Walking the streets, Hunter felt, was almost like walking through an unfamiliar wild area. There were people instead of animals, but the potential for danger was still there. As he headed into low-rent areas, he made sure his long knife showed prominently against the bottom of his vest. At the same time, he tried to look inconspicuous. But as the traffic became more human-dominated, that was less and less successful. His senses remained in hyper mode. When he arrived at the Surgery, he did not relax that vigilance but did breathe a little easier having confirmed that he'd followed the directions correctly.

He knocked on the door firmly, at the same time expanding his field so that whoever was within would know that their visitor was a galdor. He didn't want to catch anyone off guard. Not when doing so might have lethal consequences.

Ivan had just finished writing up the case study of the dead infant, and his expression had gradually darkened throughout the process until it was a complete scowl. He worked with pen onto carbon transfer paper to make an automatic copy for his records, something which did not come cheaply, and so was used only for the most important reports - and resistance business of course.

There came a firm knocking, and Ivan set down his work. With the sheer volume of visitors he had been receiving lately he had taken more care to hide his secret documents, though the morphine refinery was still working away in the exam room. He turned the key on the examination room before making for the front door. Before he reached the door he felt a field through in the hallway. A galdor? Ilithyia returned with terms? Alstair? Perhaps even Khymarah, back so soon? The field felt strongly of life magic, but the signature was not hers. Sighing, he opened the door, but didn't let down his guard. Altogether too many vroo had been in his surgery recently.

The person who opened the door had a sort of worn look to him, as well as a certain air of the primitive that Hunter had come to associate with humans. But then again Hunter might simply have been letting his prejudice get the better of him.
"Are you the doctor?"

The boy looked around the street, clearly still unable to shake the hypervigilance that had claimed him as he traveled the Dives.

"Um, Tristaan told me that you might be able to help with... something I'm trying to learn."

He was squeamish about mentioning the riots right there on the street - as if to do so might summon instant retribution against any member of his race.

Ugh, students.

"Well I am a doctor, yes. You're a little far from Brunnhold aren't you? The Dives are no place for a galdor you know. What do you need a human doctor for? Catch the clap?"



Ivan raised an eyebrow at that. How did Tristaan know this boy? By all accounts he'd finished with the galdori. Curiosity and fatigue got the better of him and feeling resigned, he motioned for the boy to enter.

"Come inside, you look nervous."

So eager to be off the street was he that the student was through the door and into the surgery almost before Ivan could finish his invitation.
"Thank you, thank you very much, sir."
Frederick "Hunter" Vespasian had been to many cities in his lifetime - in Anaxis and abroad -but he had always been accompanied by some manner of protection, whether his parents or someone hired for the purpose. He had been shielded from areas such as The Dives. Apparently the confidence and survival skills that served him well enough in the woods and plains did not translate to the urban environment. One more lesson on this informative trip to Vienda.

"I-"
He took a deep breath and steadied himself. If he wanted the doctor to share information, then he'd best be up front about how and why he'd come to visit.
"I am far from Brunnhold, but my intention is still education. Some things cannot be learned within the walls of Brunnhold – not by a lowly student at any rate. Particularly if it's something they don't want us to know. So when the topic of the riots came up at dinner yestereve, and was promptly squashed by an otherwise inattentive professor, I decided that the best way to find out the truth was to come here and speak to people who had witnessed the events and the aftermath. I realize the truth is often a subjective thing, but I had hoped to gather enough accounts from varied sources that I might piece together something close to the truth. Certainly it would be more accurate than any official announcement to the students. Not that they've seen fit to make one yet."

Hunter had originally thought it was because "they" were waiting to see the ramifications of the conflict, but he was beginning to suspect that the ruling class just didn't think it was important enough to mention.

"I set out right after dinner. I have permission to research outside Brunnhold proper and," there was clearly some discomfort with the deception, "I decided to extend the, er, range of my observations temporarily."

