Weighted Diamond, pt. 3

``````
We're going to the pharmacy today,
There's medicine but we don't care,
We're going to the pharmacy today,
We're going to the So - Da - Jerk!

There's lots of bubbles in the root beer float,
We have a great big foamy mustache,
When we go - down - to - the pharmacy,
Waiting patiently for the - So - Da - Jerk!

Some like cof - fee, some like tea,
Some like lem - on wa - ter but not me!
There is on - ly one thing I crave most - ly!
I want a root beer float, oh - oh - oh - please!

``````

Your morning started much the same as yesterday. You woke up fifteen minutes earlier. Hauling the unfiltered letters in the den, you went through them, finding nothing scary like a big envelope to worry Lady Miesha.

You still had a third of the letters to go through when the Lord-Regent arrived. It was only lunch time.

Your god-parents had a 'conversation'.

"I have a lot of shopping to do, and I can't be late."

"You'll take her next week, I'm sure," the Lady responded.

"I wanted to treat her. If she's staying up tonight, she can finish going through these letters when she returns."

"I suppose. Say hello for me, to those you meet."

"Of course, lovey," he said. "Hurry up Daffodil! Your coat is in the closet."

You knew he meant you by the flower name, and went to get your coat, from the closet you never opened before.

This was a new coat, a rain jacket really, silver with purple frills.

You followed the Lord outside for the first time since you got to the house. The flowers were still the nice kind of smelly. Without thinking about it, you instinctively followed behind the Lord.

"We'll walk today and get a hansom back, so I can show you the town. Our neighbors are good people to know."

 They walked down the middle of the road. There were a few people arriving home for lunch, but otherwise the street was empty.

"Our next door neighbors here are Doctor and Practitioner Gilliam. The Doctor is a Traveling Physician, and Lady Gilliam is a Nurse Practitioner and the Doc's perfect assist-woman. And on the other side of the road, that house with all of the gears and gadgets neatly tied out, that's the house of our neighborhood bachelor, or I should say fiancé. He's getting the house ready for his future wife. Mr. Goff is an expert mechanical engineer, and he specializes in repairing and making bicycles. Those are his creations outside."

You looked, seeing the rustic house still in need of cleanup and repair, but with the nice polished bicycles, but then your eyes flickered to the next house across the street.

"That's ol' Huber's residence. Professor Huber was a geology professor in the old city before he retired to Ellsworth. His wife still keeps some of the town's most cherished recipes, which she introduced to Ellsworth when they moved here. The Professor, in his retirement, finds time to be a bit of a books expert. If anyone has an old book, he can cipher it, and determine its value and meaning in our time."

The Professor's house didn't look especially great, being run down, but  there was a strange smell which was fascinating, which seemed to be coming from somewhere around the house.

Maple street crossed main, and you followed your God-father, turning left and keeping to the left side of the road, as a horse rider passed by.

The Lord Regent tipped his brown hat at the man passing.

"Lord Flowers," the rider said quickly, as he trotted by.

Before the pharmacist, which you could see in the distance, on the right side of the road, there was the general store, and the post office. 

On the right side, your God-father's storefront, and the larger greenhouse which loomed in the plot of land beyond the road. There were some other stores after your god-fathers', but you didn't see them, as you had locked on to the pharmacy on approach.

But first, there were people to talk to.

"Good morning, Lord Flowers," said a lady in her early twenties. 

"Milady, good to see you," Lord Regent (Flowers) said, nodding his head at her.

"You'll be opening up firstday morning?" she asked.

"Always, of course," he said.

He watched, looking for horse or hansom, and seeing none moving quickly, he crossed to the other side of the street, holding your hand tightly. The sidewalk was nearly full! There were four people there.

"Lord Flowers," said one man.

"Milord," said an older lady.

"Ned," said a neatly dressed man, wearing a grey coat and tie.

Your lord-regent responded to each of them. "Lord Iron, good to see you," and "Milady" and "Calvin".

'Calvin' was the only one who stopped and spoke to them. 

"I see you've brought the young lady with you to the pharmacy."

As you knew you were supposed to, you let your god-father answer in your stead.

"It's her first trip into town. A nice treat for her. I was worried for Miesha at first, but now the young miss is already marking her own path, and this time, it fits very nicely into my Miesha's own pursuits."

"Well good, good. One of these weeks, we'll have to have the family over."

"Miesha and I would like that, once we get settled in with our god-daughter."

"Good good, well I will be on my way."

'Calvin' was headed in the opposite direction, but you couldn't help but be bored by anything but the pharmacy in the moment, so you were giddy, maybe more than you ought to be, as you entered.

There was a long bar with a soda jerk, wearing his white shirt with red stripes, standing behind it. 

Two younger men were sitting at the bar drinking shakes, but you wanted the root beer float. 

The kids in school couldn't help but talk about trips to the pharmacy, that's what they all wanted when they got their god-parents. You weren't much different, even though you had bigger dreams too.

You repeated your God-father's words: "It's good to see you Mr. Jerk."

"It's good to see you too. Is there any medicinals your Lordship needs to get? I would be happy to keep the young lady company while you attend to your business."

"Thank you, Mr. Jerk. I really appreciate it. There's no better Jerk in all the River valley," your god-father said.

"Aww, geeze, thanks Mr. H. --coughs-- anyway, Lord Regent, I will take your order for the soda counter if you'd like."

Lord Flowers smiled, saying, "I'll have the butterscotch sundae, and the young lady will have a root beer float."

Then your god-father wandered over to that tall counter in the other half of the building.

"A 'scotch and a classic, excellent."

You wondered what it was like to be a Soda jerk. It seemed wonderful, but maybe you would get a stomach ache to be around the sweet stuff all day long.

You sat on one of the bar stools, fading away into a dream land of butterscotch trees and root beer lakes. Ice cream hills and cherry peaks.

What would it be like to live in a land like this,
Of vanilla and butterscotch and all kinds of pop,
Every day you swim in a lake of fizzy root beer,
Every day you sleep away on a bed of ice cream,

You were knocked out of your reverie by the Soda Jerk's words.

"Here you go miss," the Jerk told you, sliding the root beer float over in a big frosted mug.

You took quick sips of the foamy root beer to stop it from overflowing. Your thoughts wandered away again.

Swim-ming in a land full of lic-orice and pepper-mint,
Fizz pop the root beer goes until I float away,
Bubblegum and cherry candy and sweet bread,
Every day you sleep away on a bed of ice cream.

 
 You were shocked at your float. It was half-gone.

"Woah, slow down there Daffodil, you'll freeze your head," said your god-father.

You decided to take a break, swooning a bit. The freeze-head flew away after a minute or two.

"Try this butterscotch," your god-father said, and you took a fresh spoon from the Soda jerk, taking a small bite of butterscotch topping, ice cream and banana.

It was wonderful, but you were already feeling a little overwhelmed. Hard to appreciate it all.

"Maybe we should have split," the Lord Regent said.

You swooned, your head was fuzzy as you stood up. You stumbled, collapsing to the ground. Why were you so clumsy all of a sudden. The next thing you knew, you were laying in bed.

````

 "I thought there was no family history, Doc?"

"Her mother's side had a small susceptibility. We don't have the equipment to know anymore."

"Ruthenian," said the Lord Regent.

"Mother's Father's side. Leblanc was her mother's mother's side."

"I think she's waking, Lord Doctor, Lord Regent," said a woman's voice.

"Tabatha, can you hear me?" said your God-father.

You blinked a few times, then opened your eyes.

"I can hear," you mumbled.

"She's recovering. But, Ned, I only have so much supply. You need to keep her on a careful diet. And no more trips to the pharmacy."

You didn't want to wake up anymore. No trips to the pharmacy? You could have fought to stay awake, but you drifted off in sadness instead.

Weighted Diamond, pt. 2

`````
Morning is happy to see you,
So be happy to see the day,
Wipe the night from your eyes,
Let your voice echo in the day,

The birds are happy to hear you,
So be chirping right along,
Put away the clothes of night,
Put on the new day bright-ly,

