning for her to take a seat.


    ¡°As I have told you before, Ms. Psalms, as things stand now you are being charged for misdemeanor dangerous diving, and felony ceasefire contravention."


    Yujo felt Rosemary squeeze her hand.


    "Given you haven¡¯t undergone your service, the maximum term, would be seven years including your service.¡±


    ¡°I understand that sir.¡±


    He nodded before he motioned for the communications offer.


    ¡°The circumstances, however, have changed.¡±


    After a moment to process that statement, Yujo shook her head in confusion.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡±


    The communications officer handed over a scroll bearing a wax cap with two marks. One was a blue wax cap featuring a tall polygonal statue of a human surrounded by water. The other was a red cap picturing two selk surrounding a globe with their spears pointed to the ground.


    ¡°We received these two scrolls two days ago by a pack of selk on the border. These are official communicate with the selk royal family and their Chief Justice.¡± He explained.


    ¡°Excuse me?¡± Yujo asked.


    The Grand Marshal took a moment to drink from the cup of coffee that sat next to him before he continued to explain.


    ¡°The border patrol encountered the selk pack waving a white rag on one of their spears where they had tied a white rag on their spear. After some confusion, the pack gave us these two scrolls.¡±


    That gave Yujo and Rosemary pause.


    All other cases of people caught crossing the border had the selk involvement limited to a simple confirmation of their desires. Yujo could only guess why she was being singled out with this special treatment.


    The Grand Marshal motioned to the unopened red wax capped scroll on the table.


    ¡°I would suggest you read the contents of that scroll very carefully.¡±


    With a nod, Yujo reached over and picked up the scroll, pulling off the red wax cap from top and freeing the scroll from its bind. She pulled the scroll open and began to read the text within.

 013

    The text inside the scroll was written in tidy script as if it was a letter addressed to Yujo herself;


    ¡®To Crossing borders Hume¡¯rl.


    We hope today finds itself well with the bad happen.


    We sorry for everything that lead to this event. Understood that you came here without meaning.¡¯


    Yujo scrunched her face as she read it, trying to make sense of what the person was writing.


    ¡®To solve matter, we pardon with condition;


    Crossing borders Hume¡¯rl become Land Ambassador for age (3 hume "year").


    This will require subjugate but will un-happen at end of term.


    We have hunt pod post on border. If answer yes, please send red scroll to pod.


    Thank you very much, please,


    Ankahe¡¯a II¡¯


    Yujo took a moment to process what was being asked of her. Giving up, she then tilted her head.


    ¡°Um¡­ I don¡¯t understand.¡±


    The Communications officer, Ensign Mamusul, stood up and started to explain.


    ¡°After trying to understand what was written, we eventually met with the pack that was now stationed at the meeting point and offered them a terminal. With that they recorded their demands in common symphonic. With that we passed the information on to the foreign secretary.¡±


    Yujo noticed Rosemary shift uncomfortably in her seat.


    The Grand Marshall nodded to confirm the Ensign¡¯s story.


    ¡°In short, what they are offering is a complete pardon of the felony on the condition that you become what they have dubbed a ¡®land ambassador¡¯.


    He wasn¡¯t surprised when Rosemary and Yujo exchanged a glance of confusion about what that meant.


    ¡°Ms. Psalms, what do you know about the lesser selk?¡±


    Yujo looked at Rosemary. She shrugged, having no idea what that question had to do with anything. Figuring there was no harm in answering, she gave the Grand Marshall an answer.


    ¡°After the first battle of Abraham, the selk changed their tactics from border skirmishes to ransacking settlements that stood in between their settlements. This was done with the aim of taking as many prisoners of war as possible.¡±


    Yujo took a breath before she continued.


    ¡°It had turned out that the selk had found a way to transform their captives into selk like beings named ¡®lesser selk¡¯ by the republic governance. This had three functions. The first was to increase their pods¡¯ ranks. The second was to keep prisoners of war without having to keep strategically weak land-based camps. The last was to use their prisoners as intimidation.¡±


    Between having to learn about and teach it in the space of nine years, Yujo had the history of the Territory War memorised. The lesser selk was a subject of much controversy during the war and still haunted both sides of the conflict to the present day.


