The Ranger sighed. “Off to a good start already, I see. Well! Some of you obviously know each other already, but just to make sure everyone knows each other’s names, let’s go around clockwise and each say our name, building of residence, and any organizational affiliations that might matter to the rest of the group. I’ll start. I’m Ranger Bernard Piper, I live at Layer 1 Ranger Base, and I’m obviously with the Rangers of Firmitatem. I’m also an official Government of Firmitatem deputy for purposes of this meeting.” He gestured to his left, where Vanessa was the next person clockwise.

  “Good evening, I’m Vanessa Vandere, representing building one and the Theocratic Party,” Vanessa said. Danielle couldn’t help herself; she actually facepalmed. “You have a problem with it, Systemist?” Vanessa snapped.

  “Systemists are all grouped up over there,” Danielle said, gesturing to Lithios with her other hand.

  “Next,” the Ranger said pointedly.

  The Wolf Boy grinned, still lounging back in a studied display of relaxation and casual attitude. “I’m Jason Lehay, Intelligent Authority Party choice for building seven,” he said.

  “And member of the Wolf Pack sys-org,” Danielle added.

  Jason grinned at her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

  “She’s obviously talking about the system organization named The Wolf Pack, in which you carry status 'Sub-Alpha,' Mr. Lehay,” the Ranger said. “Let’s not start this all off with lies. Next?”

  “I’m Marc VanZorn, I’m from building seven, and I hate all this System reading stuff,” Marc said. “But for the record, I’m a member of the Shade Tree Society, no special rank; and yes, I’ve got the Predator career, but it’s for animals. I don’t go for people unless they need taking down.” He side-eyed Jason, who had lost his grin when the Ranger outed him, but now only rolled his eyes.

  The boy Danielle didn’t recognize was next. “I’m Sirocco Miltiades, building seven, Six Elements Legal party,” he said calmly, and gestured to his left. The Systemist girls also went quickly and with no added drama: “Ember Stanton, building six, Six Elements Legal party,” “Brooke Lochland, building five, Six Elements Legal party,” and “Belle Silverton, building one, Six Elements Legal party.”

  Next was “Lithios Stele, Elevated Stone Shaper, leader of the Court of the Elements and the Six Elements Legal party. Oh, and representing building three.” Danielle wasn’t exactly impressed with what she knew of Lithios so far, but she had to admit, he exuded an impressive sense of personal certitude. Jason was pretending nothing could faze him, but Lithios was simply unfazed. His body language said, ‘I am supposed to be here; I suppose some of you are, too.’

  Zephyr, next to him, was modeling the other half of what Jason was trying for; he was slouched to one side, munching on an apple from his satchel, and every line of his posture and every twitch of his body language shouted ‘I don’t care what happens here, and you can’t make me.’ Danielle could see, in that moment, why he annoyed so many of the Systemists so much. He took his time chewing and swallowing before saying “Zephyr McPherson, building three, I have orgs in my status but none of them have anything to do with why I’m here. Next?” His light tone suggested that none of what he’d just said mattered either. Danielle thought she actually saw a flash of jealousy on Jason’s face.

  Gideon, however, didn’t take his turn, but gave Zephyr an unamused look. “Really?”

  “Ugh, don’t ask him questions, he’s impossible when he’s like this,” Belle said. “I swear, Zephyr, you could at least acknowledge who got you elected!”

  “I told your party no, I meant it, and I’m sticking to it,” Zephyr said. For all the seriousness of the words, he said it in that same infuriatingly careless tone, and was about to take another bite of his apple when he accidentally met Danielle’s eyes and froze.

  “I seem to recall you promising some people you’d take this seriously,” Danielle said evenly, maintaining eye contact.

