With the outsiders gone, it actually felt good to live out on her own again. The kids have started school and An Ning's time was now spent teleconferencing with Nyra and Matt in the mornings and consulting with the architects in the afternoons. She had decided, without telling anyone, to map out the layout and design of what will be known as the Republic of Saravia in the future.

An Ning was thinking big not just in terms of simple development but actually building a nation that will be the home of future and would be Amazons. Du Lu actually had a hand in her decision. Du Lu was a big star. One of the biggest in the world. Fame as big as that will always have groupies or followers wherever he goes. And groupies mean hotels, hotels mean accommodations, and accommodations mean jobs, and jobs mean money. It was not enough to just w.i.l.l.y-nilly build a school here or a hospital there. Order must be established. And order means roads, and bridges and zoning rules.

An Ning put the queens to work. And Sam, who evinced surprise at An Ning's request.

"But I betrayed you," she said, eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with tears. "I'm just grateful that you allowed me to stay here with Matt."

"So, what are you going to do then? Just follow him around like a dog? He's busy working. If you're planning to build a life together here in Saravia, you'd better carry your own weight. Look around you. Everybody is busy getting rich. Don't tell me you're happy spending your days here as a parasite?"

An Ning will never have a soft spot for Sam however hard she tries. She will never be able to forget the harm this girl tried to inflict on her and her family. Sam never seemed to have realized how high the stakes were when she did what she did. It would have meant the annihilation of an entire tribe, some seven thousand women and children trapped in an island where half of them already died from disease and starvation.

An Ning had no sympathy at all for what Sam and her mother suffered. It was all vanity after all. An old woman didn't want to die. Her fool of a daughter promised her a cure because she didn't want to be alone. And if they had succeeded...if they had succeeded, An Ning would have had no qualms at all in tearing that new mechanical legs apart and killing mother and daughter in her anger. But An Ning, however, had a soft spot for Matt. So she had to tolerate Sam if she wanted to please him.

An Ning put Sam in charge of administering the whole operation. And the first thing she did was find An Ning an accountant.

Moira was able to finally leave her bed by the second day. An Ning was there to see her. Moira flung her arms around An Ning and cried. An Ning was very touched. Moira was a tender-hearted girl who always struck her as the epitome of suns.h.i.+ne. But she didn't expect tears so she was a bit uncertain how to steer the conversation around the attack.

Luckily, Du Lu was not as scrupulous as her.

"What happened, Moira? Who attacked you?"

An Ning rolled her eyes at him. Du Lu merely scowled.

Moira released An Ning and dabbed at her wet eyes with the edge of a blanket. Du Lu frowned. An Ning, recognizing that expression, handed Moira a box of Kleenex.

"I didn't see who it was," Moira said. "I was closing the shop and was standing behind the counter when I felt something touch me."

"Touch you?" An Ning asked. "In what way?"

"Like a piece of cold tongue. You know, like when a dog licks you."

"I know, so what happened then?"

"This cold thing then covered my mouth and it felt like it was pulling at my insides," Moira said with a s.h.i.+ver. "It was horrible. I couldn't stay awake because it felt like I was losing control and dying. After that, I don't remember anymore." She turned towards Du Lu. "You found me, didn't you? Did you see anything?"

"No, nothing. I found you sprawled on the floor and called for an ambulance. Then I called An Ning."

"An Ning? Why An Ning? I couldn't understand that part."

Du Lu hesitated and turned to An Ning.

"It seems your attacker had a supernatural origin," An Ning explained.

"Supernatural? You mean a ghost?"

"We don't know exactly. But Du Lu witnessed a similar thing happened to a child he bought. He said the child vanished into thin air while she was enjoying a piece of chicken."

"You bought a child?" Moira's round eyes stared daggers at Du Lu.

"Why do people always focus on that part?" Du Lu complained. "This guy was. .h.i.tting her and I threw him some money to make him stop. That basically means he sold me the kid, right? What was I supposed to do? Reject a child who clearly needed saving? And aren't we detouring from the real problem here?"

Moira flushed guiltily. An Ning just rolled her eyes.

"So, what was it? This supernatural being who attacked me?" Moira said after a while.

"We don't know," said An Ning.

