Alone on the path with Shria, Fift was at a loss. Were people watching them? There was a way to check audience numbers on the feed, they’d gone over it once in interface class . . .

After a moment, ze found it.

No one was watching them as they stood in the forest; no one at all. Not even Grobbard.

Grobbard raised an eyebrow. As if waiting for Fift to answer a question.

“Oh,” Fift said. “Yes, I—” Ze switched to sending. Ze shouldn’t speak aloud about the Long Conversation in the breakfast room, where zir Vail Fathers might hear and get annoyed. {Yes, Father Grobbard, I would be interested in studying the sixth and seventh odes of the first additional corpus. Thank you.}

Fift’s arms were getting tired from holding the pile of sticks. Ze took a step up the path, and Shria matched it. They headed back towards the campsite.

Shria watched the darkening sky, sunk in vir own thoughts. At the edge of the circle of firelight—red shadows dancing on the trunks, every body wreathed in a streamer of exhaled cloud as the children began to sing, ve looked at Fift once and sent: {Thanks.}

They dumped their kindling on the pile and Shria went off somewhere. Fift sat down with zirself, body against body, huddled up against the cold.

Interlude

Please answer the following questions to help us counsel you in possible new career opportunities.

What is your gender?

◉ STAID ◎ Vail

How many bodies do you have?

Are any of those bodies off-planet, undersea, in polar regions, or in long-term residency on the surface?

◎ yes ◉ NO

What is your birth order?

◎ elderborn ◎ middleborn ◎ latterborn

◉ WITHOUT BENEFIT OF SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS

What nation do you live in?

◉ FULLBELLY ◎ Hardwon ◎ Tearless ◎ Spoon

◎ the Manysmall ◎ other ◎ multinational

Are you currently undergoing an ontological collapse?

◉ NO ◎ yes, and in an Idyll ◎ yes, but awaiting a spot in an Idyll ◎ yes, but short-term/​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​at-large

How many times have you undergone an ontological collapse?

◉ 0 ◎ 1–5 ◎ 6–20 ◎ 21+

Would you prefer to experience ontological collapse more frequently or less frequently?

◎ More Frequently ◎ Less Frequently

◉ CURRENT FREQUENCY IS FINE

Have adjudicators ever issued a ruling against you on fraud, theft, unreliability, unlicensed dueling, cowardice, sloth, or gender nonconformance?

◉ NO ◎ Yes ◎ Yes, but overturned on appeal

Which best describes your current economic status?

◎ Dejected/​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​apathetic/​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​peripheral

◎ Subservient/​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​cheerful ◎ Defiant/​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​engaged

◎ Satiated/​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​joyful ◉ UNRESOLVED/​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​UNCERTAIN

Are you a parent?

◉ NO ◎ yes, a Father ◎ yes, a Mother

◎ yes, both a Mother and a Father

On an average day, what is the peak audience viewing your actions?

◉ 0–99 ◎ 100–999 ◎ 1000–99,999 ◎ 100,000–9,999,999 ◎ 10,000,000–999,999,999

◎ 1,000,000,000–999,999,999,999

Would you prefer to be viewed by more or fewer people?

◎ More ◎ Fewer ◉ CURRENT AUDIENCE IS FINE

What is your cohort status?

◉ CHILD/​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​STUDENT ◎ courtship/​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​seeker ◎ pair, triad, or quaternad proto-cohort ◎ semi-cohort ◎ full cohort ◎ large or mega-cohort ◎ fragment or dissolution

◎ not in, and not seeking, a cohort ◎ it’s complicated

How old are you?