Personal History

       Laila hailed from a family of maple syrup workers in New Albion(tl note: new England state); their greatest hope for her was that she would one day attend university and become a respected lawyer or doctor. Every summer, the family would drive north to visit her grandfather in the North Slope Autonomous Town and stay for a while. Through years of enduring the bitter cold, the resilience of New Albion and the ruggedness of the North Slope quietly merged within her. Her father’s integrity and optimism provided a source of warmth for her spirit, while the northern chill tempered her body and will. She grew into a young woman possessing a calm, steely resilience deep in her bones.

       After graduating from public high school, Laila enlisted in the military to save up for college tuition. Driven by the prospect of the 500-Vespucian-pound monthly "Nox Deployment Allowance," she signed up for the selection process without hesitation and distinguished herself amidst the rigorous screening. On Nox, she taught others how to maintain their body heat, and during patrols, she would share a taste of "Leatherwood Honey" from Earth with the local Nox children.

       The North Slope Autonomous Town was the starting point of Laila’s childhood adventures. Whenever her grandfather playfully served up traditional Anuk delicacies, muktuk, walrus blubber, or fermented little auks, Laila was always the first to reach for them. Her grandfather would then ruffle her hair with his rough palm and laugh heartily, saying, "You’ve got a North Slope stomach!"

       Military life, however, was a starkly different reality. She had to pay for her own gear, and the undercooked, pre-packaged food in the mess hall felt like filling one's stomach with chunks of snow. When hunger struck, she had to dip into her meager allowance to buy overpriced meat and tortillas at the base commissary.

       Packages sent by her mother were precious sources of sustenance: Anuk meat biscuits, traditional foods, and maple syrup. She loved sharing these with her comrades; the sweetness of the maple syrup became a welcome comfort amidst their exhaustion and was a universal favorite. Yet, the traditional Anuk foods, those dishes that held the memories of her childhood, remained untouched by the others.

       In Nox, Laila's name was always associated with three sounds: the roar of machine guns, the sizzling of the waffle machine, and the satisfied sighs of her comrades as they ate their desserts. She was the company's undisputed "magician," always able to conjure up treats with the warmth of home from the mess hall's leftover, bland ingredients excess energy bar crumbs, leftover flour, sugar, and even broken heating elements during lulls in the fighting. The golden-brown waffles baked in that makeshift waffle machine, drizzled with amber-colored maple syrup, became the most popular non-standard ration in the entire barracks.

       The aroma emanating from the waffle machine was more enticing than any bugle call. After dinner on Fridays, the comrades in the company would quietly line up to watch her intently pour syrup onto the simple workbench. At that moment, their longing for their homeland, light-years away, would temporarily melt away in that sweet fragrance.

       “My grandfather said that heartwarming craftsmanship is the best medicine to cure homesickness.” She would always add softly as she wiped the syrup jars, “Wherever the people of New Albion go, there should be the smell of maple syrup.”