The fifteen boys and three girls of Dellian’s yeargroup filed into chamber three. It contained plump sprawling chairs of faux-leather that they could flop into, the cushions undulating to take the weight like sluggish liquid. Up above them, the crystal roof was etched with monochrome images of the Saints themselves, while softboards around the walls had dozens of pictures pinned to them, drawn by the younger clan kids, the phosphorescent parchments glowing gently. This wasn’t a classroom in the usual sense. They didn’t make notes, there would never be an exam. The tutors wanted them relaxed, eager to take in the stories of the Five Saints. This was to be something they wanted to know, to learn.

Marok, the estate’s Sol historian, came in and smiled. Sie was in female cycle, so sie’d grown hir chestnut hair down to hir waist. Hir face was composed of long, thin bones, giving hir a very attractive if somewhat delicate appearance. Dellian always thought if he’d been lucky enough to have a parental group like the people who’d left on the generation ships had, he’d want Marok to be part of it.

“Settle down,” sie told the kids. “So then, has everyone recovered from the arena?”

There was some giggling and plenty of glances thrown in Dellian’s direction. He bore it stoically.

“I ask because violence isn’t something we’ve really talked about concerning the Saints,” sie continued. “Up until now we’ve only dealt in generalities. Today, I’m going to start filling in formative events. To put the Five Saints in context, and appreciate what they did, we need to examine their activities in greater detail. Just what motivated them? How did they come together? Did they really get on so perfectly as the tales you’ve heard said? And most importantly, what was going on around them? All these things need to be looked at properly.”

Xante stuck his hand up. “Weren’t they friends, then?”

“Not necessarily, no. Certainly not at the start. Remember how Callum and Yuri had parted a hundred years earlier? It wasn’t on the best of terms, was it? So who can tell me the two reasons they were brought back together?”

“Politics and treachery,” everyone chorused.

“Well done.” Sie smiled softly. “And where did that happen?”

“New York!”

“Quite right. Now, New York in 2204 was a very different city from anything you know, even from Afrata. And Nkya was even stranger…”

The Assessment Team

THE ASSESSMENT TEAM

FERITON KAYNE, NKYA, JUNE 23, 2204