Gideon grabbed his staff and followed Danielle to the door. Jordan scrambled a bit to get his sword on, while Danielle and Gideon waited by the door, and Akari activated Hostility Sense to check the walkway. Jordan got his belt arranged, snatched his staff and came after them just in time for Akari to step out the door and look up and down the walkway, visually confirming no one was there.

  Akari led the way over to building seven with Danielle following her and the two boys following Danielle. She paused near the corner of the building. “Do you want to go up now, or wait here on the ground to see if anyone comes out to get on the list?” Akari asked.

  “Let’s wait here for half an hour, then go check the bottom two floors,” Danielle said. “Floor 1 is the most important, because it’s possible no Healer has been through there this whole week. Nathan’s got floor 2, and I’m guessing if nobody was doing floor 3 he’d go up because of Marc and Reggie. The Rangers said nobody was doing ground floor or floor 1, but we did ground floor yesterday, so probably everyone down there is doing at least as well as yesterday.”

  “All right. So, we just stand around for half an hour, then?” Jordan asked, taking up a practiced-looking stance with his staff held just so. Danielle wondered if it was something from his cultural retention studies.

  “Well, I do have a thing I should mention,” Danielle said reluctantly, activating flash shield and taking up her own comfortable position standing with her back against the corner pillar of the building, staff in hand.

  “Why does that sound like a bad thing?” Jordan asked, a bit less cheerfully.

  “It’s not bad, just – look, while I was sick, there were these men in white uniforms hanging around the door, keeping me from going out. One of them would come inside and touch my head, which I found really annoying at the time, but I suspect it was a protection or healing thing, because – well, my roommates thought they were hallucinations, but the hallucinations ended and I still saw the messengers yesterday,” Danielle started in.

  “Messengers?” Gideon asked, raising his eyebrows.

  “Yeah, so, um. At first I wasn’t sure why I was even calling them that, but they probably told me at some point during the days I don’t remember properly, or it might be something weirder, because at this point I’m pretty sure they’re messengers – uh.” Danielle stopped. “Yeah, OK. Something’s weird, that’s maybe the third time I’ve tried to say a different word and it still came out as messenger. Anyway. Yesterday, they were saying I was probably going to stop seeing them soon, but they didn’t say anything about going away. Just that I wouldn’t see them.

  “Then last night, the head-poking one came inside and spoke to me through the mana again – I’m pretty sure he’s using the sound-like way I process my Mana Sense to make it so I can ‘hear’ him in Mana Sense but nobody else can hear because it’s not literally sound. So he chased away a nightmare, and at first I thought I was still dreaming, but then I woke up properly, or realized I was awake properly. It was weird. The point is, I was awake, and he gave me a full fledged message, complete with ‘hear the word of the Lord’ and stuff.” Danielle paused to gauge how her listeners were taking this claim.

  Jordan seemed ready to believe her, his eyes wide. Akari looked a bit more uncertain, and kept glancing around; maybe she was worried about people overhearing. Gideon looked worried, but not skeptical. “You know what word from the Bible just happens to mean messenger?” he asked.

  “Um, yeah, it’s the word that keeps coming out as messenger when I try to say it,” Danielle said, slightly exasperated. “Sorry, I’m not annoyed at you, I just don’t know why I can’t say it properly,” she explained.

  “Ah. Mmmaybe I shouldn’t either, then?” he replied cautiously.

  Jordan looked between them. “Um, I don’t know what word, though,” he said.

  “Messenger from God covers it well enough,” Akari said. “What was the message?”

  “Well, there were a few parts. I need to go do something Sunday morning, and I’m only supposed to take people who are quick and quiet – scouts, basically.” Danielle fidgeted, delaying the part she suspected they wouldn’t like.

  “Well, I’m a scout. Like Zephyr, except I don’t really want to compare myself to Zephyr,” Gideon admitted. “There is no one I feel is less like me than him, and I can’t understand how he ever got attached to this group.”

