Two boys stood at the middle of the large shopping center, the taller one leaning heavily on the other in overalls. Their bodies were limp, hanging off each other like two defeated soldiers back from the war. As they were clutching at each other, they glared subtly at the energetic figure standing in front of them.

This shorter figure in a soft flowing peach outfit was staring at the mass of people moving about. The varied kinds of their attires filled her with a sense of wonderment. She noticed how some carried robot bag carriers, bearing loads thrice or twice their height. Why aren’t they using the sub-space of their holo-bands? She wondered to herself. She looked around trying to find exactly the audience they were putting on the show for. It did not seem reasonable, she decided for them to not use something so simple and effective for the sake of personal vanity. Still, it would not surprise her if they complicated their lives for sheer vanity. Humanity remains the same, after all. Nodding at her musings, she rested her hands on her hips as she turned around to the boys behind her.

“Dessert?” She enticed them gently. 

Silas felt bile rise into his mouth. His wrists turned white, from the effort, as he gripped the silk tunic Cesko was wearing, effectively wrinkling the shirt. And, though Cesko would have thrown anyone else aside had they damaged the fine hand-woven fabric of his clothes, he could made certain considerations for a person who had shared his suffering as significantly as Silas had. All their friends, relatives, and associates were so quick to throw him under the bus that this was the first of the dark cuisine adventures their cousins had shared with another individual. Yes, Silas was now special. He was someone who will consume half of what was supposed to have entered his mouth. For half a cup of poison, this boy who was ruining his shirt meant more to him than any sibling from the same womb.

“No,” Silas stammered quickly,” I think we’re a little too full.”

Day withered at that response. From the corner of her eye, she had already scoped out a cute little kiosk that sold desserts inspired from the 384^th nebula of the neighboring star-state. Their bubbling seafoam green bowls that was served with piped ground spice llest’en meat enticed her.

“But look at those! Don’t they look so –”

“We can have them some other day.”

“Really?” Silas and Day exclaimed.

“Yes,” Cesko ground out through his teeth. He knew that reassuring his cousin would be important for his stomach. It would, at the very least, guarantee him two weeks of reprieve before any other culinary adventure. Still, Silas’ wide and trembling eyes filled him with guilt. He could only look away.

“Well,” Day looked on at the kiosk before raising her holo-band to take a photo of the stall. She had to schedule the event. It had to be on their calendar so Cesko does not run away from this one! “Shall I schedule it for us?”

“Ah,” Fuck ,”sure.”

“Okay, I’ll make sure to add you into the holo-vite, Silas!”

Silas was un-enthused by the prospect, wishing to stand up and walk away. Cesko’s fingers dug into his side.  “Uh, yay.”

“I am so happy we’ve become friends, Silas. You’re far more enthusiastic than Cesko.” She had faced them, her hands clasped behind her as she rocked on the balls of her feet, the hem of her skirt shaking. She tossed her head up with glee, leaving her hair to dance in the breeze.

“Fuck!”

“Oh my gosh!”

“Watch where you throw these damn weeds, bitch.” A tall shapely girl screamed as she tugged at one of Day’s pigtails. The girl viciously wrapped the long strand of hair in her palm dragging it up.

“Ah!” Day grunted as she held her head, trying to pull her hair back.

Cesko got in between the girl and Day, pushing the other person away from his cousin. “I understand that her hair hit you, but you didn’t have to pull her hair.”

“I’m just teaching the brat a lesson not to fling her hair around. This isn’t any rural star-front.” 

“Acting like a shrew isn’t really so civilized, is it?”

Silas took Day in his arms. The girl was trembling, her hand stroking the pig tail that had been yanked. He could not help but massage her scalp for her, trying to ease the pain from the pull. The bright, adventurous girl that could be likened to a beaming star was now reduced to a delicate orchid whose pot fell from a high shelf – fragile.

“Who are you calling shrew, you wild shit?”

Day had tears streaming down her cheeks now, whimpering as she looked at her usually stoic cousin try and duke it out.

“You,” he answered simply, arms folded. “Creating a scene in the middle of the street like you own the place. Are you sure you’re not a miner’s wife from a resource planet?”

The girl’s face turned red in anger, her hands welded to her sides in fists. “Why you –”

Just as the girl was about to lunge at Cesko, a man in a dark green uniform pulled the girl away. He put her behind his tall stalwart figure before turning to Cesko and nodding slowly. “I am so sorry that Lucyna pulled your sister’s hair.”

Cesko snorted, judging this interloper.

