"Wake up! Gods, Floa, get up!"
Floa felt herself being shaken awake once again, and just like before she opened her eyes to see Bran standing above her.
Hauling her up, he said, "Get up! We're needed topside. Abri sent me to get you."
Blinking her eyes to clear them, Floa realized that Bran was no longer wearing the casual shirt and shorts he normally wore; instead, he wore a thick tunic and matching long pants with a strange pattern of splotted browns and dark greens. On his feet he wore a pair of utilitarian black boots. Very strange.
"Why? What's wrong?"
"Captain thinks we're under attack. Just grab your gear and and I'll see you topside." Once again, Bran vanished through the hatchway and left her alone.
Floa looked back where her gear was. The ink gun and burst bombs were there like before, but no ink tank, strangely. Instead, there was a large, heavy backpack with the same pattern as Bran's clothes.
What does he expect me to do without an ink tank?
Regardless of her misgivings, she found herself putting it on, grabbing the weapons, and heading out the hatchway.
As she hurried down the corridor, she noticed that it too was different. The bright colours the ferry normally had were gone, replaced with a dirty white from floor to ceiling. It was as if some force had removed colour from the ship.
Upon arriving on deck, she found that the same monochrome treatment had been applied to the ship's exterior, the bright, colourful stripes gone, replaced with a non-reflective dull-grey. What had happened?
Bran stood by the railing, his gun trained on the rolling waves. "About time you got here. Enemies coming our way. Should be here any minute."
Enemies… Floa was sure now that whatever she had gotten herself mixed up in it was more significant than a mere turf war.
As she walked to Bran's side she looked up at the bridge just like last time and saw Abri, but she was wearing different clothes too. These looked more formal: black pants and jacket, shiny black shoes, and a sailor's cap of sorts.
I always thought skirts looked better on her.
The ship rocked as something struck it and someone shouted. "It's here! Find it, hit it!"
"We're trying!" Bran shouted back, scanning the surface of the water again.
Floa took a position a few metres further aft and peered down into the water to try and find those yellow eyes she vividly remembered from last time.
Someone screamed as a large black tentacle shot out of the water and came crashing down onto the deck.
"Shoot it! Kill it!" Abri shouted and ink guns started firing, pelting the tentacle as it slipped off the deck and back into the cold grey sea below.
The ship shuddered again and screams came from the other side of the ship. Floa guessed it was another tentacle but was it from the same source or a different one?
While others ran to the port side, Floa and Bran stayed.
Floa anxiously scanned the surface, searching for those golden eyes, but they found her instead. She nearly screamed when she saw those perpendicular slits looking back at her before Bran began shooting at the water, splashing it with ink, which had no effect.
A geyser of magenta ink burst out of the water and hit Bran squarely, sending him staggering back until he hit the wall of the superstructure and slid down into a sitting position.
"Bran!"
There was a rush of water and Floa turned back towards the sea as the creature below the waves latched onto the ship with two thick, black tentacles and hauled itself up. The ship groaned and listed with the weight of it. Floa had to prop her feet against the railing to keep from falling into the sea. Floa's jaw dropped as she looked at the massive creature and recognized it.
"Callie?"
The supersized Callie glared down at her and let out a horrible screech that sounded more like a mythical monster than the girl she'd just met at school.
Another shudder through the ship, and the list began to even out. The ship's groans echoed across the water.
Floa clambered away, rushing through an open hatchway in superstructure then shutting it behind her. She hurried straight through to the other side where she found the reason for the evened out list.
A giant-sized Marie clung to the ship with one tentacle, sweeping the deck with the other, knocking the inklings trying to shoot her into the sea or skidding along the deck.
Now, Floa was both bewildered and petrified. "What the heck is going on?"
The outburst drew giant Marie's attention and her tentacle lunged towards her. Floa screamed.
Floa sat bolt upright in bed, clutching her chest, eyes wide, hearts racing. She looked around frantically, finding the familiar surroundings of her bedroom.
The waxing moon shone through the window, casting a pale streak across her bed. Her toys were all tucked away into the corners, yesterday's clothes were still in a pile on the rug next to her bed. The sippy cup, which she always left on her night table also faithfully remained.
Once her breathing had calmed, Floa grabbed the sippy cup and took a long drink from it.
