FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

CHAPTER ONE - CIPRIAN DAWN

Ice whipped and slashed with a harsh bite into the accelerating train. Over many hard winters, ice had left small scratches along the windows in the passenger cars as it had looped the city of Ciprian again and again. Nearly running along the well-maintained tracks year round, there was only one last week of its operation left in December before it ceased operation until March. During that period it was far too dangerous to maintain operation with the amount of snow and ice.

It was on this train in one of cars that Clement sat with his wet nose resting against the cool window. Lights and towers rolled by without any disturbance; the train was completely still and level. The wolf found his nose too cold and pulled back from the window, stretching. He yawned and closed his eyelids on one blue eye and one brown, exhausted from his early waking time and two hour travel. That, coupled with the severe anxiety weighing down his stomach like a black iron block, was taking its toll on the fur. Why there weren't more direct lines or metro stations in the city he felt he would never understand.

At four in the morning it was still dark and a soft flurry of snow was resting upon Clement's yard. District 5 was quiet and at a rest. By the sea, preparations for fishing would be taking place in the pre-dawn hours, but inland the world slept. Clement awoke and gathered his small duffel bag with two changes of clothes, his ID, and a portable gaming system. He ate a breakfast of quiet atmosphere alone in the kitchen, checking his watch until it read 4:25. He walked quietly to his parents bedroom where they were asleep to mouth a silent goodbye and then down the hall to his sister's where he did the same. Out the door, through the snow, to the station.

Clement remembered that pre-twilight walk. District 5 was by the sea where the north side of The Wall extended out into the ocean for miles. Here, it was quiet unlike most of Ciprian, with farming and fishing and simple life rolling out peacefully year after year. When he had reached the platform, it was 4:35 and the train arrived right on schedule at 4:42. Nobody boarded but him, and certainly nobody disembarked. To the world Clement knew, coast districts were largely ignored except for the port, and that was how he could best describe his life until now: largely ignored.

That's why, between himself and his best friend Lysander, they had planned to go further into the city and work on The Wall. They would live together in an apartment Lysander had saved for and would have an exciting city life that wasn't the doldrums of District 5. Clement was to meet his fellow wolf at the apartment in District 20 today and sign up for the work detail on The Wall at 9 A.M. sharp.

Clement was nervous and excited, unable to keep his paws still as he recited the address of the apartment over and over silently in his mind. Both he and Lysander were nineteen now and had grown up together, but the stages of becoming an independent adult were still hardly finished. Neither of them acted like it but both of them knew it and the responsibilities of being an adult in District 5 with their parents was nothing compared to what the wolves would need to take care of in District 20. All they could see when they were talking of the city together were the lights, the freedom, the girls, and the excitement. A better life.

Rolling to a comfortable and smooth stop, the bullet train arrived at District 20. Clement felt that block in his stomach grow heavier as there was a large commotion here at this stop. Most of his fellow passengers in this car also seemed to be disembarking here at this stop, and through the window Clement could see furs of all species waiting on the platform to practically swarm this train once it was emptied. To think that within over a week, it would be too cold to stand exposed on that platform, and that months later, a rush of melting snow would drain out the sides was a curiosity, but something he had lived with his whole live.

Shuffling out with the other furs, the cold weather wrapped itself quickly around the wolf's snout, making him wish he had bundled up more. Inland, it was colder, where the ocean didn't warm the atmosphere, like back home. This station was an elevated platform, and it was unsheltered from wind. Careful not to slip on the icy steps, Clement navigated his boot-clad footpaws down to street level, where it was busy with pedestrian traffic. So many of the residents were making last minute purchases. In the harsh winter, you needed to take the heated winter busses or your own vehicle, if you were lucky enough to own a winter-specified one.

Thankfully, their apartment was only two blocks from the station. Clement walked at a brisk pace, turning the corner and noticing the Wall Defense Center where both wolves would be signing up shortly. It was a small white brick building looking down on passing citizens between two apartment buildings. It had an air of authority but was dwarfed by the scale of the task of defending and maintaining The Wall that enclosed Ciprian and pushed its back against the sea. The Wall Defense Force employed hundreds of thousands of civilian furs in Ciprian, and it wasn't even part of the military. It was mostly hard labor, but it was considered honorable, important work - two things that Clement and Lysander had never experienced before.

