The gathering place is crowded with fifteen thousand people. He and his housemates are standing in the northeast corner of the crowd. Earlier he had spent some time talking to his family members, some of whom he hasn’t seem in years and some of whom he’s never met, but they had headed back with the rest of their district so that they would be ready when the boats arrived. Hibiscus had liked one of his grandchildren quite a lot, even though she was a couple of years older than him, and she had promised to come over to his apartment every day to help him with his homework.
“--and I’m going to have so many friends and I’m going to make so many drawings and I’m going to take reading and writing and art --” Hibiscus was saying.
On the other side of the crowd there was the cracking sound of a gunshot, and some people screamed. Camellia’s head jerked towards the noise, but there were too many people to see what had happened -- he’d thought there were security guards to keep out anyone trying to stop them, but maybe Rivik didn’t care enough.
More gunshots. More screaming.
“There will be peace, oh peace,” Amaryllis began in a whisper, her voice trembling, “when the--”
She fell to the ground, two red stains on her chest.
“Mom!” shouted Hibsicus. “Mom--”
Camellia lunged towards Hibiscus, knocking him to the ground and throwing his body on top of him -- maybe he could keep him safe, at least --
They weren’t going to be going to Miolee, were they.
“Camellia, what’s <happening>?” asked Hibiscus, his speech a confused mix of Rivikni and Evaleen.
“Shh, Hibiscus,” whispered Camellia. “Everything’s going to--”
He stopped himself before he could finish what would obviously be a lie.
One of the bullets hit Coral in the knee, and she sank to the ground next to them. She held out her hand to Camellia, tears glistening in her purple eyes. “I love you, Camellia,” she whispered “and you too, Hibiscus, why can’t, why can’t they --”
“We did everything right,” whispered Camellia. “We couldn’t -- you shouldn’t have done anything different --”
Another bullet struck Coral, this one in the torso. “Goodbye, Camellia,” she whispered.
“Goodbye, Coral.” He squeezed her hand and held it, his knuckles practically turning white against his tan skin, until she wasn’t breathing. He glanced around -- was Laceleaf still alive -- no, there was his body.
“Am I <going to die>?” whimpered Hibiscus.
Camellia swallowed and nodded. “I’m so sorry. I don’t want you to die.”
“I don’t <want to die> either,” said Hibiscus. “<Why> is Rivik so mean?”
Camellia shook his head. “I don’t know, Hibiscus. I wish they’d be nice and we could go to Miolee and be <alive>. I love you, I want you to be safe, I don’t know why Rivik doesn’t want that to --”
A bullet struck Camellia in the chest, his shirt stained red like a camellia blossoming in early spring.
“I love you, Hibiscus. Goodbye.”
The last thing he saw was a bullet, aimed more carefully now that most of the people in the area were dead, strike Hibiscus in the side. As he closed his eyes for the last time he heard the one-year-old scream, and then he was still.
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