“What is your business here?” the Titanian police officer turned, allowing Anwen and Ivan to enter his field of vision.
Anwen stepped forward slightly holding one of three glasses of falooda she had bought from the vendor, a less intense show of defiance than walking right up to him, and stared him down. Despite the more minimal display of resistance than she liked, it didn’t change that she wanted no one bothering Stefan, even if they were an authority who had the power to abuse both her and her two friends and receive no consequences afterwards.
“My name is Amara, employee of Lord Astor. That man there’s a slave belonging to my boss, so I kindly ask that you leave him be. If he’s done anything improper, you’ll let Lord Astor deal with him. I can show you all the documentation you need.”
She could sense the officer smirking underneath his visor. He wasn’t just about to let them drive away.
“Lord Astor really is a collector of specialties, isn’t he?” he asked rhetorically, before turning his gaze to Ivan. “Slave, come forward.”
Don’t fight him, Ivan, Anwen thought as the young man stepped forward with two glasses of the sweet pink drink in his hands. Don’t make this worse than it is.
The officer snatched one of the glasses out of his hand as his visor spread open, revealing a typical flawless Titanian face. He downed the drink in two gulps, before flinging the glass onto the street behind him. He allowed an exhale of satisfaction out, causing Anwen to stifle back an expression of cringe.
“Thank you for the gift, Amara.” the officer said, before walking away without further incident. For several moments, the trio could only stare at one another before Anwen spoke.
“Back in the car, Ivan.” she demanded of a man both senior in rank and age, to which he quickly complied.
“That rat bastard,” Stefan clutched the edge of the closest door to him. “If I had a knife, he’d be dead before he could even finish blinking.”
“Stefan,” Anwen approached him, presenting the glass in her hand to him. “Drink this. You’ll feel good.”
Stefan’s tense expression softened as his gaze locked with Anwen’s.
“I… no, it’s fine. It was yours and Ivan’s idea to get it in the first place. You keep it.”
Anwen took his hand and pushed the drink into it, forcing him to hold it.
“That asshole policeman was harassing you first. I couldn’t stop it, but the least I can do now is let you have this.”
Stefan frowned. He didn’t like getting favours from others, but he wasn’t going to hurt Anwen’s feelings right after she was insulted by the Titanian police officer.
“Alright, thanks.” he forced himself to say. Anwen smiled, then joined Ivan in the front seat of the car.
“You know, you can have this,” Ivan held his still-full glass in front of her. “It really makes me feel bad when kids don’t get to have good things.”
“I appreciate the thought,” Anwen expressed. “But I can go a while without a cold drink. I’m more suited to this climate than you two.”
--
The trio arrived at their final rest stop before they reached the seaside town from where they would traverse the Global Ocean to the Shimajima. The area was yet another unremarkable clearing of land in a vegetated area a few minutes drive from the nearest dirt road, the same as the previous places they stopped.
All three youths took part in unpacking and setting up their tents and bags. There would be two tents—a larger one for the two men to sleep in, and a smaller one for Anwen to use alone. In the days they’d been together, probably due to his living at Janine’s home for so long plus his abnormally high speed, attention to detail and strength, he did about 70% of the work. He most certainly could’ve done 100% of it by himself without breaking a sweat, but he didn’t want Ivan and Anwen to feel like they were useless.
“Woo, good stuff as usual,” Ivan patted Stefan’s back before heading straight for his tent. “I’ll be taking a snoozer now. Wake me up to eat, or don’t. I’m so tuckered out.”
“There he goes, back to his usual self.” Stefan rolled his eyes as the man closed the tent flaps behind him.
“Yep,” Anwen sighed in agreement from behind before stepping up to his side. “Well, time to make something to fill ourselves up.”
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The next 20 minutes were spent in silence by the two teens making their dinner. They lit a fire, letting a pot of water come to a boil. They added a packet of seasoning, before splitting open two packages, one containing bits of dehydrated deer meat, and another containing vegetable pieces in the same state. Once the food chunks were soft and plump again, and the water became red and aromatic, Stefan filled a bowl with a ladleful of soup. He popped open a metal tin, passing them to the girl along with a spoon.
“Thanks.” Anwen said with genuine humility as Stefan repeated the actions for himself, before placing a lid on the pot so that Ivan could help himself later.
“Wanna eat in the car? This stuff’s too good to have sitting on the ground.” Stefan said, rising to his feet.
“Sure.” Anwen nodded, walking the few feet from the fire to the car, Stefan following. The two made themselves comfortable in the backseat, the boy using the seat in front of him to rest his feet on.
“This entire time, from the moment we joined the Black Shield,” Stefan said after a few minutes of silent indulging. “I never once thought about the stuff that went on down here.”
