Dark Beauty written by Geia Akyama
Chapter 2-Day of many firsts

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Tulee bid her farewells to her family and stepped outside the little run down house in the Water Slums. Though it looked worse on the outside than it did on the inside and the Tulgars had this building all to themselves. Not many people were desperate enough to live in the decaying old area and even residents had to be careful of rotting boards underfoot.

Fortunately most people only got dunked once or twice before learning the tell-tale sound of the wood about to give way beneath them.

Weak sunlight pierced the gloom that hung over the slums and made the deep waters glow as though there were light from within the depths of the small man made lake inside the city. It would take hours before the strikingly cold water warmed sufficiently and even longer before some of the more adventurous would dare to swim.

Reflected light played over the budding young woman's clean knee length pants and pale orange shirt with a V neckline. The entire outfit had been a present on her last birthday and today, the day she finally achieved her Majority, seemed the perfect day to show it off. The looks she received from the young eligible men made the effort of actually looking like a woman tolerable.

Tulee smiled and nodded at a passing KG soldier and walked on. She knew most of the men that patrolled around the Slums. As the daughter of a once prominent commander she knew a lot about the inner workings of the Krimzon Guard and most of the low ranking grunts in her area, and in most of the sectors nearby, too.

The wooden planks thumped hollowly under the thin soles of her shoes. The sky lightened over head and clouds scudded lazily across it in the early morning light. Not the dark gray clouds of the late summer months but white fluffy clouds of early spring.

The young lady shaded her eyes from the early morning sun and looked off to the east and narrowed her eyes in remembrance. Just over a year ago the sky had opened up like a great mouth and spat something out near the Power plant. Some said a man was found in the wreckage. Others said a wonderful machine fell and shattered into a thousand shards upon impact, still others said that it was a weapon that Baron Praxis was working on.

There were so many different sides to the story that it was hard to tell what was truth and what was false. But there was one thing everyone agreed on; whatever it was that fell, the Barons personal guard had scooped it up and whisked whatever it was to the palace.

Not that she'd gotten a chance to see it. She'd been in the house tending her little brother, Airen, because he'd fallen ill. All she got from the incident was a racing pulse from the ground shuddering and a rather large bump from the ceiling collapsing right after that.

Tulee tossed an errant strand of purple-black hair out of her face as she entered the market portion of town. Being closer to the Palace than the slums it was much cleaner and in better repair than her home sector. Scents of fruits drifted through the air with the sweet scent of cooking meats flavored with spices and marinated in their own juices. Maybe she'd stop by the community kitchen to say hello to her mother later.

A pair of long slender arms shrouded in silk and weighed down with bracelets wrapped around her from behind and pulled her in for a bruising embrace. Tulee grunted in surprise and arched her back to get loose even while her assailant flung her around like a rag doll.

"Tulee! Oh I'm so glad we found you before you went to go get your first ever job! We were so afraid you'd go and just work you little tush off as soon as you gained your majority! You only turn eighteen once you know! Come on say something!"

Tulee panted heavily and got enough air in her lungs for one sentence before gasping like a fish out of water for a second time.

"You're crushing me!"

"She could talk if you let her Enira..."

The overly energetic Enira stopped crushing the unfortunate Tulgar and frowned. As far as brains went Enira hadn't gotten her fair share. However being born into a rich family and having extremely good looks the buxom young lady didn't have to do much at all.