Clement arrived at the apartment building of dark black stone, and traversed the four icy front steps to the front door. The building was five stories high and there were names with appropriate buzzers to apartment intercoms to the left of the door. One apartment, 8, had a blank name card, soon to have their names written upon it. Clement pressed a paw to the cold plastic button and heard a click, followed by a short buzz. He shivered in the growing cold, looking forward to being inside a cozy, heated apartment. There was no response.

The wolf pressed the buzzer again. In the street behind him, a winter vehicle rumbled by on the light snow: a large orange truck with a sled-like front and a revolving track in the back. Various furs that needed to cross the street did so quickly behind it, where an exhaust pipe released a quick burst of hot air. On days where the temperature was dropping low enough for people to do that, Clement hated to think of Ciprian's homeless. He remembered when he was little, the trucks dumping grey shapes into a hole in District 5 when walking with his father once in the early spring. Bodies, he later learned. Those without a home that didn't survive the winter. Hundreds. Maybe thousands.

Clement wasn't sure what to do. He checked his digital watch and it read 8:00. He and Lysander were supposed to be at the WDC in an hour... surely he would not have gone out while expecting his best friend and needing to keep an appointment? Clement waited minute after minute until his nose felt nearly frozen and decided he needed to get out of the cold. A little nervous, he buzzed the first apartment. There was no response there, either, after a buzz. With the second, he was more successful and the voice of a young woman, probably around his age, came somewhat broken up through the intercom.

"Hello?"

"Hi," Clement started, shivering a little even in his fur. "I've just moved into apartment 8 and the friend I was supposed to meet isn't here to let me in... I was wondering if you could just buzz me in to the building?"

Silence for a while, then, "We're not supposed to just let someone in we don't know..."

"Look... I know that but it's freezing out here and I'd love to be able to get inside, please." Clement wondered how long it took for exposed paws to lose feeling. Damn was it cold. He flexed them and then breathed on them just in case.

"How do I know you're not just some bum?" the voice without a face asked.

"Well look, you're on the first floor, can't you just look out your window and I'll wave to you? Really, I just got here all the way on the train from District 5 and I promise I'm not some homeless fur."

"Did you say District 5?" There was more silence, the kind that begged time for further response. Then, "I'll buzz you in."

With a click, the door opened and Clement finally stepped into relative warmth. The entryway and stairwell of the building were hardly heated, but it was better than being out in that wind. Located directly to his right was a digital thermometer. 8 degrees fahrenheit outside, and that windchill must have made it feel a bit below zero. The wolf shivered again and then a door on this floor opened: apartment 2.

A red fox in a light blue robe and with her hind paws tucked into matching slippers stepped out just barely into the hallway. She looked Clement up and down and then smiled. "So you aren't some homeless guy." Opening her door a little and backing up, she scratched behind one of her ears. "Sorry about that, really. There've been some problems in this building before... not that this is a bad neighborhood! Why don't you come in?"

Clement wasn't usually very social, but Lysander wasn't around and he supposed he had a little bit of time to thank the fox for letting him inside. "Thanks," he said. Maybe Lysander was already at the WDC. "Sorry about buzzing... I hope I didn't wake you." Clement eyed the robe. She filled it well... she wasn't a bad-looking fox, he thought. And she seemed his age.

"It's okay," the fox replied, backing through her door more as she held it open for him . "I have insomnia. I was already awake." There was a hint of a smile in that but also frustration. "I'll sleep later. Come in, come in. It's cold in this freaking hallway!"

It was indeed much warmer in the apartment, and Clement felt the pleasantness of cold melting away, much like in front of the fire at home. But this stranger's apartment was much more cozy than home. There were three rooms, like all apartments in this building had. The main area, bedroom, and bathroom. The bedroom door was just slightly ajar enough to see a bed. This main area of the apartment had walls painted a pleasant vermilion... almost that of the fox's fur. The kitchen was neat and small, there was a simple television and love seat in the living room with a coffee table, and a circular table with only two chairs in the dining area.