“That has to be the reason Gareth never took me south,” Anwen added. “Not even for a visit.”
Stefan remembered how little Anwen knew of the place of her birth and heritage. He'd wanted to be angry at Gareth for taking the chance to reconnect with her homeland away from her, but he now knew that it was much more complicated than that.
“I never wanted to touch on how people here lived, but after our experience with that officer, I really do feel like the southerners are not that different from us.”
Stefan neglected to mention how the young southern boy’s mother made him look like a villain simply for where he came from and what she perceived him to be, but the girl already knew about it.
Anwen took a sip from her spoon.
“You know… the whole drive here from that town, I couldn’t stop thinking about that mother and son who ran into you. That woman didn’t look like she was old enough to have seen the Partition, but the way she said all those things about you to her son… I think their problems are different from ours.”
“What makes you say that?” Stefan asked curiously.
“I think their problems with the northerners surpass their hatred for the Titanians,” the girl hypothesized. “Otherwise, Jay would’ve made us go to some southerner resistance group to ask for help. Why didn’t that happen? Because such groups don’t exist. They’re comfortable with the Titanians even though they lock them in and watch their every move and control all aspects of their lives.”
“So you think they like being in the state they are?” Stefan raised a brow.
“No,” Anwen shook her head. She took another sip of soup.
“Growing up, Dr. Bernard told Leon and I all kinds of things about the southerners. How they were a hateful people who deserved to be divided from us. Of course, Gareth always told us to ignore his ramblings. And today, I saw that woman making you out to be the same kind of person Dr. Bernard deemed her people. The way she thinks of people who look and speak like you has nothing to do with how the southerners have to live.”
“What are you getting at, Anwen?” Stefan said, growing confused. He didn’t know where Anwen was taking him in their conversation.
“In all honesty, I—I don’t know. But let me tell you something. When I saw that boy and his mum, all I could think of was… Jay, and his mum Paridi. How they must’ve been treated when they were much younger, before Paridi was hired by the Anbieter’s parents. What the cop did to that mother and son must’ve been what Jay and Paridi experienced every day. And because of that, I think I understand why Jay helped create the Shield.”
“Because he wanted to help his brother?” Stefan postulated.
“No. You see, what makes the Shield different from the Free Army is that they are willing to work with southerners. They want the southerners to be a part of this in whatever way they can. A lot of our comrades… they don’t see it that way. They only see a liberated north. Jay wants to free the south too--his homeland. He wants freedom for all of Yeupis, not just the north.”
“And… what did arriving at that conclusion make you feel?” Stefan asked with honesty. He was amazed by Anwen’s ability to piece things together so well. He too was part of the camp that had only expected the Black Shield to free the north, especially given how important his own mother was to its liberation movement, however Anwen’s thinking caused him to expand his horizons.
“Well, whether or not I grew up here, or if I even feel connected to the land, the people of the south are my people too. If Gareth had never taken me all those years ago, it could’ve been me in that boy’s place instead of him. I wouldn’t wish that on myself. So, to answer your question, I think that Jay’s motives are absolutely warranted, and I agree with them.”
Stefan sipped the last of his soup and placed the bowl and spoon in the middle seat in the back of the car.
“I can’t say I relate to you, or to Jay,” Stefan said. “But the Black Shield is the successor of the Free Army. Their ambitions should only be greater than theirs. Freeing the south sounds like a neat idea.”
Anwen turned slightly in his direction after not looking at him the entire conversation and smiled. She picked her arm up, dropping her palm on top of his head softly before proceeding to rub his scalp. His hair had been cut so short he could feel all the warmth coming from her hand.
“You aren’t a meathead after all, Stef.” she giggled.
“S-Stop that, Anwen!” Anwen spoke in a somewhat sharp tone, slapping her arm away.
It does feel nice. But she doesn’t have to know that.
“I was beginning to sense thoughts forming in your head for a second. I could feel it through my skin.” Anwen said, humorously putting on a frown.
The facial expression prompted a giggle from the boy, which soon resulted in the reciprocation from the girl. For a few seconds, all that could be heard was the laughter of the two teenagers.
“Anwen, I have something for you.” Stefan said as he ceased his mirth.
“For me?” she raised a brow as she pulled all her strength together to stop giggling.
Stefan turned and pulled out a receptacle from the door side cupholder, presenting it to Anwen.
“It’s not cold anymore, but I saved you some.”
Seeing that the glass was exactly half full with the beverage she had given the boy hours earlier, she hesitated at first, but she saw the sincerity in the boy’s face and decided to take the offering.
“Thank you, Stefan. You’re amazing.”