Reina quietly sipped her tea, trying to sooth her weary throat after hours of talking. She was glad she'd brought Mora with her to take up some of the burden.
Monarch Orvenii stood by the windows, staring out at the grey, undulating surface of Inkopolis Bay. She hadn't said anything for nearly ten minutes. Chief Pein sat on one of the couches, hunched over, hands clasped tightly together, staring at the floor. He looked like a person staring capital punishment in the face. Halmir Brentuk, Minister of Foreign Affairs, sat across from him, his head in his hands, letting out an occasional groan.
Mora sat with her hands tightly clasped together on her lap, probably feeling out of her depth, but angry enough to avoid looking meek. She glared at the two despondent inkyar with bitter disappointment.
After Reina finished her cup, she could take no more of this silence. "So, is anyone going to do something or are you just going to keep moping?"
The two inkyar barely reacted but the Monarch pulled herself from the window and Reina marvelled at her self-control. Her mantle barely indicated her sour mood. She sat on the chair across from Reina and fixed her with a firm gaze.
"You really believe all this?"
"I don't want to," Reina admitted, "but I do. The Octarian ambassador pretty much confirmed everything I was told by the girls and the octolings in Inkopolis and…"
Orvenii leaned closer. "And?"
"I went to see Arch-Priestess Tanal the other day, at the Vasilika. Her Hallar guards carried out their own little test, apparently. They acknowledged the girls as warriors, but they weren't exactly happy about it." She looked pointedly at the two inkyar, who flinched.
The Hallar were most infamous for carrying out the Ecclesiarchy's divine mandate for maintaining the sanctity of children. Reina herself had grown up and spent her young adult life hearing stories about abusive parents and kidnappers receiving visits from hallar, often with messy results, including one infamous incident of an abusive enforcer officer who thought a member of the elite enforcer corps had no reason to fear any other warrior. When the paramedics carried him out of his house after a hallar's visit, he looked like a crumpled piece of paper.
"Did they say anything else?"
"Not that I know of, but I doubt they're just going to drop it. Anyway, that's a whole other issue. What are you going to do?"
Orvenii leaned back in her chair and thought. "A non-aggression treaty would be nice for peace of mind. Whatever anyone might think, it seems like the desire to fight has gone out of the Octarians."
"It's not going to be that easy," Brenuk said, finally liberating his head from his hands. "We don't know what kinds of demands they'll make as part of the non-aggression treaty. What if they push to get their land back as part of it?"
"So what if they do?" Reina asked. "We haven't exactly been using it."
"That's not the point. The point is that, according to the terms of the old treaty, that land is ours now, land that our people fought and died for during the war. There would be a lot of resistance in the Assembly if that were one of the conditions, and we all know who'd be carrying their banner."
Reina clenched her beak. True, no matter what the monarch wanted, she couldn't make peace with the Octarians without the approval of the Assembly and Keeper was going to fight beak and hook to make sure they didn't get it, the miopic fool.
"So what can we do? What more can the Octarians do to prove they genuinely mean peace this time?"
"He'll probably just say they should surrender," Chief Pein grumbled, speaking up at last.
Brenuk flashed a dark purple. "Probably. He was especially bitter about the way the war ended. He's always maintained we should have kept fighting until we forced them to surrender."
Orvenii's mantle rippled red with bitter memories. "Which proves that the compromise we reached really didn't work."
Orvenii had started her political career during the war, after the near death of her soulmate in battle, the identity of whom she had never divulged. As the war neared its conclusion, two factions were created within Calachora, with one side wanting to end the war with peace negotiations and resolve old hatreds, while the other faction didn't want to stop until the Octarians were forced to unconditionally surrender, arguing that completely abolishing the old Octarian regime, was the only way to be sure the Octarians would not be a threat in the future, bitterness from their loss driving them to make war again someday.
The conflict between the Resolutionists and the Abolitionists became nearly as intense as the war itself, as the Calachoran population became divided along one-side or the other, splitting families and households. Orvenii had been a staunch Resolutionist while Keeper and a certain Craig Cuttlefish, had been equally passionate Abolitionists.
