Inherently Innocent

And Hungry Wolves

Juniper rested by the stairs of the school. Her house's broken window was still sharp across the street. While she waited for Xia, her eyes stuck on the sun's reflection. The light danced, keeping her numb while she thought of Horizon Hill. The jacaranda bloomed uniquely, alone in a flowerless forest. Juniper wondered if it had been an ishine once. It wasn’t odd for floral trees to bloom after their deaths. Aloe often said they’d choose to become a cockspur coral tree, Juniper would have settled for a sunflower if she could.
She continued in her mind. She ran. The settlement fences were not that far away but her breath shook like the very first day. Once inside, she had to hurry home, but at least she would be safe from the outside. Not safe from the ishine who wanted revenge on humans, but safe from the hunters who would not hesitate to shoot. And at such a distance, it wouldn’t have been a taser gun.
Xia placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking her awake from her daydream. The girl placed her whole weight on Juno's shoulder to sit down beside her.
"Did you study for math?" Juno asked Xia, joking in a neutral manner. The girl rarely studied for anything.
"What for? The test's cancelled until further notice," Xia smiled, bumping Juniper's elbow. Juno's expression was confused enough for the other girl to continue, "You know, since Mister Heseltine got sent to prison."
"What?"
"Yeah, his son ended up being a nymph. He's being questioned, I guess. It's a pity. Thyme even pushed me down to protect me from an ishine the other day. He was nice. Did you know the one that got to the inner circle the other day was one of half a dozen that attacked the settlement?" Xia looked at Juniper and chuckled sadly. Every word she didn't say was stabbing the air around her. But she had to lie to stay safe, "But hey, we don't have the logarithmic test."
Juniper laughed honestly, finding a way to release the weight accumulating in her chest. "Yeah, no test. I just hope the Heseltines are fine after all of this."
Other kids came out of the school as another bell rang. They excitedly talked about their new exploration shifts, or complained about how they learnt nothing new other than how soft dandelions were.
A guard approached the school stairs and signalled the kids to move away. They raised a hand to wave at Juno and Xia to stand and leave, but the girls remained seating as the others scattered
“Listen kids, back inside now,” The guard’s tone made the order sound more like a suggestion.
It was normal for guards to wander around and ask things, but not to order people inside unless there was an ishine attack. Horizon Hill had heard of no such attack.
“What happened?”
“Governor’s orders. Just get home, I’ll escort you. You never know when those weeds can attack,” The guard chuckled with a drop of worry, “Us guards have to pave the way for you to grow up safe, don’t we?”
“Yeah, thanks for that,” Juniper would have rather walked home alone, but she would have also preferred not to go home in the first place. Xia and her stood, Juniper's classmate quietly walking away to head home. Juniper kept talking to the guard by herself, “So what’s Cove planning? Another expansion?”
“Eh, I don’t know. I’m just a guard, we aren’t told that stuff. But as a citizen, I’d say they’ll clean the west zone and expand that way. More houses, farming. The Program is taking the north circle’s land. The settlement will soon be too small for us. Plus, I suppose we eventually need to find oil and metal to reestablish the connection.”
Juniper would have asked why not expand south, but she was distracted by the loud noise that quickly approached. Before cursing, fearing it was an ishine attack, she saw the reason. A white vehicle with its motor still purring stopped right in front of her home across the street.
The few kids still hanging around outside school stared at the car in awe, afraid of its growling sound.
“Take care kid, I have to head back to the edge,” The guard hurried to turn and leave.
Juniper would soon forget the guard's voice, and there was no face to remember. But she’d remember the warning like it had been drilled into her head. The settlement would soon expand.
She inhaled before walking in. There was only one person in the settlement with a motorized vehicle.

The rooms inside were dim. Only the living room light was lit, with the kitchen beside it in complete darkness.
“Juniper, where have you been?” Her father hurried to stand. He had been sewing thick denim together with care, but dropped the needles on the cloth to hug his daughter.
“I hung around with Xia,” Juno said. She let Arnit hug her, but didn’t hug him back, “What’s going on?”
“There are plans for western expansion,” Juniper’s mother walked in from the kitchen, her shoulders dragged down like she was being pulled by the neck. “So we can have more houses for your generation to live in, and to be closer to the ishine settlements." Leilani took a seat and lifted a bottle of wine. It was impossible to get wine in the settlement unless it was given by the governor, "We can build a new armory near the edge. Start an attack beyond the wild lands of the west.”
Horizon Hill was to the west. Every ishine attack came from the west. The west was the home to the most aggressive ishine, in such a way that even nymphs feared an attack. But the violent ishine could move and avoid the humans; if the settlement expanded west, Horizon Hill would be discovered.
“But that would… That would start a war.”
“We live at war, Juniper,” A third voice spoke. Cove Marull walked from behind Leilani. He wore a black suit with a white shirt underneath. He had just left Imaginaria for the day.
Juniper wondered if he didn't have any plans to torture a new nymph today. Alas, there were probably employees taking care of that.
"Leilani knows that. We all do," Cove continued. His hand nervously reached up to scratch his short coily hair, "We won’t start a war, we’ll just start a battle in an already hostile field.”
“There can be casualties,” Arnit argued against Cove, but his tone was discouraged.
“As if there weren’t already. I could go through a list of deaths by the hands of the ishine, only with people I’ve met, and it would look like a novel,” Cove walked closer to Arnit, only turning when Leilani pulled him away.
Juniper’s mother took a deep breath. Juno used the silence to sit down on the chair closest to the stairs.
“So you’re sending my group to explore. And we’re going to… what? Kill some ishine until they give the land up?” Juniper frowned.
“No, no. You’re not going. But your classmates will, that’s what I came to talk with your mother,” Cove looked at Leilani with dismayed eyes, “Because we can’t just stay here, waiting for the ishine to gather and destroy us. We need to expand. And like it or not, Juniper’s mates will be the future of the settlement. This land will be for them. They need to start acting like it and become soldiers.”
“Oh come on, the last thing our mother would have wanted is for these children to become soldiers,” Leilani mocked the governor.
“Well, our mother isn’t here to disagree. But she did put us in charge of the settlement. She trusted we’d do the right thing. I came here to consult you since you have more experience, but the choice is mine to make unless you find a time machine.”
Cove and Leilani debated in silence. Neither could decide what side of each other's face to rest their glare upon, so they both ended up with shaky eyes.
Cove turned to look at his niece. He didn’t mean to, but he preferred it from looking at his sister.
“Tomorrow, the exploring group is heading west. We’re raiding the nearest forest. If it’s successful and there are no attacks, we'll establish barracks. If it’s not… It will be. We have weapons. They have their little magic tricks. I have to deal with Byeol and her pro-ishine protest tomorrow," Cove exhaled, shaking his head in disgust.
Juniper's heartbeat accelerated, pushing her chest to rise. Before any other reaction could escape her body, she hurried up the stairs.
“Juniper,” Her uncle called out, “One day you’ll have to be a part of these discussions.”