To say that the incident created waves was a gross underestimation. Within an hour, everyone was discussing it. Kiri was elated, faintly hoping for Kat’s tyranny to end. Only to be completely disheartened when she learned that they were not discussing what really happened.

It was a shock to hear how different the story was retold. It was clear as water who was spreading the falsified versions of the incident. Kat and her crew had everything to gain and nothing to lose by twisting the narrative. The most frustrating thing was that they weren't just pushing one version of the story. The result was that with so many versions, no one could trust any of them, drowning the real story in an ocean of deceit.

The only thing common in the stories was that Mina and Kat met in the cantina. From there, it all varied, but in every single one, Kat was justified in her actions. According to one version, Mina had pulled Kat's hair first. In another, she had spit Kat right in the face. It was not clear if that was literal or not. Some said she had stolen something from Mina and refused to return it.

The nerve! The shamelessness! Kat was already untouchable. Even if she was caught red-handed, someone was watching out for her, and any charges were always dropped. Even with all that, she still felt the need to resort to extremely cheap tactics to avoid any blame. The mākutu deserved to be shipwrecked or worse.

Kiri desperately wanted to share the real version with everyone, but was too afraid to do so. Everyone in her group of friends knew the truth already, and she wasn’t brave enough to confront others about it. No one took the initiative to ask her. It didn't matter that she was one of the closest witnesses to the incident.

While Kiri was frustrated, Ulan was a thundering volcano. It was a bit scary to hang around him. He was usually such a cheerful and easy-going boy, except when it came to Kat and her cronies.

She followed him to the forest, where he took out his violent frustrations on nearby bushes and trees. It was even worse than usual. He had suffered more from Kat than literally anyone else. She used to rag on him to no end, until Ulan answered her with some very believable threats of violence. He was punished for it, of course. That didn’t prevent him from almost getting physical the next time Kat tried her luck. She stopped mocking him after that.

Unfortunately, that was also all she stopped doing. Instead of confronting him directly, she started a rumor campaign that was frighteningly effective. Ulan pretended to ignore the rumors, but it was clear as water to Kiri that they really hurt him. No matter how obvious it was who started them, the teachers didn’t lift a finger. Even Professor Hemsworth, the only teacher of color, did nothing but tell him that if he kept ignoring it, it would eventually stop. Not helpful.

The next morning, Kiri got a message from Elsa. ‘Guess who my new roommate is! Hint: She is not easily bullied.’

Seriously? She hurried to dress and head over, only to get another message stating that Mina wouldn’t actually physically move in until afternoon. Kiri wrote back that she’d be over immediately after dance practice was done.

The school day was painfully long. She spent each break discussing with her friends. Where had the girl come from? Why was she so fearless? What were the bigger problems she spoke of? Was that related to her being adopted? Had she been abused at home? Maybe that was why she was transferred here so suddenly?

Maybe she was suffering from something similar to Kiri? Could she, too, have fallen out of favor with her family, and that was the reason she had to flee? Perhaps they had a lot in common. Except, she was adopted, unlike Kiri. She was probably overthinking things. Regardless, she was dying to get to know the new girl better.

Kiri couldn’t find Mina during the lunch break. Nico shared that she was doing tests today, to determine what she had previously learned. He hinted it she might also be kept away from the others because of yesterday’s incident. Too bad, Kiri would have to wait until after school.

She was not surprised when she heard malicious rumors regarding Mina during lunch break. Well, one rumor and a threat. The rumor was that Mina apparently wasn’t potty trained and needed to use a diaper to not wet herself. Yesterday when arriving, she had forgotten to put it on and urinated in the back seat of one of the academy’s cars. It was an extremely silly rumor. Who would believe such a thing? If they wanted to sully her reputation, wouldn’t it be better to craft a more believable rumor? Or were people seriously so willing to listen to Kat’s lies they’d swallow anything?

The threat was that anyone associating with the pube-hair baby would share her fate. No word of exactly what her fate was. Was it related to the stupid rumor? Was it just a general ‘you’ll be sorry’ threat? Also, the nickname, so stupid. Kiri and her friends hypothesized that the only reason Kat hadn’t come up with any worse was that even she couldn’t get away with too racist slurs.

Following her dance lesson, Kiri made her way to Elsa's dormitory. It was a risk, and she was not comfortable with it. If Kat and her crew were watching the place, she would be directly contradicting Kat’s “order”. This was an invitation to the sharks, but hopefully she would slip under the waves Mina and Ulan produced. While Kiri liked Mina so far, she'd prefer hiding under the surface rather than take the brunt of Kat's malice.

