Rin

The water rippled out around her ankles as Karinth crept away from the edge of the settlement and deeper into the wilderness. The warm mud cushioned her bare feet, squishing between her toes, and the slightly sulphuric scent of the water mixed with the smell of wet wood caught on the air. It was the aroma of home. 

The sound of masculine voices swept through the grove and Rin stilled. Her breath held tight in her chest as she listened, not hearing words but tone and a rumble of laughter.

A slow exhale and she was moving again, slower this time, her feet never breaking the water's surface leaving less than a wrinkle behind. She couldn't get caught. Not now. Not when she was so close. 

Light flickered in the gloom and the voices were louder than before.

The building that the Primians had apparently constructed for themselves a year after they'd set up camp, long before she was born, stood out against the natural beauty of the swamp. It was all sharp corners and treated metal, which was designed to repel the elements rather than work with them. It was nothing like the beautifully constructed homes of Nuskan, which worked with the trees and waterways, wrapping itself around the marvels that were already there. Like the people who inhabited it, Rin felt it was arrogant in the way only an off-worlder could be. No one who understood the wonder this world provided would disrespect like that. 

An orange light bled through the windows and, as she got closer, Rin could see shadows moving inside the monstrosity, and more clearly hear what was going on inside. 

"...just like with the Minorans," one of the voices was saying. The cocky swagger of it made Rin think of her Uncle after too many hours on the pipe. It was relaxed and confident, and clearly louder than was necessary. "And they were way smarter than this lot. They could actually read for a start!" 

A second voice cut through as the first laughed at his own joke. "But they were far easier distracted. This lot pay attention." 

A third voice asked with a sneer, "How do you know about the Minorans? It's not as though you were there. Sure you're old-"

A crash ruptured the sentence, cutting it off, and causing another round of raucous laughter from the man who thought he was funny. Voices dropped behind the laughter, and the gist was lost on Rin. 

She paused for a moment, uncertain what her next move should be. She knew what she wanted to do, to get closer to help her daddy prove that this was a bad idea, that this treaty would be a bad thing. Somewhere in the Primian monstrosity, there would be proof. But at that moment, with the crash and the laughter and something which sounded like breaking glass, she felt young and small and unprepared.

She'd set out with such a strong sense of purpose. Get to the monstrosity without being seen and get the evidence which would help her daddy save everyone. She'd achieved the first part. But now that she was here, her twelve-year-old mind was panicking, daunted by the size of the second part of her plan. 

The conversation between her parents hadn't been clear enough. There had been no clear indication of where this evidence was, or what it would be like, just that her daddy knew it was here somewhere. Her mamma had sounded far less certain. Her mamma had actually, come to think about it, sounded more angry than usual and had accused her daddy of interfering in things he knew nothing about. Frustrated, he had slumped back in his chair, and so Rin had decided to do what needed to be done. 

The door of the monstrosity slid open, and Rin dropped to a crouch, leaning against the nearest wide-rooted tree she could find. The Primian who stepped out was one of the ones who regularly visited Nuskan. He wore a brown jacket, with light brown marks on the sleeve and around the shiny buttons which ran down the middle. Wrapped around his neck there was a strip of orange fabric, and beads of sweat glistened along his brown-grey hairline.

Despite his obvious discomfort with the cooling evening climate, the Primian looked... new. It was odd, Rin thought as she watched him sipping something brown and stale-smelling from a clear cup. He had the look of something freshly made, like a newly baked loaf or a flower bud almost ready to bloom. As though the world had not yet touched him and made him interesting. Innocent, almost. 

She held her breath as he glanced around the swamp. She knew she would be easy to spot if he glanced her way. Her little brother Lodi would have spotted her in an instant, and even Uncle Nan after time with his pipe, would have noticed her poor hiding place. But the Primian didn't. His eyes clearly not used to the crepuscular light, darted over her, before looking skywards instead.  

