The Clipper

[He can't summon a smile. He has hot red burns along his face and arms where he dove into fighting the fire with nothing but whatever blankets he could grab; his hair is singed short on one side. His voice starts off flat and calm.]

We haven't had storytime for a little while. So here's a story. It's a little bit scary, but somehow I think you can handle it.

Once there was a boy who lived in a dark world, where ash fell from the red sky, and there were no flowers or fruit, and all his people were slaves, had been slaves for a thousand years. And he was half-Noble, which was even worse than being Skaa, because mixing was the most forbidden thing of all. So when he was small and his brother was even smaller, monsters with steel spikes in their eyes came he never saw his parents again. But he took his little brother and he ran and he hid and he ran and he hid, and he lied and stole and fought with dogs for scraps and when he went back to wherever they were hiding, he'd smile and tell stories and play games and do anything to keep his little brother from wandering out where the spike-eyes could get him.

And then he came to a place that could fix it. Get rid of the Emperor and the spike-eyes and their system, forever. It still wouldn't be a world with blue skies, or flowers, but people would be free. And he thought it would be horrible, right? Something like that, there's got to be a price. Maybe he's got to do something bad to someone else's little brother. Maybe -

But it isn't. It's warm, every day, and there's food, every day, and there's ways to stop anyone from attacking anyone weaker. But it just doesn't let people do anything they want all the time.

All of you grown-ups who hate it here could leave. If you had enough self-control to deal with not getting to hurt anyone for three lousy months. But you're so self-centered and prideful you'd rather destroy something that saves lives and offers miracles. You'd rather set the place you live on fire.

[Bitterly.]

How very Noble of you all.