Seeing as his words were being ignored, the man in green reached for his holo-band. “Please let us pay for any damages.”

“We don’t need your money,” Cesko hissed as he shifted a little. The man could now see the smaller figure in blush whose quiet tears ran like a waterfall. The girl seemed to be very hurt by the incident as she leaned against the other boy. She looked up at him as she hiccupped. He could see her light purple eyes tinged with red.

Cough. “I am terribly sorry for fiancé, miss. She wasn’t having the best day. How can we make up for it?”

“My – sister was also at fault, we admit.” Cesko finally saw that the other person had begun to speak in a more humane and appropriate tone. “Still, to attack someone for a single fault, one whose harm was not intended seems to be a little too extreme.”

“I didn’t attack that – “

“Lucyna! Please!”

“Tsk,” the woman turned away, irritated that her man would speak to her in a tone in front of outsiders. She felt like she’d been slapped in the face. The thought that the person who had promised before her own grandparents to protect her would allow her honor to be besmirched after she was likened to a shrew – a resource miner’s wife of all things! She could not stand for it. With the loud clack of her heels, she stormed away, her concierge robot tottering behind her as it tried to balance the packages it held.

“I’m terribly sorry for what happened,” the man in green bowed to them gently. “Are you hurt, miss?” He turned to look at the person his fiancé had practically assaulted in the middle of a large shopping complex. There were onlookers now, many faces familiar to him. He could not create anymore of a scandal that what had already occurred. Granted, he knew that Lucyna would already be heading to her home whining to her parents on the way.

“No,” the girl paused looking down at her hair still held in her hand,” it just hurt.”

Looking at her closely, she was dressed in soft imported fabrics, her holo-band seemed to be customized from the largest brand Banana, and the small purse she carried was encrusted with pearls from Cassian 982-B5. Even the furry bands holding her pigtails high were made from tufts of fur from an Mytan bear, not to mention the little dots of Pythian diamonds. Zhi was certain the girl came from a wealthy background. Her brother, on closer inspection, was wearing a tunic woven with an Amollan Spider’s thread. The very same thread that took seven experienced excavation teams to retrieve and deliver safely. Just last month those threads were auctioned at over 58 thousand dollars a meter. Considering how it gleamed in the light, he could not even begin to fathom what the embroidery on the cuffs and neckline were made of.

They could not come from old nobility, especially form the Argan star-region considering how they brushed off Lucyna as a shrew. Everyone in the region knew of the domineering nature of the Lowri’s young miss; any sensible resident would know what she looked like and had some intelligence to back off. Plus, with the rumors of campaigns by the federal government against corruption, any well-connected family would shy away from this ostentatious display of wealth.

So, Zhi concluded, they’re rich but come from a different star-region. Rich enough to come to the Argan capital, and, by the looks of it, rich enough to send their children to school here. They are neither old nobility nor even related to any public individuals. Merchants! They must be merchants’ children.

Cesko heard the calculations the cadet was making as he was staring at the cuff of his shirt. The gaze in the young man’s eyes made him feel like he’d be stripped, flayed, and sold. He held his shudder in, glancing at his cousin. He found her eyes, wide and dependent. The trembling eyelashes shook his heart. Her presence alone re-assured him.

“I am sorry to hear that.” He straightened his back. Now upright, they could see he was just a smidge taller than the gangly Silas but, as a third-year student of the Tyghrr University, he was far firmer than both the boys. “If,” he hesitated,” there are issues that arise later, let me know.”

“I am sure that it was nothing.” Cesko volleyed back,” At most, some skin damage.”

The cadet looked at the girl. “It’s not right for such a pretty girl to get hurt.”

Silas felt his stomach recoil when he’d heard that. The tone may be flat and polite but the wording was an insidious as they come.  He wanted to step forward and berate this green cloaked cadet, but this was Zhi Aproov, the son-in-laws of the Lowri family. The Lowris were not an easy enemy to face. Considering what had just transpired and who Cesko had openly berated, it was not his time to add on to the list of enemies. It would not do any of them any good.

Day felt Silas’ grasp on her tighten, he’d acted as if he had wanted to roll her into a ball and stuck her into the chest pocket of his overalls. The fingers of her free hand touched his wrist, reassuring him. Cesko got this. Relax.

“I am also terribly sorry to have had to call out your fiancé. Please send her my apologies.”

“Yes, I um shall. Again, I am terribly sorry for the scene this has all devolved into.”

“Yes, as am I.”

