The Academy

I

At a dusty table, in the corner of a dustier pub, a deal was struck.

The customer pulled four GenAm ration tokens out of his satchel and placed them on the table. The Raconteur eyed them greedily, already imagining all the things he could purchase.

"What d'you wanna hear? I know all the greats," he said, taking the view that the best way to keep the tokens where they belonged, i.e. in his possession, was to give the customer exactly what he wanted.

The customer leaned back in his seat, stretching his long legs out in front of him. "Tell me the one about the cabbage fairy."

The Raconteur hesitated.

Everyone who lived in the city – even the ones who actually lived under rocks – must have heard the story about the cabbage fairy by now. It was all anyone could talk about, especially here, by the wall. She was a local girl, after all.

But the four ration tokens being offered were the closest he'd come to payment in weeks. He managed to scrape a living telling anecdotes and yarns in exchange for old clothes, a loft to sleep in or bread and beer in one of the pubs. The truth was, selling stories out by the wall was not a lucrative prospect, but he'd always liked the romance of being a Raconteur, even if the reality was decidedly less alluring.

However, the tokens might, potentially, represent a problem. If someone was willing to lay down four tokens, well, that kind of person was obviously very serious about their stories. The kind of serious that might also get seriously angry if they didn't feel they were getting what they traded for.

Still, with four tokens he could rent a room for a few months, try to set himself up properly. Visions danced behind his eyes... A real dragon's den, with his name above the door...

The Raconteur reached a decision. He also reached out and grabbed the ration tokens. He half expected the customer to try to stop him, but he just sat there, watching him with those mournful, brown eyes.

The Raconteur set his features and adopted the soft, dreamy lilt of the professional storysell:

"Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. Once upon a time, there was a lowly cabbage fairy, who dreamed of becoming a Fiction Management Executive – and not just any kind of Fiction Management Executive, a godmother. But all was not well for the cabbage fairy. The General Administration, kind and benevolent in all other things, did not accept fairies to train-"

"Excuse me, but I know all that," the customer interrupted gently. "Everyone knows how this city feels about fairies, and that despite that the General Administration accepted her into the Academy to train as an FME. Half the city was at the ceremony when the Head of the Plot Department thanked the cabbage fairy for her service."

The customer's tone of voice was friendly enough, but the meaning behind his words was clear: Tell me something I don't know.

"Oh. Er..."

"I'm in no hurry," the customer said, smiling. "Please, take your time."

The Raconteur found himself relaxing, his body choosing to let go of the tension he'd been holding, without actually bothering to get his brain involved.

There was something about the customer's smile, something the Raconteur wasn't used to seeing in the faces of the inhabitants by the wall: friendliness.

"Well, I mean... there are a few stories going round, but they're nothing worth four tokens. They're rumours, really," he admitted. "Gossip." Later, when the customer was nothing more than a memory, he would wonder why he'd said such a thing.