Oats in the pot and man the door,
The kettle whistles watch the sky,
Break the egg, daddy's on his way,
Make the breakfast and begin your day,
`````

You woke up sometime later, you didn't know when. Peering out of your bedroom, you noticed it was still dark.

"Go back to bed, Bellflower," said the Lord Regent, his voice carrying from the hallway.

"Yes sir," you said, getting back into bed, shifting your position in the big bed until finally you just lay there for a while before drifting back to sleep.

Somehow the sun enters your room despite any windows. It's only a few shafts of light, one across your bed and one on the floor.

You change out of your night clothes and then put on the blouse and skirt from last night. You don't know if you need work clothes for the day or how life is going to go for you.

Lord Regent was gone already, and Lady Miesha was in her den, already in letter mode.

"Breakfast is at the table. Clean up after you're done."

Breakfast was cold, but you had slept in. It was a new concept. At the Children's center you were woken up by the matrons. By the time the staff of the Center were ready for the children it was a bit later in the morning anyway. You had to get used to waking up a bit earlier.

You picked up the Lord and Lady's plates and washed them all up. After that you went into the den.

"Today sweetie, I'm going to show you some simple things that you can help out with. And then we'll work together on something a bit bigger that you can work towards doing."

Lady Miesha was seated in her rocking chair reading another letter.

You sat in the straight backed chair and looked around.

After finishing reading the letter, she looked to you. "You can start by hauling in today's letters. There's a big metal bin full of them outside the door. Bring them over to your chair, and then you can work on them this morning."

You didn't know what to do with them, so you were about to ask.

"I'll tell you what to do once you get them inside," she responded to your unasked question.

The bin was solid iron on the bottom and the lower part of the side, but like a grid of metal bars on top, just wide enough to push another letter in. The top section tilted open as well, but you didn't dare play with the open and closing, while the bin was full.

You could barely push, pull or drag the bin along, fiercely pulling it up the little ledge from the walkway into the house's entryway, and you took a break then for a few seconds before summoning your strength to lift it up and bring it into the Den. You tried to set it down next to your chair gently. It landed with a thud.

You went back to close the front door, because to not do that would be foolish.

Lady Miesha continued with your instruction after that, "Your goal is to get all of the bad letters out of the bin, and all of the good ones back into it, without making a big mess."

"How do I tell what's a good and bad letter?" you asked.

She walked over and took a letter from the bin.

"Bad, horrible spelling," she said throwing one into the fire, and "Bad, the town says Wolfsburg, but the postal stamp says Outer Gall."

A lot of places were bad and not good, you had learned at school. Outer Gall, you didn't remember it exactly, but the tone of Lady Miesha's voice made it sound appalling.

"This one, this one -- it's not a good letter, but it sure looks like it. When you read the actual letter, you find horrible disjointed writing, This was printed, not handwritten. But the Envelope was hand addressed, and the stamp was forged."

"If you aren't sure, throw it in the fire. I'll check a few before we actually light it tonight. Just to make sure you didn't throw anyone important away," she continued.

Without any further guidance, you tried to do this. You decided to pile up the good letters right next to the bin, but you didn't find any good ones for a while.

You could have missed some of the ones involving implausible countries, or postal stamps, you didn't know all of the places these were coming from, but suspiciously, they were written in perfect cursive, except every other word was badly misspelled.

Some of them were not letters at all, but postcards.

You asked the Lady about those, "Toss them," she said. She was the lady of Letters, not postcards or cute pictures with a little writing.

There was one larger envelope, which you were about to open.

"Stop!" Lady Miesha said insistently.

"That shouldn't even be in the bin. Carefully put it the fire."

She strode up to the fireplace after you gently placed it inside.

You couldn't throw a letter with any skill so you had been getting up after each bad letter and standing half the time.

Lady Miesha reviewed your rejections briefly sifting through the fireplace.

"This one," she said, pulling a purple envelope with blue paper out of the mound, "This is legit. Remember, Outer Kingston is still a place, unlike all of the other Outer places. Except Outer Hereford, that's another safe Outer name."

"It had misspellings," you protested, and then stopped.

"These are good person misspellings. You'll learn quickly."

Once she'd gone through the letters in the fireplace, She took a long lighter from beside her chair and lit the letters on fire.  Then she drew the chain link barrier closed, removing the papers from view. After everything burned for a bit, she exhaled.

"Guess it wasn't anything harmful," Lady Miesha said. "But one can never know."

You handled the sorting of good and bad letters much more slowly than the Lady, finishing what she did in an hour in four.

"I wanted to get your writing practice started today, but we'll wait on that. Before your God-father gets home, I'd like to make a small step towards finding your specialty. What did you learn about in school that you really liked and wanted to get interested in, in a bigger adult way?"

You thought about it. Everything at school had been little kid stuff. What interesting thing could be of worth for this family.

"I'm not sure," you said, your eyes downcast. You really didn't have any ideas that you didn't reject right away.

"Just a moment sweetie," Lady Miesha said, disappearing into the hallway. You waited, trying to think of something useful. You had learned the basics of writing and the merchants' numbers. Your Safe class had covered the key information about staying safe, and a hint of where men and women could learn to protect their homes from the attackers in the night.

There were a few trifling things you liked from school, but they seemed to not match the serious tone of your God-parents. You doubted learning to read and write poetry and playing the recorder would be thought serious.

But you were wrong, as Lady Miesha came back with a letter written on plain paper.

"I thought I had a letter from the Administrator of your Children Center. Let's see: She spends hours pouring over the poems in our old mythbooks. When no one is looking, she writes little poems of her own. She tried the recorder in Music class, but I didn't sense any great potential in that area."

"I guess I didn't think it was useful or helpful," you offered. "I like poems though."

The Lady looked at you with a peculiar intensity. "My mentor thought that, back in the old days, when the day was no safer than the night. Every person, coiled up in fear in the bounds of their own home. But when my mentor began to write, and brave souls took up the cap of Post-man, the power of the letter to unite us was stronger than anyone dared to think."

"The mythbooks then?" you asked, your thoughts swirling around the hope that the Lady offered.

 "Written by those of a generation or two before. The pen and sword together, are mightier than either separate."

"How do I get serious about poetry? I don't want to just continue my childish approach. I know you and Lord-Regent are trying to help me grow up and understand adult things," you asked.

"Sometimes people write poems in their letters. How about you bring out a new stack of writing paper, and I'll give you any of the letters with poems. You can read a poem, and write a poem back. Practice on an extra page of paper until you can make your handwriting neat and appropriate."

 Lady Miesha continued to going through more stacks of letters while you waited for one letter with a poem in it. You decided to practice your handwriting, slowly tracing the cursive forms, correcting yourself after your lines dipped into the next line, or rose up into the line before.

You made sure to completely exhaust each page with writing, even filling up the back of the page, before placing it in the fireplace.

Finally, near the end of the day, when the Lord-Regent of Flowers would surely be returning home soon, the Lady gave you a letter with a poem in it. To understand the poem, you read the whole letter.

Dear Lady of Letters,

Since last I wrote, East Hampton's grain mill has been attacked, and the silos haven't been able to accept any more grain until the mill can resume running, or another arrangement made for the silo's processing. This could set back bakers across our region, certainly Nan will be affected.

I've been calming down, however. So I will spare you from all of the aches and pains and troubles we all experience.

It was great to hear from you that your Lord husband has found new cultivars for his garden. To hear of so many beautiful and protective flowers safeguarded for our future is truly heartening. I especially loved your mention of the white flowers. I have always found white flowers especially calming and safe, and I love baby's breath. Some think it is merely an accessory for floral arrangements, but I love the flower on it's own terms.

You must be anticipating being a god-parent again, after your god-son became 2nd lieutenant. The uncertainty must be galling, though.

With all that's going on, and knowing you love the art of short letters, I'll finish here with a poem I wrote after consoling Nan.


The wind blows cold from the north,
Across the bay a droplet holds to it,
Not knowing where the wind is going,
It slips away, falling over the land,

The droplet weeps leaving the wind,
Arriving, seeping into the land,

The seed laid dead in dryness,
Finding no moisture to comfort it,
Until the drop parted from wind,
Arrived at it's burial creche,

Alive again the seed rejoices,
It becomes a sprout rising,

The wind which releases,
The land which reclaims,
The hour that takes away,
Is the hour seed may sprout.

Written by my hand,
Sir Thomas Majera - Lord-Regent of Schools

The letter was almost as interesting as the poem. The poem reminded you of one in the mythbooks called "He Gives and Takes Away".

 You assumed your poem would come after the Lady's writing, so you decided to just write the poem without any prose. But what could it be about? The man was like your Lord of Schools, whom you had only met once. You pondered the thought of school, now that you had left it.

We sing the same morning song,
We have the same breakfast,
But we each found our buried gold,
A teacher's honey revealing the comb,

Safe class and farm-craft and writing class,
One kid follows the safest Man in school,
One kid that doesn't run from the bull,
Our lovely teacher holds gold in his hands,

No bully snatch the gold,
No student forget where it's from,
No mocker pushing us away,
Safe Keeper help us from these,

We still walk in dimness,
We handle our gold in careful steps,
We love the walkers of our way,
We never know when's our last day,

Teacher this student hopes you remember,
For every student who turns away,
Its another day for your good students,
They will walk and love your wise ways,

To build a whole school,
Full of gold and gold-smiths,
To make students gather,
And the gathered to be students.

The chest maker worked to make,
He made a gold chest of drawers,
He hired goldsmith and woodworker,
Brought candles for the night's work,

He has made a good work's foundation,
Is he forgotten among the goldsmiths?
Is he forgotten among the seekers?
Let them all say thank you Safe Keeper!

Remember sweetly the Safe Keeper of a school,
Because he keeps safe that which is gold to me,
The Teacher who writes, he held out his gold for me,
But I've seen in every teacher gold for the seeker,

You had been writing and pondering the poem for so long that the Lord-Regent was sitting in the den with his lady, and yet they had not interrupted you.

 You handed the paper (two pages) to Lady Miesha.

After a long pause (but too quickly to have read it all), she said, "This will be special to the Lord of Schools. Thank you sweetie. Now go ahead and wash up for dinner."

...

Thankful we are as we toast,
Let this food strengthen the house,
Let it make firmness in our bones,
Lest overrun we fall on our cups,

...

The beef stew was pretty good, with carrots and celery, and just a little salt.

"I couldn't take you to the pharmacy today, I got stuck with a new variety of daisy. A blessing really. But I will take you tomorrow. We also need to stop at the Farm store. Tomorrow night is the Vigil, which I'm sure the Childcare center did differently than a home. This is another opportunity for you to learn about being an adult," the Lord-Regent was saying.

"Yes Lord-Regent, I'm excited, even if we can't have ice cream floats," you said, interested in seeing what was at the farm store. Did they have potatoes or those other root vegetables?

 Dinner passed and cleanup seemed to go by in a flash. Tomorrow night would be your first time staying up. At the children's center, kids staying up would just cause more problems and work for the caretakers who had to keep the place safe.

Weighted Diamond, pt 1

