“To be honest, Silly, I am not…” she started aloud and then stopped.

  Luna sat in her family’s library.

  She was alone. It was not temporary loneliness; she had this bitter reflection. She was completely alone in the world.

  Her family was gone.

  … Right, not completely. Taj was with her. Now he was in his Crystal; she didn’t ask his projection to show up.

  They were both quite pitiful.

  But how to say it?

  She tried to practice aloud how to tell Silly Shadow who she was.

  … Because she should stop saying who she wasn’t and just say who she was.

  “I am from Unio, Silly.”

  It seemed easier than saying that she was not from the OFF, also not from Shadows, surely and visibly.

  Well, that was not difficult. The next one, then.

  “My name is not Anna, but—”

  She stopped. Again, she was again talking about who she wasn’t.

  Right.

  “My name is Luna, Silly.”

  And she had to stop once more—her surname was problematic. Because her full name in Unio was Luna Alena.

  Alena. What a disaster to talk about it with Silly Shadow.

  This was the reason she pretended to be Anna.

  She wanted to pretend she was a regular person. No one significant, just a girl. But the main reason was her family, her surname… both her surnames were truly problematic.

  When she traveled to Shadows’ territory, she would rather not use her Unio name. Of course, her ID showed her real name. But whenever someone asked, she made something up. Her surname, Alena, was connected with the alliance contract; it surely would cause questions.

  Luna visited the Shadows’ territory quite often. She liked to play Anna. Be Anna?

  Some time ago, she visited Domini to ask for permission to learn more about Shadows in their facilities. It meant an additional access ID and allowance for free movement. She did that after the marriage alliance was officially announced; she used it as an excuse; she said she was interested in Shadows because of the alliance.

  Domini had agreed and was even pleased, Luna noticed with surprise.

  It was two years ago. She used it—traveled frequently to Shadows to study.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  In Unio, Luna finished her biology studies. Taj had insisted. She had also studied biology because she needed it, whether she liked it or not.

  And she needed to travel to Shadows’ libraries; she needed to learn about Shadows’ biology.

  She wanted to understand why she was who she was.

  … Shadows’ territory fascinated her. Despite her problems, she enjoyed her travels. The food there! Amazing, as Taj would say. He didn’t eat, so that fun was not for him.

  She sighed.

  They both, truly, how pitiful.

  But Taj had his share of her fun. Luna attended dancing classes there; Shadows’ dance was very different from Unio style. Luna learned their moves, listened to their music, and later showed it to Taj. He was even happy; it was very rare to see his projection smiling. Taj smiling; she corrected herself.

  Taj was a person, even if being a projection.

  Whenever she traveled to Shadows territory, she visited Shadows’ main library. And there, as the first important thing, she discovered the unofficial Gate. And then, the second critical thing.

  They met.

  He called himself Useless Young Master. She called him Silly Shadow. Silly.

  Luna liked him. He, she thought, liked her.

  They spent so much time together. She discovered Shadows’ cities, their art, and learned bits of their politics. She ate great food. All thanks to him, thanks to Silly. But the most significant was he was the first, truly the first person, who saw in her not a thing to decide about without asking, but someone to listen to and talk to. Respect.

  He was also the first she found the courage to admit she was frozen by fears. He was so full of warmth.

  She wasn’t sure when it had happened.

  Luna was in love.

  She didn’t say; she didn’t do anything; she just enjoyed the feeling. She couldn’t tell him who she was; she would rather not spoil it.

  And then, a few days ago, it went further, and he touched Crystal in her embedding. He was surprised and asked if she was Crystaler. He assumed she was from the OFF; he assumed she was Abilitier.

  Not even close.

  So, at least nothing bad happened; only this he spotted. But she decided it went too far.

  Everything was so complicated.

  She was tied into a political marriage. She couldn’t break it off. And also, Silly was from there, from Shadows. If ever she were to become the wife of their Lord’s son, as the contract was about this even if it was only a title, then what? That would be troublesome. They could meet.

  Then, again, what?

  She shouldn’t have anything more to hide than she already had.

  Quite a disaster; it all complicated more because she went into a relationship of a sort.

  It was her fault, she knew. As if she hadn’t had enough problems. Fears to manage.

  Luna wanted to pretend it could be normal. Maybe she should tell him earlier? But she didn’t. What a mistake.

  She didn’t come back to the library as Anna; she didn’t come back to Shadows territory. She wasn’t sure what to do.

  The issue was that she would need to come back. There was the Gate. She needed to use this one; this one was without tracking.

  … Taj said, they would have to risk.

  Right.

  They had to use this Gate even more than to read materials from Shadows’ library. It was all problematic.

  Shadows’ library had the old documents from the Sect, but Taj found them completely unimportant. He already had it in his database; he knew more, even. The rubbers she used, he knew them; she didn’t need to look for them.

  What she needed was all the recent research and new stuff about duals. Taj didn’t have any way to access it in his current state.

  They required it and couldn’t find anything useful for months.

  She was losing hope. Fears were coming back.

  Duals. The problem she had.

  Her family. She was the last one.

  The last one from the Alena family. But not only. Her other name. Her other family. She was also the last one. Why had she had to be from this family, truly? That was even more scary.

  “Stop, stop,” she said aloud, forcing herself to not fall into this black hole in her mind.

  … Anna. She used this name when Silly asked. She was randomly mixing her two names: Luna An. For Silly, she mixed it simply: An…nna.

  Anna. Funny somehow.

  He never told her his name.

  And now she was doing what?

  She was avoiding a man, the one she was in love with.

  “Why is it so complicated?”