    ¡°Yes. That is correct.¡± The grand marshal confirmed.


    ¡°One of the biggest factors in causing the post-war peace talks to collapse was the reaction to the selk-lands returning their surviving prisoners of war. Many of the lesser selk returned to the selk-lands due to their families or communities diving them back out. There was also several cases of lesser selk being attacked by ex-militia servicemen and-¡±


    The Grand Marshall held up his hand to stop Yujo. ¡°That¡¯s enough. I think we¡¯ve established you know what we are talking about.¡±


    He made a motion to Ensign Mamusul who nodded and started typing away at her terminal.


    ¡°Simply put, Ms. Psalms, the queen is requesting that you become a lesser selk. You would then serve her kingdom as a ¡®land ambassador¡¯ for three years and-¡±


    Rosemary slammed her hands on the table.


    ¡°You can''t be fucking serious!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re telling me that the only way for Yujo to avoid punishment for something that was not her fault is to become that clear bitch¡¯s prisoner?!¡±


    ¡°Rose¡­¡±


    The grand marshal shook his head. He¡¯d be impressed with how headstrong Rosemary was if this wasn¡¯t the middle of an interview that was being recorded. His head started to tingle in pain at the thought of that bit of anti selk cussing being on the record.


    ¡°Had that been all there was to the offer the foreign secretary would have never bothered to humour it.¡±


    ¡°And ¡®he hell does that mean?!¡±


    The communications officer spoke up. ¡°The line referring to ¡®un-happening¡¯ isn¡¯t a mistake.¡± She said as she quickly worked through her terminal. Finding the pictures she wanted to show she placed her terminal flat on the table and tapped it.


    With a burst two photographs blew themselves up in the middle of the table. One was of a male lesser selk, about Yujo¡¯s age from first glance, with all the tell-tale signs. His stature was shorter than the average selk and The webbing between his fingers went only to the knuckles.


    Where the selk eye had a prominent pupil, an all-encompassing window into the soul, a lesser selk¡¯s pupils were smaller, even in comparison a human''s eye.


    The other was of an almost human like who looked just like the lesser selk. The only thing setting him apart from a normal human being was the pointed ears.


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    Yujo and Rosemary exchanged a look of disbelief and turned their attention to the communications offer.


    In turn she nodded in confirmation.


    ¡°We can confirm that the photographic meta-data that these photographs were taken within about two hours of each other and at the same place. The only thing we haven''t been able to figgure out is how they took the photographs given the selk don''t have the technology to do that.¡±


    ¡°But that would mean¡­¡± Yujo interjected.


    ¡°Yes.¡± The grand marshal confirmed her suspicions. ¡°Whilst it isn¡¯t perfect it does look like the selk have a process to undo the turning.¡±


    At that instant, a mess of thoughts ran through Yujo¡¯s head. This was all too good to be true. If that was possible then why wasn¡¯t the queen holding new talks and using this as leverage?


    ¡°I don¡¯ buy it.¡± Rosemary shook her head. ¡°Not one word of it¡­¡±


    Ignoring Rosemary''s comments, the Grand Marshal passed a clutch of pearls over to Yujo to who picked them up. As Yujo turned them in her hands the marble surface of the blue spheres shifted like an ocean wave.


    ¡°What''s this?¡±


    ¡°We were told that these are a clutch of the queen¡¯s pearls. Simply put the queen has offered this as grantee that she will see to it that the turning is undone.¡±


    Yujo tilted her head, looking at the clutch of pearls which in turn reflected her face.


    ¡°From what the pack has told us these represent the queen¡¯s life. Once you are returned to us unturned, we are to give them back. If for whatever reason are not returned to us in your human form we will keep the perals. We would then be within our right to-¡±


    ¡°-to string the clear up?¡± Rosemary growled.