"That dumb dream again," she muttered, only it had been more like a nightmare. What she couldn't understand was why her mind had placed Callie and Marie as the actual scary parts of the experience. Before she never would have thought Marie even could be scary, now she couldn't get the memory of her callously sweeping people off the deck like discarded dolls out of her head. The giant Callie had been playful by comparison.
"Stupid dream," she muttered and put down her cup, settling back down under her covers. Hopefully, she could get another few hours of sleep before school started.
Floa was not a happy camper when she went to school that day. She was so tired after her untimely awakening that she was forced to admit to her mother that she'd had a nightmare to avoid a scolding for getting up late. Unfortunately, she'd still had to rush through her morning to get to school on time, getting through the classroom door just as the last bell sounded.
At least after three days of school she was starting to get used to her new routine and the way this school did things, though that didn't make them any less strange.
As she'd been told, there were no real crews at this school, at least, not in any official sense, just groups that tended to play and hangout together, but more than willing to let others play with them if they were respectable enough.
Yesterday, Callie had been introducing her to the other groups in their grade, proving that she wasn't nearly as unpopular as those boys yesterday had made them seem. While she doubted any of them would have called Callie a friend, they didn't seem to openly dislike her and were curious about Floa, leading to her spending her recesses answering questions, but at least that had kept those boys away.
Class A and B of third grade were combined for Gym class, forcing Floa to have to remember a whole other group of names and faces. The first day had been little more than orientation and stretches then basic exercise, probably to see how everyone stacked up and to get everyone used to exerting themselves. The gym teacher, Mr. Shooler, seemed to want to start them off easy. At least, that was what she thought until today.
"Today we're gonna' have a game of dodgeball," he announced, holding one such ball under his arm. "We'll start with just the basic variety today and move on to more advanced forms later in the year. You're all old enough now that you should know how to play without killing each other."
Some of the other kids looked at each other, many had worried looks, including Marie. Mr. Shooler addressed them sternly, "I told you that this class was going to be a competitive environment, it has to be, because life is competitive. You've got to bring your A-game at all times or else you fall behind or else end up going only half as far as you otherwise would have. A competitive spirit is what's kept our species going and gotten us to where we are today. I'm not letting your generation slack off, but I'll be a little nice today by letting you pick your own teams. Murl, Tandi, you're team captains. Make this quick."
Tandi Abbeloré was a girl with four long pink tentacles and sky blue eyes. Callie had introduced her yesterday and she seemed to have a broad base of friends and associates. Floa couldn't bring herself to trust her though.
Just like yesterday, she noted the quality of Tandi's clothing. Even though they were just gym clothes, the way they fit her and the material they appeared to be made of indicated they were of high quality. Only kids who were badly spoiled would wear such clothing for gym class.
Murl was also influential because his mother was one of the more prominent figures in the community. Floa was sure Mr. Shooler hadn't picked the two out of a hat. Were Tandi and Murl rivals? There might not have been crews at this school, but that didn't mean there weren't factions.
Murl won the coin toss to pick first and he obviously chose Admus and Drang as his first two picks. Tandi picked a girl named Raven and a boy named Grall.
Floa settled in for a long wait. She was brand new to the school and associated with Callie and Marie. She would undoubtedly be one of the last picked, and she seemed to be proven correct as Murl began picking from among the more popular kids in their grade, but to her surprise, Callie and Marie were picked near the start with no obvious objections on the faces of the rest of her team. Odd, she would have thought Callie and Marie would have been among the last picked, like her.
Floa was even more surprised when she wasn't among the last picked either, but somewhere halfway through.
"You've played dodgeball before, right?" Callie asked, jokingly.
Floa smirked. "You kiddin? Dodgeball was vicious at my old school. The other team better not cry."
"No aiming for the face," Marie said.
"Yeah yeah, I know."
Grumbling she looked over at the other team. A lot of them looked athletic and confident. "Other team looks pretty stacked," she observed.
"Lots of people from the school sports teams," Callie told her. "Baseball, basketball, but we don't have a dodgeball team." Callie smirked. She seemed pretty confident herself.
"So you think we'll win?"
To her surprise, it was Marie who spoke. "Tandi actually tries to get to know people. She picked everyone on her team for a reason. She also probably knew who Murl was going to pick before even he did. Like Callie said, we don't have an official dodgeball team."
