Sui stared at the officer’s room covered in blood and knives and inoperable plasma rods - and two unmoving humans. She’s watched the whole battle. They all had. A whole room of militant fingers. The wall of let-water had repelled them from joining the tumult. How were they not both dead? While the two people were carried to bunks, Sui was responsible for sorting the weapons away and cleaning the blood. Somehow the let-water left no other wetness. The blood was fresh, so she did not have trouble cleaning it right up. Once done, she carried the soiled rags wrapped in a dry rag by string. The girl and Thettan were laying on opposite corners of the outer room. Some fingers of this body of militants were observing her. She stepped up and stared. She was not stopped. This was her place too.

She stared at the torn and scorched clothes of the unknown girl. She’s close to my age. 

She was quite cute with her eyes closed in the arms of a strong zeman. Why was she trying to kill officer Thettan? They’d be out for a long time. That was a lot of blood she had to clean. Why didn’t they have any wounds? She touched the skin on the sleeping girl's left arm. A burn scar from one of the plasma shots that hit her was there. A hole should have been there still.

Then she noticed the blue in her abdomen. There was let-water there and Sui could see her insides. Strange organs and even her spine! Sui felt the fascination rise in her as she stared at this miracle. “I think I like you. Even though you attacked us and I think tried to kill an officer. 

________

Lilly woke to a noisy room of people. They were all in uniform. She shot up to a sitting position. The militants closest to her turned to look. She stood up. “Where is the officer named Thettan!?”

She saw him emerge in the crown. “You can’t be alive! You don’t deserve it!”

He approached and smashed something hard on her head. 

__________

She woke suddenly. “Where is he? Thettan. And Shawn. And - “ Her head hurt now. A headache interrupted her thoughts. 

“You’re not going to get to hurt him again.”

Lilly turned to the voice. A girl. She was sweeping the floor. “Who are you?”

“I’m Sui. Hmmm. Don’t you think you’re too young to kill people.?”

“No.”

“Well you’re not going to be able to leave. Even your water can’t stop all these fingers.”

“Fingers? what fingers?”

“Oh, One militant is called a finger. A patrol of five is a fist.” 

Lilly stared at the broom.

‘Oh, my name is Sui. Did I already say that? What’s your name?”

“Lilly.”

“Hmmm. Lilly, why are you trying to kill officer Thettan?”

“He murdered people. Probably. I know Shawn did. He killed my mama!”

The girl stopped sweeping and her eyes looked unfocused. “Don’t kill people. The Shivs do that. The militants do that. They’re dead Lilly! Dead! Gone. Never coming back.” 

The girl - Sui - held onto her broom and began to cry. She must have lost her mama too or something. Lilly shuffled to the edge of the bunk and hugged her. They wobbled and Lilly fell off the edge. “Uh.”

Sui helped her up. “Ah. I’m sorry. Anyway you can’t even find them. Thettan and a head officer gold ring are transporting our captives to another location.

“I’ll find them.”

“Huh. They’re not hiding. They won’t be hard to find. But everyone is watching. It’s the evening. Everyone is out.”

“Even. Even with all the horrible things?”

Sui looked sad again. “Yes. It’s still safe during the day. The Shivs only kill at night. They’re trying to take us down. The militants. And they want to take the gentile people down too.”

“Take down. You mean kill them? Or what?”

“Hmm. Yes. Or replace them.”

“I’ll kill them for the Shivs. Then I’ll kill the people in the Shivs. The ones that have already killed other people.”

“Look for the missing people too”

“You won’t try to stop me?”

“Nobody will. Lilly. Have you seen the hall? Everywhere is open except where the fingers and knuckles sleep. Knuckles are officers.”

Lilly walked away from Sui. She slammed the door open. Out in this hallway there was nobody. She looked back in. Sui was standing there sweeping between bunks again.

Lilly walked briskly down the hallway toward the entrance. She knew the Le’falyne that had gathered to her was nearby. It had been hurt and stayed away. she didn’t have Chil with her. Where did he go?

It didn’t matter. She passed the display of the dead and walked out the open doors. 

A loud commotion was going on to her right. There, the flat courtyard of the militant hall rose into a tile path of a little hill with trees lining both sides. Lilly ran up there to see. Was Shawn there? He was. She knew from Sui’s information. He was in cuff bracers and walking. She didn’t care where they were taking him. All three would die if Doan was there too, 

People were lingering along the sides of the procession as it made steady progress down the little rise and along the path beside part of the park. There were twelve people dressed in uniform. About two fists then. She had no weapons. The militants had knives secured at the small of their backs. 

Lilly touched the run on one sheath of a man at the back. it was annoying because he was moving so she had to keep moving and start over each time she got close enough to try to steal it. There was a rune on the clasp. She traced it with her finger. The splash popped off. The man turned around and grabbed her arm. She pulled the knife out and stabbed him in that arm.

“I’m sorry!” 

The man yelled. The crowd scrambled. “The Shivs!”