    ¡°In not so many words, yes.¡± The grand marshal sighed. ¡°On that note, Ms. McKenzie, we are still recording. I appreciate the reason why you have your sentiments, but could you please tone the language down?¡±


    Rosemary looked at Yujo, who nodded, and then sighed.


    ¡°¡­ Fine then, sorry. She¡¯s no¡¯ clear.¡±


    ¡®The Grand Marshall shook his head and then motioned to the communications officer.


    ¡°Finally, there¡¯s the matter of what you would be paid.¡±


    The communications officer took her terminal from the table. She pressed it a few times to bring up a new piece of information and then passed it over to Yujo.


    She read though the terms of her role as the land ambassador and then got to the part about pay. Her reading stopped as she tried to make sense of the number that had been printed on the paper.


    Surely, there couldn¡¯t be that many zeros?


    After a second of digesting the figure, she passed the terminal to Rosemary to read who turned pale in surprise.


    The Grand Marshall continued, ¡°That is the per year figure. It is the combination of your pay for the two years¡¯ service, which your employment in this role would cover, and the role itself. The pay itself was approved by Mr. Rawoul personally.¡±


    Over the course of three years, that would be more than enough to pay for St. Aldrin¡¯s outright.


    Yujo felt weak in the stomach. As much as this all sounded, they had just given her the exact reason why she would even think about agreeing to the mad scheme.


    She stammered as she placed the ensign¡¯s terminal on the table and lent on the for support.


    ¡°I¡­I need more time¡­¡±


    Rosemary made a movement to comfort Yujo but stopped short, holding her hand back.


    ¡°Yes. I think that is not an unreasonable reaction.¡± The grand marshal said and made a final motion to the ensign. She pulled something out of her pocket and walked over to Yujo to give it to her.


    It was her terminal, stickers and all.


    Tears began to well up as her throat began to tense up.


    ¡°Oh¡­thank you¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing at all. We, um, did have to delete the photographs you took like last time. To be honest, I don''t think you care about them right now."


    Yujo shook her head and wiped her face.


    The Grand Marshall stood up, ¡°I have been given authority by the state to give you a week¡¯s leave of your incarceration to consider the offer. Far be it for me to tell you how to conduct yourself but I would give it a lot of careful thought.¡±


    Yujo nodded before she looked at Rosemary. The agitation was still clear on her face when she stood up.


    ¡°Well, thank you and him ever so much for the charity.¡±


    Yujo sighed and stood up as well.


    ¡°The guards will take you and your guardian back to your home and will return in a week with your answer.¡± The Ensign started tapping her terminal to and make the necessary arrangements.


    ¡°Ms. Psalms?¡±


    Yujo looked at him, ¡°Yes?¡±


    He gave a small smile, stood up and walked over to Yujo. He then offered her his left hand.


    ¡°Let¡¯s try to not make this a common occurrence.¡±


    Yujo, surprised by the revelation that the Grand Marshall could smile at all, smiled back and took the hand to shake it.


    As the group walked out of the room, the guard stationed by the door stood to attention as they slipped out of sight.


    Alone he pulled his terminal out of his pocket and made a call.

 014

    The morning sun peaked through Yujo¡¯s window and washed over her face. She turned over to escape the all-enveloping glaze of the high season suns and mumbled in protest. The sun, indifferent to Yujo''s desires, began to message her back. Just as this message became comfortable, Yujo''s her alarm rang out.


    The holographic chick compelled Yujo back to the land of the living with a weak squeak of protest. She sat up on her bed and looked out of the window. Little dots, highlighted by mem''s orange skyline, popped in and out of her vision.


    Yujo yawned. She stretched with her arms out and reached to her bedside table to grab her terminal. As she twisted to reach she let herself get caught up in the duvet. She grabbed the rectangle and started at the time on the display.


    The date was Friday the 18th of Augustus. It was Half Six in the morning. With a gasp her eyes opened wide as Yujo realised what day it was. In a panic she tried to untangle herself from the mess. Failing to do so she groaned and sat up on top of her bed. She sighed, deciding to make the best of it, and summoned her agenda from her terminal which burst out the box in a ray of light.