  It wasn’t exactly a staredown, but for a few seconds, Danielle had all her focus on holding Zephyr’s gaze. He sat frozen in the act of raising the apple to his mouth for an endless-feeling moment, then slowly sat the rest of the way up, straightened his back and set his shoulders, and gave her a serious nod. “I did,” he said. “Sorry, let me try that again. I’m Zephyr McPherson, representative for building 3, Organizing member of the Shade Tree Society.”

  The Systemist quadrant of the oval burst out in noise, at least three of them talking over each other. Someone just said, “What? What??” and someone else said, “Is he serious?? You can’t be serious!” and Danielle thought she heard someone ask, “Is he allowed to do that?” and she wasn’t positive she’d parsed the other one or two exclamations correctly, but the gist of it/them was “Now you/he decide to take things seriously? Now?!”

  Zephyr rolled his eyes and took the next bite of his apple, then gestured to Gideon with it. Gideon gave him an approving – well, a less disapproving nod, and ignored the outbursts to his right, simply introducing himself loudly: “I’m Gideon Kemp, guys rep from building one, proud Organizer in the Shade Tree Society. My nomination technically came from the Theocratic party, but I am committed to using my Christian principles in the context of a secular government supporting religious freedom.”

  The Systemists had quieted down, but seemed to be ignoring the introductions in favor of whispering among each other. Peter looked at them for a moment, but when they continued to ignore the rest of the tent, he continued the introductions. “I’m Peter Agnelli, building three, also an Organizer with the Shade Tree Society – though my voters in building three could best be described as the ‘anything but another Systemist’ voting block.” He gestured to Arabella.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “I’m Arabella Klein, building one, Organizer with the Shade Tree Society and cross-supported by the Intelligent Leadership Selection party,” Arabella said breezily, as if nothing of note was going on, and made a graceful handing-off gesture to Cassy.

  “I’m Cassiopeia Stellana, building 6, Shade Tree Society, regular entry-level member,” Cassy said quickly, and turned to Danielle.

  “My name is Danielle Falconer, and I answer to Medic Falconer,” Danielle said. “I’m in building six, and I am yet another Organizer with the Shade Tree Society.” She looked, in turn, to Ranger Bernard.

  “All right, that’s introductions,” Ranger Bernard said. “Now, let’s – “

  “Hold on, hold on,” Jason said. “You felt the need to make sure all of my sys-orgs got mentioned, and you’re not going to make her list hers? How is that fair?”

  “What, you want the name of my hunting party?” Danielle said, hoping she was succeeding at sounding calm and skeptical; she had a feeling that isn’t where he was going with it.

  “I’m more interested in hearing about this unkillable saint thing,” Jason said.

  “I didn’t bring it up because it’s religious, and I promised my voters to support freedom of religion,” Danielle said. “I’m Christian. That’s all the org and status mean, and it’s not my fault your murder-friend got all worked up about his incomplete eavesdropping and apparently made fools of your whole org in front of the whole town over it. The fact that I’m Christian isn’t a secret. These wild rumors about me doing miracles or being unkillable are just that: wild rumors.”

  “Is that a joke?” Ember asked. “You literally tried to convince all of building six that you have a Skill a whole tier above your level!”

  “I do have a Skill a whole tier above my level,” Danielle said, still trying to a calm and reasonable tone of voice. “That’s impossible; therefore it is referred to as a miracle. I, however, didn’t cause that. If someone went out in the rain and came back inside wet, you wouldn’t say, “look, she’s wet, she must be able to call down rain!” It’s the same with this; I metaphorically got wet, but I can’t call down rain. I can’t do miracles. I can’t alter my personal System in unusual ways, nor can I alter anyone else’s System. I hadn’t even heard the unkillable rumor before just now, but I have no reason to believe I’m any more or less unkillable than any other Christian. That’s all just stuff that Wolf Pack assassin was shouting about because he got overwhelmed and panicky.”

  Lithios frowned at her. “You specifically deny being able to manipulate the System?” he asked.

