"Auntie!"
The young girl ran across the grocery store, arms outstretched. Binah broke into a grin, abandoning her shopping cart and spreading her arms, letting the impact happen. She hugged Binah fiercely, with the sort of energy and trust and decisiveness you only see from someone too young to know better. Binah chuckled as they embraced, and then she ruffled the girl's hair, her medium-length brown locks flying as Binah's hand scooched back and forth.
"Well hello there, my little lady." Binah beamed down at the girl. "What a pleasant surprise! ...And speaking of surprises, what on earth are you wearing?"
The girl stood with immense pride, grinning and putting her hands on her hips as she showed off her outfit to Binah - a black robe with gold accents. "You like it? It's just like your clothes!"
"Aha, so it IS on purpose! I knew it."
"You know everything, Auntie!"
"Where's Mom? She's with you, right?"
"Yeah, she's just slow! You know I always beat her in races!" the girl boasted.
"Hehe, true, true."
"What have you been doing at work lately?" the girl asked, her eyes wide and hopeful. They faltered as Binah could only return her expectant gaze with a sad, resigned look in her own eyes.
"I'm sorry, dear... You know I can't talk about it. As always, my job is top secret." The PCR only told non-members of its' work on a need-to-know basis. And though she would insist otherwise, Binah's eager little niece most certainly did not need to know. Binah's heart broke as the girl's face fell and she looked down at the ground.
"Oh... I hate that dumb rule. I thought you said you were gonna get rid of it."
"I've tried. But I'm not important enough in the company to make those kinds of changes alone. There are others I need to convince, and they won't hear it. So my job remains secret, I'm afraid."
"But... if I take a job with you when I grow up, then you'll HAVE to tell me, right?"
Binah grimaced a bit. "T-true... but I don't know if I like the idea of you having a career there."
"It's worth it to finally find out what my super-cool Aunt Binah does for a living!"
Binah couldn't help but chuckle again, a smile returning to her face. Then she heard the voice of someone approaching.
"She really does worship the ground you walk on, you know? Ever since she got that outfit, all I've heard is Auntie this, Auntie that."
Joining the two was the elegant form of Beatrice Sepira. She looked with warmth at her daughter, then at Binah. "Hope we're not interrupting anything too important."
"Goodness, no. Just enjoying a rare day off and immersing myself in the banality of grocery shopping. It's a nice change of pace from work, if you can believe it. What are you doing here? I thought you were rich enough you could have people shop for you."
Beatrice tittered. "True, true... but I think this is better for her. She needs to go out and do normal people things with her mom, you know? I don't want her to be totally sheltered. Only mostly sheltered."
"She's been good for you, too. I've noticed a real change over you ever since you adopted her."
Beatrice sighed, blushing a bit. "Yeah... I've felt it, too. I know the tabloids just said I was making some empty gesture to get the spotlight. A desperately poor orphan finds salvation in the arms of the elite. What a story, right? But I wanted to help her. To give her a chance." Beatrice turned and looked away, her gaze fixed in the direction of a row of cereal boxes but her eyes not looking at them. "And I know I can help many more people than just this one girl, but it can be overwhelming. When you're this rich, everyone has their hand out. There are so many fraudsters out there. How do I know who to trust? Sometimes I wish you were the one Father chose to inherit his legacy."
"Sometimes I wish that, too." Binah said matter-of-factly, which got Beatrice to burst out laughing.
"Oh my god, Binah. As blunt as always!" Beatrice guffawed. Her daughter just giggled. She loved her mom's laugh. It was so undignified, which meant it was hilarious. "Well, if no one else... I can probably trust you, right?"
"Probably." Binah grinned. "Funny you should bring that up... I've been thinking about leaving my job and starting something new. Something big. But I won't be able to do it properly without capital. Lots of it."
"And that's where I come in?"
"It is indeed. We can talk business soon and get things ironed out, what do you say? I'll even help you find some good charities if you want to keep the cash flowing to places besides me."
"Sounds good to me. How about next Saturday, around 2? Will you be free?"
"I ought to be." Binah smiled at the little girl, and the girl smiled back. "This is just what I need. A job I can be proud of, and can tell people about. A job about the truth."
---
But that Saturday came and went, and Beatrice didn't show.
In fact, to Binah's confusion, that was the last time she saw her sister out and about. She'd seemingly gotten swept up in a whirlwind of business deals and corporate maneuvers. Calls were directed to secretaries who cheerfully declared they would be happy to get back to her, but never did. When she tried to figure out which of Beatrice's many office buildings she was currently visiting, her attempt to see her in person was foiled by polite underlings and impassive security guards.
What was going on?
Without the money to found Monarch, Binah's plans stalled out. She was left with little choice but to continue her employment at Paranormal Containment & Research. And it was years before she would have even the slightest inkling of what had happened.
