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To Head Governor Belford Hutch of Famica,

My name is Ember Sails - pronounced Emberr Esawiles in Mbeilowese. I am writing to you from Haowo, Tsowbrrowa. You would recognize it as Haw, Dobria in Famican. I am a thirteen-year-old red bat who survived the Esownksian assault three years ago. My caretakers told me to write a letter as a new way to practice my Famican. I think I am getting good at it.

The town has changed so much since the conflict. And there is a healthy mix of people, including more canine and lizardfolk. The Famican goat teachers Shawn and Iwena are really nice. I'm learning so much. People are once again relaxing, and things are finally feeling normal. I want to briefly go over the events from the assault that I remember.

Haowo is an open town among rolling dusty hills. Though the main population is bats, we have lagomorphs, canines, felines, and lizards in our demographic. Haowo is a town that relies on food imports from Mrrehmowes to the northeast, and Showil, the jungle city to the southwest.

The people of Haowo build homes, furniture, and sculptures. We export foundational materials to the other cities. It was so rich in resources that over time people settled here in hopes of prospering. For a small town of four thousand, we are profitable. Thankfully, being close to Showil, we had some opportunities to share in the small profits that supported our community in the form of goods, bringing variety to our food. You can get bored eating the same three things all the time, so I'm glad for the trades.

I was ten when the Esownksian lions came. I would have laughed at their big shaggy manes if they didn't immediately look so threatening.

Their clothes were heavy and full of pockets. They wore these weaved wooden bracers on their forearms and guarded their bellies with similar material. And on them were long guns. They carried other things, such as eyewear, and I even saw one with a whip. They had phones, which looked out of place. It was like looking at a group of lions that time traveled, taking materials from the past and present. The lions claimed to be representatives of Mbanhash, our king. They said the king became confused by sins and that they were his protection. To restore order, they commanded residents of Haowo to help build for them.

The lions promised us security under their order. They tried to convince us of foreign forces trying to corrupt Tsowbrrowa. But our resources quickly drained away with their arrival. Several bats and local lions pushed back. Many were keen on their lies, but these rebellions were met with swift violence.

Many of the workers, including my father, disappeared on one of the routes to other communities. My mother came crying to me one morning and forced me into the large washhouse at the edge of our town with several other children. I sat hidden here with many young girls and a few of the youngest boys. Some of the elderly residents volunteered to make sure we wouldn't run out into the open.

The lions settled close by and made frequent visits, mostly at night when us bats were up and alert. First, they would come to town making production demands. Then the visit following their demands would be violent if their wants were not met. So when the pattern became predictable, residents started hiding the most vulnerable of us away. In the washhouse - shared public washrooms scattered about town - the elders told calming stories with us while we waited for the other residents to deal with the lions. But soon, the Esownksians changed up their routine.

I grew especially scared because I knew lions saw well in the dark. And they liked to keep us up when the sun was high. We were sleep-deprived. The workers stolen by the lions would disappear for days. But they would be returned later as if to show us they could make us disappear at will. I hated them.

Many residents returned bound in ropes, knotted around their wrists and ankles. Bats had their wings clamped. Even the teen bats. It's horrible to force bindings around bat wings. It cuts blood supply, weakening muscles and finger movement. One day while hiding, a friendly elder lion that lived here before the invasion, Kemash, entered our hiding spot, which frequently changed to protect us.

Kemash's voice cracked, "We need to read the book of Esownks." I never heard a lion squeak words out of fear. He reached into a bag and hastily passed around small yellow books. Its cover showed a lion's paw holding a severed paw of what appeared to be another lion, in handshake form with a fang piercing through both paws down the center. It was ugly and hurt to look at.

"Start reading!" We read for two days and put on fake smiles for the looming monsters making sure we educated ourselves in their ways.

The book was short and brutal. It was full of rules and war and kings. There was this magical lion, Esownks, who we were expected to revere no matter what. A brown lion with a red mane "roared the sands to life in blessing," one page said. And bats were seen as demons. When I heard of Esownks, it was only in short stories, told by others, or in passing warnings if someone was breaking some stupid rule. But the stories never looked this serious. Though I confess I've never really read them. I'm a bat, not a cat.

Kemash said he was Esownksian. But he also said this book was different.

"It has been stripped of respectful teachings. Instead promoting disdain for all Mbaowiliys and focuses on the rule of ilowones over all communities. All for the sake of virriltse." In the texts, "Mbaowiliys" means creatures or species. The Mbeilowese way to pronounce family is mbaowiliy. You can probably see lion in ilowones. Virriltse is pride, a sacred word in the text.

I remember the night after, being forced into a row in town and looked at the other dirtied and scared kids. The adults were next to us. We were surrounded by lions with trucks and weapons. I think I saw a fox or two. Even a lizard. But the fox looked out of place to me. A fat lion came forward and spoke to us in Mbeilowese. I may be a bat, but I knew the language. Most Tsowbrrowans do. He commanded us bats to confess our "wickedness" and beg for purification. We obeyed. And one by one, a soldier came to us to give us their Esownksian mark.

The mark was a stab on the shoulder from a lion's claw. It represented the force of Esownks, the magical lion ruler, and is a reminder that physical force is appropriate for keeping followers on the right path. The wound is where thoughts of chaos and disorder escape, purifying your blood with the burning claws of a lion. I fell to a knee as a lion pressed its claw into my right shoulder. My wings reflexively shut closed and I whimpered. I was now property.

The lions shut off our water and electricity while they camped in town. They relied on mobile tech, and rationed Haowo's supplies to control who gets resources. When they were satisfied with us, they turned on the water, just when we were at our thirstiest.

