"Earth's peacemaker shows mirror to Volzites." 

"Indian leader's enlightening words spark a debate about what humanity truly means."

"Are Volzites really true villains? Or they're another selfish, misguided species like us?"

"What's the future of Earth at the hands of a human peacemaker and a ruthless, alien King?"

Vadarius turns off the connection to Earth after seeing the latest developments from their online news portals. Avni's victory speech stunt during the duel this morning has become an eye-opener for both humans and Volzites alike.

He sighs in frustration and wishes it could have opened his brother's eyes too. He's as stubborn as a mule. Sometimes, Vadarius doesn't even understand why he is so hell bent upon wiping out humans from Earth. They were doing absolutely fine with taking Earth's resources low-key and silently. Then, one morning, he suddenly wakes up and decides that time's up for humans and they need to die.

Vadarius shakes his head and gets up to visit his brother's room again, he just hopes this time he ends up shoving some sense into that man's thick skull.

"Vadarius", Albatross greets him as soon as he enter the room.

"Albatross", he nods back at him, telling him by his informal address that he's here to meet his brother, not his King. But before he can utter another word he is abruptly cut off.

"Look brother, if you're here to convince me why I should let humans go unharmed, let me stop you right here. I'm tired of having this conversation with you. Your words can't change my mind, and I don't want to ruin our relationship over this."

Vadarius sighs audibly, "Maybe my words can't change your mind, but Avni's can."

Albatross fixes him with such a heated glare that he can literally feel his skin getting warmer.

"You can't deny that she's right, brother. You heard her today, every word she said made sense. Many of our own people have started talking about how our treatment of their planet and species is cruel and unfair."

He sighs and rubs his temple, "I know, I've seen the news telecasts."

"I saw the updates from Earth as well. Her little stunt was an eye opener for them too. She's right you know, there's still hope. For them, and for us too."

"Wow Vadarius, now you've started speaking her language too."

"Stop deflecting, brother. At least tell me you'll apologize to her for branding her as a damn cold-blooded murderer. We didn't even give her a chance to defend herself, much less a trial like she said. She didn't deserve that treatment."

Vadarius waits for him to respond, but the stubborn man refuses to even utter a word.

"You know what, Albatross, I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no other choice", he says as he turns on the display panel in his brother's room and login into his own account.

"If you want to show me the telecasts from Earth, I'm not interested in what-"

Vadarius shakes his head at him, "No. You remember how Precious' last nanny was caught sleeping in her room, while Precious escaped to the lake garden all alone? You got so pissed, you fired her immediately. Then you appointed Haile and installed cameras and microphones into Precious' room to keep tabs on Haile. Haile didn't mind and we eventually forgot about them.

After this morning's events, I decided to check on the recordings to see what had actually happened that day in her room. I really wish I had looked sooner, Avni suffered for two days unnecessarily. Anyway, while I was looking, I found another clipping too, from the night we were attacked and I got hospitalized. I'm showing you both these clips now."

Albatross goes to protest, but Vadarius plays the first recording, and sits back silently, not giving him a chance. The recording plays and he watches with his brother as the events from the day unfold.

Avni enters the room slightly pissed, probably because of how Albatross taught her to kill Volzites forcibly. But when she watches Precious giggling with Haile, who is braiding our li'l girl's hair, Avni's anger deflates and her face lights up like the sky at first ray of sunlight.

She walks towards them, and as soon as Precious sees her, she frees herself from Haile's hold on her hair and rushes towards Avni's open arms. Avni scoops the li'l girl into her arms with a sweet smile, and they settle on the bed, while Haile excuses herself for a few minutes to run an errand.

"Precious looks so happy, doesn't she?" Vadarius asks Albatross, who nods silently. 

"Just fast forward it", he says impatiently and Vadarius complies. He resumes playing at normal speed few minutes before Albatross' entry.

Precious intentionally distracts Avni by asking her for a glass of water, and when she turns towards the nightstand to pour her a glass, Precious pulls out the dagger from its sheath tucked in Avni's waist. Avni reprimands her immediately and asks her to give it back, but Precious ignores her. So, when Avni tells her it can cut her and cause her to bleed in order to coax her to obey, Precious panics and carelessly throws the dagger in Avni's direction in horror.

The hilt of the dagger hits Avni's forehead with force and Precious begins wailing while uttering strings of apologies for hurting Avni. "Sorry, friend. Sorry, please don't die", she says repeatedly as she hiccups and gasps for air, while Avni scoops her in her arms gently and tries to console her.

"Hey hey sweetie, relax. I'm not hurt, please don't cry", she coos in her ears and after a few seconds she stops crying to look at Avni's forehead. 

"You're not hurt?", Precious asks innocently.

"Not at all, see, it doesn't cut or hurt. But it's not good to play with othrr dangerous weapons like these, they can hurt. Don't ever do this again", Avni explains as she takes her dagger and plunges in into her own hand twice to calm down the li'l one.

"So, this is like a toy?", Precious giggles, and Avni nods and hugs her again.

"Can we play with it, please?" 

"Alright, but promise me, you'll never touch anybody's weapon without permission ever again? They can seriously cut and bleed, okay?"

"I promise friend, now can we play please?"

And as they begin to play, Albatross enters Precious' room and all hell breaks lose.

Vadarius pauses the recording and watches as Albatross sighs and runs a hand through his hair in frustration.

"So, Precious could have hurt peacemaker, or even herself. She was stupid to take a weapon into the child's room in the first place!"

Vadarius snorts at his dumb statement.

"Stop trying to find reasons to hate her, you fool! Our guards carry weapons near Precious all the time, I'm sure you do too. And, Avni knew that dagger was harmless, she is not an idiot. She is a smart and caring woman, I'm sure she can take better care of Precious than you or me ever can!"

