"All passengers, I repeat we have arrived at the Tivora station. Please gather all your belongings before departing from the train." The conductor's voice filled the entire train, breaking Akeelah 's stupor.
She pensively stood and hastily gathered her things; her bag she placed over her left shoulder letting it hang and her jacket she held in her right hand before quickly exiting the steam train. Tivora's station was opulent in all definitions of the word; primarily made of polished marble with expansive, mullion windows that allowed the sun to drown the interior in light. Despite being a train station, it was disgustingly clean and dreary despite being filled with greenery, it was a microcosm of Tivora. Akeelah 's shoulders loosened as she descended the station's primary stairwell which led out the building. A warm, nostalgic breeze wafted over her as the sun pelted her skin, her eyes wistfully scanned Tivora's building, all of which were decadent. As she walked down the broad main road, she saw children arrayed in silk and linen carelessly running along the street with their friends. Stores filled to capacity with food, pastries and various delicacies, couples blissfully walking the streets on occasion a lavishly built carried drawn by exceedingly powerful stallions would gallop down the street. A smile crept on Akeelah's face as she took in these sights, this is how she was raised, places like this are where everyone should be raised.
In the corner of her eye, she saw two men each with white coats lined with gold, standing over a dirty, tattered man in the fetal position.
"How about to tell us the truth of why you were here?" the taller one on the right spoke with a deep voice.
"I already told you; I just wanted some food." The man spoke wheezing, clutching his stomach.
"And we already told you to stop lying." The shorter one on the left replied with a shrill voice. "We already know you were stealing food." He then kicked the man in his face, with his right leg. Blood gushed out of his nose as the tattered man screamed in pain.
"Shut up you damn legger, it's your kind that ruin our beautiful city." The taller one spoke before landing a kick on the man's side.
"What are you two doing?" Akeelah questioned loud enough for them both to hear. The shorter one turned his to look at her, a smirk growing on his face.
"It's ok madam, were just cleaning up some trash." Upon hearing this a frown grew on Akeelah's face.
"You two, are from the central bureau, correct?" The shorter man smile grew even wider after he heard Akeelah 's statement. He walked toward before proudly pointing to the insignia on the front of his coat. It was the alchemic mark but unlike the militia's black this one was gold and in possessed a golden diamond in the epicenter. It was the Central Bureau's alchemic mark.
"You have good eyes; I'm a proud member of the bureau. You're lucky to have such a standup guy like me on cleanup duty, I'm much more lenient to those leggers than some of my compatriots." He said this with his head held high, his unkempt blond hair blowing in the wind. "You know you're really pretty, how about after I'm done here, I take you out to dinner?"
Her eyes filled with annoyance upon hearing this, it only grew worse after his friend, in the midst of assaulting the man, said, "Tommy there's no way a dime like that isn't already used." Upon hearing this Tommy's face flushed red and he turned to his friend, "Like you can say anything Cyrus! You slept with that whore, Trista, Camilla, Sandra? What was her name again?"
Akeelah closed her eyes and clenched her fist before putting on a smile, "Sorry, there's someone that I have my eye on. But I do know someone that would like to meet you." Tommy turned to Akeelah, a smile on his face before suddenly, her right fist was embedded in his jaw. He stumbled backwards surprised, but he didn't get a chance to react before another strike was sent into his nose, breaking it. He howled in pain; she then struck him in his lower ribs with her left hand, breaking them on impact. The wind was knocked out of Tommy, and he lost feeling in his legs, causing him to fall to the ground.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!! CYRUS DO SOMETHING!!" he screamed, breaking Cyrus out of his astonishment. Cyrus reached into his pocket and threw some sand; it was then propelled at incredible speeds. Akeelah eyes quickly scanned the sand before she lifted Tommy up using all her strength and used him as a shield for the incoming sand. He let out a howl before falling unconscious. She let him fall before taking a look, and she sighed in disgust, there was no blood or even a bruise, just a hole in his coat and clothes.
"Who the hell are you and why the hell did you do that!" Cyrus shouted in fear. Akeelah removed the glove from her left hand, which revealed three black, inverted triangles tattooed on her palm. Cyrus' eyes moved to her palm and it they grew wide with terror, "Br-Br-Br-" he said stepping backwards.
"Brigand is the word you're looking for." She said before embedding her hand in his face. She then turned to look at the abused man, who still lay on the ground clutching his face. She bent down and placed her hands on his body; in that instant the man's bruises began disappearing and the swelling on his body began dissipating. The man's eyes widened as his pain was washed away, instead being replaced by hunger.
"Whew! I'm starving." She exclaimed.
"What did you just do?" the man asked, astonished, as he struggled to stand.
"Gimme a sec…Need to catch my breath!" After taking a few deep breaths she looked at the man's astonished face with wide excited eyes. "You probably want to know how you're healed, basically my alchemic ability allows me to manipulate the proteins, enzymes and lipids of anyone I touch with both my hands. All I did was redirect some of your bodies' excess prostaglandins away from the swollen areas to the bruised areas, then I moved some fibroblasts from surrounding body tissues and sent them to the affected areas so that it would,"
"Ok I get it, you're smart!" The man interjected exasperated; Akeelah looked at him silently.
"My ability only speeds up the body's natural healing ability. Your body still uses energy to do it; I just make that normally long process far short."
"What are you trying to say?" the man asked, annoyed, his eye slightly twitching.
"You're hungry." She replied, smiling with her eyes closed, as the man's stomach made a thundering grumble. This caused his face to flush red as Akeelah simply chuckled, before grabbing the man's hand and beginning to run.