``````
A new day unfolds like a letter from the envelope,
Nana day, Its your day, a day unlike any other,
The letter opens with a wax seal, it's from your Family,
Nana day, Its your duty today, today you go off and away,

A new day unfolds like the new coat around your waist,
You take the purple today, Oh hay nana purple today,
 The coat fits heavy, the child's crown bearing you down,
Nana day, Its today you wear a new gown off and away.

 ``````

You take the hansom today. There's too many kids at the Children's Center for hansom rides, but there you are in your new white coat with purple trim. Your hair is short, but not boy short, and pale blue with swirls of shifting light blue coloration.


You're just a little taller than the average kid at the Children's Center. You wonder if there will be any kids at the new house.

You see a man in a top hat remove the hat and bow at the hansom as you pass him by. Adults seem to be waving, not shaking their heads.

You can barely say the name of your town: Ellsworth. It's hard to say but trying to practice over and over made your whole class start giggling. But you didn't hesitate, and once you figured it out, you pronounced it loudest of all the class, and correctly. A lot of kids were just mumbling. You helped one of the mumblers who couldn't get it though.

You have heard teachers tell you, "You are too loud!" many times. You're just trying to let them know you know the answer.

You were focused on the people and everything around you, but then, suddenly, the flowers. You saw pansies and lilacs and petunias and lavender. The smell of flowers was stronger than the smell of smelly horses.

The clop clop of horse beats stopped in front of the house surrounded by purple flowers. The driver opens the door for you. One of the horses whinnies.

"Go right on in, dearie," said the old driver, and he tips his cap, turning back to the hansom.

 You hesitate for a moment at the lavender, trying to enjoy the smell, but its all a mixed up flowery smell.

You decide to confidently knock on the door, feeling the soft wood-grained texture of it.

*knock* *knock* *KNOCK*

You were about to knock again when you heard, "I'll be there in a moment sweetie."

The woman who opens the door has the same color hair as you do, with splotches of white. Her hair is braided, but you can't tell what kind of neat braid she's done it in. She's face to face with you after all.

She's holding a jagged knife as she opens the door.

"Oh dear, it's .. kinda my letter opener, sweetie," she says.

She doesn't ask your name but just gestures for you to come in. You firmly close the door. It definitely shuts, but makes the house rattle slightly.

"This is our den," she said. There were hallways that lead to other hallways. You caught a glimpse before being lead into the den.

There were three chairs in the den. One was a rocker with a wicker basket next to it containing paper and what seemed to be a big stack of letters. Another was straight backed, but cushioned, and the third reclined. They were tan colors.

There were no play things or anything for you to do with yourself, so you sat down and asked questions.


After being asked the first question, she said, "This last one is from Aunt Sadie in Outer Kingston. She says she hasn't written in a while, but she wanted to urge Daniel and I to be God parents whenever possible. We already agreed when we decided to take you in."

She went back to writing a response to Aunt Sadie. When you asked about Daniel, her husband, she said, "Call him Lord-Regent of the Flowers. He should be home soon."

The last question got a quick answer, "Look, Listen, Learn."

She finished writing the letter, folded it up (not in a simple three parter, but in beautiful triangle folds, that seemed like a lot of work), and stacked it with the pile you hadn't noticed before, on top of the mantle.

There was no fire going in the room, but the fireplace had a nice mantle, and the lady of the house stacked completed letters in some kind of weird stacking system. There were dozens of completed letters!

You felt a desire to ask about the letters and why there were so many, but something stopped you cold, instead you "Looked, Listened, Learned."

Your God-mother wrote small letters, delicately, yet with some speed. Using one petite A5 page, the top inch taken up by a monagram, she wrote three paragraphs, leaving plenty of margin on all four sides of the page.

Miesha
Lady of Letters

Her cursive Y looped way down into the next line, and her I dots were filled in. While her letters had extra compared to what Miesha had learned, they all stayed joined together and on the same line.

You also noticed the way she read letters. Each time, she would pick up an envelope in her right hand, the knife in her left, and somehow slice open the beautiful envelope without tearing it on the jagged edges of the dagger.

She would put her eye-glasses on, then fold each page when done with it and place it on her lap, but you noticed Miesha refused to read beyond the second page. Most of the letters were two pages long, but you had watched long enough to notice twice that she stopped reaching long letters after the second page.

After reading each letter (or what she choose to read out of it), she would smoothly toss the letter into the inert fireplace, but the letter didn't flap in the wind like you thought it would.

After reading a letter and throwing it away, she already knew who wrote it and neatly addressed the envelope, both from and to. She never had to pick up a letter from the fireplace to remember.

After the envelope she would write the letter, and stack it like previously mentioned.

It was four hours of watching the woman go through letters that taught you this.

She had finished the letters in her wicker basket, and motioned you to follow as she went into a small bedroom which had been turned into an office. Actually, it was a series of file cabinets.

One side of the bedroom had a basket on top of the middle of three oak file cabinets. Above the basket a monogram displayed: "Lord-Regent".

There were four file cabinets, these unfinished wood, and each had a basket on top of them which was empty.

Seeing that all four baskets were empty, Miesha pulled open the cabinet drawers. She took a decimeter sized stack of papers from the front of the bottom drawer of the first cabinet, placing the stack in the basket above her. In this same way, she filled all four baskets from the four cabinets.


That was a lot of letters, you pondered the possibility of even getting through all of those.

It wasn't finishing the newly full wicker basket of letters that ended Miesha's day. When the Lord-Regent arrived outside the door, she asked you to do something.

"Take that basket and put it next to my letter cabinets."

You didn't have much trouble lifting the basket, it was a little heavy for you, but the jostling envelopes didn't fall out of the basket.

When you got back to the den, the stacks of letters on the fireplace mantle were gone.

"So this is our God-daughter," said Lord-Regent of the Flowers.

He smelled of the flowers he must of been busy with.

"I need to get cleaned up. Bellflower, get cleaned up for dinner."

At first you thought he was talking to Miesha, but you started moving towards your room anyway.

Between hand gestures in the vague direction from Miesha, and a lucky guess, you figured it out.

Your bedroom was the last one down a hallway with other doors that you didn't even consider opening. Lord-Regent had gone past the intersection of hallways straight through, instead of turning left.

From the front, the house had looked big, but now it looked bigger than the Children's Center. Your bedroom also had a full bathroom. Your own bathroom. You had no context to understand that.

The bathroom lights flickered on, showing the large glass mirror with a trim decorated in silver tracing

No one drew up a bath for you, so you figured the Lord-Regent expected you to act like a big kid and take a shower on your own.

A new blouse and skirt were neatly folded on the bathroom countertop.

You were tempted to splash and be silly in the water, to take a long shower, but somehow the desire wasn't there, so after a short time under the hot water you dried off and got dressed.

The blouse was soft against your skin, it's color pink. The skirt was white with purple horizontal stripes.

You brushed your hair all alone, with the new hair brush. It was short enough to not worry about any more. You wondered if you would ever have long hair like the women you'd seen in town. Whether braided or loose, it seemed exciting.

You'd brushed your teeth that morning, but decided, hey might as well make a good impression for your God parents.

Finally you make your way back out of your room cleaned up and refreshed.

The den connects to the hallway which turns shifty ways leading the hallway that goes to your bedroom and other hallways that you don't want to explore, oddly enough. Across from the den is the dining room, which is connected to the kitchen.

Lord Regent and Lady of Letters were already sitting at the dining table when you got there. The dining table was rectangular, and could surely support 8 to 10 people. When you reached to pull out a chair next to Lady Miesha, the Lord Regent directed you to the far end of the table.

You sang the song of dinner-time, as you had since you were old enough to talk.