  “That is correct,” Danielle said. The Ranger shifted uneasily at her side. “I specifically deny being able to manipulate anyone’s System, including my own, in ways that fall outside the known and usual interactions the wider System allows to its users,” she said emphatically, her eyes on Ranger Piper. “It’s not as if I was saying I can’t – I don’t know, use Access Points or something. Really, can’t anyone just be reasonable about this?”

  “You’re claiming to be able to break the tier system, how is that reasonable?” Belle demanded waspishly.

  “I am not claiming to be able to break the tier system,” Danielle said, suppressing her annoyance and trying to return to a calm and unruffled tone. “I am claiming that some power outside myself overrode the tier system, once, and affected my personal System at a critical moment. I realize that my understanding of the nature of this intervention conflicts with yours, but this is not an appropriate time or place to debate that issue. It doesn’t matter for purposes of setting up a town charter. My personal Skill set is irrelevant to the laws of the town, or how we set up future elections for this council, or figuring out what elements of Firmitatem law we need to bring into the town government here.”

  “If your sainthood is irrelevant, how is my hunting party relevant?” Jason demanded.

  “Your illegal org is going around killing people!” Peter snapped at him. “Everyone needs to know so they’ll be on their guard against you!”

  “Well, you won’t hear me going around calling her Saint Danielle,” Vanessa said snidely, completely ignoring Jason and Peter.

  Danielle spread her hands in a ‘what can I do’ sort of gesture. “I’m not asking anyone to call me that,” she said. “I much prefer to be called Medic Falconer. I actually am a Medic, and I think people pretty much understand what a Medic is. Let’s all stick with that, OK?”

  “I hate to interrupt this highly crucial discussion,” Zephyr said dryly, “but the summons I heard said there would be supper. If we’re going to spend a lot of time debating how to address each other, can we at least do it over the food? I didn’t actually bring this in just for a prop.” He held up his mostly-eaten apple.

  “That’s not an unreasonable request,” Ranger Bernard said. He leaned back and tugged a tent flap open. “Do we have the bag dinners for the council?” he asked someone outside.

  “Around here somewhere,” a voice said; Danielle didn’t crane her neck to see who was talking outside. A different voice said “Here you go!” and a cardboard box was passed inside. The tent flap closed again, and Ranger Bernard started pulling brown bags out of the box. “Pass it along until everyone beyond you has one, they’re all the same,” he said, alternately handing bags to Danielle or Vanessa.

  Danielle handed off a bag, then another, until everyone down to Zephyr had one. Vanessa kept her first one, and Jason kept the second on that side, but the one after that went all the way to Lithios, and the rest of that side filled in as Ranger Bernard had described. “These dinners are a little bit of a catalog goods preview,” Ranger Bernard said. “The summer sausage and cheese are the same products being offered in the food section, and the bread is a simple recipe made form the wheat flour, baking soda, and water with just a little salt and oil in the pan. The apple and juice box are just the standard supplies we’ve been using this month, of course.”

  Danielle looked in and found what looked more like ingredients than a meal; the block of summer sausage was generously sized, possibly half a pound, but hadn’t even been sliced. The cheese was provided as a wedge, the ‘bread’ looked like a thick pancake at first glance, and of course the apple was a whole fruit. The bag also had a waxed-paper condiment packet of honey. She held it up. “Is this the same honey they’re selling, too?” she asked.

  “It’s from the same source, but it won’t be sold in those little packets,” Ranger Bernard said. “They don’t really keep very well, long term.”

  Danielle nodded and spread her honey on the bread – roll? – thing. A nibble at the edge told her that it tasted a lot more like a plain wheat bread than a pancake. The texture was denser, too. It wasn’t bad, but the honey improved it considerably.

  “All right, so let’s talk organization now,” Ranger Bernard said, once everyone was busy spreading honey or sampling the cheese. “We need to decide when and where you’re going to meet for council meetings, first of all, so you can keep going with what we start tonight.”

  Skill Sharer just say she was unable to affect anyone's personal Systems? Do I let that one go?"

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