"So, why am I here? And where is this anyway?"

"You're in my house in the village where I live."

"I brought you to her because you were dying, Moira," Du Lu was as blunt as ever. "She fed you her blood that's why you survived. You're alive because An Ning fed you her blood."

"Yup, and really, let's make me sound creepier than a vampire, okay?" An Ning scowled.

Du Lu had the grace to look ashamed.

"Sorry."

"Hmnn..."

"You really sound like you were reading a part for a movie, Du Lu," Moira said, grinning. "I was expecting a transition into horrorific sound and song."

"Look, mommy, he's shy," An Ning teased.

Du Lu looked indignant and huffily moved to stand and stare outside the window.

The two girls giggled, looking at the imaginary poker behind his back.

"So, what do you want to do today?" An Ning asked.

"I want to go and looked around in the village," Moira said excitedly. "But do you have time? I mean, you must be very busy."

"I am but I can spare some for you. Besides, I want you to see the village. Moira, I have a good cook and I have everything I want here in Saravia. But I miss your cakes. How about if you open a store here? You'll be the first. The villagers are not exactly in-step yet with modern life so they have no concept of what a coffee shop looks like. Why not introduce them to your particular brand of magic?"

Moira opened her mouth. Then she closed it again. Her mouth opened again but no words came out. But her eyes were s.h.i.+ning, beaming like lasers on An Ning's beautiful face.

"Is that a yes?" An Ning asked, laughing.

Moira nodded her head vigorously.

"Great. Ask a girl to open a patisserie in a place like this and people will start to get fat. Are you sure?" Du Lu's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Du Lu," An Ning and Moira said in a chorus, "shut up!"

When the architects finally presented their initial plan to An Aning, she unveiled it during a party she gave to celebrate the twins successfully pa.s.sing their first school exam. It was actually a rather thin reason for a celebration but the guests didn't seem to mind because everybody was there, including Du Lu who naturally stole the show.

The party was held outside the garden, which the queens and Sam and some of their friends, decorated. An Ning had someone construct a stage dominated by a huge LED. Even the maze was decked out in festive lights, the watch tower beaming like a lighthouse.

The twins were more excited than they had ever been. They woke up early, went to market to help Sarai, helped Sam and the queens, and told their mother to just stay back and relax because they had everything under control. An Ning took them at their word and spent the morning and mid afternoon working with Matt.

The game they had initially built had surprisingly caught on with its intended market and needed an upgrade. An Ning also consulted Matt about an idea she had about Li Cheung's maze. Maze-themed games had already been worked to death by other designers but An Ning had an idea that could tweak the concept to a new level.

She and Matt worked on the concept for several hours, exchanging ideas until they parted to get ready for the party.

"What is this party for again?" Matt asked, eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with mischief.

"f.u.c.k you," An Ning said, sticking her tongue out at him.

Matt laughed and affectionately ruffled her hair.

Whatever the reason for it, the party was a qualified success. An Ning was not good at socializing so she stayed in the background and was happy to be an onlooker. People came to her though. Even when she found herself in the maze suddenly buzzed with an idea for her game, the queens found her and dragged her back to the party like an errant child.

The dancing and singing which followed were hilarious. An Ning had a nice singing voice so when she was asked to sing, she naturally followed the bouncing ball and sang. She didn't know why she chose that particular song to sing though. It must have been a song she used to sing in the distant past because she really got into it, her voice clear and strong, filling the air with a bell-like clang.

The people watching her were literally awestruck. An Ning was dressed comfortably in a maxi dress that left her shoulders and arms bare. Her long hair fell down around her face like a black cloud. She wasn't wearing any makeup but at that moment, as she lost herself in the music, her beauty was startlingly ethereal.

When the song ended and the last notes left An Ning's lips, the silence was unintentionally awkward.

"What?" An Ning laughed unselfconsciously. "Is my voice really that awful?"

Her question broke the trance her audience was in and a loud clapping followed behind her laughter. The twins rushed to their mother's arms and twined their young arms around her. An Ning was surprised to see that Cas was now on the level of her chin. He will surpa.s.s her height pretty soon it seemed.