    For longer than she would like to admit, Yujo stared at the only item on the agenda.


    ¡®Augustus 19th : Last Day before Choice.¡¯


    Rosemary and Yujo had made the conscious decision to not talk about how she was going to respond to the offer until she needed to. They both couldn''t decide which of the two reasons they could come up with fuelled the decision. It ether a desire to enjoy the week of freedom out of thanks to the goddess for the reprieve or it was a selfish desire to not deal with the situation. Regardless, the week of freedom had had flown by all too quickly.


    Yujo dismissed the calendar and with a pull she freed the terminal from herself and put it on the table. With an impressive effort, she pulled her body, still encased in the bed sheet cocoon, off of her bend and hobbled towards the mirror. She saw the sad, tired, selk-like creature staring back at her and grumbled. Shaking herself lose from her bed sheet she began her morning routine, the grumble still rumbling in her throat.


    Mornings at St Aldrins¡¯ was always a set routine. The adults would be up at seven and the children would be woken up about half a later. There would be half an hour for getting washed and changed, another 30 minutes for breakfast and finally an hour of morning hymns.


    The choir took place in a cramped church building that sat next to the main building. Given the size of the choir, which included all of St Aldrins¡¯ congregation, staff and children, it wasn''t big enough. Despite that it was always a place of calm reflection and sanctuary for Yujo. Not even her lack of singing ability, fueled by the million thoughts running though her head, could ruin that.


    Trying hard to counter the thoughts running through her head, she started to sing her favourite hymn, ¡°Praise to the Stars¡±. It was a comforting, if saccharine, song about how the souls of the departed watched over the world as the stars in the sky. For Yujo it was one of the only things she could relate to her parents. That comfort, the idea of them watching over her, was what she needed to help her though the tougher moments of anxiety.


    As the choir reached the end of the song. Yujo sighed as she was left to her thoughts again.


    ¡°Hey, Sister Psalms, are you alright?¡±


    Yujo opened her eyes to see one of the older members of the congregation. An impressively built old man with a golden beard.


    ¡°Oh, Brother Hogan¡­¡± Yujo said, unable to will the energy to correct the clergyman.


    He smiled. ¡°You haven¡¯t been as energetic are you used to be since Sister McKenzie brought you back. Is everything OK?¡±


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    Yujo started to carefully construct what she was going to say in her mind. She was told to keep the whole affair with what had happened when she went diving and the offer to herself and Rosemary.


    What laws she had broken her her pique were not to be discussed.


    As far as anyone was concerned, she had run off to take more photos, nearly drowned and was saved by her boat hand.


    For what it was worth that suited Yujo just fine. She had had quite enough of getting on the wrong side of the law for one life time. The thought of having to face the Grand Marshall¡¯s thousand-yard stare again sent a cold flush of dread down her body.


    ¡°Oh, I¡­I¡¯m just tired, Gene.¡± She said, burying her face into her hymn sheet. ¡°The accident just took the wind out of my sails, that¡¯s all.¡±


    Out of the many things that was on her mind, the ever-present need to not make the children worry about her ¡®accident¡¯ took centre stage. Avoiding the matter altogether was, she thought, the best way of doing that.


    ¡°Well, OK.¡± Hogan nodded. ¡°Just know we¡¯re here for you, alright, Yujo?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Brother. Thanks.¡± Yujo said, avoiding his gaze.


    Before anything else could be said, Rosemary¡¯s clapping called everyone to attention.


    ¡°OK everyone that¡¯s 10:00. Before we all leave for the day¡¯s activities I would like to make an announcement!¡±


    The room lit up with excited chatter as Rosemary made another call to order.


    ¡°A member of our congregation is going to be leaving for a little while. It is a very sad moment for us all as she has been with the Order and St Aldrins¡¯ for as long as it has been running.¡±


    Yujo¡¯s heart sank to the floor and her cheeks burned as she realised what Rosemary was doing.


    ¡°Our fellow sister, Yujo, is leaving to begin her national service starting tomorrow.¡±


    The chatter exploded as a room full of eyes trained themselves on Yujo.