  “Oh, yeah, you mentioned that yesterday. Huh. Well, God’s doing something, because he’s on the list for Sunday morning,” Danielle said. “You and him and a third person is optional.”

  Gideon frowned. “He’s definitely not the fourth person for the – you know, whatever it is? With me and Jordan and someone else?”

  “I don’t know, but Jordan isn’t on the list for Sunday morning, so that group of four and this group of four are definitely not the same four people,” Danielle said. “I don’t know why silence is important, but the messenger mentioned it more than once, so there we have it. Silence is an issue for Sunday morning.”

  Akari frowned. “Is that really the thing you needed to mention right now?” she asked.

  “Well, no,” Danielle admitted, twisting her staff nervously. “The thing is, here we are at building seven, and I need to tell you a thing about Vince. You know how he’s been telling people I’m unkillable?”

  “I heard that, yeah,” Jordan said.

  “Well, um. Turns out, I’m also expressly forbidden from killing him,” Danielle said. “Because God still has plans for him.”

  “Oh. So you’re saying, if he attacks us here, we’re also not allowed to kill him,” Gideon said.

  “Right. You needed to know. I get it if you’re not happy about it, though,” Danielle said.

  Jordan turned to the building, nervously scanning the walkway and balconies. “Just him, though? If another Wolf attacks, he’s fair game?”

  “That part of the message was specifically about Vince,” Danielle said. “We should probably show grace to other people if we reasonably can, though. I mean, not to the point of risking our own lives, presumably, but there are four of us, and if it’s four on one we should be able to drive off any one attacker, right? It’d be the honorable thing to do.”

  “I don’t think they’re going to care much about your honor,” Jordan said.

  “Their opinion isn’t really the important one,” Gideon said. “It’s the biblical thing to do – showing mercy to the undeserving and stuff. Loving your enemies.”

  “Oh. That kind of honor,” Jordan said. “I guess I gotta get used to that.”

  “Yeah. Gideon’s dream said the thing you chose to be involved with would call for protecting people who don’t deserve it, even enemies. May as well start practicing, right? Oh, um, there was something in the message about that, too, by the way,” Danielle said.

  “You’re not doing a very good job of telling us about this,” Jordan said; half joking, Danielle thought.

  “Sorry, I’m really not. There’s details, but the short version is, when you and the fourth person are all level 2, then we’re close,” Danielle said. “I have instructions for something we’re supposed to do right away when that happens.”

  “What kind of something?” Gideon asked cautiously.

  “That’s when I’ll be giving you a gift, like your dream said,” Danielle answered. “I know what it is now. I can’t actually make it just yet, but – ”

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  Her system chose that moment (it couldn’t be coincidence) to pop up a message. “Skill applied. Skill: Burst Recycling (T2) added at level 1.”

  “Strike that,” Danielle said. “I just got the last requirement from a pox pop.”

  “Can I ask?” Gideon asked.

  Danielle wanted to laugh at him asking if he could ask things, but she knew what he meant. She shook her head. “Maybe I’ll tell you on Sunday,” she said. “Or after whatever it is we’re preparing for is over, then I’ll tell you which one was the last-minute gift. I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

  There was a long silence, at least as conversations went. Danielle glanced at her watch. It was a little challenging, reading the time through the Symbol Seer visualization of the enhancement, but fortunately none of the symbols were centered right over the watch face. It was only 8:12.

  “So, uh, you asked about everyone else’s pox Skills yesterday,” Jordan said. “What are yours? You must have at least three, right?”

  “Oh, yeah, well, I have more than three. I was so delirious because my mana production was so much higher, compared to my base production, than most other people’s got,” Danielle said. “And you know, between being level 2 and having Traits, my base was already higher, so when I came back to myself and read over my list of notifications, it was quite a list.”

  “Anything fun?” Gideon asked.

  “Well, I can apparently talk to ruminants now,” Danielle said. “Which includes goats and deer alike, supposedly. Haven’t tried yet, but that might be fun. Um, something called Librarian’s Whisper from Academy Student, haven’t tried out that either. That I know of. Something called Gentle Harvest from Survivor – not sure if that’ll be fun, exactly, but I imagine it’ll support my pancake party plans.”