She watched and for a moment Rin wondered what he, this Primian, could be looking at. What was he thinking? She knew she was not exactly the most experienced person, although she was more observant than some of her schoolmates, but she surely knew more than this strange man. This man, who wore clothes far too thick for the Wet Season, rather than adapting to the swamp chose to sweat through it. As though expecting the world to change for him. It seemed so naive and perhaps even ignorant. 

As a second Primian emerged from the monstrosity. Rin sunk deeper into the cover of the tree, leaning hard against the large roots and sinking into the water and mud. 

"Is he still bleeding?" the first Primian asked, not looking back at his companion. 

The second Primian chuckled, identifying himself as the cocky one. "He'll live." He didn't look anything like her uncle. He, too, was wearing clothes too thick for the climate, but at least he had adapted them. His collar was open and his sleeves rolled up, but he had more weight to him than the first man, and the heat had caught his complexion and dampened his clothes around all the creases. 

"Shame." 

The cocky one laughed, although Rin couldn't understand why.

Not much that these Primians did made any sense to her. It had taken her a while to understand why they didn't wear kired, the silky mud that all the grown-ups wore and helped them keep cool. Her mamma had explained that they were from another place and they didn't have kired there. They didn't see the bounty and beauty of the swamp in the same way the Macrans did. But as she'd grown up, watching these strange men and women from this distant planet walk amongst her people, she'd realised that it was more than not seeing the beauty of their surroundings. It was as though they willfully ignored it, some even appeared disgusted by it. 

"They are not from here, and therefore you cannot judge them like that," her mamma had said when she'd tried to explain it to her. "Besides, they are here to help us. They stopped the outlaws who threatened Nuskan and other cities. They made things safe for us, and are offering to work with us towards something better. So do not judge them, for we wouldn't want them judging us by their standards would we?" 

Rin knew her mamma well enough to be silent at that, but she did wonder whether she wasn't already being judged by these Primian's standards and whether they didn't like what they found. It certainly often felt that way. But she kept her thoughts to herself and instead listened to her daddy as he spoke in hushed tones to those who would listen of the dangers of this treaty. 

"We need to be careful," the first Primian was saying, the one who wasn't laughing. "These people are smarter than they appear, and if they read too closely-"

"They won't," his chuckling companion interrupted him. The first Primian's hand tightened on his glass, and his face seemed to get tighter, but he said nothing as the second one continued. "We are days away from a signature here. Everything has already been agreed; it's now just formalities. It's not as though they're good at reading anyway." He laughed at his own joke and turned to go back inside. "Even at night, it's too bloody hot out here. Are you coming back inside?" 

"We cannot afford to be complacent." 

For the first time since he'd exited the monstrosity, the second one stopped smiling, his mask slipping for a moment like moss revealing a hidden alcove. "I know, Y'Ako. You're not the only one with a lot riding on this. Believe me, I'm not sky-gazing. But don't call an armada over a missed appointment. It will work out."

And just like that the moss fell back into place, the grin was back and Rin was left wondering what she'd just seen. 

The smiling Primian put his arm around the shoulder of the tight-jawed one, and added "Now it has been months since they've let me off this damn soggy rock. Let's drink and talk about all the women we've left behind until..." His voice faded away behind the closed door, and the Rin was alone once more. 

There was something there, she was certain about it. Something in the words and the way the Primians had behaved. Something they'd said and the way the smile had reappeared as quickly as it had vanished. As soon as she was certain it was safe, she turned and crept back through the darkness. She would report it all to her daddy, because if anyone would know what to do with all of this it was him. 

Karn

Nilkarnon could hear his daughter approach, long before he could see her. "You are like a herd of ikkne, Rin. Move with the water, not against it." 

His daughter huffed out her frustration and he grinned. She was growing into more of a handful every day, and it was so much fun to watch.

"She is too like you," Seri had reminded him for the hundredth time just that morning. "It will get her in trouble one day." But that was his wife's way. She enjoyed their little Rin as much as he did, from her own perspective. But he'd known what was required of him and with a growl he had grabbed Seri and dragged her close. 

"You're just worried she will grow my beard," he'd teased, and she'd shrieked and for a brief moment, their worries had been forgotten. For too short a while, perhaps. 

