Kamaria's Light

Chapter 2: Eight Days And A Lifetime Ago

"I remember it almost as if it were last night..."
Agent Vask leaned forward in his chair. He nodded at me.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. These were not memories I wanted to relive. But I really had no choice. What was new?
                    
                          **********

Eight Days Ago.

"It really isn't all that difficult, Kamaria." a voice said beside me. It was night and the stars stretched out above us. The nights on Victor's Garden were always beautiful. Even though I'd spent a lifetime looking at them. They still managed to take my breath away.

" Not all of us are as adept at reading the stars, Thasala."

We were lying on our backs staring up at the stars, Thasala's favorite past time. We'd done it enough times that it had become our thing.
We were at my house, although house was not quite the word. Estate was more like it. The estate sat atop a large hill overlooking the Capital below. The grounds where literally vast enough to get lost in. We had secluded ourselves far from the main house. Our own little island.

"You just aren't trying." she chuckled as she turned to me and propped her head on her hand.

I mirrored her pose, Thasala was short by Mon Lay standards, she used to have amazingly long  golden  hair, I must admit I was envious, she cut it though, much to her father's chagrin. She now sported a rather boyish looking pixie cut with some silver highlights. It suited her. Made her look cute, Innocent. As such, people often tried to take advantage of her. It cost them, she was a fiery little person who could make people twice her size back down in an argument.

She was a rebel, a brilliant minded rebel. Top of our class with me running close second. I'd have been further behind had she not pushed me to be the best. She could be aggressively optimistic at times. My favourite quality about her. We watched in silence for a while as the planet's orbital docking ring rose in the sky, a faint silver band crowning the heavens.

The ring had been the first thing my father had implemented when he was appointed governor.
When we had arrived here, Victor's Garden was no more than a small farming colony. Four year old me had hated it instantly. But in the fourteen years my father had been governor, he'd modernized it into one of the finest planets in the entire empire, the capital was transformed into a sprawling metropolis with magnificent glass towers that reached into the skies. They looked more like they belonged in an art gallery.

"I applied to the Naval Academy." Thasala's voice pulled me from my revelry.
"what?" I sat up "So soon?" I couldn't hide the worry in my voice.

"Yeah." she winced. I looked down at her, she pointedly avoided my gaze.
"you know I've always wanted to join the Navy."  she added as she nervously wrung her hands in her lap.

It's a conversation we'd had before, it usually ended in me sulking. Thasala was my only friend, only true friend on this planet, the thought of her leaving me to finish the rest of the school year alone dredged up a lot of emotions. Fear especially.

"Look" I cleared my throat, pushing those emotions back deep down "I know I haven't been the most supportive on this in the past but."—I sighed, I was afraid of losing her, she'd go off to the academy and she'd be amazing at it. Just like her father was. Sailing across the stars was in her blood. —" I know this is important to you, so I'll support you, Thass. "

She stared back at me in stunned silence. "Wait? You're suddenly okay with it?" she looked at me, the shock still evident on her face.

I stood and offered her my hand to help her up.

"I won't keep you from your dream, Thass."

"Thank you" she accepted my hand and smiled as I pulled her to her feet.