As the Octarians moved underground and war weariness had finally taken root, the two sides reached a compromise, ending the war by leaving the Octarians stuck underground where they could still carry on their culture but with the Octarians not being forced to surrender. Nobody had been happy with the compromise, with people on both sides arguing that it was the cruelest fate they could unleash on the Octarians short of genocide, but it was the only conclusion they had been able to reach. Now, they were paying the price for that bitter compromise.
"Are things in those domes really that bad if they can afford to field such a large army?" Brentuk asked.
"The Octarians have always been a martial people," Orvenii said. "And as long as they don't have any kind of official peace, they're going to maintain that army, regardless of what it costs."
Pein clenched his hands together. "And that's not an army we can take on right now. We've managed to scrape together a staff for the militia and we're getting plenty of applications, but they'll be mincemeat for an already established army."
"Why do we even need one?" Brenuk asked. "We have these two girls who basically stopped invasions all by themselves. Why can't we just use them to force the Octarians to accept some kind of arrangement?"
"They are not tools!" Mora shouted, her mantle flaring to magma. "They're young girls, who only did what they did because some people weren't doing their jobs properly!"
"You're out of line, Matron."
"You're out of line."
"Enough!" The monarch's voice silenced both of them. She looked a little irate herself. "If we were to use those girls to conduct some kind of war, it would only validate what Callie and Marie did. Besides, we'd probably bring the whole Temple of Retribution down on top of us."
Reina winced. The Temple of Retribution was the home of the Hallar, and she had no doubt word of Three and Four had reached them by now. What would come of that, she didn't know. They always had their own way of doing things.
"It's worse than that," Pein argued. "If people found out a bunch of kids were fighting to protect Inkopolis for years without the NSF even knowing about it, they'd lose all faith in us."
I can relate. Reina thought darkly.
"Fortunately," Orvenii continued, "They and the Octarians in Inkopolis believe it's in their best interest to keep all this information confidential. It won't last forever but hopefully it will last us long enough to get out of this crisis. We'll have to keep this information from leaking to the general public or the Consortium breathing down our necks will be the least of our problems."
"Breathing down my neck, you mean," Brentuk said sourly. "They keep calling Callie and Marie mass-murdering psychopaths. The Consortium ambassador met me the other day, telling me that, in a city where any murder is rare, we can't deny anyone planning the mass slaughter of hundreds of crabs has to be mentally unhinged."
Reina's temper flared, but Pein spoke before she or Mora could.
"Hypocrisy at its finest. We know what those crabs had planned. They weren't going on a picnic."
"Regardless, I have to agree that Callie and Marie are a danger to public safety. No sane teenage girl would ever–."
"That's enough," Orvenii snapped. "You are not a psychologist, Minister Brentuk, I suggest you keep that in mind. Let's focus on what we need to do to de-escalate things with the Octarians and the Consortium."
Rebuffed, Brentuk glowered briefly in Reina and Mora's direction before he continued. "Fine. Keeping Callie and Marie under protective custody will keep them mollified for now, but not forever. They've already been tried by the Consortium courts and found guilty and sentenced to death."
"A nice distraction from the fact that they completely wrecked their plans for hitting us from behind while they invaded Bellchora," Pein grumbled. "That's what they're really upset about."
"Their army is one of the largest in the world," Brenuk reminded him. "We can't stop them from taking Bellchora with force, that's why we've been trying to hit them economically."
"Well we can stop them from invading us with force. Our Coast Guard is the strongest in the world."
Brentuk's mantle turned a dark purple. "Yes, because that worked so well stopping that massive force of crabs from almost wiping us out if not for a few teenagers that are apparently better at your job than you are."
"That's enough," Orvenii snapped. "For the time being, the girls will remain in protective custody. Chief Pein, you will make all efforts to make sure the Consortium is not hiding more of these clandestine invasion forces within our borders, and Halmir, you and I will have to come up with a way to get a non-aggression treaty with the Octarians through the Assembly. Can we count on your support for that, Matriarch Sansea?"
"Of course, Monarch."
