Crowns and Guns.

Goodwill (part 2)

I look up in front of the giant concrete gate. I have never seen the full gate open, only the small metal door made in the front. I wonder if it still can open. Both the door, the gate, and the walls are decorated with runes. Runes that keep the elves out. Supposedly. I actually never wondered how they work. Maybe the elves just never bothered to attack it, or maybe the concrete walls stopped them. I dunno. Lots of things we know about the elves are just plain wrong, so why not the defensive runes?

Then again, maybe the runes are not magic at all. Maybe there is some promise the elves made to never cross any wall with these signs on them. Who knows.

I look up at the guards, sitting in the towers. I can't see the guards from these angles, as the outside of the towers are covered with iron plates, leaving nothing but small holes to watch and shoot through. But that does not matter, they should be able to see me. Yet there is no reaction. No sound. Nothing. I try to draw their attention by waving, but nobody seems to react.

I look back to Katie, who is waiting a dozen meters back, and shrug.

She replies by raising her palms.

I look down at June, who is firmly holding my hand.

"Don't worry June someone will be here soon to take you back inside. But I will stay here until then."

June looks up and shakes her head. "But I don't wanna go back. I want to stay with you and Katie."

I sigh, and I pick some loose leaves out of June's hair. "Don't you wanna go back inside, where you can drink clean water, eat fresh food, and have central heating?

She vigorously shakes her head. "I don't want to go back. I wanna stay here."

I am interrupted when the metal door opens, and Derek steps out. I guess they did see me coming, they just didn't signal me.

I absentmindedly pinch my skin with my fingers. "Hello Lieutenant, I know I am still banished, but I came here to bring back June." I push a struggling June toward the door. "She sneaked out, and I just wanted her to be safe."

He steps aside. "Both of you, please come in."

I look back at Katie, still a dozen or so meters back, and back to Derek.

"I am banished, remember?"

Derek shakes his head. "Your banishment has been overturned, and so has Katie's"

I turn around again and gesture to Katie to come closer. "Overturned? Already. Did Commander Lawrence regret his decision?"

He looks at June and back at me. "I'll explain, but not in front of the girl."

"Why not? I ask."

He sighs. "Just come back inside, please."

I reluctantly follow him inside the gate and to the main hall. June holds my hand tightly, while Katie follows us a few meters behind. She deeply frowns, and her eyes jolt around the room.

The main hall is packed with people, all standing around or sitting on the benches. Children dressed in green run around playing. While most adults either stand around or sit around in groups, muttering and whispering.

Nobody even seems to notice us entering. People are all occupied with something.

Sasha, also known as Lieutenant Casey, a tall woman in her fifties, with piercing grey eyes, is waiting for us at the entrance. She always looked intimidating to me, even tho I was almost a foot taller. But today, somehow, she doesn't look intimidating. Her hands are folded in front of her body, and her shoulders hang slightly.