Barn sat on the roof. He liked to see the whole neighborhood on one side, then go over to the other sides and see tiny people and such on the other streets and the alleyway. Daytime was the best for this. Right now he was more preoccupied by the array of cards before him. Lady Drizzelda’s card game had enthralled him from the start. He’d already been an avid collector of cicada husks and other insectual artifacts. 

Fortunately for him, the card game was designed to be played across the regions of the city on wooden boards. The boards fit nicely like a puzzle, but did not link. Few tables were large enough for the playing area, so many played on the ground or floor. Drizzelda had commissioned mat tables to be built to fit the game after elders and a girl with muscular atrophy complained about their backs when they played. The only place fit for that was the Slope Gardens. Those were separate from the park. They were wide open packed-dirt plateaus on a large hill to the Northeast edge of the city. There the citizens of the city had met up there at varies stops along the gentle slope. It was a genuine attempt to unite the people of Droon. 

“Too bad we had to walk uphill just to meet as equals with the gentiles. I'm grateful we had a chance to see the deep-cut flaws of their elite families. Drizzel. You’re the only good one. I'm still your friend.”

Barn concentrated on the placement of cards he had arranged on the wooden sections of city. The Slope Gardens had remained untouched since the strife began. 

“Artificers in the college. Most live in the dorms. No problem. Gentiles still doing their thing. We’ve barely phased them. They just cry out in pain and go back to what they were doing. Now we’re terrorists? And what about that sudden mystery of new graves behind the mortuary? Why isn’t anyone talking about that?”

Bran thought out loud. They’d handed out shivs to many people in the working zones and everyone was stationed in their family homes. The Shivs were everyone. With so much danger from the militancy and propaganda, they needed protection. Footsteps preceded a woman ascending the rooftop stairwell. She walked past him and placed two new cards on a wooden panel. 

“Gentiles living in the blue district?”

“They’ve set up an apothecary in the craftstreets. They’re providing poultices and potions. Even a simple cup of tea for people who can’t move quickly.”

How do we make things better? 

“That’s good. They won’t be safe with all the shivs we handed out there.”

“I think they will be. They are already making a good impression. The children and teens especially have taken a liking to them.”

“Well this makes me feel worse and better at the same time.”

“This is exactly how Lady Drizzel’s game was supposed to work.” How can we make a difference? He wanted to go to the apothecary, not to harass - only to inquire about a potion.

Before going down the stairs, he looked at the plasma rods that lay in a line on the ground beside the table. Barn held up a plasma rod. They knew the rods were not functional, but could they remake them? These were merely hollow rods with a handle running into the core partway. The inner portion was carved with runes. He could not pull the two pieces apart. Decoys. Nobody else has these. We can use these as decoys.

He stood up and gestured for the woman to go ahead. He followed her downstairs.

______________

Lillian and Sui sat on the roof of a random apartment. For some reason the homes in the gentile district - which included Sui’s home - were not designed with flat roofs. Instead they had rectangular prism-shaped attics.She knew that word from one of her mother’s articles. Her mother had even shown her by connecting three wooden boards with threaded twine and placed the thing over her daughter. She’d closed the top with a triangle lid. Lilly liked small spaces so she stayed in there until her parents got worried.Lilly thought of her father again. She hoped he was coming back. He probably would be horrified at her. She wanted to see him again anyway. She wanted to hold him even if he flinched away. 

Suina waved a card at her. It was a picture of a knife with reflective and elaborate runes that connected in an elegant framework. “Ooh. Runes dont work like this. They need to be separated.”

Sui slid her thumb over the shiny frame. “Lady Drizzelda made these to look elegant, not to do anything. The knife. Take it. You can backstab your neighbor with it, or you can trade for the bread knife and bake for them. Then there are citizen cards and resources. Even pets! This is a game about trust and collaboration. She wanted to city to see how they could meet instead of feel animosity toward each other.”

“Mmm. That’s boring.”

“Well I guess you are seven. I think it’s boring too. Well this is your punishment. Maybe you can bring them back together.”