"It was naive, I know that now. I had the good fortune to meet some of Master Tristaan's circus family at the bridge. None of them saw the disaster, but the stories they told me brought the reality of the damage home. They also told me of the new law – there were only rumors of what might be decreed at school. Tristaan and Sarinah, along with my conscience, convinced me that asking the victims staying in the camps to re-live the event would be at best cruel and at worst an invitation to violence."

It was clear that the boy's experiences had put a face of sorts to the victims of the violence and discrimination. What had started out as a rebellion born of boyish ego had turned into a quest with great meaning to him.

"So, he suggested that you might have some hard facts about how things turned out so badly and about just how much damage was done... I know lives were lost, and I'm afraid that we'll just get some cleaned-up version that includes only the potential threat to galdori and ignores everyone else."
A slight hint of anger tinged that sentence. In a few breaths, Hunter had gone from skittish student to confident rebel.

"Tristaan thought I might be putting myself in some danger with these inquiries, but he also seemed to think that you would help me. I'm not sure how I could repay you."

Ivan felt a chill pass over him. This boy was here about the riot?



He waited a full breath before responding. Partly this was due to how unbelievable the boy seemed to Ivan, and party it was for Ivan to temper his growing rage.

"So, the lowly student has come to see the lowly doctor for his subjective account, is that it?"

His nostrils flushed humourlessly.

"Please, have a seat."

Ivan gestured towards a free chair, then walked over to his gradually recovering selection of liqour.

"A drink?"

It was almost a joke. The boy wanted to learn, and Ivan prepared to school him - he was entering the domain of men. If he wanted truth, Ivan would give him every last drop.
He poured himself a tall neat Gioran, seated himself, and began to skin up a cigarette. He still had some opium, but the cigarette smoke smelt fouler to the unaccustomed.

"You want hard facts, do you? You couldn't have come at a better time. I was just writing my report to the VPRO. You're about to be one of the two galdori ever to read it."

Ivan pushed the sheet to the boy.

"Out loud."

Hunter sensed the doctor's growing rage. It was not entirely unexpected. Tristaan's calm control had been the exception so far. Then again, the passive had not been an eyewitness.

"No, that's not-" The boy cut himself off. Arguing against an emotion was not going to be of use. It was not his intent that caused the doctor's reaction.

The student took the seat, but waved away the offer of a drink. He didn't drink, besides which he wanted to remember this encounter clearly. A moment later he would be tempted to change his mind about that. He tried not to be judgmental of the human's habits: they were likely the product of a very hard life.

The galdor perked up at the mention of an actual report, although Ivan's tone really should have warned him about the mixed nature of his "good fortune". He reached for the sheet and began to scan it.


There was the catch. Hunter frowned, thinking it was improper to mention such horrors out loud. He was immediately ashamed of the thought. Wasn't that the conventional attitude he was trying to oppose. The doctor was testing him.

"This coroner's report... fifty-six dead..."

The boy paused, jarred by the number, and again at the total injured. Initially he had started to speed up, thinking it best to get through the experience as quickly as possible. But he wanted to remember every detail, and the victims deserved better of him than a rushed reading. He slowed into a proper recitation, trying keep the shaky quality out of his reading.

"Subject A: human adult male..."
He knew the word euthanised. He had performed such an act of mercy on more than one injured animal. The concept of euthanising a person still shocked him somewhat. The boy paused for only a second and then repeated the word before continuing, with a slightly better view of the doctor's character or at least his strength.

"Euthanised according to... Subject C... mother and child are healthy."
He lifted his eyes from the page for the first time to look at Ivan. The fact that the doctor had managed such a save was impressive. The fact that new life arose even in the midst of tragedy... well that was Vitas. It gave Hunter a shot of strength that carried him through to the end of the report – even through the multitude of ghastly details. He maintained enough control to keep the emotions out of his voice, but by the time he had finished there were tears streaming down his face and his clothes were soaked with perspiration.

"I almost wish I had the clap. My name is Frederick by the way, Frederick Vespasian. The spokes and most of my other friends call me Hunter."

