[Maelstrom]

Dawn in beautiful Lamenolai, the city of the guardians. A city of rich culture and exotic goods, visited by travelors from all over Evelon. A lively city where exciting things happened every day inside of its thick stone walls.

But you wouldn't be able to tell that as the sun peaked over the horizon; most citizens were still asleep in their beds. Only a few were beginning to stir: the bakers cooked their wares, the earliest risers were beginning to wake and shopkeepers were just beginning to wheel their stalls into the city's great bazaar.

Completely oblivious to the spectacle of the great city beginning to stir, the hydrokuhna strode through the streets with single minded purpose. He looked neither right nor left, nor slowed his pace until he came to a building - the sign read "The Evelonian times."

[Maelstrom]

Malina Garridan paused her typing and looked up as the bell on the door tinkled.

"Good morning, Mr. Flavius. How are you this morning?"

The hydrokuhna scowled and rearranged the paper under his arm.

"I've been better Miss Garridan. I've just read last evening's edition of The Post and they've already covered the vigilante angle on the Strada case. Send in de Lyones after he gets here; I want him to double his coverage of the case by the evening addition. And have Yuki see me if she's late again; that'll be the third time this week. Time is money!"

Malina sighed; such was a life of a secratary. Turning back to her work she resumed typing until the bell rang again.

[Maelstrom]

Another hydrokuhna, this time female, walked into the office.

"Hey Malina, I just came to collect my messages; then I'll be out the rest of the day. I think that I have a lead on exposing an illegal pet trading ring and I'll have to go deep cover."

"Oh dear, that sounds dangerous. You will be careful?" Malina querried as she handed over the requested messages.

Asrai looked up distractedly.

"Hmmm? What's a little danger in the persuit of a groundbreaking story? I'll be fine, got to go. Can you tell Flavius I won't make the staff meeting?"

"Sure," Malina called, but the Hydrokuhna was already out the door. Asrai Aine,star reporter of the Evelon Times was completely devoted to her job - the paragon of career girls. Nothing got in the way of Asrai and a headliner story; Malina just hoped her curiousity didn't get her into trouble again.

[Maelstrom]

A short time later, the door banged open and violently slammed into the wall. Malina jumped, startled.

"Karrick! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

The exuberant arkuhna grinned sheepishly and played with the strap of the message bag on his shoulder.

"Sorry Malina. I just had an idea last night and couldn't wait to get here."

"You're forgiven. Here's a couple of articles that Mr. Flavius wants cartoons for. They're still being revised, but you should be able to work with them. Now, tell me today's joke."

Karrick flashed another wide grin. "Okay, here we go. What's black and white and red all over?" He paused a moment for effect while Malina waited expectantly. "A zebra with chicken pox!"

"A zebra? What's a zebra?"

"No idea. M told it to me. Humans make up stuff sometimes, I think she was joking. Like when she told us about those ayr-planes. And those kaurs. Well, I'd better stop hoarding your time."

Malina smiled as Karrick walked with a spring in his step back to the studio he shared with Seiko. You could never be to annoyed with Karrick - it was like trying to stay mad at a particularly cute and apologetic puppy.

[Maelstrom]

"Good morning, darlings," a voice drawled as the door clicked open again.

Malina looked up, not so enthused to see the newly arrived member of the staff.

"Hello Risha. You look lovely this morning - "

"Well of course I look lovely! I am a highly sought after opinion on fashion and beauty after all! Why just the other day I was talking to Mrs. Pillypuff, you know, the aries, about her lifemate -"

Hurridly interupting, Malina rushed out, "That's nice Risha. Here are your messages and don't forget the staff meeting at four o'clock this afternoon."

"Four? How inconvenient, I'll have to cancel that massage then -"

But Malina was saved from a long monologue on the woes of Risha Hadar by the timely ringing of the bell.

[Maelstrom]

Another common kuhna, this time male, was Malina's unknowing savior. He stepped through the door with his hands in his pockets, a mild mannered, "Good morning," falling from his lips.

Malina smiled more genuinely for this coworker. "Nice to see you Civan. The boss wants to see you in his office first thing; The Evelon Post printed an article about the Strada case and now he's all fired up to outdo them."

The handsome kuhna laughed, a pleasant rich sound. "I guess I had better stop by my desk and pick up my notes then. Flavius plans like an army general where the Post is concerned."

"And yet if it wasn't for me the building wouldn't have electricity."

"What would we do without you, Malina? I'd better go, the boss must be getting impatient by now."

The kuhna's progress is halted by the fact that Risha has attatched herself to Civan's arm like a limpet.

"It's soooo nice to see you, Civan! I was thinking that we could go out to dinner some night -"

"Err...that's nice Risha, have to go!"

Civan beat a hasty retreat, while Risha returned to her own desk with a pout. Malina had to smile; Civan de Lyones, their other star reporter, was quite popular with the ladies. But the poor man had no idea what to do when they threw themselves so obviously at him. She turned back to her work, still smiling.

