I was confused, “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t deny it! You’re a shōkan! I saw your blade glowing!” Steve shouted.

“My sword did that on it’s own. The old man said it was special.”

“Old man? What old man?”

“The old man that gave me my blade during the induction ceremony. He said that the blade was special.”

“The officiator? That old bag tells everybody that! Your blade was glowing because you made it glow!” Steve shouted.

Lucius then jumped in front of Steve, “Yeah, he made it glow, and it was AWESOME! Kazai was protecting everyone from this ginormous monster hybrid! He was swinging his sword and it barely had any effect at first; but he kept going, even though he was just electrocuted by another hybrid.  Anyway, his sword started glowing as if it was generating heat, which scared the hybrid away. Before it left it tried to kill Kazai with some poisonous smoke, but I pulled him out of the way just in time. It was totally AWESOME! Just saying. Just saying.”

The princess looked at Steve and calmly said, “Is that accurate? Is that what happened?

Steve looked a little puzzled, “Yes your majesty, that’s exactly what happened.”

Then Steve looked at me and said, “It seems to me that Kazai is from the Hikari Tribe. I saw that technique once in the Hikari Play Book.”

“Yes. Yes. I am well aware of the techniques of the Hikari Tribe, or did you forget that I fought side by side with some of their best men myself.” Princess Tuyette said assertively.

At that moment, I felt my legs slowly begin to give out. “Hikari Tribe? I’ve never even . . .” Then I thought about it: my mother never told me who my real father is. I instantly became nervous, not because I was afraid of what the princess might do to me, but because I knew that I was going to find out who my real father is for sure this time.

The princess looked to Dan, “What do you know about this?”

Dan closed his eyes and paused and then looked at the princess, “My Lady, it’s not my place to say anything. Please allow me to call his mother; she can explain everything to you.”

The princess closed her eyes and bit her lips after taking a deep breath, “Very well, make the call. Everyone else, you are dismissed. Kazai, stay there and Corvi please come with me.”

Another protector escorted Dan to a different room to call my mother while Corvi and the princess went into a private room, I was left in the room alone with a lazy-eyed protector that wouldn’t stop staring at me... I think.

************************************************************************* 

The princess closed the door behind Corvi and then locked it. She gripped her fist and looked at Corvi then she screamed, “AHHHHHHHHHHGGG!”

Corvi walked to the princess to embrace her, but Tuyette said, “No! I’m okay. I just needed to get that out of my system . . . it’s just that, first we find out that the Crimson Bloods still exist. Then we found of that one of them was once human. I’m not even sure what that means: all I know is that I could have phony citizens out there that are just hiding in the crowds waiting for the opportunity to attack the TRIBE!”

Princess Tuyette paused a few seconds and looked at Corvi, “Now on top of all that we are up against, I find out that one of my own protectors is from the Hikari Tribe. What could this mean? Could he actually be a spy?”

The princess looked at Corvi as if she had an answer.

Corvi was a little shocked, “Well, we can’t just assume that.”

“What do you mean? Not long ago, you said that the Hikari Tribe may be sending spies!” the princess shouted.

“Yes, MAY-be. Emphasis on MAY.”

The princess faced the door, “You know what, I can’t do this. I’m calling my father. He’ll know what to do with all of this.”

“Humph.” Corvi muttered.

Tuyette turned around and looked at Corvi and said, “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just that I was under the impression that you were in charge here.”

Tuyette declared, “I am in charge!”

“Then, why would you allow your father to bail you out? You can’t prove that you are a great leader if you call daddy every time things get hard! Come on! You can handle this!” Corvi said with deep sincerity.

“Well, part of being a good leader is knowing when you need help.” Tuyette said softly.

“Did you forget that I’m here? We are not just allies. You are my friend. I’m here for you.” Corvi said as she hugged Tuyette.

A single tear fell from Tuyette’s right eye as she said, “What would you do if you were me in this situation?”

Corvi ended the hug and wiped the tear from Tuyette’s face, “Well . . . with Kazai and his family, I wouldn’t accuse them of anything just yet. Dan and Kazai have been loyal protectors. As far as the hybrid situation: you’re going to have to request another copy of Jack Findle’s records from Mum’s Village and compare his blood with the hybrid that the Dr. Kyro killed. After all, it may just be a case of mistaken identity.”

The princess shook her head, “Mistaken identity.”