Ivan licked the rollie shut, but kept his eyes trained on the boy. He had the look of someone who was slowly realising they could no longer feel the seabed with their feet.
He snapped the flint on his mugrobi oil lighter, the first flick failing in step with the boy's faltering words. The light flared, and his reading sped as Ivan brought the light to his face, filling the dingy waiting room with an eerie underlit orange irradiance. Ivan paced himself, taking long, deep drags, artfully shaping an exhaled ribbon-like smoke sculpture for each extinguished life the boy read out.



This time Ivan directed his jets of smoke downwards through his nose, and the gloom made the exhausts pale acts of passive agression. They almost said "Yeah, and?" out loud.

Presently the boy finished reading. Ivan was impressed he'd made it to the end, though he could see it had taken a toll on him. Still, if he'd shrunk from reading, Ivan was prepared to teach him a thing or two about pain himself, galdor or no.



Ivan nodded.
"My name is Ivan, or Dr Mottoni if you prefer. Tell me, Frederick, what is it you hope to achieve in this quest for knowledge?"

"Honestly, Dr. Mottoni, I'm not sure. It started out... well everyone was so casual about it and so quick to blame the wicks and imply that something should be done about them. It made me angry. So I thought someone should try to find out the real cause. Someone should let us know things other than a "for your own good" sanitized announcement. But no one was going to – so I would have to be that someone."

"I really do have permission for off-campus study, mainly for wildlife observation during off hours. It's become sort of an excuse to get away. See, I didn't grow up at Brunnhold, so I haven't been quite so conditioned to just accept the way they see things. I guess I thought that if I could present them with real details that more students might start to see things my way. Or at least question what they've been trained to think."

"Things need to change. All people - galdor, wick, human – we all have to be able to live up to our real potentials. Otherwise there's just going to be more riots, more plotting, more killing. I'm not sure how things got to be the way they are, and I don't know how to change them. It seems like a lot of the people benefiting from our society wouldn't want to loose their privileges. But a lot of other people, if they could see it wasn't right..."

"I just want to do my part to make that possible."

Ivan smirked.

"That's some messiah complex you're fostering there. Still, if I ignore that, and I ignore the condescending notion that us poor souls need saving, it sounds like your heart's in the right place, or at the very least you have a desire to absolve yourself of social guilt, which I can understand. No one feels good to walk past a beggar."

He remembered this kind of poorly thought out idealistic fire, badly aimed, ill considered determination. The engine of change was fueled by the union of wisdom and passion, but while one waxed, the other waned.
Ivan had some wisdom for him.

"But don't you understand that a galdor can't do it?
It'd be like the pigfarmer opening the pen - the freedom would be meaningless.
You want change, well, a big gesture wont cut it. They raise awareness, sure, and claim all kinds of symbolic victories for civil liberty, fine, but at the end of the day it's little changes by masses that drive the world. And I very much doubt even a bright boy like you is capable of that alone."

He sighed.

"Have you ever considered joining the military? It might do you some good."

Hunter had never considered "social guilt" before. He'd never felt guilt assuming that he treated the wicks as equals. He was only beginning to realize that they were not equals, no matter how he or any other individual golly might feel. The system dictated their roles. As long as the galdoti ruled no one would be equals. Not even amongst the galdori themselves. And, truth be told, he had never considered humans as equals, never really treated one as an equal until now. He'd always used courtesy and caution as a shield in dealing with them. It took a moment, but Ivan's comment sank in and the boy visibly sqirmed with discomfort.

"I only mean that I could be the one to come to Vienda and maybe find out what had happened."


"You don't include galdori as part of the masses then? But surely for change to be effective, they must be a part of it as well. Otherwise we merely reverse the polarity of the conflict. I'd wager..."
There was a slight pause as Hunter considered this one of his more heretical ideas.
"I'd wager that at some point in history the shoe was on the other foot. That the current stranglehold of galdori superiority is the result of our being victimized due to smaller numbers and suspicion about magic use."
It was the only way he could make sense of his people's actions.
"Even if that's only my over-theorizing, you see what I mean. Change must not be unilateral if it is to accomplish anything. Unless you simply mean to wipe us out altogether."

