“Now then my dear, I have a few questions of my own.”
Just outside the amphitheater, past where the other council members looked on or chatted amongst themselves, Mave spotted children playing in an open field. A few of them sat facing her, eyeing her and whispering in each other’s ears from a safe distance.
“They are why we do this,” the red robed councilman said, looking at the children fondly. He waved to them. One waved back. Another stuck out her tongue and ran. The councilman chuckled.
“They’re so rambunctious at that age. Now, where were we? Ah, yes. My first question. What was life like growing up?”
The question caught Mave by surprise. She’d been expecting some of the personal questions that Josh had talked about. This sounded almost innocent. Then again, it wasn’t as if they’d start with the hard stuff. She decided to keep her guard up as best she could.
“Life was good,” she began after some thought. “It was simple. I lived with my parents, studied, spent time with my friends and sometimes family. Nothing special.”
“Mm hm. I see. And what sorts of rules did you break? It is known to us that the sectors have many rules, and I am sure your parents also had rules that they set.”
Mave wasn’t altogether certain how to answer. Yes there’d been rules. And yes, she had broken quite a few of them in her time. So did most other kids. It was knowing what rules were never enforced that really made the difference. Somehow, she felt that such an honest answer was not the correct one.
“There weren’t many rules to break. Our sector is pretty easy going, and so were my parents.”
If the councilman was disappointed, he didn’t show it. He smiled benignly and continued.
“I see. Well, I’m satisfied, I think. One more question, young Mave. If you had to guess, why were you chosen for deselect status?”
It was the one question that, for some reason, Mave hadn’t been expecting. She had thought of these people as outcasts like herself, but hadn’t considered that they did not think of themselves that way.
“I think it was because I couldn’t find a suitable mate by Selection Day,” she said.
“Couldn’t find a mate? That seems strange. Are you sure there was no one?”
A flash of Harper caused a pang of fear and regret in Mave’s heart, but she quickly suppressed it.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
The councilman nodded, but Mave was sure he was unconvinced.
“Alright. Well, that concludes our session. You’ll be meeting with a few other council persons. Those that want to have a personal interview with you. If history is any indicator, there won’t be many. Most prefer to ask their questions during the formal meeting. Easier to be impersonal about their decisions should things not work out.”
Mave still wasn’t sure what ‘not working out’ meant.
“Good luck to you, Mave Longborn.” He got up from the stump, his robe sweeping behind him as he left.
The next person to sit down was a middle aged woman with short, neat white hair and a stern expression.
“Mave, correct?” The woman asked.
“Yes.”
“You may call me Lynn. I have only one question, Mave. Is there anything we should know about you going into the hearing?”
Mave wasn’t sure how to answer. She didn’t really know what it was that they would like to know. The woman must have taken her silence as an answer. She nodded curtly and left.
Three other council members wanted to talk with her before the hearing. One was the youngest looking of the bunch. He seemed mostly to want to know whether she was available. Another was a middle aged man with a kindly smile and a limp. She listened politely while he spoke, but he mostly talked about his day to day, mentioning names and places that Mave knew nothing of. By the end of that conversation she wondered if the man was beginning to lose his mind. The last person was another woman, younger than Lynn. Her questioning was razor sharp and to the point. She seemed mostly interested in her feelings about her place in their society.
“I’m not sure. I haven’t really had a chance to learn much about it,” she said innocently.
The woman nodded patiently with a wry smile.
“We’re really sorry about that, Mave. Well,” said raising an eyebrow while as she looked at the congregating councilmembers, “some of us are.”
She laid a hand on Mave’s shoulder. “Don’t be frightened. The worst that could happen is that you’ll be ejected with a day’s rations.”
“That’s the worst thing?” Mave asked. Somehow, Jonah’s attitude had seemed to say otherwise. The woman when pressed was hesitant.
“If everything you’ve told me is true, there’s no reason to expect the worst,” she said as she ended their meeting.
The councilmembers began to end their conversations, sitting in the stone seats cut into the mountain. People in the community gathered around and sat on the opposite side, so that Mave was between them and the councilmembers.
Mave spotted a torch lighter some distance away, lighting the crude lampposts erected around the encampment. The councilmembers in front of her and the mob behind her continued to chatter, and Mave began to wonder what they were waiting for.
Shortly, a group of men began to pile enormous logs from the trees in the forest in stacks to Mave’s left. They stacked the levels high, alternating direction. The work was quick, and they were finished by the time the lamplighter was making his way over.
The lamplighter, with a flourish, brought his torch to bear on the pile. As the flame leapt over the pile the lamplighter twirled expertly away. How many people, exactly, had sat where she sat now. She’d escaped the system, or so she thought. Yet here she was once again – on trial and under inspection. Having to prove she was good enough to exist.
Mave looked up to the councilmembers, veiled and solemn shadows from a high hill. They, in turn, looked down on her in quiet, introspective, judgement. The bonfire lit half her face, and that eye was clear. The other half of her was veiled by the first half, shielded from the light and cloaked in shadow. But the white of her eye showed around her iris, something sharp in it, hidden.
“Mave Longborn,” said a voice from the veiled shadows, the dancing, flickering light of the fire revealing one face, perhaps several, then others. It was as if it was a shifting creature, changing appearance but remaining innately the same. “From whence you came we care not. To where you go we care not. Only that you are of some use while you are here. What are your plans for yourself?
Mave looked into the shifting hillside mass, pondering.
“To survive,” she said.
There were murmurs from behind her, in the crowd. But a councilmember, a hand of the creature, raised a hand and the crowd was hushed.
“To that end,” said the creature, “what are you willing to do for our society?”
“Whatever it takes,” Mave said, without hesitation. The words rang falsely to her.
“The councilmembers were silent for a while more, whispering to each other. The creature, thinking.
“The tasks we currently require, the ones that are available in our society for newcomers, are dangerous ones. You will become a mode of communication and delivery. Is this acceptable?”
Mave didn’t know what to do. She’d been warned of exactly this. However, if she was to be trusted with long journeys, then running away was always an option.
“I accept.”
Another murmur went through the crowd. The lamplighter went from post to post along the hillside, lighting the torches, making the creature resolve into individuals, again.
