Nevashal cried and let the crying continue. This girl. Her fear. Her anguish. Her hate. Her envy. Love, Joy. Heartache. So much. So much. She shook and she closed her hands over her face. She closed her eyes. The tears kept coming. “If - I-I- see you, I see her. It wasn’t fair. Now. Now she-sh. She’s - ouagh.I can’t say it. It hurts too much.”

Then she cried and cried seemingly endlessly. While this girl of hers and Vlashen’s and Flan’yr’s sat and waited patiently.  

_______________

Her mom was whole again. Her other mom. Her birth mother wouldn’t come to life, but could Lilly embody her ideals? What were her mother’s ideals? What were her father’s ideals? What were this second mother’s ideals? She felt that Nevashal was a stranger to her. Still, her spirit yearned for a mother figure again. This was too hard.

She waited for the woman to cry slower. Then she gave her a hug and walked out through the front doorway where Suina was waiting respectfully. Maybe they could talk again, but not now. Suina gave her a long hug and Lilly let the tears out. “We can go back sometime. Maybe she can feel like a mama one day. I don’t know if she wants to. She’s so sad right now.

“Alright little shade, I can find you something to eat now!” Sui took her by the hand and guided her to a nearby restaurant.

_________________

Drizzle stared at Barn. he did not come to sit by them or even talk to them. Instead he sat alone looking over a short slope of flowering bushes and grass, from his small round nook. the nook led to a ramp that turned around the shrubbery right into this large courtyard that most of the players sat at.

“So Barn. He’s not the person we thought.”

“No, had the sun in our faces. I think I hate him more than Lilly. I really trusted him.” Alyz held one handle of the chariot and tried to channel her anger into it.

_________________

Barn held a shiv in his hand. He wondered if a knife could make enough change. He and the others Showed the gentiles how to know pain. “Lady Drizzelda started the card games again, but this time it seems to be mostly punishment for Lilly. I’ve even seen some of them having fun. Driz’t. She killed a lot of people but even our peers are having fun. I know they haven’t forgiven her. Lady Drizzelda would not have thought of this. It breaks the goal of the card games, but somehow still brings others together.

Barn did not care. This would not improve their lives. He would have to work and suffer indignities by the militants and gentiles alike even after this. What is the solution?

“Light the trees on fire.”

His companion’s face went white. 

“No not really, but it would be so beautiful.”

Barn gestured to some of the players that faced his direction. They began to negotiate with any gentile they faced as an opponent. If this was how they needed to meet, then Barn would take advantage of that. 

The stages of the game were marked by faerie lights. Red for unfavorable times, blue for favorable times. There were no neutral lights. Barn opened one of the lanterns fused to the short pole. Inside he found dearies surrounding their favorite food. Le’fa spheres. He scooped out the bouncy sphere made of Le’falyne and peered at the rune that formed it. The swirl was disconnected yet in the center a full circle was painted. This enclosed a shallow dip where the spheres always formed. The fearies followed the sphere in his palm. They drank from it, somehow took chunks and ate it, and even bounced on it. 

The fearies were naked except sporadic coverings. many covered their untamed parts. “How smart are you? Poor critters, always getting eaten or crushed or suffocating. Why are you so happy?”

“Lamplighter, I refuse.” A gentile stood.

"Refuse? This is a long-standing suffering.”

Shivs came out. The gentile pulled out a very small plasma rod. 

Suddenly shivs were out, and Shivs stood up. gentiles held up knives, swords, and miniature plasma rods. 

The attacks were intentional although it looked like chaos. Barn could see the pattern of anger, intention, and tensions.

Then Lilly rose on Le’falyne and caused true chaos.

