Maia traced her finger through the map. She liked studying history, for the most part. It felt fresh after all the hard work she did in the scientific subjects. The pre-unification eras with all the warring states on both sides of the continent presented opportunities for many interesting stories to arise. The modern world was dull on the other hand. Peaceful, efficient, but unelegant.

    The door of the embassy’s study room opened, and Kaia entered. “Hey, sis, Syl’s here. She wants to see you.”

    Maia leaned back from the desk. “This late at night? Where is she?”

    “She’s waiting outside.”

    Maia left her books as they were and got up, following Kaia as they made their way downstairs to the front entrance of the embassy. “Did she say what she’s here for?” Maia asked her older sister.

    “I think she said she wants to show you something.” Kaia said, shrugging, then left for her room.

    Sylisia was waiting on the front porch within the embassy gates, gazing at the sky when Maia stepped outside in the chilly spring night. “Hello, Syl. What are you doing here at this hour?”

    The dark-haired girl turned. “Maia!” She said with her usual cheerful tone. “Grab a coat, and come with me.”

    “Now?” Maia frowned. “Where?”

    “I want you to see something. Come now.”

    “Syl, it’s late. Why don’t you come in instead? You can tell me about it.”

    Syl sighed, straightening her posture. “Laeiamaia, as the daughter of the Sovereign, I hereby command you to accompany me, right now!”

    Maia looked at her for a moment, then burst out laughing, as did Syl a moment later. “Fine! I guess I have no choice.” Maia said afterwards.

     The girls walked down the empty, cobbled streets of the capital, flanked by the typical five-story buildings that made up the district. They headed towards the grand palace where the Sovereign resided, the supreme leader of the nation and Sylisia’s father.

    “What is it that you want to show me, Syl?” Maia asked her.

    “Oh, I won’t spoil the fun.” She said. “You’ll see for yourself when we get there.”

    Maia liked Syl. She was different from other dark-hairs, it was not easy to live in a country where most gazed at red-hairs with eyes full disgust. She looked at Maia differently, eyes always glancing at her body whenever she thought Maia wasn’t looking. Though Maia felt a little sorry for her inclination, she still welcomed the attention. Syl was her only true friend besides Kaia.

    “I hope it’s worth dragging me out of the warmth of my study.” Maia said, taking a glance back at the car that trailed them - Sylisia’s guards of course, she was a very important person.

    “Have I ever disappointed you, Maia?”

    Maia smiled in response, and Syl put a hand around hers, holding her tight as they walked down the empty street.

    “I kind of like it, anyway.” Maia said.

    “Huh? What do you mean?”

    “The empty streets, the silence. I don’t need to tuck my hair within my hat and wear sunglasses. I don’t have ignore the silent contempt and hollow insults. Having the daughter of the most powerful man in the country to walk with after curfew has its benefits.”

    Syl giggled. “But does it anger you? The hate? I’ve never seen you angry.”

    “You don’t want to.” Maia said, her expression darkening a little. “I don’t easily get angry, but I lose control when I do.”

    “Oh, now I have to think of something to get you angry.” Syl said, eyes shifting to the ground, thoughtful. Maia thought she saw worry in them for a moment.

    Arriving at the outskirts of the grand palace, they made their way in through the usual smaller entrance they always used when Maia visited Syl. They did not want to be bothered by all the greetings and commotion that came with it.

    They headed to the palace’s grand garden, Syl guiding Maia towards a bench where they sat in the darkness, having a good view towards the main entrance of the palace building itself and the plaza in front of it. It was filled with many cars that indicated an important visitor to Maia.

    “Are you trying to show me someone?” She asked Syl. “A famous singer or someone like that?”

    Syl giggled, a mischievous hint in it. “Oh no, she’s not really famous. Important, yes, but she does not like to be seen in public.”

    “She?” Maia frowned. “What woman could be so important as to be a guest to your father.”

    “She comes from a wealthy family, that’s all I know.”

    “If that’s all you know, then what makes her so special?” Maia turned towards the palace as voices raised in volume. “And why would she dislike being seen in public?”

    “Oh, “ Syl giggled even more, “you’ll just have to see!”

    At that moment, a large group of people emerged from the building, mostly guards and men dressed in official business suits. One of them, dressed in a military uniform, was clearly Syl’s father, but the figure that caught Maia’s eye was the woman that Syl was talking about, and her distinct appearance.

    “Tell me Maia, “ Syl said, “have you ever seen hair like that?”

    Maia shook her head, mouth gaping, as she watched the woman with golden hair running down her shoulders. She was still talking with Syl’s father in a polite conversation while they stood beside her car.

    “Who is she?” Maia asked.

    Syl shrugged. “As I’ve said, I don’t know who she is. But I thought you might want to see her.”

    Maia was glad she did. She was majestic, resembling a creature emerged out of the fairytales of desert folk or northerners. “I have seen albinos, but this is different.” She turned to Syl. “Are you sure it’s natural? It isn’t dyed with something unusual?”

    Syl shook her head. “Her hair is real, trust me. I actually managed to find quite a few threads on a desk on the office after she had been there the other day. It’s… hair! No different than yours.”

    “What do you mean mine?”

    “You know!” Syl blushed. “I wish I had hair like yours.”

    Maia looked at her, half-shocked. “Syl, when I walk around the city, people look at me as if I was a rat. I wish I could change it to be dark like yours instead!”

    “It doesn’t matter for me. I think it’s beautiful.”

