The Clan Comes First

	Nina looked across the celebration at him. He who was of the clan of dragons. She
thought of the pathetic, useless wings on her back. How many centuries had it taken for the
clan to regain them? How many Windians sacrificed love for the clan? Did she really have the
right to take that all away from them?
	He caught her gaze for a moment and smiled to her. Her heart stopped for a second.
She smiled back before turning her attention. She didn't know whether to enjoy or fear the
effect he had over her. Maybe this was how the Ninas before had felt.
	"The clan comes first," he late mother's words echoed in her ears. Mother had said
that every day, it was one of the policies Windia. For an instant she saw two futures. In
one Windians soared through the crystal clear skies on majestic wings. In the other they
lived trapped on the ground with tall, dirty towers as their only way to touch the sky. She
realized that in one future she married Ryu and in the other she married one of her own
clan, or not at all.
	She crossed the room to where Ryu stood and said just loudly enough for only him to
hear, "Meet me in the garden."
	Not waiting for a response, she left the party and headed for her chambers.

* * * 

	She found him a little later on the bridge overlooking the garden stream. He didn't
notice her approach until her reflection appeared in the water next to his.
	"Nina."
	She stood on her toes and kissed him, a short, final kiss.
	A bang rang out through the garden and the birds who nested in the bushes flew away
as one. Red droplets of blood fell into the stream and defused into fusha.
	Nina slowly turned the gun towards herself after watching him fall. She looked down
at the gun in her hands, at the blood darkened waters below and the body the ground and
contemplated how easy it would be. How easy to use the second bullet she had loaded "just in
case." How easy to turn the stream the color of blood instead of the grim pinkish shade it
was now. How easy to become another body on the ground.
	A second shot echoed the first.
	Nina let the gun fall from her hands and walked back to the palace silent. When she
saw the Lord Chancellor watching and waiting from the doorway she looked at him with dry
eyes and said four short words.
	"The clan comes first."