The Realm of Masks

“Rise and shine, Alya!!” Allison crowed early the next morning, patting her sister's cheek lightly.

“Urghhh...” Alya replied, having been trying to take advantage of the chance to sleep in.

The previous night the two sisters had talked about everything, from their time together at the School, to their parents' death, to the future. Alya had learned that Allison and the dark skinned body guard, Kayden, were romantically involved. The fought a lot, but it seemed to Alya that her sister was very, very in love with him. And to make matters even better, Allison's boss had approved of the relationship in private. Allison had plans to marry him, though perhaps not for a few more years.

“Come on, Alya, we need to pick an outfit for you. I'm not about to drag you along wearing that uniform.” Allison urged.

Alya sat up groggily and glanced around the room. It was a room about twice the size of her's at the School, but just as cramped. For one, the bed was double the size and Allison had stuffed four book shelves and two desks into the room plus a dresser. Allison was standing in front of the dresser now, going through everything within listed by color on a screen on the top drawer.

Alya got to her feet, shivering. She fluffed out her dress and stomped life back into her feet; she had forgotten to take off her socks the night before. Allison seemed to have picked something for her sister and was swiftly yanking out a dark gray dress similar in design to what she had been wearing the previous day. After a moment's thought, however, she discarded it.

“How do you feel about pants?” Allison asked.

Alya made a face at the suggestion; she quite liked her dresses. She had been made to wear pants or shorts in her daily exercise classes and she hated every moment of it. Her best friend, Conan, felt the opposite and would often wear her gym shorts underneath her skirt. Allison snorted, but continued going through her clothes physically rather than relying on the screen.

“How about this one then?” Allison called, stepping back to hold up a simple crimson colored dress.

The dress had long, flowing sleeves that would hand past her fingers. The top was form fitting-for Allison- and flared out in plaits that would reach down to mid calf on Alya. There were swirling flower patterns dyed into the fabric of the dress in a slightly darker shade, making them visible only if you stood close or carefully examined the dress. Alya gave a nod of approval and pulled her white dress over her head. She had planned to simply wear her own dresses during the week she stayed, but she saw the logic in her sister's thinking. A student would be too closely watched, especially in a branch building.

Slipping into the dress, Alya found it was a little loose around her chest. She tried a few different things to make it fit better, but each ended up looking sillier than if she simply left it, so she did. Meanwhile, Allison had pulled her blue nightgown off and was stepping into the grey dress she had discarded a few moment before. A few minutes later, she disappeared into the main room of the apartment, likely to go to apply make-up.

Alya strode over to the nearest book shelf and stared at the many titles. It must have taken her sister a long time to get all of these; books were not a common pass-time in the City. Likely she had to get them from the Headmistress of the School or from someone in the Farms. Alya pulled a book out at random and read the title.
-The Phantom of The Opera-

It was an ancient book, one she had never read nor seen before. Curious, she opened it to a random page only to discover, with a start, that the book had been hollowed out and housed a mask. Before Alya could get a good look at it, Allison was at her side, slamming the book shut and pulling it away.

“You're too young for that one,” Allison scowled, startling Alya.

There was a look of poorly hidden panic written all over Allison's face. Alya stared at her for a moment before she swiftly offered her sister an awkward smile.

“I've never seen that book before, what's it about?”

Allison offered Alya an equally awkward smile and simply shook her head, turning away.

“Are you ready?” Allison asked, her voice tight.

“I guess so. Uhm, what is your boss like?” Alya replied, trying to break the tension.

“Oh, he's something else.” Allison chuckled, relaxing slightly

That was all Allison would say, despite Alya's pestering. The older woman relaxed more and more when Alya did not bring up the mask, so Alya shoved it to the back of her mind. If Allison wanted to talk to her about it, she was sure her sister eventually would. Allison provided Alya a piece of toast to eat on the way and they headed off back down to the main lobby. Immediately outside the two body guards were waiting again. Alya swiftly dropped the smile on her lips, almost forgetting the ways of the City, and they dived into the crowded streets.

They did not walk this time. Instead the four of them found a platform to take them to a CUBE landing. As they waited for awhile underground, there was suddenly a goading cry from a passer-by. A man was off by himself in a corner, trying his best not to shed tears, but he had been seen.