"Oi! Where are you taking me!" he exclaimed in surprise as he was dragged first along the main road by Akeelah, then into a green and white building, with almost invisible windows. At its apex was an impractical sign in a language he couldn't understand, all he knew was that it was fancy. The interior, however, put the exterior to shame; chandeliers worth more than everything he had hung from the ceiling, lovingly bathing the surroundings in soft, incandescent light. The chairs and tables were luscious, made entirely of the finest oak wood money could buy, draped with rich linen tablecloths that cascaded to the ground as if waterfalls. The high whistle of the flutes married with the shrill strumming of the violins and the thought filled notes of the piano filled the background as well-dressed people eat their food. The combined smells were intoxicating, the savory meatiness of steak, the freshness of peas, the sugary sweetness of tiramisu, and the pungent aroma of champagne. This combined with the soft but audible conversations of the patrons created the perfect atmosphere for fine dining.
"Wow! This place is nice." He exclaimed in a hushed voice.
"Of course it is, I come here all the time, let's take a seat over there!" She spoke while pulling him toward an empty seat and the gaze of the other customers immediately became centered on them. As soon as they took their seats, Akeelah called the waiter over, while the man examined her. "Good day, I would like 2 roasted ducks with bean stew, 2 large bowls of mushroom broth and 2 glasses of red wine."
"Of course, madam, I will get that for you right away." Spoke the tidily dressed waiter, before he quickly left.
Upon the waiter leaving Akeelah turned to the man and with a smile asked him, "So, what's your name?"
After a few pensive looks he replied, "J-Johnathan."
She examined his scrawny frame and noticed his pale, thin wrists and clothes hanging off his body; his gaunt face rife with old scars and cuts, accentuating his tired green eyes.
"Well hello Johnathan, I'm Akeelah." she spoke with a smile on her face.
"Why did you heal me?"
Almost immediately Akeelah 's smile grew larger, and she answered, "Cause I wanted too." This came as a great surprise to Johnathan.
"What?"
"Yeah, I saw someone that needed help, and I helped them, nothing complicated about that."
The confusion on Johnathan's face grew larger as he extended his hands while saying, "It can't possibly be that simple, you obviously want something from me."
"No I really don't want anything-" A loud clack of a hand fan suddenly interrupted Akeelah , as she saw an irate, beautiful woman standing behind Johnathan.
"Excuse me, can you tell your servant to quiet down, he is disturbing everyone." The woman spoke with a scowl on her face.
"Ma'am I don't mean to be rude, but you suddenly intruded on our conversation."
"Is it really your conversation, if I can hear it from my table?!" the woman replied annoyed before opening her fan once again and began fanning herself. Akeelah released a small laugh.
"I believe that is your own eavesdropping coming into play."
Upon hearing this remark the glossy, red lips curled in anger and with a quivering voice she shouted, "You-You Swine! Do you know who I am!" Before Akeelah could respond, Johnathan rose to his feet, stood before the woman and bowed his head before saying,
"I apologize for disturbing your meal-"
'SLAP' the woman's left hand was across her body and Johnathan's face had a large red spot on it. "How dare you come near me you filthy legger!"
"At this point you're just out of place!" Akeelah shot up and began shouting.
"Akeelah."
"You come out of nowhere and start insulting-"
"Akeelah!"
"Shut up you swine, of course you people would defend those leggers!"
"You people? What the hell are you trying say-"
"AKEELAH!!"
Johnathan's outburst immediately stopped the two women's argument. The establishment's music stopped and the gaze of everyone was now firmly placed on these three. "I don't need your help dammit! I never asked for your help!" he shouted in frustration, his auburn brows furrowed. "Why do you assume that I need your help! Why do you people always assume we need your help!" he continued no longer bowing but now standing directly in front of Akeelah. "Why do you people always assume that we're incompetent because we have less money than you?" he questioned with vitriol causing Akeelah to step back. Taking a moment to collect herself Akeelah analyzed Johnathan's face, and a frown emerged on her.
"When have I ever assumed you were incompetent? I'm going to all these lengths to get food for you because you were injured, you're clearly malnourished and you can't afford good food anywhere in Tivora. But now I'm the bad guy for wanting to see a fellow human, ok?"
Johnathan directly walked up to Akeelah to the point where their faces were almost touching, "Yeah you two," he said pointing to the noble woman, "are the two types of Tivorians. On one hand you have prejudiced skanks with more money than they could ever spend in their lifetime. And on the other you have self-righteous, arrogant pricks that are looking for some cause to make themselves feel better, just like you!" Akeelah took a step back upon hearing this. "Not once, not a single time did you ask me what I want. Oh, he wants to go to this restaurant with some random stranger. He definitely wants roast duck and mushroom broth. Of course, he wants to be defended when trying to diffuse a situation. I hate people like you the most." Akeelah was left stunned, unable to utter a response that could sate Johnathan's anger. He looked at her for a few more seconds before turning around and leaving the restaurant.
"This is why you shouldn't associate with leggers." The woman spoke and just before she left she turned and said, "Take this lesson to heart darky."
Akeelah sat down and sighed deeply; her eyes closed as she slouched in her chair. The music and chatter restarted making it appear as though nothing had occurred mere moments ago. 'Why me?' Akeelah thought gripping the blade of the knife in her bag until she drew blood. Her skin burned, her body screamed in pain, but the racing thoughts in her mind became silent.
"Madam, here is your food" the waiter spoke politely as he laid the food on the table.
"Thank you" she said smiling before paying for the food and leaving a generous tip.