Blues

'"If she's somehow convinced you that she doesn't control you then she's exercised the greatest control of all," she says so tiredly it makes me immediately conscious of how naive I've been. "She decides your every move."'

When the adult population of the Herel Plain, a small country known equally for its film industry and repressive government, is decimated by a civil war, the state sets up an auction system to distribute the newly orphaned youth into American foster homes. The so-called "Pageant" separates Savannah from the brother she has raised and places her in the hands of a violent, brooding entrepreneur and his wife, a callous and alluring college professor, who enlist her - along with their thirteen year old daughter Laurencia and their irreverent, young assistant, Nasrine - as a dealer in the high-end American drug trade.

When Nas comes to her with an unthinkable scheme to take off with the money, Savannah sees her opportunity to be reunited with her brother and give him the life they never had. To run away is all she ever wanted, but when the moment finally strikes, something about her new employer makes her want to stay.

COVER ART by the wonderful @celaestial; thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart, friend!