Eighth Circle

The wind blew in Liala's face and her long green hair streamed out behind her. Lamps with special filters shone from the side to give her skin the green tinge people expected to see when she appeared on television. Usually, she told them about the clever things the guardians were doing to save the environment. Today's message would be very different.

'Don't let them fool you with their lies!'

She threw back her head and shouted into the microphone.

'The environment is not as radioactive as they pretend. The No Go Zones are to stop you from moving freely about your own country. They are there to imprison you, not to protect you from radiation.'

The TV-camera zoomed in on her face.

'And don't believe those stories about monsters. The guardians breed them just like they breed the trolls. They breed monsters to make you think you are under continuous threat from forces of evil and need the trolls to protect you. The guardians are the evil ones and ...'

'Cut!'

A man with a clipboard came forward.

'Very good, Princess. We'll run that again from a different angle. I want to have the wind coming from the side. We'll be mapping you onto different locations. That will create the impression that you are speaking from just down the road from the viewers.'

'The guardians do it all the time,' Liala said.

'Quite. So there's no reason why we can't do the same.'

Liala adjusted her coat and faced in a different direction. They were recording in a remote farmyard using a white sheet as a backdrop. It had been nailed to the outside of a wooden barn and was tearing loose in the wind. The weather was freezing and flecks of snow had begun to fall.

She was used to cold but the television people had started to complain. Allain wasn't sympathetic. He liked the weather as it was and said the snow would add to the drama and create a sense of reality that indoor shots couldn't achieve.

Liala liked him. Allain wasn't as dogmatic as the former commander. He listened to what she said and had even agreed that she should have her hair dyed back to its normal colour. That was one thing that made her look different. The other was the green tinge to her skin when she moved into artificial light. Allain agreed they should try to do something about that too.

There were good reasons for the change and not just because she wanted to look like a normal person. It was dangerous to go around looking different. Ordinary people might want to dye their hair green but weren't allowed to unless they were playing the part of a prince or princess. Green was for royalty just like blue was for guardians.