1  Storks and Butterflies

by Sally Oh
(copyright 2016, Patricia Ormsby)
September 2116The morning sun illuminated a soft blue September sky, shimmering across Puget Sound with the promise of another sweltering day ahead. Cedar-covered islands beckoned in the distance. Their shores were all tangled masses of fallen cedars, decaying and eroding ( Read more... )

 2  The Pink Princess

by Sally Oh
(copyright 2016, Patricia Ormsby)
The very next day, all of Neverwet was abuzz with sorts the of interesting stories and speculations one would expect from such an unusual event. This was from TheWaterproof Times columnist Georgianna Notewright.( Read more... )

3  The Storm Petrel

by Sally Oh
(copyright 2016, Patricia Ormsby)Dangerous clouds were brewing over the Pacific. Four days after the Empress arrived in Neverwet, the naval station reported that a “radiological event” had occurred somewhere to the west and urged people to avoid unnecessary outdoor activity. They also renewed their often-forgotten ( Read more... )

4  The Paper Palace

by Sally Oh
(copyright 2016, Patricia Ormsby)In the midst of a deep forest, with a narrow clearing containing a razor-wire fence enclosing one hundred hectares, within which more forest stretched onward, finally arriving at a thick earth wall three meters high topped by slate gray tiles studded with inconspicuous shards of ( Read more... )

5  Morning Reflections

by Sally Oh
October 2116One problem with living in a forest is a lack of sunshine. The Imperial Palace had been planned so as to allow the sun’s rays to reach just barely the southern windows of the northern hall over the tops of the trees at midwinter. The shady southern hall, on the other hand, stayed cool even in the dog ( Read more... )

6  Local Views

by Sally Oh
(copyright 2016, Patricia Ormsby)“So what has ‘Er ‘Oly ‘Ighness the Pink Priestess Princess got to say to us plebes? Will she apologize, yeh think, for the intrusion?” Tom shook his mane. “They said it’d be ‘temprary’ but I doubt they meant it. That is a lot of work that went into those houses and their little tea ( Read more... )

 7  The Sun’s Reply

by Sally Oh
(copyright 2016, Patricia Ormsby)
November 2116Among the mistaken impressions the people of Cascadia had of the Japanese, one of the worst was that they had a very limited range of feelings. It was said their emotional development had been stunted in a society that did not allow them to grow up in a normal manner. ( Read more... )

8  Girls Will Be Girls

by Sally Oh
(copyright 2016, Patricia Ormsby)Among the misunderstandings that lead to friction between groups of people of vastly different cultures, language accounts for some, ignorance of normal expectations for others. Still others may be the result of childish pranks, the consequences of which had not been thought out ( Read more... )

9  Cultural Crosscurrents

by Sally Oh
(copyright 2016, Patricia Ormsby)The members of the Imperial Household staff held an emergency meeting in secret to discuss how to approach the latest challenge. You cannot keep an important person-the most important person-in the dark when he or she gets hints that things are not going quite as well as ( Read more... )

10  Insurrections

by Sally Oh
(copyright 2016, Patricia Ormsby)Thereafter, once a day, about five days a week depending on Irina’s official work, Professor Tsutsui would take a pause in the middle of his hour with Irina and hand her another article, first ascertaining that no one was looking in. Irina would lay it in her open book, read through it ( Read more... )