Elsa let her in. Ulan and Nico were already there. In addition, one unfamiliar face: Angelica. Kiri didn't know her all that well, since she was a year younger. Nico was one year older, same as Elsa, but he was a lot more outgoing and had sought Kiri and Ulan out to befriend them.

Mina was unpacking her stuff while they spoke. Kiri immediately noticed something strange; what had happened to Mina’s hair? She burned twith curiosity, but had to wait her turn to ask. Mina seemed to be retelling how she got to the school. It was a lot more dramatic than anything Kiri had expected. She had heard of the demon guard, but this was actually worse than the rumors said.

There was something very weird about the way Mina spoke, and it took Kiri some time to figure out what. She was speaking extremely candidly, seemingly making no effort to hide anything. It was almost jarringly honest.

“... so hopefully he got some karmic payback when he had to clean the seats after my accident.”

Wait, the rumors were partially true? Only it wasn’t her fault, she was scared to death and it was only a natural body reaction. Still, it was weird hearing her just admit it. If it was her, Kiri would probably have done anything to hide the truth, regardless. Maybe she just realized it was pointless with the rumors floating around.

There was a sudden knock on the door. Kiri was scared. Maybe it was Kat and her crew coming to make good on their threat? She didn’t want to be seen. Mina apparently noticed her plight. She pointed towards the closet. Kiri tiptoed over, immediately followed by Angelica. Ulan and Nico stayed where they were. She admired their fearlessness, but had no desire to copy it.

Elsa opened the door. Kiri couldn’t see anything, but she heard everything clearly.

“Delivery for the baby!” a voice loudly announced. Sara, one of Kat’s friends. Or more correctly, one of her subordinates.

“Ah, I see you’re all gathered here to take care of the baby. In clear defiance to the warning. Well, I can understand that it’s a lot of work to care for a baby, so maybe it’s fine this once. We care, after all. See, aunty brought diapers for you, little miss Pissypants.”

“Relax, Ulan,” Mina answered. “No need to defend me. Thank you for the gift. Please see yourself out now.”

“I’m sorry we couldn’t find them in your exact size. We’ve put in an order, so we’ll get you some larger ones soon. Hopefully they’ll help keep the bed dry throughout the night.”

“Yes, I get it. The door is over there.”

“No, not yet. We’ve got one more thing for you. Here! A pacifier for the baby! Aren’t you happy, miss Diaperbutt? Just what you needed after losing your beautiful hair. Come on, suck on it, and maybe we’ll be a bit more lenient.”

Mina sighed.

“Listen. We both know exactly what you’re trying to do. You’re wasting your time, ‘cause I’m not afraid of you, and I’m not going to react to your feeble attempts at humiliation. You’re just tiresome right now. It’s not even any point discussing with you, because you’re just a delivery girl. Go back to your friend. Delivery quest complete. Get your well earned XP.“

“Well put,” Nico agreed.

“Yeah, go while you still have all your teeth,” Ulan threatened.

“No, no, Ulan. Don’t descend to their levels. They want to get a reaction out of me, and I’m not going to give them the satisfaction. Neither should you.”

“Hmpf. So that’s how it is, then?” Sara said. “Mark my words, if you don’t beg for forgiveness right now, everyone will see pictures of you in diapers tomorrow morning.”

“Is that seriously the best, or rather, the worst threat you can come up with?” Mina asked. “You’re trying to make me act like a baby, and threatening to publish a fake picture of me as one if I don’t comply? Ever heard of a catch-22? Why would I ever give in to your threats if it gains me nothing?”

“Can you add a picture of me too in a diaper?” Nico asked. “I’m sure I’ll look smashing. Maybe I can have a beautiful ribbon on my head, too? I think purple would be best, but if you only have pink ones, that works too.”

“Go fuck yourself, Nico,” Sara said, “This isn’t about you.”

“Why is she the only one that gets to be dressed up as a baby?” he complained back, “That’s not fair at all. Give me a pacifier, too, or I’m going to cry loudly.”

Kiri had to put a hand over her mouth not to start laughing. Angelica looked shocked. She probably didn’t know Nico as well as she did.

“You fucking retards!” Sara said, and stormed out of the room. Kiri could finally escape the confinement of the closet.

“That was awesome, Nico,” Ulan complimented him, “I wish I could come up with those kinds of retorts instead of just threatening with violence.”

