"It will be a relief, Nora, billions with designations will defend our cause. I know you are worried about taking people down with you, I know you are traumatized by Thelan's attack. Something may happen, none of it will be your fault." Janel finished.
"They just changed everything, made all these arrangements. Without any indication. I felt so betrayed. It is like they do not respect me. Even though I have worked by their side for years. I revered them. Did everything to benefit them. They out vote me, maneuver secretly behind me. I have never acted like any other Matriarch except when they needed me to. It is so frustrating to have them treat me like one. The worst thing is that they were right to do this. I just wish I was in on the decision, that they only considered the staff left behind after we fought. I thought we were fighting for these people, and they wanted to use them as decoys. " Nora vented drunkenly.
"I think the Matriarch and Alphem mindset will still live on for decades, on both sides. It is not your fault that men were mistreated. Trauma lasts for a lifetime. Even though you, yourself, were never responsible for their pain. The response to it still remains. They always seem to feel bad for their actions afterward. I have been thinking about how we will reconcile as a society after nearly six hundred years. This is just a genetic fix. Is it not a societal fix? Did your people ever find a solution to this?" Janel asked.
"We never got this far. There were always great gaps of inequality. You wouldn't believe the things we had let divide us and the things people discriminated against. I have not been able to see a lot of this world yet. They were forced to be with me. Do you think they will stay with me?" Nora said.
"I know, I will always be your family. They are good men. I do not think they used you knowing that this would be the outcome. Who could have predicted this?" Janel said. The lights switched on as the studio illuminated. Nora jumped and laughed at herself. Janel looked at the decontaminator. Liem stood staring at the pair of them together in the last process of cleaning. Sirona was not far behind.
'She's been worried about us leaving her? Did she feel like we were pulling away from her by doing this?' Liem thought. Liem stepped out, his eyes adjusted from the last portion of the cycle. He felt Sirona's hand grasp him. Sirona's eyes widened. She had never seen her mother like this. She looked up at her father. It was not polite to listen in on a private conversation or not announce yourself.
"Wow, Daddy! It looks just like home, except there is no prop box!" Sirona exclaimed loudly and purposefully. Liem had taken special care to talk to her about what was going to happen with the harvest. Sirona stopped and stared at the rack. Her face went through a range of expressions from disgust to comprehension. She had seen the racks before, as her Mother explained early on what was happening.
'I do not like seeing these, but it is certainly better than getting sick, uncomfortable and big. Anyone could have babies together with these. I do not need to bind so many boys if I do not want to.' Sirona thought.
"Look at you! Sirona, you look so beautiful." Nora exclaimed. The growing girl was seven years old now. She was very emotionally mature and had a budding career.
"Mommy, I bet you are glad you are not big this time. This way I do not have to get all big either." Sirona looked at her mother.
"I do not regret getting big at all," Nora retorted.
"Not even when you peed yourself? Twice." Sirona teased. Liem and Janel laughed.
"Rona. Seriously." Nora got up and quickly captured her and tickled her.
"Mercy," Sirona exclaimed.
"Mercy? Remember when you last peed yourself?" Nora fiercely tickled her.
"Mom, please, no." Sirona exclaimed between her fits of uncontrollable laughter. Nora stopped shortly after.
"Is my makeup still fine, Father?" Sirona asked her father. He had applied light makeup after her insistence that looked better on the feed.
"Makeup, get back here. My baby girl is beautiful without it." Nora said.
"No way, Monil is wearing it, this is going to go down in history. You should put some on. The lights make you look cloud white." Sirona quickly opened her own Interface and accessed the camera in front of them that stood on a pole and captured some offline footage.
"See, Janel and I look perfect. You look, ugh." Sirona said. She ran to the vanity. Janel cackled.
"Ugh? Ugh? You!" Nora exclaimed.
"Father, can you do Mommy's makeup? Granny made sure to stock it." Sirona asked.
"I will, but your Mother is beautiful, not ugh. Her cheeks are a little red" Liem said. She had the unmistakable smell of wine on her. He felt horrible after hearing the conversation between her and Janel.
'Was she doing this at home as well, alone in that room? Crying. Shit. I am just like my Mother.' Liem thought. He struggled to keep a frown from appearing on his face and briefly turned away.
"I guess I do look tired." Nora said, noticing the change in Liem. She gauged that he was not pleased with her drinking, his prior remarks alluded to it.
"You can only wear it on Feather for now, Sirona, alright?" Liem said. Kai passed through the decontaminator as she got up from her seat. He had not spoken much to her. She was still pretending to be alright in front of the children and outsiders. He heard her weep the night they discussed all this with her and the children. He had never seen someone cry when they were pissed off. He wished that she could just punch him in the face like anyone else would.