“Shit,” Kayden growled under his breath as several dozen people raced over to the corner the man was in.

The two body guards shielded the women from the growing crowd, but Alya could still hear their taunting calls. None of them showed any emotion on their faces, but there was clear excitement and spite in their voices. If Alya was not so afraid of the crowd turning on her, she would have covered her ears. Allison took her sister's hand in her's and the two men moved closer.

Not everyone had joined in the jeering. In fact, most people stayed a safe distance away and watched or dutifully ignored the crowd, their faces bored and blank. A man near Alya and Allison who had been speaking softly at his LITE simply began to speak louder over the crowd. A few moments later, the CUBE they were waiting for pulled in and the groups swiftly boarded, taking seats near the back. Before the CUBE door shut, Alya hear a shrill whistle and thanked her lucky stars that they had gotten on the CUBE before the worst had started. A group of five men dressed in bright green were leaping off a platform and rushing at the crowd. The CUBE was off before she could see what would happen next-not that she wanted to see. She had been the crying man once.

The CUBE shot them through the under ground passage ways, spiraling up from time to time to weave between buildings or even to go through them, pausing from time to time to drop off or take on new riders. It took them 15 minutes to get to the last CUBE stop, just in front of the seven branch buildings of the Tree. The CUBE was filled with sixteen others making their way there also, three of which were another group of green clad Peace Keepers. They eyed Alya with interest, knowing Allison and her men but not this young newcomer. However, as soon as they were all off the CUBE, they scrambled swiftly to the nearest branch-the Peace branch-where they would report before going off duty for the day.

Alya's group went to the third and smallest branch building known as the Foreign branch. It was perhaps the most interesting branch of the Tree, at least in Alya's mind. This branch dealt with the other Cities and entities outside this particular City's territory. They were in charge of making sure treaties and alliances were kept, forming trade agreements, speaking with ambassadors, and other such duties. They never seemed to stop learning; there was always a new language to learn, a new trade agreement to study. And, of course, Allison worked there.

It was a beautiful building and ancient. All of the branch buildings were. It had been made of stone rather than metal and was preserved with loving care by a team of several hundred people. This one in particular was interesting. It and the Council building had been moved to the City from a once great country. Made from yellowing white stone, it spread out in almost a boxy E shape, with a huge, circular dome of pillars raising up from the middle. It was once covered in windows; evidence of such still obvious from the slight indents in the stone, but they had been covered up in stone before the move.

“Kayden, please join us for dinner tonight,” Allison called as they parted ways with the body guards at the front of the stone building.

Kayden gave a simple nod, earning a playful kick from his partner, although both kept their expressions clear. Alya nodded to them again as she passed and Allison led the way into the building. The doors swung inward rather than sliding aside and they strode forward into a building covered in cracked, decorative tiles, tall ceilings, and more of the stone pillars. To Alya's surprise she saw not platforms taking people up and down the various floors. Instead there were stairs. It was no wonder that Allison kept so fit compared to some others.

“Allison!” A male voice barked above the buzzing voices of the many people darting about.

Alya glanced up and saw a tall man with a natural scowl on his lips sitting leisurely on the front desk, a frazzled receptionist attempting to pull a folder out from under him. He was quite a bit older than them, his face covered in wrinkles, his hair, pulled back with styling gel, peppered with black and white. As they approached, however, Alya realized there was a playful light in his eyes as he looked her over. She liked him immediately.

“This is my boss, Mr. Grends. Mr. Grends, my sister Alya.” Allison swiftly introduced.

Having mercy on the receptionist, Mr. Grends got to his feet and held his hand out to Alya. She took it and thought she saw a flash of a grin as he squeezed her much smaller hand. It was there and gone in a flash, so she could not be sure.

“Come with me, Alya. We'll take care of this test first and then speak. Get to work, Allison. I'll return your sister shortly.” Mr. Grends commanded, before dropping Alya's hand.

Alya resisted the urge to look to her sister for reassurance and followed the man up the grand staircase to the next floor up. They walked in silence and Alya did her best to keep up as they rounded a corner and made their way up yet another set of stairs. Mr. Grends glanced back at her a few times as they climbed and Alya went through great pains not to show how difficult the stairs were for her. Again she thought she saw a flash of a playful grin, but it was gone too quickly for her to be sure.