"I'm sorry," the fox said, closing the door. "My name is Lucia." She held out a soft paw.

Clement gently shook with the fox. "Clement. Your apartment is very nice!"

"Thank you, I do find it quite comfortable!" Lucia moved into the kitchen and gestured to the dining room table before opening a high cabinet. "You can put your coat on the chair and have a seat. I don't mind if it's wet." There was a clatter as the fox produced two red mugs. "Coffee?" she asked. "I live for coffee."

Clement enjoyed coffee, even if it was hard to get fresh. "I'd love some, thank you!" The wolf sat down at the table; through the window, he observed the snow picking up speed. Then he looked at the fox assembling her things for brewing and wondered if his enjoyment of the cozy indoors had left him just a little too sheltered. He told himself that this was it, he was in the city now, independent, ready to break barriers.

"So," Lucia began from the kitchen, "what brings you all the way here from District 5? To move in, I mean. What's here in the city for you and your friend?"

A new life, the wolf thought. "We're both signing up to be a part of The Wall Defense Force."

"Ah, but... you don't have to come all the way here to do that, right?"

She was right. Clement and Lysander didn't need to live deeper in the city. There was a Wall Defense Center in every district. "We just wanted to be alone... independent. I love what I've heard about this place. The clubs and the art scene and stuff. It just seems cool." Clement felt a little dumb. 'It just seems cool' sounded really lame.

"And no mom and dad? If you don't mind me saying, you look like you might have just graduated secondary instruction."

Lucia didn't look very much older than Clement but he didn't want to ask her age. Instead he lied, "They were chill with it. My friend and I just talked things over with our folks and it went pretty smoothly actually." And then, with the hope of getting her age, "We're both nineteen."

Something about the way the fox moved her tail told Clement Lucia didn't quite believe him. There was this sort of awkward silence as she brewed the coffee in an expensive-looking machine until she asked a question. "How do you take your coffee?"

"Black is fine," Clement said. "You taste it better that way."

Lucia brought over the two crimson mugs, filled near to the brim with hot, black coffee. She sat opposite him and gently placed one of the mugs in front of her guest. Crossing her legs under the robe and looking into her coffee, she said, "I used to live in District 5 when I was little. Every year my parents and I used to go to that Winewheel Arts Fair on Leftcroft Hill until the government shut it down in... 2660, I think?" She blew on her coffee. The whole dining room smelled rich and awakening. "I used to love the show they did every year with the paper dragon puppet. When I was really little, I didn't know that it was operated by other people and was terrified it would escape and destroy us... you know the legends!" Lucia had a smile on her face but she wasn't looking directly at Clement. The wolf thought he could see Lucia had very wet eyes. Fidgeting in his seat a little, the wolf blew on his coffee and then inhaled the rich aroma.

"I was there when they shut it down," Clement said. "I was going by there that day with my dad... or maybe we were going there, I don't remember. But yeah, it was weird. It had been there in the district for so long, you know?" Feeling awkward about not yet drinking his coffee, he brought the mug to his snout and took a fake sip of the still too hot coffee. "And then one day there's just this group of guys outside of the entrance with an APC. They tore down all the banners, the tents... I even saw them breaking down that wrought iron gate one day, the one that said, 'Winewheel'? I don't think they ever explained why."

Lucia was looking out the window now as little silken drops covered the ground in icing. "What ever happened to it? The land, I mean? I never saw."

"Well it was abandoned for a while. Then they turned it into another pit, so they just dug it up." Clement thought back to that day with his father. The first time he saw the government disposing of what it didn't care about. "That wasn't too long ago. How long have you been here in District 20? What brought you here? If you don't mind me asking, of course." Clement tried to take a sip of the coffee, trying not to jump a little when it burned him. Still, he managed to get some down. Rolling it across his tongue, his heart spiked. This was real coffee.