“The daughter!” That was Shawn. He lifted his pinned wrists and slammed them down on her. Her vision went black and then confused like a snowstorm mixed with ashes. She could still tell where she was and she knew where his heart was. 

She stabbed even as she swayed. The knife went up at an angle under his nipple. He screamed. Lilly felt something hit the knife blade and a metallic clink as she stabbed. It was a nother knife. She yanked out the stuck knife and picked up the new one. Shawn was on his knees. He was bleeding profusely from his breast. He had enough strength to grab and push her arm away. Her other arm met his breast again. There was bone there. She stabbed and stabbed with both knives until she was over him. She kept finding bones. Then once the point cut through and sunk in up to the hilt. She left it in him. 

“I wish this would bring mama back.”

The officer Thettan stared at her. He was not moving, but he had his own knife held out. Until one identical weapon twirled into his eye. He screamed and pulled the knife out. His eye bled a lot. Then there were people on him, all stabbing. 

They stopped. Others with knives ran past to pursue the rest of the militants who had run or ushered citizens to a safer distance. 

The gang of killers stood and looked at her. 

“You’re the daughter of the publicist.”

“Are you the … Shivs?”

“We are. The Shivs.”

“Know that we  WILL REMOVE THE MILITANTS OF DROON! GENTILES!”

“And who among you has killed someone?”

They stared with no mirth.

“Are you asking to join?”

“No. I’ll stop you.”

 She chose to advance in the other direction - away.

She needed to find Doan first. She didn't know where the fleeing people went. An explosion on the edge of a building knocked bricks apart as water blasted toward Lilly. She was hit hard like a slap on the face and spun in the rush of water. She could still breath, but she saw the street above her and then the sky to her left. It was all spinning. 

Le’falyne was angry at her for her violence. Lilly was angry back - for the opposite reason. Send me UP!

She was pushed up in a swell and her arm grazed the branches of a tree. She burst out of the mass of water and immediately fell. Le’falyne caught her, but not softly. She tumbled off to the curb of the park. She grabbed onto the iron of the fence as she fell onto the ground. 

“I’ll tell you what I want, Le’falyne!” She both said this aloud and thought it in her mind. The words didn’t matter. Only what she wanted. Le’falyne probably couldn't even hear.

Somehow she was able to force some of the let-water under her shoes. She imagined a spring like the one in her mother’s silly chain. She felt the pressure build under her. Her feet rose unsteadily.

She launched into the air toward the edge of a building. By jumping off the edge she gained momentum and shot up high. This was slighly terrifying. She was so high, she could see people in the streets on opposite sides of one of the buildings. She fell fast again. This time fear struck her. The control she had in her anger was gone. She passed out as she fell and hit Le’falyne that hurriedly tried to break her fall. She still hit hard and remained passed out. 

___

Sui walked slowly toward where the procession was supposed to be. She found officer Thettan there, and Shawn. They were both dead. Why didn’t that let-water stop the girl?

Nobody else was there. She sat down and cried quietly.

________________

Doan stared at the cleaning girl crying over his friends’ bodies. He was surprised. Nobody else was still there, but the Shivs would be watching. He didn’t want to be in the skirmish they’d started. They wouldn’t attack if he was with a kid. He walked up to the girl while looking around for hiding spots. It was a street with the park on one side and some unmarked buildings across the way. 

“Girl. Sui right?”

The girl looked up. “Yes.”

“Some of the Shivs might be out still.”

“They were here?”

“And that girl. Let’s get these friends of mine out of the street.

_______

Lilly woke and heard shouts and rapid footsteps. She stood up. People in fine clothing similar to what she and her mother wore were fighting with knives and fists against the militants from the procession. One militant and two gentile-dressed adults lay motionless across this strange part of the city. 

_______

Lilly’s bones ached. Her muscles were weak. She had a headache again. What happened? She wouldn’t be able to stop Doan like this. She had to find somewhere to hide safely. Le’falyne either couldn’t heal these kinds of wounds or was still mad at her.

She slowly made her way out of sight of the fighting and got lost in the streets and alleys. She was too weak to command the water. Somehow it must have felt some sympathy, for it rolled ahead of her like a strange self-supporting river over the ground and around a corner. She followed the ‘river’ to another entrance to the park. 

“Thanks, Le’le. This is a nice spot. She walked around a bush wall and found a soft mound of dirt with thick soft grass. She lay down there and passed out again.

Sui was terrified. Her semi-sanctuary of the militant hall was now directly under attack. Doan was doing all the work. He held Thettan under the armpits and dragged. Sui was strong so she held the legs up a little. That was all she could manage. 

They brought both men’s bodies up under a bench that looked out over the french from within an open nook of the park.

They both sat there for some shards of time. Doan went to ensure no Shivs or that girl were nearby to find them. 

“Isn’t it easy to see us?”

“Yes, but I’m not all that strong. These are my friends. I can’t keep dragging them. Its too much.”

Sui said no more. She wondered about the girl Lilly. The Shivs. Why were they so violent? The militants helped. They kept her safe. They kept the city safe. They didn’t keep secrets. She wondered and wondered.