“If there is any way we can –”

“No, really. We were both in the wrong. It is not right for me to accept compensation –”

“I insist. Please just add my contact information –”

“We really don’t mean to bother,” Day piped up as she broke free from Silas’ arms. “I was in the wrong. I shouldn’t have flicked my hair wildly like that.”

Zhi took a step forward, leaning down to meet the girl’s eyes. “Still, I am terribly sorry.”

“I hope your fiancé won’t take it out on you, cadet.”

“Just call me, Zhi, miss. And Lucyna is more understanding than she seems. She’s just – she’s just a little tense today, is all. I am sure when she calms down she would want to resolve this herself.”

“Really?” The girl’s eyes twinkled,” I really want to apologize to her as well.”

“Oh? Then, how do I contact you? I mean – it would be a shame not to resolve this misunderstanding.”

The girl looked to her brother, a frown creasing her brows. Reaching out to her, the taller boy held her hand and patted it before turning to Cadet Zhi. “Yes, it would be a shame. Please input your contact information.”

“Yes, let’s.” He tried not to seem too enthusiastic. His career needed this, a rich backer who knows near to nothing about the current situation. It’s a bonus that this young miss looked to be cuter, softer, and, most importantly, more obedient than the one he currently had. Oh, how he wished he could press his finger on her holo-band and contact her directly. Still, for propriety, considering how they were out in complete view of the meandering public, he had to deal with this go-between.

The cadet pressed his dinger on the narrow band on the younger boy’s wrist, registering his contact information. “I am a cadet at the holo-network department of TU. Are you guys students?”

“Yes,” the girl gave him a soft smile,” we’re freshmen.”

“Oh, what’s your names? Maybe, you’d be assigned to our department when you become cadets.”

“Chechko A’lve,” the taller boy nodded in greeting, his neutral face unchanging,” and this is my cousin Adia.”

“And, our friend, Silas.”

“Oh,” Cadet Zhi finally looked at the shorter freshman,” Young Lord Blakely, I did not know you were enrolling this term. I am happy to see you are better.”

“Yes, Cadet Aproov. It is good to see you, too. Please greet Aunti Amanda for me.”

This fucking Blakely scum, Zhi hissed in his heart. How dare he bring up the Lowri Matriarch. Is he threatening me? Despite his inner turmoil, he could only smile and nod in front of his future little patron so as not to scare her away. “Yes, I will pass it on.”

Ti-ting.  

“Ah, my fiancé is calling me. I have to go.” He tried to meet the girl’s, Adia, gaze again but her cousin blocked their eyes from locking. “If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me. I am at your service, miss.”

Day looked at him with slightly swollen eyes in crescents, her cheeks ruddy, and her mouth gently upturned. “Yes, thank you, senior. Really, it means the world to me.”

The cadet was delighted by her calling ‘senior’. It exhilarated him. This was what a young miss should be like! This was what it meant to have a beau!

The trio watched his departing figure meld into the crowd in silence. Silas bit his lip hesitantly, the minute bravado he’d shown earlier receding. “Day,” the first time he’d actually called her by her name,” he has a fiancé.”

“I know.”

He could not see her face, now. Was she smiling? Was she looking sad? In honesty, between the cousins he’d been the most hesitant about her. She seemed happy go-lucky and cheerful yet, when he looked into her eyes (he meant really look), she did things with a strict sense of measure. He felt that she was the more cautious of the two, testing out boundaries and checking to make sure it was safe to lead her cousin along. Talking to the Lowri’s prospective son-in-law was not safe. Accepting such a heavy invitation at friendship was not safe. He tried to remind her but she just incomprehensibly tried to reassure him.

“The Lowri’s are not people who will take this kindly,” he tried again.

“We know, Lila.” She quipped, head whipping back to look at him. The gentle enticing smile was gone, replaced with the bright vivacious grin he’d associated with her.

“Lila?”

“Yes, it’s a good nickname, yes?”

“Definitely,” Cesko attested,” Lila is unique enough.”

“Where did you –”

“Your hair.”

Silas – Lila – immediately reached for his hair, eyes shifting slightly.

“Your hair in the light is the color of lilacs. They’re very pretty.”

“Lilac?” It seemed so strange to be likened to something that sounded so sweet.

“Yes, it’s a flower from long ago. You remind me of them.”

“Why?” To be named after a flower, when he had always been regarded a stain on a rather prestigious family, was something new. It was foreign but – but it was not bad. “What does it mean?”

“Youthful innocence.”