Common people and the royal family are amongst each other with few human slaves as they play games, eat food and just enjoy hobbies that were the favorites of the ones that passed away.
"Athena," Anax says kindly, "enjoying it so far." I nod, "Tyler, Leto and Heidi seem to be having fun too." He smiles, "I am glad. All the humans are being watched and anyone else really." I frown, "You doing anything?" "Yeah," he says with a smile, "eating my siblings favorite foods." "How is Imogen?" I ask with concern. "She is okay," he says with a sad voice, "coping. On other days she will avoid thinking about her." I sigh, "Death is so unnatural." "Want to walk around together for a while?" he asks kindly and I nod. "Sure," I say politely as we walk around and notice the beauty of all the memories that they had throughout the time they were alive for.
I hear a noise that I have heard multiple times and immediately my blood runs cold as the fear takes hold of me.
"Anax!" I shout and he looks at the fear in my eyes as I struggle to utter the words, "someone is shooting." Anax sighs as he picks me up and runs with me towards an area where there is a microphone and he announces, "Everyone! Evacuate to your homes right now!"
Panic ensues as everyone scatters and Anax pulls my hand as we run into the crowd.
"Get to the house," Anax says seriously and fear fills me as he pushes me towards Heidi as well as Berli.
"Come on," Heidi shouts, "let's go!" I try to find anyone I can help along the way.
"Kabir!" I shout and pull him along with us, but then I feel a sharp pain shoot through me as I fall onto the floor of the home along with Kabir and everything turns black.
When I wake up, I find Heidi sleeping next to me with dried tears and fresh ones falling.
"Heidi?" I call her and she jolts awake. "Athena. Oh my," she says as she starts crying and hugs me tightly, "I will call the others quickly." She calls the others and then I ask her, "What happened?" She sighs and motions for me to wait.
Anax rushes into the room and sighs deeply as he comes to hug me tightly. James walks into the room with bags under his eyes.
"Athena," James says with a sad smile, "I am glad you are doing okay. You were sleeping for a week after you got shot. Norah, Alora, Imogen, Eden, Cayle, Amoli, Kabir, Camden and Edolie are, also, recovering." "When can I go see them?" I ask seriously and he smiles. "You can go see them if they are awake or if you can walk," James says seriously and Anax seems to be in a bad place.
Once James leaves, Anax comes closer and kisses my forehead.
"Let me carry you to see the others," Anax offers and I agree wholeheartedly.
"Norah is just over here," Anax says as he walks closer to the room to find Basilah crying as she kisses her daughter's face all over, "she got shot a few times and hasn't woken up since the event." Tears fill my eyes as Anax takes me into the room and places me on a chair nearby as I look at her beautiful glowing skin that is neither pale nor dark.
I arrive at Alora's room to find Hagan and Udeline crying beside her bed as she talks to them kindly. Imogen is beside her bed in the same room as she lays there motionless and her dark skin looks pale.
Anax continues to carry me to the others and we see Eden as well as Cayle laying there. Eden lays without moving and Cayle is beside her with tears falling. Anax places me beside her and Cayle runs into my arms as he sobs uncontrollably.
"If you want to stay by your mother, you must, but know that I am always free in my room for a hug whenever you need it," I tell Cayle and he hugs me even more tightly.
Ellerie is sitting beside Amoli's bed rocking Athena as her mother's eyes stay shut and fear builds up inside me as I remember that I never really knew my real parents. Kabir is running around with barely any damage, but he clearly needs to rest more than he is and his mother is not able to assist him due to Athena.
Edolie is unconscious and has no signs of responsiveness as Camden, Alisha, Tyler and Kamali stand nearby. Camden has healed rather quickly and I assume he was with Edolie at the time. Her little body lies there lifeless. At just one, her life should be about living not worrying about dying.
Soon, we head back to my room and a doctor comes over to check on the baby.
Anax stands nearby and smiles he sees the expression of the doctor. The doctor motions him over and he listens to the heartbeat through a cone-like item.
"Healthy little one," the Kerogen woman says kindly, "all the family members have been checked and they are as healthy as can be. Sometimes it just takes time to come out of the shock of it all."
A week later, all the drama ends as family members start to wake up, but the memories still plague everyone involved especially those affected.
Even Leto seems disturbed as she sits on Alisha's lap during breakfast.
"Everything continues as normal," James says as the announcement starts, "otherwise that being wins and we cannot allow the people to think that we are giving up. I want smiles even if you are not happy and I want sympathy for those who have lost anyone. Alisha will go for her procedure as well and the kids will go to school. I gave everyone enough time and now, we must all move on."
Everyone doesn't question it, but everyone seems broken as memories are all I see in their eyes as their minds keeps working.
That day, after breakfast, everyone heads to work or school.
I head to my room to clean up a bit and after some time, Anax knocks on the door. I turn towards him and smile, "Something wrong?" He shakes his head, "My father wants to speak to us about something important." "Okay," I say politely, "I'm coming." I drop what I am doing and follow him towards his father's office of sorts.
Knock Knock
"Come in," James says tiredly, "ah just who I was expecting." We sit down on the chairs provided as he smiles at us.
