The Recreation isles were actually geographically known as the Mayan islands, but for a host of reasons, their functional nickname had become more widely adopted by the general alaian public. A host of handsome, half-naked, well-built reasons. Like the ones that greeted them at the seaport.

Yet, oddly enough, that wasn’t the weirdest thing Linda noticed. Because a bit to the side of the rows of working boys, a remarkably tall fence began, which had electricity running through it, going by the warning signs all around. This whole contraption looked rather puzzling, until of course you finally saw the angry mob gathered barely a meter behind the chain link. Linda guessed those people were the reason for the curious installation to be in place.

The people behind it carried their own signs with stirring captions like “Criminals” and “Rapists” and were chanting “Give us back our children” so loudly, that they were almost drowning out the PSA system greetings. Linda turned to Wint, an inquisitive expression on her face.

“No worries, little one, they can’t get to us”, was all the wind storm offered in response, combined with a firm push on the girl’s back to keep her going down the stairs.

That didn’t even make the top five in the list of concerns Linda had at the moment, but apparently Wint had no intention to entertain further questioning and just kept pushing her down the stairs.

The other passengers around them were behaving as if they really couldn’t see the tall fence or the people behind it, despite all the noise they were making. Instead, her shipmates were steadily making their way towards the line of young, gorgeous, barely dressed beings on the shore, as if in a trance. Not that she could blame them – the row of greeters contained such a rich diversity of male beauty that, were it not for her ongoing concern about her health after her latest sexual escapade, she would’ve surely have her tongue hanging out of her mouth at the sight as well. There was one for every taste – tall, short, fluffier, slender, darker, lighter, there were even a few copper haired representatives from the fire tribe.

Once they got closer, Linda could see that the barely there clothing the boys had on sported as its sole accessory an embroidered emblem, holding the logos of what had to be the bordellos they belonged to. No wonder then that there seemed to be very little in terms of billboards or other physical marketing to be seen on the seaport – the boys themselves were both the ads and the goods offered at their workplace.

She tried to catch Wint’s eyes again, but the wind storm had her sparkling green eyes firmly planted on one of the boys in the line and paid her no attention. The young man had also noticed her and slightly smiled as they approached him. Linda tried sizing him up with a stare, but felt her neck crack from the effort. He was more or less taller by quite a few inches from all the rest and was pretty much the tallest male she had ever seen since coming here. By alaian standards, he was a giant and Linda was a bit puzzled by her travel companion’s interest in him. Wint had so far mostly preferred leaner, smaller boys. Besides, the young man had his hair cut short and was sporting a finely trimmed beard – a look which was considered highly inappropriate on the planet. Linda caught up to her just as she threw herself in his arms with a light jump and exclaimed:

“Well look at you, big boy! Tell me, treasure, is the size of the whole proportionate to the size of the instrument?”

“I’ve had no guests say otherwise, m’lady”, he replied, still smiling wide, as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

Linda stood paralysed a few feet away and was trying to not even breathe in an attempt to conceal somehow the hormonal hurricane that simple sentence caused within her. She was almost mad at herself because she couldn’t for the life of her explained what about that boy excited her so much. The young man was without a doubt good looking with his white skin, perfectly defined muscles and magnetic dark brown eyes, yet at the same time, going on physical appearance alone, on the row next to him stood such visions of male beauty, that by all local standards, he should’ve paled in comparison.

Wint’s voice took her out of her reverie:

“What’s your name, treasure?”

“Stey, m’lady.”

“Well ain’t that just a perfect storm, Stey”, the woman said, a predatory smile on her lips. “Looks like you’ll be staying with me tonight.”

Linda rolled her eyes dramatically and made a gagging sound as she watched her travel companion turn around and start dragging the large boy with the strange name somewhere by his waist. Quickly realizing Wint was her only backup in yet another completely unfamiliar place, the girl made an effort to chase after them, before they got lost from view in the crowd.

She had almost caught up to them when someone grabbed her shoulder, abruptly, yet somehow carefully. Digging her heels into the gravel, the girl turned around to look at her supposed attacker and froze. Not of her own will, mind you. Some part of her, buried deep, some reflex or muscle memory had been activated and was preventing her from lifting a hand against the man who had stopped her. Did she know him?

She had no time to ponder the matter however, because half a second later he had his arms wrapped around her neck… in a hug?! What the…

“Phun! Oh, Phun”, the man sobbed, half muffled by her collar bone, where he had tucked his head like a bird, hiding from a terrifying storm. “I am so happy to see you, my dear!”

“Phun?” Linda repeated, mechanically, trying awkwardly to respond to the embrace, yet pull the man away from her enough so that she could look at him again.

“Oh, my darling girl!” The man was apparently so swept up by emotions that he paid her confusion no mind and instead proceeded with his heartbreaking tirade, while still clinging to her. “My strong, handsome girl! Where have you been? We’ve been looking for you! Did your mother bring you here?”

