Well then, like I says, Dorianna or as we knows her: Mama Dori, says I was a war baby. There were lots of us actually. Both males and females. Some of us truly sisters and brothers by blood, natch! But the males, aye, they soon took them away, for they would fetch a fair coin in the mart as growing labourers or warriors. The females, most the larger ones were taken as breeders for more labourers, warriors and... other deeds. That left me. I was a runt. Well, still larger than a human babe, but much lankier than me siblings.

And so I grew up doing chores like cleanin' fixin' and cleanin' and cookin' and more cleanin' hahahah... Hard work, aye. But then Mama Dori says she seen somethings in me. She says: “Lass... you are my Divine one are ya not? Aye, be that you are and as such, lass, I will be teachin' ya somethings fetchin-ly fine! Aye, indeedy!!” And so she teaches me to dance. A loverly one during daytimes. And a loverly one during nighttimes as well!

But such a strange dance in fact is the night one. Others are taught it too. Swinging, climbing, walking upon ropes, hanging upsidedowns. And then she teaches us other tools to fix locks, hinges, strange little metal boxes. And when we are not good enough... she sends us to the... massage parlour... to... assist... with customers attending with the older gals. I dint like it... but Mama Dori said twas good for life experiences! So I dint mind. But like the other gals, I had to gets better! This strange dancing was better life experiences than... assisting in the... massage parlour.

And so me n' the lovely ladies... we gets better and better and so guess what..? A new dance! At night. Most us gals that are part of the troupe are mixed up breeds, aye, but we all can see into the dark. I'm one of the better ones and so I'm a lead dancer! And so we go perform for a noble. The trick is to not be seen nor heard! What a strange thing. But we perform for him and as reward, he allows us to take lovely things with us! And so back to Mama Dori we go! She is soooooo pleased!

And so she tells us that if we can do this every so often, we can afford to dance the regular dances in the days! And we actually get a following and so every week we become a spectacle in town!

Now we have no choice but to excel, natch! And we takes our show on the road when we are older, the night time dance before we perform the day time dance in new towns. But as time goes on, the girls in our troupe and the musicians tell me that what we are doing is wrong?! We cannot go back and just hand over all that valuables to her, to Mama Dori! And when someones with big knives and bows tells us to hand over all our shiny and worthy possessions and moneys on the highways, I finally agree. Aye, indeedy. We are just as bad as they. We are terrible thieves. Our night 'dance' is not a nice thing we do.

And so we talk, and cry, then talk and cry some more. But we all agree. We must return to Mama Dori and tell her that we quit. And that all our brothers and sisters in the... massage parlour... must come with us. And I am sooooo scared. I am a large girl. I will be six foot when I am fully grown in a few years, and I do have nice firm and sexy muscles but I will not be a warriors body. I am still lithe and sinewy; I am only meant to dance.

But with heavy heart we must return home to ____ and free ourselves from Mama Dori. Even if it means we have to fight her... and our brothers and sisters that will no doubt be loyal to her. I love Mama Dori, but she is wrong. What she does is wrong. What she did to us is wrong... but...

...she took us in when no one else would. She taught us to read and raised us to be stronger and worth something more than a slave... I think...?

But that's what we talked about. We will take over... and take others in when no one else would. And we will teach them to read and raise them to be stronger and worth something more than a slave... for the right reasons. Natch, but...

I'm sorry mums... but we're comin' for ya... Aye. Indeedy.

~~~~

But then when we returned, they said that 3 men came with such need to speak with the city leaders.

I did not believe before, but I do now; they also said that those 3 men wore only the skin of living men...

...for they were escorted rather hastily and rudely out of our city. And then the chaos and tragedy ensued.

~~~

Me Night scene sisters and I, we talked strategy dockside where we were to meet McCafferty. We collected what things and moneys we could and brought it all here; we were going to buy weapons. Big ones. Big ones ready to fight others. And if need be... to kill them. Maybe Mia would even be here? Maybe join us? She was a rough n' tumble lass that had seen her fair share of brawls and undoubtedly came out on top most o' the time, natch!

But then the bells began to toll! But not just the religious ones. All of them. Across the city they rang out like the desperate voices of angels keening for our fate that middle of the night.

I dunno who ushered us away, but she lead us to a trapdoor behind and ol' abandoned house and down a tunnel we went! Oh, but war!!! That was the reason for this all. Our city of ____ was under attack. We were at war.

And so for 3 days they said to stay here. That they would be back. We were scared. We were cold and hungry. Those that could not see in the dark trembled the most, but me n' me sisters tried our best to calm them. That and when they saw how brave Mia was, and that the toughest of all of us was also the bravest, they rallied around her mettle. Oh! And me one sister with the magics created small flame for short times that she could maintain to keep spirits up too.

But we dared not keep any torch lit. We were warned of losing air. Or causing undue attention to us all. How many there were of us exactly, I cannot remember. But we were tightly packed. And much too much of us to keep fed and watered. On the 6th day we had no choice but to leave our safety in the underground shelter.

It was near dusk. And I remember shuddering. I could hear my bones rattle it was soooo quiet. It was as if nary a person ever existed in ____. Eerily silent and still twas. And so hand in hand we wandered, huddled tight and then we saw it. I was too late to shield the small boy from the sight of those bodies. Many wailed and screamed as the older and steelier ones tried to shush them. But who could blame them? None atall aye. Indeedy.

There is no blood... and curiously enough... mayhaps twas the time o day? But they, the citys leaders cast no shadow upon the ground. No blood, no shadow. Only the frozen stark look of terror forever etched upon their dead faces, pinned to the wall. I do not remember how I felt when I saw Mama Dori up there with them, lined up neatly and evenly spaced apart like some strange collection... or trophies of some twisted mind... I cannot unsee what I saw that day. But it drives me. Onward.

I just could not bear to stay. Many wanted to remain and who could blame them... unobstructed riches and infinite freedom from any parental or authoritative figures to bar them from any desire or whim they held. But then there were the others that had golden hearts and would take care of the youngest of the children. But I just could not bear to stay. Me Lil Bro, Golden and me... me little miss, lovely and sweet Miss Allure were not in the shelter with us. They were out there.

Then we saw the figure fleeing towards the open city gates! Larger than any here. And looking fully grown. We just had to follow!

Looking back, we should have just stayed. Or at least grabbed some more rations!

I don't remember how many of us there were that left the city, but I fear it is just me n' Mia left. I think we're lost now too. I'm soooo sorry, me siblings. Me family. Me one and only loves. For I fear we will fail.

And we will be none the wiser of the happenings in our fair city of ____. I fear we will never see you all again.

I fear we will be dead before we can spread the word of our city's fate.

But what I fear the most is that this is not the fate of our city alone.

And I fear it cannot be stopped.