Chapter 8
In the morning they were allowed to land and get the first look at their new home. After depositing their group, the ship would sail along the coast and deliver the remaining villagers to Higharbor.
He gave a final hug to a teary Ana and promised he would see them again soon.
I truly hope that’s true.
It was time to look at his new home. Greenside was very different from Whiteshore. It had no long white beaches of fine sand, but a rocky shore and deeper waters for the Archipelago average. Its most notable feature was the Veeryd jungle, a thick wall of green that surrounded the town on all sides.
From what he overheard, the jungle covered the whole southern part of Yanlun cutting off the town from all other settlements.
Kai had tried to temper his expectations, but Greenside disappointed them. It was larger than Whiteshore. But having lived in a metropolis with millions of people, he would still call it a village.
His gaze didn’t have to travel far to reach the cultivated fields and the jungle beyond.
It was clear the town underwent a recent expansion. Around the dock, the original buildings were not too different from those in Whiteshore. Cozy little houses, all unique in their small ways, sporting the signs of a lifetime of use and repairs to match.
Halfway through the streets, the scene changed abruptly. Separated by an invisible line, an entirely new neighborhood of plain identical buildings began.
Each one was a wooden cube with two small windows with no panes on one side, a door on the other, while the remaining walls were in common with another two indistinguishable eyesores. These groups of four boxes were arranged in a grid pattern along perfectly perpendicular lines that only added to the dystopian atmosphere.
Kai had tried to keep his expectations low, but this…
It’s true that when you hit rock bottom you can always start digging.
The hastily built wooden house screamed prefabricated. Kai hadn’t even known those existed in this world before now.
“Mom, the house is so ugly, I don’t wanna live here,” Keandra complained.
Eleni’s face showed she was thinking the same and trying hard not to give voice to her thoughts.
“It’s not that bad, I’m sure it’s better inside,” Alana said, not sounding very convincing.
It turned out the interior was as bland and unpleasant as the outside. The only positive was that it looked clean, not much of a pro when you considered nobody had ever lived here.
Rellan did his best to cheer up the family, “Don’t worry, give it a few weeks and we're going to make it feel like a true home.”
“Dear, you know there are only two bedrooms and a living room. There is no space for your study.”
Rellan’s smile cracked a little.
Alana was being generous. In Kai's opinion calling those cramped holes bedrooms was a stretch. Harry Potter’s cupboard under the stairs was probably more spacious and he didn't even need to share it with his sisters.
Rellan tried to be positive, “We can always expand our house, with the jungle nearby there must be more than enough wood—”
“And how do you expect to do that? Have you not seen we are stuck with two other houses on two sides and the road on the others.” Kai couldn’t help but blurt out.
The whole family turned to stare at him, he wasn’t sure if because of how bluntly he spoke or for the cold truth his words carried. Judging by the dimming light in his family’s eyes, it was the latter.
Damn, my mouth. Did you really have to choose today to speak before thinking something through?
Pushing down his depressing mood, Kai tried to say something to help.
“I’m sure we have enough space for a vegetable garden.” He tried to smile, but he knew it must have looked forced. Better to change the subject.
Think brain! Think!
“Dad, how much money did they give us as compensation?”
Kai remembered someone had mentioned they would be ‘appropriately compensated’ for their losses.
His parents glanced at each other, before Rellan finally said, “The Republic is going to pay an allowance of 20 chips per person for the first year.”
That meant 100 chips for the five of them or one mesar. Kai had no idea how much that was. Even if the mesar was the official currency of the Merian Republic, he had to think for a moment to even remember what it looked like.
In Whiteshore bartering or exchanging favors was the norm for transactions. At most people used chips, tiny round copper coins the size of his thumbnail engraved with a stylized hawk.
A mesar was three times the size in both diameter and thickness. It didn’t sound like much, but they could buy a few things with one.
Wait a second… His dad had left out an important piece of information.
Before he could open his mouth, Eleni beat him to it, “Dad, how often do they pay us?”
There was a moment of silence. "Monthly," Alana answered instead.
“Oh…”
Okay, so they don’t want us to die, just starve.
Alana smiled reassuringly, “You don’t have to worry, mom and dad are going to figure something out. We have enough savings for emergencies.”
“In such a large town I’m sure I can find more opportunities. I’m sure there are plenty of people who are looking for a teacher.” Rellan added, trying to sound confident.
He had both the Reading and Writing skills, which were like a double degree from what Kai understood. In Whiteshore he used to give lessons to both adults and children.
With the population of Greenside, there was going to be no shortage of people in need of his skills.
Encouraged by his parents, Kai tried to feel optimistic.
Well, at least it can’t get worse than this.
