“Oh, I see,” Maya remarked while raising a skeptical eyebrow, “My apologies, Fuma –I didn’t realize.” 

[i]A little [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdmvmw_Ra80]young[/url] to be the leader, don’t you think?[/i] thought Maya as she rubbed the back of her neck. 

[color=00aeef][i]You were on the throne at the age of seven.[/i] [/color]Andromeda pointed out.

[i]And look how well that turned out.[/i] Maya scoffed. 

	Suppressed guilt gnawed at her gut as she remembered the nation she left behind. Millions of people –[i]her[/i] people –were abandoned to the whims of a power-thirsty oligarchy while she sought justice and adventure in galaxies far away. She reminded herself that she had no other choice, that her destiny was to be an Archon, but maybe that was just a bittersweet concoction of lies to help her sleep at night. 

	Turning away from her pensive thoughts, Maya plastered a smile and chimed, “I have quite the favor to ask of you, Fuma. You see, I’m looking for someone of cosmic importance; however, their identity and appearance are unbeknownst to me.”

	Crossing her arms, she peered down her nose at the flame-haired boy, piercing behind the mask with her ethereal gaze. In a solemn hushed tone, she repeated to Fuma what Marcus conveyed to her when they first met, “I can tell you that this person will be someone who does not belong here; it will be someone who has great difficulty fitting in. The individual I seek might be in a high position of power, or alternatively, they might be a commonplace nobody with no status.  Vague, I know,” she admitted, “However, out of all of these things, the most concrete characteristic is that at least one of their parents was killed during their childhood." 

	Maya paused. Emotional scabs threatened to give way as she remembered the violent slaughtering of her parents. She could clearly recall their bodies slumped over each other in their dark bedroom. Flashes of lightning silhouetted their motionless forms. A pool of sticky crimson crept across the marble floor. Exhaling slowly, she scanned the faces of strangers around her in the hangar, wondering who shared the same misfortunes. 

	“Alas, I digress. Your assistance would be most appreciated, yet hindrance will be met with forceful persistence considering that failure on my part is not an option,” she bluntly concluded with a shrug.