The new family living in the Konjack estate greeted us on our return. They were a young couple, and the woman was heavily pregnant.

“My name is Richard Revacks, and this is my wife, Sally,” the young pale blonde haired man introduced himself and his wife.

The woman smiled at us, “We’re honored to host you and would like you to join us for lunch.”

Hadn’t the typical lunch time passed? Were these people waiting for our return this whole time?

“We would be honored,” Dan responded before I could think up an excuse. I didn’t want to eat in the formal dining room.

They led us to the very formal dining room I didn’t want to eat in. Dan sat in a chair, and I rolled up to the table next to him, unsure of how to handle this situation.

And what of the Dishonored that worked here with me? Did they still work here? Would I get to see Rachel again?

A Dishonored Woman I didn’t recognize walked in with plates of food. I didn’t want to be served by some poor Dishonored like myself.

I knew that posture, that way of not looking at the world around you to hide your mind from it. I couldn’t eat at this table with this Dishonored woman serving us.

The plate itself was filled with leafy greens and hearty sauces. Something a Dishonored would never eat.

“Can the woman serving us sit and eat with us? She can have my plate.”

Both the Revacks looked horrified. “But she is Dishonored scum!” The man declared.

I raised my own branded hand up for them to see, “As am I. In the new city, there will be no castes. No one should be born into a miserable life.”

The lady glared at me, “And what would you have us do with the people of the castes? Would you have the Dishonored criminals walk freely down the street to steal as they like? We have no housing available in the city, so would you force Undesirables to cram them into their already overcrowded dilapidated homes that are ready to fall down? And what of the Undesirables? Would you move them in with the Normals already crowded in their apartments? Or the Honored who while having slightly bigger apartments still live stuffed into buildings? Or maybe you would have us lose our food sources by putting people living in the stacks. Or building houses with nonexistent materials in the few open spaces we have. The system existed for a reason and it’s kept our city operational all these years.”

“Things can change. First off, Exile will be an option. Secondly, for now, people should be able to live wherever they live, but,” I looked over at the Dishonored woman in the corner with her eyes staring at the ground, “If they themselves are not serving some sentence for something criminal they did, they should be allowed to go where they want, work where they want, and get paid for their work. Treated like the people they are.”

I grabbed the plate and steered my chair over to the Dishonored woman, “Here, this is for you and anyone you want to share it with.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The woman looked up at me, her green eyes met my own, and her eyes grew wide. “I couldn’t…” she whispered, glancing at the table where everyone was watching us.

She didn’t take the plate from me. She stood there, refusing to move. She probably thought I was testing her and that I would punish her if she took the food.

I held out my hand for her to see, “I was Dishonored as well. I will protect you if they try to hurt you.”

She shook her head and kept glancing at the Revacks.

“See, the Dishonored know their place.” The man’s voice was smug. “You have a different place now. A place at the table as an Honored Exile returned to the city.”

I’d wanted that position so much when I left the city, but now I wanted nothing to do with these people’s false notions of honor. I took the plate back, and left it on the table. Not eating would leave the scraps for the workers anyway. No matter how hungry I was, I couldn’t eat some fancy meal with the Most Honored. I refused to bend to their system.

I rolled my chair away out of the hall, and toward the guest room. I knew the route there quite well. Behind me I could hear the man calling after me, and his wife stopping him. I didn’t hear Dan.

In the room, I dragged myself partially onto the bed, enough to not roll off, and then gave up, letting my hungry stomach grumble at me for refusing food. It could grumble all it wanted, but my mind was much stronger than it.

Dan gently touched my shoulder, bringing me out of what must have been a doze. “I brought you some bread. You have to eat even if you disagree with the people we are staying with.”

I flopped over to look at him, and I could see him setting a plate with bread and a glass of water on the small bedside table. I dragged at the headboard, trying to pull myself up into a sitting position, and he reached over and lifted me up into a sitting position. I didn’t want his help. I didn’t want this sameness to be the end result of everything I’d tried to accomplish!

I balled my fists, and hot tears stung my eyes as they escaped. I was useless. “I’ve done nothing.” I said.

His arms wrapped around me, pulling me up against him. “You’ve set off a chain. Do not worry, this city is changing. It’s inevitable, especially with the coming exile. The old system won’t be sustainable after the exile.” He pushed the bread into my hands.

“How many do you think will pick exile? Ten, maybe twenty? They’ve been taught exile is death for years. A couple people leaving won’t break down this system of abuse.” I retorted.

“I think many more will leave, and I think insisting that every section of the city having a vote will cause change over time.” He let go of the bread, leaving it in my hands. “Now eat before you pass out. Taking the pain medicine on an empty stomach is bad for your body.”

I took a bite of the hard bread. Dishonoed bread. Its rough taste made me remember being so happy to eat this filling bread. Back then, death was so likely, but it felt like I could live past it all. Now it felt so inevitable. I was just staving it off, but I wanted to live. I wanted to see Dishonored eat Honored meals. I wanted to see a city where elected people ran it and Casia was proven wrong. Where she walked out into Exile with the rest of the people who chose exile. Maybe the city could even start trading with the village for supplies. The Wall probably knew of a way to build a quick travel system to the village. They knew everything, like how these wonderful pain medicines were probably speeding up my death.

“Everything is bad for this body. It’s dying.” I looked down at the bread, unable to meet his eyes. If I became a cyborg like him, none of this would matter anymore.

He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me close to his side. “No matter what happens, I will be here next to you for any choice you make.”

He said that and sounded so very human. His body felt warm, human. I finished the bread, drank some of the water he passed me, and let him hold me against his side sitting there on the edge of the bed. Even thinking about how he had stayed behind with the Revacks didn’t bother me that much. I was just happy he was here next to me. Whatever happened tomorrow was tomorrow.