"To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven."

Rubber pounded across concrete. The girl ran through the streets, carefully 
choosing to avoid the crowd and avoid danger at the same time. She had her 
handbag clutched firmly into her left hand and swung it in time with her steps, as 
if thrusting it ahead of her would pull her towards her destination. The 
adrenaline that coursed through her blood blotted out all but a chosen few 
sensations: the thud of her feet against the pavement, the bitterness of her saliva, 
and the white noise of memory:

no goddamit no get your fucking hands off of me you bastard and on and on and on...

She stopped, unaware of the burning sensation in her chest, only conscious of a 
displaced desire to regain her bearings. Corner of Futura and Pasado...which means 
the square's just down this way... Her attention was seized by a stream of water, 
gushing from out of a second-story drainpipe into the alleyway. It was beautiful, 
catching the streetlight in myriad ways, each one shiny and perfect for an instant 
in space. She walked up underneath it and felt it play across her face. Thinking of 
the wisdom of it, she gave her face an impromptu wash. Appearance would be 
important where she was going.

She stepped out of the stream of water, steaming a little into the night air. "Fury!" 
she said. There was no response. The girl padded out towards the street and saw 
the dog there, blissfully napping on the concrete. She gave him a firm nudge on 
the flank. "Ya piece of shit cybermutt, C'MON! We've gotta keep moving." Fury 
grudgingly lurched to his feet and followed his mistress off down the alley.

--

Koyomi glanced around the square. The large tent was there, over to one side. 
So, unfortunately, were a few bums. Koyomi grimaced, hating to have to deal 
with rejects at a time like this. Even so, it was night out, and walking up to the 
front door was out of the question. She'd have to use the cue. She kneeled, 
picked up a pebble, and tiptoed around to the backside of the tent. The peephole 
was there like always, with the blue patch around it to keep from spreading. 
Koyomi looked through, aimed, and tossed her pebble. She heard a grunt from 
inside and walked back around to the front flap.

A moment later the flap unzipped about half a meter and Shumira staggered 
out, wearing a bathrobe over her nightgown. She put her finger to her lips and 
gestured for her guest to move over to the streetlight. As they broke the plane 
of the halo, Shumira whispered, "Why Koyomi come now?"

"Shumira!" Koyomi could barely contain her excitement. "I'm leaving Dad. Now. 
For good."

"What?"

"I did it. I punched the motherfucker! I didn't just punch him, I beat the crap out 
of him. I took him down!" Koyomi paused for breath. "I left him on the kitchen 
floor bleeding, and I am not going back."

"Why...why Koyomi so violent?"

"Don't you see? All my life that bastard's been beating me, but now I'm getting 
out! I'm out of here! For good! I'm leaving the Scrapyard, Shumira."

"Koyomi, you no leave Scrapyard. You come live with Shumira and Elbow, ne? 
You help us..."

"I can't do that. He'll come here, 'cause he knows I hang out with you, and then 
we'll all be in trouble. I gotta get out of here, get where he can't find me. I'm 
going to the Outlands, you can tell him that right to his fucking face!"

Shumira took hold of Koyomi's shoulders. "Outlands too dangerous, too scary 
for any girl. Koyomi be..."

"Don't talk to me like that." Koyomi pulled away. Her eyes were starting to tear. 
"Yeah, of course I know, it's dangerous. So what if I get shit on a little out there? 
It ain't gonna be worse than TEN FUCKING YEARS in that shithole! 
ANYTHING is! DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE DID TO ME IN THERE? DO YOU 
KNOW??? Yeah, of course you do, I've told you everything." Her rage spent, 
her eyes crying freely, Koyomi pulled Shumira into an embrace. "Shumira, I can't 
stay with you. If nothing else, it just brings back bad memories. I gotta do 
something now, or I'm never going to do anything."

Shumira held Koyomi tightly to her chest for a long, tender moment. Then she 
pulled away and whispered, "Wait right here." She ran to the tent, then emerged 
a moment later carrying a small bundle. It was a blanket, deep lapis blue, with a 
few patches to cover the holes time had picked through it. Shumira slipped it 
across Koyomi's shoulders. "Now...you be strong, ne? Like Oba-chan?"

"Yeah...like Aunt Alita." Koyomi was struck by Shumira's reference to a half-
forgotten relative. She took a moment to kindle memories. Black 
hair...something weird about her eyes...and she had been there, on that night 
that her mind had forced itself to obliterate but her soul replayed in her dreams. 
Strangely, Koyomi had always associated her with sadness, abandonment. 
"Shumira, where'd you get the blanket?"

"Someone leave it here, no need it no more." Shumira took a last look at 
Koyomi. "Oba-chan Alita say, 'Walk in faith'. Koyomi walk in faith, be strong."

"OK." Koyomi tarried long enough for a final embrace; then she was gone, with 
only the mechanical ticking of Fury's claws behind her to show her path.

--

Shumira zipped the tent door closed behind her and carefully found her way 
across her family, onto her now-stripped bed. It was too hot for blankets 
anyway, maybe they would get another before autumn came. Shumira could 
always hope.

On the mattress beside her, little Reuven gurgled in his sleep. Shumira whispered 
loving words into his ear, and he rolled over, eager to return to his dreaming. 
Shumira could not sleep. Deep in her heart, she had known that a day like this 
would come. It was simply the way that things were going to be, and she had 
felt powerless--and too confused, sadly--to prevent it. Now Koyomi and her 
father were going to do what they would do, and Shumira would stay Shumira.

Was that "brave"? Just to be Shumira?

She hadn't had that thought in years...but there had been a time in her life when 
it was a very real, very persistent thought. In those times of trouble, Shumira 
had found two wells of strength to draw from. She reached under her pillow and 
brought one forth. It was a holocard, standard 3 x 5 size, a candid shot of the 
interior of a bar. In the center was a man just entering middle age, with a pince-
nez on his nose and a purple mark on his forehead, standing behind a chair. His 
body, hardened from years of hunting, was dressed in a black turtleneck T-shirt 
and khaki pants. His arms were around a girl seated on a barstool. She was just 
emerging from her teens, dressed in a pink-striped shirt and white jeans, a batik 
headband keeping her blond hair from her eyes, her hands pressing his arms 
across her chest.

Her memory of the times shared with Ido refreshed, Shumira looked at the man 
asleep on the mattress next to hers. He was old and paunchy, and he didn't have 
many brains. But he was a hard worker, and he had a deep, hearty laugh. He 
was deeply in love with her, too. Most of all, he was real. Shumira reached out 
and touched him, just to make sure. Yes, he was there.

Shumira need someone, she thought. Ido good man. Elbow good man. Elbow here for 
Shumira. Ido understand. Her confidence in herself restored, Shumira looked at 
the second of her two wells.

It had been a miracle that Ido never noticed the change in her figure, or the rash 
that developed across her face. Gonzu had kept his mouth shut, and she had 
meant to tell Alita, but she wasn't quite sure how to phrase it. Ido, if he was still 
alive, had never known, might never know.

Ryuhi was going on eleven now, just beginning to become a man. Shumira 
looked at him as best she could in the dim light the tent allowed inside. His dark 
skin and brown eyes were his mother's, and his blond hair could have come 
from there too. But his long, sloped nose and chin, and his muscular shoulders, 
could have had only one origin.

She tousled his hair, and he woke up.

"What's the matter, Mom?"

"Nothing, Ryuhi-chan." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.