The Shop was dead except for an old Ozian behind a desk and behind his desk were paintings of Zepedis' Sky line and pictures of Pri'Paisheva Sulav. A woman of the age of about 16 walked into the store and asked him, "What do you have trader?"
"Valentine Sorov, how good to see you, I have something your moma might light!" He took a foil wrapping of something like a large cigar. When he opened it he revealed a fresh loaf of bread, "I had these straight imported from Divine Ozia."
Valentine noted the bread and her mouth started to water as she imagined the taste of the fresh bread. She got tired of the pink sausage and canned foods that her mother had a vast storage of. She eagerly took the bread and paid her Pei to the old Ozian. She then lifted her maroon Ozian eyes up from her Iadakan face and asked him "I was only a little girl when it happened, can you explain what happened? From your point of view?"
The man sighed and dropped his pen looking at her, "I'm quite busy Val, you need any other supplies?"
Valentine peeked at the bullets behind him and she pointed to the I-19 rounds, "Give me 3 boxes of those." She paid her currency and started to go back home. She checked the sky and saw that it was about the storm and she would have to get home quick. However when she was about meters from her house, the weather turned on her as the heavy gray breeze turned into heavy showers and it drenched her. When she got home her mother had waited for her at the door of the small 2 bedroom house. When she closed the creaky old wood door her mother walked to her.
Valentine awaited her nagging, "What took you so long this time? I bet it was that store boy!"
She sighed at her mother's arrogance "But mama, the trader already fired him because of you."
The Mother was however smiling and looked at her daughter with safety, "That's good, I don't want you hanging around that boy, he is too immature."
Valentine nodded to her mother and put the supplies she bought on the counter and then asked, "When's Papa getting home from the nac'reshi?"
The mother pointed at her daughter "Val! I told you, I don't know any Ozian, I'm the Iadakan one remember dear?"
She responded kindly, "The Plant..."
Her mother simply shrugged and returned to her normal business. However, Valentine had more important matters to deal with. She concealed the foiled up bread by her side and walked past her mother. When she reached her room she closed the door quietly and looked at her piece of bread with awe as she unfolded it. She remembered once her father was invited into Zepedis for a Nuclear Engineer Banquet and that she got to dress up and she ate the restaurant food which was so much better than the sausage. However in Lae'zri, even 30 Kilometers from Zepedis, there was barely anything except the shop, her school, an old library, and the new Nuclear Power Plant built by people like her father and invested by Ozian contractors. She looked at her bread and she was happy. She took her hunting knife and cut off the end of it. She sunk her teeth into the bread and smiled with delight with every little bite. The bread was about one foot in length and she ate the whole thing with delight. She thought to herself how hungry she was to eat about a 3 meal piece of bread. Not feeling guilty about sharing the bread with her parents, she crumbled the foil into a ball and tossed it out the window. Feeling her stomach she laid on her simple one mattress bead, leting her body just sink in with the bed. She closed her eyes before dusk hit Alida.
She dreamed of the guy, they were sitting on the meadows, drinking tea and enjoying little Ozian Sweet Zuavka treats. She also saw her father and mother walk in from the other side, accepting her happiness. However the ground started to shake and from the horizon many bees started to swarm her and sting her. The air around her started churn around her in twister wind patterns and there were violent stormy clouds in the sky. Then she looked to the east and saw several explosions in the sky but then she woke up.
Val rubbed her eyes and held her head. She wondered if she got some air if that would help her head ache, but before she went to the window she had to check if she really did have bee stings all over her. She didn't and when she walked to the window she looked at the peaceful moon's crescent and gave a warm smile to it. But then her smile turned into a worrisome frown as the ground started to shake. Then several explosions were seen in the sky. Bright lights shot outward and clouds of the bright smoke rose to the atmosphere. She then was hit by a sudden worry for her father, in that direction was her father's plant. She rushed to the kitchen where here mother was worriedly looking out the window. Then something started to beep rapidly in the house. The Mother raised her eyes as she knew what that sound was. She rummaged through the kitchen and found the device that was peeping. It started beeping loudly and showed a number on it, 1.29, then 1.34, then 2.04, and then it kept rising up to about 4. Her mother yelled at her, "We need to get out of the city, get in the car!"
