Author's Notes: What ain't mine ain't mine. Also, some of these words mentioned are actual German, Yiddish or Hebrew. Also, Muguri and O'ive are "Moogles", which may be a copyright held by Square, I have no idea! Yes, this is another "side-story"…so it helps if you read my Sekola series, especially book four, The Dawning of the Age of Kulia, where Elka makes her appearance. Golden Glocks are not my idea, to know more about them, read Showstopper's "Dwayne Wayne Chronicles", "To the Next Level" and "Three."

Shalom! My name is Elka Sorkin. I was born in Bratwurstburg, in what was once called the Reich, but is now called O’iveland. Sadly, I’m the only known surviving member of my family.

My mother? Fed to an Igel…ok, a hedgehog, but much larger, and more dangerous, but just as un-kosher as the smaller ones you’re all familiar with. The Steel-Men used them as guard animals, and to assist in their random pogroms against us. My father? He had a more humane death. He was used for target practice by a pair of bored soldiers. My other relatives? Some of them were killed by the Steel-Men, for the simple crime of being Mausmaner, the derogatory term for our race, the O’ive. Then when I thought we were liberated, the rest of my family was killed by my own kind.

"Nothing upsets the Master more than brothers and sisters seeing each other as enemies!"

The Law, The Journey, 4:52

Regardless of what the Master said, Grand Rabbi Kahane Kamogowitz organized his "Ultimate Liberation," or "Black Hats," as everyone else calls them, to hunt down everyone who does not agree with him. Me? I was kidnapped and nearly forced to marry one of those Chazer, one of Kahane’s followers.

"Verilly it is true, that in the worst times the fates can change!"

The Law, The Dawn, 9:76

Fortunately the Star Guardians themselves stopped this abomination of the Master’s Tradition. Otherwise I would have signed the contract, and be turned into a slave of one of Kahane’s Igelen.

"The Star Guardians,

They are the Chosen Ones,

They will not permit a dusk without a dawn,

They ensure that goodness has won,

They of the Ai’a’ive, the Goy, and the Outsiders,

They handed us our freedom,

And will do so again,

Tapuitea, Steel-Men and the Hats shall not stand in their way,

Today is their day,

The Fiddler, of us, is one of them,

One of them, the warriors for peace,

The warriors for justice,

The warriors who fight so that all decent may have a dacent life!

Great Happiness to the Star Guardians, Respect and thanks to the Star Guardians!"

Rachel Zimmermuguri, "The Star Guardians"

The Black Hats and Grey Hats were defeated. And the Star Guardians let me join them. I met the brown-furred Ludwig Cohen. He’s very handsome and intelligent. And he’s an O’ive, not one of the Goy Muguri (who are the same race as us, but not part of the Tradition of the Master). Even better, he’s the legendary "Fiddler on the Roof." How many girls in my village have dreamt of meeting him and marrying him, I cannot tell. "I will be serenaded every night with sweet fiddle music from his fiddle" is one of the lines from a popular song back then. And many of us cannot here a fiddle without hope that the Fiddler was playing it, that he was preparing to crush the Steel-Men once and for all. For all my excitement, however, I was let down. He’s introverted and introspective. I understand that the life of Steel-Men has scarred us all, I know with the war over we can finally grieve properly. However, what is with him is far deeper than that. He’s mourning for his lost girlfriend. That I understand. However, two things are complicating this. Firstly, his late girlfriend, Rebecca, looks EXACTLY like me, or close enough. Both of us have a pleasant darkish-purple color to our fur. We’re both the same height and have the same height He even said our eyes look the same, and the height of our raundorb is the same. A raundorb? The Goy-Muguri call it an ike’u. It’s basically this thing that grows from the middle of the head, a stalk, with a round ball at the end. Some of us can channel our powers through it. In fact I am now able to use a defensive lightning attack with mine. The second complication is far worse. You see, she is dead, yet she is not. She was somehow brought back to life by a terrorist organization on another planet, and has been brainwashed into being a loyal member of the Golden Glocks. So loyal, in fact, that she’s part of their inner circle. But Ludwig is convinced he can somehow win her back. I wish he’d forget about her. It’s harming him, and it’s hurting me.

My life has gotten interesting. A little too interesting. As I write this, I’m undertaking a test. I’m not sure the details, just that it was spoken of in a dream by my departed mother. And I was able to access another world in a strange manner involving a rail-yard and the Cabala tree. Once there, I was told "I am where I am, I must do what I must do," by the spirit of my departed mother.

Not like my life has been normal. By leaving O’iveland, I’ve been exposed to the Goy Ways. They always eat Chazer, or Pua’a as they call it, with zeal. And with the two races, the Ai’a’ive or winged humans and the Muguri, who are the same race as us but they are Goy, only the Ai’a’ive wear clothes. The Muguri walk around naked. It was a shock to me. My mother said that I must always wear a dress that is so-much below the knee, she even carried a special ruler with her to ensure that this was being followed. And the kissing and hugging. They’re far more liberal about it than us. The worst offenders are among the Star Guardians, Kerenge and Lara, have they no shame? You’d think their lips were sewn together! Well, maybe I’ve been too sheltered before, for even in the face of the Steel-Men, we held to our traditions. That was the be all and end-all of O’ive life. My mother always made sure I prayed properly, that I kept a safe distance from boys except when absolutely necessary, and that I never danced with them under any circumstances. The Shabbat was the day we always attended the synagogue, only a barricade of Steel-Men could stop us. The weather didn’t matter. And we normally had arranged marriages. Given circumstances today, that won’t be happening for me.

Life has changed so much. However, it’s also quite interesting. All I hope for is peace, a good life, and...the Fiddler and I under a Chuppah.

Shoutouts: The Usual!

Explanations: ok, certain words may sound too foreign to you….

Igel = Hedgehog (German)

Goy = Non-Jew (Yiddish), in this stories, it means anyone who isn't an O'ive

O'ive = Muguri who practices the "traditions of the Master"…in effect a Jewish Muguri. From the Yiddish "Oy Vey."

Muguri = alternate form I made up of "Moogle", which is a creature originally conceived by someone at Square. From the Japanese "Moguri", which comes from "Mogura-Koumori" or Mole Bat, because they kind of look like moles with bat wings…although some renditions I've seen of them look more like koala bears or cats or small dogs than moles.

Goy-Muguri: I think you can figure this one out…all the Muguri who aren't O'ive.

Mausmaner = litteraly "Mouse-Man" (German), derogatory term for O'ive.

Cabala, Kaballah, Qabala = An esoteric Jewish mysticism (Hebrew)

Chazer = Pig (Yiddish or Hebrew…I forgot which)

Chuppah = wedding canopy (Hebrew)

Pua'a = Pig (Samoan)

Raundorb = "Round Orb" (corrupted German), strange ball on stalk appendage on top of the head of a Moogle, this is the name I created by the way, there is no official name for that organ…yet!

Shabbat = Sabbath (Hebrew)

Shalom = Hello, or litterally, "peace" (Hebrew)

Synagogue = Jewish place of worship, sometimes called a "temple" (Hebrew)

Steel-Men = Ok, you really should read "Kushi and the Star Guardians" for an explanation on them, but they're basically Nazis.