    Yujo shot a hard look at Rosemary. She wasn''t sure if she should be embarrassed for herself or very annoyed at Rosemary. Part of her began to pray to the goddess to have Mem break open and swallow her whole right there and then.


    ¡°As some of you may know service in the militia is a lot of hard work. Because of that she won¡¯t be able to contact us often during her time. Please be considerate to her today as this is a big moment in her life. Is that all understood?¡±


    A collective song of confirmation rang from the mouths of the chior.


    As soon as Rosemary dismissed them, the excited chatter returned as they filed out of the church. Slowly but surely as the members of the congregation passed Yujo each one congratulated her and wished her luck.


    Her blush intensified, both out of self-consciousness and a little bit of shame.


    Soon enough only herself and Rosemary remained in the building.


    ¡°You know that was a lie¡­¡± Yujo¡¯s authoritative voice trained right at Rosemary who shrugged it off with a smile.


    ¡°Well, just a little bit.¡±


    ¡°J-Just a¡± Yujo sputtered. ¡°Rosemary! I don¡¯t you think that-¡±.


    Yujo¡¯s thought trailed off as she pulled out her terminal to look at the time.


    ¡°I-I don¡¯t have time for this!¡± Yujo declared out loud as she turned around and made for the door. ¡°I have to referee this morning football game and-¡±


    Rosemary grabbed Yujo¡¯s arm, stopping her dead.


    ¡°You¡¯re doing no such thing, Yujo Sippe Palms. I booked today off for the both of us and for once you¡¯re going to take your leave and you''re going to use it for yourself.¡±


    Yujo turned around, ready to rebuke the head nun but the smile she faced immediately disarmed her.


    She looked down at the ground.


    "¡­Yes, Sister McKenzie"


    With that, Rosemary let go of Yujo¡¯s hand.


    ¡°Good. Let¡¯s go have some coffee¡­¡±

 015

    Yujo saw her face reflected in the ink black pool of her cup of coffee. She looked at Rosemary who made no attempt to hide the pride at her coffee making talents. The cry of the seagulls pulled her attention to the balcony that she had found herself sitting at.


    This was Rosemary¡¯s private balcony. Sat on the third floor of St Aldran¡¯s, it was the one place she could retreat to when the world got to be too much.


    Yujo picked the cup of coffee and looked at it, clenched her eyes and took a sip. She instantly felt her tongue being dragged into the event horizon of the drink. Her spine tingled as her body took over. She uttered a childish ¡®bleh¡¯ and stuck her tongue out.


    Stifling a laugh, Rosemary took a sip. Her smile dimmed and she slowly laid the cup down. With a sigh she took the milk jug and poured some milk into the cup.


    In response, Yujo put a couple of sugar cubes into her coffee and watched them sink into the black abyss.


    They took another sip of their improved drinks. In unison, they let a satisfied ¡®ah¡¯ slip out in satisfaction.


    ¡°Rose.¡±


    It was the first time Yujo had called Rosemary by her pet name since the spat. Taken aback, Rosemary took a moment to consider her options. Deciding to not make a big deal of it, she reverted to the default.


    ¡°Yes, Yujo?¡±


    A wave of hesitation took over Yujo before she took another swig of coffee to drown her insecurities and spit her question out.


    ¡°What do you think I should do about the offer?¡±


    Rosemary carefully picked up her coffee with both hands and took another sip.


    ¡°Whatever your decision is I trust you to make the best decision for you, Yu.¡±


    Yujo tilted her head in confusion at the statement. It wasn''t much of an answer.


    ¡°I have so many hopes for you, Yujo. I mean, how can I not with how long we¡¯ve known each other? I see your photography and believe me, I know you will shine.¡±


    Rosemary nodded.


    ¡°I know whatever you chose, whether you fight the bogus charges or go through with that nonsense plan, that you will come out on top, Yujo.¡±


    The fact that Rosemary was so open about her feelings for the plan gave Yujo pause.