"I do move with the water, Daddy," his eldest now complained as she stomped towards him, all pretence of stealth long gone. "It just doesn't always move with me." 

Yes, she was trouble and he loved that about her. He laughed and stood to greet her as she approached their home, leaning on one of the roots of the hometree, his arms folded. This tree and the home they built around it had been in his family for six generations. He knew every root. Every leaf, every branch, every knot, and every time he touched it, it grounded him. 

"Now, little Rin, where have you been at this time of night?" He tried to hide his smile, but the look of frustration on her face was so pure it was hard not to. 

"I...," her eyes darted past him towards the house and back. "Is Mamma here?" 

Now this was unexpected. Karn glanced over his shoulder and then back at his daughter. "She is with Kono." Their son had been struggling to sleep recently, and Seri had been determined to talk him through it. "Why? Do you need her?" 

It hurt a bit, to think that maybe his little Rin would prefer to speak to Seri. He understood; she was growing up and would want to talk to her mum about things, but he didn't like the idea that there was anything she couldn't talk to him about. But his bruised ego was soothed, as Rin grabbed his hand and pulled him further away from the hometree. 

"No, Daddy. I... I did something." She whispered the last words, pulling him out of sight of the hometree, and squatting down in the ankle-high waters in a way that she'd clearly seen the elders do when making decisions. It was an action that struck him as so much older than her years. But that was his Rin, neither one thing nor another. 

"What did you do, Rin?" He was curious but not worried. His daughter was smart and wouldn't get herself into real trouble. 

"I..." She paused a moment, her eyes scanning his face before dropping to the water between them. He watched as she gathered herself before plunging into a torrent of words. "I heard what you said when you spoke to Mamma about the Primians and I think you're right. They're not doing good here, or maybe they are, but it's not only good and I wanted to help, and I knew from what you said to mamma that you needed to know what they were doing, so I thought maybe if I went to the monstrosity then I could find the evidence you needed to stop the treaty or pause it or change it or something, and then I could be the one helping you. But then I got there and there were Primians there and I didn't know what to do and I thought maybe I could wait for them to leave or something, which I know is stupid because they live there, and then one came outside and I was sure he would have seen me or the other one, but neither of them did - I don't think they have good eyes - anyway, I listened and I heard what they said, and they said it's all in the treaty, and the newer one was worried about what would happen if we read it properly but the one that sounded like Uncle Borm said it didn't matter because we can't read and then they went to check on the one which was bleeding and I came back here as quickly as I could."

Her words stopped as quickly as they'd started, and it was as though she just remembered to breathe. Karn took a moment to process his little girl's words. 

"You went to the Primian's compound?" he asked finally.

The tone of his voice must have given something away, because Rin's response was a lot less sure of herself, "yes."

"And you did this because of something I said?" The thought was sickening. That something he'd said had put his daughter in such a perilous position. He didn't trust the Primians, and while he didn't think they'd hurt his daughter, he wasn't certain. And it was definitely nothing compared to what the Macran Council would have done to her if they knew she was getting in the way of their beloved treaty. 

Rin's face turned stubborn. "Yes. You said you needed proof. I went to find it." As though it were that simple. 

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. "I am so angry right now. Do you have any idea how much danger you put yourself in? I love you and I do not want you to get hurt on my account." 

"But they wouldn't hurt me, Daddy," Rin's voice was muffled against his chest. "I'm just a little girl." 

Her mother was right. She was too like him. He rested his head on top of his daughter's and held her close. "If something were to happen to you, I wouldn't forgive myself. I know you were trying to do a good thing, but I don't want you ever doing something like that again. Do you understand?" 

Her little arms wrapped around him. "Yes." 

He sighed. "And I'm going to have to tell your mum about this." 

She pulled back, "But Dad!" 

"No. No buts. I don't keep secrets from your mum, and neither should you." He kissed the top of her head and let her go, standing back up. "Now come on, let's get this over with."

His little Rin huffed again, but her hand was wrapped in his as they walked towards the hometree.