A hush fell over the expansive square as the tall Named woman walked through. The milling crowds split, opening and giving way as a pair of black clad Faifekau shooed people out of her way.

She wore a flowy white blouse with a frilled collar and a pair of crisp black slacks. Her heels clicked sharply against the dusty road as she took her long strides. Each step she took seemed to usher a preternatural hush. As she passed, the absence of common crowd noises became more and more noticeable. The candidates were enraptured, unsure who the woman was. The members bowed, those who weren’t wearing a mask or goggles closed their eyes. Her cold eyes glazed over them, barely registering their insignificance.

Her attendants trailed behind her, both looking out of breath as they struggled to keep up with her brisk pace. They noticed a pair of confused, slightly dazed looking candidates, jaws agape as they watched the Named woman pass.

“The new ones always give themselves away,” a short, pudgy attendant noted between quick spurts of gasps. “Barely even civilized enough to close their mouths.”

The other attendant snickered, too out of breath to offer a comment. She nodded, eyes flitting back to take account of the simpletons so she could gossip with her colleague later.

Neither one dripped with sweat despite their haggard breathing.

“One,” the tall woman’s voice floated back to the pair.

“Yes ma’am?” the pudgy attendant answered, holding his breath in a vain attempt to hide his ragged heaving.

“Make a note for later, we have some uninvited guests who will arrive soon. Send a group of senior Faifekau to greet them.”

“Yes ma’am, I’ll dispatch them now.” One didn’t even bother asking for any specifics. He quickly tapped in a message on his tablet.

“Nine.”

“Yes ma’am?” the other attendant answered, voice weak.

“I can hear your distressed breathing from here. You will double your daily regiment. Same goes for One.”

“Y-yes m-ma’am!” Nine answered, huffing and heaving as a cramp climbed up her back.

“You two have been slacking as of late. All of you have. I expect top shape before the end of the Advent.”

“Yes ma’am!” the attendants answered simultaneously.

One looked down, just for a second, and scrunched his face.

“Triple for you One, since you want to make faces behind my back.”

“Y-yes ma’am!” he held his breath and did his best to control his face, arms and legs pumping as they continued to struggle to keep up with the tall woman’s determined steps.

The stunned crowds listened to their receding steps, unsure of what to do in the wake of a Named one. After a few awkward minutes of silence, they finally moved as they let out a collective sigh of relief. The memory of the powerful presence slowly receded into the back of their minds until it was completely forgotten.

A bright 2-story building loomed, standing out like the northern star in the dead night sky amongst the rows of drab, colorless buildings surrounding it. The opaque automatic doors slid open with a soft sigh, releasing a puff of cool, artificial air as the majestic woman entered. Her beautifully coiffed hair trembled under the welcome reprieve from the tropical heat.

“Ma’am,” a receptionist inclined her head as she held out a folder. “You have a guest.”

The cool contempt the woman usually wore flickered, just for a second.

“I wasn’t expecting anyone.”

“Understood ma’am. He presented this and identified himself as a messenger of the Kainga.” The receptionist held out a folded piece of paper with the stylized seal of the Conglomerate on it.

For a second, just a single moment, an intense fog of emotions settled on the building. Every inhabitant's body, except for the tall woman, sagged noticeably. The building creaked like an old, forgotten thing. Then the moment passed as the woman’s façade settled once more.

“Clear out the 2nd floor.”

---

The tall woman stood still, listening to the hurried footsteps as her subordinates funneled out of the floor. Pitter-patter, click-clack, hobble-wobble. She focused on the way the floor lightly rumbled from the many feet as the harried people clambered to obey her order. Anything to help her focus, to help still the beating that had begun thundering when she’d opened the engraved envelope.