`````
 As we sit down to eat,
We never forget to say,
Honored Protectors,
We are thankful.

[Man of the House]
I lay my sword astride this table,
Heavy I pick it up, I never hesitate,
Defend this night-sup I must,
Lest overrun we fall on our cups,

[Woman of the House]
I lay my dagger astride this table,
I walk in unison with my husband,
Defend this night-sup I must,
Lest overrun we fall on our cups,

[Others]
I lay my life astride this table,
I do anything I am told to,
 Fight in the last I must,
Lest overrun we fall on our cups,

[All]
Thankful we are as we toast,
Let this food strengthen the house,
Let it make firmness in our bones,
Lest overrun we fall on our cups,

`````

You felt the weirdness of singing the other part all by yourself. You had never heard yourself sing alone like that.

You hesitated and didn't try to grab some of the chicken breast and potato yet. Instead you waited, with your hands holding the napkin on your lap.

Lord Regent took a portion for himself, passing his plate to Lady Miesha, who gave him some of the roasted potato wedges.

"The new greenhouse is finally doing well," he said as Lady Miesha filled her plate.

You passed your plate down to Lady Miesha after she had filled hers.

"Aunt Sadie wrote. A farmhold near them was overrun. Now they are worried. She's been training to use a crossbow, of all things."

Your plate had a small piece of a chicken, and a little bit of potatoes, but you didn't mind, it looked delicious.

You neatly cut your chicken into pieces while the two of them are talking.

"I can't get away from thinking she needs more flower beds. I guess I'm carrying the job home, hun," Lord Regent said.

"She's put a few around the back yard, but she doesn't look the smell. I think she's allergic," Lady Miesha answered.

"Unfortunate. Bellflower, did you hear the soda jerk is visiting our lovely little town. I bet you'd like to try a root beer float?"

You finished swallowing the hot potato you were eating and thought of the right way to answer.

"I'd really like that. Can we go, sir?"

"I'll swing by late morning, and take you. As long as you think that's a good idea, hun?"

Lady Miesha smiled, "She's just doing some light duty tomorrow, that would be fine."

You wondered what you'd be doing tomorrow other than carrying the wicker basket or getting letters for the Lady.

"What's your favorite kind of flower, sir?" you asked, with some trepidation.

"Poppies do the most to protect against night-stalkers. I love the look of Cherry Blossom, but we can hardly get any good seeds,"

"My favorite flower to smell is lavender," the lady said. "We've got the safest house in town thanks to you, Sweet-rose."

"I get complements all the time on your thoughtfulness, hun. Why, Sheriff Cal said he needed to send something to his mother in Leadsville, and his mother was so thrilled to hear from you."

"He's a good man," she said.

The talk was at turns sweet, business-like and informative. You tried to understand your new god-parents as you finished your plate. They didn't ask any questions of you, and you waited politely as the conversation continued well after dinner was done.

This is one of the things you were taught about living in a house with a family. You did not leave the dinner table until the Man of the house got up, and most families considered dinner time their chance to have daily conversation.

So it was a good hour before Lord Regent of the Flowers got up, and your God-Mother asked you to wash the dishes while they turned on the radio in the den.

The meal wasn't that messy, so you just brushed off any stray meat or potato bits into the bin, and then filled the sink a quarter-full, applying just a dash of dish soap to the mix.

You cleaned off the base layer of gunk after letting the dishes soak for a minute, and then scrubbed the plates, forks, knives and glasses thoroughly, draining the water. You dried each piece until every bit of moisture was gone, and then tried three different cupboards before you found one for plates, glasses and utensils.

There were eight sets of dinner-ware, enough to have some people over for the night. Finally, after you did your best job with the dishes, you went to the den.

"... national unrest remains high. Home Law remains in effect. All surrogates must be tested weekly. All non-surrogates must undergo--"

“Time for bed, sweetie,” Lady Miesha said, stopping you gently. “The Lord-Regent’s listening to his evening broadcast.”

You turned back, heading towards the wing of the house that had your bed.

Your house clothes had been nice and comfy, but the bed clothes you put on now were very soft and fluffy. The bed shirt had drawings of petunias and lilies on it.

You'd only looked at your bathroom closely before, so now you took in the bedroom proper. The desk was small, but it had a smooth wood finish, and a small three legged stool.

The surprising thing was the small lacquered black case on the desk. It was long and skinny, and opened up by a set of hinges.

What was inside the box could be either a letter opener, or a dagger, or both, you supposed. You carefully closed the lid and got under the covers, sheet, blanket and comforter all.

Legacies of Battle, pt 1

From all of known space they came to this world. Just the ticket, the standard lowest quality experience had cost Shizue Alaya and her family over 30,000 credits. That didn't count the gold she needed to not get thrown into a Survival battle (100 credit-less fighters go in, 1 comes out with enough money to continue to experience the Planet of Legacies.

Everyone was enamored with the Legacies of Battle. But those who put money and their skills and wits to the test were enraptured with it. The planet was home to some ridiculously advanced technologies which meant you could lose many a battle, and the only cost would be losing gold, or in the end, losing the game and having to leave this wonderful planet.

You would wake up, uninjured despite whatever wounds you took in the fighting. It still scared some people, but not Ayala.

The Legacies were large family lineages, started by a famous fighter, and continued by their many descendants. Many came to this world, looking to become the next legacy.

But only a few even established a Bronze legacy. Hundreds, even thousands of families could last while their founder was alive, but only 4 had lasted beyond 200 years. The Kestle family was just declared the 4th Divine Legacy months ago. Whereas Fialas's had been founded 230 years ago, and Roe and Labarbara were both founded in the earliest days of this world, nearly 350 years ago.

There were both duration and success requirements for achieving a legacy. The requirements become quite extreme, and reaching even Gold required success beyond the original founder, you needed many of their children, and grandchildren to be successful.

The costs involved in housing a legacy family on planet were high enough that most children had to prepare to join the great battles.

Many thousand families had formed and faded between the founding of Labarbara and today. Only 4 had achieved Divine rank. There were a half dozen at Diamond rank, and more at the lower ranks, but even including their Bronze legacies, there were only 600 or so Legacies at the moment.

Shizue Ayala and Simon Racanello were two of the 500 new arrivals waiting in the grand ballroom of the Castle of Divine Legacies (Ceasefire Zone). 

Ayala knew she needed to form up a team for their first bout. Teams were chosen by agreement of the new arrivals, she knew she needed to find two teammates before choices became scarce.

Most of these 500 would never even be able to become a family, yet alone a legacy. 500 showed up daily, but thousands were still waiting in queue in their ships near the planet, formally called the Divine Legacies World.

Shizue Ayala had spent the four months waiting in orbit planning her battle build and social build. There were strengths and weaknesses with every choice, popularity shifted as celebrities chose different ways to battle.

Shizue loved the fighting style of Aleisha Roe. The constantly beamed broadcast of important battles had given her inspiration as she watched Aleisha lead the Roe's 2nd Scion team to victory after victory.

Defeat wasn't permanent, but it was costly in points. In order to ensure that the population of the world didn't explode over time, the influx per day was limited to 500, and those who finally ran out of points had to do a Survival Challenge, and only the challenge winner would be able to stay.

Shizue had collected her own funds and donations from friends and family who knew she really wanted to come try her hand at this. She wanted a chance to live life different than managing endless budgets and production schedules as Vice President of Drone Production at Pascenia, Makel & Jurney manufacturing ltd.

Pascenia family was a distant relation of hers, but she had bled for the company doing many unpleasant jobs and dealing with periodic layoffs before she became VP. But it had been 10 years as VP, and another person wanted that opportunity, so they donated to her efforts as well, and she vacated the Vice Presidency to seize this chance.

Shizue Ayala had 638 points to start out with. Not a lot, but more than she expected or had hoped for.

Broadcasts of the Planet's battles were sent out periodically on the system relays, but details of her own results would take a much slower route on the low priority civilian traffic network.

She expected to enjoy the heck out of a similar Elf-Blade style that Aleisha Roe had used. Elf-Bow primary was popular, but Shizue liked the practical, fancy footwork of the Elf-Blade primary.

She needed to find her trio, and being a nobody meant she would have to find the best nobodies to fight in her 3 person group.

Except for special events and scenarios, fighting on the planet of Divine Legacies was done in 3 person groups. Her idol Aleisha fought with a cousin who used a ball and chain and Fierce Style, as well as a Troll-Style boulder thrower for devastating, but slow, ranged support.

