(Rose)
R - I called her the Queen.
We're walking casually along a dirty railroad.
We can see some rust flowers here and there but they're still very young and small.
B - The animal queen of the tunnel... That sounds so fantastic. I can't wait to meet her.
The colours of the sky go by and change. It feels like I haven't come here in years already.
Time goes by. I hold Bleue's hand tighter. She notices but doesn't mentions it.
We arrive at the mouth of the land after the last quiet days.
I tell her that we should wait outside for the night. I don't tell her why and keep it a surprise.
We wait. We observe the flowers of rust spreading. They're still microscopic, but we can already find them around here.
I a few years this will be a new kind of jungle, using the British railways as rivers, as streams of nutrients...
I'm oddly eager to see it.
We just need to live that long.
Night comes, Bleue is growing impatient. I tell her again and again to be quiet and wait.
And finally, when she just nibbles on my clothes in boredom, it finally happens.
A bunny rushes out. I prevent Bleue from running after it. And she sees the rush then.
The swarm of animals from various species, rushing out to find food and water.
As they go fast and it's already dark, it's hard to identify most of them as more than balls of fur with legs.
We see a few birds and bats fly away, in an eerie silence.
B - None of them are eating each other?
R - I think I had the same question to the Queen, but I don't remember what she said.
The swarm spreads, without caring for us. A few rats do come look for leftovers around us. Bleue grabs one. The rat squeals and fights her off. Bleue drops it after being bitten and the critter runs away.
B - They're not as friendly as I thought.
R - Well, it was a wild rat. Are you okay?
B - I'm fine. The bite isn't deep.
A few cats and dogs look at us before as they go by.
Bleue points at something further. I see a wolf. It sniffs at the smaller animals it would have normally eaten and runs away.
B - What will it eat if it can't hunt the others?
R - I have no idea. Unfortunately the same goes for us. We're not allowed to hunt any of them.
The human shape that emerges last from the tunnel looks familiar.
We go to greet her. She remembers me. And apparently she is aware of Bleue.
Q - Rose. And you must be Blue.
B - Bleue. Close enough.
Q - I felt your arrival. I hope I'm right to welcome you.
R - why are you saying that?
Q - I felt the death of one of my kind and one of my kin, by you and the other you.
B - The duck?
R - And Dragod... Queen. Surely you know that many animals need to hunt to live.
Q - I am aware. I don't care. Those who live with me give up on that. Are you here to kill me?
R - No. And god was...
B - God was a monster.
Q - It was a being like me. As innocent and guilty as you or me.
B - Does that mean that you kill who disagrees with you?
Q - I fight what threatens my existence.
R - Please, stop you two. Queen, we apologise for the duck. As for Dragod, it created and neglected the instrument of its demise. It was not a being with the same moral values as you. We mean no harm and only request to go through, if you would agree.
The Queen had an obvious hard time to process what I said, and didn't reply.
B - What does the wolf eats if it can't hunt?
Q - It hunts what it wants, just not my citizens.
B - Your moral isn't absolute then. You're discriminative.
Q - Of course I am.
R - Bleue, please...
B - Something is off about her principles. I wouldn't be surprised if she ate some of her citizens.
R - She eats the ones who die, that I already know.
Q - Every rule and law has limits. Mine and yours cross. I do not kill.
B - Let's go Rose. I thought she would welcome you back, and I was eager to meet her and her kingdom. But she blames you for being, as she said herself, like her; killing what needs to die for you to survive. She's hypocritical and if she doesn't trust you despite knowing you already, then I can't trust her.
Bleue is stepping back as I stand agape.
R - Queen... I'm sorry. She was impolite, but she... also is a little right.
Q - Do as you please but don't kill my citizen anymore.
R - I knew you would say that... I understand a little how you think now, and that makes me fear for you now... Because... Your law of control over your citizen may turn against you someday. Just like it did for Dragod. I can't tell you what you should do, I have no idea. Just think about the question yourself once in a while, as inertia will be the death of you otherwise. It's especially true for beings-like-you.
The Queen left without a world and I turned my back on the tunnel.
I joined Bleue a few steps ahead and we left.
~
I sighed.
R - This will be much harder to reach the continent.
B - I'm sorry Rose.
R - It's okay. I prefer... I'm glad that you stated what you felt and thought.
B - We'll find another way. We don't need a queen to tell us what to do.
R - ... Let's try not to make a powerful new enemy still, if we can still avoid it.
B - Of course. But what can we do but live as we see rightful?
R - Hm...
What we see rightful and what the Queen saw rightful did not match.
R - I wonder if your moral and mine match entirely?
B - More or less. It's an evolving signal.
R - Signal? What do you mean?
She leans over me as she holds my arm.
B - It means that I'm happy that we match for the whole of it, and worry less about the frontiers. Would a moral issue arise between us or around us, I know I can trust you...
~