The Everburning City

Act 1, Part 2, Chapter 4

Cameron

Crafter Olivia Polden was young.

That surprised Cameron, as he made his way through the crowd of people pressed in front of the stone benches of Parliament to where Olivia Polden's group was assembling.

She wasn't just physically young, Cameron was used to seeing that in the rejects he had monitored before now. Getting old as a Reject was about as common as a train arriving on time during a festival. But the way she laughed, her easy smile, spoke of a certain lightheartedness that seemed almost inappropriate for someone who could level buildings and turn people into smoke.

Crafter Polden's file indicated that she had no official role in the City. She didn't work on the tasks that normally fell to Crafters, such as working on the distribution networks for the fires of the Spire. She didn't make anything, nor was she involved much in research. Her formal role, such as it was, seemed to be improving the resources allocated to the City's various orphanages.

A patron of orphans. Admittedly, the clout her red coat provided could do those children a world of good.

The Crafter noticed him as he approached, and gave him an appraising glance. "I take it you're my shadow," Olivia Polden said.

Cameron nodded, and held out his hand. "Cameron Aster, of the Bureau of Oversight. I've been assigned as your evaluator during this operation."

"Olivia Polden, but I guess you already know that," Crafter Polden said, as she shook his hand. The movement shifted her glasses down her nose, and she carefully pushed them back up. "Anything I should know about having a shadow?"

Cameron blinked, surprised by her question. It took him a moment to understand what the Crafter had asked, and why. "Right, you've never been paired with an evaluator before. Let's see, generally I try to stay as unobtrusive as possible while you go about your business."

"My Golem toppling business," Crafter Polden interjected.

"Right. Normally we try to stay out of the way, get a sense of your mental well-being, and do our best to let you carry on with your life," Cameron explained.

"That's a very bland way of saying you stand behind me with a knife, ready to put it in my back the moment I make you nervous," the Crafter said, and her pleasant disposition vanished like a snuffed out candle.

Cameron sputtered, and held out his hands. "No, I-"

"Relax, would you?" Olivia said, with a laugh and a smile that no longer looked so young and innocent. She clapped him on the shoulder, and turned away. "I'll live longer if you mellow out a little more."

As she turned away to greet someone, Cameron couldn't help but wonder what she would make of Mackaroy. The grizzled shadow and thus impetuous Crafter would probably come to blows within minutes.

Cameron's thoughts were derailed, suddenly, when she saw Mackaroy step up to Crafter Polden, hold out his arms and smile. "Well well, look at Olly Polly in her grownup red coat!"

"Mackie!" Crafter Polden exclaimed, throwing out her own arms and embracing the grizzled shadow. She hugged him fiercely, pulled him back, and frowned at him. "You know you look like one of those crime fighting inspectors from a street play."

Mackaroy laughed. "I'm more of a firefighter. Heard you were driving Civil Development berserk with your work on that orphanage in Withering Evergreen."

"I wouldn't know. For some reason, people don't like to complain to me."

"Might have to do with being able to light them on fire. But I take it you've met Cam?"