“I’m afraid it’s nothing I can easily teach you. It’s a year-long process to learn that requires you to live with a bunch of privileged figurative bastards as a literal bastard with nothing but your wit to back you up.”

“That sounds like quite the story," Mina said, "I'd like to hear the rest."

"Maybe later over a few drinks."

"Wait, you're not old enough to…" Angelica began before stopping herself, "... Oh, it's a joke."

He just grinned at her.

Kiri looked at the 'gifts' in disbelief. They had actually gotten hold of a pacifier and a bag of large diapers. Large as in maybe three four year olds, still far too small for Mina, obviously. Even though she was completely disgusted with their behavior, she couldn't help but be a tiny bit impressed too.

She recalled something else important.

“Mina, why did you cut your hair?”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t really have that much of a choice. A girl I'm pretty sure is a subordinate to you-know-who ‘accidentally’ popped a chewing gum in my hair. It was impossible to get out, so I got it all cut instead.”

“Those dirty rats…” Ulan muttered.

“It’s not that big of a deal. There are advantages with short hair, too. It dries so much faster after showering.”

“But, you, ehm,” Kiri hesitated, “You look like a boy now.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“I guess? I don’t really mind, though. I mean, I’m not ready for anyone to hit on me anyway. Within a year, it’ll be a decent length again.”

Kiri wanted to point out that a year was a very long time. She held her tongue. What was she trying to accomplish with this anyway? Convince Mina she ought to feel bad about it? No, that idea could just sink to the bottom.

"Look on the bright side," Ulan grinned, "it's great to stroke. Tickles in a good way."

Suddenly, everyone wanted to pat Mina. She sighed, but didn't protest. Even Kiri had to join in. Ulan was right, it felt good.

"Mhm. Let me know if you want a part-time job as a cuddle toy," Nico remarked.

Mina just rolled her eyes.

“Guys, I want to ask a question,” Mina said once the patting session was over, “I don't want to offend anyone, okay? Okay. I just can't help but wonder… Is there some sort of racial segregation going on here?"

"Racial what?" Elsa asked.

"Racial segregation," Mina repeated, "That means that people are spilt in some way based on race."

She gestured to all of them. "None of you are white, at least not in the eyes of classic racism. I have yet to see whites and non-whites mix. I also get very antagonistic impressions from the whites I've met."

It was silent for a moment. Kiri glanced back and forth. Mina and Ulan were black. Elsa was from China. Angelica, or at least her parents, were Filipino. She didn't know where Nico originated from, but he looked Latino. And she was technically Maori.

"Is it different where you're from?" Nico asked.

"Well, that's kind of hard to answer. This is the first school I've attended."

"Really?" Angelica asked. "Were you, like, homeschooled before?"

"You can think of it like that," Mina said, somewhat cryptically.

"Well, I have only experienced this, and nothing else," Ulan explained. "It's just how it is. There are few willing to even speak properly to me."

"Yeah, well, I think your personal style might not be doing you any favors there," Nico pointed out. "But it's mostly the same for all of us, I guess.”

"Most people here are whites," Angelica added, "We are the 'others', so we stick together."

Mina nodded. "So if I understand you correctly, there are no explicit rules, just prejudices at play. Maybe some good old-fashioned racism too. The teachers don't do anything about it?"

Nico shrugged. "They will break up outright fights. Apart from that, they mostly ignore everything unless parents complain."

Kiri wondered if she ought to mention that involving parents didn't really solve anything, either. That would just pull more parents into the conflict, and they were rarely any more reasonable than their children. Not to mention you'd get branded a turncoat afterwards, and get treated even worse. Bloody bottom feeders.

"Well, that sucks," Mina moped, "How come there are so many whites here compared to everyone else? Don't tell me they are more likely to awaken?"

Kiri hadn't thought about it. She was pretty sure there were plenty of awakened people in her extended family, but her memory of their pre-exile period was pretty foggy. She was only five, after all. Something to ask her mom about later.

"Uhm, I think there are several reasons," Elsa said, "First, apprenticeships are almost always kept within the family, and awakened families tend to be more powerful. They are less likely to emigrate to other countries."

"Makes sense," Mina agreed.

"I think it's also pretty expensive here. It was something I overheard when my parents were discussing what to do with me. They were worried that my siblings would be jealous, since they could only afford sending me here."

"Really? Eh… The headmaster, or rather, headmistress said nothing about that."

"Maybe you got a scholarship? Regardless, it's your parents responsibility, not yours."

"I guess, but… I'll have to figure that out later."

Mina seemed a bit stressed. Perhaps her family was unwilling to foot the bill considering she was adopted?