She took a deep breath and studied the familiar door. It was her door, the one feared by all in the building but her. She knew it intimately from the long hours and days and weeks spent toiling away behind it. Not like those measurements of time mattered around here, but it was a source of solace for her to be able to keep track of something in this mind-numbing oasis of timelessness. And yet that familiarity fled before the apprehension, the excitement that coursed through her body. A soft tapping echoed in the empty expanse of the cleared out floor. Unconsciously she’d started banging her thumb against her thigh. An old habit, one that rarely surfaced nowadays.

After a few breathing exercises she finally reached out and opened the door. Her hand shook as she twisted the knob and pushed it open. The lavish office welcomed her, twilight rays filling and illuminating the room with it’s beautiful purples and pinks. Her velvet couch glowed black-red under the fading sun's eye from where it sat against the wall. The high backed, deeply cushioned chair she spent much of her time in was inhabited by a shadowed figure. The errant rays of light seemed to bend away from the person, as if they were forbidden to shed light on them.

“My little Marin,” the figure spoke. Their voice was infinitely deep, rumbling and sonorous.

Instantly the tension that had built in her shoulders fell away. She let out a sigh of relief as a huge smile creased her full lips. Like an excited child, she scrambled toward the figure and jumped in their lap. She giggled and hugged them.

“Papa!” pure unadulterated happiness etched itself across her face. She kicked her dangling feet, knocking her uncomfortable high heels off and sending them skidding into a corner.

The shadowed figure had initially seemed small, insignificant in comparison to the woman. But with each passing moment it grew until she was the size of a young child cradled in its lap. With a wave of its large hand all light in the room ceased to exist. A deep abyssal darkness fell on the room as the sound of a lock clicked in the background.

The features of the figure finally emerged. Nima smiled down at Camarin as she snuggled into his broad chest. He lightly kissed her forehead before swinging her off placing her on the murky ground next to him.

“Marin, you’re a big girl now, you don’t get to sit in my lap too long anymore. You’re too heavy.”

“Papa,” she playfully smacked his shoulder and stomped her bare feet. “Just because I’m big now doesn’t mean I don’t get to be little with you.”

She puffed her cheeks and pouted as her form began to change. Slowly she turned into a cute little girl in a traditional dress, face comically twisted as she played up the role of a spoiled brat.

Nima laughed, deep voice bouncing off the infinitely expanding shadows of the office. Grabbing her little head between his huge hands, he planted another kiss on her forehead before ruffling her hair again. Softly patting the desk, he pointed with his chin.

“Sit, we need to talk.”

Camarin jumped up and gingerly landed on the desk. She’d never sat on her desk like this but for her father she would do anything.

“What’s up papa? You wanna talk about the Advent?”

“No,” Nima’s smile faded, lips drawing a grim line across his forgettable face. “We have some intruders making their way here. And some visitors. I just wanted to make sure you were aware.”

Camarin swung her legs, banging them against the expensive drawers of her desk. A shadow fell across her face before disappearing, revealing her fully grown visage attached to the small body. She frowned, eyebrows dipping in a severe arch.

“I know, I already have a welcoming party on standby.”

“I’ll handle the visitors,” Nima bit a fingernail before spitting it out. A shadow jumped up and caught the expelled piece, nestling the precious object and tucking it away. “Taha is already en-route to assist the team you sent.”

Camarin reached out and grabbed her father’s hand, little fingers barely able to encompass the enormous things. She used his worn fingers to stroke her cheek, smiling with her eyes closed.

“Papa, it’s no big deal. Let the Faifekau take care of it. Plus, can’t let that little cretin out too often.”

“Unfortunately,” Nima snaked his hand out of the tiny grasp, cupping the disconcertingly aged face while stroking her temple with his thumb. A sad smile stretched his leathery lips. “The time approaches and he will be a great asset.”

The odd woman-child’s face scrunched up in her approximation of a pout.

“You’re being depressing again, pop. You’ve said the same thing for each Advent.”

“Well, this time it might be true. Hopefully.”

“It won’t be. You probably won’t even have to accept a challenge.”

