Ravela stood before the motel mirror, putting on the uniform Sheriff Thorn had given her. It fits perfectly, just like Sheriff Thorn had promised.
She studied herself in the mirror. The fabric looked strange to her, and she started to miss the days when she only had to wear her armor suit. The thought appeared odd to her.
Ravela made a pained face in the mirror. Things were easier when she was only fighting for her life. Her fingers tenderly picked up the metal star from its cushion.
With it resting on her chest, her get-up was now complete. She breathed out slowly, realizing that she felt nervous. Chuckling, she walked to the exit of her motel room, then stopped, turned back, and picked up the white gloves and police hat on the edge of the desk beside her car keys.
“Can’t run everywhere, can’t be in full dress uniform without these,” Ravela said to the empty room.
‘You look ridiculous. This cloth grants no protection. I find the very concept of calling this a uniform insulting.’ The thoughts in her had commented.
“I was wondering whether you were gone for good,” Ravela commented, her companion's scorn while putting on the gloves. “Not all clothing needs to be practical in nature. For humans, many things are purely ceremonial.” Ravela explained her own view on the human view on clothing.
‘It is carelessness.’ The voice insisted.
“It is chosen vulnerability. A testament of trust amongst humans. Wearing actual armor or something war-like would be viewed by a human as threatening or insecure, depending on the context. If you’re not at war, wearing a full set of war gear would be,” Ravela paused, searching for a fitting word. “odd.”
‘The humans I knew clad themself in armor over armor. They were…commendably diligent. These humans are lax and not like the humans I met. I don’t understand the contrast. A race should not diverge so much.’ Came the somewhat confused response.
Ravela put the hat on her head, smiling at the mirror. “If you met only humans in layers of protection, that speaks to the threat you posed to them. It says nothing about the humans but tells me much about your people. You were at war with them so consistently that they never faced you as they would each other. It makes me question what kind of culture your kind has or had.”
The distinct feeling of wounded pride at the suggestion that her people might no longer be filtered through to Ravela. She felt the retreat of the presence.
At times, her companion behaved like a sulking teenager: moody, erratic, and all too ready to lash out. She wondered if this body may actually be that of a teenager. She looked down, putting a hand on her chest. “That would explain a lot.”
She felt something in her hiss. Ravela tried not to grin too smugly while leaving the motel room. It was funny to her that even though her companion had abandoned the conversation that had provoked her enough to make it known that she had indeed heard of this transgression, but not enough to return.
“Fine, be that way,” Ravela said on the way to her car. Driving without haste to the academy.
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For the last time, all the recruits gathered in the lobby of the Police Academy. Two days from now, they would return here if they were chosen to serve in the PCPD and would be sworn in. Ravela couldn’t wait. She was almost skipping through the lobby. Her steps felt featherlight and liberated. The genuine smile on her face would not subside. Ravela was happy, and it felt odd that her mouth didn’t listen to her demands for a neutral expression.
It was just such a nice day. She made her way through the crowd to her usual place in formation. Her uniform stood in contrast to all the other graduation uniforms of the recruits. The color was a much lighter blue than Pliada City’s recruit graduation attire.
Kahli had switched places with Donna and was standing right beside Ravela. She leaned over slightly and said. “You’re pretty late.”
“And a blessed morning to you, Kahli. I don’t think five minutes ahead of time is late.” Ravela replied, still smiling. “Besides, the officials aren’t even here yet, so how could I be late?”
Kahli shrugged. “If you’re always last on the scene from now on, you’ll miss everything all the time.”
Ravela didn’t rise to the mockery and just kept smiling.
They stood in their respective spots for a while longer. At 8 a.m. on the dot, the entire police academy teaching staff filed in and formed up behind the Commissioner.
They all stood behind the prepared podium, a wooden lectern. Instructor Harmond was the first to step to the microphone.
He looked over the gathered recruits and nodded as if he had taken stock before pulling a small folded paper from inside his dress uniform jacket.
“Recruits, when you started your training you only had the slightest of glimmers of an idea what the path you took held in store for you. You may feel this is a great achievement, and it is. You climbed this hill together, but this is not the path you set your mind on yet. As you will soon see, this moment merely demarks the starting line. The pursuit of justice is a long and difficult journey. There will be crossroads before you on the daily. You will have to make your own choices. I urge you to follow the righteous path. Beyond this point, you must be accountable for yourself and to your fellow officers and citizens. We gave you the foundation, the compass by which you must travel these roads, sometimes in company, sometimes alone, and beset on all sides by those who wish to steer you from the right path.” He paused to look over the gathered recruits once again, his eyes hovering on some recruits longer than on others.
Ravela met his gaze straightforwardly. She didn’t quite understand what he tried to convey with it, and she would have to store the memory for the future. Revelation would surely come to her eventually. She was certain that unspoken human interaction would eventually become an open book to her, too. Ravela was sure she had never had a great read on people outside of combat.
Instructor Harmond has moved on. “I’d like you to welcome someone who had already traveled that path before I first entered the academy. I’d like you all to welcome Commissioner Jade with me.”
Ravela could almost hear Kahli roll her eyes beside her. She tried to stop her mouth, but once again, a broad smile fought its way onto her face.
----------------------------------------
Safora was bouncing on her bed.
“So, Wednesday, we’re going to the museum, and then we get to take a more than a week-long trip camping near the sunny beach down south.”
Laena sat on her bed reading the museum brochure. Safora stopped her bouncing mid-air. “You know, I am really happy that we can finally do cool stuff together, but I am slightly concerned about the fact that you’ve been reading the museum guide for the Fourth of July grand exhibition way more than the actual BEACHFRONT CAMPSITE BOOKLET. Come on!” Safora threw her copy with a bunch of sticky notes already poking out of every other page onto Laena’s bed.
Her friend didn’t even twitch. Instead, she was regaled by another list of exhibition pieces.
“Really, old vases? Of all the things it could have been when we finally got to do cool stuff before summer break, it had to be stuff that had accumulated enough dust over time. Ugh.” Safora lamented her friend's choice.
“I get it. We’re going to the beach. That’s awesome! But before we go there, we get to visit the first exhibition of artifacts from an ancient civilization. They filled an entire wing with all the stuff Dr. Ito brought back from her expedi-”
Safora threw one of her many pillows at her friend's face, this time aiming for a hit. “Boring.”
The pillow hit Laena square in the face, and Safora knew her friend had let it hit her because, for the past two hours, she had dodged and thrown back every pillow she had sent her way.
Her friend let out a long sigh. “Okay, how about this? I just got my weekly allowance and I thought maybe,” Laena sat up on her bed.
Safora got excited at the promise of a possibility and leaned in. “Yes?”
Laena put down the exhibition brochure. “We could go eat some ice, enjoy the park a bit, and go to the movies. I’ve heard that there is a new horror movie releasing today. It has,“ Her friend badly mimicked Safora’s usual scary movie promotion voice. “ALIENS! Wuuuh!”
She pursed her lips. On the one hand, it sounded fun. On the other Safora really felt the urge to object to the bad imitation.
Laena added a feather to Safora’s inner scale of thought. “This time, I’m inviting you for a change.”
Safora flopped on her bed and jumped right off. “What are we even waiting for? Let’s go! Best summer ever!”
She declared loudly and with confidence.