Floa frowned. That didn't really answer her question, but then again, maybe she didn't want to hear the answer.
Once the teams had been chosen, everyone assembled on two sides of the main court, which had a dividing line across the middle where the balls were placed at regular intervals.
Marie waited with everyone behind the second dividing line on their side of the court, standing behind the row of their ball snatchers, who crouched with anticipation. They would have to run to pick up the balls then get back behind the second line before they could throw at the other team.
Floa stood on her left and Marie hid a disgruntled expression. She didn't like how much time Callie was spending with the new girl. She knew Callie was only trying to be a good friend and get someone new acquainted with their school, and normally, Marie had no issue with that, but Floa was different.
Floa had mentioned she was from Xapheerell, a place her mother had spent a lot of time in during her career in Inkopolis Security. It was the roughest and most crime-ridden part of Inkopolis and infamous for gang violence. While she didn't want to judge Floa, she did come off as aggressive and violent, not the sort of person a matriarch's family member should be associated with.
She still hadn't told her parents about Floa and she wasn't sure if Callie had mentioned she was from Xapheerell either, but she was sure they would have something to say about it if they did. For the moment, Marie was more concerned with whether or not Floa would be an asset to their team. If she fit the stereotype, she would be.
Mr. Shooler blew his whistle and they were off.
Grall reached the balls first, grabbing one and running back with it, tossing it to the nearest person still on the second line. Callie was next, managing to just grab hers before her opposite then tossed it to Marie even as she ran back.
Marie grabbed it and waited for an opportunity. Their team had managed to capture nearly three-quarters of the balls, thanks to Tandi picking members from Track & Field, but the baseball players on Murl's team were accurate and quick with their throws, taking out several on their team on the first salvo. Marie picked one of them out then threw her own ball, nailing him on the left arm and sending him to the jail at the back of their team's side of the court, grumbling.
Their team only managed to take down two of Murl's team but the game was far from over, so Marie waited for her next ball and her next target.
Normally, she wouldn't try to stand out so much and draw attention to herself but Callie wanted to win, and as Callie's manager she had to support Callie any reasonable way she could, so she was going to try to do her best. Wanting to beat Murl and his ilk had nothing to do with it, is what she told herself.
Floa stood in the enemy's jail with arms crossed. She'd been taken out after the first few exchanges, the bullies obviously aiming for her specifically among the others. They'd been aiming at Callie too but the girl had proven slipperier than an eel in an oil slick and had yet to be knocked out.
From her new position behind the other team, she saw that nearly everyone on Murl's team was in the front, while Tandi had most of her team in the middle. Murl had nobody guarding the jail while Tandi had three, including Callie, who had been moved there from the front row.
From where she stood, Floa watched as Callie caught one ball that should have gone over her head, but her long tentacles snatched it out of mid-air. A few of the kids in the jail cried out "cheater!" but Mr. Shooler quickly dismissed their claim, saying it was legal, and the match continued with barely a hiccup.
Marie, meanwhile, was firing balls from the middle of their turf. Instead of aiming for the upper body, Marie aimed for kid's legs, making it much harder for them to catch the balls or even notice a ball was coming, and she did it with remarkable consistency. After a few minutes, Floa started to see why.
Murl's team was so focused on the kids in the front row of Tandi's team that they didn't pay attention to the ones in the middle, because they usually came forward to throw their balls, but Marie didn't have to.
Floa gritted her beak and bounced impatiently, wanting desperately to get back into the game. When a ball finally arched her way and she caught it, she was determined to make a difference. If being a distraction was what would make their team win, then she was going to be a good one.
Floa walked back to the opposite end of the gym with her ball and then advanced into the game zone, moving past their jail, through the middle and to the front row.
She spotted Drang in the front row of his team, and while she was tempted to knock him out just for bragging rights, she wanted to win more than that, so she took the easiest shot she had, managing to hit a kid on the shoulder before she had to dodge a ball herself, but it wasn't nearly as hard as it had been at the start, and it soon became clear why.
What most of Murl's team probably hadn't noticed yet was that Tandi's jail was more full than theirs was. In other words, they were losing, they just didn't know it yet.
Although they managed to get a few balls past Callie and the other two guards it wasn't enough to compensate for the number of players they kept losing, and it inevitably led to a snowball effect with a predictable result.
