Author's remark: like I said in the beginning of this book, every two chapters we are going back and forth between Nardho's voice notes as an adult and Nardho's diary as a teenager. This is the teenage POV.  How to tell the difference? The adult POV exclusively deals with married life and the teenage POV exclusively deals with adventures of college students.

August 21st 2626

It did not take long for Moira to finally reveal her grand idea for her student-led enterprise. As soon as we returned to the dormitory after talking with our professors, she asked me if I have ever thought of how people with disabilities aren't always valued in their efforts to make their communities better—Moira's argument was that in social and radical movements like body positivity campaign, environmental sustainability awareness campaign, anti-racism campaign, and gender equality campaigns, the leading voices are overwhelmingly able-bodied. Moira was concerned that those whose voices deserved to be heard are cast aside, silenced, and dismissed.

"I think I get you, but what does all of this have to do with saving the half-seahorse half-dolphin hybrid species? Also, how does all this translate to something entrepreneurial?" I asked.

"Among the four planets in our solar system, Black Elm is the planet with the darkest history of discrimination against the disabled, right? I want to research the current news to see if disabled Black Elm residents are even involved in this movement to save the Kulambas. If they are not involved, I want to understand why. If it is because the non-disabled community has undervalued their opinions, then I would like to offer the local community of people with disabilities some public speaking classes at a reasonable cost so that they can raise up and show that they, too, have valuable insights to advance the saving Kulambas agenda." Moira told me matter-of-factly.

"So, you are saying that the disabled community should be fully integrated into the non-abled community, is that it? But how are you going to arrange public speaking classes?"

"We need the support of everyone in our friendship group. Let's ask Johan to help us set up a meeting with everyone and then we can brainstorm our friends' feedbacks too!"

I texted my older brother to see where he was and he replied saying that, as usual, he was in the library with Kenta. He could, however, spare some time to listen to Moira and me provided that we wouldn't mind having babies around. Johan has brought Naoko and LJ with him. He sent me a picture of him and the babies just strolling around the campus. My heart instantly melted.

NS: I still can't believe that I'm an uncle now. I'm gonna spoil them rotten.

JS: Yeah, I know you will. What about your girlfriend, is she okay with kids?

NS: Is that even a question? She's the nicest and if she loves me she surely will love my nephew and niece. No worries, I don't think the babies will bother her. Has anyone been mean?

JS: It's just that some people think kids are the worst. Just wanna make sure because this is the first time I will introduce mine and Johan's kids to her. Babies wail a lot, you know? LJ and Naoko have not been wailing, fortunately, but in case they start to whine I want to know that Moira isn't going to be rude about it. Babies can be over-the-top loud and frustrating sometimes.

"Holy guacamole, honey, if you're an uncle can I be their auntie?" Moira stared at my phone screen. I knew she would say that. I tussled her hair and nodded— it is comforting to know that she sees herself as a part of my family. Ironically, I haven't met hers—except Neesa, of course.

"Yeah, I'm not technically related to the babies because they're not biologically my brother's, but biological kids and adopted kids are kids all the same to me. You don't have to be born into a family to become part of a family—sometimes a family choose you or you choose them."

"I get it. Aunt Zoe and Uncle Martin have chosen to take me in when they could have chosen to just focus on Neesa. Anyone who says I don't have a mom probably has not considered that Aunt Zoe is as much my mom as she is Neesa's mom." Moira said thoughtfully and I nodded again.

When we arrived at the library, I was surprised to see little Naoko jumping out of Johan's lap while LJ tried to crawl to Moira. I didn't know 10-months-old babies could be that friendly!

"Haha, it seems that my son and daughter trust you already. That's great!" Johan chuckled.

Naoko was tugging at Moira's skirt while LJ tugged on my pants. I picked LJ up and Moira picked Naoko. The babies were giggling and that made Moira giggled too.

"You know what, Nardho, you're now as old as I was when I began to be romantically involved with Kenta. Give it some more years and you and Moira might be where he and I are now, if you know what I mean." Johan winked at me and I was just standing there wordlessly. He's right, though, there's a chance that one day in the future I will drop on one knee and present her a ring.

"Y-yeah, I bet I remind you of yourself. By the way, about the meeting Moira wants you to help arrange, do you think you can schedule it? You may need to be a moderator too."

"Yup, leave it to me! I'll book a room with the campus' event coordinators and send everyone a survey so that we can pick the day that works—maybe on the weekend."

---

Five days later, everyone from the student dormitory gathered around in the Student Union conference room to hear Moira gave a presentation on her business proposal. Gibran and Risma were of course also invited to give professorial advice and suggestions.