_________________

Polli scrambled to keep the best cards dry. He was gathering the best ones and succeeding. He kept a look out for gentiles lifting and aiming their little toy plasma rods, and movement toward his direction. He was a plain boy though, and always did his best not to be noticed. That worked better than ever at this moment. He was elated until he was stabbed in the back. He screamed and fell on his face. He still managed to protect the cards. He was hunched over so that he formed a dry cave for them. He then felt the knife slip out and an itchy feeling came to him. He scratched the itch on his back and scrambled under a bush. The bush was hit by a blast of water that rained down on him. He crawled out the side of the bush where the ramp from a higher level continued downhill. He ran down that path and enjoyed that beautiful garden arrangements on the way.

__________________________

Vallince hid under a bench. Plasma shot into his cheek. “Ah!”

He stayed. The wound was only a graze. Above the bench this girl was trying to drown people and smashing them to the ground with huge rippling limbs. 

Someone bumped into him. “Light, watch your-” The person had a shiv in her shoulder. 

“Oh shades grandchildren.” He pulled out the shiv and cut the edge of the cloth that hung offf the bench - it was right in his face actually. So sharp. The strip he needed cut right off.

He sensed her swaying in his arms. “What’s your name?” She needs to stay conscious.

“Huh? Im Stashta. I’m dying….” Tears beaded in her eyes.

“Yes you might be dying. Who were you playing against?” I have to keep her awake! Vallince wrapped the strip around her shoulder. Not tight enough. The wound was above her arm-pit so he couldn’t wrap tightly. She was too heavy to lift on his own. Drizt! Drizt’s glizz!

“Oh I wasn’t fighting. I helped Polli farm some cheeky chiltons.” She laughed.

Good she still hasn’t lost tooo much blood. Vallince merely kept his palms on the fabric he had tried to tighten. There was blood all over. He could feel the sticky stuff drying on his fingers. 

Someone bumped into the bench and it knocked into his forehead.

Then a cup of berrybite tonic tipped and spilled right on his hands. Hopefully it doesn’t get inot her wound. 

The girl - Stashta - winced. “Owww….wah!” 

Vallince looked down. His hands were soaking wet but less sticky. Instead random specks stung all over where the tonic had spilled. He could feel that the cloth under his hand felt more wet and less sticky again. Driz’t, it got in her wound. I hope it doesn't hurt her more!. 

He felt her pushing against his stomach with her arm. “I need … to find Polli. We met today. He’s a breezy shade.” 

“We need to stay here. There are weapons and angry people all over.”

“Oh …well…”

__________________–

“Red.light, blue light, no light, nood night!!” Lilly spoke poetry as she neutralized one frenzied card player after another. This is the problem with this boring card game. 

She slipped water under a woman sprinting at her with a shortsword. She’s so fast! the woman fell right at the bench Lilly was standing on. Lilly kicked the sword away. 

“Hah! who’s seven now!?”

“You’re still seven Lilly. Unless you had a birthday since we met.”

Lilly spun around ready to bring down the next assailant - dead or alive. She rammed Le’falyne at the woman in the chair - no chariot. The water burst apart of it’s own will well before reaching Lady Drizzelda and Alyz standing behind her. Sui was there too. 

They were in immediate danger. Rah! She screamed in her mind. Instead of words screaming out, She sent le’falyne in all directions. The blast knocked down everyone in the courtyard. Then she pulled the water back in, to form an oblong bubble that protected the four of them in it’s membrane.

They remained in that bubble until the frenzied players stopped fighting. Many eroded daggers lay inside their bubble from attempts to hurt them. 

Lilly burst the bubble, which merely splashed over people this time. 

She scanned the courtyard. There were specific people she had intentionally dealt fatal attacks. She’d seen some of them murder militants and gentiles. Only a few she knew for certain. Suina is helping me do the right things.

A survey of the courtyard was done by able-bodied players and led by Alyz. Among the askew benches with spoiled benchcloths and soaked scattered cards, were people with new scars, but still breathed. 

Lilly was enraged. “How did no-one die!?”

She needed to kill the few that she knew were guilty. She would find them and cut off their list of murders.

“Lilly.”

She turned around and made eye contact with Suina. Oh shade’s shade, her eyes are so beautiful. Sui and Lilly both looked away. Then she turned around again to find the people that should be dead.

 -