All is Fair
Chapter 16

From the data files of Dianne Somersby

Sender: Dianne Somersby, Spitfield POZ

Recipient: Emma Somersby, Durham RUK

Date: September 14th, V26 (2046)

Message Begins:

Hi mum,

I hope you are well back in the old country. We are all fine over here, now that the curfews have been lifted. Things are nearly back to normal, or at least as normal as they can be in a city like Spitfield.

Last night was my friend Millie’s 18th birthday. Her girlfriend Twenty and I had been planning a small gathering at my apartment, but some relatives of Millie’s have come forward and they wanted a bigger party. So we ended up at this really fancy house outside the city, in a ritzy suburb with gardens and ornamental lakes and everything.

If you can believe it, the whole house where we had the party was made of glass. I have attached some photos just to prove I am not lying. Apparently the house belongs to some rich government official that is related somehow to Millie.

That reminds me too, Millie has an aunty! She looks just like a taller version of Millie but with longer hair. I kept thinking I had met her somewhere before but I could not place where. Doesn’t matter because she is so devoted to her niece and I have never seen my best friend so happy.

Twenty was fussing over her all night too and would not let her out of her sight. I am not sure what happened in the past week but whatever it was has really cemented the relationship between those two.

Danny Watanabe could not make it, since he is still in Denmark. He sent a video message to Millie that they played over a big holoscreen. It was really beautiful and made Millie cry, which set me and Twenty off as well. How I can end up crying at a birthday party I don’t know, but it felt right.

The people that Millie works with at the Bonds office were there too, Mr Chang and Erika. It was so funny seeing Mr Chang trying to get Twenty to dance with him. She ended up putting him in a head lock and jumping around in time to the music until he promised to stop asking her. Millie just about wet herself I reckon she was laughing so hard.

I got to meet some of the people she has been working with in Pan City as well. Some real bigwigs, including Bishop Wainwright from the Consolidated Churches and a young Novice, a sweet little woman about Millie’s age name Nata. I overheard some conversations, accidentally of course, that they had played a major part in fighting off the terrorists in Pan City. Millie sure does get to meet some incredible people as a Bounty Hunter.

Oh, and she knows Professor Rackman, the guy who invented those special processors. You know, the ones that make the Artificial Intelligences work. The news feeds are saying he is going to be one of the new Governors here in the Zone. He was there with his partner, a really sweet guy name Zeke.

Millie and Zeke kept chasing each other around the house, even though he has got to be twice her age. He was running some drones too that took lots of pictures of the event, including quite a few from late in the night that had to be deleted. I heard Mr Chang asked for copies and got seriously told off by Twenty.

There was one moment I absolutely have to tell you about. I met this handsome guy hanging around outside, just watching the people enjoying themselves. He had short blonde hair, a gorgeous smile and was wearing this really expensive dark blue suit. I asked him who he knew at the party and he just laughed and told me everyone!

So we got to chatting and I told him all about myself, and the Coffee Coffin (of course). He took a while to say much back to me, but I eventually found out his name was Jerry. He did not say for sure, but he may be related to Millie’s Aunty. They kind of had a similar look to their faces, although he is way shorter (shorter than me too!). Damned cute though.

I was getting to the point of maybe asking him out when this big woman in a blue dress rocks up, telling me to back off from “the Boss”. Her quotes, not mine. She had this awful pink wig on and if it had not been for the dress, I would have sworn it was Twenty pulling a prank on me.

The poor guy gets literally pulled away from me and hustled off by this woman, right in front of my eyes. He better watch out, because she was one very possessive lady. I didn’t catch her name properly, but I think he called her Trixie as she carried him away.

All in all it was a great night mum. My dear little Millie got to turn 18, surrounded by family and friends. We all cheered as she blew out the candles on her cake, from ten meters away with one puff! Millie does love to show off.

That’s all from me. Stay safe and I hope the dramas across the Channel don’t make it to the RUK.

