Fellowship & Fairydust

Eight Years Ago…

Harthyn…

Several of the students in the class were laughing as Jezebel tore my project apart. How could she do that? I loved my heritage and she was saying I had no right to it because my father isn’t a Hocamli? Oh, I wish I wasn’t here right now.

“Feeling like you’re pure Hocamli now?” The bully taunted me while I stared at my broken project. The sight of my pride and hard work in pieces was too much, and I ended up breaking down into tears. Why? Why did this happen? I could hear Jezebel tearing out another page as she asked, “How about another piece of trash?” 

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!” I heard my classmate Jessica call out. As I looked up I saw she was wearing her usual blue dress, but her face was just really angry. As she came up to us with a frown several students stopped laughing and quickly developed an interest in their desktops. 

“Stay out of this, Jessica,” Jezebel warned her.

Still frowning, my friend just responded, “Leave her alone.” When Jezebel didn’t do anything she just shoved the mean girl back to get to me. During this, I was still sobbing, and I couldn’t stop the tears.

As she got up, the bully growled, “Stay out of this. She’s only trash as her genetic code isn’t pure.” 

“Excuse me?” The blonde asked. “It’s you who isn’t perfect, or did you forget how your people are only here because the Hocamli ALLOWED them to live here?” 

With a sneer, Jezebel continued. “Please. I–”

“Have the blood of merchants and traders in you. She has the blood of warriors.” My friend defended me. 

“Some warrior. Bawling like a baby. She’s nothing like her ancestors. I say she’s just a pathetic mistake.” 

Those words stung, but Jessica took action. “And you’re just a stupid girl! Something tells me that you envy Clair and her presentation. Like she can go around wearing Hocamli garments, and I don’t see the choice of whether or not she’s a Hocamli being up to you.” She snapped.

Jezebel glared at that. “It’s simple. Everyone here knows she’s only half-Hocamli.”

“And so do I, and I don’t care if she’s full or half either.” Jessica retorted. “Honestly, I believe being half-blood is cool. My best friend was in the debate on if she should accept herself as a true Hocamli or not. And she chose this path. I respect her decision no matter what, even if she chose the latter. So don’t make her own decisions for her just because of your opinions, or I should say abuse of them.”

“What’s going on here?” The teacher asked as he walked in. 

Feigning shock, Jezebel pointed a finger at Jessica. “She just went and ruined Clair’s project on purpose!” 

“No, I didn’t. You did.” My friend defended herself. 

“You’re a liar!”

“No, I’m not. You are!”

“Enough. Both of you. Clair, what happened?” The teacher made me feel uncomfortable, but this was my only chance to make things right. And the way he spoke made several other students shift in their chairs. 

My friend spoke up again. “Look at her feet. The evidence is right there!” Some of the paper went flying as Jezebel tried to clear her name.

Looking at the teacher, I told him, “Jessica is telling the truth. Jezebel ruined my project.”
“Jezebel. To the principal’s office.” 

As she moved away, she glared at me with such rage. “I’ll get you for this.” She vowed as she left the room. Everyone then went back to their seats while I gathered up the remains of my ruined project.

 

***

 

As I was sitting in the lunchroom, I poked my food with one of my utensils. Even though the meal was prepared for me by my mother I didn’t feel like eating. I had been looking forward to this presentation for weeks, and in a few seconds, Jezebel had crushed it. Maybe I didn’t deserve to consider myself a Hocamli. Maybe I was just an imperfect half-breed. 

Something then took a seat next to me. “Mind if I join you?” Jessica asked while preparing to activate her plate of instant food. When I nodded, she activated it and got a bowl of hot soup and a plate of trydum meat. Smiling at her meal, she prepared to partake when she looked my way. “Are you okay?” 

“No, I’m not.” Turning to her, I confessed, “I wanted so badly to give my presentation, and Jezebel ruined it. I spent weeks working on it, and she took it apart in a minute.” 

As she gave me a sympathetic look she said, “Maybe you can make another. The teacher did give you more time to work on it again.” 

“I don’t know,” I told her as I tried to fight back a tear. Why should I try again if there was a chance someone might ruin it? “Maybe she was right about–”
“Don’t talk like that. Clair, if you give in Jezebel wins. Do you want her to tell you who you are and who you should be?”
“N-no,” I admitted. 

“Then let’s meet up after school and we’ll work on it together. I promise.” 

“Th-thank you.” 