Drang, had been the last one standing, and he'd proven a tricky target, even for Marie, but he couldn't hold out against the sheer weight of balls being thrown his way, and he was hit multiple times before Mr. Shooler blew his whistle.
"And that's game," he called. "Tandi's team wins."
Floa punched the air excitedly. "Yeah! Chew on that! Hey Murl, what's it like losing to a few freaks? 'Cause I wouldn't know."
"Floa," Callie scolded mildly, "it's not nice to gloat like that."
Marie added. "It's important to win gracefully as much as it is to lose gracefully. Besides, you'll make them angry."
Floa snorted, her mantle turning a dismissive purple. "Please, like I'm scared of those guys. It's nah like they can smack talk much right now."
"Even so, it's best not to antagonize them."
"Whatever. Where did you learn to throw a ball like that? You were 'ittin' targets from further back than anyone else."
Marie pulsed grey. "Just have a knack for judging distances."
"And that wicked arm?"
"It's not my arm. I just have better throwing technique than some of the others on our team. I just copied what the baseball kids usually do. This isn't the first time we've played dodgeball."
As they entered the changing room, Floa asked. "Do you usually win?"
Callie grinned. "We do when Tandi's team captain. If you want to hang out with us after school again you'll have a chance to get to know her better."
"I guess I will. No rush to get 'ome." Besides, Tandi seemed like a big deal among the kids in their grade. She could certainly pick a team. Getting to know her would probably be a good idea. Not a bad way to end her day either, considering how it had started. She would happily end it on a satisfying note after an extremely satisfying middle.
The three boys didn't bother them the rest of the day and Callie enticed Floa to join her, Marie, and a few boys in the sandbox to make a miniature city during lunch recess.
Marie had created a simple layout for them to follow in order to build as much as possible during the short time they had, while the boys used toys they had brought from home to make the roads as Marie directed, while the rest of them helped load up the toy trucks with sand or actually make the buildings from the dumped sand. Floa couldn't remember the last time she'd enjoyed playing in the sandbox.
After school, the three of them were leaving the school grounds and waiting for Tandi outside the gate with the parents. Floa was still riding high from their victorious dodgeball game.
Tandi arrived a few minutes after they did, with the Raven girl in tow.
Raven had her two navy-blue tentacles a little shorter than Tandi's, with eyes of matching colour. She tagged behind the pink girl as if on a lead, her head down. Like this, she seemed even more of a weakling than Marie had at first.
Raven too appeared well-dressed in neat, well fitting clothing that seemed brand new and much too fancy for most parents to let them wear at school where they could get dirty or damaged. If they were both from rich families that would explain their popularity, but people like that usually looked down on people from origins like Floa's.
"Hey!" Tandi greeted. "You girls were great today. Chalk up another victory for Team Pink!"
"Don't get cocky," Marie warned. "Mr. Shooler will split us all up from now on."
Marie was showing a rather unusual lack of timidity. Especially with a popular girl like Tandi, Floa would have thought her too scared to even speak.
They began walking towards the park and Callie reintroduced them. "You already met, Tandi, right Floa? This is Raven, her little sister, and an artist."
Raven looked at Callie with a mortified expression, her mantle indicating she would have preferred Callie not mention she was an artist.
Callie laughed. "Aww, come on, Raven, you're really good at drawing." She shook her head and muttered, "I don't get why you and Marie are so shy about being good at stuff."
Marie gave her a weary look while Raven just looked defeated, as if she had no justification.
Tandi giggled. "She's just shy. It's not easy being the daughter of a famous artist because everyone expects you to be a good artist too. She is but it's a lot to measure up to."
"Your mom's a famous artist?"
Tandi looked at Floa oddly then smiled. "No, Raven's mom is. My mom runs our family's company with Daddy. We're ring sisters. That's why we're in the same grade."
Tandi spoke as if that last bit explained everything, but she might as well have been speaking another language for how much it made sense to Floa. Fortunately, Marie was thoughtful enough to go into more detail upon noticing her confusion.
"Their mothers are bonded by the White Lily. In other words, they have different mothers but the same last name and the same father."
Floa had heard of this, two inkyora marrying the same male. She knew it happened partly because two-thirds of inklings were female, leaving not enough husbands for all of them, but it was a phenomenon she hadn't encountered in Xapheerell. Most families could barely afford to look after the two parents and one kid, never mind three parents and however many more kids came from that. This revelation only added to Floa's suspicions that Tandi and Raven were from money.