The unveiling of An Ning's plans was met with stunned surprise. n.o.body understood what it meant until Matt stood up and explained that the plan was actually the blueprint for the birth of a new nation to be called The Republic of Saravia.

Silence. It was intentional this time. Silence and awkwardness.

"Okay, hit me with it," An Ning was prepared and confident.

"I don't understand," Nyra stood up and addressed An Ning. "A nation...what does that even mean?"

"We, you, I, us. The future. This is a declaration of who we are, Nyra. Our kind have lived for hundreds of years in the shadows. An entire population almost decimated and n.o.body even knew. We were almost wiped out because we continue to live as a tribe, separate from everyone else.

"Look at this maze. My grandfather built this for one single purpose. To keep outsiders and foreigners out. But he forgot that he himself breached the same barrier to follow the woman he loved. And how long did it take him to win her? Five years? Eight years? And during that time, he remained an outsider who had to breach the same barrier again and again to win her.

"In the last two years, wonderful things have happened in Saravia. Enxuo was the first to realize the potential for growth. He laid the groundwork for us to follow. He was the first to realize that we, as a people, needed to survive and to do that we need to declare ourselves as a nation. One with a purpose. One following different dreams but united.

"The era of my grandmother is gone and done with. We no longer have to hunt to fill our bellies. Or wage wars to secure riches. We already have both in abundance. In the last two years, outsiders have found us. We let them in and we invited them inside our homes and our hearts. We witnessed weddings, witnessed births that mean we are moving forward and not looking back anymore.

"This village is growing. Give it three more years and these forests will see houses, these rivers bridges. Most of us will have no choice but to go out into the world because we need to learn and really, because it's nice out there and as Amazons we miss the travel, right?"

"When that time comes, I hope we will finally introduce ourselves as belonging to a country and not just a village. That is my dream. Now, tell me yours."

The silence was deafening. n.o.body moved. n.o.body said anything. Du Lu watched An Ning with inscrutable eyes. He was actually surprised by what she said. Amazons were real and they lived here? An Ning had just given him the go-signal to build his mansion near the banks of the same river that flowed in her house. It was going to be beautiful. He could envision it already. She was building her nation and he's going to be one of the lucky foreigners to have breached her walls. There was some joke in that somewhere which lifted his lips in a rare grin.

"I want to save lives like mommy so I want to become a doctor. I don't want to leave Saravia but I guess I need to so I could learn doctor things. But I will come back because Saravia is my home and I love it."

The pa.s.sionate voice quake in some places but it held firm when uttering the last sentence. Cas looked at his mother with so much love that it almost broke An Ning's heart. She smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"I want to be an actress because they really look nice on TV. My favorite actor is not Du Lu but that other guy he starred with in that action movie. I guess I want to be an actress so I could meet him," Dawn said with a shy smile in Du Lu's direction.

"Why don't you just ask Du Lu to introduce you to him?" her friend Kaeyla said. "He could invite him here and you could stare at him as much as you like?"

Heads turned to Du Lu eagerly.

"I'm afraid not. I happen to know that he's gay," he quipped succintly.

"Is that true?" Dawn was almost in tears.

"Wasn't there a rumor about him dating a dude and they were caught holding hands?" Kaeyla said. "Well? Is that true?" she demanded of Du Lu.

"I have no idea," Du Lu said.

"You're useless," Kaeyla sniffed.

"Yes."

An Ning smothered a laugh.

"Well, An Ning invited me to open a coffee shop in the village and I said yes and I guess that's my dream," Moira said, her head bobbing excitedly.

Her words were met with dumbstruck silence.

"A coffee shop? What's that?" a voice was heard asking this question.

"What the heck is coffee? Is that something you put on your face?"

An Ning couldn't hold the laughter anymore. It burst out joyously from her chest like a bubbling brook. After a stunned silence, Moira joined her and Sam and Matt and Nyra and Dawn and the rest of the queens who wiped tears from their eyes. Du Lu's lips twisted in an unwilling smile but something like a cough escaped his lips.

An Ning left the stage and gave Moira then Dawn a hug. The villagers convened around her slight figure, shouting questions and receiving answers, until she was swallowed up by the crowd and disappeared from Du Lu's eyes.