"Work, really. I don't like to talk about what I do because it's so boring! I sit on the computer and check email releases for local WDC channels... nothing of high importance or classification, really. But your paycheck is going to be coming from the same place as mine." Lucia looked back to her coffee. It seemed a convenient retreat for her. "How is the coffee?" Apparently it was also a way for her to divert the conversation topic. Clement decided not to press.

Taking a slightly less painful sip, he mused over the full-bodied strength of the roast. It was almost as if it were a part of the earth, somewhere where it was lush and green, if anywhere like that existed anymore. It had a flowery aftertaste too... it was unquestionably real. "It's amazing... this is real, isn't it? Where on earth did you get real coffee?"

Outside a gust of wind pushed in on the windowpane, bringing the fox's attention yet again to the window. She smiled, and finally, looked to Clement. "It's government supply. Working for the WDC is still really working for the government. Perks aplenty." Lucia didn't seem very excited and her smile didn't seem very true. "It gives me something to enjoy while I sit at the computer most of the time."

Clement had never really thought of all the other jobs at the Wall Defense Center. He usually just imagined being on one of the high up scaffolding areas, or working with the army patrolling the top, doing some sort of grand work on the grand Wall; sitting at the computer checking emails didn't sound like something he's like to do. It sounded like school all over again. "So you work from home? Like most of the time?" he asked.

"Always when it is computer work." Lucia was really downing her coffee now. "A lot of times though they call me in to do something." The vulpine could sense another question coming and added, "It's usually the same type of work, really. Just something localized they can't risk sending over or something. You know how they're always worried about the Outsiders intercepting anything."

"Right," Clement said. He took a more comfortable sip of the coffee, almost losing himself in how delicious it was. "This is really fantastic coffee." More unsure now though, was how he felt of Lucia. "I hope I can work in the same department as my friend. Do they let you choose and stuff?"

"Sort of! It's really all based on availability, and you've got to take a course for a bit first to sort of lay the groundwork of how things go in the WDF." Lucia took one more long sip of her coffee and then stood, taking her free hand and smoothing the front of her soft robe. "I do actually need to be heading out soon, I apologize but I forgot," she said to Clement. "You can keep that mug! Or well, borrow it! Just come back down sometime and pop in. If I'm here I'll come to the door pretty quickly!"

Clement stood too, putting his coat back on. "Oh, well, thanks a lot. Maybe I could stop by for coffee again too. I'd really like-"

Lucia cut him off as she made her way to her bedroom. "Sure, sure! I'm sorry!" Without closing the door, Clement could hear her throw her robe upon the bed, clearly quickly changing. He didn't dare venture around the corner to peek. "I just really need to be going and... damn! I'm always so late to these things..." As her speech became quiet and more muddled, Clement simply awkwardly waited for Lucia to be done changing into the black business attire she emerged in. All her smooth features were now sharpened and she cut the cozy room until all of Clement's attention bled to her. Now he made his way to the front door. "If you have any problems with your place, not that you should, the landlady is in the basement apartment. She's a damn weaver, though, so don't expect her to do much. She's sort of creepy, too."

"Thanks," Clement replied on his way out. "For everything!"

On the second landing Clement was sipping more of the coffee before it could grow cold. On the fourth floor, he knocked on apartment 8's cold door and waited. It was dim in the hallway and as the silence of no response sank in and the coffee cooled in his gut, the wolf felt terribly alone. Placing the red mug down by the apartment door he decided to go to the basement and ask the landlady about the room.

Basement apartments are unique places. Those who live in them either adapt to the style of the dwelling or were destined to end up there in the first place. Clement had never met a spider before, not even an insect. Regarded as lower in class, it seemed fitting that the landlady resided here in the cold basement behind this aging wooden door. Under those above her as she may have been, she held pride in the fact she collected rent from the tenants and lived well within her desires. This pride was painted in red paint on her small door, dimly illuminated by a single bulb above Clement's head.

When the door opened and the orb weaver stuck her soft head out, it was not with fear but with surprise at her gentle smile that Clement was taken aback. Behind her the apartment was softly lit and the smell of something baking floated from inside. The spider wore a purple dress and an amulet of some red stone. Disarmed from any preconceptions about the spider in the basement, Clement explained he could not get into his apartment.

