"James" called out Paul "I wanted to talk to talk to you about the script." Paul walked up to James in a way that seemed organic. Just two men having a chat, difficult to argue with, this was his way of being, always the voice of reason. Reason had a habit of conveniently lining up with what was beneficial to him, but that didn't matter, because he was enough and brave enough to accept the consequences of reason and didn't let emotion get in the way of his judgement, he knew exactly the tight time to use argument techniques developed from centuries of study in rhetoric, such as angry face, angry face made for the best rational argument.

'Ferne' I think that would have been the better person to have led the children's rebellion, he makes more sense for the position, after all he is one of them. He is young, he spent time in the Zilby education system, the students will naturally look to him as a leader."

"He is half a year younger than Annabelle, who has also just graduated the Zilby education system. I don't understand your point." replied James.

"People are getting tired of Annabelle. We get your point, but we're tired of having political correctness shoved down our throats. We want a break, you know something that we can relate to, something that we don't have to feel like we're being good boys for watching"

"I thought that Annabelle was pretty kick-ass. Did you see how she managed to kick that one burly guard in the head, Vanessa must having been doing stretches for weeks in order to get that right"

"She's so flat. Nobody can shed a tear for her. There is nothing human about her" said Paul.

"Do you think that Phoenix was a flat character" asked James quietly.

"No, Phoenix was great, every man I know wanted to be him. I mean that he had it all, the muscles, the bike, the girls. "said Paul, ticking things off in order of importance "Except now it turns out that Annabelle was a dud"

"I don't feel that I write Annabelle any differently from how I wrote Phoenix" answered James.

"You see, right there, there's the problem. Annabelle needs to grow in order to interesting. Annabelle can't grow at the moment because she is already as tall as the door's lintel, if she got any taller she would have to stoop over. That would be unattractive."

"But Annabelle has already grown. She had to draw inspiration from Phoenix's death rather than been defeated by it" said James. "She has had to understand his purposes and plans to further them. She managed to kill the Lesser Lord George when Phoenix was killed by his tricks"

"Ja, that's all true" said Paul, but then he paused to prove his point. "But nobody can relate her. Nobody can step into the fantasy and pretend to be her. That's why we all loved Phoenix. We'd all be there fighting bad guys, but now all we have is a chick fighting battles that she cannot lose. There's no drama. We know how it's going to end before it evens begins"

"Didn't you know how Phoenix's fights would end before they began too" asked James.

"Yes, but that was different. It was a comfort in Phoenix's case, because we had someone fighting on the side of good for us, besides Phoenix wasn't immortal. You killed him off like a wimp in the stupidest way ever."

James just shot a look at Paul. "Well, I couldn't exactly have him Andrew fight a final death scene."

Paul signed dramatically "I understand, things were difficult for you, James, but this show is getting tedious."

Paul tried to stare James down into conceding, but James stated talking. "I have bags loads of letters from adoring fans who love the show and who love Annabelle. Especially since Phoenix's death."

Paul rolled his eyes "Yeah, but who are those fans, teenage girls."

Paul pushed out his chest and started talking in an unnaturally high voice. "Hey James, you're so cute. I love Annabelle, can you show her in a beauty salon next. Any case here is a selfie of me on the beach."

Paul leant forward tilted his head and made the peace sign in a clear imitation of the photo he was referring to in a shrill voice he continued. "Any case, chat to you later" then resuming his normal voice he said "These girls they natter on about everything. You need to spend more time listening to real people"

"I also have bags loads of hate mail" conceded James.

"Yes, real emotions from people who know their stuff and really care. They want what's best for the show even if what they say can be hard to stomach."

"I don't know" said James in a counter point "I'd still say that Annabelle is pretty popular"

"Okay, okay, James. I can see that you don't want to listen to me, but at least, make Annabelle a little bit easier to stomach, make her more palatable. Give her a weakness, give her something to overcome."

"Like what" asked James. He was listening to Paul, even though Paul said that he wasn't.

"I don't know, maybe have relinquish her power to Ferne' and have her learn to listen to and trust other people's judgement"

"Ha" said James.

