“This sucks,” said the wolfman.

  “Mess with Manu, get whooped,” said Mori.

  The street crier lifted his dazed head and through swelling eyes tried to peer into her.

  “You betray your blood,” he said.

  “Sir, you betrayed your blood by letting it leave your nose.”

  She wanted to be a better knight and beating up classic-faced street criers shouting their heads off about their supposed superiority wasn’t a great way to start, so she buried her head further in the newspaper leaving him to his misery. The local guards will be here soon.

  The headline got her attention; it read ‘Hurricarna Sweeps Up Crime.’ One of Mori’s friends from her squire training days is Chiki. Her dad, an older Manu Knight who got her on the program, is the man Mori was reading about. Hurricarna is a master of the winds who can expel powerful gusts from his skin. According to the article, he defeated an escaped convict who was wreaking havoc in the west side of the city, a fugitive called Perse–

  She put the paper away, it bored her. Besides, the stamping of feet around the corner told her it was time to leave.

  “We arrive Knight.”

  The local guards were four strong. They all wore the same Hi-vis vests with the word ‘GUARD’ stitched in but otherwise dressed completely different. The one leading the troupe wore a beanie and large sunglasses to cover burn marks and cracks in his skin. Mori gave him a friendly wave.

  “Hey Louie,” she said.

  “Heeyyyy Mooooorriii, how’s the catch?”

  “Just a couple of knuckleheads fist fighting on the street,” said Mori, eyes jumping from the blindfolded street crier and the other man’s burnt arm, “and a bit of arson.”

  “Arsin’ around, ha!” said Louie. He hoisted the street crier while his troupe grabbed the wolfman, and Mori was finally free to leave. She wanted to check on the mother and girl that were knocked down in the fight.

  As she was busy dealing with Mr ‘Kill by Fire,’ Mori hadn’t paid attention to how recognisable the mother was, however it was immediately obvious the moment she thought about it. The mother looked distinctively dolphin-like in shape much like Simon, which was in fact because they were siblings. Deviations can be random but they are genetic, staying in the same family.

  She returned to ‘Simon’s Mean Greens,’ a closed sign hanging on the front door but it was still unlocked. Behind the counter was a note in Simon’s handwriting asking her to close the shop for the day and underneath it the key. Once she did, she went upstairs to find the mother and girl in Simon’s living room, sat around a table with hot drinks.

  It was a small room stuffed full of potted plants and rejected produce that were fine to eat but looked too lumpy. The mother waved at Mori.

  “Oh hello,” said the mother, “the name is Patrice and my beautiful lady here is Heca. Thank you for dealing with all that trouble outside. Simon’s cooking up dandelion burgers.”

  “I didn’t know you could make burgers out of those,” said Mori.

  “Delicious!” said the young girl in the wheelchair.

  Now Mori finally had a closer look at Heca, she noticed the reason for the daughter’s disability. Unlike her mother, the girl was less dolphin in shape and more classical human, but her skin was grey all over and became more smoothly dolphin-like at her legs. Or rather, her single leg. Heca's right leg ended halfway at the thigh, while the other was a dolphin’s tail fin, like the bottom half of the creature was cut off and glued to her left leg.

  Even if Deviations were genetic, they still managed to be random. Mori remembered how lucky she was, and felt guilty for it. She tried not to stare.

  Thankfully, Simon burst through his kitchen door with a tray full of baked flowers mashed into roasted wheat.

  “Hello again,” said Simon, “your bag is in the corner safe and sound, but feel free to stay and eat some of these. I made extra.”

  They both sat at the table to enjoy the calm atmosphere. Simon embraced his sister and the two quickly caught up, going over their days, the drama outside and “how awful that Classic Society is.” Meanwhile, Mori spoke to Heca.

  “Are you feeling better?”

  “Yes, I fall a lot,” said Heca, “like when I try to walk.” The girl rocked her tail-leg and played with her food, picking at the burger.

  Mori took a bite to encourage her to eat too. It was, like Heca had said, delicious. She needed to get Simon’s recipe.

  “You doing anything special today?” asked Mori.

  “Swimming!”

  “I told you honey,” said Patrice, turning away from her brother, “it’s too dangerous with you only having one special leg. I am sorry to take up your time Knight, but my girl can only swim sideways and, you know…” The mum made a gesture to indicate a head falling below water.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “I need practice!” said Heca, starting to cry. She rocked her wheelchair but Mori held it steady. She didn’t know how to talk to kids of six or seven.

  There was a lot she didn’t know. Like how to fight a Talpid, or how to stop people in-fighting in Manu without knocking them out or what direction she wanted her life to go. But this, this Mori could do something about. It was lucky she read the newspaper before.

  As Patrice calmed her daughter down, Mori spoke to Simon.

  “Want your bag back?” he said, offering her rucksack.

  “Can I use your telegram machine? I only got back to Manu City today and I need to call a friend.”

  “Course. Down the stairs and into the back.”

  Mori found the white plastic box on a low table in a back room filled with crates. She checked her contact notebook and found the number she needed. The name next to it read ‘Chiki’. She typed the number in, the machine clicked on, and after a few seconds it went through.

  “Good afternoon, this is Bubble POP,” said an overly polite voice, “how may I help?”

  “Hey, I want to speak to the owner. Tell her it’s Mori. Morielle Aisling if you need my full name.”

