Firedown Sun

School the next day came without my permission. I rode the bus silently, got to Farrens silently, didn't even glare toward the Drumer boy. Maybe I didn't hate him as much as I hated my own parents now. Or that woman...

The announcement to head to our first class came, and I sat through that, too, in utter silence. Sorin, again, spent most of the time glorifying Lune.

And this time, I really didn't mind.

Then came Life Studies. We were supposed to take care of the baby Macarunas that slept in their box cages. I was paired up with Pharis, who was actually doing twice as better as I was in the class. He knew how to feed the little creatures, what they liked and what they didn't like, and kept telling me, "Relax, they won't bite you if you just relax."

I listened to him, letting my body calm down and placing my hand on a black Macaruna's head. It purred at me, trying to look up at me, but since they were only a day and a half old, their eyes couldn't open fully. I saw just tiny slits of green popping through its lids and that made me smile.

"They're sort of cute, aren't they?" I whisper to Pharis.

He nods. "They just have razor sharp teeth, that's all. Oh, watch it, the white one's hungry. Better move. I got this."

I let him scoop out the Peri seeds and watched him drop six or seven into each of the creatures' mouths. They chewed on the little brown seeds happily, settling into a cute pile, like they were best friends or something.

The teacher, Deactaviss Club, moved to our spot on the table of cages and muttered, "I do hope, Pharis, that you're letting Kitten do something besides stand by and watch?"

Pharis shrugged. "I'll let her sing them to sleep, so they won't bite her."

Deactaviss tilted her head curiously, crooning, "And you care whether or not they do because?"

"Because I know it hurts. My father used to let me take care of these creatures all the time. He says when they grow to be adults, their bite is fatal." He glanced over at me and reassured, "But there's no venom now. You don't have to worry about anything except the sting."

"Sting?" I repeated, eyes wide.

Deactaviss seemed just as shocked, only for a completely different reason than why I was staring at Pharis with my mouth open like an open, dark abyss. "Your father?"

"Yes, he's the Creature Keeper. Didn't you know that?"

"Of course, of course." Deactaviss wandered back to the other groups, still shaking her head in disbelief, like it was unheard of to pass down your gifts to your child. Personally, I thought that it was pretty amazing.

Pharis closed the cage, the Macarunas finally laying down on the bottom of the metal dome, but still restless. Several took practice in gnawing at another's ear or attacking out to no one in particular with their sharp, black claws with jagged edges. Even at this age, they seemed deadly weapons.

"Okay," Pharis said to me. "Time for a lullaby. Would you do the honors, Kitty?"

Pharis had called me Kitty.

Wondering why I had not asked for a nickname before now- hadn't Farrens asked if anyone would like one on the first day?- I moved a step closer to the cage, going through the list of songs I knew, the newer and the ancient.

I stuck to a new one, so as not to get in trouble. I licked my lips, then sang the song slowly in a whispering voice.

"In the dark shades of midnight
Across the sea of grass
There's a sound softly coming
See through window glass
Fear struck their hearts
When everything was going fast
This is what they tell you
About that cold, lost past
And I can hear them breathing
Running to the hills
Trying to escape the darkness
Before it comes and kills
Some will fall and some will fly
Into safe security
So don't take things for granted
This is the story of how we got our city."

I felt everyone listening, felt them turning. I began the next stanzas a bit louder.

"And I can hear them shouting
Racing to the hills
Trying to escape the pain coming
Because it slowly kills
Some will die so painfully
I can't imagine why
Something came right before dawn
Never had time to say goodbye."

The whole of my Life Studies class was suddenly singing along with me, murmuring the rest of the song to their Macarunas in their locked cages, or humming the parts they did not know, and the baby creatures all drifted off to sleep.

"Most left dead on this planet we know
So many lives were gone
But here we are, alive and well
And now we sing this song
I can hear them calling out
To be saved from the unknown
But you can see, my friend
No such mercy was shown
The night came quickly
Death came swiftly
Something moving so softly
Hurting us eternally
We are survivors
The ones who hold on fast
And we have our city
The city of life at last
And I can hear them dying
Holding on to someones hand
Whispering they love you so much
And death, isn't it grand?"

I saw tears glistening in so many eyes after the last stanza was sung. Even Deactaviss was crying. Pharis gave my shoulder a squeeze and I was infinitely glad I had him as a Life Studies partner.

The announcement to leave came, and I walked slowly to World History, hoping there weren't tears in MY eyes. I rubbed at them anyway, in case someone thought it would be funny to poke fun at Kitten Zigbol, the girl who cried in school.

Of course, I wouldn't tell on any of the kids in my class who shed a few tears. The song spoke of how our world had almost been destroyed. Only a few people, even plants, were allowed to survive after... well, whatever had happened. No one really knew. Even blind Asrid Roygreen didn't know. And that just probably meant it was that much worse than anyone thought.

And you know, if any one student hadn't walk away feeling depressed after singing the Macarunas to sleep with that one particular song, then there was something really wrong with them.

In World History, we learned about the origin of Monten and how it started out to be a tiny little gathering of houses without much discipline and then grew over the decades into a huge city of peace and order.

