Xia crouched lower and pulled her drab looking cape tighter.She held out her arm and looked at the tatoo-like mark on her palm. Xia wondered if the Ruler had her name on the wanted list. She knew she hadn't don't anything wrong, but still she had a feeling.
   Hiding in Cowkorip was her best idea so far. The place was huge! If looking for her there, the Ruler would never find her nor would his  
Constabultory.
   Xia Katonia never knew her parents. Until she was 15 she thought Mr. and Mrs. Lacou were her parents. Until the Rulers Constabulatory had broken down the door and demanded whether or not Xia Katonia was there.
   That was almost two years ago. Afterwards the Lacous told her all they knew, and then gave her a stack of money credits to help her live until she found work.
   Xia shook her head and then stood up. She started walking around the large plaza of Cowkorip and wandered to her job at the inter-stellar shipping company. At least she didn't have to lift stuff(She'd never been strong). Her job was to take messages. Because of her living with the wealthy Lacous, she'd had an thorough education. Before the Constabulatory incident, she was about to go to law school at Warmelleon University on Koer in the Amanna system.
   Pausing to walk through the weapons detector at the shipping company, she saw a small kid begging for the almost worthless money beads. Knowing how it felt to be alone, but hating to have to go through weapons check again, Xia was torn.  
   Deciding that the kid would be back she continued with the check.
   Suddenly, an argument between the kid and an annoyed shopper burst out.
Knowing they'd be fighting in Simple Xia listened closly. Surprised they 
were actually talking in Zennian, Xia gasped. Hardly anyone used Zennian now a days. The Ruler had decreed against it but didn't prohibit it. And the Ruler had been around a long time so that most had forgotten it. Zennian was the offical language from the days before Ruler. Xia had studied those times without zeal but remembered everything as she always did.
   Copenhanon was the ruler before Ruler. No one even remembered Ruler's real name. Xia though, had learned Zennian as well as many other languages, but never told anyone she knew more than Simple.
   As Xia listened discreetly she realized the consumer was the kid's mother.
Xia was appalled. How could anyone be so disobediant? She stopped listening 
and took her cape off. When she was a child she'd always obeyed the Lacous.
Xia was about to make a snide remark to herself, but then she realized she was acting just like people she'd detested when with the Lacous.
   Xia gasped to herself and then hurried into the cleansing unit. Shutting herself into a stall she began to sob. She'd hoped she'd never come to that.

   She had a sense of courtousy.
   
   Then hearing a knock on the stall, and a familiar voice asking if she was okay, Xia stood up and ran out and hugged Autumn.    
   Autumn was not only Xia's closest friend, but the one who suggested she hide from the Constabulatory in Cowkorip.
   "Xia darlin', what is the matter?" Asked autumn anxiously. Autumn could be your worst enemy and still feel worried.
   " Oh, I just felt like I'd became one of those people that the Lacous would associate with." Xia sobbed.
   Autumn knew Xia better than Xia did. She knew how she was hiding from Ruler, about her mystereous birthmark, and Xia wouldn't be surprized if she knew what she had for breakfast. Autumn was owner/manager of the shipping company and was the one who got Xia her job.
   "Now darlin', don't worry, it can't mean anything." Autumn was good at reassuring people. "Why don't we get a cup of cola-drink and take our break early?"
   As Autumn and Xia walked towards the cola-drink dispenser, Autumn told Xia about her hiring an Cardaian in the treasury department. Cardaians were not found easily but were loyal and good at meditaional mind mathematics.