A Modest War by Hiroyuki Morioka

Author:Hiroyuki Morioka [Morioka, Hiroyuki]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Fiction
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

8 Lafiel’s Transformation (Golorkos Lafiel)

“I’m back, Lafiel!” Jinto hollered into the cave.

No answer.

I wonder how long it’s been, Jinto pondered, since I had someone anxiously waiting at” home” for me. Then again, is she really waiting for me? I’ve only been gone about three hours.

The entrance of the cave was as he left it; no trace of blood on his makeshift security system. Cautiously, he retracted the carbon crystal fiber into the spindle.

“Lafiel!”

Nothing. Jinto started to worry. He took his Kreuno out of his pocket, turned on its light, and entered the cave.

There she was — a softly snoring lump. Lafiel looked surprisingly juvenile in her sleep. Relieved, Jinto sighed.

“Hey, wake up.” He shook her gently.

Popping up in one motion, Lafiel knocked Jinto over and grabbed her laser pistol.

“Whoa! It’s just me!” protested Jinto.

“You scared me.”

“Not my fault. I’ve been yelling for the last five minutes, but you were too busy snoring to notice. I think you would have slept through — “

“Hey,” Lafiel interrupted, “what do you intend to do with those tasteless clothes?”

“What, this?” Jinto pulled at his new, multicolored Sorf; indigo blue, yellow-green, peach, brown, copper… the colors were an eyesore, but the shopkeeper had insisted it was a good look. “You’d better get used to it. It’s what they wear here.”

“Gross,” Lafiel opined.

“We have to live with it for the time being,” he said. Plopping down the duffel bag he’d bought in the city, Jinto extracted a can. “Oh, here’s a present for you!”

“What’s that?” asked a nervous Lafiel.

“Hair dye.”

“Dye my hair?” Her eyes widened.

“Yeah. I hope black’s okay.”

“No!” she shouted, instinctively grabbing her hair.

“You don’t like black?” Jinto did not understand her extreme reaction. “I suppose I could go back and pick up some red or yellow.”

“I don’t hate black. I love this.” She waved a handful of her hair in front of Jinto, as if he’d never seen it before. “It’s not too dark, but it’s also not too light — “

“Yes, yes, it’s very nice,” agreed Jinto. “But in the city, they’re arresting everyone with dyed-blue hair.”

“This is my natural color.”

“I’m not dumb enough to debate that, even if it weren’t true!”

“Kuu rin map ath tang kip!”

“I don’t know what that means, but it definitely sounds…” he searched for the appropriate word, “feisty.”

“I really have to dye it?” Lafiel asked weakly.

“I don’t get it,” said an irritated Jinto. “You’ll putz around with your genes all day, but can’t stand something as temporary as hair dye! The Abh baffle me.”

“How many times do I have to tell you?”

“I know, I know. I’m an Abh, too.” Jinto heard it a million times already. “But at times like these, I sure don’t feel like it. Feia Lartneir, we’ve got to do this.”

“Hand it over.” She grabbed the dye. “I’m not letting you touch my hair.”

As she started to take the cap off without even reading the directions, Jinto pointed out that she ought to take off her control tiara first.

“Take off my Alpha?”

“Of course. The goal is to make you look like a lander.

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