The Man-Made Summer

Chapter 2: Moswen

Forests of spirits and lost souls.

She wouldn't talk to me last night, but now she's back at the door of my cottage. June Penner is an an odd girl. I tell her to come inside, my brother is still at Peppa Nyung's house doing God-knows-what. He romanced her at last night's festival; she invited him back to her house and I haven't seen them since. Peppa Nyung - I hate the girl. Nobody really knows how, but she has fine, silver hair which falls to just above her knees. Yes, her knees.

Some speculate that she was a part of an experiment involving spider silk when she was younger. But that is just an old wive's tale, after all. Either way, I find it unfair that Peppa is viewed as 'beautiful' and 'spectacular' but people say June is 'peculiar' and 'bizarre'. June's science has been revolutionary and what has Peppa ever done to contribute to the way we live our slightly old-fashioned, yet oddly peaceful lives? You can say June is far from social, but you just never approached her. You can say Peppa is unique and wonderful, but she was the one to approach you.

Peppa strikes me as the type of girl who uses others, and she'll only be kind to you if it's in her best interest. I know June doesn't talk much at all, but at least if she does, you can be safe in the knowledge that it means something and she's not just looking for more people to back her up in an argument or some-one to spend the night with. 

"Moss, I have some explaining to do. I want you to know that young Queen Felicity killed herself. This is an international secret, only specific business heads with royal ties (such as myself) and her family are to know. Vaterra's prince, Atlas, is to be married very soon to an empress from Rihlafar. There are also complications with this arrangement. We simply can not let something like the suicide of a monarch get out to the general public. Not at this difficult time, not ever."

All I mutter is a quiet, "I understand."

"You must know that if it is found out that I have shared this information with you, I can, and will, be killed. You must not tell a soul about this. Not your closest friends, not even your brother. Please, Moss, I don't want to end up like my father." This makes me question what actually happened to Androxander Penner. This makes me question everything I've ever known. But I don't ask about it.

"Then why did you tell me?" I mumble. 

"Come with me, I'll show you." She softly grips my wrist. She leads me out of the cottage door. She lets go of me, but carries on walking. We walk through the purple fields, I know where she is taking me to the river. It's the only place in this direction. But why? 

The early morning sunlight shines through the huge, heliotrope trees, casting a periwinkle glow on the clear, turquoise waters. It is magnificent, but why are we here? She sits on the wisteria-coloured grass and crosses her thin legs. "Sit with me, Moss." I do as she says. "What do you see?"

I've never really had a way with words, I'm more a rugged soul than a poetic one. I scan the whimsical area with my eyes as a breeze whips past the two of us. I look up at the clouds, not at her, as I mutter, "Well, I see something we built. Us people of Ahyamoor. We didn't tear down our world, but we worked with it to create something magical. In Baskerstone and Frostbrook, there's nothing left of the gardens they were gifted with."

"Those who came before us worked so hard to protect it, didn't they?" Her voice is as calm as her eyes. The unremarkable, grizzled grey of her eyes is prettier than Peppa Nyung's bright hazel. It reminds me of the clouds before rainfall, but in a good way. Because if you think about it, none of the bliss around us would be here without it. We stay silent for a few moments. Everything is quiet, you can't even hear the hum of the farm workers yet. The only sounds are the gentle water droplets and the hummingbirds. It's so idiosyncratic yet lovely, this purple land of farms and ecosteam.

"The heir to throne is Marigold, Atlas' older sister." June suddenly pipes up. "She's the duchess of Frostbrook and I think that tells you a lot about her." I can tell it's hard for her to open up to me. It must be hard for her to just walk all the way here, she hasn't left her house properly in what must be years. "She likes things mechanical, she doesn't like Retinal, and she doesn't like ecosteam." Ecosteam was invented by her father, her dead father. Marigold's name probably tastes sour in her mouth, it's tangy in mine and I know less about the woman than a foreigner.

June looks at the ground and her eyes have a few droplets at the bottom of them. The grey clouds must finally be raining. "June, please don't be upset. Everything will be okay." In a mercilessly awkward fashion, I throw one supportive arm around her. She gasps subtly, the poor girl has probably never been this close to somebody since she a child.

"But it won't, Moss. When she takes over in just a few months, everything is under her rule. Everything. All of these trees around us, she'll cut them down and burn them. She'll put me out of business, she'll spit on my father's grave. I'm so alone in this. I'm frightened. I'm so very frightened." The words poor out of her mouth like water from a broken dam.

"Think about it, June. Why did you take me here? Why did you tell a boy you hardly know at all a secret which could get you killed? It's because you want help, because you need it. I refuse to let my home turn into another Frostbrook. What can we do?"

"Well that's the worst part: there's nothing we can do."