This had been his idea. Setton insiders knew of the weaponry that the plant itself had to defend itself from attack. They had held back in teaching the Droid passive defense techniques. He had just spent a great deal of effort testing it. He was satisfied, it took five knowledgeable men to help him take one down. They only knew how to defeat the units based on insider knowledge. He was certain they were safe. The patch had just been sent to the Quill floor by Talan. All the workers were standing by to evacuate. He was excited to tell her that no one would get hurt now. She had been so angry about leaving the staff behind defenselessly.
'It will definitely ease her stress, but will she forgive you for going behind her back?' Kai thought. The way she screamed at them was the worst dressing down he had ever received in his lifetime. It was psychologically shattering when she rightfully accused them of using the lower class as their banner to begin this whole movement of theirs and then daring to use them as a human shield afterward.
'She was right, I fixed it, but I was very wrong. It was cowardly. Using unaware workers as a decoy was abhorrent, as she said.' Kai thought to himself. Kai walked up behind Liem, Sirona and Nora. His face was still quite solemn, Sirona smiled at him.
"The workers are standing by to evacuate the building and go to the Halid distribution sites as arranged. Talan can also wipe their employment history as well should things not go well." Kai said aloud to Liem. Talan walked up behind him.
"Nora was right, so I took the opportunity to do things right. Talan just agreed to take this final step," Kai said. He acted alone this time. He saw how miserable the group plot made her.
"You were right to move us here. It was selfish of me to not consider your feelings as well. You are her Father, Kai. You all have children that do not deserve to suffer because of my principles. Just because I was raised to be accountable for my decisions, doesn't mean that my family needs to suffer. I could have thought up a solution. I just chose anger, instead of finding a solution like you." Nora said, a tear dropped. "I teach our children to look for solutions instead of relying on their feelings." Nora said. "You need to consider them both, Sirona." Nora said to her oldest. Janel pulled the privacy curtain closed on the rack as Cerez and the Halid clan started their journey through the decontaminator.
"Mommy, please do not cry." Sirona said, feeling panic rise in her heart. "You also said we should follow our hearts too." Sirona said, trying her hardest not to cry. "I know Mommy." Sirona said as she embraced her Mother. Cerez shot Liem a death glare.
"She needs to get ready," Kai said. Looking at the people filtering in. Nora got up and walked behind the set to the dressing room. Liem quickly got to work. He applied cream to her eyes to reduce the swelling and drops to her eyes before he applied her cosmetics. He quickly braided her hair and picked out her clothing.
"Nora, give me your arm." Janel said as he returned after retrieving his supplies. She was too affected by the wine.
"I will be fine." Nora said. She did not know how she would get through this. It had been so long. Janel gave her an impatient look and sighed. "Fine. For you." Nora raised her arm and allowed him to inject her. She felt a rush of energy. He injected her with a stimulant. He had three black pills in his palm.
"Swallow these whole, you do not want to chew them." Janel said. Nora grimaced but complied. She felt a cooling sensation as they slid down her throat. "That's it, very good. Why did you do this to yourself? I do not want you to hurt yourself with this stuff again." Janel said, disappointed. "We all care about you, I know you are scared. But you have faced so much worse. You can do it without it." Janel said. Nora sobered up as her friend admonished her. "If you do not pour out the bottles, I will," Janel said.
"We can use them for cooking harmlessly. I promise, I will not do this again." Nora quickly defended her home-brewed stash. "I will not get this drunk again." Nora promised.
"How does she look?" Liem asked, trying to break the tension between the friends. She did not drink like this usually. He believed her. She only drank when she was very sad and anxious. He should have talked to her. The problems in their Bind started before Kai and Talan were bound in. Kai had wanted to include her, Janel and Monil in the discussion. He insisted upon this. He had chosen to spend more and more time running the clan, because he loved the power. He had a problem. He had become disaffected and less committed to the cause and his family.
"She looks a lot better than earlier. We need to talk about all this afterward, Liem." Janel said, not very pleased with Liem. Liem looked at Janel, he knew that this would not be the comfortable counseling session that he had become used to in the past decades. Janel sighed. "Nora, we will take this as it comes." Janel looked at her. "I am sorry I had to be stern with you. You are better than that." Janel said. He looked into the mirror and checked his hair and makeup. He applied some lip product and puckered. He picked up a couple of hair ornaments and affixed them to the braid that Liem had woven in her hair. "Perfect," Janel said.