"We went on a school trip," Oriel said. "Because there’s so many small communities, online school is very common. Nothing like so advanced as what’s available through the interface now, but very structured, with sporting events, and other occasional large gatherings. We’d been in the same classes since we were quite young, and being outcast made no difference to our schooling. At the earliest signs we were heading for a Leave-taking, Maxen and I signed up for a trip to the City of Glass."
"Glass buildings? Sculptures?"
"Stained glass, Aunt Sue. Not quite the same as Earth’s but the same concept. Folaren is one of the places on Kolar I want to go."
"It was incredible," Oriel said, warmly. "It would have caused us difficulties if the Leave-taking had occurred after the trip, but Folaren still would have been worth seeing. We settled there, after we were given residency."
"Did you happen to wander off from your tour?" Tsa Dale asked.
Oriel shook her head. "Both Kolar North and Kolar South have strict policies about overstayers. Doing so only ensures any application will be denied. No, we were waiting for the shuttle back to Kolar North when we made a bad decision to eat some leftover snacks, and ended up in hospital with food poisoning."
She smiled faintly at the query in their expressions. "We should have been more sensible, but we were on a tight budget, and had been primarily eating food we’d brought with us. We put the school supervisors in a terrible position because our class was already divided between two flights, and they couldn’t leave the rest of the students to stay with us." She still felt bad for that: their teachers had been unfailingly supportive people. "It wasn’t good timing for us to miss the flight, either, since we had a series of farm labour jobs lined up, and not showing up would hit both our income and our reputation. I don’t recall much of that week, but while Maxen was in better physical condition, he had a worse time, and was absolutely frantic to get us back to Kolar North. Between medical costs and lost income, we were in extreme danger of being in debt, which would force us into the Dorinari."
"This sounds like you’re lucky Sight Sight talents are rare," Kaszandra said.
"I’d be curious to know what a Sight Sight talent would have made of Maxen. He had a genuine terror of becoming Dorinari, and while it wasn’t a punitive amount, every day in hospital built debt. He wasn’t lying insisting that they had to send us back as soon as possible." She sighed, thinking how young he’d been. "The barrier we couldn’t overcome was on the Kolar North side. They pre-processed applications, performing character checks for criminal records and standards of behaviour, and then sorted applications into recommended and non-recommended. Nothing we could do in Kolar North could change where we’d be sorted, but by the time we finally left Kolar South we had the connections needed to get an application flagged for consideration, and a half dozen people who not only insisted we applied, but stepped us through the process, and promised they would push for early consideration."
"Nothing illegal, and probably not anything even a Sight and Place talent could pin down as lying, though they’d be a bit suspicious," Kaszandra said. "I get the feeling some of your classes were on psychology."
"Psychology—yes, the whole thing pivoted on the psychology of Kolar South. The South hasn’t abandoned the Family structure entirely, but it’s also developed a veneration for self-reliance. We were perfect candidates: bright, hard-working, with definite goals and a determination to make our own way. We received initial approval almost before we arrived back in the Gold, and it was only a few months before we became Southers. Everything’s gone much as we hoped since then, though we of course couldn’t have planned for the unlocking of Muina, and successfully passing a second citizenship application. There were a lot of different paths we could have followed here, but we decided KOTIS would give us the greatest scope." She paused, laughed, and added: "A little saluting is a small price to pay."
"I somehow feel far less worried about Arden being rude to you," Tsa Dale said.
"I don’t see how being the subject of an artwork is going to cause either of us great difficulties. And knowing why Tsa Ruuel is asking provoking question will give me enough context to either ignore him or just give him answers."
But she couldn’t entirely be at ease. Arden Ruuel had said: "Enduring exile". What did he mean by that? Not leaving behind, or overcoming, but enduring. Oriel and Maxen had found Sirelle so unwelcoming that they’d looked forward to the Leave-taking, and once the hurdle of the residency application had been overcome, had certainly not thought they were enduring anything. Except perhaps some flawed classmates, who were really a minor thing, tired as they had made Oriel feel.
"Are you required not to have family names from now on, or something?" Kaszandra asked.
"We haven’t wanted to join a Family," Oriel told her.
"But you are one, you and your brother?" The Earth woman looked puzzled. "Is there a size requirement for family? Or do you have to be, like, awarded a family name or something? You can’t just pick one?"
"Pick one?" It was a strange idea. They were kinless. If they joined a Family, they would take that name. "Creating a name would be a lie." Oriel frowned, then deliberately smoothed expression from her face, surprised at a sudden jolt of distress. They’d spent so much effort to be free, not trapped by the dictates of a Family.
"Shall I tell you a secret?" Kaszandra asked.
"I like secrets," Tsa Dale said, brightly.
Oriel realised she hadn’t kept enough from her face, but could only nod, appreciating the determined change of topic.
"You spent the better part of yesterday afternoon helping me get a flying mount in Red Exchange."
"…Fearme?" One of the lower level guild members, but not a new one.
"Yeah. I joined to prank Jules, but he hasn’t spotted me yet. The accent modulator in the game is perfect for me."
"Isn’t calling yourself Fear Me a bit of a giveaway?" Tsa Dale asked. "And why wasn’t I invited to the pranking? I like pranking almost as much as secrets."
"Fearme is a real Taren name, Aunt Sue. And you still talk with too many gaps for Jules not to notice. Though for some reason your accent is better than mine, which I don’t think should be allowed."
"Languages definitely aren’t one of your strong points. Though your acting has improved, since I didn’t catch your reaction, even when Julian was ranting about his guild schism."
"Kaoren’s been teaching me how to lie to Sight Sight talents. Mainly to demonstrate that you can’t really, but you can avoid getting into problem areas by leading the conversation off down a side-track. It’s more use for dealing with VIPs than anything else. And Jules."
"Do you practice on Serious Soldier?"
Kaszandra laughed. "I think it’s better to not have anything to lie to Tsur Selkie about. But that reminds me, I better go pick up Tyrian. Despite Tsur Selkie somehow being the Baby Whisperer, it’s probably not polite to dump Tyrian on him for entire days." She stood, but paused to smile at Oriel. "Sorry for all the nosiness. And the security checks. Security checks aren’t one of the things it’s easy to explain when you get invites to guild meet-ups. You’re probably going to be stuck with some ongoing attention from our security detail as well, with both Jules and me in Sky Wing, but Tsur Selkie promised me that being flagged isn’t going to have a negative impact on your training."
"It might even be helpful," Oriel said, slowly. "Attention usually puts everyone on their best behaviour." It would neutralise any possible advantage Jaxa actually had.