"Just a thought James, if you don't want the people who make up the core of your support to walk away, you should treat them better. Otherwise they will be replaced with fickle teenagers."

Paul went back to his peace sign pose "Oh my gosh, fashion at nine is at the same time as Fight for Zilby. Don't know what I'll watch, but my word, those ear rings are cute" Paul went on "Your choice James, your choice. Do what's right for the show, James instead of trying to make yourself into the darling of the feminists, they're going to turn on you in the end anyway."

"Let me tell you what Zilby was like back in the day, when the Mamlish were first arriving" said Madame Green to Annabelle. She had poured water over some leaves and flowers. The air was so fragrant. Madame Green wore large glasses and had many bracelets all up and down her arm. "I was a young girl then, you wouldn't believe it when you see me now, but back then I was lithe and agile. I was so eager to learn and I trusted everybody."

"Now we had a terrible drought and there was no food. Someone had heard that in the Mamlish land there was more and enough food to go around, so they called the Mamlish over and asked for food."

"The Mamlish were very keen to help, but they too had difficulties in their own land and said that if they helped us, we would need to help them too."

'Some said that they would turn the citizens of Zilby into slaves, like they themselves were, but they assured us that they would never take our freedom away from us. It was a trick that the Mamlish played on the citizens of Zilby because it is not the free that have all the power in the system but rather the trusted. How could the Zilbiers understand the ways of the Mamlish because they said one thing and they meant another. I am sure it true that it went the other way too, but because they were the ones who wrote the contracts and the islanders were the ones who signed it. In the end it was the Mamlishes's understanding that reigned supreme."

"Nobody hated the Mamlish back then. At first, they brought in so many good things, not just the drought relieve. Back then, anybody could live where they built their house, but the Mamlish came in and they taught the citizens about proper city planning. They built the harbour. Our clothes became warm and we got so much better entertainment. The lights dazzled us. We knew so much more than before."

"When did it change Madame?" asked Annabelle, her cup half finished.

"It changed when they had hard time. They didn't have the resources in their own land to keep themselves afloat, so they looked to us, to provide the resource. We can't keep on buying forever, but they don't understand that. The Mamlish are a cruel and harsh people, even if they are an ancient and rich people."

"I have killed their leader and destroyed their fleets. What advice would you have for me?" asked Annabelle.

"You have no hope of forgiveness. Never forget that. The Mamlish will not want to set a bad precedent. They will expect no mercy either. Perhaps you can win the people over but kindness. But that would undermine their entire world system and it will frighten them."

"Frighten them?" asked Annabelle.

"The Mamlish, never go back on their word, they may pretend the words have a different meaning in different situations, but the Mamlish, cannot abide the thought of people changing their mind. It frightens them"

"Do we want to frighten them" asked Annabelle.

"No, like a dog they will bite harder if they feel threatened. On the other hand, you cannot give them a centimetre of ambiguity, they thrive on ambiguity. They can make up a hundred ways of technically following the rules, while stabbing you in the back. Never sign any agreement, no matter how reasonable it sounds."

"So, the Mamlish will just kill us all" asked Annabelle

"Yes, and then build monument to commemorate us. They've done great things too" Said Madame Green still stirring her tea.

Gareth sat with his friend Louis "Can't believe how they have ruined the Zilby franchise. They should have ended it when Phoenix died. Now we have to sit through this nonsense."

Louis nodded "There are so many things they could have done to make it awesome. But no! The writers want to make some sort of political point. They want to be popular. They want all the mommy bloggers to write opinion pieces saying that the show is the greatest while we just sit here being bored. I guess we will just have to stop watching."

"I would stop watching too, but you know" Gareth looked around shiftily "Elizabeth she puts on the blasted television on when I am not looking and then is all like "Ah look, she managed to knock out four guys with a round house kick"

"Let her do that when she is being mugged" said Louis "Then she will find out the hard way that woman round house kicking is simple not realistic." Louis looked at his glass thoughtfully "You know that they are stupid, they should show television shows that men enjoy that way their wives and children will watch it too, even if it is not for them. But who will let his teenage daughter decide what to watch?"

Gareth nodded in agreement.

The phone rang. It was James's old pastor. James answered it, wondering if he felt reluctant or not. "James boy, I've been watching your show."

