“I can compare if you’d like,” Mickey offers as he gestures for Torin to drop his pants. Torin reaches to do so without eventhinkingabout it. I barely catch him, causing Mickey to get an eyeful of at least half of what’s going on down there.
“Oh,” Mickey says, evidently as startled as I am.
“Is that a good ‘oh’?” Torin asks. “Definitely better than that parasite’s, right? Riley, why did you stop me? I wanted to prove mine was better than his just for you.”
“Oddly enough, I don’t need you to do that,” I say before I hurry over to brush my teeth. When we’re all finally presentable, we head downstairs to find Lark and Story at the table.
“Good morning,” Lark says.
“Morning. Have you come to a decision about how to distribute the food?” I ask curiously.
“I think we have. We’re going to split it among twenty different groups. Each group will quietly distribute it themselves. There’s going to be no way to keep it quiet from thecapital, but hopefully they’ll have listened and supplied us with mundane food that will keep the capital from throwing a fuss.”
“We’ll help as best we can,” I promise.
Stealthily bringing food into the outskirts without raising the suspicion of the capital is going to be nearly impossible. There are too many variables. Too many people. Too many possible spies.
But the branded can’t just starve to satisfy the whims of those inside the walls. Special Agent Kim did her best to supply food that would feed a large number of people without being too rich, just as Lark had asked. Lark and Sterling’s hope is to avoid drawing the attention of those behind the walls if the food provided is of less value than what they already have. Kim also supplied them with bags of rice and other grains that would feed many throughout the week as we’re left deciding what to do.
“I think this is going better than I hoped,” Lark says while she watches the line of people who each get soup ladled into their bowl. I feel like it’s not enough, but they seem more than happy with it, and the leaders have decided to hold some reserves for the following day.
“It feels like we’re still catering to them,” Sterling complains as she stares at those walls, a look of irritation on her face that she immediately covers up when she notices her people watching her. “But it’s fine. The people are fed and we’re being careful not to upset anyone.” She tears her eyes away from the wall to look over at us. “Why don’t you wander the market? We need to repay you for your kindness.”
I wave off the very idea of it. “No need to repay us,” I assure her. “I just… hope there’s a way to resolve this. I’m aware thatthis is just a temporary fix… but we plan to figure out a better solution.”
Sterling smiles at me. “We really insist. If only we had a god like him to save us,” she says as she eyes Torin who is helping fill bowls and is chatting with every person who goes by. He has Quill standing next to him, which seems to scare some people and fascinate others.
“He is one of a kind, that’s for sure,” I say. We both look at Vero, who’s scowling at us with his arms folded over his chest. The people are giving him a wide berth, like he might just start hacking heads off if they’re not careful enough.
He seems to think I want him to brood next to me because he moves closer. “Alert me when I can kill someone,” Vero orders, like the distance people are staying from him isn’t quite far enough.
“That’s so dark and kind of hot,” Mickey says.
Vero stares at Mickey for a second before leaning into me. “Is that one a serial killer?”
“I don’t think so,” I respond while Kit and I examine the peculiar necromancer. “He’s just… Mickey.”
Mickey looks over at me. “Are you talking about me? I was just noticing how Torin is being flirted with. Go be jealous, Riley. Show them who’s boss of that fine beast.”
I look over to see Torin is indeed being flirted with by two beautiful women. One smacks his arm with exuberance and laughs heartily at every word that comes out of his mouth. But eh, maybe if she believes hard enough, she’ll become another follower who boosts his power.
It isn’t much longer before Torin hurries over to me while the two women scurry after him. “Riley, they’d like to show me their store. Come along.”
“That’s not all they’re wanting to show him. Brawl them, Riley. Brawl them so they don’t think they can touch your man,”Mickey urges as he looks around for a seat. “I will sit here and watch with my eyes firmly shut.”
Tommy sits down on his left and Mickey just like… curls up on his lap while Tommy pats his head.
Vero’s eyes narrow even more now that he has someone else to glare at. “Lazy creatures disgust me. They have no use in this world.”
Then because he’s so disgusted, he stalks off to glower at some man who looks terrified. Vero seems pleased by this. He’s finally found a victim worth bringing a smile to his face.
“Please, enjoy our shops. Our people don’t have much to offer, but they truly would like to pay you back,” Sterling says. “Let them. This has been the first time in a long while that we’ve had hope.”
Catching up to Torin, I tell him, “I really hope that we can fix this.”
The problem is… this has been going on for hundreds of years, and I can’t imagine that Famine started this hundreds of years ago and has just been going along for the ride for that long. This world has done this to themselves… and Famine is just reaping the results of it and helping it along.
Torin presses a finger against my forehead. “Let’s get rid of those wrinkles of concern.”