A few trios relied on two ranged members and one melee, but most were two melee and one ranged.

Shizue's ideal would be to have a strength focused melee member, maybe shield, along with a ranged support of whatever type was available.

 Though Shizue planned to have a bow as her secondary, it was far less useful than a ranged primary character's ranged weapon.

Finally, as the ballroom full of 500 excited people filled up, a loud voice announced: "Please sit on the floor. We can't begin until everyone is seated.

She sat down next to an older man, grey hair, tanned, brown hair, five o'clock shadow.

The sound of 500 people sitting down was deafening, and then another, mechanical sound appeared.

Shizue didn't know how people got their initial setups, but this must be how, as a chair with buttons and an LCD screen was rising up. The screen and several mirrors and other unknown devices were unfolding as the chair rose up and picked her off the ground.

A belt flipped across the chair and buckled her in as the chair rose 15 feet off the ground.

"Good good. Welcome to the Palace of Divine Legacies. Here you will make the crucial decisions. You will be mixed up after this, so if you came here in a group, except to look for new teammates after this.

There are thirty, yes thirty, class/types you can choose from. In addition to gender and class type, you can choose a primary and secondary weapon. Don't worry, if you are successful, you will find weapons that do far more than this, and you will find far more within yourself than you realize.

Establishing a legacy is a matter of more than just 1 journey.

The first journey is reaching recognition. If you rise in this world to a high enough place, the Divine Order will recognize you as a potential Elder of your family.

The second journey is finding your perfect match. Whether match making with an existing family, or another new person achieving recognition, your choices have costs, and penalties, as you make your way into the true stage of this world.

The third journey is beginning your family. Instruction and training, and funding your children to prepare them to be scions.

The fourth journey is one your family will undertake, as they become a little legacy. Prepare them, and wisely lead them so they will grow when you are no longer with us.

Someone, eventually, will begin a legacy that becomes the next Kestle. It may not be for hundreds of years, and the odds are great, but your name will echo with eternity if your way is strong enough to reach the heavens.

But first, begin, choose your type, your weapons, and consider carefully your appearance, as it has a great and often ignored impact."

Shizue happily chose Elf-Type, making the Elven Longsword her primary weapon and Elvish Bow her secondary. She chose to stay a woman, though she heard there were those who preferred to switch from their everyday gender for the Divine Legacy world.

Certain aspects of her physique, which impacted strength, grace et all, were already locked in by chosing Elf-Type, but she was able to chose from a large group of Elf type clothing, and a smaller group of Elf-blade styles.

She wanted loose clothing that would allow her arms and legs the freedom to move swiftly and not catch on anything. She went with a practical pair of comfortable white shorts, ending just above her knees. Her blouse had more of the elven style, flowers tied to it's bronze buttons. The main color was cerulean blue, but an artistic impression of a lynx was the centerpoint of the blouse.

Her face she adjusted to look fierce yet with a hint of diplomacy and grace. Her hair was brunette pepper with leaves, several of which held her hair tight in a braid.

She would have freedom of movement, and still some style, favoring the practical art of battle over the Courtesan's art of impressing significant figures.

Aleisha could pull off beautiful and practical, but as a newcomer Shizue had to compromise a bit.

Her longsword had a matching cerulean hilt with bands of lynx hair to catch her handles and avoid her grip from sliding, plus she thought it looked cool.

Her longbow was wood-hewn, polished to prevent splinters, not as large as a full longbow but it's arrows would at least offer some aid in long range situations.

Her eyes were cat-slitted and ears pointed, and at last she was finished with her character build.

She brushed her tanned gloved hand against her right ear, and confirmed, yet this was not a simulation but high technology. Her ears had shifted as she instructed the computer, and her weapons were right in front of her.

There was a simple clasp to hold her bow in place behind her back. She was glad she didn't have a bigger bow, it would have impeded her movements with the longsword.

The announcer's voice appeared again, a few minutes later as the last of those customizing themselves were forced to finish fast.

"Good good. Just some statistics for your benefit as you socialize and look for teammates. 45% percent of you guys chose a ranged build, 55% melee. As most trios choose 2 melee and 1 ranged, you will find that you melee folks are in higher demand. I expect to see some arguments between the ranged folk about who deserves to team up. Who knows, maybe even a few 3 ranger builds."

The announcer laughed and then went silent.

Shizue looked around, and was surprised by the older man's new appearance. He was clean-shaven, six inches shorter. Stouter, even pudgy. He had already put some kind of gear on his right hand. It seemed to be something brutal to punch people with.

The other equipment was even more mysterious, being two small steel balls connected by a chain. It must be a ranged weapon as the fist weapon was melee.

"Shizue Ayala," she introduced herself. "Elf-Type swords-lady."

"I appreciate that you didn't go all in on courtesan style, or dreamy eyed Elven Ranger lady. Oh umm, Simon Racanello. 412 points to play with. I assumed it would be a good idea to share that if you want to team up. I've got a bola which returned to my hands automatically, after a couple seconds.. And a knuckle duster for my up close fisticuffs.

Technically my Primary is makeshift ranged weapons, so I can find and use all kinds of throwing weapons and simple sling style weapons."

Shizue frowned. "I heard makeshift is a disfavored category. Using a professionally made weapons is usually better."

"Do you still want to team up?" he asked, a bit pained.

"What are you after here? I'll tell you what I'm after if you tell me your goals," she asked.

"I want to snatch victory from the unsuspected. I don't want to be unconventional just for its own sake, but I love exploring the disfavored and finding a way to shock people with victories. I hope you are willing to really dig deep in finding our combined strengths and advantages.

"I think sticking to pre-defined strategies fails hard. Don't let yourself get stuck in a fixed pattern and get outmanuevered by someone whose actually thinking.

"We who define the new meta, reach for victory, and I want victory, really badly. If it's not possible then a bitter, savage fight, full of unexpected series of events on our way to leaving this world."

"638 points", she answered a prior question. "I had a lot of contributors, including the man with my vice president position. I love what you said, and I agree. We have to play the social game to some extent, but my focus is on battle, victory and surprise victory at that."

"I want to be mobile, precise, flanking and surprising our foe, speedier than anyone anticipates. Clever and willing to show a goblin's cheek and cunning, a Shield's durability and a halfling's resourcefulness." Ayala said, adding "I really want to make an impact that will actually reach home ahead of me, but most of all, I want to last, and survive on this planet with my dignity intact. I'm not selling out for a courtesan position, if I could even get one."

"Good, now we need to find a third," Simon said.

The briefest glance at Simon's build sent a dozen fleeing from the possibility. Makeshift was makedead, three people said, and the rest thought it.

You need either a precise, long range, ranged unit, or a brutish and powerful thrower type ranged unit. Flexible and makeshift seemed like an opportunity to not have a great ranged weapon at the start.

Trios didn't stay together forever. Those who won were wracked by the gossip about who was carrying who. Those who lost were wracked by talk of who was ruining them.

Only the very top, the Divine Legacy trios, and the very bottom stayed together, the latter desperately gambling with a horrible ELO and a bad situation, hoping to rise up before their points drained away.

The greatest found themselves gaining points as they spent their days. The worst lost huge portions of even a large nest egg day by day. The middles went along, losing points steadily but hopefully making an impact on someone of note.

The trios which were completed were wandered into the dispatch center, where they were placed in their first scenario.

The five hundred which originally filled the room (now that the chairs had lowered back under the floor), were whittling down.

Not even other ranged types wanted to join their team.

Weirdly, a few people with golden signet rings on their finger were wandering about.

Shizue found groups of 3 ranged types leaving the ballroom now.

"They set me up, Damn them!" said a ring bearing lady.

She had a golden hammer and shield each polished to a mirror shine, and the shield had some kind of crest etched upon it.

The last few people fled the ballroom in trios. They weren't happy, but Shizue and Simon had their heads lowered, and didn't even noticed that they were two of the last three people in the ballroom.

"Did you not listen to a single report while in orbit!?"

Shizue blinked, finally noticing a ring bearing lady.

"There's got to be a thousand duplicates of you, Elf sworder. Courtesan."

She spit on the floor. Her equipment gave away a honored Shield-type ideal, but her words and deeds seem to speak otherwise.