"You're hilarious, Vadarius. I can take care of Precious better than anyone else!"

"Really? Do you know why she threw away that dagger immediately when Avni said it could cut her and she could bleed?"

"Because she's a kid and she got scared?"

He shakes his head and turns towards the panel to play the second clip.

"If I hadn't watched this, I would have thought that too. I bet you have no damn clue about this." He points to the recording on the panel which begins to play immediately.

"If you don't leave now, Mr. King, you'll definitely regret it!" Avni's worried voice says from the clip as the tyganeacean lifts Vadarius and throws him to the ground effortlessly.

Albatross' eyes flash red at the sight and Avni visibly flinches.

Vadarius looks at his brother sitting beside him to see his reaction at the scene and notices him shifting uneasily in his seat. Albatross is a man of total control and watching him lose it, even if momentarily, over his well-being makes Vadarius feel oddly special. He knows that even is he is an asshole sometimes, but he's still his dear old brother nonetheless.

As angry as he makes Vadarius feel at his rash decisions towards humans, he can't help but feel proud over his calm, impartial and fair attitude towards his own Volzite subjects. He loves them and takes care of them like a family. Just like he takes care of him and Precious, especially after their parents died in an alien attack couple of years ago.

"Avni... Where did my brother go?", Precious' tiny voice filters through the silence.

Avni is standing near the balcony, shutting the sliding windows, probably to reduce the thundering noise coming from outside. As soon as she hears Precious, she quickly moves to her side, softly patting her head and trying to put her back to sleep.

"Where did he go, friend?", she asks again, her voice shaky, almost on the verge of breaking down.

"He went to bring Vadarius here, he'll be back soon sweetie", she tries to assure the terrified little girl.

"How soon?"

"How about I tell you a story? By the time we finish, they will both be here at your side, kissing you good night."

"No, I don't want any story, I want my brothers."

"They are coming, sweetie. Why don't you get some sleep? I will wake you up when they're here."

"No! no! no!" Precious thrashes her arms and starts wailing immediately.

Watching my little baby sister crying her heart out breaks Vadarius' heart every time he watches this clip. Avni looks like she will cry out too, as she tries to pacify a relentless Precious.

Suddenly, my brother yells from beside me, "Why are you making me watch this? You say she can take better care of Precious than us, she can't even stop her from crying so much!"

"Will you just calm down and watch?" Vadarius says as he fast forwards a bit, to the point where Precious has calmed down a little.

"It's okay sweetie, I promise you they are both safe", Avni calmly rubs her back as Precious rests her forehead on Avni's shoulder.

"You don't know that! What if they bleed and die, like mom and dad?"

Avni's eyes widen in surprise as she processes the li'l girls words.

Precious, however, continues to blabber on her fears and worries.

"They also went like this one night, it was the same sirens, the same thunders. I know it. I remember it. They never came back. Brother said, they are safe, they will come back. But they didn't! They never came back, th-they d-died!" She hiccups in her tiny, shaky voice as she tries to get words out through her cries.

"Now you're saying they're safe, but I know they are not. They will bleed and they-", she starts crying hysterically all over again.

"Ohh sweetie, please. Don't cry my love, please look at me", she pulls her head up gently from her shoulder and cups her tiny face.

"Your brothers are very brave, Precious. They are strong and they can fight whatever tries to hurt their family. You don't have to worry at all. They can take care of themselves and each other. And, they know you're waiting for them here, they will always come back for their li'l baby girl."

"What if they don't? What if they're hurt?"

"Then they will heal, sweetie. We will find them the best doctors and we will get them the best possible treatment."

"But-"

"No buts, sweetie. Please have some faith. They will be fine. That's all we can do anyway. Have faith that everything will be alright soon. We can just pray for their safety, and we can hope our prayers will be heard."

"You think Goddess will hear my prayers and save them?"

"Of course, she will hear your prayers, and your brothers will be safe."

"How are you so sure, Avni?"

She shakes her head, "No, I'm not sure, Precious. We can never be sure about life and death. Everybody has to die one day. So, I will not lie just to assure you."

She pauses for a moment to wipe away tears from the li'l girl's eyes.

"You know what I do, when I am not sure about something? I choose to believe in the power of hope. Hope gives us a reason to look forward to good things. To dream about a happy tomorrow. So, when I'm not sure if everything will be alright, I still have hope. You should too. Hope about a tomorrow where your brothers will take you to your favorite garden. Where they will chase butterflies with you and play with you all day."

"Will they let me play with the fish in the lake too?"

She chuckles, "Of course sweetie, if you'll be careful and ask nicely."

Precious finally smiles at Avni, "Okay, then I will pray and I will hope they'll be safe."

"Good girl, now close your eyes and pray to Goddess for your brothers."

Avni cradles Precious into her arms and gently coos at her, as she tries to keep her eyes close to pray. In a couple of minutes, her breathing evens out, her lips stop moving and she falls into sleep. Avni gently puts her to bed and tucks her in.

"Good night, l'il angel," Avni murmurs as she kisses her forehead gently.

As the recording stops playing, Vadarius turns to look at his brother whose eyes are a turmoil of red, black and blue. Love, pain and care, such a beautiful combination. Vadarius pats his shoulder and squeezes it reassuringly. Albatross gulps hard and takes a deep breath to compose himself.

"I didn't even know she remembers", he whispers slowly.

"Me neither, brother. Now you see why I meant she can take better care of Precious than us? I couldn't have handled her like that. Could you have?"

He shakes his head and looks away.

"Then brother, it's best you apologize to her soon, and do it like you mean it", he says and leaves his brother's room to give him some space to think about what he needs to do now.

All Vadarius can do is hope too, that his brother sees sense and everything settles down soon, before his conscience is weighed down by any unnecessary deaths.