Eighth Circle

Six days had passed since they made the recordings for television, So far, none had been broadcast. Allain was saving them for the right moment. When that came his technicians would break into television programs all over the country. People would see her familiar face and expect to be entertained with tales about the environment. Instead, they would hear the truth about the guardians.

They had left the mountains and were down beside the sea. The festival was one reason. The other was to speak to Crispin. He and Allain had set up a communications system involving the dolphins. The only way to use it was to go down to the beach and meet up with them.

Things were moving fast. Father had spoken to the strange man called the professor. It wasn't clear if he was the saviour spoken about in the legends but he was going to help them fight the guardians. Crispin said he was very clever and had served in the army so he knew about fighting.

***

The hairdresser lived in a quiet street. Allain picked her because he didn't want Liala to sit in a high street salon with a whole lot of Liala lookalikes waiting to have their hair dyed. The risk of being recognised was too great. At the very least, they would talk about the mysterious girl, who looked just like the princess, and wonder where she came from.

Allain had cast himself in the role of an indignant father who didn't like what his daughter had done to her hair and wanted it changed back to its natural colour. He had agreed that Bryn should go along as her boyfriend.

That was a surprise. Allain was so moralistic and obsessed with rules. When they first met he insisted on calling her Princess. When she said she wanted to be treated like an ordinary person they argued and he agreed to call her Private Princess. That sounded ridiculous and got changed to Private Liala. In the end, he dropped the Private bit and she became plain Liala. Bryn remained Private Entwhistle.

Getting to know Bryn really well was impossible with Allain around. Kissing was strictly out and holding hands wasn't allowed either. They couldn't even exchange smiles without getting Allain worked up. The word was chaperon. Books written before The Fall spoke about it. Young women were escorted around by older women who made sure they didn't get too close to young men.

Allain was beginning to bug her and she was determined to get her own back. A chance came when Bryn asked about her hair. He wanted to know what colour she would choose.