"Then I believe this meeting is adjourned. Let's hope we don't get any more unpleasant developments for a while."
—-
Captain Cuttlefish resisted a sigh as he observed the first intake of trainees of Calachora's new Militia, trying and failing not to compare them to his agents as they went through their drills.
Things had seemed promising at the start. The first time they had been asked to form up, half of them (those from Xapheerel Ward) had actually formed some semblance of a proper parade formation. They'd clearly be observing the octolings. They had all shown eagerness to get started and learn how to fight, but things had gone downhill from there.
He sighed as he watched them all go through their drills with all the precision of wet cardboard. Begrudgingly, slowly, and sloppily, they went through the gymnasium's obstacle course, with their instructors barking at them almost ineffectually. His agents, he knew, could have done the same drills with their eyes shut and moved better, faster, more precisely.
"I guess nobody told them that the militia was a job," remarked the officer standing next to him.
Abrim Kelsar was a fine specimen of an inkling. Relatively tall for an inkyar, with a strong build and sharp blue eyes, he came off as quite handsome. Still in his early twenties, he nonetheless had a good reputation within Inkopolis Security and had been shortlisted to join the NSF before he'd transferred to the militia as one of its full-time officers.
"They have no context for how serious and important all this is," Cuttlefish lamented sadly. "The recruits from Xapheerell are actually doing alright. Their problem is that they're having to unlearn a lot of bad habits. It might help all of them if we could give them some kind of proper demonstration but…" he pulsed grey. "Not even an instructional video."
"Nobody's ever made instructional videos for this kind of stuff for Inkopolis Security either, Sir. I don't think even the NSF has any. They never use these kinds of tactics." Kelsar grimaced. "And for anyone used to turf war, moving this slow and methodical goes against the grain."
"If they fight like they usually do in turf war they'll be dead before they can do anything," Cuttlefish groused. "If we do end up fighting the Octarians, they won't be shooting non-lethal ink, and octoling venom is more potent than ours. Mobility is our strong suit but if you don't create opportunities to use it then it's pointless." He growled. "Being good at turf war only seems to be causing us problems."
"I know," Kelsar sighed. "There were a lot when I went for training for IS. Just a bunch of egos that couldn't handle what the job required. Most of them flunked out of the program. Some of them did end up being successful pros though."
"Those 'pros' would get eaten alive on a real battlefield. The basic rules and methods have barely changed since my day, but everyone thinks it'll play just like a turf war match. That's not how real war works."
"We'll drill it into their heads somehow, Sir. At least the worst of them have already quit."
The militia's numbers had dived after the first week. Not everyone had been willing to undergo the proper introductory training, the classroom and theory work, and nobody seemed to appreciate the necessity of parade drill and discipline. Too many had treated it like a game. Chief Pein had commented that the Xapheerellite members were probably there as spies and informants for Scylla (and therefore Callie and Marie), but Cuttlefish considered them a blessing as they'd been the most promising recruits of the lot and none of them had quit. They'd also been the best at incorporating discipline, and the result was that, despite their poorer turf war skill compared to many of the others, their overall performance in the tests and drills was on par if not better.
"I'm sure it will. The public is getting more and more worried about how vulnerable we are. Those that just up and quit will probably face a lot of fire for it. That'll help to motivate whoever ends up taking their place. The only problem is that we'll have to get them caught up."
Cuttlefish motioned towards the trainees with his hand. "It looks like they could use your help. Remember, you're an officer now so you need to get involved with your troops. Don't just leave it to the instructors."
Kelsar stiffened. "Yes, Sir." And then he trotted off.
Cuttlefish sighed again, feeling lonely. He was almost starting to miss Silvie's constant nagging and Marie's henning. At least the senior's complex he'd been forced to move into had one or two old acquaintances he could talk to. Not about this though. Most didn't know he had been the one drafted to make something of this militia.
Ideally, this militia wouldn't be necessary.
Callie and Marie had sacrificed their freedom in order to bring down the crab gangs and save lives and were now under constant watch by the government. Nobody was ever going to look at them the same way again. All to clean up someone else's mess.