About ten minutes from the school, they turned down a gravel path that wound its way among a series of knolls clothed in stout, green bushes. It all felt so isolated and Floa began to feel nervous surrounded by so much dense foliage.
To get her mind off of it she asked, "so, are you guys all friends? Like, actually friends?"
Tandi and Callie looked at her oddly. "Of course we are," Callie said. "What made you think we weren't?"
"I dunno." She pulsed grey. "I guess just cause Tandi seemed to 'ang out with almost everybody."
Tandi's smile faded. "It's more like they all want to hang out with me. Our family's pretty well known around here and –."
Tandi's head suddenly jerked to the right and her body twisted as it fell to the ground. Something zipped past Callie's head and Floa felt something strike her left arm, hard, leaving a terrible ache. Her eyes tracked the object as it skipped along the gravel path and rolled to a stop. A rock.
"Tandi!" Callie knelt next to her. Tandi's blue eyes watered with pain as she held a hand to her cheek, blood seeping through her fingers.
Marie placed herself in front of Callie, arms up in front of her face, stones striking them and bouncing off. "We have to get to the river! Get her up!"
Callie grabbed Tandi under her arm and hauled her to her feet. Raven grabbed the other arm and they ushered her quickly down the path towards the river.
Floa tracked were the stones were coming from, a bush atop one of the knolls. The top of heads appeared as more stones arched in their direction.
Floa picked up some of the stones that had fallen near them, ignoring the pain spreading throughout her body, and threw them back. She managed to arch one rock over the bush and strike one of the heads, causing Admus to stagger sideways and expose himself, his mantle a different colour than his usual.
Floa snarled angrily. She should have known it would be those three. Couldn't win at dodgeball so now they were taking their little revenge. Was this what Callie and Marie meant when they told her not to gloat? Had this happened to them before?
"Come on, Floa!"
Marie was calling for her, and now that their identities had been exposed, the barrage of rocks intensified. Floa was tempted to run up that hill and pound all three of them flat, but she'd never make it, and she'd be seeing them at school tomorrow anyway. They wouldn't get away with this.
Floa turned and ran down the path, staggering once as one small stone struck her on the back of the head. Marie waited for her on the river bank, her backpack held in front of her as a shield.
"Hurry, they're coming after us." She pointed downstream. "Let's try and get to the Abbeloré's."
Callie frowned, still holding onto Tandi. "But our houses are closer."
"The riverbanks are too steep that way, they'd catch us. Hurry!"
There was no more argument. Callie and Raven helped Tandi down the stony riverbank while Marie tried to protect them from the rear with her bag. Floa picked up stones to throw back, even as more pelted her backpack and fell around her.
The boys were staying in the cover of the trees and bushes lining the riverbank, only exposing themselves to pick up more stones. Floa tried to hit them but it was nearly useless. At least sticking to the trees kept them at a distance. Maybe that was part of Marie's plan.
Eventually, the number of rocks being hurled their way petered off, soon stopping entirely. Floa guessed that their arms were now too tired to throw anymore.
"Let's get 'em," Floa insisted. "They're tired, and we may be 'urt, but we can still take 'em if we get 'em together." Marie looked at her as if she were crazy.
"We have to get Tandi home," Callie said. Her voice was full of urgency and fear. "She's bleeding really bad."
Floa looked back at them. Tandi had tears streaming down her cheeks, mixing with the blood on her left cheek where her hand remained tightly against it, trying to stem the flow, staining her hand blue. She was sniffling badly but Floa had to give her credit for not bawling. That injury looked seriously painful. Her respect for Tandi went up a few notches.
"Fine, but we gotta' 'urry before their arms get a break."
The others concurred, and they hurried down the river bank to wherever Tandi and Raven's house was. One good thing about all this was that she would at least get to learn a bit more about her newest acquaintances.
When Floa had first arrived in Calamari County and saw their new house, she thought it looked like a mansion. Only now was she realizing just how ignorant she had been.
The Abbelorés lived outside of town. Their large house sat atop a hill, as if it were the prized piece in a display of Calamari County's architecture, which was probably a rightful accolade to give it. Although styled like an old country villa, the exterior walls made of quality stone and a slate tiled roof, Marie said it was one of the newest buildings in town, having been finished a little over a decade ago. The house itself had a gently curved gravel driveway leading up to the three-car garage, and was surrounded by gardens and hedges. It looked like a piece of Eden.