She arrived one night, a nervous knock on Binah's door. When Binah answered, she stared silently at her visitor, confused for a moment before the realization hit her like a truck and she understood who the teenager at her door was. She looked different, and not just in the obvious ways that growing up brought, but in the way she carried herself. Her vivaciousness replaced with a delicate obedience. Her body moved almost rigidly and uncomfortably, outside its' comfort zone. But it was her.
"Y-you... oh my goodness."
The young woman shook her head, smiling sadly. "I don't have much time, but I needed to tell you something. I'm okay."
"Please, tell me what happened. Why did Beatrice cut things off with me so suddenly?"
"I don't... I don't know." the girl said, looking away and biting her lower lip. "Not long after Mom met with you at the store... she... changed. It was like a switch had been flipped. We stopped doing errands together, and she threw herself into her work, spending much more time with it than with me. Said there was 'so much to do'. I've been trying to get through to her. I don't know if it's working." She sighed, looking up at Binah with a sad smile. "You know what'd really brighten my day? Finally hearing some work stories from you."
"Oh... I'm sorry. I just can't risk you getting dragged into it."
"I understand. But just answer me one thing: do you enjoy it?"
"...No. I work there because I'm good at it, and because it pays me well. And I like the idea of my work. But not the way we go about it. The way we do things hurts me. Especially all the secret-keeping. I'm so sick of secrets. I was going to start my own organization, forge my own path, but I waited too long to set things up with your mother, and then... this happened. And now my dream is out of reach..."
"Mmm."
The girl looked down at her hands for a moment, then looked back up, her eyes sparking with determination.
"Do it anyway."
"What?"
"You heard me, Auntie. Do it anyway. Figure something out. Don't let your life be nothing but what-ifs. You cannot choose where you are born, but you can choose how to live." She gripped Binah's hands tightly. "I'm going to find my mom again, figure out what's gotten her into such a funk over work. And we're going to join you and make the best darn organization that ever organized. I don't care if we're secret police or architects or a banana cream pie company, we'll do it and we'll do it together."
"Oh... My sweet little niece, you've always been a light in my life..."
Their eyes met, both shining with unshed tears.
"More than anything, I want to stay here with you. But I can't give up on my mother. I'll be back. I promise. With Mom."
"...Okay." Binah whispered, pulling her niece into a hug. "Okay."
---
........But that was the last time Binah ever saw her.
She sat in her office, at her desk, the framed photo in her hands. She delicately ran her fingers over the glass, as if touching the face of her niece. Her lips parted, a name silently leaving them.
Sonia...
But her memories were interrupted by a knock on the door, and she quickly placed the photo face down in a desk drawer and closed it, glancing at the door and trying to look professional. "Yes?"
"Uh, we got someone new here. They want to join Monarch and they won't leave, so I'm just gonna shove them at you and see what you think of 'em." came the muffled voice of Plukk on the other side of the door. "You ready? They're... kind of a lot."
"Nothing I can't handle. Let them in."
"I have arrived to grace you with my intellect!"
Binah tried to think of a word for how the woman before her had entered the room. She settled on 'flounced'. She flounced in.
"And you are?"
"You don't know Alexia Darkwater when you see her? Shame, shame!" The woman made a theatrical gesture towards Binah. "You wound me. Surely you've at least read my work?"
"Alexia... Ah yes. I know the name, just not the face. You wrote a number of reports on various ancient ruins around Agama, did you not?"
"That was me!" Alexia puffed out her chest with pride. "In the quest for knowledge, my scholarly curiosity knows no bounds! And I hear you have made some quite fascinating finds here in Ulimaroa!"
"You must be talking about the Hidden Palace."
"The very same! I would love a chance to study the Hidden Palace, and whatever other wondrous things there are to uncover on this island. I come to you with a humble request. Allow me to join this fine institution of yours! Together, we can uncover knowledge better than if we remained two ships in the night."
"Got a resume I can look at?"
Alexia faltered at the fact that Binah did anything besides fling open her arms and beg for her companionship. "Eh?"
"Your resume, Ms. Darkwater."
"I... didn't think I needed one. My accomplishments speak for themselves, do they not? Would you like an autographed copy of my latest paper? Is that close enough?"
"I know Monarch is a bit of an unconventional group, but it's still a job application. I've progressed beyond the days of desperately tracking down treasure hunters and cutting deals with esoteric nerds just to get someone, anyone, on board. Come back and try again when you have your resume and references ready."
"Surely, as a fellow woman of science, you can see where our time is best spent. And it's not spent calling up my old college professors asking for a job reference because I don't know who else to contact for-"
"GO GET THE RESUME, MISS DARKWATER."
"Okay, okay. Sheesh."
As Alexia strolled out of the room with considerably less enthusiasm than when she'd arrived, Binah moved to open the drawer again to continue viewing the photo, but hesitated. Then she shook her head and left it closed.
One day, she would learn what had happened to her family.
It was a hope she needed to cling to.
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