"Please, come inside! It's so cold in this basement hall!" she said, letting Clement step inside. "I'm afraid your friend has not been here to pick up the keys yet!"

Warming up in the cozy entryway, Clement felt a pang of worry for Lysander. "He hasn't been here at all? Both of us are supposed to sign up at the Wall Defense Center in like, a half hour!"

"I'm afraid not, sweetheart!" the old landlady said, moving into the kitchen. "The WDC... planning on making a man's career on the Wall?" She smiled, putting on oven mitts over her lower two arms. Opening the oven, she removed a golden loaf of fresh bread.

Clement looked around the homey apartment. "Yeah! But... I guess I'm just worried now where he is." Watching the spider use her six arms didn't disturb him as he thought it might. He thought of what his father had once told him about the government cutting extra limbs off decades ago. She didn't appear to have been a victim of that campaign, though she certainly must of lived to see it.

"Don't you all have... what are they? Messengers today? You can't text your friend?"

"I don't have a phone," Clement said. "I'm from District 5, so we've never had the towers installed. Even if we did have phones each, that means I wouldn't be able to reach him out there. But... he should have come in earlier on the train..."

"I'm sure there is a good reason for this friend not being here... Lysander was his name, correct? We communicated by mail and he was very pleasant and trustworthy. You can call me Ms. Nann!" Moving to a drawer on the side of the oven, she removed a bread knife with her middle right arm. It was strange to see the oven mitts still securely placed while she busied another limb. Clement wondered if there was preference or dominant hands in spiders such as her. "You're probably wondering if you can have the key... unfortunately, sweetheart, you're not on the lease! I can't just give you the apartment for free!"

"I understand." Clement lowered his gaze to the worn wood floor. "Maybe, when I come back from the WDC, he'll be here." He thought of returning to his parents, of being on the streets of District 20 alone; so many things could happen without Lysander to be there for the apartment.

"But I would hate to leave you out!" Ms. Nann used a free arm to remove the oven mitts. "What if we make a sort of deal?"

Clement thought of the dark secret rituals and religions of bugs... abysmal proceedings that the government refused to see the light of day, and shuddered. "Deal?" His voice cracked.

"If you agree to help a poor old weaver like myself, I'll see what I can do about at least a temporary residence here." Ms. Nann turned to Clement, wiggling her six arms. "I still need a hand sometimes!"

Brightening somewhat at this, Clement took in the comfort of the apartment and exhaled. "Whatever you need help with, really!"

"Helping me with my cooking and baking... cleaning and just keeping an old woman company... you may learn a thing or two to help you live on your own, young man! In fact..." Reaching into an upper cupboard, the spider removed a small box of resealable bags. "I am baking plenty of bread today. When this cools, I'll wrap it up as a nice housewarming gift! Hopefully when your friend arrives, you won't have already eaten it all! Wolf boys have quite the appetite, I've heard!"

"Thanks... oh, gosh! I don't know how to say thank you!" Clement was beaming. The last thing he wanted to do was have to return home at the start of his new life. To miss the excitement of District 20! "Any time you need my help, please, let me know!"

"Come by again when you've figured out your schedule for the WDF and you can pick up this bread and work out a schedule for time here, okay?" Ms. Nann moved to the kitchen table where she opened a small walnut box and removed a small envelope. "This is the key to your apartment and the building," she said, holding it out for Clement's excited paw. "Do not lose it! I only have the originals right now! I'll be making copies the next time I go out... or perhaps that will be a chore for you. All of the furniture is set, I checked the apartment myself this week. And you should have an internet connection! Only hardwired, though, or whatever you kids call it."

"Thank you so much!" Clement took the keys excitedly, pocketing it and placing his arms, if somewhat awkwardly, around the old spider. She just stood there and he moved back quickly. "I- I'm sorry! Is there like... uh, oh gosh... did I like, break a uh, cultural barrier or something? Gosh, I'm so sorry! I've never-"

Ms. Nann was smiling. "Never hugged a spider?" Her eyes glistened slightly. "I wouldn't have thought... well..." Taking a step back, she stooped to sit on one of the kitchen chairs. "You really aren't from the city, are you? Thank you."