Floa had guessed Tandi and Raven were from a well off family but she didn't know they were full on rich. What were a couple of rich kids doing going to a typical country school and hanging around normal kids like them? Rich kids went to big fancy schools and hung out with other rich kids, talking about tea, money, and whatever else rich kids talked about. Rich kids were supposed to look down on people like them, not be their friends.
Callie and Raven nursed Tandi up through the large door and into an atrium of polished hardwood floors, peach-orange walls and a big black chandelier with lights glowing inside glittering crystals. For Floa, it was like stepping into a palace.
"Girls, are you home?"
The voice came through a doorway on the left side of the atrium. Callie and Raven had removed their shoes and were helping Tandi remove hers. Marie hurried through the doorway and called out.
"Mrs. Abbeloré, come quick! Tandi's badly hurt."
There was a rapid stepping of feet and a pink inkyora emerged, with four long tentacles just like Tandi. This had to be her mother. She gasped in horror when she saw her daughter.
"My baby! What happened to you?"
She knelt down and began examining Tandi's face, her expression going ghastly when she pulled Tandi's hand away to reveal the bloody wound underneath.
Raven put a hand on her arm to try and calm her. Mrs. Abbeloré's head snapped to her and her eyes looked her up and down, then she glanced around at the rest of them.
"Why are you hurt too? Why are all of you hurt?"
"We had rocks thrown at us," Floa said. "Tandi was the first one 'it."
"We ran here to escape," Marie added. "I think the rest of us are okay but Tandi's hit the worst."
Mrs. Abbeloré glanced over them all again then picked Tandi up in her arms, carrying her back the way she'd come. They followed her into the biggest, fanciest kitchen Floa had ever seen. She sat Tandi atop one of the granite counters and grabbed a set of paper towels and dabbed at Tandi's injury. Tandi hissed with pain but her mother firmly held her chin to keep her head still.
"I know it hurts but I need to get rid of some of that blood. Just be brave, Tandi."
Floa had a horrible feeling in her gut as she watched, a sinking, guilty feeling. Floa had always imagined rich people almost as another species, who never had to worry about anything because they could just throw money at all their problems, and maybe part of her had always hated them for that, for having it so easy and looking down on people like her. These people were rich but they were acting just like any other family would. Mrs. Abbelore was worried just like her own mom would have been.
What if those boys had felt the same way she had? Was that why Tandi had been the first to get hit? The thought sunk Floa to a whole new low. She couldn't believe it, she was feeling sorry for thinking wrongly about a person she'd barely met, and for a fleeting moment, she thought that maybe she wasn't any better than the three boys who had just attacked them.
Mrs. Abbeloré looked at Raven. "Go get your mother."
Raven left without reply. Her gaze lingered on Marie for a moment until the girl started to follow her.
Floa wondered what was going on there. Why did Raven feel the need to ask Marie to come with her?
Tandi let out a pained whine, drawing Floa's attention back. Her face was flushed and covered in tears from the pain. She had her hand away from her cheek for the moment, tightly clutching a paper towel in her hands, revealing the ugly bruise and line of broken skin, bleeding badly. Such an ugly wound and the rich kid was taking it better than a lot of kids she'd grown up with.
Floa decided then that, from now on, she would be less judgmental in the future. She refused to be like those bullies, but she would get them back for all this if it was the last thing she did.
Marie silently followed Raven towards the back of the house. On the way, they walked through a storage room full of art and gardening supplies, all carefully arranged to not mix with the other yet treated as if they were both used towards the same goal.
At the other end of the storage room was a large arched doorway, beyond which the hardwood floor transformed to a pathway of dark-grey paving stones. Raven briefly paused before the archway before proceeding onto the stone path, entering the space they called the Sanctuary.
The Sanctuary was a greenhouse attached to back of the house with three glass walls and a sloping glass roof. Combined with the lush and exotic foliage around them it created the illusion that they were outside in some kind of tropical paradise.
They passed a small pool that hosted a school of koi fish. Despite their confined space they seemed carefree as they swam among the underwater plants growing from the bottom. In the centre was a small fountain that filled the otherwise quiet greenhouse with the sound of flowing water.