    Yujo shook her head, "But, Rose, you know how I feel. If I decided to go for the ambassador role, what makes you think I wouldn''t lose it?¡±


    Rosemary smiled, ¡°I know you won''t because you''re far too stubborn to let anything, including me telling you not to do something, from stopping you.¡±


    ¡°Gee, Thanks.¡± Yujo muttered, trying to escape Rosmary¡¯s beaming smile by staring into what was left of her coffee.


    ¡°Really didn¡¯t need the reminder of what got me here.¡±


    Rosemary took another sip. ¡°Whatever you do is beside the point. You are growing up into a beautiful young woman, Yujo. I hope and pray that you will be able to live the sort of life that my generation never had the chance to.¡±


    Another sip of coffee passed Rosemary''s lips. ¡°One day, I might even have the courage to tell you about my days during the war.¡±


    Yujo didn¡¯t say anything and stared off into the orange sky. She knew Rosemary was the one who saved her, that she was the one that shot the selk who would have killed her. What she didn''t know, and what Rosemary was hesitant to go into, was why she was there.


    ¡°Hey, come back to me, young lady.¡±


    Yujo blinked as Rosemay''s call derailed her thoughts. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry Rose. I was just thinking about things.¡± She said hiding her feelings.


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    ¡°Look, it doesn¡¯t matter what you are. Human or selk, I will be in your corner, OK? I will turn this whole planet upside down to help you if I have to.¡±


    Rosemary took a moment to drink the rest of her coffee before she continued.


    ¡°You will always have a home here, alright? That is all that¡¯s important. If everything went to hell tomorrow everyone, especially me, would be there for you.¡±


    A mess of stray thoughts and emotions started to flow in Yujo¡¯s mind. Her throat began to tighten as she could feel the tears coming on.


    ¡°I¡­¡± she said trying hard to fight it all back.


    ¡°Oh, Yu. Come here¡­¡± Rosemary said as she offered her hands out to her. Yujo stood up from her chair, her hands already trying to wipe away the tears, and walked over to Rosemary¡¯s embrace.


    ¡°Just remember, no matter what, you are still a child of the stars. We will be watching over you and making sure that you¡¯re safe.¡±


    ¡°Uh-bauh¡­¡± Yujo blurted out holding onto Rosemary and covering her dress in snot and tears.


    The moment that the two shared came to an end when Rose noticed a head peeking out of the balcony door.


    It was Nathan, now sporting a fresh cut on his forehead. ¡°Brother Hogan said you were here.¡± He said pointing at the fresh bruise on his forehead with a grin, ¡°I headed the ball really good!¡±


    Yujo turned around, her face dirty from crying.


    Even someone as painfully naive as Nathan could tell that she had been crying. A look of concern crossed his young face.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Are you hurt?¡±


    Wiping her hand across her face to clean herself up, Yujo stood up.


    ¡°No. No I¡¯m fine, Nathanial.¡± She lied and went through her pockets for a spare plaster she had on her. ¡°Sister Rosemary and I were just talking about my national service.¡±


    The only factor that allowed her to get away with such a blatant lie was the fact that she was talking to Nathan. He smiled as he took Yujo¡¯s seat and turned it around, waiting for the plaster to be put on his forehead.


    Yujo peeled the backing of the plaster off and applied it to the injury on Nathan¡¯s forehead. With a gentle "there", she patted it flat. She could barely see the smile he flashed before he stood up. With a quick "thanks" he ran off, tripped and landed face first on the ground. Before Yujo could do anything, he got up again and ran off.


    A moment past before Yujo turned to face Rosemary. She then closed her eyes.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to accept the offer.¡±


    The small eternity that followed was only punctuated by the gulls calling to each other.


    ¡°I¡­ see¡­¡±


    Rosemary reaching out to pour herself another cup of coffee.


    ¡°I can¡¯t let you go through all of that with the courts and I want to do anything to help St. Aldrin¡¯s. If that means being a selk for three years, then that¡¯s nothing.¡±


    Rosemary took a sip of the coffee and then took a moment to collect her thoughts.