Seconds later, someone knocked on the door. Tuyette opened the door and the lazy-eyed protector said, “My Lady, Kazai’s mother is here. Are you ready to see her?”

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“Before I see them I need you to bring me all of their family records.” The princess said.

I felt like I waited for hours. I couldn’t even look at my mother once she got there because I was so angry. I thought to myself,  ‘Why couldn’t she have just been honest with me in the first place? All this time and I’ve had sun powers! If I had known, I would have been a master by now!’ 

The princess and Corvi walked back in from the private room. The Princess greeted everyone with a pleasant smile. Dan stood beside my mother, Herona.

Once the princess took her seat, she signaled my mom, “Please enlighten me. To my understanding neither you nor Dan was born from a shōkan bloodline. So how is it possible for your son to have Hikari Tribe capabilities?”

The princess began to skim through the records as my mother with tears in her eyes said, “I didn’t want to say this because most people would not understand.”

She took a deep breath and continued, “But before Kazai was born, the Sun spirit came to me and told me in a sweet, sweet voice that I would have a son and that he would have Hikari Tribe abilities, and that’s when the Sun spirit touched my stomach. You see… Kazai is a very special boy.”

I couldn’t believe my ears! She was lying AGAIN! This time, to the Umi Tribe Princess!

The princess looked puzzled but before the princess could respond Dan interrupted, “My Lady, what Herona is trying to say is that Kazai’s biological father is from the Hikari Tribe. When I met her she was already pregnant, but I agreed to raise him as my own. Herona never told Kazai about this so he is totally innocent in this matter.”

The princess paused for a moment as if she was deciding whether she wanted to believe us or not. Then she said, “Thank goodness! This is actually good news. For the first time in history we have a loyal citizen of the Umi Tribe who has sun shōkan abilities.”

She then looked at me and said, “Kazai, you are very valuable to me and to the Umi Tribe. I assume that I still have your full loyalty?”

Her creepy tone made me feel as if she had twisted plans for me, but I reluctantly said, “Yes, ma’am.”

The princess smiled, “That’s wonderful! Good news in the midst of all this chaos! I think that went well.” 

The princess turned to Corvi. “Don’t you think that went well?” Corvi smirked and slowly nodded. 

“Okay, everyone: back to your regular duties. You are all dismissed.” The Princess said eagerly.

As everyone left, Corvi whispered in the Princess’ ear. Then they both walked back into the private room.

**************************************************************************

“I don’t trust that, Herona.” Corvi insisted.

“Why not? I checked the records, and her story adds up.”

“You mean Dan’s story. I don’t know what in the world she was talking about! See, I know when someone is hiding something, and that woman was hiding something!”

“Even so, Dan is very skilled for a non-shōkan and he’s loyal to the bone. You should know this Corvi, we both fought beside him in that war 15 years ago.”

“I see your point. But, I have a feeling that Kazai is going to try to go to the Hikari Tribe. And if he does, he may never return to the Umi Tribe.” Corvi insisted.

“Why do you say that?” The princess asked with raised eyebrows.

“Because apples don’t grow on orange trees.”

“What?” The princess seemed confused.

Corvi explained: “The Umi Tribe represents the orange tree. If he’s an apple, then he won’t have a place to grow here--on an orange tree. At least when he was just a weapon specialist he had others that he could relate to. But, now, he has no one. Although his Hikari abilities may be good for you, considering that you can send him on special assignments designed for his unique abilities, for him it’s going to be hell. He’s going to long to be with his people, especially now that he knows about them.”

The princess stared off into space for a moment. “With the news about the Crimson Bloods, we could really use a sun shōkan in our arsenal.” The princess turned to Corvi, “Kazai is our trump card. We MUST ensure that he stays loyal.”

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That night, when I got home I didn’t even speak to my mother. I was still angry. So many thoughts passed through my mind: ‘What exactly am I capable of? Can I even learn to use my shōkan powers on my own? What is my real father like? Is he even still alive? Does he even know about me?’

I wanted to go ask my mother all of those questions, but I was too angry to even look at her so I knew I couldn’t speak to her. I thought that she would come to me and tell me everything, but she never did. Because she never came, every moment that passed made me more and more angry. To ease my mind I tried to make my sword glow and radiate heat like before, but for some reason I couldn’t do it.

Next Chapter: UMI TRIBE HERO