"We have a problem," James says seriously, "We have discovered a new species due to the Kerogen's and humans mixing. There is now what they call a Huke or a human born with a mark. That is who caused the shooting in the area because, as we have found out, he has been treated as a Better Human or a Human instead of getting any privileges. I spoke to him and informed him that there is a way for complaints to come through from these categories as well and now we must decide what rights these people get. Anax? and then Athena." Anax sighs, "This is complicated because if they have the mark then they have a job that is in society as a Kerogen would, but their makeup is entirely human or partially?" "It differs, it seems," James says, "some have the eyes of a Kerogen but are entirely human in makeup, but others are fully human with just the mark. Other look Kerogen but have human eyes. They are quite rare though because it is a mix between the two species." "I think," Anax says as he pauses for a moment, "that they should have the same rights as long as they have the mark. They aren't human and they aren't Kerogen, but they have one of the most important elements which is the mark. The mark determines what we need in society." I nod, "I agree with that. They shouldn't be punished for his actions and they shouldn't be punished because they have some elements of being human either." James nods, "And what about the man himself? Athena?" "He should be punished," I say seriously, "he still went after people's lives, but at the same time it should not be a penalty of death or an entire life in prison." Anax sighs, "I agree, but he would have to be watched his entire life because he cannot be trusted."
After James takes note of everything, he then brings something else up.
"How do we appease the public and explain the situation without putting lives in danger?" he asks us seriously. Anax is bent over forward thinking about the options with his hands on his face, "Well, we could broadcast it over the radio." I nod in agreement, "But shouldn't we also be around the people to show them that there is nothing to be afraid of when it comes to this new species?" James nods, "Let's do the broadcast and on the same day we will walk through the village. Hopefully, we find some people that are Huke's that we can interact with, so we show people that there is nothing to worry about and that they are part of our people."
Everyone agrees and we separate from each other.
I go towards the mothers' room and sit with the mothers.
"Athena," Eden says excitedly with a paler complexion than normal, "how is the baby doing?" "The baby is fine," I say kindly as Heidi rushes into the room with Berli leading her. "Sorry," Heidi apologizes kindly. Eden shakes her head, "It's fine it is only your first day." "Has Amoli started going back to work?" I ask Ellerie and she nods. "She has to until a certain age," Ellerie says with a sad expression, "but she still gets to feed her baby whenever need be, so that is good." I smile at her words thinking how great that is since not everyone provides such a provision.
"Heidi," Eden asks happily, "how are the babies?" "They are healthy," Heidi says kindly, "always busy moving about especially at night." Everyone laughs at that remark.
"You know it is said that babies active at night are Kerogen," Eden says with a smug smile and everyone else shakes their heads. Kamali comes into the room with Edolie trailing after her as she sits down with Edolie in her lap. Basilah holds Emery as well.
"Has anyone mentioned the key events of a Kerogen's life? I know humans are a bit slower in development that is why there are some special requirements for a human baby," Kamali says seriously. I shake my head and so does Heidi.
"Well," Basilah says seriously, "they are born after three months unlike the 10 months required for a human baby. Our babies get their teeth at 2 months and eat solids as well as milk. At three months, they can sit. After 5 months, they crawl and start standing. At 7 months, they start walking. Talking at 8 months as well as running."
I laugh, "That is cute." Heidi agrees.
"We should explain some important traditions as well," Alora says politely and the women nod, "I mean they don't know what to teach their children and how to interact with them."
Basilah says, "As royal children, they must learn etiquette obviously, but that will be for later. There are events for giving them their title at one. At six, there is a celebration to announce they are going to school and to reveal their job to the world. All royals are referred to as the normal titles work like Your Majesty and Your Highness, but we don't apply them in private settings. At thirteen, when they graduate from school, they will have a final graduation event to prove they are ready for adulthood otherwise they have to keep doing it to be considered adults, which will be discussed later."
Eden interrupts, "These are all applied even amongst commoners, but our ways of showing respect and affection differ. For example, to show respect for elders you would kiss their hand despite rank as a greeting. For friendship, you would kiss on the cheek as a greeting. For a child to show affection to their mother and father, they would kiss the nose. For affection like love between mother and father, they would kiss on the forehead." Basilah continues, "We don't kiss on the mouth because it is related to something more sexual and that is not really part of the relationship between a mother and father. Anyways, you greet everyone with a handshake, generally."
"Wow," I say, "it is cool to learn about different cultures." Heidi laughs, "Yeah it is very different, but we will teach this to our children as well."
Everyone parts ways. Heidi and I head to our rooms together.
"Hmm," I say nervously, "do you remember what they said about the forehead kiss?" Heidi nods, "It is between father and mother to show love." My eyes widen, "Anax did that to me when I woke up from my coma." She smiles, "Aw cute. Berli has too but I didn't understand what it meant. Can we do it back?" "I guess," I say as she squeals a little as I leave her in her room.
Lunch goes by in a blur. The kids all come home together with Leto and end up playing around a little until dinner comes.
When dinner arrives, everyone eats their meals and their is a lot of chatter throughout the meal.
Anax is nowhere to be found and neither is James so I assume it must have to do with the broadcast tomorrow.