A/N: As you read, please leave comments and vote (★) if you can! Fleeter needs your help to be seen and read by others. Thank you ~
Esmeralda
In the dead of the night, two mysterious figures emerged from the darkness at the end of the mayor's hallway. One was human. One was not.
Esmeralda Warner sat in a corner near the fireplace, cloaked in shadow, alert and sufficiently armed with her two sharpest knitting needles. Without dropping a stitch, she addressed the figures in her signature drawl, "Shall I pack some birthday cake for the road, child?"
Her granddaughter, Evelyn Warner, turned around slowly and faced her. Esmeralda caught Eve's eyes glancing towards the front door, just a few short steps away.
She waited to see what her granddaughter would choose to do. Eve could probably make it to the door if she ran, but that wouldn't be a very honorable farewell.
The girl did not run.
Bravo.
As Esmeralda's mother had taught her, so she'd taught Juliette, and so Juliette had taught Evelyn. The Warner Code, though it lay written in neither book nor paper, was a familiar companion to them all.
Tis always better to hold our heads up high and die with honor, than to hang our heads in shame and live with dishonor.
Her granddaughter took a few steps forward. "What are you doing here Nana? I thought you hated coming downtown, especially to the manor house."
Esmeralda chose not to reply. From Eve's shoulder, a smaller set of eyes swirled in shades of orange and pink, registering happiness at Esmeralda's presence. Mojo chirped a cheerful welcome and and alighted onto Esmeralda's lap.
"And hello to you too darlin'." she scratched affectionately under his scaly chin. The dragon purred and rapidly swished his tail back and forth.
"It's been a long time since I saw you last, huh? Too long, baby, too long. I need to update your software. Can't have any viruses in my masterpiece. No siree, that would be absolutely unacceptable." Esmeralda nodded firmly.
The firelight danced upon Mojo's semi-translucent wings, making his indigo-and-gold scales shine. He was her finest piece of work–the only draconic, robotic assistant in the entire city of New Ramona. It'd taken Esmeralda four whole months to assemble the nuts and bolts alone. Then she'd spent three more months to design, write, and install the most secure and intelligent program assistant in existence. Her son-in-law, Galbraith Warner, had added the finishing touches to Eve's graduation gift, with the addition of synthetic skin and wings.
"Nana?"
Esmeralda snapped out of her reverie. Eve's face was twisted with worry. The expression was so distorted that it was borderline comical. "Calm down sweetie. I'm not gonna stop ya."
"You're not?"
"Not a chance."
Eve eyed her suspiciously. "You know it's illegal to leave the city. The Treaty says that if I'm captured outside New Ramona, I'll be killed."
She shrugged. "Then don't get caught."
"I'll... try my best, Nana."
Esmeralda discarded her yarn on the chair and stretched. Her knees and elbow joints protested weakly as she stood. A bone in her hip creaked. The years were finally catching up to her. Soon she'd start to look as old as she felt. But for now, Esmeralda was well aware that she was still one of the most beautiful women in the city.
Eve carried an uncanny resemblance to her, beauty and all. Both Esmeralda and her granddaughter had the same round, dimpled face and almond-shaped eyes. Their skin was so pale, it could only be described as translucent.
When they were compared side-by-side, however, a keen observer could pick out the finer differences. At 5'2", Esmeralda was just a hair shorter than her grandchild. Where Esmeralda's eyes and hair were as black as ebony, Eve's were a shade of dark, chocolate brown.
There was one other physical feature that set them apart, but only members of the Warner household were aware of its existence.
Esmeralda brushed back Eve's bangs to reveal the discolored patch of skin on Eve's forehead. The purplish-blue bruise stood out angrily against its pale surroundings. She traced the outline with a finger.
Eve was like titanium–hard and extremely durable; but not immutable or invulnerable, if the fire was strong enough.
She straightened Eve's bangs back into place and wandered over to the kitchen. "Have a drink with me sweetie."
Eve shuffled her feet. "Nana, I don't think right now is the best time."
"Come on, this can be my early birthday present. I brewed this bottle of wine myself, ya know. One spoon of hollyberry, a pinch of cinnamon, three parts elderbery, a healthy serving of my specially fermented garden-grown grapes..."