    After a moment, she sighed.


    ¡°OK then. Go after him, Yu.¡± Rosemary said as she stood up.


    ¡°Rose?¡±


    ¡°The children of this orphanage are as much your family as I ever will be, Yujo. It''s going to be a while before you''re back so go and spend the rest of the day with them.¡±


    With a nod and a wordless ¡®thank you¡¯ in her smile, Yujo turned around and left.


    Alone, Rosemary looked up to the clear orange sky and clenched her teeth as she felt the rain run down her face.


    ¡°Goddamnit¡­¡±

 016

    ¡°Alright everyone, let¡¯s give Yujo a big send off! On three; One¡­ Two¡±


    The cheering billowed out of the terminals¡¯ small speaker. The people in the video were calling after Yujo in the same way they had done the week before.


    It had been the fifth time this morning that Yujo had watched the video of the entire congregation cheering her on and wishing all the best. The springs on the standard issue militia bed creaked as she turned to her side. As she moved to get a better angle of the video projection the projection lit the room as its only source of light.


    Yujo pressed the face of her terminal. In an instant the video stopped and dissolved into the clock.


    04:50.


    She could feel her entire body pulsing to the blinking of the clock. She stifled a groan. It was far too early to get up but also too late to go back to sleep. Any attempt to get any further rest before half past five, when reveille would blast out of the speakers, would be in vein.


    Yujo was told under no uncertain circumstance by the wizened old man of an instructor, when the clock struck 5:30 she would be dragged out of bed kicking and screaming. The screaming would come primarily from him command her to do laps if she wasn¡¯t up and changed as soon as the song ended.


    What she had done to offend him, Yujo still didn¡¯t know.


    Of course, that was but one of the many infractions that could get her into bother with the instructor. If her bed was not completely tucked in and neat she would be having laps for breakfast. If her head had one single hair out of place she would be having laps for lunch. A single sneeze out of line would mean three square meals of laps.


    In the last five days, she had done more running then she thought she ever would in her entire life. She could still feel her short legs screaming at her for it to stop.


    It had only been five days and Yujo couldn¡¯t figure out for trying how anyone could stand this sort of treatment for the training period of six months. Only five days in and she was ready to throw in the towel. The idea of going to Jail sounded like a pleasent alternative.


    With an echoing groan she turned over and turned the video back on.


    ¡®Alright everyone, let¡¯s give Yujo a big send off! On three; One¡­ Two- ¡®


    Before the cheers could begin, the lights burst on. A reveille, just loud enough to be uncomfortable, blasted out of the speakers above the only door of the room. Out of an instinct that could only be born from running over a hundred laps in a week, Yujo leaped out of bed. Her mind on auto-pilot, she quickly tidied her bed, stood at attention in her pyjamas and waiting for the door to open. She also braced herself for the instructor to shout at her for getting something wrong.


    ¡°Miss Psalms?¡±


    The soft voice that rang out wasn¡¯t the same one that had been giving her a verbal dressing down each morning. Instead it was the voice of the communications officer that had been present during the meeting. The door opened to reveal the young, dark skinned and dark velvet haired woman dressed in the official uniform of the Abraham Militia¡¯s communications branch. She stood in front of the door with her terminal in her hand.


    ¡°Oh. Uh¡­¡±


    Yujo, addled from the panic, drew a blank on her name.


    The communications officer realised what was going on, smiled and walked in. ¡°Christmas, Christmas Mamusul¡± she said as she extended her hand and offered a warm smile. ¡°Though most people just call me Chrissie¡±


    Relived, Yujo sighed and accepted the hand. ¡°I thought you were the drill instructor.¡±


    The smile warmed, ¡°Nope. Just me. The Instructor told me to tail you today. Sorry about the pun it was his. He said that given the time we¡¯ll be working together, it would be ideal to do this every so often.¡±


    It was Yujo was that Chrissie was going to be her personal contact point to the HQ during her time as the land ambassador. She would be the first line of contact for the militia and the government. They also stressed that she would also provide emotional support.