The militia's creation, on paper, was an appropriate response to the situation at hand, but it was hamstrung by many of the issues still plaguing the nation at large.
The government insisted on using turf war pros because everyone else was needed for the workforce, so even those who wanted to join the Militia couldn't, at least not yet, because it was more important that they stay at work. It was similar to the reasons he had recruited Three in the first place.
He looked back at the recruits. Kelsar's presence was helping a little, but they were still having to whip some of the recruits to get them moving, and the resentment they displayed didn't go unnoticed.
If more than half of these kids aren't gone within the next couple of weeks I'll be surprised.
Craig Cuttlefish was a parent who could take pride in how well his children had turned out. Silvie had her issues but she'd still been an Enforcer back when the organisation was at its prime, and his son was an archeologist, one of the most prestigious and valued occupations in Calachora. Other parents of his generation couldn't be quite so proud, unfortunately.
He'd seen too many kids grow up misguided because their parents worked most of the time and simply didn't pay attention to their kids. Child misbehaviour was so widespread it was practically an epidemic. While many of them might have cleaned up their act since, many still lacked the sense of responsibility of the previous generation, and thus had never passed that onto their own children, as was plain to see with this lot. Was it any wonder Callie and Marie stood out so much?
Chief Pain was supposed to come by later to check on progress. He wasn't expecting the militia to be any kind of magic splat bomb, but he had obviously been hoping he could use it as some kind of asset. He would be disappointed.
The Militia isn't going to be able to save Calachora, that's up to Callie and Marie right now. He shook his head. If only people were willing to work with them. Looking back at the recruits though, he thought maybe it was understandable why everyone was so sceptical of the idea.
—-
Tephilla stood against the wall, listening as Scylla spoke on stage.
The building they were in used to be a hangar for coast guard ships before it was effectively abandoned, but still sturdy, and instead of ships, it was full of people, and the collection of so many forced her to unzip her jacket to maintain a comfortable temperature.
From the front of the building almost all the way to the back, people from across Inkopolis were packed in. Octolings, inklings, crabs, jellyfish, and anemones all faced the stage as Scylla spoke. Despite the young inkyora's lack of public speaking experience, she held their attention as she talked about her shoal's struggle against the Crab Gangs over the last few decades, leading up to the events of the Liberation.
"Looks like a matron tah me," Mia muttered.
Tephy had to agree. Although Scylla lacked the maturity and refinement of a matron or a priestess, she had the presence and charisma of one. And what she lacked in experience, she compensated for in passion, leaving her audience spellbound as she told her perspective on the events surrounding the Siege of the Hardware Store.
Tephy glanced at the curtains covering the backstage area. Tani was back there somewhere, acting as an extra guard for Scylla. It was obvious still felt guilty for what happened at the Bloody Circle, for all the octolings that had gotten killed, despite people telling her how remarkable it was that so many survived. She was starting to think that Tani would never get over it.
"Hey, mind if we stand here?"
Tephy and Mia glanced to the right. Two girls approached them, one with a seafoam-green mantle and the other a flying squid with dark-blue mantle fading to light-blue. Her eyes were the same dark-blue.
Tephy pulsed green, while Mia's mantle rippled with suspicion. She and Tephy were both wearing the jackets exclusive to those of Work Detail who participated in the Liberation, and there were only Five inklings who had received one. Ever since the day a large group of inklings had come to Work Detail, demanding help, an increasing number of young inklings had been snooping around the warehouse and Xapheerell. Tephy hadn't noticed at first but Mia had, and it was obvious they were observing them.
"[Who are you?]" Mia asked through tuk'yan?
"I'm Foame, this is Wren. We're here for the presentation."
Mia's mantle darkened but Tephy realised that it was actually surprising that only these two had approached them so far. Perhaps the rest were intimidated somehow or were more keen on the presentation.
Scylla had just begun the lead up to the climactic clash at Wharf 12. Foame kept her attention primarily on the stage but stole occasional glances at the two of them. Perhaps she was trying to place where they were during the events Scylla was describing.
"Nice jackets," she said suddenly. "They a new trend around here?"
