Mantrin Imperial Guard - 005 Ethos of Solbrecht

Chapter 6: The Oghuni Teh Neywa, Part III

Baika, Jacky and Freya

Having only a vague recollection of what had happened on the night before, Baika had no one to blame but herself for the consequences of her actions. She would not have felt even a drop of regret, if not for the trouble she was in right now.

Aside from doing her best to avoid Myrann, which wasn't difficult, for every time she saw his guilty face he went out of his way to the same, the past couple of days continued to feel like living a dream. She had Jacky to thank for that. Their close friendship had evolved into so much more in such a short period of time and so unexpectedly, that even after being reprimanded for sharing a hammock, by Eloah nonetheless, she still had trouble comprehending that all of it was real.

Now she had an appointment with her grandparents, and that would not have been a problem if not for the fact that they were members of the Oolaht A'kai. Eloah was known for being relentless when it came to the rules. She hadn't even tried to appeal to any kind of sensitive side, for she knew she did not have one. Adamant to make her statement in front of the council of elders, she racked her foggy brain, struggling to come up with words that could persuade the leaders of her tribe.

"My ahmo is not gonna like this," she said in a monotonous voice devoid of emotion, staring in the direction where Eloah had disappeared behind the residences, leaving her standing with Jacky and Freya at her sides.

Her friends had the same cringing look on their faces, for the weight of the matter had been perfectly conveyed by the harsh tone at which Eloah had addressed her, and her alone. As it should be, or so she thought, given the fact that Jacky was not a member of the tribe and was therefore not to blame. Still, Eloah had addressed her friend after her lecture, and demanded that the two of them would appear in front of the council by the end of morning. If there was anything she could have done to spare Jacky the trouble, she would have.

"I'm sorry, Bai," Freya said while rubbing her bare shoulder.

Instead of looking at her, she turned her head toward Jacky, who continued to fiddle with the strip of cloth that formed the top part of her poetyo by winding and unwinding it around her arm. Jacky's ears drooped down to match the expression of disappointment on her face, as well as the concern that drew its lines over her brow.

"No," Baika sighed. "I'm sorry, Jacky. This is all my fault."

Jacky shook her head, letting go of the poetyo, the loose end fluttering down to the ground.

"Nah, I tried to warn you, but it's not like I did anything to stop us from sharing that hammock, now did I?"

Was that an actual smile creeping along her face? Wondering if this was her imagination at work, a kind of aftereffect of consuming too much alcohol, like the mild hangover that made her head feel like it was too heavy for her neck to carry, she also wondered if this was the effect she had on her friend. Some mothers would call that a bad influence, for even as a young girl she had made quite a name for herself when it came to naughtiness, her natural curiosity being responsible for most of it. But it was also what drove her into becoming an Imperial Guard officer, and she therefore carried a sense of pride for turning what some considered a flaw into a professional career.

Still, she could not let someone else become the victim of her own shortcomings, and certainly not someone she called her best friend and hoped to call her mate someday. Digging her toe claws into the ground in frustration she took a deep breath of cool, humid morning air, looking up at the titanic flat crown of the Ohnu to Morii, her leaves glittering with fine dew droplets in the sun's early morning rays. High above them, the dome's panels were already hard at work to regulate the amount of light falling through them for a gradual warm up of their controlled environment, with multiple panels flipping between reflecting and allowing light to pass through every millicycle.