“Little girl, these old bones feel everything. Now, I need you to get Wanu while I greet our guests. It’s time for you to come back, my Fiti.”

Camarin, or Fiti according to her title amongst the Tu’i, sat up straight, chin jutting out as shadows wrapped her child-like body in their umbral embrace. Her mass grew, filled out, elongated as she returned to her grown-up form.

Nima motioned with his large, cragged hands, arms spread open as he asked her for a hug.

“Papa,” the woman wrapped her arms around his head, kissing his cheeks. “You’ll be ok this time. I know it. I’ll make sure of it.”

_____________________________________

An odd, bulbous little shadow wavered and flitted about in the pre-dusk gloom. The long outlines of the tropical trees and drab buildings were always a fertile ground for those who loved to lurk in the darkness.

Jumping from one shadow to the next, Taha enjoyed the intoxication that always accompanied his clandestine voyeur outings. Wreathed in the shadow, he was nigh undetectable by any but the other Tu’i. His hidden body itched with excitement as he jumped about, tongue hanging from his mouth.

“Eww, ugly one,” he muttered as he avoided the shadow of a homely male candidate, disgusted by their plain looks. His nose twitched as he quickly picked up on a scent he always enjoyed. That earthy, musky scent that always accompanied coitus. Eyes glittering like little searchlights, he quickly snuck under a shadowed doorway and slunk towards the alluring aroma.

Guttural grunts and moans wafted from an upstairs room. Goosebumps rippled up his gangly, sinewy arms as he crawled along, still slinking along using the shadows. A rhythmic, wet plopping filled his ears as his loins burst into flames, dingy shorts rising as he began to drool.

The smell grew stronger, that beloved smell of sex and raunch. One hand quickly unzipped his shorts, as silently as he could, before he slid under the doorway. He shuddered as he was hit with the smell, that sensation he missed so much. His raging hard-on spat as he crouched by the door way, slowly taking in the sight of the entangled lovers. Long legs held apart as a pair of buttocks rocked back and forth, back and forth. The motion mesmerized the creepy little man, tongue lolling around his lips.

His clawed hand slowly played with his forgotten tool, spittle dribbling from the corner of his mouth. He watched and enjoyed the way the man’s back rippled with each rocking motion. His ears tensed with each grunt and moan, with each uttered curse as the pair continued their raucous session.

Inch by agonizing inch, the little man slowly crept forward while supporting himself with one arm. The other hand was busy, obviously. He didn’t need to be so sneaky but old habits die hard. And Taha would rather be forgotten before giving up his voyeur ways.

The couple continued their odd dance, bed rocking back and forth. Completely unaware of the ugly little guest who was busy enjoying himself.

---

“Shit! Shit! Shit!”

Taha hurtled through the shadows in a headlong sprint, blue hour drenching the Motu in it’s cold embrace. He galloped on all fours, loping back and forth. The stench of the encroaching intruders beckoned. Wild-eyed, he flew along, leaving dirty imprints in his wake as he threw caution to the wind. His body phased back and forth, flickering as he moved between realms.

As the shadows around him deepened he picked up speed, face stuck in a crazed expression as he enjoyed the boost. Turning a corner, he stumbled upon a group of Faifekau, blending into the spreading gloom as the sun continued it’s trek beyond the horizon. They stood in a semi-circle facing a desolate patch of viscous void-sea, eyes glued to the pitch black water.

Skidding to a halt, Taha chuckled at their tense backs. He bounced up and onto a roof and tucked himself into a dark corner as he waited for the intruders to rear their ugly heads. He felt fortunate, being able to catch a show and then getting to welcome some outside uglies.

An air bubble popped, breaking the glassy surface of the void-sea. Taha looked down as a sadistic smile spread across his ugly little face. He watched the Faifekau take a step back, their hands clenched in anticipation.

The slimy surface of the murky water rose, refusing to give way. With a loud pop, a head emerged from the depths.