The Sapphire Pass: All-Father

Dear Sister

Ophelia stretched her arms and legs as her eyes opened. Her sleep was an empty blank space and any dreams she might have had faded quicker than she could process a single thought. She sat up, wondering what time it was, and hoping that James was doing well.

It felt strange to not to be next to him. She'd become so accustomed to having him around to talk to, that she wasn't sure what she should do with herself. She finally dragged herself out of the bed she'd been gifted for the night and tried to be quiet as she walked toward the stairs.

"Good Morning!" Iago's cheery voice called from the bottom floor. "I was about to go get breakfast, I wasn't sure when you'd be awake. Would you like to join me?"

"I don't want to trouble you." she said, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she sat down.

"It's no trouble at all," he said with a large smile. "If we leave now I can introduce you to some of my friends."

She followed as the lines of people turned into a vast sea of bodies. Some kind of controlled chaos she was incapable of understanding. The culture shock was immense.

Everyone talked and laughed among themselves, the sound was almost deafening. She couldn't understand anything Iago was saying, and grabbed his arm in defense. She wanted to run and hide. There was too much happening, and while she was elated to know that these people were able to be free, it was too much and it felt like she couldn't breathe.

When she was finally able to regain her senses she was standing next to a wall, away from the throng of people, with Iago studying her face in concern. The thrashing sea still churned around them, but this space was safe for the moment and it allowed her a moment to calm her racing heart.

"I guess I should have warned you what it was going to be like before hand. I'm sorry." Iago said with a frown.

"It's okay. I'm fine it's- it's a lot to take in, I've never seen so many people all at once, and all making noise, laughter. They smile..." she closed her eyes again as her vision started to darken from just the thought of it. "Can we just wait her for a minute?"

"Of course. There's no rush. Most of the people here are the people who have work shifts in the morning. I have a schedule to stick to as well, but I can always push things off until a little later." he said, his smile returning. "Almost everything I do is paper work and planning anyway. I can do that at any time really. The only thing I really need to take care of today is meeting with one of our scout teams so we can confirm all the information we've gotten from you."

"Confirming what?" she asked. "I told you all the stuff I brought is right."

"I know. We went over it last night, and I'm not calling you a liar, by any means. However, because of the information we've received before, we can't just take your word for it. It's not just you either. We haven't singled you out. Everyone goes through this process and is interviewed before they join us." he said placing a hand on her shoulder.

The action was both comforting and familiar, and she nodded to the considerably thinned crowd. He nodded back at her and wrapped one arm around her shoulder protectively.

She looked at people's faces as they passed. Unlike the ones she was familiar with seeing, these weren't drones. They were living, breathing, thoughts and ideas.

Iago slowly explained the food as they moved down the line. He told her what each one was, the main ingredients or just telling her to trust him when he added something new to her plate. He grabbed a fork and knife for her and himself as they reached the end of the line and showed her to one of the empty tables.

She looked at the food in concern. She wasn't sure that she wanted whatever chili-mac might be. It didn't look like something you have near your body, let alone in it. She tried everything once just to be polite and found that not everything was terrible, except for the chili-mac. Iago nodded with a smile at the look on her face and motioned for her to hand it to him. He gave her his pudding in response. Chocolate. She was definitely okay with that.