After Ember and Leander arrived at Anne Park, Ember showed him to his apartment. It was a small studio much like Sash had, and in the same building. After he deposited his luggage and took a curious look around, she took him across the Park to the telecom shop in the Arcade to get his phone.
As they walked along the paved path that led from the residences to the Arcade, Leander looked around at the clipped green lawns with a sort of stunned expression that delighted Ember. “Do you like it?”
“It’s… very open. I mean, I already knew this is how the wards were laid out, but knowing’s not the same as being here. Most of the places I’ve lived can’t justify the space for hexagonal blocks.”
Puzzled, Ember said, “Have you only lived in space stations?”
Leander shrugged. “No. I’ve lived planetside, in cities.”
“Planets are pretty big, though?”
“Yeah, but land in cities is expensive. Valuable.”
Ember turned her gaze toward the waterfalls and the Terraces, although the residences surrounding the Park blocked her view. “Ah. Yes, I understand that. They built their homes in the most challenging place possible, while still being here.”
He followed her gaze, but understood what she was talking about. “The rich people? Yeah. They like to look down on everybody else, no matter what planet they’re from. I’m honestly more surprised your deva Princess allows them to exist than anything else.”
“Oh, they’re all over the Dominion,” said Ember vaguely. “And they want to live that way. Far away, feeling special and better because they don’t depend on the devas.” She shrugged. “Anyhow, let’s get your phone set up so you can get connected. You can get a tablet at the telecom too, but after we’re done here I want to go to Jenever’s and carrying it around will be a pain.”
“Jenever’s? Is that another kind of shop?” Leander smiled, as if making a joke.
Ember shook her head. “It’s the bar where we work.” Proudly, she added, “It’s got a state license.”
Leander walked along for a few moments, his smile fading. Finally, he confessed, “None of that can mean what I think it means?”
Ember pulled him around some kids drawing in chalk on the pavement. “What do you think it means?”
“Uh, well, state-licensed usually means that it’s approved to dispense some regulated substance or perform some regulated action? And work there means you… have a job? To earn money?”
“We do work to earn money, yep. And also to help Jenever out, of course. But state-licensed means…” Ember waved her hands. “It means the place has been approved by the devas. You can eat there even if you’re out of nutritional credit for some reason, and nobody has to pay cash unless you want some of the luxury stuff.” She added hastily, “I mean, it’s a bar, not a cafe. We don’t do anything fancy, not much more than you could get from the ready-to-eat section of the grocery. But at, say, a club bake sale, you’d have to pay cash for your cookies. At Jenever’s, as long as you don’t want something from the top shelf, you don’t. It can get pretty busy.”
“And you get paid?” Leander frowned, as if this confused him.
“You sound like a cap,” she told him, amused. “Uh, the people who aren’t rich but want to be. The people who work for the rich people, because they’ve bought into the idea that getting paid makes them better than us. Sometimes some of them come into Jenever’s and argue with us. Like it’s somehow a betrayal of Secure Life for us to ever earn any cash. Even though we already get cash as part of SL and of course we’re going to spend it somewhere.” Thoughtfully, she said, “I suppose they’d rather we spent on their products rather than each other, though.”
Leander shook his head. “Why? I mean… if you don’t have to work to eat or even to pay for fun later—and I know there’s a ton of fun out there that doesn’t require cash—why?”
Ember gave him a curious look. “Why not? It’s usually fun, we’re being helpful and extra cash isn’t bad.”
Shaking his head, Leander fell silent. Ember didn’t mind. If she found herself on another planet outside the Dominion, she’d be doing a lot of thinking too. She hoped he’d be able to relax soon, though.
When they stepped inside the telecom shop, it was empty. Leander looked around at the different models and styles of phones and tablets, frowning. Then his brow cleared and he laughed. “I keep looking for the staff, but of course there isn’t any. It’s like a big vending machine.”
“I’m happy to answer questions if you’d like,” said the local majordomo AI, and Leander jumped in surprise.
“Oh god, yes, the AIs,” he blurted. “But you’re just a voice. What if…” he began and then stopped himself, glancing at Ember. Then he said, “Nevermind. Irrelevant now. Help me pick out a phone, Ember?”
