The New Dynasty

Courtland Shay

The movement of goods, services, and favors throughout Middlebridge is facilitated almost entirely by what have come to be referred to as arrangements. Arrangements are crucial, and everyone is keenly is aware of this fact. The difference between having the proper arrangements and not having them is the difference between having enough to eat and drink, therefore, it is the difference between life and death.

Pop has arrangements with everyone; from the butcher, to the seamstress, to the hairstylist. These relationships were passed down from his father, and Pop has only had to carry on nurturing them. An arrangement doesn't always call for a direct trade, such as a loaf of bread for a cut of meat, but rather, it is a system of trust between both parties. I'll do for you, and I trust that your memory serves you when I come around and need something. Arrangements tend to be fragile. It could take years to build one and five minutes to break it, and once it's been broken, it's likely that it'll never be rebuilt.

People know better than to make arrangements with Backlanders, which is why they're impoverished. The Law allots each family just enough provision to stay alive, and barely.

Unfortunately for Russell, all the arrangements in the world can't get him out of his compulsory Builder training. The injury to his leg only grants him ten days of reprieve, before Dr. Barnes determines that it is healed enough for him to go back.

"I'll inform Tenya that you're well enough to resume your training in two days." The doctor says, after completing his final examination and removing the thread from Russell's leg.

Russell groans inwardly, but he doesn't bother arguing because there is no argument to be had. The arrangement between Dr. Barnes and Tenya Silverworth—the Training Conductor and the jeweler—is as ironclad as any. Once the doctor gives her the clearance for you to go back after an injury, you had better be present when expected.

And so, two days later, Russell finds himself back at his plot of dirt once more, in the western-most corner of the Westwoods. With his shovel in hand, and the zipper of his coat just beneath his chin, he gets back to digging the same foundation he'd been working on before he'd had half of his thigh skimmed off with a burning arrow. He'd hoped that Tenya would have put one of the other boys to work on it while he was away, but this wasn't the case.

Russell still doesn't fully understand why he has to be trained as a builder, when he's ultimately going to become a baker anyway. The only answer he's ever gotten is that there is always work to be done, and progress to be made. Middlebridge is about exapansion. "Building and Farming are foundational skills for every young man, no matter their lineage." Tenya had told him two years prior, on his very first day of training. He can still remember the thunderous echo of laughter from all the other boys—with Stacey's being the loudest—as he tripped over a garden tool and landed face first in the mud. It was just Russell's luck that it had rained that morning. After helping him to his feet, Tenya had remarked that he could certainly use a bit more quality time out of doors.

At ages ten through twelve, both boys and girls learned to read, mostly storybooks and texts on the history of how Pascal Bright founded Middlebridge. At ages twelve through fourteen, boys went on learn Farming, and girls could pursue farming if they chose. IF they chose. The unfairness of them having a choice in the matter is appalling to Russell, when boys never do. People assert that girls have other forms of training to attend to, but it isn't as if they can actively practice giving birth to a child. It's absurd, but Russell also can't deny that it had been nice to have a few girls around when he'd been farming.

The building plot is a great deal less interesting. There are men from ages fourteen to sixty and lawmen circling on horseback and on foot, but not a woman in sight besides the occasional appearance from Tenya. Russell can swear the woman has an extra sense for when someone is driving a plank of wood into the ground at an angle that's two degrees off from where it should be.