They rounded a bend in the path, taking them between two lush ferns, and came upon the heart of the Sanctuary where the path ended at a large, circular open space, made of alternating rings of light brown and red paving stones. A circle of electric lights hanging from above shone down upon the very centre of the space, where a single inkoyra sat in front of a large easel.
Her long tentacles were the same midnight-blue as Raven's, matching well with the black, frilly dress she wore. Her gaze seemed a world away, yet also somehow focused on the canvas in front of her, her hand deftly adding little details here in there in a fashion that seemed haphazard to Marie's untrained eyes, yet she knew she beheld a genuine master of their craft.
Raven stopped at the end of the path and for several seconds did nothing but stare at the inkyora. Then she sat down and Marie followed her lead, kneeling on the hard, cold stone and being sure not to utter a single sound.
Minutes passed by and nothing changed. Raven watched the centre of the space with the same intensity as the painter did her canvas, as if absorbing every minute detail she saw.
Marie partially shared in the fascination. The inkyora's delicate movements, the precision of her hand, the elegant poise with which she sat, she couldn't help but admire all of it.
Eventually, after what must have been at least ten minutes, the artist made one last stroke of her brush and carefully cleaned it before she put it down. Then, with a refined grace a goddess would envy, Elliana Abbeloré turned in her seat and faced them, as if she'd been aware of their presence the whole time.
Raven rose and stepped into the circular space. Marie remained seated, feeling it was the proper thing to do. Besides, she had no right to approach, not after her failure.
She was certain it was because of her and Callie that those boys had attacked, punishing them for beating them at dodgeball. Floa rubbing their loss in their face also probably hadn't helped. She knew she'd be trouble. Even so, Marie had failed to protect Tandi and Raven, their only real friends.
The eyes of Raven's mother grew wide and her lips parted as she took in her daughter's visible injuries, but unlike Tandi's mother she remained completely calm and waited for Raven to come right up to her before she began examining her child with the same care and attention she had given her canvas. Despite not a word being exchanged between them, the love and adoration between mother and child was unmistakable.
Marie watched the interaction with a painful longing in her soul. Whenever she'd gotten injured, her mother had rarely shown obvious concern. She always came off as more annoyed that she'd gotten hurt than worried. Her father was better at that. Her mother was always an iceberg of calm, always in control, as if their mere mortal problems were beneath her and she had to deal with them only because she had the misfortune of hatching a mortal child.
The eyes of Raven's mother lifted and locked onto her. Marie's throat tightened and her body trembled slightly. The inkyora's mantle turned a particular shade of green that beckoned her. Marie obeyed almost instinctively, standing up and walking as gracefully and ladylike as she could manage to the centre of the space. In this, her fan dancing lessons proved very useful.
As she neared, not sure what else to do, she bowed her head, her mantle a pale white in deference and apology. Raven roughly grabbed her arm and gave her a shake, looking at her mother with mantle displaying red patterns then turning green, telling her that Marie had no reason to apologize, that it was not her fault. Her mother responded with soothing waves of blue, telling them both to calm down. They did so, and only then did she rise, giving them both a reassuring smile as she took their hands and began to walk them back the way they'd come.
Marie held onto her hand with a firm grip, feeling a huge sense of relief. She'd been forgiven, at least for now. But much remained to be decided and she didn't know what the outcome would be.
As Marie returned to the kitchen with Raven and her mother, they heard the front door open.
"Destini!" A deep voice called loudly. "I finally managed to get the fence set up. Are the girls home yet?"
At that, Raven released her mother's hand and ran into the atrium. A second later, the voice boomed again. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY LITTLE BLUE PRINCESS?"
Gill Abbeloré entered the kitchen wearing a set of dirty overalls and carrying Raven against his shoulder. He was a stocky inkyar with broad shoulders and strong arms, just over half the height of his wives. His normally blue mantle was a frantic mix of reds and oranges. His wide eyes went even wider when he saw Tandi.
"WHAT HAPPENED?" He repeated.
"STOP YELLING," Tandi's mother thundered. "YOU'RE SCARING THE CHILDREN!"
Gill belatedly realized that his daughters were not the only children in the room and forced himself to settle down. "What happened?," he asked again, calmly this time.
"We haven't had a chance to find out yet. All the children are hurt."