 

***

 

Ever since that moment Jessica and I had been best friends. We ended up learning that our parents were good friends with each other. Her mom Eva had been classmates with my Dad before they went on separate career paths, with my Dad becoming a history teacher while she became an archaeologist. Thinking about her while pondering Aerith’s words made me smile. “Thank you,” I told my new friend. 

“You’re welcome.” 

 

***

 

JOHRI’S POV

Yeller Sciences Space Station…

What kind of a dream was this? I was walking down a street with a bunch of old buildings all around me, and yet they weren’t ancient ruins but the skyscrapers of Netokan brought low. It was a vision of horror for me because these great works of architecture, which had taken so much time and effort to design and build, had been broken and cracked. Everywhere I looked was overgrown with plants and dust as if testifying to the human race being brought low. Given how deep the gashes were and how high the buildings would’ve been this had no doubt been the work of a kaiju. What was going on? 

As I walked, a bright light filled my line of vision that forced me to look away. When I looked back up I saw something massive standing before me. I couldn’t tell what because it seemed like a swirling mass of colors, but I felt okay around it despite feeling like a speck of dust before it. Was this what I thought it was?
“Do not fear. You have found favor with me.” The colors said. “Dark times are coming, and you will be needed to bring the dawn.” 

Whoa, what? “What do you mean? What’s coming?” I asked the figure.

“You and your friends must be ready.” While the voice didn’t answer my question, I felt comforted and reassured despite the scenery being set for some apocalyptic scenario. “Your compassion and efforts to use the technology of your race for good have earned my attention, and I promise to send you aid to help guide you to your destiny. For now, accept this gift.” 

At that, something flew out from the swirling mass and fell towards me. It seemed to be a smaller sheet of the swirling mass like on an old tablet or something. As I reached up to it my hand seemed to reach it with ease and then I found my hand on top of… wait… my wrench wasn’t that close last night… was it? My head pounded. Mornings really weren’t my thing… I tried to take a breath but my shirt was too tight. Panicking, I clawed it off and took the breath I needed to steady myself. Where was my holo-screen again? I shifted around and found it where my elbow had been. I turned it on but the screen was too bright this early. Ugh…

I wrapped my covers around me and that’s when I noticed my arms. My elbows and up were covered in an electric pattern of lighter skin. That wasn’t normal. I peeked under the covers. It was the same for the rest of my body. Was I sick or something? I swung my legs over the edge of my bed and stood up. The floor was so far away, and the movement made me feel dizzy. I hunched over to be a little closer to the floor and took a step. My foot caught on my other leg and I fell over with a loud crash.

“Yo! Shorty? You okay in there?” Eini’s voice called from my door.

“Uhhh….” That was all I could reply.

“Need help or something?”

“I think so…” 

The doors opened and Eini slipped in. Her color scheme was slightly muted by the fact that I kept my lights dimmed until I could have my first Synthetic Energy of the day. It still hurt my eyes. She walked over to me, “Rough night?”

“I… I don’t know.” I told her, “Everything’s weird. Look at my arms!”

I held them out to her and she raised an eyebrow, “You… need to moisturize?”

“What?”

“That’s how you keep from getting stretch marks. You moisturize.”

“Stretch marks?” I asked, dumbly.

“You know those things you get when you grow?” Eini’s eyes widened from behind her ridiculous sunglasses, “Wait… Stand up.”

I tucked my blanket around myself to hold it in place and then she helped me up. And up. And up. When I was finally standing straight, I looked down at her. Wait. Down?! She was supposed to be taller than me!

Eini stared up at me, “… I think I know what happened.” With that, she helped me to the bathroom so I could look at myself. I tripped over my legs nearly every step of the way. Finally, I stood in front of the mirror. Where I’d had to stand on a stool to get my entire face in view before, I was now looking dead center in the mirror.

“Well…” I said before I could filter it, “I’m not the shortest person on this station anymore…”

“Hey!” Eini retorted, “You were the only thing standing between me and that role!”

“…Sorry…”

The flamboyant girl left the bathroom and I heard my closet open, “… I don’t think anything in here is going to fit you…”

Dutich. “I can’t exactly get my assignments done wrapped in my blanket…” I replied.

She then poked her head back in,  “I’ll see if I can find someone to lend you something,” She grinned maniacally, “And then we can go ask Yeller if we can get off this place and go shopping!”

Without waiting for me to reply, she turned around and left.

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