Mia declined to answer but Tephy was torn. She didn't want to draw attention to herself but one of the whole points of this presentation was to be more open with the people of Inkopolis about the circumstances surrounding the Octarians and their associates, which now included them. She didn't want to undermine that effort.
"They were a gift. We helped, a little." There was no point in denying the obvious.
"Oh yeah? How so?"
Mia gave her a look that said she didn't need to answer but while Tephy noted it, she was starting to become more curious about what exactly this girl was up to. A gossiper would have more likely asked specifically if they had taken part in the liberation or if they had been part of some specific part of it, like the assault on Wharf 12 Scylla was now describing. She had just gotten to the part where they were rescuing the hostages.
"We helped with the wounded, mostly. A lot of octolings lost arms and legs fighting the crabs."
Foame's friendly smile faded and she displayed condolences. So, the girl had a sense of decency then.
They listened as Scylla described the carnage that followed the rescuing of the hostages. It was not a glorified portrayal she gave, and she kept the description brief until she got to the giant crabs.
The screen on the wall behind Scylla lit up and a projector displayed an image of the two enormous crabs marching on the liberating force in all their grotesque appearance, drawing deep gasps from the audience. Evidentially, one of the inklings Scylla had posted on overwatch on that day had snapped a few images. The single shot, taken at an oblique angle from one of the low-rises near the wharf, showed their huge size compared to the rest of the crabs and the inklings and octolings making the assault.
Foame's reaction was one of horror. Even her silent companion, Wren, had her droopy eyes wide open as they stared at the two monstrosities. For Tephy though, no crabs could be more horrible than that horde of smaller, soldier crabs. The constant noises of their marching legs on the pavement, the horrible sound of their carapaces scraping together as they climbed over one another in an attempt to get at the people trapped inside the hardware store. She still had nightmares about it and just the memory of that sound made her skin crawl.
Scylla soon wrapped up her part of the presentation and then, to the delight of all, introduced Pearl and Marina. The audience's spirits were immediately uplifted and they cheered the replacement of the grotesque monster crabs with two of Inkopolis' top idols. Foame, however, actually seemed to lose interest.
"Did you have to fight those things?" She asked quietly.
Tephy and Mia both flashed red.
"Did you think you'd have to when you joined?"
Tephy frowned and both she and Mia stared at her. Foame kept her eyes on the stage but her eyes were clearly focused inwardly.
"Joined what?" Mia demanded, speaking to the stranger for the first time.
"Callie and Marie obviously put something together. If it's not an army then what is it?"
Tephy and Mia shared a look, the same question now passing between them. She decided it was easier to answer the earlier question.
"We just wanted to help any way we could. We knew what was going on was important. We didn't actually know there would be any fighting."
They'd showed up at Work Detail wanting to help, ignorant of what was actually about to take place. However, Marie had given them the important task of guiding Ambassador Betanuss around the ward and keeping her out of danger. Various events got them involved in the Siege of the Hardware Store, with Tephy trapped within the store with the Ambassador, her bodyguards, and Gamma-Three Splatoon. Mia had managed to sneak around the crabs, find the van jamming their communications, and bring help.
"But you still did something, and you're still a part of it." Foame indicated their jackets. Tephy couldn't help but grasp her new garment with a little self-consciousness. Although they hadn't technically been members, their splatoon patch was that of Gamma-Three – now also known as Four's Formidables. The garment was considered appropriate given their involvement. Receiving the jacket next to Mia had been one of the highlights of her life and she would never forget it as long as she lived.
Marina began talking about her life story, how she grew up, her education, her training as a soldier, as an engineer. She spoke about how they were raised to hate inklings, to believe they were responsible for the conditions in which they lived, that they had taken everything away from them.
The audience listened, stunned as images formed in their heads of what it must have been like for Marina to grow up in such conditions. Tephy herself couldn't imagine never being able to see the sun; although, she could relate to not seeing her mother again. In that way, she related to the octolings.
But at least they know their mothers love them. Tephy didn't have that comfort.