For a short second, I almost laughed out loud because of how ironic it seemed they didn't mention the almost complete world destruction before teaching us about the origin of Monten, but I immediately thought better of it and squeezed my lips together so as not to even crack a smile.

We compared the world now- the part of it left, anyhow- to the olden days, in which there were psychos running around with things called guns. I stared at the picture teacher Herth Gravvin showed us, questioning her methods. Why did she show us such a contraption of death and inhumanity? It was unnerving knowing anyone had ever thought weapons were good things, wonderful mechanisms to hang up in a cupboard for other people to gaze at and admire.

But I doubted that the husbands in the old times cheated on their wives without people having anything to say about it. Sure, adultery happened.

Just not like this.

In Robotics, Jodancer decided to introduce us to a much less-explosive matter: solar panels. We drew diagrams of them, identified the different parts that made them work, talked about how the sun rays could give us the power in our walls, our alarms, our scooters. Of course, the scooters we referred to were new and much less grumpy. You didn't have to snap to call them. You named them and they were beckoned if you called their name out. They even knew how to get to different places without you needing to steer them! You just told them the place, and they figured out the route.

Of course, Lune was advancing further than I was in this subject. And as I watched even Jodancer fall for his intelligence and shining, smiling expression, I wondered if maybe he wasn't an Outcast after all. He was just smart.

Really smart.

During lunch, Hexa and Resh burst into stories about their homeroom teacher, Weever, and how he had smacked a kid aside the head when he asked to go to the bathroom. I stared in horror, ordering another delicious cherry jelly sandwich with a surprise dessert and sour-sweet lemonade on the side.

And I didn't light a match this time. I'd left them at home today, not wanting to be able to cheer myself up after last night's disaster.

Oh, and my parents had left me alone all morning, not even mentioning that I ate three full, not half, helpings of oatmeal- skipping dinner had left me with a completely empty stomach- and they didn't even say anything when I walked out five seconds later than the other kids, leaving my music jacket in the closet instead of taking it with me.

Even when I brushed the door with two fingers- my index and middle- in the infamous sign of rebellion. Serious rebellion, though, not just trading forbidden items or burning matches or asking questions.

It was trying to take down the city, actually fighting back against the leaders, and this sign was something that everyone knew about.

I couldn't even utter the name, it was too serious.

Firedown Sun. It usually takes place within a group of four or more. Because when four or more people each place out two fingers and they touch together, it forms a rebel star. Five or more number of points for a star, and it's rebellious. Heck, maybe stars in particular were just plain disobedient to the city, or just specifically to the leaders.

But even just the two fingers could mean something. So I didn't say the name. My parents, and maybe the whole city of Monten, might be listening. And I wasn't willing to take that risk. Especially since most people knew that I wasn't a rule follower.

If I said "Firedown Sun", there would be no saving me.

At the end of lunch, instead of being sent to the next class, we're told to "report to Gathering."

I know what that means. Something happened. Something big happened.

Gathering is like a big meeting where all students are required to go to a certain room. A giant room that, in the old days, would have been called an Auditorium. Nowadays, it was the Gatorium, or "Gathering Room" in whatever language someone decided to make up. It was the language we all used, the one we got our names, our city name from.

But, then again, I remember Ankun saying something about a kitten being some sort of olden creature, sort of like a Macaruna, come to think of it. Only they didn't have venomous bites, I'm sure.

So, I guess the city was wrong. We didn't JUST use Monten-based language. We were more connected to the old world then they wanted us to think.

I smiled at that, quickly getting sat down in my spot. I saw little restless six-year-olds heading in, being told where they sat and getting pushed into those seats, strictly reprimanded if they tried to do anything different. No one did anything different in Monten, they were reminded. NO one.

So what had happened that was big enough to put us in the Gatorium, not to our next class? A Gathering meant business. And business meant a problem.

Funny. They said that Monten never had problems. Nothing ever went wrong in Monten.

Something must have, though.

The head of the school came into the large, oval-shaped room and greeted, standing at the microphone, "Hello, I'm Leirre Talma. Welcome to Gathering."

I sat up straight, peering around people's heads in front of me to see Leirre clearly.

"The reason we're here today, students..." He paused and licked his thin lips, as if to drag out this announcement further. "...is because of something that happened. Something that may surprise you." He immediately started reassuring us, before we could start murmuring or dissing the leaders or something. "But, I promise you, it's all going to work out. It's nothing bad, it's just something that we've noticed that we think needs a bit of... improvement."

Why wouldn't the man just admit it? Monten screwed up. Something went wrong!

"The weather control is malfunctioning."

That was an old term. I'd read it before, in one of those books that I hardly understood, the ones I'd eventually handed off to Ankun, since he knew the old tongue better than I did. I would have given them to Asrid if she hadn't gone blind, but Ankun was always my first choice, anyhow. I barely knew Asrid.

But even if I didn't completely know what it meant, I knew that it wasn't good. Of course, Leirre gave us a comforting definition.

"Malfunctioning means that it needs improvement, that it needs to be fixed. Not that it broke, it just needs a quick repair, and then all will be well. I promise you. It won't take more than a few days." He cleared his throat and fiddled with the microphone so it was closer to his half-lying mouth. Licking his lips again, he told us, "So, because of the malfunctioning going on, it's going to snow tomorrow."