After they lost their home, things could only go up. The islands and sea had always been plentiful and the villagers—now town folks—always helped each other through tough times.
* * *
Several months later.
As a wise man once said, once you hit rock bottom you could always start digging. Unfortunately, that sage didn’t realize how much deeper you could dig, the sea of shit had no end.
Greenside sucked from the very first moment, but the novelty made it more bearable in the beginning. The more time passed the more Kai hated this place.
Officially, the disbanded settlements had been chosen based on size, but even if Greenside had been larger than Whiteshore, the difference wasn’t big. The original population was around six hundred, but Kai heard of people from settlements of nearly a thousand that had been disbanded. Something smelled fishy and it wasn’t the sea market.
Kai had a couple ideas about why Greenside had not been disbanded by the Republic. There were no long sunny white beaches, but a jagged coast made up of rocks and cliffs. The weather was shit half of the time and, worst of all, was the humidity.
He didn’t know if it was because of the Veeryd jungle or some other reason. The air felt heavy, it almost had a physical presence to it. He wouldn’t be surprised if someday a fish got confused and started swimming through the streets.
They were being slowly suffocated and there was no escaping it. No matter how deep you breathed, you got no relief. Your clothes constantly stuck to your skin and people walked around half-naked for most of the year to try to survive.
The sun had almost disappeared behind the horizon. Walking down the muddy paths of the town, he wondered why anyone would even settle here in the first place. Maybe that was why he noticed too late that someone was following him. Before he could react, he got pushed face-first into the ground.
“Turn back where you came from, you Republican sucker!”
Kai spit the mud in his mouth and turned to look at the band of kids towering over him. There were six of them, all bigger than him.
Shit!
He never even considered it before, but he looked a bit different than other natives due to his father. Most islanders had wavy dark brown hair, amber skin and green eyes. His tanned skin was the same color, but his hair was ashen blond, lightened by the sun.
It had been years but seeing a different face staring back at him still felt strange. And with mirrors not being common, it had been easy to avoid dealing with it. It never mattered in Whiteshore anyway.
Here things were different. Or better, time and events had changed things.
Out of around two thousand people, the original inhabitants had seen their home become a chaotic town on the brink of starvation, while the new settlers lost everything and got stranded in a foreign place.
Unsurprisingly, many weren’t happy and the resentment against the Merian Republic grew by the day.
It didn’t take long for his father’s origins to become common knowledge. First rumors and insults started being murmured behind their backs, then the bolder told them openly in their face. For the bullying to become physical was the natural next step.
Kai didn’t even have time to get up, before another kid kicked his legs from under him, this time he put his hands forward.
“No one wants you here, swim back to your country!” Another kid said, while kicking him in the stomach. That did hurt quite a bit, but he clenched his teeth and did not mutter a sound.
“I bet he can’t even swim. At most he paddles like a dog.”
More uninventive insults were thrown his way. Kai curled into a ball protecting his head. He had tried arguing with them many times, told them he had been born and lived his whole life in the Archipelago, the same as them. That his family had been treated the same and suffered the same injustices.
None of his arguments made any difference. They were angry and wanted someone to blame, he was the convenient punching bag to drown their frustrations. Too small and powerless to fight back.
They ambushed him in one of the side alleys, people walking on the main street looked the other way. Even those that did not approve feigned ignorance.
I’m an idiot, I should have stuck to the main streets. Kai berated himself.
The streets were usually desolate at this hour, they must have been waiting for him. He was such a fucking idiot.
He wondered how much longer the beating would last. He endured the blows, trying to muffle his grunts of pain, clinging to what little remained of his pride. He had already lost so much; he would sooner be dead than lose anything else.
After a few minutes of insults and blows they usually got tired and left. He had tried fighting back the first times, but he was no match for a kid twice his age, much less for six of them.
He found out that if they didn’t get any response, it tended to end faster. Today that tactic did not work. He couldn’t tell how long it went on, he remained in the same position long after they left.
He had never been beaten this badly, things must be getting worse in Greenside, or they were more bored than usual.
Kai slowly got up with a grunt of pain. He took a few seconds to steady himself on his feet and look at his condition. He needed to clean up, his linen clothes were a mess. Mud was easy enough to wash, but the blood was not. He silently apologized to his mom, Alana was going to need to clean them again and she had enough to do already.
The sky thundered overhead, a light drizzle began to fall, seconds later it had turned into thick tropical rain. The weather was finicky this time of the year, a beaming sun could leave way to a tropical storm in less than a minute. Luckily, they usually didn’t last long.
The few people on the streets hurried to take cover, but he remained still, letting the water engulf him. He stood there and spread his arms wide and looked at the dark sky, as if embracing the clouds above, letting the rain wash him clean.