  “Of course. A moment please…” it was hard to tell through the crackle of the machine's receiver, but she was sure she heard ruffling paper. “Ah, a fellow Knight, and in her good books. I shall inform her immediately.”

  Mori only had to wait minutes when a voice exuding energy filled her ears.

  “Ella, it’s been so long!”

  “Kiki, sorry to call in the middle of the day.”

  “No, don't worry, I just finished my lunch. How can I help?”

  “Well, it may be too short-notice today but I wanted to make a commission.”

  ***

  Two hours later, Heca carefully lowered herself into the public swimming baths, her mother holding her hand. The first leg Heca stepped with was her left one, the smooth grey one. The second was made of plastic and stainless steel, not just cobbled together out of old parts but freshly made. It had foam seals to keep water out and ended in a webbed flipper that could be rotated to act as a foot on land or a fin in water.

  As Heca skimmed the surface, she kicked her legs and found herself moving forward. Her mother let go, allowing her to swim alone for the first time.

  Simon, soaring in and out the water, clapped his flipper hands in joy.

  Mori watched from a distance in the spectator seats. So much water made her fur stand on end, but the throng of people relaxing in the renovated pool were happy so she was happy too.

  Next to her was a lady around her age, shorter and wearing a white coat. The ends of her black hair were tinted with blue and pink. No visual deviations painted her visage; she was as classic-faced as they come but, thankfully, she was nothing like the street crier Mori battled earlier in the day.

  “Thank you,” said Mori.

  “No problem, but I was surprised by the call.” Chiki rubbed her fingers together. “Those prosthetics aren’t cheap, you know.”

  “Oh, sorry, I can get the money–”

  “I’m messing with you,” she said, “well, not about the cost but I can ignore it this time. I owe you for animating origami doves at the wedding.”

  Mori messed with a piece of paper, folding it up. She smiled.

  “How was your last adventure? Did Lady Jackalope come out victorious against evil?” asked Chiki.

  “Heck no,” said Mori, “I almost died and cracked some ribs fighting a Talpid, but I’m going to get stronger soon.”

  “A Talpid? Sheesh. You better have a good plan if that’s the kind of thing you’re going to fight. Me? I’d just use an adhesive to subdue it, then maybe a knockout gas.”

  The swimming baths were filled with the sound of splashing water. Simon gestured for Mori to join but she gave a weak wave back to say “looks fun, but no thank you.”

  “Why did you really call me?” asked Chiki.

  “Can I not just call my friend?”

  “Mori,” she said, “you asked for a last minute commission, and it was a miracle I had the right parts lying around, yet you insisted on meeting in person this very day whether I got the prosthetic finished or not. Are you getting lonely out there?”

  “Pfft, I’m not lonely,” said Mori as she crossed her arms, “in fact, I have lots of friends wherever I go. I just want to feel more like a knight, you know? Kick ass and such. And besides, not everyone is a heartbreaker with lovers lined up like you.”

  Chiki gasped, insulted.

  “I am not a heartbreaker!”

  “Oh you definitely were when we were squires,” said Mori, and she felt herself opening up, “you had boys lining up left and right. You even bagged Roland by breaking him away from his tall, sexy fiance.”

  “Excuse me, but it was only two or three guys, I think, but definitely not a line,” Chiki counted then gave up, “anyway, we were teenagers and Roland was in an arranged marriage. That hardly counts as a ‘break up.’” She made the air quotes herself and though she was flustered, a mean glint entered her eyes. “And if I recall correctly, you were so happy his ‘tall, sexy fiance’ was single you couldn’t stop bouncing your leg in class.”

  “I did not call her tall and sexy,” said Mori who poked Chiki in the forehead.

  “You just did.”

  “Lalalalala.” She stuck her fingers in her big fluffy ears, though her hearing is too good to plug that easily.

  They rewound back to days of living in dormitories, sneaking out at night to hop the castle’s wall and drink too much when far too young. Compared to Richard, who Mori saw often, speaking to Chiki gave a far stronger sense of nostalgia, so powerful it hurt more than the leftover ache of her ribs.

  Mori clutched her head as a painful wave shot through her skull. Her forearm was itchy and she could barely keep two thoughts together. She could hear Chiki speaking, but it wasn’t until the waves of pain calmed that the words made any sense.

  “…re you okay? I can see if anyone has water,” said Chiki.

  “No, I’m fine,” she said, “it’s just thinking about the old days can be a bit, you know…”

  “I remember , that year was tough on us all…”

  The mood soured, Mori rubbed her arm absent-mindedly and looked away from Chiki back to the pool. Time passed quickly and the sun was going to set soon. She saw Simon, Patrice and Heca climbing out, twisting the prosthetic leg into land mode to let Heca at least manage a half-hop. It was a step to living her own life.

  As much as it hurt, maybe going back a bit is exactly what Mori needed to regain her sense of balance.

  “I’m going to see Fitness Beast tomorrow.”

  Chiki’s face darkened.

  “It better not be for your new training obsession. We passed Hell Camp so we didn’t have to do Hell Camp again,” she said, “why on earth would you want to see her?”

  “Because Miss Freer is good at what she does,” said Mori who let the folded paper dove in her hands fly free, “and honestly, how bad can she be?”

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