"Anyway, the socioeconomic perspective probably explains much of the racial disparacy here," she said.

"Eh… I think I understood what you mean, but maybe you can repeat it in other words just to make sure?" Angelica asked.

Kiri agreed, but hadn't dared to say it out loud.

"Sorry. I meant that since white people in this country tend to be richer than people of color and the school is expensive, it makes sense that you get more white people here."

"Logical enough," Nico said. "Don't think for a moment that having a rich family offers any special privilege here. When everyone's rich, no one is. People judge you based on the color of your skin, regardless. Who cares about the fact that my family has lived here for generations."

Angelica nodded knowingly.

"I have some positive experience," Elsa chimed in, "Most are patient with me, when I was learning the language. It helps when I talked about Frozen."

"Yeah, I was curious about that," Mina mused, "Is Elsa your birth name?"

Elsa shook her head. "No, I chose that name. Most have a hard time remembering my real name. It’s Xin Liu Cho. Everyone remembers Elsa. Also, I am a fan."

"I think that's really clever. Is that why you've bleached your hair too?"

"One reason, yes."

"Neat."

"Elsa is cool and all, but I really love Anna," Angelica interjected, "She isn't awakened, and still handles everything thrown at her."

"You gotta admit Elsa's powers make you kinda jealous," Nico added, "Oh, what I'd do if I had those…"

They launched into a good-natured discussion regarding the Frozen characters. Kiri wasn't a huge Frozen fan herself. She liked Moana a lot better. A film about her people! Well, a Disney version of them. She knew many Maori hated it. Said it misrepresented their culture and story. Well, she had barely any memories of living with her people, so how could she know? For her, it was better to see a misrepresented story of her people than none at all.

"Speaking of magic powers, I have been wondering about something," Mina asked once the discussion died down a bit, “How many of the students here are awakened?”

"Depends what you are asking," Angelica responded before Kiri even had time to consider the question, "Right now, or at the time of graduation?"

Mina shrugged. "At graduation, I guess."

"Well, the academy boasts that two thirds of their graduates are awakened. Though that includes those that had already awakened prior to starting here."

"That's… a lot, isn't it?" Mina asked.

"There's a hypothesis that almost everyone would awaken if there were no veil, and they were properly guided."

"Assuming that's more or less true, how come magic has stayed hidden throughout history? I mean, all it should take is one community exhibiting magic, and it should be downhill from there."

"You're not wrong. There have been communities like what you describe in the past. Often ruled by one or a few individuals with unusually strong talents. Some of them may have given rise to myths such as vampires and werewolves."

Kiri nodded. Her people had their own myths, such as Māui.

"What happened to the communities?" Mina asked. "Don't tell me they are still around?"

Angelica shook her head.

"None that I know of, at least. Most of the communities were hit by disasters within a generation."

"Disasters?"

"Tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, thousand-year storms, mudslides and more."

"Wow. I mean, that can't have all been coincidences, right?"

"Many believe that using too much magic invites disasters, but no one knows why."

"I see. How did unveiled people learn about these magic using societies? Wouldn't regular, veiled historians and archeologists learn about magic too if they left something like written records?"

Angelica seemed awfully enthusiastic about this discussion.

"It's easy to dismiss any claim to the supernatural as superstition if you have already decided magic doesn't exist. To be fair, there were also a lot of actual superstitions, so it takes some serious effort to distinguish what each instance was. How about joining me in the library later, and I can show you something interesting I found about Pompeii?"

"Sure. That sounds interesting."

Kiri wanted to share what her mother had told her, but was too timid to do so. What if they made fun of her? It was probably just superstition, right? They world probably think of her as silly for bringing it up. But what if it was actually right? Or at least an important clue?

Mina turned towards her. Had she somehow noticed her inner turmoil?

"If you have something you want to share, go ahead."

She could pick that up? That was a bit scary.

"You must promise not to laugh," she said.

"I promise," Mina smiled. "No one is going to laugh at you, okay?"

She looked at the others while saying it. It seemed like the message was more for them than Kiri.

Kiri glanced around at the others. They were her friends. They would probably not be mean to her… right?

"Well, okay… I'll tell you, but bear in mind that this is just what my mother told me. I'm not sure it's true."

She should have said that she didn't believe it at all. That way she could have denied everything afterwards. At this point she was treading deep waters, so it was no choice but to swim or sink.

“So, my mother told me it’s the Gods.”

She waited for a moment to see if anyone would immediately laugh at her. When no one did, she went on.