"Are you enjoying it?" James asked.

"It reminded me deeply of you" the pastor said instead of answering the question.

"In what way?" asked James before continuing on without waiting for an answer "I hope I'm not like a desolate island filled with cutthroat greedy people in your mind"

"You were always trying to push boundaries. You were always wanting to break stereotypes"

James felt as though the older man knew him, and somehow that knowledge in and of itself was a criticism, but on the other hand, it felt good not to have to explain himself.

"Most of the stereotypes I broke, was more out of necessity than choice. Timelines are short."

"You could have found an alternative way" said the pastor "There is always an alternative way"

"I don't quite understand what you mean" said James "I see nothing wrong with my way. Listen I was reading last night, did God have to use Jael to kill Sisera. Is this somehow related to your last statement"

"You are not God" James could hear the smile in other man's voice. "Besides you are now getting defensive, you should listen to what other people have to say. Rehobom didn't want to listen, look where that got him."

"Solomon did all the things that kings are not supposed to do, as listed in Leviticus, maybe that had something to do with the crisis that Rehobom found himself in." said James after a moment's thought.

"I like your show James" said the pastor. "I am not here to try and attack it. Just think of the message that you are trying to convey. Don't get so bogged down in the details, that you forget the wider arc, and where this all fits into the world."

"Sorry" said James and then he started speaking slower "It is just that I have been hearing a lot of criticism from all sides lately and I thought that you were part of the pack of hounding dogs. Telling me that I am bowing to pressure to be politically correct, telling me that I have added diversity just for the sake of adding diversity and not because it adds anything to the show."

"Is that true" said the pastor "Have you added diversity just for the sake of adding diversity?"

"Yes" said James "I mean no. I am just telling a story. I happened to stumble upon it, but now it has aroused so many emotions, that I want to stick to it just to annoy people. I think that maybe it is important"

"There are forces trying to pull society apart." And James wondered if the old man was trying to sound like a prophet.

"There are forces that are trying to make society more enjoyable for a greater variety of people" answered James.

"You just be careful" said the Pastor "You want to be on the right side of history."

"I don't want to overthink everything" said James.

When Annabelle saw little Larry coming towards her, she tried to run away. She knew that he was going to ask her do tricks or to talk about the Lesser Lord George's death or do all sort of things that Annabelle would rather not be doing.

But Larry was an observant little chap "Annabelle" he cried out "You know that they want to come arrest you"

"Yes, they told me" she said shortly "But I ran away"

"You didn't" he looked up at her with eyes as big as saucers 'Truly"

"Truly" she repeated his last word solemnly.

"My dad told me that what makes you great is that you aren't scared of what people think, that you don't care about the consequences." He put on a different posture and started quoting his father verbatim "The rest of us are worried about retaliation and the Mamlish implementing an even harsher regime. One that is more back breaking and more soul destroyer, but you manage to put those thoughts aside and you go and kill their leader."

That boy could talk without pausing to take a breadth. He went on and on. Furthermore, this voice sounded like a soprano doing breadth control practice.

"My friend Jason said that when the Lesser Lord George died, you pulled his heart out of his chest. It was still beating as you held it up in the air to show everybody in the room. What's it like to hold a heart still beating. Were you covered in blood? You must have been."

"You mustn't believe everything your friend Jason says" said Annabelle considerably more slowly than Little Larry, while she contemplated Jason's description of her that made her sound like in a monster in her mind.

"Jason also said that if there was a fight between you and Zeus, Zeus would smash your ass, because Zeus has got thunderbolts, but I said that you would still beat Zeus, because even though he has thunderbolts, you could hop out of the way, you jump very quickly"

"I think that challenging a god to a fight is a very foolish idea." Was Annabelle's only response.

"Don't worry about it" said Larry seriously "Everybody knows that Zeus doesn't exist. He can't harm you"

"But I don't think that I should go around telling people that I can beat Zeus in a wrestling match." Replied Annabelle "They might think that I am vain. You shouldn't tell them that I can beat Zeus either."

"All right" said Little Larry with a sigh "I won't, but can I tell my dad that you can beat him at thumb-o-war"