When Milky died I loved and comforted my sister.
When Ly Li died I feared her.
Within a span of three days we went like this, from helping each other cope with an unfeeling newscaster to looking at each other with cold glances across the room.
Not even the golden music box, which was so beautiful and played so lovely a melody, could soothe my fear.
To see Milky's mangled body at the bottom of the cliff and believing that Ly Li had...and then to see her own hanging corpse, and to realize that someone had to have done it. And that this someone was probably...
Even Kiril couldn't be approached with this. He loved us both; that was why he gave us the music box. Alone I had to live with this fear and hope it didn't come true while the time passed slowly.
Finally the selection was drawing near.
Kiril was nervous, Irina was nervous, and I was nervous.
The two of us were summoned to the Temple, then, and on that day it was if a spell of silence was over all of us.
I woke up and went downstairs, and the only sound was my footsteps and the clump of snow falling off the roof outside.
Kiril and Irina were already up and waiting for me in the kitchen. Neither of them had smiles on their faces, but, seeing me, he at least tried.
I tried back.
The kitchen light looked so dim today, it was only lazily giving light over us. There was a humming somewhere, it might have been from the fridge. Looking down at the floorboards, they also looked grungy—there had been no one cleaning for a while.
I took a deep breath, "Is anyone hungry?"
"I had some of your leftovers from last night," Kiril said.
Irina shook her head. "I'm not hungry."
"You really should eat something, even if you're not hungry. You need to keep your strength up." I walked around her in a wide circle and went to the fridge, looking aimlessly for something to eat. There didn't seem to be anything left from last night.
"...I'll be fine..."
With a sudden cheer, I heard my beloved speaking from behind, "I made sandwiches for you, in case either of you got hungry."
"Oh?" Kiril never makes food for us, even if it's as simple as assembling meat and bread, he lacked the confidence. But, after all, it was a special occasion. "Thank you, beloved."
He smiled at me. I tried back. "It's nothing. We should hurry and prepare so neither of you are late. If you were late for the selection, it would be awful..."
On the ride to the Temple, Irina didn't look at me and I didn't look at her. We spoke only to Kiril. Kiril spoke only to both of us, as though believing that he could bridge the gap by his presence or by keeping the music box close.
It was a very long journey and poor Kiril just made it longer.
But, we made it.
Somehow we made it. I could see the Temple in view; there were a lot of people outside waiting to see us.
And then when we stepped inside, there was no one.
No one but the agents of the Senate, that is.
Kiril they made wait outside.
And we walked side by side with just a scientist ahead of us, my little sister and I, and we didn't say a word.
They brought us into the center of the Temple for the final test.
Of the two of us, one would become selected to be the new 'Ma'.
...
The end result was: