A Wonderful World

A Princess

The three of us walked out, only to see Irinia sitting against the wall. She was a little surprised to see us and jumped up.

"I've been waiting for us to go, Daddy." she said, staring straight into Kato's eyes.

Kato let out a deep sigh. I saw a smile form from his profile, as well as a tear glisten against the dark sky. He gave his daughter a final hug and said, "I knew this day would finally come. Please be free."

Joni and Kato silently made their way towards the bonfire.

"Let's go, Justin." said Irinia.

Without a word I followed her into the night sky. I felt an uncontrollable sadness inside me after witnessing Kato's farewell to his daughter. I couldn't even remotely look at her. I could only imagine the sadness that she felt. I continued to follow her footsteps.

"I would never want to live a life like this, you know." she started. "Sure, it's been simulated to provide us pretty much what we need, but it's the principle of the thing. There is unfairness in the world, and it bothers me. I just...want to do something about it. I wouldn't be able to live peacefully knowing that it exists. You know?"

I knew. Life had always been unfair, no matter the time period or planet. The closest way to be fair would be to be oblivious or remove as much humanity away from the world. I finally saw the purpose to all that technology, social media, and other traps of consumerism. They were distractions. I even further understood the reasoning for the segregation on this new planet. They were trying to turn the humans into clockwork beings, stripping their freedom behind their backs. I couldn't believe I never noticed it before.

We arrived at the windmill, and all we could do was wait. We had no idea when the transport would arrive at this location. We both sat against the base of the windmill. I managed to steal a glance at Irinia. Even in the moonlight, it was evident she was crying.

"Hey." I started. "Your dad is the coolest old man I have ever met."

She actually turned her head and smiled at me. "I know." she rubbed her eyes with the back of her arm. "He was always there for me, and just knew what I was feeling all the time. Even though he was my dad, I talked to him about everything. He was funny. He helped me analyze all the boys that gave me attention, and trust me, there were a lot of boys. He never said no to dating and then we talked about them. What kind of a father would do that?"

"Haha, I trust you." I said. "You seem to have that charm. Did your husband...not make it?"

Irinia laughed. "Married? Nobody was the one for me. Some were close-calls, but nobody truly got me. I want someone that pulls me in, encourages my dreams, and lets me be myself. Maybe that's why I'm a 45-year old single. The only one that seemed to tick the boxes was daddy. And then there was you."

"Me? What about me?" I asked, surprised.

"There's just something about that innocence you have, it draws me in. It also strangely felt like I wasn't part of this stupid world when I first talked to you. When I saw you so embarrassed that night, I couldn't help but tease you like that. It was the most fun I've had in a while. Not once have you said my concerns of the world were weird or unnecessary. I would say you're a close-call."

"What? How picky can you get?" I sincerely asked, while experiencing my self-esteem slowly declining.

"Look at me. I'm in no state to be dating anymore. I'm 45 years old, have no makeup, just wearing some rags, and I've had quite the history with men. You're an innocent little virgin boy 20 years younger than me. Wouldn't you want kids at some point in your life?"

"I think you're moving a bit too fast." I said. "Besides, I wouldn't care about your age or your history. It's embarrassing, but it's already obvious it doesn't matter what you wear even without makeup. I met the current you, not the past you. And kids? My parents wouldn't even know I had them if I did, and I'm in no desire to bring another version of me into this world. The only thing I would expect out of our marriage would be a dowry of a happy cow from your father."

Irinia burst out laughing. "We don't sing to our cows like Joni does. I'm afraid it'll just be a normal cow."

"Joni doesn't sing to the cows." I chuckled. "Maybe he tried and it didn't go well and stopped."

We both just laughed for minutes at this seemingly stupid joke that I made. When the laughter started to die out, suddenly one of us would snicker and we would both just laugh again. I almost forgot what we were doing until a bright light started speeding towards us.