Dreamwalker

19- Hold Your Tongue

And so, the quest for Soutine Rigal began at last. Bell lead the way through the desert, heart racing as fast as Chloe's hooves in the sand. She could already envision Soutine's grateful smile and his arms spread wide to sweep her up in a hug. Aysal was the first to notice her unusual good mood. "Alright, Bell?" she asked.

"I'm happy," Bell replied.

"For your father?"

"Of course. It'll be nice to see him again."

The horse next to Bell whinnied. Bell turned her head to see Genevieve tightening her grip on her horse's reins with a frown. "Genevieve, I don't know what he did to you, but he's still sort of my father," Bell objected in irritation.

Genevieve just tossed her head as if to say, "like I care."

"He was probably under a lot of pressure!" Bell added furiously.

Genevieve took her hands off the reins for a few seconds to sign something at Bell. "She says that she can't forgive him," Aysal supplemented.

"Tell me what happened. It must have been Laurier's fault. I know Soutine would never do something like that," Bell said.

Genevieve shrugged. She took a blank scroll and a pencil out of her pocket and, with surprising balance and agility, put her feet up on her horse's head as if she did this every day so she could write on her legs. "Are all Harenae spies like that?" Bell asked Aysal. "Er, good at riding on horses with no balance?"

"Not sure. I'll ask Emeric about it if I remember it in the morning."

"Ask me what?" Emeric rode up on Aysal's other side.

"It's nothing. I just think that Genevieve is rather odd," Bell explained. "Not in a bad way, of course. I just wonder if everyone who works for the queen was trained like you."

"Yes, obviously. Everyone who works in the palace is required to undergo rigorous education and physical training," Emeric replied.

"Really? So, if I wanted to work for you, what would I have to do?" Bell inquired.

Emeric had to pause to think this through. "First you would have to take a character test so we know you are pure of heart. Then you would take classes from scholars and professionals in various fields. My family values knowledge for all of our citizens so we have free education for everyone. We believe that everyone should have the same chances for work. Does that make sense? We try to avoid a class system in Harenae so we treat everyone with the same skepticism."

"That seems a little extreme," Bell remarked.

"Mm. I'm not sure."

"I agree with Bell-- that's strange. Class is everything in the west. In Niege, people like me could apply for any low-level job and get in with no requirements," Li piped up from behind them. "There are countless factories and they're always looking for new workers to use up. But if I tried to apply for a desk job I'd be laughed at."

"What do you mean, 'use up'?" Emeric asked her.

"Use up. Kill. Those factories are dangerous, Emeric. I never wanted to take part in them even when I had no money to my name after my parents died," Li said. "Don't you know what they do to workers there? They beat them and rape them if they don't work fast enough. Nobody comes back from there. Factory owners don't care about their workers, they care about their exports. I bet if someone fell into a machine and ruined all the products they would care more about the machine than the body."

"That is horrible. I cannot imagine that," Aysal answered quietly.

"Then you're lucky. I'm glad to be out of there, anyhow. Let's talk about something else. Something happier."