"And you! Didn't you know Makeshift ranged is even worse than makeshift melee?"

"I like being unconventional, and surprising people," said Simon.

"Of course, that's what they all say. Come on, let's go before they lock us in here."

"You're a legacy," Simon said.

Shizue was oblivious to it. It made sense though. The children of legacies who hadn't yet started the great game would join up in the 500.

"Why didn't you group up with other legacies?" he finished.

"They tricked me! I had a group planned, and then everyone already grouped up. Even my backup plans failed. One of them even joined a stupid trio just to spite a junior legacy. Silver legacies are just families ready to die, so they say."

Shizue followed the angry shield type Silver legacy lady, as she walked rapidly.

The Situation room didn't even have much of a line anymore. Only 3 other trios were there chatting rapid fire about ideas and strategies.

"Shizue," she started to say, introducing herself.

"I'm Jewell Chamness, and I already know I'm doomed. I don't want to know the family names of those who doomed me, in case I do something stupid."

"We both, like really, want to win," Simon said.

"Your sets don't say that."

"What can I say, I wanted to find a new meta." And Shizue liked combining practicality with Aleisha Roe's style.

"Well, at least you'll be able to move without tripping over the hem of some dress," Jewell said. "Look, if we can make it to 1500 ELO, maybe my family will be able to maneuver a deal with another silver or bronze legacy. Shizue, maybe you can make something last, Simon, you'll have to work like a fiend to be average. I hope you're prepared."

 "Team 96,183. Assignment: Beginner Harvest Battlefield."

"Hmm. Harvest's corn fields may make ranged not quite so important," Jewell said.

"Step onto the transporter pad"

They each walked over to the series of concentric rings next to the Situation desk.

"Good luck," said the situation man.

They were placed in the center of town, in a loft style apartment above the General store.

Jewell immediately grabbed the spyglasses off the wooden end table near a modest window that looked out at the town green.

Shizue waited impatiently as Jewell said nothing, peering through the spy-glasses.

"No one around the town green, I imagine we're not the first ones here."

"What is this harvest situation?" Simon asked.

"7 day beginner scenario, with a new team arriving from the daily newbies each day. You never know if you are the last group to arrive or the first. I suspect we're not the last, as I don't see any blood or monsters.

The boundary monsters will get closer day by day, encircling the town. If we had a true Elven longbow or some kind of good ranged specialist, we could target call from right here. Bolas aren't going to do you any good from here, Simon."

The loft had a small fireplace, enough to keep them warm if they huddled up to it at night.

It was a fall-time type of cool, at least for those familiar with a seasonal climate, like Shizue.

Simon went to the fireplace and pulled out several pieces of wood which were already in there.

He seemed to want a sharp implement. "If you want a dull sword, give it to him," Jewell warned her.

"One cut, and then you're done," Shizue said to Simon.

He sliced diagonally through the log, retrieving a stake like slice of the wood.

Shizue realized she had a pouch of accessories, and pulled out a rag and wiped down the longsword, removing the bits of wood detritus stuck to it.

While Jewell looked out the window, and Simon tried to make something out of the pieces of wood he had separated, Shizue went into the loft's bedroom and practiced her footwork, positioning and sword swings with the longsword.

"Shizue!" Jewell shouted.

Shizue left the bedroom, stowing her longsword in the clip around her belt again.

"We're headed downstairs, with Simon keeping watch from up here," Jewell said.

A solid door separated the loft from the stairs down.

Jewell had both hands full with hammer and shield, so Shizue drew out the longsword with her right hand and turned the door handle with her left.

Jewell rushed through the door and scanned the stairs and then end where the stairs connected with another door one floor down.

She bounded the stairs quickly, and Shizue rushed to keep up.

Jewell waited for her to reach the bottom. Once again Shizue nudged the door open. But this time she didn't rush through it.

"Go for it," Jewell said. "I'll be right behind you.

Shizue stumbled and scrambled through the door, crouching down along the size of a store shelf. She looked here, there, everywhere.

The only sign that someone else was present was a muffled scream.

The stranger held a thicker longer sword by his free hand, using his other to brace himself as he slunk down against the corner wall.

Shizue swung her longsword with the purpose of removing the sword from the man's grip, as he barely held on.

The solid clang of metal on metal caused her right hand to tingle from the vibration and she stomped her foot on the man's hand with sword still in it.

Jewell was not playing a capture game, as she fiercely smashed at the man's face with her hammer.

Shizue stepped back in disgust as blood splatted her face and clothes. She sneezed and spit, clearing the gross substance, trying to regain her cool.

The man disappeared, teleported by the planet's technologies she guessed, but that didn't prevent blood splatter

"I'm actually being merciful by getting him out of this battle sooner. It's not worth the points when you stick around after taking a major loss to your team. He must have finished off the rest of another team. If he still had a team of his own left, they would have helped him. Still, cover me."

Shizue followed Jewell around the edge of another row of shelves and to the end of the storefront where a door led outside.

Jewell breached that door, and Shizue followed, and they circled the building, finding nothing of note. There wasn't anyone else in the earea.

She didn't want to travel in the open, so instead they went back into the store, grabbing the few useful things which were left.

It was a quiet night as they took turns looking through the spyglass, spotting no one else. Jewell told them there would be another team arriving tommorrow. All buildings would be marked unoccupiable by the 5th day, and then they would have to wander through the area, with less and level covered, as the structures gradually descended or vanished.

The 6th day allowed a little sneakiness, but the 7th day was the final day of battle when fighting would happen completely in the open.

They had to be at least the third day, and it was likely at least 4th day. They would know in the morning.

Despite what little sleep they had between lookup shifts, morning came quick. The loud popping sound woke up Jewell, and Jewell yelling at them woke up Shizue.

"5th day, the building is kicking us out."

It was morning, which meant the new team was likely at full strength, not meeting anyone yet.

They encircled the village, creeping around behind the buildings they couldn't enter.

When they spotted another team, Simon threw his bola at the crouching enemy forty feet ahead.

He got the throw wrong, and an arrow pierced his side in response. After initially crying out, Simon managed to slide into the darker taller grass behind a little wagon which was behind the farm and feed.

"Go," he whispered through clenched teeth with the bola back in his hand.

Jewell rushed forward and Shizue ran just a fraction behind her and to her side.

Simon's second throw hit the enemy on the head, but it just caused him to be dazed.

Two foes were upon them as Shizue ran forward, jumping up from the underbrush.

She managed to step aside as the archer's dazed shot went past.

The jagged edges of her opponents axe pushed Shizue's longsword down into the dirt, and it was only her scoot backwards that kept her from getting gouged.

The man had overswung on his backhand, and she used the longsword's position low to the ground to cut into his legs, and then twirled to her left 300 degrees back in position to deflect the next axe blow.

He didn't have much momentum to that blow, and the Warrior blade style lady facing Jewell was impaled by her hammer.

Shizue floated in and out range, faking a hard swinging blow of her opponent's hammer, getting a chunky hit against the man's torso.

She took a blow from the axe which hadn't yet hit full speed as her position was extended. It cut and tore, but she pushed the axe away with her knee, intending to lunge in for the kill, as instead, the unoccupied Jewell threw her hammer at the man full force, causing him to crumple to the ground screaming in agony.

This time Shizue didn't hesitate, stabbing at the man's chest, but he disappeared. It was unusual that the teleport didn't affect her sword that was lodged in him, at least she thought that was odd. Jewell was unfazed.

Simon was hurt, but not too bad. Shizue had a cut from the axe, and several scrapes. She started to bandage her cut from the small bit of bandages in her pouch.

"You can't use their weapons, even if you use the same kind," Jewell was telling Simon. "You earn better weapons by getting and spending points, and sometimes there are special currencies for achievements in battle."

"How can I stay safe?" Simon asked.

"Fire from cover, but be watchful. Every melee battler wants to find their way against the enemy's ranged battler. With that bola, you'll have to experiment."

Shizue couldn't help but repetitively wipe her longsword clean.

"You won't care how much blood is on your weapon, eventually," Jewell said.

After creeping all the way around the edge of buildings, fighting that battle, they crept past two more buildings, and it was a 60 yard gap to the tall corn fields.

"If there's a ranged battler just inside the corn, they'll have every opportunity to shoot us. There's one more group out there," Jewell warned.