"Magic is their domain. When we use it, we are borrowing their powers. We're so small, we are like tiny boats on the ocean. The sea is not bothered by small fishing vessels.”

Everyone was looking at her now. It made her feel self-conscious.

"Too many humans using magic are like a fleet of fishing vessels or cruise ships. Still small compared to the world, but their presence can be felt by the ocean. A few trips are fine, but they pollute the sea over time, which makes it angry. It attracts the attention of the Gods, and then Rūaumoko is called up to punish our transgressions."

Everyone was silent. Kiri hadn't noticed how fast her heart beat. It was stressful not knowing whether they believed her or not. Most people derided her stories. At least no one was laughing.

“Rūaumoko is a deity, I presume?” Mina asked.

Kiri nodded. It wasn’t strictly accurate, but she didn't want to launch into an extended explanation.

“Hm. Interesting. Thanks for sharing it,” she smiled encouragingly. While it was clear she didn’t immediately believe it, it was a lot better than being ridiculed.

"Well, that's one of the hypotheses,” Angelica said, neither dismissive nor affirmative. “There are practically countless different explanations of what magic is and where we take the power from. Wherever it is, it’s almost universally agreed upon that the source of magic is not ourselves. Our bodies can’t produce it. We can only draw it in. There is another common element among many; that magic, as a whole, has agency. Not necessarily sentience. And using too much magic correlates with natural disasters.”

“What is ‘too much’?” Mina asked.

“No one knows exactly. Considering it doesn’t happen everywhere all the time, it seems the limit is either pretty high, or that there might be other factors in play, too.”

Mina looked thoughtful.

“Surely not every natural disaster can be the result of magic overuse? I mean, Iceland was formed by volcanic eruptions long before humans existed anywhere nearby.”

“Rūaumoko acts for different reasons, too,” Kiri said, “We can only try to please the Gods and hope they look favorably on us. Or at least leave us alone.”

Mina nodded.

“See if I get this correctly; there’s a good chance that every big natural disaster in human history might be the result of magic overuse. Right so far? So, it’s possible that humans were abusing magic like crazy before we were almost extinct 70.000 years ago?”

Kiri was startled. This was not something she had heard about. She wasn’t the only one.

“What do you mean, almost extinct?” Ulan said.

“Well, there was a supervolcano around that time,” Mina explained, “Toba, I think it was called. It blew up, sending the Earth into volcanic winter for at least several years. It led to an ice age. There were at most 10.000 humans that survived, possibly a lot fewer.”

Angelica looked wide-eyed. “Really? I need to check it out.”

She looked like she was about to bolt to the door.

“Surely the knowledge is not going to disappear from the library within the next hour?” Nico asked.

She looked conflicted.

“I guess…”

“Right,” Mina said, “If I can ask a few more questions? Are there any warnings before a magic-induced disaster happens? When should I stop using my talent? I assume it is in everyone’s interest that disasters do not occur.”

Angelica shook her head. “Your individual magic probably doesn’t make any difference at all. If there is any warning, it’s not common knowledge or even consistent. Sometimes people have prophetic dreams, but there are a lot more dreams that don't lead to anything, so…”

“Hey, isn’t that why we have the Veil?” Ulan asked, “To prevent too many from using magic.”

Mina seemed genuinely surprised. “That’s why we have the Veil? I mean, it makes sense. I just thought the Veil was there to keep magic to a select few. Maybe there is more than one motivation behind it?”

"You mentioned your talent?" Nico asked, "What is it, if you don't mind me asking?"

"No, I don't mind," Mina smiled, "I just don't know much about it, since I just recently learned I was awakened. Apparently, I can pick up the emotions of people around me."

"Not exactly a superpower," Nico commented. “Just wait until I awaken. You ought to get my autograph while you still have the chance.”

Kiri liked Nico’s bravado and sense of humor. Sometimes it was hard to tell where one ended and the other started.

“I understand it seems pointless to you,” Mina partially agreed, “but it’s a far step from being completely useless. It’s how I can tell Kat is faking her confidence, for example.”

“She is?” Ulan burst out. “I mean, yes, of course she is, I just didn’t know for sure.”

“Her greatest fear is probably being found out,” Mina explained, “I don’t really care about her, though. I’d much prefer that we leave each other alone.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but I’ve had to contend with her bullshit since I started here despite my wish of being left alone.” Ulan sounded more than a little bitter. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I am really glad someone else is here now to take the brunt of her ire. I will do what I can to support you, though. Friends, right?”

“Friends,” Mina smiled back.