When Esmeralda felt like being stubborn, she could outlast even a mule. It was precisely this stubbornness that had attracted Eve's grandfather, the first mayor of New Ramona, when the city was first founded in the early 2600s. Since then, New Ramona had grown to become the largest city in the stratosphere.
Eve sighed, admitted defeat, and accepted a glass. She threw the wine down her throat in one shot, only to gag reflexively. Her face displayed a record-breaking degree of horror mixed with disgust. "Gross! Nana, what is even in here. Coffee with eel sauce? Or mayonaise maybe? Out of all the concoctions you've made me try, this one's your worst."
Esmeralda smirked and handed Eve a glass of water. "Coffee with soy sauce, actually."
Shocked, Eve spat out the water she'd held in her mouth. "Surely, you're joking."
A pindrop silence was observed, followed by giggles from both parties.
"Shhhh," Esmeralda cautioned. Eve tried to smother her laughter, but that only made everything worse.
Hiccup!
Hiccup! Hiccup!
Oh dear. That sounded like trouble.
Eve's hiccups echoed in the silence of the house and resonated throughout the halls of the mayoral mansion. Hiccup!
Esmeralda quickly clapped her palm over Eve's mouth and pressed Eve's head against the closest wall. "Stop it," she hissed, "Your daddy has ears like a hawk. If he wakes up now, it's all over. You'll never escape New Ramona."
The scare tactic worked. Eve's hiccups halted abruptly. Esmeralda discreetly wiped the beads of sweat off her forehead. That had been close. Tactic or not, she knew Gal would've put a stop to Eve's escape if they'd been discovered.
The clock chimed twice, reminding them of the late hour. Half the night had already passed by–Eve would have to leave without any further delay. Esmeralda embraced her granddaughter for the last time. "Your Nana's turning 500 years old in a couple o' days. You weren't plannin' on sayin' goodbye even?"
Eve's arms wrapped around her midsection, knotted, and squeezed her tightly. Esmeralda pretended she didn't notice that her left shoulder felt slightly damp.
"I've left notes for you, Mom, and Dad on my desk. I've left a note for T&J as well."
"The butlers?"
"Yes... it's a will, of sorts. I've gifted them my art collection. It's my wish–my last wish–that they sell all my creations to the city galleries and art collectors. I want them to keep all the money."
Esmeralda's mouth fell open. She was shocked. "You told me you'd never, ever sell your art to those greasy, putrid, balls-of-slime. Are you sure you want to sell your entire collection hon'? It's worth tens of millions, no, hundreds of millions of quid. Don't you wanna keep a few pieces, just in case you come back?"
Eve smiled sadly, "Not an option Nana. Even if I can get back to New Ramona alive, I'll be in trapped in prison for life. It's what's written in the Treaty. Mom would never bend the law, not even for me." Eve muttered the last few words in what was barely a whisper. It broke Esmeralda's heart.
She opened her mouth, intending to reassure Eve that surely Juliette would make an exception, but she couldn't. The lie settled uncomfortably in Esmeralda's throat, suffocating her.
Eve quickly noticed her discomfort and came to her rescue. "Besides, T&J were true friends to me when I was having a rough time. They've cared for me and loved me as their own since I was ten years old. I'd be happy if I could make their lives a bit easier, in return."
Her granddaughter took out a thin, gold circlet from under her shirt collar. "This necklace is all I'm taking with me, and it's not even mine."
The circlet was attached to a equally simple, gold chain that dangled from Eve's neck. Esmeralda had never seen her granddaughter remove the necklace. Not once in the past ten years.
Guilt and regret clawed at Esmeralda's soul and ripped it apart. A few years back, Juliette had suggested using a memory wipe machine to erase some of Eve's nightmares, but Gal and Esmeralda had flat-out refused to give their consent for the procedure.
The technology was there, yes. It'd been proven effective on 99.9% of cases–but it was other 0.1% that was troubling. A small minority of patients experienced serious side effects after undergoing that procedure. Those poor souls had spent their last days strapped to a table at a special asylum in the city's outskirts. The risk was too great. The Warner family couldn't afford to lose another.