Some days later, I saw the fox soldier again when the Esownksian militia were rotating their guard. Whenever lions were around, he was loud. I never heard a fox before. They can scream! And it was so high pitched. He barked orders at us, but they didn't make much sense. They didn't until I realized he was keeping attention away from us kids while he was around.

We were stripped of so much since they arrived, and the lions grew restless. Concern spread that the lions were going to abandon us after stripping us of everything. A storm was coming, and it looked to be the perfect opportunity for them to leave. I was angry. I cried.

Even adult bats would not match the heights of lions. Though we had numbers, they slowly broke us down. And the lions were naturally a foot taller and stronger. Bats are light to accommodate their wings. The tallest bat I know is barely five feet high. I couldn't count for certain how many lions there were. Every time another small group arrived to watch and oppress us, they always looked different. But they had weapons.

How could they be so depraved to hate bats? I like my short red wings even though they don't stretch fully down my arms. And I can't use them to fly very well. Nature thinks some bats don't have much use for them anymore I guess. Some bats are lucky to have fuller wings.

Haowo awoke one day to loud engines and shouting. The lions overwatching us had cleared away in a hurry that night. I believe something scared them off to Echesk, a city in the middle of Tsowbrrowa. I lead the other small kids to a hiding spot secretly constructed by some of the older residents. We hid underground and stood in the dark for hours at a time. We relied on bugs to eat, and played games using our unique sounds in the dark. There must have been close to a hundred of us kids. The third day was the loudest and scariest. There were noises so loud it hurt our ears even underground. After hours, with many of us crying in confusion, the latch above us opened. A despondent lizard gently talked us outside. Haowo looked empty. Some of our homes were gone. The lions raided the town and took everything they could.

I know this letter has been sad. And I had to stop a few times to cry. But I have to tell it in full. If the ending was sad, I wouldn't be here writing this. That dust storm finally blew through. And when the dust blew in, it also came just before heavy rain. What a day it was. Two storms coming right after each other! A sudden roaring of trucks in the distance frightened us, but the sound was different. My ears could tell. The voices were different too. These vehicles sounded lighter and faster. That was when I saw the people I would revere as heroes.

In the center of the unfamiliar trucks was a soldier yelling to the others around him. They carried boxes containing all kinds of supplies. Many objects were familiar and other things I have not seen before. Through the blowing dirt, these soldiers, dressed in gray and orange with a matching colored flag stitched on their shoulders, spread out through the town carrying large tarps. They used them to cover the buildings and bolted them down with spikes and hammers because of the rain that fell after the dust.

The tall skinny one shouting orders was rushing to my home. I was glad to see it safe. His helmet concealed the top half of his head, but I could see that he had bright white fur. There was a dark swirl pattern over his right eye. But the dust at the time made it too difficult to recall any finer details right away. I couldn't make him out clearly until he entered my home because many of us were shielding our faces from the dust. Two others followed behind him. A big gray and green lizard and that golden-yellow fox came back. I waved, and he nodded to me before making some distance.

The rabbit spoke quickly and with authority. His uniform looked nice. I finally noticed his dark brown eyes and how there was a black swirl, like a storm cloud over his right eye. in contrast to his otherwise white fur. He turned to me and the other kids. There were three of us, including a lioness. When he took off his helmet, I gasped as long skinny ears shot straight up. They were longer than mine, and I'm a desert bat! I haven't met a rabbit up close until that day. He glared at me intensely. I couldn't help but stare and smile when I saw his ears gently twitch. He noticed my reaction.

"Do you like the ears?" I did. He said his name was Roy Nevids and he was really friendly. He bent to one knee and let me feel his ears. They were tough like the straw in the Showil jungle. They slipped through my fingers as I stroked them and snapped straight back up. The short white fur was really soft. He then turned to talk to Kemash.

I remember him apologizing for intruding. That it was requested by someone in Haowo to have protection. He flashed a note with a Kings stamp on it for proof. King Mbanhash wanted to put a stop to this growing fanatical militia. So he borrowed help from Famica. We finally had help! I was scared, but excited.

The next week was quiet while the Famican soldiers were around. We ate more and had more water. And they helped us find new ways to get fresh water since the lions destroyed the pipes and wells. There was still some distrust. But when the lions tried to return to Haowo, it didn't take very long for all of the remaining residents to get behind the Famican soldiers.

And I was glad to hear from Roy talking to my caretaker at the time that these lions were not associated with our king.

Famican soldiers had better guns, and they made quick work of

the militants. I watched a lion from my window try to crawl away after being shot. A trail of blood from his body stretched around a corner from where I could not see. When a lizard soldier approached, pointing his weapon at the lion, I shut my eyes and sat behind the wall. That audible pop stuck in my head. I can still hear it. That was the sound of a life, though a bad life, being extinguished.

Today there is more food and cleaner water than there has been since I can remember. Haowo is growing. The loss of my parents doesn't hurt as much anymore. We started a farming operation in Showil! Hopefully soon, because of our close proximity, we might merge with Showil. But that's still a long time away.

King Mbanhash has finally offered us protections similar to those given to his inner cities ever since Famica established good relations with us Tsowbrrowans. We are grateful for it. I needed to share this with you, Governor Belford Hutch. To say thank you. And to let you and your soldiers know that I will always remember what they did to liberate my home. I hope that the remaining injustices against non-feline species are blasted away with the light of knowledge and love. Before Roy left, I called him, "Eschorrm Mbrrilnsherr" because he arrived during the storm, and the mark on his face. I'm glad to hear that he has kept the name I gave him. I would love to visit Famica. I want to learn more about the world and allow myself room to travel. To see snow, and to see the city lights that I've seen in pictures. When I am older I will go. I want to see Roy "Eschorrm Mbrrilnsherr" Nevids and give him the hug he deserves for what he and the soldiers have done. I'll visit and do that some day. I promise.

• Emberr Esawiles