for me, this pose is also very conducive to a drowsy sort of sleep.
I half-listen as the entertainers go through some memorial service and sing a mournful song. Then Saloman prattles on about faith and love and staying strong for each other.
I think, anyways.
The group of Leaders taking the stage wakes me up a little, and I watch them file forward, wondering if I would have chosen that vocation, if Aitan hadn’t.
Everything would be so different now if just one choice had been changed.
Perhaps that’s the difference between fate and free will.
Keirna waves the other Leaders to their seats and takes her place at the front. She’s not a large woman, but her eyes and voice seem to fill the room as she recites a short speech about Choosing Day. I recognize Aitan’s wording. He’s always been good at writing her canned comments for these sorts of events. I’m barely paying attention again when Anan shoves at my shoulder.
“Hey, wake up. She said there’s a punishment.”
I sit up straighter, wondering who it is and what they are accused of. I remember reading once about how they did punishments before the Sickness - with long trials and lots of people involved in the decision.
Here in Asphodel it’s only Keirna. So people are a lot more obedient, and a lot more careful about how and why they disobey.
If someone broke a rule, there was a good reason.
Two protectors emerge from a hallway, each holding an arm of a small woman. I search her face, but she isn’t familiar. She looks a little frightened, but she holds her head up, looking dispassionately at our upturned faces.
“This woman,” First Leader Keirna begins, “is accused of stealing from the store in which she works. We propose that her punishment be confinement in a public cell until the money she stole is repaid with community donations, plus a Level Three punishment of two weeks’ confinement. Are there any objections?”
The people around me are already losing interest, now that they know it’s just stealing. No crime is common here, but stealing is perhaps the most often punished one. Anan starts to lean in to ask me something, but I hold my hand up, seeing a flash of red hair a few rows up.
Surely she wouldn’t.
“Please, First Leader, how much did she steal?” Her voice rings out through the crowd, and my throat constricts too tightly for air to enter. Why in Hades is Trea questioning Keirna? Does she want to make everything harder for us? Is she desperate to die?
“Sixty-four points,” Keirna answers, her glare nearly palpable as she sweeps her eyes over Trea, then over the rest of the crowd.
I hear a few murmurs of consent, and someone behind me whispers, “That’s only enough for Level Two,” before they are shushed by another person.
Keirna raises her hand for silence and gets it immediately. Keirna’s cruelty has touched all of our lives in some way - some large and some small. “Are there any other objections?”
As a group, the crowd says, “Let it be done.”
I feel bad for the woman who has become the subject of Keirna’s anger for now, but I can barely focus on that. All I can think about is Trea, and how I could possibly protect someone that daring. Her mouth will get us both killed one day - and that day is approaching even faster with each act of insubordination.
I ignore the scattering people and stay locked in my seat, a heavy haze of despondency keeping my limbs still.
After a few minutes, Anan circles back to me, obviously concerned.
"Your girl is acting a little different today,” he says as he sits beside me again.
I glance out to the dancers, where his finger points. Trea is dancing with Pallis. I groan as I watch him grope her lower back like the idiot he is.
“Not my girl yet,” I sigh, and Anan laughs.
“Maybe you need to change that,” he answers. “Give her something to remember you by.”
“What would you do?” I ask to pass the time.
“Dance with any girl I could find. Get in her
I half-listen as the entertainers go through some memorial service and sing a mournful song. Then Saloman prattles on about faith and love and staying strong for each other.
I think, anyways.
The group of Leaders taking the stage wakes me up a little, and I watch them file forward, wondering if I would have chosen that vocation, if Aitan hadn’t.
Everything would be so different now if just one choice had been changed.
Perhaps that’s the difference between fate and free will.
Keirna waves the other Leaders to their seats and takes her place at the front. She’s not a large woman, but her eyes and voice seem to fill the room as she recites a short speech about Choosing Day. I recognize Aitan’s wording. He’s always been good at writing her canned comments for these sorts of events. I’m barely paying attention again when Anan shoves at my shoulder.
“Hey, wake up. She said there’s a punishment.”
I sit up straighter, wondering who it is and what they are accused of. I remember reading once about how they did punishments before the Sickness - with long trials and lots of people involved in the decision.
Here in Asphodel it’s only Keirna. So people are a lot more obedient, and a lot more careful about how and why they disobey.
If someone broke a rule, there was a good reason.
Two protectors emerge from a hallway, each holding an arm of a small woman. I search her face, but she isn’t familiar. She looks a little frightened, but she holds her head up, looking dispassionately at our upturned faces.
“This woman,” First Leader Keirna begins, “is accused of stealing from the store in which she works. We propose that her punishment be confinement in a public cell until the money she stole is repaid with community donations, plus a Level Three punishment of two weeks’ confinement. Are there any objections?”
The people around me are already losing interest, now that they know it’s just stealing. No crime is common here, but stealing is perhaps the most often punished one. Anan starts to lean in to ask me something, but I hold my hand up, seeing a flash of red hair a few rows up.
Surely she wouldn’t.
“Please, First Leader, how much did she steal?” Her voice rings out through the crowd, and my throat constricts too tightly for air to enter. Why in Hades is Trea questioning Keirna? Does she want to make everything harder for us? Is she desperate to die?
“Sixty-four points,” Keirna answers, her glare nearly palpable as she sweeps her eyes over Trea, then over the rest of the crowd.
I hear a few murmurs of consent, and someone behind me whispers, “That’s only enough for Level Two,” before they are shushed by another person.
Keirna raises her hand for silence and gets it immediately. Keirna’s cruelty has touched all of our lives in some way - some large and some small. “Are there any other objections?”
As a group, the crowd says, “Let it be done.”
I feel bad for the woman who has become the subject of Keirna’s anger for now, but I can barely focus on that. All I can think about is Trea, and how I could possibly protect someone that daring. Her mouth will get us both killed one day - and that day is approaching even faster with each act of insubordination.
I ignore the scattering people and stay locked in my seat, a heavy haze of despondency keeping my limbs still.
After a few minutes, Anan circles back to me, obviously concerned.
"Your girl is acting a little different today,” he says as he sits beside me again.
I glance out to the dancers, where his finger points. Trea is dancing with Pallis. I groan as I watch him grope her lower back like the idiot he is.
“Not my girl yet,” I sigh, and Anan laughs.
“Maybe you need to change that,” he answers. “Give her something to remember you by.”
“What would you do?” I ask to pass the time.
“Dance with any girl I could find. Get in her
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