There was an old saying that people used often in her mother's era. Age breeds wisdom.
Esmeralda believed it. She believed it, because the older she got, the more mistakes she made. But then, she wouldn't make the same mistake again. At least, not in the same century.
Ten years ago, she'd made one very big mistake. Esmeralda had stepped aside and permitted Juliette and Gal to hide one important truth from their daughter. Eve lost all semblance of happiness and joy in one day. In her heart and in her art. She was never the same person again. But finally, Esmeralda had a chance to set set things right. Starting with this escape.
"Did you disable the tracker?" Esmeralda tapped the fold of skin right above Eve's collarbone, where the microchip was embedded.
Eve nodded. "Already done. For the next forty-eight hours, my GPS is off. "
"Good. I'll bury it under a firewall. The city's security forces won't be able to crack it for a while. Do you have a plan to get out?"
"Since we don't have any aircrafts that are meant to be leaving New Ramona, the only way to escape that I can think of, is to steal a jet."
Esmeralda's mind was already rolling out a feasible alternative. Eve's idea was good, but it'd been tried and tested by others before with no success. The airport security forces were highly trained and skilled at spotting smugglers. Eve would never make it onto a plane. But there was another way out of the city...possibly.
"Follow my instructions carefully, child. Go to the downtown harbor. Near the ship docks, there's a bar called The Fool's Lair. Make discreet inquiries for a Captain Euclid of The Ancient Pilgrim. I received word this morning that he'd be in New Ramona for business. His work–well–it's not strictly legal, but he owes me a favor. Remember to lie low and don't call unwanted attention to yourself or to him."
After scattering her last pearls of wisdom, Esmeralda threw Eve out the front door. Her granddaughter took off running, whistling for Mojo to follow at her heels.
Esmeralda watched the two figures fade into gold pinpricks in the distance. She noticed how her grandchild seemed to run gracefully, making the most of the wind at her back. Esmeralda shook her head, smiling. With instincts like that, Eve would be safer outside the city than inside.
As she turned around to resume to her knitting, glowing words breached the barrier of her thoughts and trickled into her mind. They filled Esmeralda with a dizzying clarity. The prophecy. She'd heard it once, long ago, and all but forgotten it until this moment.
Careful child, of where you tread. A dangerous path lies ahead.
Careful child, of where you fall. Those who aid you may betray you.
Careful child, of where you flee. A far-off city calls to thee.
She twisted around, her eyes desperately searching the gloom for even the slightest flash of gold, but Eve and Mojo were already long gone.
The words fell from her lips unbidden, "Till we meet again, stay alive my love."
An Excerpt from The Finalise Treaty
Signed in 2500 AD by diplomats representing all one hundred ninety-five countries on Earth
Clause I, Total Isolation. No sky cities are to have any communication, official and unofficial, whether written, verbal, or otherwise, with any other city after beginning the isolation process. Any and all violations of this clause will result in the complete nullification of all terms outlined in this treaty. For more information on the dire consequences, please refer to Page V, Clause XI–War.
Clause II, Citizenship. All sky cities must keep a complete online registry of every citizen, including all biodata identification markers and tracker IDs. Each city may accept citizens for the first 730 days after founding only, after which, they must close their citizen registry and begin the isolation process. For more information on the isolation process, see Page II, Clause III-Fostering Independence.
Subclause II.1 If any individual is located in a city not listed as their city of origin, then the said individual forgoes any rights entitled to them under their city constitution and he/she/they are to be automatically sentenced to a quick and efficient death. Suggested execution methods include, but are not limited to, a single bullet dispatched to the heart, electric chair, or euthanasia.
Subclause II.2 If any individual is found to have attempted to flee their city of origin or if their absence from the city is confirmed at any point of time, the individual will be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole if they're arrested in their city of origin.
Author's Note: Hi readers ( ' ▽ ' )ﾉ
If you like Hermione>>see the graphic above.
If you don't >> vote (★) if you like this chapter anyway!
Sneak peak into the next chapter: We'll be following Eve to the harbor front, where she'll be meeting Captain Euclid. How do you think they're going to get out of the city?