Marie winced as nearly all eyes came upon her. Her friends always looked to her to explain things, usually when it was to explain how something got broken or how someone got hurt.
Elliana picked her up and set her upon a chair, gently smoothing her mantle to try and reassure her. Taking a deep breath, Marie slowly began to explain. She told them about the dodgeball game, though they didn't seem to understand the significance of it at first. As she got into the actual rock throwing incident, they came to understand.
"Bunch of sore losing spoiled brats," Gill growled. "Wait'll I get my hands on 'em."
"We can't do that," Destini insisted. "You know how their mothers are, especially Towers. It'll be the word of our children against theirs." Her pretty face became marred by an ugly scowl. "They've been hostile to us since we moved here."
Callie gently squeezed her tentacle bulbs, her nervous habit, then looked at Marie.
"Why don't you call Nana? I bet she could do something."
"Good idea!" Gill said loudly, banging his hand on the counter top. "There's got to be consequences to attacking a matriarch's grandkid."
Marie grimaced. She'd never wanted to rely on her grandmother's status and title to solve problems. That seemed like the kind of thing a spoiled child would do and it would be an abuse of their family connection. She didn't want to disappoint her grandmother and have her think she couldn't take care of things herself, or that she would come crying to her whenever things didn't go her way.
"I don't know if there's much Nana can do. It's a local issue and she would need a good reason to interfere. It would look like abusing her authority for the sake of a family connection." That was something her mother had drilled into her head from a young age. She'd heard the speech time and time again.
"Since when is a bunch of kids getting pelted with rocks not good reason?" Gill demanded.
Marie shrank into her seat and his wives gave him disapproving glares. But Marie could understand his feelings, not being able to do anything to improve the situation.
Getting pelted with rocks was worse than mere bullying and telling her grandmother about the incident wasn't technically the same as expecting her to do something about it. After all, matriarch's were expected to give advice too and there was certainly nothing wrong with asking for that.
Marie said, "I can tell Nana about what happened though. Maybe she can give us some ideas."
This seemed to mollify Gill somewhat though he still looked frustrated.
Gill and Destini decided to take Tandi to the clinic while Elliana got everyone else juice while they took turns using the phone to call their parents. As Marie waited, she wondered what she and her friends were supposed to do to stop the bullying when even the adults seemed powerless.
It didn't seem fair. It wasn't fair, but what could they do? Maybe people like her were simply powerless to do anything about their situation. She could only try and do what she'd been doing, trying to blend into the background and hope no one noticed her.
Author's Notes:
This chapter will have far-reaching consequences going forward.
Does the whole rock-throwing thing seem extreme? Perhaps, but this is something that happened at the elementary school I attended more than once, and those were just the ones I heard about. Did they get in trouble, I guess, but honestly kids were more worried about the consequences of swearing. That got you a yellow note you had to take to your parents and you had to brush your teeth with soap. Only happened to me once. Didn't really stop any of us from swearing though, we just did it out of earshot of the teachers.
Those of you who are regular readers of this series are probably aware of epeso families, an inkling word that refers to families where the husband has more than one wife (usually two). This is not a harem-type situation, even when there are more than two wives. Harem's aren't likely to happen in a matriarchal society, I don't think. The reason is purely practical because there aren't enough males to go around otherwise. In addition to only being 1/3 of all children hatched, males have a higher mortality rate, even prior to adulthood, so that doesn't help things.
The "Bond of the White Lily" was created to try and avoid situations all too familiar to our own world with the wives struggling for power within a household. In human history, this was common in the courts of kings, emperors, etc. Poisoning, backstabbing, sabatoge, powerstruggles, it was all pretty ugly stuff. The Bond of the White Lily was made so that the inkyora saw each other as family and loved each other. Thus, they take a vow to honour and love each other. While it's not a requirement before marriage, it's highly encouraged and most guys wouldn't agree to marry two girls who hadn't at least made the commitment of bonding first. Though there are acceptable exceptions, such as situations where the multiple wives are a result of yun'rai-ka, like Gyari Trailmaker's 5 wives were, as you saw earlier in previous installments of the series.
The Bond of the White Lily is represented by a "bond ring" worn on the ring finger on the right hand, opposite that of a wedding or engagement ring. This is why Tandi and Raven are "ring sisters".
More will be revealed about the Abbelorés in later chapters.