My eyelids lifted until they were practically sunk into my skull. I stared at the school head, almost scared. Snow? Tomorrow? But it was only September!

Leirre continued. "So, because of what we're doing with the weather control, the experimenting that's going on, you may notice some of your robots acting a bit different than usual. They might not work quite as well because we're trying different things, alright? Don't worry. It'll be fixed soon. So, if your wall's being slow or your Telo shuts off, it's all because of the Big Experiment. Nothing to be worried about. I promise you."

We were allowed to leave then. We were ordered to go swiftly to our next class- and for me, that meant Skill Training. I wasn't excited to attend, since I had no special talents. Unless disobeying rules and making parents upset counted. I doubted that could get me a job, though.

Lune Drumer walked by me as I headed, rather slowly, to Skill Training. It was strange seeing him and not feeling that same disgust toward him, but because of the shock of the sudden weather forecast for tomorrow, I didn't even really care that I was getting along with him now.

It would change tomorrow once I saw the snowflakes falling.

"It's called robotic phasing."

"What?" I glanced up into his hazel eyes. They sparkled at me in almost a teasing manner, but he was perfectly solemn. Even his stupid grin was gone.

"What they're doing. The experiment," he clarified. "It's robotic phasing. When they're trying to fix something that went wrong, they change all of our mechanisms so that they react to the malfunctioning, too. It's simple."

I breathed out in a huff, not really sure if I understood. "Okay," I said, "and how do you know that? And why are you admitting that the city messed up when they won't dare say it?"

He grinned. "That's just how the leaders are. They hate being wrong or even knowing something wrong happened. And how do I know about the phasing?" He shrugged. "Apparently I'm more genius than Sorin thought."

"Or more of a rebel."

His grin vanished all at once. "No," he said, voice blunt and serious again. "I follow rules, thank you, unlike others."

I glared up at Lune and hissed, "Well, if you were being lied to all the time, wouldn't you want to do something about it?"

"I AM lied to all the time," he growled fiercely. "And I don't disobey because I know what's right."

"But what if obeying what they say isn't actually right? What if-"

"What if WHAT?" he spat. "The old people that killed each other with guns and made the world die, too, were right? What if they knew what they were doing?"

I couldn't help but nod.

"Kitten, that's crazy!" He began shaking his head. His voice echoed in my ears and in the long, empty corridor surrounding us. "How could people like that- murderers, thieves, kidnappers- be right?"

"I don't know!" I confessed. "But it's better than forcing everyone to be the same!"

"It's not force if obviously there's people like YOU!"

The way he said that made me want to scream. I felt like my entire body was cracking in two but no one else could see it because it was on the inside. I was shaking as I tried to move away from him faster, as I hurried toward Skill Training. That place was better than here with stupid, Outcast, genius, Lune Drumer.

"We're going to be late," I said, my voice hissing like an air pipe with a leak.

He didn't dare say another word, just walked beside me to Skill Training, almost completely ignoring that I even existed.

I was happy to do the same.

*

Proxy Bellop was a short woman with bouncy, orange curls and a fun, cheerful smile. She had let us do practically nothing yesterday, but today was drill time.

She introduced the list of twenty six jobs. They were all explained to the utmost detail. Apparently, we were supposed to figure out what we wanted to do by the end of this year so that we could take a class about it when we were seventeen.

Not that they were rushing us or anything...

And we started to talk about what we thought would be a good occupation to pick for ourselves. And I could see everyone look around nervously, the girls wondering what boy would say the same thing as them, and the boys scared that a girl would say the same thing and then they might have to get stuck with her for a wife.

I was hoping no one would say the same job as me.

Of course, there was only one job I had in mind. And I didn't think any of the kids in this classroom would ever consider it.

When Proxy came to me, I spoke hushedly. "Fire Pit Manager."

I felt their eyes on me. Felt them giggle quietly to themselves. Felt them lean over and whisper to the person next to them how Outcast that was. How could anyone WANT to be a Fire Pit Manager? Why would anyone ever consider doing something so dangerous and stupid and... dangerous.

A smile slowly crossed my face at the silence that filled the classroom. Working with fire would be my dream job.

I just wish it wouldn't be like this. I wanted to be able to choose it and not have to worry about someone else choosing it, too, and then ending up with him forever.

I was trembling by the time it was Lune's turn. His gaze shot up from his intent stare at the floor and he smiled at me.

Smiled.

At ME!

He wouldn't dare!

"Mechanic or engineer," he told Proxy, still grinning like a crazy child.

My lungs filled with air and I closed my eyes, relieved. He wouldn't have done something so cruel, right? I had done nothing to him, except argue with him, which we weren't supposed to do- I guess they thought it was a bad influence somehow, although I didn't think arguing was anything except productive. It was actually doing something, right? Not just sitting there like mute creature without a brain. And that's what they were turning us into. Mute, dumb creatures.

I had started to get along with Lune.

But now, the hate was coming back, and coming back fast.

I welcomed it with open arms.