“I’ll take this critter and this tree. Then I’ll attack the Shivs with it. They’ll be so happy to see the little animal that I will sneak in and bash them all with the tree.”

“That’s horrible. You’re starting to scare me a little bit Lilly.”

“Hmmm. Alright shade of my sun.”

“Haha what? Are you an adult now?”

“Aum. No. Here the trees are rising up. They’re angry that the cultivators control where they go! The students have to fight back with their inventions. Oh and in this area the apartments are shrinking in on the people living in them! We need to work together to stop it! But we don’t have enough weapons! Use water! Le’falyne comes and breaks apart the bricks. Then they have to make stew. Everyone is hungry.”

“That does sound like more fun.”

“Then you go to the shop and find out what to use the monster parts for.”

“Well she won’t like you changing the game, but I want to see if you can make it fun. Maybe then the players will stay with it.”

“Alright! Where do we go? When do we start?”

“Haha. It won’t be that fast. I have to go to work. You’ve made a mess everywhere you go. I'm going to go on militancy approval to help the cleanup of the workshops and the Dean’s office. See? I enable you and I clean up after your messes!”

“Hmm. How will you make sure I don’t kill someone else while you’re gone??”

“You want to be a grown up? Then you have to decide for yourself. Otherwise you have to accept your punishment from Lady Drizzelda and wait for her to tell you.”

“Some of the players that show up will be ones that murdered innocent people.”

“So did you.”

“Not innocent people.”

“You can mull over that brew while I go earn money. Byebye Lilly.”

“Byebye.”

Lilly stayed on the roof. She lay on her back with a card held above her. The card was a woman wearing a dress and shorts with an open-front skirt. The belt was the most important part. She was an engineer. She worked in a sort of workshop called a forgehall. She was neither worker nor gentile. She was something of both. Was this what Drizzelda wanted? Did she want someone who could travers both worlds, or to merge gentiles with working people? Weren’t there more than two ways to live? 

There are more than two. Lilly rolled onto her belly. She got a berryblot pen out from her skirt pocket. Shade’s chill, how long was that there? These were Suina’s clothes. They were rather fine clothes. A plain shirt and a double-split skirt made for sitting comfortably, She even had a peach colored bow tied at the back of her belt. All of thise was from Suina and her mother.

Lilly was now Lillian Greyvlat, Inklbotter Master - illustrator of more fun cards. She added embellishments around the woman. Green leaves in a flurry around her. Are there people that can speak with the plants and not only Le’falyne? Maybe she would find something to hope for with this card game. 

_______________

Barn entered the apothecary. He was expecting a small dark room and a heavy aura of mystery. Instead he was slammed in the eyes with a sun-lit room at least as large as a restaurant. there were bottles and bags in neat arrays on wall shelves and short wooden aisles. In one corner in the back there was more of a mess he had been expecting, but that was well lit too.

He went to the woman inspecting one of the bags. “Shyl…” 

She looked at him and looked back at a paper under the bag. “That’s too familiar. You need my name first.”

She turned around and spread her arms. Welcome to Alms and Almighty Herbs!”

“Do you have anything for anxiety?”

“I do. You might want to keep this one alive if you have long-term type anxiety. THis plant needs constant direct sunshine everyday. Not everyone has access to that kind of space. If you do, it’s unlikely. Most that can afford a whole plant do not have rooftop access. I usually sell these to gentiles. I’d give you a potion, but I can tell that you would benefit more from fresh leaves.”

“I have a flat roof garden.” 

The woman smiled. “I have this lavender plant. And my name is “Nevashal Blackvlat.” 

Barn nodded. “Shyl Nevashal. I’m Barn Azulvlat.”

“Shal Barn.” The woman blushed. “Im sorry, shade. This still feels too familiar. Only my family uses my whole first name. Please call me Shyl Neva.”

“Well Barn is my whole first name.”

“Oh I'm sorry shade. Here. Let’s finish our transaction so you can get some relief. This may be raising your anxiety. It won’t be so awkward next time. Let’s pretend your name is Barnacus. Then Barn for short”

“That’s ridiculous, but it’s working.”

He bought the plant and walks casually back home.