Clement fought the urge to check his watch and sat down on the other side of the table. Now, Ms. Nann was certainly wiping small tears from her fuzzy face. Her palps twitched slightly. The tears did not fall from pain, this much Clement understood. But he still didn't understand. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, sweetheart! Goodness, no! In the eyes of many, perhaps... perhaps that would be best avoided in a public area, for both our safety. I've never been touched by someone who wasn't one of us... not with gentle intent, anyway." Also on the kitchen table was a small box of tissues, and the spider began to dab at her eyes. "I apologize if I startled you! I was just as surprised! We are dirty people, at least to most of this city. If you'll help me most days and be that much of a kind heart, that is more valuable to me than money."

Clement had never had the opportunity to interact so socially with the adult world before, let alone a bug. "Thank you. I'll be back right after I sign up, I promise! And... you have a kind heart, too!"

As Clement glanced at his watch, Ms. Nann stood again, smiling down at the wolf. "There are too few left. Be careful in this city. True hearts, kind ones like yours, are rough. We are... worn and engraved from our experiences." Back at the kitchen counter, she removed a bag of flour from a lower cabinet. "If ever you find yourself among polished hearts, you know that things will be bitter, darling. Beneath their polished sheen, if you scratch just beneath the surface, you'll find it is empty. This city is full of them. An unpopular opinion, I should add, to have in public. Look for textured love, love you can feel." The old spider turned to Clement. "If you'll excuse me, the smoothest of them are full of bullshit."

Unsure what to say, he smiled in return. Ms. Nann was slightly poetic. "Thank you, again. I'll go check on the room and then head out... you're the best, Ms. Nann!"

"Don't forget to come back for the bread, sweetheart!"

As Clement stepped back into the cold hallway, he couldn't wipe the grin off his face, internally concerned about Lysander as he may have been. "I won't!" He would go out to the WDC and sign up, Lysander or not. The wolf thought it likely Lysander had just been delayed by his parents discovering the trip, but he knew his canine friend could sneak away at some point. He hoped.

---

The winter wind had sharp teeth on the streets of District 20. Still bustling with morning activity, Clement made his way around the block to the WDC. It was an imposing building that seemed to disapprove of everyone beneath it. Stone white as snow with black-barred windows, as if it were some sort of prison.

Unassuming glass doors in the direct center on the ground floor that opened to a lobby of whites and golds. Marble surfaces polished to a perfect shine. Dark oil paintings framed in authoritative bronze on the walls. Heated, but not comfortably. A long reception desk stretched perpendicular to Clement's approach as he entered the Wall Defense Center. Behind it sat an otter with blue framed glasses. She typed strangely on a computer: a 'hunt and peck' style of tapping the keys.

"Can I help you?" she asked, not looking up from the monitor.

Clement's anxiety crept its way up alongside his excitement. "Yes, actually." He needed to raise his voice. "I'm here to sign up for a work detail with the Wall Defense Force."

The otter stopped tapping on the plastic so that the imposing and uncomfortably open room fell silent. She looked at Clement and pushed her glasses up her snout as they slid. Silently, she reached with tried-and-true hands into a drawer. She placed a form on the marble desk's surface and grabbed a pen from nearby her computer.

Clement took the pen and began looking over the form. Have you or a family member ever been involved with a resistance group? How many times a day do you generally watch state-run television? Are you an internet user? Blacknet user? Some of the questions among the average form inquiries seemed very specific. "I was supposed to be here with a friend but he might sign up tomorrow... I know the deadline is at ten."

"When you're done with the form, leave it here. We'll require you back here at ten in the morning tomorrow." The otter resumed typing.

Taking a focus on the paperwork, Clement input all of the information. Flipping the sheet over, there was a large blank space and a single line of text at the top. He stared at the question, beginning to flip the pen around in his paw. The white hurt his eyes. It was colder than he thought inside this lobby.

What will you sacrifice?