  “What makes a harvest gentle?” Akari asked.

  “If I understand right, it’s about picking fruit without bruising it,” Danielle said.

  “Oh, that makes sense,” Akari said with a nod. “You’re thinking it’ll be good for collecting berries, then?”

  “Yeah. We should find some for me to test it on tomorrow,” Danielle agreed. “I’ve got a lot of stuff to test tomorrow, once my mana isn’t spoken for here.”

  They fell silent at the sound of a door opening. Danielle looked down and along the building, into the ground floor walkway. And boy stood in the open doorway, steadying himself by leaning on the door handle. “Are you the Now Hear This lady?” he asked. “With the list?”

  “Yeah, that’s me,” Danielle said. “Are you still feeling feverish? Need to keep up that every-six-hours Fever-Ace?”

  “Yeah, I didn’t wanna tell the Rangers, but I’m still not feeling right,” the boy said. “The list isn’t with the Rangers, right? You’re that Saint girl, not one of them.”

  “I’m Sent, like you,” Danielle said. “I’m a classed Medic from building six. I got Now Hear This from being elected to the town council.”

  “Cool. Here,” he said walking just a bit unsteadily down the walkway. He handed Danielle a piece of paper, about the size of her hand and obviously torn out of a small spiral notebook. “That’s our names, from my room and my friend’s room, that wanna be on the list,” he said. “You gotta promise not to give it to the Rangers, though.”

  “I won’t,” Danielle said. “I won’t read all the names into the message, either – I’m just writing them on a list with a heading I can refer to, and telling the Skill to target everyone on the list.”

  “Like a, what’s it called.” The boy paused, thinking. “A privacy-preserving mailing list.”

  “A wha-? Oh! Like in email. Yes, exactly,” Danielle said. “Anyway, do you guys need a checkup tonight? Temperatures taken or anything? Are you getting plenty of water?”

  “No, we’re good. Thanks for doing our canteens yesterday, though, they taste better now. What was that?” he asked.

  “Soap and water followed by Sterilize Object,” Danielle said. “If no one in your room has Sterilize Object, you should ask about a token on Catalog day. They’re selling them at a discount.”

  “Huh. Really? Sterilize makes water taste better?” the boy blinked at her.

  Danielle shrugged. “If you weren’t washing it very well, say, because you were too sick and exhausted, then something nasty-tasting might have been trying to grow in the bottom corners. Sterilize Object would kill it. It works the same way with making things smell better – a lot of things that stink have a little rot going in them, and Sterilize Object kills the rot. It’s still best to actually wash them afterward, but if you can’t wash them right, the Skill will give you more time to figure it out.”

  “And, uh, they’re selling it in the catalog?” the boy asked. He shuffled his feet uncomfortably.

  “It’s listed as one of the things you were supposed to ask about in advance, but since the epidemic happened after they had the question time, the rules secretly changed a little; if you know to ask, you can just order it on the Saturday of the catalog fair like anything else. The only catch, besides the fact that you just have to know, is there’s a limited number at the 50% off price, so you have to be one of the first however-many people to put in a request,” Danielle explained.

  “Do you know how many it is?” the boy asked with a frown.

  Danielle shook her head. “As of the last Now Hear This, it was seventy-some, but the Rangers have been telling the people that talk to them, letting them order in advance. They didn’t say I had to keep it on the down-low, though, so if there really are people they’d rather not tell? Well then it’ll just be too bad I let it slip, huh?” She winked at the boy.

  “That’s brave of you,” he said, far too seriously. “The Rangers have a lot of power and they decide who benefits by it and who gets stonewalled with their stupid rules. If you’re on their good side, you shouldn’t risk giving that up until you’re ready to get back Inside and out of their reach.”

