Bee And Foxglove

Foxglove Does Some Further Research

You'd probably imagine that a country that had completely abolished poverty would do things a little differently, and you'd be right.

In Kandra, anyone who did not have a plot of land to build their house on was gifted one by their community. Anyone who lived on a plot of land was considered to own it, or co-own it. No one paid rent just for the privilege of existing.

In Kandra, food and medicine were considered a human right. Medicine was free, paid for by the local community, and food and a few other things could be covered by the stipend paid out by the community to anyone who chose to claim it.

Maybe this sounds like a Universal Basic Income. It started out that way, but over the centuries Kandrans became rather more... relaxed about money. Anyone who needed money took the stipend, no questions asked. Most who didn't need it, didn't. Those who were doing well generally paid into the communal funds without needing to be audited.

Occasionally there were shortfalls in the community funds, which usually could be corrected just by letting this be known and asking for larger contributions. In the worst case, mediators were brought in to help a community talk things through. Usually, though, things just worked.

A relationship based on trust will do that.

As the tensions coming from millennia of mistrust slowly unwound, a gift economy slowly built up alongside the money economy. When everyone's pretty much content, they don't need to charge for everything. There were gifting shops in every town where you left things you no longer needed, or perhaps things you'd made but weren't choosing to make a business out of. Did you bake too many cookies? Leave them in the gifting shop. Playing around with pottery just for fun? Maybe someone finds your misshapen cup quaint. Or good enough for a flowerpot.

Now, one of the first for-profit businesses to largely disappear in Kandra was that of hospitality. Here, they had worked out a different system for that. I'll show you.

*

Foxglove, eyelids droopy, hugging a lantern, plodded into the first pub she could find in Slode.

Foxglove made her way to the barkeep by means of further plodding. "Good evening," she said. "I'm a traveller. Can you... uh... do the thing?"

Forgive her. She was exhausted enough by this point to start sounding like Bee.

"Of course," said the barkeep warmly. She stepped back a little and raised her voice. "Can anyone take a traveller tonight?"

Amusingly, perhaps, to those used to Earth hospitality, demand and supply seemed to be decidedly in Foxglove's favour here. To wit, four different locals enthusiastically offered Foxglove their guest rooms. It seemed likely that others would have come forth if these hadn't gotten there first.

With considerable effort, Foxglove chose a host based on no criterion whatsoever, and was in a state of deep sleep no less than forty minutes later.

*

Foxglove had nightmares that night. She saw Bee sick or dying in various ways, each time waking up, reassuring herself that it wasn't real, and falling asleep again for another go around. It was an exhausting process, and she didn't so much finish resting as call it 'Good enough for now'.

Foxglove's hosts were compassionate and did their best to resuscitate Foxglove with an abundance of coffee. As soon as Foxglove was capable of speaking, she expressed her gratitude and asked for a pointer or two on how to learn more about Oak the meteorchild.

Foxglove's hosts were eager to help, and soon, through a friend of one of their friends, Foxglove had the address of Oak's coworker.

*