Clement wrote with steady, clear print. Not having a long answer, he wrote in the middle of the blank space. When he was done, he read the words over and over again. They sounded good in his head. They hurt his heart. He turned the paper in to the otter and left the castle of ice.

Opening the glass doors, Clement was met with the loud sound of a diesel engine passing the sidewalk. A government APC, yellow emergency lights flashing, plowed through the growing snow. Several crossed the street swiftly behind it in the exhaust of the large vehicle. He walked back to the apartment block wondering where inside the WDC Lucia worked and when she might be back.

Ascending the narrow staircase to his apartment, Clement saw the bright red mug next to his door that he had left in the hall. Hoping there wouldn't be a rat poking his head out from the depths of a new sitting home, he picked up the mug and used one of the keys to open the door to the apartment. He stepped in, shoes wet with melted snow, and looked around the grey room.

Feeling for and flipping a light switch to his left, Clement illuminated the apartment's main room. It was the same layout as Lucia's, with very simple furniture arranged much in the same way. Not as warm a color as the fox's place with plain white walls, he wondered if Lysander would ever like them to paint the place. The wolf examined each room and fell back to the kitchen to check on the refrigerator. Several bottles of water sat lonely on one of the shelves. In the freezer, however, microwavable meals were stacked neatly and of great variety. Clement smiled as he thought of the Ms. Nann. The old spider was such like a mother to him already. Strange, that he wanted to be so independent and found comfort in her care. The cupboards were also full of the basic fare, powdered milkstuff, vacuum sealed cheesefood, powdered coffee, powdered teas and juices. He and Lysander would need to go grocery shopping at some point, but it was good enough for now.

With a lot of time to kill, Clement wondered what he should do. First, he took the mug to the kitchen sink, and with a provided dishwashing soap and sponge, washed Lucia's loan. There were white mugs of his own now in one of the cabinets, but the place really needed some color. Next, he went and sat on the couch in front of the state-provided television. Flicking it on with the remote, he watched for a little while. Mostly, the news was still talking about how there had been less and less instances of terror this year. Clement didn't think he believed it. With the amount of distant explosions you could hear from District 5 every year, he just thought they weren't reporting on them all. Smoke and mirrors.

In an hour Clement had seen various shots of The Wall with bright text emblazoned over them informing citizens about how safe it kept Ciprian. He had heated one of the meals of meat and cornsauce and ate it quickly. About to shut off the TV and go see if Lucia was back downstairs, the chancellor appeared on television. A dark draconic man with fiery orange eyes and who never smiled, Chancellor Rune was the highest authority in Ciprian. A live speech, Clement had been taught to watch them when you could, from start to finish.

"Those bright minds of Ciprian, I come to you this morning with a question. Are you more afraid of the medicine, or the sickness? In recent days, speculation among residents of... an inability of your loving government to protect you from terror cells have spread like a cancer. There is no fact in these cowardly accusations made by the vermin of this city. We have done everything, and will continue to do everything in our power to protect you from the few attacks we receive. As we prepare for the long winter months, we will also continue to clean the streets of those who cannot help themselves. We will keep Ciprian bright, honest, and full of cheer these winter weeks.

"Scouts on The Wall report that the Others continue to remain pacified. The city of Ciprian has no cause to be worried of further attacks on our freedom. We remain strong and well-armed against the filthy ones on the opposite base of The Wall. The military is here on the streets to serve and protect you. Accusations of their failure to properly deal with criminals and of violence against innocent civilians are lies. We are stepping up patrols as we ever improve our security. We are in the twilight hours of a Ciprian Dawn, and soon, we will cross The Wall and take back what is ours."

Clement didn't feel right and shut off the TV during the start of the speech for the first time in his life. Personal feelings about the government hadn't really developed until he reached seventeen years old. When adults are the authority, sometimes you have to become one to understand the rules. This allowed the wolf to better question the authority he lived under. Especially after seeing the increased military activity the past few months, things weren't sitting right with him. Why did insects like Ms. Nann get treated so lowly? Clement had thought she might be dangerous.

He felt he should probably go get the bread from her and see if Lucia was home. Maybe his first night in District 20 didn't have to be cold like the winter winds.