EIDER: Chapter 3
by Jaina Jacen (September)
“Best wishes for Twelvemonth, Illyria,” my mother says over her breakfast. I will expect nothing more from her for the day. Even her presence beyond her chamber walls is remarkable enough. I, alongside everyone else, tolerate her, despite her foul temper and harsh bearing. My father’s schedule is organized so that he can avoid impromptu encounters; they have not shared a bedchamber since the birth, and subsequent death, of my younger brother. Genetic engineering is a dangerous business; while it works most of the time, cases such as my little brother’s are a side effect of a field where nature doesn’t always play fair.
When the first settlers stepped foot on Eider five centuries ago, this cannot be how they imagined their fresh start: loveless