Marina told everyone how Octavio, the Octarian leader for over a century, had done everything to prepare them for a war to take back everything that was theirs, to defeat Inkopolis once and for all. However, Octavio's plans were foiled by the New Squidbeak Splatoon, a rogue operation which included Callie and Marie.
Marina looked misty-eyed as she told them about the inkantation, how it freed the minds of so many Octarians to a whole new reality, how it prompted her to leave the army on her own, where she eventually wandered to Mt. Nantai.
It really was touching as Pearl and Marina described their first meeting, how they became friends and then partners. Marina's descriptions of her first time actually visiting Inkopolis, of seeing all the sights, eating more food than she ever thought was possible to exist, and learning all kinds of new things made Tephy realise how privileged her life had been, even living in the Orphan's Temple.
Marina wrapped up her part by describing how the majority of octolings had arrived in Inkopolis, how Octavio had been deposed by the Octarian government for his actions against Inkopolis, and a new Dictatrix put in his place that wanted to work towards a peaceful resolution.
Out of the corner of her eye, Tephy saw Wren nudge Foame once and the other girl cleared her throat.
"If some people wanted to… join your group, how would they do that?"
Tephy stared at her. Why did she want to know something like that? Why would she want to join them? Actually, did they really have a group? They were just a collection of individuals, really. Technically, she and Mia were still under the guardianship of the Orphan's Temple, the New Squidbeak Splatoon had been disbanded (technically), and Work Detail was a non-profit group to help Octarians find work and adapt to life in Inkopolis, while Scylla's shoal was its own thing. They were different groups working together…
Wait, a lot of the Work Detail girls have pledged some kind of fealty to Three and even though Kifi's technically in charge of Work Detail when it comes to day to day things, Three acted as her superior during the ceremony… What is actually going on? What are we? If she had to label it as anything, she would have called it… a shoal.
Scylla came back on stage to wrap up the evening.
"Thanks everyone for coming. There will be more info nights like this one in the next few weeks for everyone who couldn't make it to this one. We'll be 'avin' one on the weekends too. With so much confusion around, it's good to have actual facts to work with, and that's all were tryin' to give ya'. Ya' ought tah be smart enough to take it from there.
"Couple of other things to think about: the Consortium is gonna' do everythin' it can to 'cause trouble, including tryin' tah make the other crabs in Inkopolis look like they're involved with what 'appened. We can't let 'em do that, so make sure you take any nasty rumors with a ton a' salt.
"Also, Xapheerell Ward is gonna' start openin' up for new development so be careful movin' 'round 'cause there's gonna' be a lot of work bein' done. Feel free to tell everyone ya' know about what you've learned. The more facts we got goin' 'round, the better."
With that everyone was dismissed and the buzz of conversation rose as everyone slowly made their way out, chatting energetically about everything they had just seen and heard.
"Why didn't she mention the peace talks?" Mia wondered aloud?
"Probably because they haven't actually happened yet. Callie and Marie set everything up but they haven't officially spoken to anyone in government."
Mia crossed her arms. "They barely mentioned all the work Callie and Marie did tah try and make nice with the Octarians. 'ow are we supposed to get 'em outta' this "protective custody" they're in if people don't realise 'ow important they are?"
"Because they're afraid."
Tephy and Mia swivelled their heads to look at Foame. She had spoken so quietly they'd barely heard her over the shuffling feet and chatter of the crowd.
"What?"
Foame crossed her arms over her chest and her mantle turned purple. "Is there any chance I could meet with some of the people in charge around here?"
Mia's mantle turned burgundy. "Why do you need to see 'em? What makes you so special?"
Foame met her gaze unflinchingly, with a big smile on her face. "If you wanna' find out, get me to see 'em. They'll wanna' hear it anyway and I have something I wanna' ask 'em. It's not like you're some corporation where I have to go through seven middle-manager types just to talk to someone, are you?"
Mia's mantle darkened threateningly but Tephy put a hand on her arm and whispered to her. "Something about this girl… she's more than she seems. I bet she's with those people Scylla told us were snooping around."
Understanding dawned in Mia's eyes, though she kept her mantle dark. She locked eyes with Foame.