    ¡°Oh, is that so?¡± Yujo said, her gaze shifting away. ¡°I honestly didn¡¯t think he cared.¡±


    Christmas stifled a laugh and shook her head. ¡°Well, in any case I think his heart is in the right place.¡±


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    Yujo gave her a sour look. ¡°What heart?¡±


    Christmas couldn''t help but laugh out loud.


    ¡°I can see where he gets that reputation. To be fair, in the years I¡¯ve known him I don¡¯t think he¡¯s opened his heart to anyone. He¡¯s a very methodical man.¡±


    Yujo thought for a moment before , ¡°Is it alright for you to be saying that?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­¡± Chrissie pressed her finger to her face in thought and then winked.


    ¡°What he doesn¡¯t hear won¡¯t kill me.¡±


    ¡°Uh-Huh¡­¡±


    Yujo shrugged, trying her best to remain indifferent to the politics of the Republic.


    ¡°Well in any case, I have your schedule here and we start at 06:00 with exercises so I¡¯ll step out to allow you to get changed.¡±


    With that, Chrissie left, leaving Yujo to change into the militia uniform that had been given to her. She opened the locker next to her bed and looked at the outfit.


    It was a smart outfit, more suited to the sort of thing you¡¯d see stewardesses wear on cruise ships. The only word Yujo could use to describe it escaped her lips.


    ¡°Twee.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t as if she would be wearing it long. All it was used for was the morning and evening singing of the Republic national anthem. For the rest of the day she would be wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt for physical training.


    She quickly got changed, looked at the mirror in the locker and adjusted her hat as best she could.


    She sighed. It was never going to look right. Accepting the cruel reality of her hat, Yujo walked towards the door.


    She reached the door to knock it and then paused.


    ¡°Miss Mamusul?¡± She called out to the door.


    It took a second for Chrissie to reply.


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking¡­¡±


    Yujo closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she continued. There was something she simply had to know.


    ¡°¡­Why on earth did you stay with the militia after your service?¡±


    The woman on the other side of the door went quiet for a moment before she could be heard sighing. ¡°Honestly? It was the only option for me.¡±


    Yujo had not expected that answer.


    ¡°My sister can''t afford the tuition for me to do anything else. Mom died during the war and one night my father and Frah had a massive falling out about it. Threw us both out. I was five at the time.¡±


    Yujo started to feel that sense of shame she had felt when she was talking to Rosemary about her taking photographs of the selk.


    ¡°To make a long story short, my sister was able to support the two of us. I couldn¡¯t go to college on the money she was making so I did my national service out the back of high school and never looked back, really.¡±


    Yujo bit her lip. It was easy to think that everyone had the same story as her. Being surrounded by children who had stories of ether losing or being abandoned by their parents as a result of the war.


    She sighed and slumped against the door.


    ¡°I am so sorry I asked, Ms. Mamusul.¡±


    A light laugh came from the other side of the door. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Chrissie said, ¡°I have nothing against him myself. I was five so it¡¯s all a big blur to me.¡±


    Yujo looked up to the ceiling, watching the light buzz in and out.


    ¡°Frah, on the other hand, oh that¡¯s something else altogether. Everything she¡¯s said to me suggests that he was something of an ass who fell apart the moment mom died and only got worse as time went on."


    It was then Yujo realised where she had heard the name ¡°Mamusul¡± before.


    Pulling out her terminal, she quickly thumbed through the contact cards and found the card she was looking for.


    Staring right back at her was the boat hand, Rahem Mamusul.


    "Say, Ms. Mamusul..."


    Christmas made a noise confirming she was listening.


    Yujo opened her mouth to ask her question before her common sense kicked in and she closed her mouth.


    "N-No, it''s nothing." she said as she picked herself up from the floor and dusted herself off.


    "I''m opening the door now ok?" she said as she opened the door. As the door gave way, she could see the last moments of Christmas wiping her face.


    She quickly noticed Yujo and stood to attention with a smile.


    Yujo, not wanting to trouble the communications officer, returned the smile. With that, the two walked out of the barracks to start her training.