It is 2025 and Ariel is alone. Where is Mey, she thinks to herself. She was never here.
“She’s never been here,” Ariel says to the trees nearby, with their thick trunks and branches carpeted in healthy foliage. Some of the trees agree with her in their way, she feels one that shouts in its way, standing tall among the crowd, and she gives it her attention as she sits in the grass.
“She is right there,” the tree says, “she is always with you like a haint. But she is not here now, and you should try to remember this the next time you see her.”
“I don’t know why this is happening to me,” Ariel says and she shakes her head slowly, struggling to set her mind right. Something is wrong, she thinks, but she can’t wrap her mind around it.
“The why is irrelevant,” the tree said. “You are the Amazing Ariel, Daughter of the Large Flower, and you are under magical assault. This is an affront in the land of your forebears, that a daughter of the Large Flower would be preyed upon in her own home. This must not stand. Remember yourself Ariel, remember what you are.”
Ariel looks to the left and she sees the terrain of the Disc of Agê that has been her home for a while now.
“Are you going home this weekend?” Ariel hears the question, and then she sees Mey emerge from the foliage. Mey is shorter than Ariel and appears to be much younger, so Ariel always thinks of her as a little sister or sidekick.
“I am, but my mama ain’t frying fish,” Ariel says, forgetting the conversation she’d had with the tree.
Mey pouts and crosses her arms at her chest, then sits next to Ariel in the grass.
“But it’s been so long! I’ll ask Ms. Bonita to fry me up some special. I am her favorite mmoatia.”
They laugh, “Girl, you get Ms. Bonita to fry you some special fish, I’ll believe you are her favorite.”
She is not mmoatia…Ariel feels the wind move her hair that is long and straight to her shoulders, but did she hear something, too? Or is it just the sound of leaves?
“You call yourself mmoatia now?” Ariel asks casually, not meaning to offend her friend, but curious because of the possibility introduced by the imagined whisper on the wind.
“The way you all took me in after you and Leilar found me all alone, I feel like I’m part of the family. It’s good to be back at the mound.”
“It must be sad to be there knowing everyone you called family before is gone,” Ariel says and puts a hand on Mey’s shoulder. The two could be sisters, they have the same dark shade of brown skin and her straightened hair is as long as Ariel’s.
Mey shrugs flippantly. “It’s good now with all of you there.” Mey falls silent for a moment then looks up at Ariel. “You killed Seraphiel.”
Ariel nods. She remembers killing him, like her ancient mother Pultine had wanted in the past, but it wasn’t an act of revenge. With Seraphiel dead, she was one step closer to finding the calabash because if he didn’t have it, there were only a few other Fonlanders who could have possibly swiped it from the display in the Aziza mound that had been built to honor the calabash’s original owner, Tracia. Tracia hadn’t used it regularly in years and was happy to keep it in the mound, until the day it went missing. Mey had been the first to discover that the calabash was missing and when Ariel volunteered to find it, she joined her on her quest. When Ariel accepted the mission, Ahdis told her how important it was to be retrieve the calabash quickly before Tracia noticed and Ariel has moved confidently around the Fonlands and universe Prime 5 to do just that.
“Next up is that yumbo elder,” Ariel says. “Aside from Tracia, she’s the most knowledgeable about divination and she probably wanted the calabash as payback for her grudge against Tracia for stuff that happened a long time ago.”
“You may have to kill her, too,” Mey says softly, as though talking about murder was a delicate subject. “Are you ready to do what you must?”
Why does anything have to die…Ariel hears in her mind, or maybe she doesn’t because Mey answers,
“It’s unfortunate, but it’s the only way to be sure we find it. It’s the only way to cross them off the list.”
Ariel nods. This is strange, she thinks to herself as a leaf wafts on the wind before her, drawing her gaze, but Mey catches catches the leaf and smiles at Ariel. Ariel blinks and the world refreshes, maybe, and she nods at Mey.
“”If they don’t have the calabash on their person, kill them to eliminate the threat that they will come to posses it.”
Mey smiles. “I am so lucky to be learning from you, big sister. It must be hard to kill, but not for duty and the calabash is too precious a tool to fall into the wrong hands.”
Ariel nods. All die who threaten the peace of the mmoatia.
“Did you see this happen!” Metatron, the leader of Endla, shouts at the aerphim who had brought him to this grisly crime scene. The aerie is mostly empty save a group of Seraphim males shivering in fear at the anger of Metatron and at the body on the stone floor.
“No, your highness,” one of the seraphim says and they all take a respectful knee. “We had a prearranged rehearsal and we found Seraphiel when we arrived.”
Metatron stands over the body, glaring down at the large hole that had been burned into Seraphiel’s chest. The wound is mostly cauterized and Metatron recognizes wounds like these.
“This was a light blast,” Metatron growls. This can only be the work of Pultine. After all this time she has finally enacted her revenge, but I thought we put this behind us. Clean this up and prepare for a mourning ceremony as soon as possible. I will not be in attendance. I must confront a mmoatia.”
PRL Serials 