"If you're just some autograph 'unter, I'll personally break your face."
Foame laughed. "Oh, don't worry, I'm not that kind of fan."
Mia's lips pulled back in a snarl and then she turned and walked away, heading backstage.
Ten minutes after Mia left, they were all sitting in a disused office. Foame sat on one end of an old table with Wren sitting tightly next to her. The confidence and control she had displayed before out in the hangar had all but vanished as she fidgeted nervously under gazes of everyone in the room.
Pearl and Marina, as the only actual members of the Work Detail executive board present, were the ones to sit across from them at the table. Marina seemed amicable as ever but Pearl's normally nonchalant attitude had adopted a bit of an edge, a firm gaze locked on the girls. Three stood on Pearl's left and Kifi on her right, standing at parade rest.
Everyone else was standing along one of the room's walls, as puzzled as anyone else as to what the two girls could be doing there.
Finally, Pearl asked, "So? What do you want?"
"A few questions," Foame said. "And maybe a few offers too."
"An offer? What kind of offer?"
Foame clenched her hands atop the table. "I was one of the inklings that went to Work Detail a little while ago."
"I remember you," Three said. "I also remember telling you to make an appointment next time."
Three's mantle turned burgundy and Foame's mantle flashed with apology. "I know that's what you told us, but you see, I'm not here on behalf of our parents, I'm here on behalf of all the other kids."
"What other kids?" Pearl demanded.
Wren reached into her backpack, watched closely by the room's guards, and pulled out several stacks of papers, which she placed on the table.
Pearl's mantle displayed interest. "A petition?"
"Yes, a petition signed by people who want in."
"With what?" Marina asked.
"Whatever it is… this is." Foame gestured to everyone in the room. "You can't tell me you aren't some group working towards the same goal. Even if you haven't made anything official, I think you should. Even if people are all working towards the same goal, if you all identify as different groups, it doesn't have the same punch in the public eye compared to all of you working under the same banner, otherwise, people might doubt your unity."
Thoughtful expressions were shared amongst everyone in the room, even Three seemed to seriously consider that. It made sense though. The same principle worked in the Assembly. One of the reasons Matron Sansea was as powerful politically as she was was because Callie and Marie were members of her shoal and they exerted tremendous influence on the population with their status as celebrity idols.
Pearl stared at Foame for a moment, then at the petition, her mantle's serenity betraying a level of control Tephy could only envy. Then, Pearl looked towards Scylla and invited her to the table, then she ordered Three to retrieve the petition. Scylla occupied one of the chairs on the table's long edge, slightly closer to Pearl than the middle, and Three placed the petition down in front of her.
Pearl glanced through some of the pages the way one might skim a particularly thick book, then set her hand upon the stack and looked directly at Foame.
"You have questions?"
"Yes. My first question is whether or not you would be willing to train us as soldiers?"
Mantles flashed around the room, but surprise quickly morphed into suspicion.
"Why? Your parents haven't even come forward to answer whether or not they would approve of us training you in self-defence."
"I'm not here because of our parents. They're still too busy arguing among themselves and the matrons can't get them to come to a consensus. I'm here speaking on behalf of everyone on that petition, all kids like me who just want to make a difference, and can decide for themselves whether we want to learn self-defence or not."
Pearl lifted the first page of the petition in front of her, eyes shifting back and forth quickly as she read the contents.
"This says that this petition is for anyone who wishes to join the movement Callie and Marie started and become a soldier to control the future of Inkopolis."
"That's right. It's not good enough to learn self-defence, that won't help us if crabs can come out from anywhere at any time. We want to learn what we know works, to fight like soldiers, to fight like the Octarians do."
Tephy glanced around the room, noting the mix of confused and even contemptuous expressions. Of course, being a soldier wasn't an easy thing, and short of Three and Four, Tephy honestly had doubts to whether inklings could fight in the disciplined way the Octarians had. True, many of them were also fairly young, some even younger than Foame, but they had determination and steel, a result of their harsh upbringings. Even a poor family in Inkopolis lived better than any Octarian.