[Maelstrom]

Just a second before the clock turned nine, the door swung open lazily to admit a kuhna that was equally lazy in gait and carriage. Malina looked up to raise an eyebrow and ask sarcastically, "Is is possible to cut it any closer, Oran?"

The cake kuhna shrugged unconcernedly and stated, "I dunno, but I'm here on time. What does it matter how on time?"

Malina frowned disprovingly. "It's the principle of the thing. Here's your messages, and the revisions for your first couple of articles are done."

Oran disinterestedly recieved the sheaf of paper and slouched back to his office. Malina huffed after him and looked at the clock again. Seiko wasn't there yet; any longer and she'd have to mark her as late - the door banged open with such force that Malina feared the glass would break.

[Maelstrom]

Well, speak of the devil, and the devil will come, thought Malina. An arkuhna stood panting in the doorway, a heavy looking backpack on her back. She recovered enough to momentarily look up and gasp out, "Malina! Did I make it?"

"I'm afraid not Seiko. But you were closer today than you've been all week. What was the hold up?"

"There was a new caravan in this morning! I just had to snap a few shots," Seiko enthused patting her backpack lovingly. Undoubtedly a few of said snapshots were crammed into the bag. "But time sort of ran away from me, and here I am."

Malina sighed; Seiko Yuki was the Times' photographer, and her work was undoubtedly magnificent. Deadlines were just not her thing unfortunately. And Seiko didn't really mean any harm...

"If you go ahead in to the studio now, I might just accidentally forget to tell you that you were supposed to see Mr. Flavius if you were late."

Seiko bounced in thankful excitement back to her studio, after a round of profuse thanks and Malina's reminder about being on time to the staff meeting. Finally Malina could get down to work...

[Maelstrom]

Finally Malina could get down to work...or not. The phones rang off the hook all morning, the copier jammed for the fifth time in a row, and the repairman wouldn't be able to fit them in until next week. When lunch time rolled around, Malina had almost decided to throw in the towel and just skip lunch altogether. As the other employees filed out to eat, Malina stayed working feverishly. By the time they got back (Seiko made it on time for once) Malina's mood had taken a steep nosedive. Civan had to call her twice before she realized he was speaking to her.

[Maelstrom]

"Sorry Civan, what was it?"

"I saw that you didn't leave for lunch, so the rest of us brought you a sandwich."

"Civan, I'm touched. Thank you, it's just been such a busy day..."

"No problem. You do so much for us, we just wanted to do something nice for you. Karrick suggested the shop since he knows you like it."

Malina's afternoon was significantly better than her morning, buoyed by her coworkers' gesture, so when the staff meeting rolled around at four her habitual calm and good humor had been restored.

[Maelstrom]

The staffroom was a room not designed to encourage loitering. It was painted hospital white, lacked decoration, and the only furniture was a long oval table and eight uncomfortable plastic chairs. Currently, all of the chairs except for one were filled, with Julius Flavius as the editor at the head of the table and Malina at the foot. It was her job at these meetings to take notes, so she had come prepared with her trusty notepad and pen. Flavius opened the meeting with his usual shortness.

"Welcome all. Currently the Evelonian Times sells the most papers in Evelon - excellent work people. But we must work to maintain this level of excellence! We must strive..."

All of the employees had great respect for their editor; it was mostly by his planning and attention to detail that the Times was so successful. But he was a man of the media and the media tended heavy on the platitudes and drama.

[Maelstrom]

Suddenly Asrai burst through the door. "I'm here!" she panted heavily. Then she collapsed in the last empty chair. No one (except for Flavius) was particularly upset by her enterance. Whatever you said about Asrai, she made things interesting.

[Maelstrom]

At this particular time, Asrai looked pretty outlandish. She was dressed in a manner that wouldn't be looked at askance in the Slums; she was wearing clothes that looked to be made of more holes than cloth. Whatever color they might have originally been, they were a dirty brown now.

[Maelstrom]

Flavius looked down the staff table disapprovingly; he had been in full speech-making swing when Asrai had interrupted and seemed a bit put out.

"Miss Aine, I trust that your labors have been successful, since you deemed them important enough to neglect a staff meeting?"

Asrai's anwer was never in doubt, since she was just as fanatical about the paper as the editor was. It often made the other employees wary of mentioning anything work related around her. Give Asrai the chance to talk about her work and she was just as bad as Risha and her gossip.

[Maelstrom]

"Oh, yes sir! I apologize about my lateness, but I thought that I ought to come, since these meetings are so important. But I got the most incredible lead -"

"Excellent Miss Aine. We can discuss your findings after the meeting is finished. We have one last item on the agenda: the yearly office Christmas party."

No one groaned, but the looks on the staff's faces said plainly that they wanted to.