Love, your daughter Dianne.

PS: Twenty gave Millie a Ceramite Tanto knife for her birthday. I don’t understand those two girls sometimes, but Millie absolutely loved it.

=====

An extract from the journals of Sister Venerae

Pan City, POZ

September 20th, V26 – Morning

The Bishop and I sat on the bench, facing towards the small grave with its marble headstone. It was located in a grassed cemetery just outside the city walls, trees lining the gravel pathways that ran through the secluded graves. Jericho-Three had done a wonderful job and I made a mental note to thank him when next we spoke.

There was an inscription on the headstone, showing her name Penelope Deeds and the date of her death. No date of birth was given, but underneath her name Jericho had added: “She followed her own path unto the end” I found it quite appropriate for the woman I had known. My own fresh flowers sat alongside ones from yesterday, placed there by Millie and Twenty.

“It still hurts, Bishop” I said to my companion. “I don’t think the pain of losing her that way will ever leave me”

“Give it time, Sister, give it time” said Bishop Wainwright. “You have plenty of that”

“Maybe I do. You heard I am leaving the Order?”

“Yes, and I agree that it is time. You have served the Order far longer than anyone else. My apprentice Impassionata is ready to become the new Sword”

“I always hated that title. I never used it myself, preferring to be just Sister Venerae. Calling us Swords makes it too obvious we are just weapons to be used by the Order” I was not bitter yet the Order could be a ruthless master to those who served it.

“I am retiring from the Order as well” admitted the Bishop, which caught me by surprise. He met my wide eyes with a smile. “It is about time for some younger blood to lead the chapter here”

“What, someone under sixty you mean?” I smiled back. “Do you know who will be appointed?”

“No one local. Probably someone from Europe, there are plenty of skilled members trying to get out of there right now”

“I know what you mean. Europe is heading back into chaos with the Athena AI going rogue like that. She could be leading us back into another Global War”

“Hmm, perhaps” muttered the old man. He wanted to ask me more about Penny, but he knew I could not tell him. Jericho and Archimedes were trying to keep a lid on things, but sooner or later the events of the past weeks would be revealed.

“I am still the Maiden” I reminded him. “If things get too out of hand, I will just go over there and stick them with Threadcutter”

“I thought you were moving into an apartment in Spitfield? You will be too busy drinking coffee with your niece to go gallivanting around the world”

“That is true. I have a lot of catching up to do, with Millie and the others”

“How is your apprentice going, the one in high school?” asked the Bishop nonchalantly.

“How did you know about Suki?” I replied. “I thought I swore the rest of the trainees to absolute secrecy!”

“Word gets around, especially when my own apprentice keeps sneaking off to train with Suki” he paused and gave me a considered look. “Is she really Fateless, like you? Could she be a Maiden?”

“She’s Japanese, Bishop” I said, shaking my head at him. “I doubt very much the Norns made it all the way from Norway to Japan to share our bloodline with her ancestors”

“So why have you got your contacts checking out her family history?” he pondered, watching me with a glint in his eye.

“Because I am nosy, just like you” I responded.

I looked at the time on my phone. It was way past the hour I needed to head back. I stood and helped the Bishop to stand as well, his groans as he got to his feet not entirely for dramatic effect.

Before I left, I knelt in front of Penny’s grave. I kissed my fingers and laid them over her name, wishing her peace wherever she was.

As we walked down the pathway to the Metro station, our shoes crunched noisily on the gravel. A few birds sang among the trees, adding their notes to the beauty of this place. How can a place that reveres the dead be so beautiful I wondered?

“Did you ever replace out what the entity was that aided Miss Deeds and the Warlock?” asked the Bishop, his arm linked in mine.

“Only its name” I replied. “It came from somewhere other than the Dark Side, I could tell that. It felt vast and powerful”

“It has a name?” pondered the Bishop. I nodded my head.

“It called itself Abyss”

End of Part 12 of Millie the Gunsinger