"This isn't a game," Scylla said harshly, echoing everyone's thoughts. "You can die, very easily. The Octarians 'ere know what they're fightin' for when they put their life on the line, which is what makes 'em stay there when a wave of crazed crabs are tryin' tah run over 'em." She leaned over the table and glared intensely at Foame. "What would you be fightin' for?"
Foame seemed to waver for a moment, like a bonfire struck by a gust of wind that threatened to blow it out, but she held herself upright and managed to look right back at Scylla.
"I'm fighting for not being kept up at night worried a bunch of crabs won't bust through the door and kill my whole family. I'm fighting for all my friends who I can't hang out with because our parents think just walking to Inkopolis Square and back is too dangerous. I'm fighting because certain people are trying to start another pointless war when it can easily be avoided and while we're being threatened by another, more powerful country! I'm fighting because you people seem to be the only ones doing anything about anything!"
Tephy frowned as she watched Scylla. Something like regret washed across her mantle, regret and pain. She wondered why.
Pearl looked over the petition again, and Tephy could almost see the weight of responsibility pressing down on her. She suddenly looked tired.
Foame settled back down and placed open palms down on the table. "I know we're asking for a lot. Believe me, I know more than pretty much anyone else how the government will probably react, but that didn't stop Callie and Marie from doing what they thought needed to be done. I know we might just come across as just a bunch of rabid fans, but we really want to help. Callie and Marie proved that they can walk the way they talk. They're the real thing, and you've proven you are too. We want to support you. Won't you let us do that? Can't we figure out a way?"
Pearl idly tapped her finger atop the stack of papers, staring unblinkingly at Foame for a long, awkward moment. "Are you a shoal leader or just the spokesperson?" She asked.
"Just a spokesperson," Foame said, bashfully. "We're not really a shoal, but we have the same goal."
"Are you willing to prove it?"
Faome stiffened, suddenly looking hopeful, but wary. "Yes, but what do you mean?"
"I don't mean your wanting to be soldiers. Watching the girls is pretty inspiring on its own; it's your commitment I'm taklin' about."
Mantles flashed green and heads nodded around the room. Foame glanced around, now looking more anxious than she had at the start.
"How would we do that?"
Pearl shifted from her casual sitting position to a more businesslike posture, leaning forward and steepling her fingers as she stared down the length of the table at Foame and Wren, her mantle turning a tyrian-purple.
"I don't buy this many people willing to go through what they'd have to in order to become real soldiers. Most kids can't even keep up with practising an instrument or attending an after school club, never mind sticking with training to be a soldier. I've heard what the Octarians go through and I can't imagine a lot of inklings willing to go through it. Too soft, too undisciplined, too disrespecting of authority."
Marina arched an eyebrow at Pearl, one tentacle curling in her direction. Pearl spared her only an indignant glance before continuing.
"If they want to be taken seriously, they have to prove they're worth the effort, they have to prove they're willing to help first." She pointed around the room. "Everyone here doesn't just do one job, they do whatever they have to for things to get done, whether it be fighting, building, cooking, cleaning, whatever. You people want to be soldiers, then you have to prove you can be relied on to do other stuff first."
Foame's arms drew inwardly slightly. "You want us to help with these new projects in the ward."
Pearl grinned. "You catch on quick. Yeah, we do. It's been working for the orphans, no reason it can't work for the rest of you. You gotta' be willing to help first. We can't just join up because you want to play soldier."
Foame's fingers curled. "Fine, it's safer in the ward anyway. We can prove we're willing to help and to work, if it means making a difference."
Pearl chuckled. "Some of you, maybe, but the girls will be making sure to weed out the ones who won't. It's not going to be a picnic."
Foame huffed. "I'm not afraid of a little work. How much trouble could it be?"
Tephy and Mia looked at each other and just grinned. This girl had no idea what she was in for.
Author's Notes:
I tried not to make the government seem incompetent, just stuck in their ways. Likewise, I didn't want to make our heroes seem unusually competent and capable of making mistakes. That said, our heroes are the experts here so I had to keep that in mind. Hopefully, it works.
