ZAN, WHISKEY AND JIEHONG vigorous discussed how to complete their volunteer work. If the fat phony of a mayor was going to force them to perform labor at the village's behalf, they should at least get into it as soon as possible.

  "We're settled, then," Whiskey said, again the one to recap their course of action. "Jiehong and Zan. You will help clear the land. I will help the hunters."

  "Yeah. Let's give it our best so we can get this done with," Zan said, an edge to his words lingering from the mayor encounter.

  Jiehong led the way back to the village square. Since their group discussion had not taken very long, Molly-Holly remained near the mayor's hut talking to people. Seeing them return, she asked, "Ready?"

  Both youths assented. Jiehong told Molly-Holly about Whiskey heading off to meet the hunters.

  "Oh! But she doesn't know the way!" Molly said, perhaps worried, she would become lost.

  "She has a way with things," Zan said to ease Molly's worry.

  "Yeah. She'll find your hunters. If there out in the woods now, she'll find them," Jiehong reinforced.

  "Good, I guess. With that settled, both of you boys will be helping with the land clearing today. Follow me," Molly-Holly replied.

  Birds chirped from the many branches which surrounded the village. Looking up to see the treetops close to touching, but not quite, their massive crowns still shy, Zan felt an inner peace being among nature.

  Moments later, the group crested the tree line and came to a nearby field nestled between one forest glade and the forest thicket. Like many places in the Kingship, trees, grass clearings, and wetlands predominated, often in ways confusing to traveler and journeyman alike. "Here we are. You guys will help my kinship is clearing the land. Let me introduce you all," Molly-Holly said.

  Molly brought them over and introduced them to a large man she called Big Chest. Hard to believe these people have names like this, Zan told himself. Seeing other people working the fields alongside Big Chest, he wondered if this is all the villagers did all day -- work the fields.

  "Greetings, sir! How are you?" Zan asked.

  "Oh, I am fine. They're here to help? Good. Let's put them over there," Big Chest said.

  Big Chest brought them over to ground yet unworked. "Your job is simple: pull up the rocks, dead roots, animal bones, whatever you find. We're clearing the land for crop expansion. Do that and make it all pretty. Questions? No. Good."

  Zan looked to Jiehong who only shrugged. As if to say, "Here's our lot in life. Let's dig in."

  Having left them a couple of shovels to get them going, Jiehong and he got to work. A dispirited look came over Zan, but he fought back. Soon, with the task of finishing rearing in his head, urging him to finish his task so he and his half-brother might buy that bunker and be done with it, the movement of their muscles, the crank of their backs and arms, multiplied. Sweat passed from their brows and so did the day.

  ~

  IT WAS A CURSE, THIS LIFE, Zan melodramatically intoned to his soul. He grew tired of the labor hours ago. Now, he was fed up with it. He wanted to quit and call it a day. Beyond the labor's physical tedium, he thought the whole affair boring. It was like being back at the lumberyard in his own village.

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  Shoving his shovel into the ground and taking a drink of water, Zan massaged his hands and fingers. Both had taken a beaten throughout his labors.

  Returning his drinking sieve to his side, he accidentally dislodged his bag of Memory Marbles. Such a mistake he soon regretted as a fellow worker said, "Excuse me, are those what I think they are?"

  "Depends on what you think they are?" Zan replied.

  "I would like an Interview. If you're of a religious temple, that is. Could you provide one?" the worker asked.

  It startled him to think of this villager, a woman, needing an Interview desperately enough to ask him, a teenager, to provide. Or am I just making excuses for my anxiety? he asked himself, expecting a true answer. Besides, I should be happy she can look past my age to ask me for a service. I did join a religious group...

  An answer did not come to him soon and so the lady repeated herself: "Young master? Are you...?"

  "I am fine. Lost in thought. Yes. I will provide one for you, ma'am. This will be my first Interview," Zan said, hoping the woman would be scared off by his inexperience.

  "That is fine! I'm so giddy. Okay. Let's finish up here then I will treat you to a drink at the communal space."

  His heart slammed in his chest. He wondered if he made a mistake in affiliating with a Denomination. Was it truly necessary to discover the root of his talents at sensing holy energy?

  Of course, this was when Zan wished his labors would continue. Alas, his labors ended soon after, to the delight of his former self, and pain at his ruing present-self. "What if I let her down?" he asked, another question for his void.

  "Hey. You there, pal? It's Luxley talking through the horn. I am having a rotted day. So, I thought I would send you an upbeat feeling your way just in case you're also having a bad day. I can't talk. If you're as bad as me, hold in there. Bye."

  Luxley's words cut suddenly into his ears as he readied himself to sit at a table with the villager. They were at the communal space, a simple building used as a large ice-chest. A couple chairs in the back served as the place's only seating. He covered his face and mouth-whispered a subtle reply: "Thank you, Luxley. I'm sorry your day has been shet. Stay strong."

  In his seat, Zan attempted to calm himself. Inhale, "hold it," exhale.

  Calm as he was going to be but relaxed by Luxley's unexpected kind words, Zan looked the woman in her eyes and said, "As I said out in the field, I am new to all of this. I will apologize now if I make any mistakes. I am a Blank Denomination initiate. Shall we get into it?"

  He removed from his pouch one Memory Marble. He held it in his palm and showed the woman his palm to confirm he had Goodwill and wanted to help her. Closing his palm, Zan infused the marble with a trivial sum of magic. He placed the marble on the table. Thus, his first Interview began.

  As was custom -- and as Penne explained to him both in person and throughout his annotated notebook heavy with symbols which was the only reason Zan could sort-of read it -- he asked the woman if she had anything to state before his official questioning. Why it was custom to ask this before the official beginning of the Interview, he could not say. To his edification, however, he was about to find out why.

  "My mother right now is driving me up the wall! And I really mean that, kid -- the fecking wall! She just wants to insert herself into every fiber of my life! Like, HELLO?! I am my own person, mom!" the woman spoke quickly enough for him to liken it to a flashflood, except this flood formed not of water, but verbiage. On and on the woman went, her tirade eventually covering, by accident, surely, her whole life. "It must've been where that whole thing started, right? Having that shoved in your face so many times. Who wouldn't be screwed up over it?" Then she talked of parenting: "I want to hit them so badly. Not anything big. I'm not a monster. Just a nick, a little slap-pat, you know? I feel so bad," which led into her drinking. "I've tried to quit. It's so hard to when you make your own and it is the best."

  What could he do? Nothing, Zan thought. I have to let her gush. She needs to let it all out...

  Slowing to a trickle, the woman told him, "I'm so sorry for going on like that. Let me dab my eyes and we can continue. Phew! Feels good to let it out!"

  "No worries," he told her, waiting as she dabbed at her eyes with her tunic.

  "Ready!" she said with a forced smile.

  "What roles do the gods play in your life?"