Simon threw out the bola, and to Shizue's surprise the chain and balls crashed through the corn stalks, revealing a small section where they had been chopped down.

"Get low and watch for responses," Jewell said.

They got down on hands and knees and waited. Nothing.

Jewell and Shizue decided to cross the open area, with Simon covering them.


The corn field's size was hard to judge as corn rows fill their sight.

Jewell didn't like the idea of waiting for a confrontation with the day 6 and day 7 groups, and instead had them hunting after the new group.

Finally, Jewell held up two fingers and they stopped dead silent.

There was rustling ... and laughter?

Crouched down as they were, they must have been completely undetected as the group passed them by.

Jewell flashed her palm at them in a horizontal position, and leaped out of her crouching position, delivering a uppercut hammer blow to the furthest back enemy.

Shizue rushed at the target on the left, leaving the further up enemy on the right for Jewell. Her foe's instinct was to draw bow even though Shizue was right upon the woman.

Her longsword sliced clean through the bowstring. It skipped off the bottom edge of the bow, and Shizue anticipated an attack, twirling counterclockwise while stepping back and then lunging in when nothing presented itself.

The longsword blasted through clothing and skin and the scream which was stopped by Simon placing his knuckle-duster through her face.

A gong sound echoed as Jewell was pushed back by a heavy arbalast bolt which shattered against her golden shield.

Shizue didn't look back as Simon fired and she rushed after the only survivor on the enemy team.

The girl with arbalest was hesitant for a split second, and Shizue was just barely able to dive to the ground as an arbalest bolt screamed over her head.

She groaned, rolling, getting to her feet and losing sight of the enemy girl for a moment.

The sound of a wumph, and then gurgling, and then Jewell returned to them.

"Left a scratch on my shield," Jewell complained.

Shizue ached and was exhausted from doing something she hadn't done before. But after taking a few minutes to rest, she practiced with Simon how to tumble, roll, get back up, and even some rudimentary play fighting. She didn't want to take a punch from Simon, even from his bare hands.

There was no food anywhere, and no shelter, so all they could do is lay down in the middle of the wheat field, after it grew dark.

They crept along the edge of the corn field on day 6, confirmed the buildings were gone, and the originally safe spots alongside them were now open. Only the fields offered cover and protection.

It was looking pretty good for their trio until Shizue took a wrong step right into the line of sight of a crouching enemy.

He was a swordsman, but more the strong Human-Type swordsman. Hard to say his actual skills, as the initial surprise caught her off guard. She backpedaled, trying to parry and dodge, but when she tried her elven spin moves, she caught a blade right into her forehead.

 Where was Jewell," Shizue asked struggling to get up. Her head was spinning, sound was coming out of her mouth, but it was all fuzzy and muted.

She spotted Jewell fighting frantically against two foes as Simon was already teleported out. She couldn't get up in time, she had failed Jewell this round.

When she came to, Shizue knew where she was right away. It was Divine Legacy's famous Hospital-Teleporter.

Any residual pain or injuries from battle were dealt with by the technicians as she left the teleporter pad with Simon.

"Well all in all, we did better than I expected," Simon said.

"But I was hoping for a win!" Shizue said.

Of course, normal electronic devices were not allowed on the planet, but they had received a small phone like device they could use to check on their point totals and a few other details.

Newbie Trio 96,183
Team ELO <<Indeterminate>>
 - L: Jewell Chamness <<Indeterminate>>
 - 2: Shizue Ayala : ELO (538) - Vista 5th floor access.
 - 3: Simon Racanello: ELO (391) - Vista 3rd floor access.

Beginner Harvest Battleground #83
ONGOING

They took the cylinder shaped elevator down to the 3rd floor. It seemed Shizue had access to the 4th and 5th floor, but she would check them out later.

It might have seemed like the 3rd floor would be less than impressive, but  the elevator opened up into a wide garden with park benches and pathways going in six directions from this central spot.

"Might as well take advantage of our time," Simon said.

The first thing they did is went to the cantina at the end of the fifth pathway. It seemed full, but they got a table right away.

It was simple food. Rice and beans with chicken and a spicy sauce and they each had a lemonade. There were a few light beers and wine selections as well.

"How long till we see Jewell?" Simon asked.

"WATCH THE LATEST GAMBLE BRAWL!" announced a voice from outside the Cantina.

The others sitting in there rushed out, and as they were done with their meals they followed, after getting reassurance that these meals were comped as part of their daily rate.

A large holo-screen which hadn't been there before appeared.

"40 penniless battlers gambling away their last hours of fun to try to scrape and claw their way back into the Dream of Legacies. Half drunk, half grizzled, this is a battle of all against all, for only one can receive the reward, the others go home."

They all had basically the same type of weapons as Shizue and Simon had.

She wasn't sure if they were mostly unshaven and slovenly because of the brutal battles they had lost or something else. Most of them were scarred and cut up, but that didn't prevent the alert ones from acting.

A few of the men and women just laid down and let the end come, unable to even function. Others collapsed after a swift series of blows, so that other than one battle between two competent swordsmen it was one-sided demolitions.

Melee decapitation. Lethal bow fire, but the ranged fighters were turned against, and without the support of two members of a trio, they were the next to go, and soon the blood of the arena had flowed, so only five remained.

The crowd around them hooted and yelled as the fighters fought. Three of the surviving men went over the other two, who happened to be women.

The first woman was a Dwarf-type woman, especially rare, wielding a smaller, quicker axe. The other woman was a Vixen-type, wielding a thin curved blade.

The two ladies coordinated, and while taking a few gouges, managed to tag team the man in the middle of the men's group.

The ladies weren't nice about it, and neither were the men.

One of the men said something beyond the pale, which made Shizue flushed red. The Vixen type made a brutally aggressive attack, sweeping straight through the Human-type man.

She was herself impaled, chopped by the tomahawk of a Red-Type man.

The man found his tomahawk stuck in the Vixen's skull, and was in turn hacked and torn apart from the Dwarf-type woman.

"Besgreala wins. What a battle!" said the announcer. "The next holo-event will be Aurora Arena, a battle between 16th ranked Dots Trio and the 3rd ranked Raucus Rumble."

Ayala was surprised. While in the arena, everyone had disappeared before taking gruesome damage, on the video display the battles didn't hold back from showing anything. Did the planet system simulate the damage that would have been done when it teleported someone away? To increase the spectacle for people viewing the games? She guessed so.

Shizue checked her points. The points from the Harvest battle were still in escrow.

"Looks like Jewell is still out there. We should get some sleep, we'll be up and about when she takes down the day 7 trio," Shizue said.

"Think she can do it alone? That seems unlikely. They are trying to chase her down right now," Simon said

"We did ok. She was ticked that she was grouped with us, and you saw her out there. Plus she's a Silver Legacy," Shizue said.

"You were pretty awesome. Never fought before?" Simon asked.

"A little play fighting as a kid. Never the real thing," Shizue said.

"A little less flourish I think, but otherwise you've got it," Simon continued.

The 'hotels' on the third floor were only for 4 hours at a time, because players have to keep playing or their point drain will finish them off.

"Go sleep on the fifth floor, Shizue. I'll find my way around after I get a bit of rest."

After arguing about it, she agreed and ascended the elevator up to the fifth floor.

It was still a quite charged atmosphere, with frequent videos on the many televisions displaying particular fights, with loud announcers, but a little more classy. There was more variety of food options, and she was able to get 8 hours in a nice comfy bed.

Wildden's First Exam

It was sixthday, the day of the week for exams for every student.

Wildden was no exception. His residence had been supplied with an exam day outfit. Similar to the gray full length dress he wore daily, this one had white stripes and a badge which read Level 1 Student which attached to a magnet embedded in his dress.

The trains seemed to be more full today. He couldn't imagine anyone missing regular school days, so why were there more students today.

Instead of going to their normal computer lab, they were directed by a group of Education examiners who drove them on along the walkways of the vast Education complex.

Reaching the Exam complex, they were scanned for contraband, tablets surrended and replaced with identity cards, and each student directed into a separate room the size that Monastic Beginners got for a bedroom.

VR encased the entire room, and the desk and computer was built back into the wall of the cell.

Please Wait for the Exam to Start. Said a loud voice, seemingly coming from everywhere in the cell and echoing everywhere.

Wildden waited for a few minutes until the voice spoke again.

A few points of Order.

First, you may take the Subject Sub-Exams in any order. If you have a locked score on a sub-exam, you will not be able to take that Sub-Exam.

Do not leave your exam closet until your exam is complete.

