The books were worse than Cass feared. She spent hours sounding out words and desperately trying to infer meanings from context, starting at dawn and stopping only when there was no longer light to read by. She had even asked the guards for a candle, but was refused. To make matters worse, the more she panicked, the harder the reading was, which only caused her to panic more!

Cass felt like she was falling apart, until one day Maurice had stormed into the room around noon. The normally kind and gentle lady had a steely look of determination on her face. While Cass had initially feared the worst, Maurice had instead grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out into one of the castle courtyards. Cass had learned earlier that the sheer size of the Imperial Center was greater than she had ever imagined. A castle the size of a small city, at the center of the massive city of Tyine, and at the center of the Imperial Center castle was the palace itself. Her location was essentially in the outskirts of the structure, a place normally used for housing soldiers during preparations for war. Apparently, the Haj Empire had expanded so much that the space was no longer used, and garrisons further out had been constructed. At least, that was what the guards had said while gossiping, not knowing that Cass had been listening on the other side of the door.

“Every day I see you,” Maurice was scolding Cass, “You look worse! I didn’t spend the effort to have the kitchen give you extra food and put some meat back on your bones to see you eaten from inside by a Devil!”

Maurice was surprisingly devout, and while the Church’s power had waned somewhat, Maurice was still able to argue the guards down and allow Cass to briefly visit this courtyard.

Cass took a deep breath, finally realizing how much she had missed fresh air and sunlight. Birds were chirping and a cool breeze managed to reach over the castle walls and gently brush past her. Cass wanted to lay down on the grass and sleep…

But she couldn’t, she had to return to the books. Cass sighed, and turned to Maurice, but before she could speak Maurice spoke over her.

“Oh no you don’t!” Maurice pulled Cass towards a stone bench, “I see what you are thinking, but you need to relax. Trying to hard weakens the body, allowing Devils to come in. And they in turn make it nearly impossible to do the work you wanted to do!”

Maurice smiled, “Besides, I finally have a chance to talk with you and honestly you have always seemed very lonely.”

Maurice was overwhelming in a completely different way than Sarius Hall, in a way completely different than Cass had ever experienced before. She interacted with Maurice every morning and evening, but she rarely spoke… Maurice seemed to determine to drag every word out of Cass she could, while telling her own story.

Maurice had been born in a small hamlet far away from the Capitol. In fact, calling it a hamlet would be too much according to her, it was just a collection of huts, too small to even be worth a name. She spoke of her family, of meeting a patrolling guard for the regional lord, marrying him and moving into Tyine itself. It was a very different life than Cass had led, one that Cass had difficulty even imagining.

Maurice had listened as Cass spoke of her own story, her years in the orphanage, the closing of that orphanage and her first experiences with the streets. Cass spoke about the gangs and thugs and human monsters that stalked the alleys, of picking through garbage to find even a scrap of food, and then being forced to hide under the garbage to avoid those thugs passing through.

On the subject of the Church, Maurice’s eyes lit up and she grabbed Cass’s hands. Cass had difficulty with religion, but looking into Maurice’s bright eyes, Cass did have to admit that the Church had helped her greatly. The paltry food and education she received there had been far more important than she could have ever dreamed.

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“Oh you poor thing,” Maurice hugged Cass tightly as she finished the story, and Cass was unsure how to react. She had never been hugged before, and in general was afraid of being touched at all. Maurice had slipped past those barriers without Cass even noticing at first.

“Life can be terrible you know,” Maurice voice turned sad. “When I lost my child, I lost my will to live. Life without her seemed so empty and pointless, how could I even try?”

Cass slowly put her arms around Maurice, timidly returning the hug. The wailing of parents who lost children was common on the streets, but that did not mean it was easy or waved away. Cass could not really imagine love, but she knew the power of hate. If love was hate’s opposite, she believed it must be a powerful emotion and losing a child you came to love would have to be intensely painful.

“My husband took me to the priests at the Imperial Chapel, they helped me through my loss and gave me a lesson that I want to pass on to you.”

Maurice pulled back slightly to look Cass directly in the eyes, “Emotions are what separate us from animals, but what separates humans are dreams. Those with a goal they work towards may stumble, but never fall. The Gods gave us good feelings when accomplishing our dreams to encourage us and to help us grow.”

Maurice smiled gently, “The dream I chose was to help others find their own dreams, so no one would ever feel the emptiness and loss I felt. Which brings me to you, Cass.”

“What is your dream?”

“My… Dream..?” Cass stutterd, confused by the sudden rush of emotions.

“Yes,” Maurice nodded vigorously. “What do you want from life? Who are you as a person? Until you answer those questions, life will act on you, instead of you living life.”

“I don’t think I should though,” Cass thought about how every hope and happiness she had ever had was soon crushed and turned against her. “Having a dream is a luxury that you cannot afford on the streets, and now I am nothing more than a slave. I cannot dream, I cannot want. If I do all it will bring me is pain.”

Maurice shook her head gently, “An orphan can dream for a home, a dreg from the street can dream for shelter and food, a slave can dream for freedom. That dream can give light in a life that otherwise has none, hope even when all seems hopeless. So I ask again, who is Cass? And what does she want?”

“I… I don’t know.” Cass was troubled by the question, she wanted to answer but found herself scared to do so. “Who I am does not matter, I am just trash on the street. Worthless and replaceable, you can find another to replace me anywhere you look.”

“Oh? I can find a orphan child of a noble who went to the Church for food and took the initiative to learn proper diction, who survived torments and torture to throw herself into her studies and accomplish them faster than anyone thought possible? And that kind of person is everywhere?”

Thinking back to the thugs and whores and drunks, Cass was forced to admit, “Well, no. But-”

“You are unique.” Maurice interrupted, “The stories and dreams of people may be similar, but in the details they are all unique and special. There is only one Cass who is you, invaluable and irreplaceable in the world.”

Cass’s cheeks were wet, she touched her hand to her face and realised she was crying, soon she found herself clutching on to Maurice tightly and sobbing against her. Maurice simply held her and comforted her as Cass cried.

As she finally regained control, wiping her eyes and sniffling, Cass said, “I don’t think this will last. This moment, this feeling, is… Good. And nothing good ever happens to a dreg, but, even if it is just for today, I would like to dream.”

Cass looked up to Maurice, “Lord Hall told me everything is a system, even people. A system to great for us to understand. If I can have a dream… I would wish to understand it, to use this power they say is inside me to fix it so that this pain ceases to exist forever.”