"And as for joining the military. Do you mean the Seventen? Do you really think someone with my view of things would be allowed? They do screen for that sort of thing. Magically. Besides, after speaking to Ilyia today – one of the guards at the gate – I doubt I would tolerate the behavior of my fellows for very long."

((edit: for having left out a very important "not"))

Ivan laughed without humour, partly at the idea of him joining the sevens, but also at the irony of Fred having met Ilithyia as a frame of reference, who was herself waist deep in a plot to destabilise the glador rule.

"Haha! No, not that clocking brute squad, the Anaxi Armed Forces. You'd be training and living with humans, you might learn a thing or two about us."



He frowned, and realised he'd gone off on a revolutionary tangent. The boy had only turned up to find out about the riots, not right the wrongs of the world. Ivan had been projecting perhaps a little too much.



Ivan could think of few statements more inflammatory than that.

"How dare you come here and attempt to justify the actions of your people. And with nothing more than unsubtantiated speculation!
What nerve!
It is almost funny, if it were not so sad, that you cannot come to terms with the oppression your people inflict without desperate rationalisation.
"Oh, they probably had it coming"!
I wager you've never in your short life even considered the possiblity that men are of equal worth, mages or no. And if a naïve pious child like you can't fathom that, what hope do you have of influencing anybody?
One thing I can say in their favour over you is at least they're not lying to themselves."

He extinguished the half finished cigarette in one firm stab.

"I don't know what you got away with saying to Tristaan, in truth I don't much care. But galdor or not, you're leaving here now. Stay out of the Dives master Vespasian, and go back to your charmed life."

He'd unintentionally hit a hot button. And while revealing a personal theory in a moment of vulnerability. But, Hunter was learning to control his defensive instincts.

“It’s a theory. A stupid, intuitive theory. If it were true it would still not justify the way we treat everyone else.”

I shouldn't have said it aloud. Do I sound as if I'm not listening to his side?

“I hear you say to consider that men are of equal worth, mages or no. I have considered it. I am trying hard to reach a point where I am living it sincerely. I thought I was, but childhood’s end means casting aside those illusions and doing the hard work of carving ideals into reality.”

“Perhaps I misinterpret, but I also hear you say that a galdor cannot be part of the process of change? Men are of equal worth; therefore, equality needs to apply to everyone. Do you honestly think that the forces at work to topple the galdori government would treat the galdori with any more ‘equality’ than they themselves have experienced? Do you think that there aren’t those galdori who are waiting in the wings for just such an event so that they can seize personal power and attempt to install a regime even more brutal to non-galdori? I only propose that galdori should be included as part of the instrument of change.”

The boy had gotten the wrong idea from what he had said, but Ivan could not be tempered to correct him. And what explanation did Ivan owe?

"My dear boy, I believe you've confused me for a man who likes to repeat himself! I've no longer any interest in this discussion, and you will leave, one way or the other. Is that clear?"

Ivan waited. It was for that "one-more-word". Even slumped in his chair, he was poised for action. He almost wanted it.

Hunter shrugged. The conversation had reach an impasse it seemed. There were statements misconstrued on both sides, and clearly the human had exhausted his patience for galdoris.
And who can blame him after the amount of carelessly caused carnage he has had to deal with recently?

The boy relented. There was no use poking at an open wound: better to leave a crack in the door, if possible, for future encounters.

"Goodbye, Dr. Mottoni, and thank you."
Hunter paused at the door before departing.
"Perhaps when I've learned more and had some time to think, I'll understand what it is you were really trying to say."

It was frustrating, and it reminded him of his dinner conversation with Nauleth. Had there not been the immediate threat of the Dives surrounding him, Hunter would have discovered a new sympathy for his fellow student. However, such introspection and insight would have to wait for a later time.

"I doubt it. Give the door a good tug, it tends to stick on the frame."

Ivan didn't look up, instead he began to roll another cigarette, and eyed the drinks cabinet.

Hopeless.