DYEAWAN’S FIRST MEETING AS A planner is surprisingly ill attended. In fact, almost half of the other planners she met during her initiation into their ranks are absent. Edger is seated at the center point of the table that mimics the concentric circles of their pendants. There are five other planners spread throughout the interior of winding stone slab, all whom greet her with bright eyes and welcoming smiles. Dyeawan can’t help noticing they are all among the youngest members of the planners.

“We welcome the freshest fowl to our brace,” Edger announces. “It seems a perfect time for a new planner, as we appear to be shorthanded today.”

The rest of them giggle or snicker or guffaw while Dyeawan stares about in confusion. She doesn’t understand the comedy of the moment.

Dyeawan falls into silence as Edger commences the meeting. He sparks a lively discussion concerning the Gens involved in various operations of Crachian docks and seaports, and how their practice and philosophy differs from other Gens nationwide. Corruption and misuse prevail heavily among Gens invested in seafaring trades and port functions, far more than levels deemed “acceptable” among other Gens.

It is strange for Dyeawan to hear these things spoken about so openly and honestly, without pretense or concealment. What Aegins spend their every day attempting to hide from the goodly citizens of the Capitol, these people treat as just another feature of the city.

“Perhaps the problem is that people who live and work in places like the Bottoms are taught to see themselves as existing outside Crache,” Dyeawan finds herself chiming in. “Perhaps this would not be a problem if the people allowed to live and starve in those streets were better tended to.”

Dyeawan expects her words to be met with reprimand and scorn, perhaps even attack. Instead the faces surrounding her are alight with curiosity.

“Please continue, Dyeawan,” Edger bids her.

“Gens, from what I’ve seen, feel no loyalty to any people outside their own kith-kins. Feeling loyal to Crache and loyal to its people are not the same thing. When it comes to people, Gens are loyal to the people inside that Gen. But at least, outside the Bottoms, Gens see citizens protected and cared for by Crache. In the Bottoms people do not matter. It teaches the Gens entrusted with running things there that they can do whatever they like without consequence. If they saw Crache invested in those people, they might think differently.”

“What if we lack the resources to feed and house so many, especially those too weak or old or infirm to provide function for that care?”

“The attempt would be enough,” Dyeawan insists, bitterness creeping unchecked into her voice. “Ignoring a problem you can’t solve is not itself a solution. It only allows the problem to grow.”