Suddenly he burst out laughing, not knowing why.
I’m finally losing it.
A little kid standing still amidst the storm, laughing.
No one turned to look at him, the downpour of rain covered every other sound, isolating him from the rest of the world. Even when his laughs turned into loud sobs no one heard.
With the full might of nature around him, Kai sat on the ground and hugged his knees. He started crying, ashamed of his weakness. Alone.
Why am I crying? I’ve been through worse.
His eyes wouldn’t stop. The tears washed away by the rain as soon as they came.
He didn’t have the will to get up or go home. He would have stood there forever, but as his emotions washed away with the rain, his body started shivering uncontrollably. While the weather wasn’t cold, he was soaking wet.
He felt so numb like his own body didn’t belong to him.
The storm was dying down, but the wind remained. Staggering to his feet with an effort from both his body and will, Kai started to limp back home, one step at a time. The clouds in the sky had calmed down for now but continued to loom over, obscuring the light of the moons.
His house wasn’t far, but each step made him more aware of the pitiful state of his body. Pain everywhere, it was a miracle he had no broken bones. He grimaced. Maybe some cracked ribs.
The boost of getting to Red ★★★ made his body a bit more sturdy. However, he was sure tomorrow it would be hard to find a spot on his body that wasn’t black or blue.
If I were Red ★ like other children my age, I might have died. Kai mused, perfectly aware the realization should shake him more. Make him feel something, but he had already felt all the emotions he could that day.
Kids could be crueler than adults and not even have the conscience to realize it. He knew he should not blame them, at nine or ten years old their visceral hate could only come from their families. They repeated what their parents said and lashed out not knowing how to react to the awful situation they were in.
And he couldn’t blame the parents who were scared and angry. Their life had gone to pieces, their hopes for the future destroyed together with their homes. Now they were stranded in a foreign place with no light at the end of the tunnel and just enough food not to starve, for now.
They were afraid and angry, looking for someone to vent their frustrations on. They couldn’t touch the Republic, so his family became the best next option.
Kai understood them and yet he still despised them. Limping back home he discovered he could still feel something: anger.
His family was suffering as much as they were. His dad had never gotten a job teaching, even if he asked for half of what he got in Whiteshore—which had not been much to begin with. People insulted him, saying he should do it for free.
Rellan had offered to also teach how to get the Reading and Writing skills, which required a lot of time and guidance. No villager normally got the opportunity to learn them. There were people in larger towns willing to teach them, but they charged mesars by the hour. His dad was fine with being paid whatever they could afford.
Then people came, but not even a broken copper chip was paid. Rellan patiently waited for weeks and weeks, but he was only paid in insults and excuses. The Republic had already taken their dues, how dare he ask for more, couldn’t he go ask the governor to pay?
Making the best of an awful situation, Rellan said it was a good time to try another job.
Helping build new houses? No, they had enough people.
Aboard the fishing vessels? All spots were taken.
People who complained they couldn’t find anyone for some shitty job seemed to suddenly remember someone had already asked for the spot. In the end, someone took him as a helping hand in the fields for two-thirds of a salary.
With Greenside's dire situation, a full salary was hardly able to sustain a person.
His dad did his best, but his profession wasn’t made for physical labor, nor his stats. He told Kai not to worry, he would make up by having a higher profession level, but Kai saw he had to push to the limit to keep his job. He came back home barely on his feet with no energy left for anything else.
To feed the family, Alana worked herself from dawn to dusk. She used to be a respected tideseer, but Greenside already had one with three more from the migration. She was forced to take any odd job she could find and people made excuses to pay her less too. She worked three jobs to keep things afloat.
Kai and his sisters did their best to help as they could, taking care of the house, cleaning and cooking. They would take a job if they could.
Why should some asshole be forgiven only because they were scared and suffering?
What right did someone have to make their life so much harder?
He knew none of this would have happened if it wasn’t for the Republic, but it was hard to get mad at them. It was other islanders that made his life worse each day. They refused to recognize his family had nothing to do with their plight and was in the same situation. Just so they could have someone to blame.
The Republic and the governor were like a hurricane or an earthquake. A natural catastrophe that you had to accept and live around.
He had never expected anything good from them, but he had expected more from his people. Now he felt betrayed.
I hate this place so fucking much.
Maybe he wasn’t being fair. The villagers from Whiteshore were sympathetic to them, but they were also struggling and there was little they could do. Still, he was tired of being fair.
Getting back to his ugly house, Kai tried to hide his limp to not worry his family. Time had not made his home any prettier, only showing its cheap craftsmanship. But the people who lived there made it their loving ugly home.