When you are finished with all of the subject sub-exams, please follow the auditors directions obediently and quietly.

May the days of Hard study result in an Exam which exceeds expectations.


The exam computer turned on, resetting data that seemed to be from last weeks Exam in this cell.

 Finally it was ready to receive Wildden's identity card, and when that was inserted it displayed the subject sub-exam menu.

Discipline : LOCKED (100%)
>> Civics
>> Health
>> Etiquette

Wildden had studied Civics and Health, but never got a chance to study Etiquette as he had started on thirdday of this cohort's first week.

He would save etiquette for last. It was unlikely but maybe he would pick up some hints while going through the other two subjects.

>> Civics

Civics VR started.

This time the VR equipment only took a few seconds before his vision and inner ear was confused, and then the scene changed from blackness into an exhibit which had different phrases written on easels, placed along the wall.

"Please put these concepts in order from less important / central / civic-minded, to more important / central / civic minded."

The phrases were:

• Achievement for the earner, exile for the spurner
• A City of Trust, by Trust, and for the Trusted
•  Ordered Society: first the Examiner, than the Business, then the Monastic.
• A Proper Place and Proper Purpose for every Citizen
• The City Dream: Pursuing the Path
• Prudential and Overflow: Seeking the Surplus as Seedcorn
• Pardoning the Bad, is injuring the Good.
• People of Integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will be exposed

 This was challenging. Many of the precepts were similar, so how to rank them. This was not just a matter of reading the civics book and repeating it.

He worked on first sorting them into rough levels of significance to the city.

Higher:

A proper place ....
Ordered Society ...
A City of Trust...

Middle:
Pardoning the Bad is injuring the Good
The City Dream
People of Integrity

Lower:
Prudential and Overflow
Achievement for the earner, exile for the spurner


He fiddled with the order, swapping the easels several times as he assessed what the City seemed to be from books and his own life.

1. A City of Trust, by Trust, and for the Trusted
2. A Proper Place and Proper Purpose for every Citizen
3. Ordered Society: first the Examiner, then the Business, then the Monastic
4. The City Dream: Pursuing the Path
5. People of Integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths with be exposed.
6. Pardoning the Bad is injuring the Good
7. Achievement for the Earner, exile for the Spurner
8. Prudential and Overflow: Seeking the Surplus as Seedcorn

"Is that your answer, asked the anonymous voice."

"That's my answer," he finally said.

Next, the vista around him changed.

Buildings were underwater. People were extremely overweight, and many of them hardly moved at all, as they traveled in personal vehicles instead of using the train.

"What time period is this?"

"Late Pre-City," Wildden answered immediately.

"What problems were latent in the Late Pre-City period?"

"There was a lack of purpose for many people. A dissolution of social cohesion. Inability to coordinate to deal with changing climate because of pollution. Extreme reliance on point system that carried over from one generation to the next, leaving people with no chance of reaching high positions."

He went along answering questions accompanied by VR scenery and situations.

There was one freeform implicit civics test. The point of it was hard to find and there were many ancillary aspects to it. After that the civics sub-exam was done.

Health had a even mix of practical situations and question, answer.

The weird part at the end was a health assessment that Wildden suspected was more than a VR, but an actual measure of his health. Weight, height, Bodyfat%, Strength, cardiovascular capacity and health, nervous system, skeletal system, blood type.

The measurements went on and on, but it didn't seem to be any kind of grading, until he was being graded by his current health. He was older, and thus had some age related complaints but he was also health and physically active for his age.

Finally, the Health Sub exam was over and he was on to the only subject he hadn't studied: Etiquette.

When it came to the basics of respectfulness, Wildden was good, but when it came to properly living in high society, he had no experience.

He could recognize the first few situations the VR put him in, and respond humbly for what he thought were good scores.

He was clueless though, when it became time to follow the higher etiquette that was about social settings, dinners, and other situations which were even less recognizable.

Clueless, when it came to hosting events at the imaginary home the VR put him in. The fancy drinks of a fancy society were lost on him since he didn't drink.

After a long series of bumbling scenarios in the Etiquette sub-exam, he finished the test.

He didn't get to see any of his subject scores or the overall score until the end. Finally the VR withdrew and returned Wildden to his normal view of the tiny exam cell, where he looked at the screen for final results.

Discipline: 100%
Civics: 81%
Health: 69%
Etiquette: 43%

1/4 (1.5 Discipline + 1.25 Civics + 0.75 Health + 0.50 Etiquette) = 81%

81% OVERALL
20% (F:061) < 45% (E:081) < [[81% (B)]] < 90% (A : 102)
061 : Monastic School Level 1
081 : Business School Level 1
102 : Student Level 2 
Continue as Level 1 Student (+45 credits, E3).

For only having a short week to study, Wildden considered that pretty good.

~ o ~ o ~ # ~ o ~ o~ 
Promotion: Practicals (1267) + Leader (2898) + Theory (442) =4607 >> 4000 (+607)

Please Report to Central to be apprised of your Promotion Opportunity.

She remembered warmly the times before where she was promoted.
But now, she was mystified.

Chairman Business Order was a peak position, just like Master Monastic Order and Dean Examiner Order. There was no higher position for her to take, and yet here was the promotion.

She had seen three different Chairmen Business Order officials from the time she began in the order until she took the position herself. She never heard exactly why the others had moved or left their position.

She had figured it was some kind of violation when she' seen them replaced before. A severe kind.

Luckily for Jemma, Central was just down the hall.

Gov. Support Computer Sr. Examiner - Business Order HQ was manned by a balding Senior Examiner. Despite having a Chief Examiner, Division Chief and Dean over him, the status of a Senior Examiner was roughly the same as her status as leader of the Business Order.

So as she approached the Senior Examiner, she took on the posture of an equal, nonetheless, honoring the higher order.

"Senior Examiner," she asked, leaning into the doorframe of the man's office.

"Come in, Chairman" the man said, his desk marked with little bits of individuality which marked his status and past postings.

"I've received a 'promotion' notice. I'm not sure what position I could be promoted to."

"Close the door," the Senior Examiner asked, so she did.

"This is G6 classified information. You should find new information when you look at your data record."

Jemma noticed a new line in her identity record.

Prestige: Pending (Business Order -> Examiner Order).

"To provide an opportunity, as well as ensure there are not a multitude of qualified candidates for senior positions, the Prestige system was instituted. After reaching the position of Chairman Business Order, or Master Monastic Order, if the candidates performance is sufficiently above norm, they are 'prestige promoted.'

You will be promoted to the Examiner Order, wheres the Master Monastic Order would be promoted to the Business Order. On the other hand, because you haven't deal with the challenges of the Examiner Order since your original reassignment into Business Order, you will be starting over as a Student 1. A promoted Monastic Master would begin again in Business School 1."

"I don't have any choice about whether to start over?"

"Unfortunately, there is always a pressure from those who are ready to move up to take your position, and take their position and so on.

There is a Student block, having completed their first week. The block includes 3 other adult students who have been reassigned from various places. You might enjoy the challenge of competing with Level 1 Student Wildden, who just obtained the highest score ever on the discipline progressive evaluation VR."

"What about uniforms?"

"We'll have Hospitality deliver them."

It was only a few minutes before her identity record changed to Level 1 Student.

Prestige: Active (Business Order -> Examiner Order).


When she got to the E5 Level 1 Student residence, Jemma had no idea who her roommate Alana was, though it was obvious she had been business order, but she wasn't a past Chairman. Her tenativenss proved that.

The different hospitality levels assigned to each person in the city were not widely known, but rising up through the Hospitality division burned them into her brain. E5 was the beginning of Student residences. Business school and Monastic School housing started at the smaller and more sparse E3 and cell like E1.

As Chief Executive Residence Hospitality, Jemma was responsible for X(1,2,3) class residences and the top Examiner leadership who lived at them. They were the largest penthouses, and in some of the more central places in the city.

E5 double occupancy, but with two separate small bedrooms and one common room with small bathroom. It was the first level with a in-unit bathroom.

Jemma may not have known Alana, but Alana was shocked to find the head of her old order rooming with her.

"It's a second chance to prove myself as an examiner," she had told Alana.

"Similar for me, although I still had room to learn more in Business Order," Alana said.

She filled Jemma in on the adults in the Residence Block. Ex-Monastic, Ex-Business, and a Demoted Examiner going through Student status again.