    Maia smiled, glancing back at the golden-haired woman who seemed to have finished her conversation with Syl’s father and was about enter the car. For a moment, she stopped, turning her head towards Maia and Syl.

    Maia froze, and she could feel Syl doing the same, but after second or two, the golden-haired woman turned her head back and entered the car, leaving.

    “That was weird.” She said.

    “Yeah.” Syl said. “Anyway, imagine if there was a whole bunch of people with hair like that. A whole tribe, or even a nation, that would be funny.”

    “Indeed. Would put quite an interesting twist to this stupid hatred.”

    “Yeah. And you should see her eyes, Maia!”

    “What about them?”

    “She doesn’t have brown eyes like us, or green ones like you.” Syl said. “Oh no, she has blue ones! A deep, ocean blue shade!”

    Maia looked at Syl with that half-shocked expression again. “What? Blue?”

    Syl nodded. “They’re the most incredible eyes I’ve ever seen.”

    “Now I have to seem them, Syl! Promise me you’ll take me close enough to see her in person some day!” She grabbed Syl by her shoulders, intentionally placing her head inches from Syl’s. “Promise me!”

    Syl smiled at her, though she hesitated, something bothering her. “I promise.”

    Maia hugged her. “I should get back.”

    “Let me walk you back.”

    Making their way back to the embassy, Maia tried to ignore Syl’s uneasiness at first. It was unlike her to feel nervous, and she felt best not to mention it. But as the steps grew and the silent awkwardness stretched, Maia couldn’t ignore it longer, and halted.

    “Is there something you want to tell me, Syl?”

    Syl stopped too, but didn’t turn and just remained still and silent.

    “Syl, talk to me.” Maia moved and grabbed her shoulder. The drops of tears streaming from Syl’s face shocked her. “What’s wrong, Syl? Please talk to me!”

    Syl lurched forward in a sudden move and hugged Maia tightly. “I’m sorry Maia, I really am. I pleaded my father, I begged him, but he wouldn’t listen. You have to forgive me!”

    A deep, disturbing uneasiness grew within Maia at that moment. “Your father? What is going on Syl?” She pushed Syl away. “You are scaring me!”

    “Listen, “ Syl said, wiping her tears away and stepping back. “I will do everything to get you out, I promise!” Then she ran off into the darkness towards the car that trailed them, and drove back towards the palace, leaving Maia alone, stunned in silence.

    It took only a few brief moments of contemplation before Maia jerked out of her shock and ran towards the embassy, growing more and more fearful with every step.

    As she turned the corner, her worst fears were confirmed when she saw dozens of cars, countless police and military uniforms surrounding the building. “No, no, no… this can’t be happening!”

    When she stepped into the light of the commotion, they noticed her, and rushed towards her. She stopped on her tracks, legs growing weak when they suddenly pointed their guns and rifles towards her. She held her arms up in instinct. “What is going on?”

    They didn’t respond. They surrounded her, cuffed her, and then shoved her within a car which then drove through the streets, refusing to meet any of her screaming questions, only gagging her instead.

    ---

    “What for?” Matthew asked her.

    Maia laid back against the pillows, starting at the ceiling, but her eyes were light years away both in distance and time. “War, of course. My father was the ambassador, he was branded a spy for obvious reasons, and by extension, so were I and Kaia. They arrested us and the whole staff the night of the invasion.”

    “How come?” He said. “Were there no signs?”

    “Not anything unusual.” She said. “It was swift, sudden. I did not know it at the time, but the shock of their advance was so sudden that our frontlines collapsed within days, tracking back hundreds of miles before being able to reorganize. And when an almost coherent line had reformed, they invaded the most important parts of the country through the sea. It was a plan rehearsed for years, and we had absolutely no idea about it. We were utterly unprepared.”

    “I understand.” He thought for a second. “I guessed there must have been a war and you lost, but why tell me about this Syl person, and that blonde woman? How does it all end up with you being the person that you are now?”

    A faint smile formed on her lips. “I haven’t even begun properly.” She said. “It’ll take time to understand, and time is what I have in abundance. Besides, “ She turned on her side, eying Matthew, “ aren’t you my therapist now? Don’t I have to share every little detail with you?” Her smile broadened, growing mischievous.

    “Uh. Sure.” Her openness in the last few hours made him a little uncomfortable, but his excitement overshadowed it. “I mean yes. I want to know everything there is to know about you, and this universe of ours.”

    “Then tell me what you think about it.” She said. “What do you make of this little innocent ambassador's girl turned into a violent monster that kills people for pleasure?”

    “I won’t tell you that until you tell me the whole story.”

    She looked at him for a few moments, her green eyes unrelenting as always. “Fair enough.” She finally said, and leaned closer to Matthew, putting an arm across his chest and planting a kiss on his shoulder before she closed her eyes again. “We did not have blondes on our planet, so I had never seen one before. I thought she was very odd, did not fit, that something surrounding her was inherently wrong. I had a lot of time to think about what had happened while I was thrown behind bars, imprisoned for weeks without any explanation. I had to wait a long time for it.

    “And as for Syl.” She took a deep breath. “She actually held her promise. I hadn’t seen light for days, was separated from Kaia and my father without any information on their wellbeing, and was fed scraps while I lingered in the damp darkness, thinking I had long spent all my tears. It was very difficult for a sixteen-year-old girl to experience all that. And when Syl came, I couldn’t hold it any longer and broke again.

    “That hindered me from seeing the changed person that I embraced at that moment.”