  Danielle shook her head. “I think the things they haven’t told us include some stuff that will turn out to explain why we never see Sent coming back Inside the same year they go out. Like, maybe how much mana it takes to get to level 4 or 5 or 9. I’m not taking it for granted that getting back Inside fast is possible; and I’m not keeping secrets about stuff that everyone needs to know. Maybe it’ll cause me trouble, but I’d rather deal with the trouble than see people maybe die or get mutations, and know I could’ve prevented that if I’d just spoken up.”

  The boy leaned against the wall, and looked down, thinking hard. “I know the Courts of the Elements say you shouldn’t learn stuff about higher levels than the one you’re working towards,” he said. “You’re not Systemist, though – do you know stuff about higher levels that makes you think there’s, um, relevant information about them? Relevant to how long it takes to get Inside, I mean?”

  Danielle nodded. “I’m already level 2, so I know how much mana I needed to get from 1 to 2, and how much I need to get from 2 to 3,” she said. “Without going into details, let’s just say the two amounts aren’t the same.”

  The boy frowned. “Maybe it’s just the fever and tiredness, but I’m not following,” he said.

  “I think the trend is more mana for each level,” Danielle said. “I don’t know how far it goes or how fast, but if you’ve ever played a video game with that kind of leveling, you know the early levels go really fast, but the later levels get slow and grindy, especially if you keep hunting low-level game monsters.”

  “Oh. Uh, but usually you don’t keep hunting low level areas, you go to high level places,” the boy said. “In video games, I mean.”

  Danielle nodded again. “But in reality, rabbits don’t care what level you are. They burst with the mana they have, no matter how much mana you have.”

  “So what do you think we’re supposed to do?” the boy asked.

  “Spend some time leveling Skills and Classes that will let us go hunt the higher-level zone across the river, for one thing,” Danielle said. “And stay out here for at least five years, for another. Ten, if you stick to fish and rabbits.”

  “But what are we supposed to – ” the boy broke off with a vague gesture of helplessness.

  “Eat? Fish, rabbits, wild berries, that kind of thing,” Danielle said. “Well, and later on we’re probably meant to buy flour and stuff with mana. I’m starting to realize that the government sees mana as a form of money, just like they have us using it out here; there’s a mana tax, and you know who has low mana-income?”

  “Us?” the boy suggested.

  “For now, but not once we’re level 10,” Danielle said. “Mana generation goes up every level, too. They don’t want us to die, they want us to become high level mana generators who will pay high level mana taxes. How’s that for something they don’t include in the big speeches when they Send us out?”

  “Whoa. That actually makes sense,” the boy said, as if it was blowing his mind that she’d managed to say something logically consistent. Danielle was a bit offended, but kept her mouth shut. He was sick; it was possible he hadn’t meant it quite the way it sounded to her. “I gotta go think about this,” he said, and stumbled back into his room without another word.

  Danielle’s friends were giving her odd looks. “Was that wise?” Gideon asked.

  Danielle sighed. “I don’t know – I’m trying, though. Whatever convinces them to accept the truth as truth has to have at least some merit, right? I don’t think I offered too much support to the Ranger Conspiracy theory, and you have to admit, the mana tax thing is a real reason why the state wants us all to live, and it’s not the kind of inspiring thing they say in speeches about the honor of being Sent.”

  “You’re not starting to think it’s a conspiracy, though, right?” Jordan asked.

  “I don’t think it’s a conspiracy, no, and I especially don’t think the Rangers are the ones behind the less speech-worthy reasoning. That’s the Inside government. You know, the people that decided to Send us in the first place. I think the Rangers are on the short end of the stick along with us, trying to make it all work anyway, even though the government’s breaking their own rules for Sendings.”

  Danielle glanced at her watch, then the paper the boy had given her. “Huh. There’s nine names on here – that’s more than just his roommates. Might be a hunting party.”

  “I hope they really all agreed to be on the list,” Akari said uneasily.

  “Me too. They look like they’re all in different handwritings, though. Signatures, even,” Danielle said. “So I’m going to assume they’re legit unless I hear evidence to the contrary.” She put the paper away in her bag. “It’s eight thirty, so unless one of you sees someone coming, I think we’ll move on to doing the rounds on level 1.”

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