"I have scoured the news from Black Elm and from what I've read it seems that the local community where the Kulambas are, the Crystal Lilacs tribe of Amethyst Archipelago, do have significant number of tribal members with disabilities who feel that their voices are repressed. The news said that the chiefs of Crystal Lilacs feel that the disabled are too disabled to do anything of merit. That makes me mad because just because someone is disabled does not mean that they are stupid or incapable of helping out with an important mission. So, I propose that we unite and train the disabled community in the art of persuasion so that their aspiration will be heard and they will no longer face segregation. Everyone has the right to be included in our plan to save the Kulambas. I'm thinking that since Blue Orchid University has a lot of disabled students, then we are in a unique situation to be useful." Moira explained while clicking through the news excerpts.

"You are right, this can be something from the disabled for the disabled!" our friend Vannie yelled from the back of the room. "I want to volunteer to teach the wheelchair users in Black Elm how to be more confident and show that they are not bound by the wheelchairs—just like someone who has vision problems wear glasses to help them see, those with wheelchairs have mobility aid and that shouldn't be the reason they get ignored each time they want to discuss important things with non-wheelchair users."

"I want to volunteer to teach the blind how to dispel myths and stereotypes about blindness." Hamza spoke up. "As a blind person myself, I've had the displeasure of people thinking I'm too intellectually behind to be included in group discussions, but I grew tired of succumbing to the stigma and decided to break through the chains of internalized self-defeatism. I wanna help others like me break free from stigma and to help everyone else in Black Elm recognize that blindness is not the same as having no voice—we aren't silent, the society has bullied us into silence."

Rain raised their hand and began to sign their thoughts. Count me in, they signed, I want to connect to the mute people in Black Elm, whether they were born mute like me or became mute later in life. Just because I am mute does not mean I can't get my opinions heard. It took me all my life to be able to accept myself, so I want to help others come to self-acceptance.

"I'm with Rain, Hamza, and Vannie! I don't have any disability but I still want to volunteer. I can be the project manager with Tony and Wyatt. Is that okay, Moira? You need a management team, right?" Nardhia shouted excitedly. Moira responded that a team of managers would be a brilliant idea. She then turned her attention to the newest biochemistry students, Alex and Izumi.

"I'm not sure what I can contribute to the project, but maybe I can be the accountant because I think you'll need someone to do bookkeeping. I've had some lessons on finances and cash flow before I came to Blue Orchid, so if you need me to calculate the profits we make from holding public speaking classes for the disabled, I'm here." Alex said a bit hesitantly. Moira thanked him and said that every project worth doing would need a bookkeeper and Alex should be one.

"Are all the slots filled? I don't know what role I can fill in this project." Izumi sounded sad.

"Be our spokeswoman, Izumi-chan, you can team up with our spokesman Nardho. You two will be the faces of our project, the dynamic duo of public relation specialists." Moira suggested.

"Why me? You're capable of being the spokeswoman. I mean, you're more experienced than I am! You won that case against Mr. Milton's mining company and saved the Gaburs. I'm nothing compared to you, Moira-senpai. Please give me another role."

"I want to give someone else a chance to be in the spotlight. I've had my fun, now you go have your own fun. Besides, I'll be busy being the president of this tiny enterprise—I'll be in charge of progress reports, correspondences with the chiefs of Crystal Lilacs, and other duties."

"I thought Nardhia-senpai and the guys from Iota Rho Sigma club are gonna be doing that?"

"That's different. Managers like her, Tony, and Wyatt are responsible for supervising the project but I'm the one responsible for the overall operation. So, they help me operate the enterprise and execute ideas, but as the president and founder ultimately I'm the one who will be shouldering the responsibility of making this successful. Your job is to spread the words with Nardho."

Izumi finally agreed to be the spokeswoman. With that settled, Moira turned to the professors expectantly. Risma seemed to be approving of the idea, but Gibran still had questions.

"Our study abroad trip to Black Elm will only last for a semester, that's roughly four months and a half. At the end of the trip, when your public speaking classes are done and you have mobilized the disabled community to unite with the non-disabled, what tangible product can you produce to benefit the construction of a brand new Kulambas sanctuary?" Gibran asked.

"I'm thinking of training the Crystal Lilacs tribe, both disabled members and the non-disabled members, to film a musical documentary about the Kulambas. That documentary can be publicly played on the grand opening of the sanctuary. It's going to take a lot of teamwork but I'm positive that if we work hard we can film the whole documentary in under four months." Moira replied with such confidence that the whole room erupted into high-spirited cheers and applauses. Moira smiled with pride and she thanked everyone profusely in her closing statement.

Gibran nodded understandingly and I was so proud of Moira. My intelligent warrior princess. As soon as I have some free time I would like to bring her to a new café near our campus where she could snack on all the desserts she could ever want. I would be content with just iced coffee.