“My mother? I guess you could say that…” Linda muttered, shooting a glance at Wint’s back, which was now even further away.

“Oh, praise the Goddess! You’ve come to rescue your brothers!” He had been tearing up before but was now downright crying on her shoulder.

“Brothers?” Linda grabbed him by the shoulders and gently pushed him away to look into the deep-set sad eyes in front of her. “I don’t have brothers.”

The man’s eyebrows knitted on his forehead in confusion. His arms, still around her neck, shivered a little.

“Phun? Do you recognize me? Do you know who I am?”

Linda shook her head. Not because she wanted to be rude, but because she felt a sort of shudder which passed through her entire scalp, much like that time when she dreamt of the voice of the girl who wanted to tell her something important, back when she was on the Fringes. The part of her that sent her that dream seemed to once again have activated the moment this person had crossed her path and was now trying to fight its way to her consciousness. From that point on, her voice was not her own.

“Dad! Oh, it’s really you!” She heard herself say as her body went to once more hug the sobbing man in front of her. “Daddy, it’s all gonna be ok, I promise you! I’ve brought help!”

“Yes, yes, your mother is here! For Lao and Lei!” The man exclaimed and pressed himself harder against her.

A sudden pain tore through her head and heart at the same time. Linda saw for a moment the image of a beautiful middle-aged woman, leaning over a computer terminal. The woman had one hand pressed to an unpleasant, heavily bleeding wound above her abdomen and was typing away some command on the keyboard with the other. She didn’t have long. Her mother, or at the very least, the mother of this body she was currently inhabiting, was dying. Somewhere far away from her, all alone. Looking into the man’s eyes however, she realized that if she told him what she’d felt, his heart would break in a million pieces.

“Mother is always with us, daddy”, she said instead of the truth. “We’ll find Lao and Lei and I will bring them back home, I promise you!”

“What’s with the hold up, little one?” Did Wint’s voice always sound so abrasive and impatient?

It all happened too fast for her confused brain. One moment she had the father of her body in her arms and was comforting him and in the other a few women, dressed in armour similar to the Wardens of AWA had appeared from somewhere and started pulling him back towards the tall fence he had obviously found a way through. The pain which raked her entire frame made her stumble on her feet as she felt the presence of the second young woman sink back into the depths of her unconscious. That other one, reached out her arms towards the tearful man behind the fence and whispered “it’s all gonna be alright, daddy”, before disappearing just as she had surfaced – in a split second.

Wint was talking something at her, trying to get her attention and she did realize that with a portion of her mind, but she hadn’t fully restored command of her voice just yet.

“Little one?” The wind storm shook her by her shoulders again.

“Wi-wi…” Linda squealed, desperately trying to remember how to speak.

“Pull yourself together, girl!” Another shaking which threatened to tear her arms clean off her shoulders. “What happened to ye?”

“Wint!” she shouted, not so much because she meant to, but because her voice had suddenly decided to kick back into overdrive. “Wint! What’s happening to me? Who am I?”

The woman let go of her abruptly and made a step back as if she’d been electrocuted. The expression on her face was the same as the day they jumped off the mountain. Her sparkling green eyes were flashing with judgment, disappointment, but also surprise. Linda felt as if she were sinking into the ground below, feeling as if she had done something wrong, but had no idea what. She opened her mouth as if to clarify or to excuse herself, but the women, dressed like Wardens had already surrounded her.

“Is this her?” The largest amongst them gripped her shoulder with such force that if she weren’t holding her, she would’ve stumbled forward.

Wint’s catlike eyes focused on the woman for a moment, but shortly after she spoke, they wandered somewhere above the girl’s shoulder once again.

“Yeah”, she drawled out. “She must’ve let ‘im through. Seize her, or whatever ‘tis ye do with her sort.”

The girl gawked even more and felt her shoulder begin to quiver beneath the crushing pressure of the other woman’s hand. What the devil?

“Wint? What are you doing?” The girl shouted as the Warden started pulling her behind her. “I’m with you! The Ruling said…”

“Are ye with me?” The wind storm dragged out once more, this time like a jester, expecting Linda to get some sort of meta inside joke. “Cuz it seems to me you’re otherwise engaged?”

Otherwise engaged? Her confused brain was struggling desperately to comprehend the situation. There was something she was missing, that much was for certain, but it remained hidden from her. Her movements were slow and her mind was swinging between the two personalities fighting for control over her body and she had no idea what was real anymore. She only knew that something was terribly wrong, yet at the same time Wint’s face, still glued to her own had such a calm, reassuring expression on. Everything’s falling into place, the wind storm’s sharp features seemed to say, but the girl had no idea what that meant. She only knew that the Wardens were taking her someplace far away from the warm sun.