The main distinction between the Secure Life phones was form factor and styling, and while form factor did influence functionality, it wasn’t by much. So picking a phone was just a matter of figuring out what Leander admired and felt comfortable with. It disconcerted Ember a little when he went for the plainest phone he could find, ending up with something dull gray and designed to be decorated by its owner.
“Oh, come on. You’re more interesting than that,” she told him. “What’s the point of having a phone if you’re going to get something so… plain?”
He gave her a sweet little smile. “To get connected.” Then he muttered, “Besides, who am I, anyhow?”
Ember blinked, uncertain if he even meant to say that aloud. But she didn’t have the right to pry, so instead she shepherded him out of the shop and down the arcade to the landscaped nook occupied by Jenever’s bar at the corner of the neighborhood. Most of the shops had been built flush to the pavement, with just enough room for a bench and a recycling bin, but the bar had a pretty garden in front with a few tables under umbrellas. The garden stretched around the side of the bar and all the way to the back, where the tables provided a good view on anything happening in the park.
It was late afternoon as they arrived, after a leisurely stroll where Ember pointed out almost every shop and service station. Leander paid close attention, although Ember noticed his few questions were carefully constructed not to betray any more of his biases.
“And here we are!” said Ember brightly, waving her hand to indicate the bar. It was a three story building with the bottom story painted a dark red with gold trim around the large bay windows. The upper levels were in the same cream with white accents as most of the shops, with much smaller windows. “Mind the ramp,” she warned him as she led him inside.
The interior was pleasantly dim after the brightness of the afternoon, and, thanks to the sunken floor, had a higher-than-expected ceiling with rustic chandeliers hanging from broad rafters. Booths lined one wall, the bar lined the other and round tables nestled in the bay windows. Only a handful of the tables had occupants, and about half of those were individuals reading or glancing at their phones.
Ember headed straight for the bar, turning back to call Leander when he lingered at the entrance. “Come on!” Then she approached the man behind the bar, smiling. “Hi, Jenever!”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
A youngish man who nonetheless still seemed older than Leander and Ember, Jenever had golden-brown hair curling gently over his collar and eyes only a few shades darker. His crooked smile as he greeted Ember was unaffected and the gaze he flicked over Leander at Ember’s introduction was gentle and unassuming. He seemed like the perfect audience for a recitation of troubles and Leander shifted uncomfortably as he responded politely.
“So Sash is finally getting her club?” inquired Jenever. “You’re a good friend, Ember.”
Ember made a face. “That’s what Winter said, too. But I don’t think of it that way. It’ll be my club too and it’ll be nice to have someplace other than my apartment to hang out. And I’m not going to let Sash run roughshod over Leander, who’s come a long way to be more than Sash’s minion.” She picked up the two brimming mugs that Jenever slid across the bar and turned back to Leander. “Let’s grab one of the window tables. Unless you’d prefer a booth?”
“A window table would be great,” said Leander, again with a distant politeness that seemed odd after their casual conversation before. Ember supposed it had something to do with Jenever’s steady observation but she couldn’t imagine why. She didn’t know anybody more relaxing to be around than the barkeep.
She watched as he cautiously sipped from his mug, and pounced on the little smile that flickered across his face. “Well? What do you think?”
“It’s tasty,” he conceded. “But not very alcoholic compared to what they served in the Exo District.”
“Nope,” Ember agreed. “But it’s free and that seemed important to you. A local club brew just for Jenever’s. They do a nice cherry liquor later in the season, too. Are you hungry?”
“Mm, not yet. It’s be better to wait for your friends if you’re planning on eating, isn’t it?’
Ember shrugged. “This isn’t someplace fancy.” Her gaze went to the far side of the room, to one of the lone tables along the back wall. “But Dayne’s on duty right now, so if you do want something, I’ll go fix it myself.”
Leander followed her gaze, observing the slight young man sitting in front of a small sound synth, intermittently moving his fingers over it. After a moment, Leander frowned and glanced toward a hidden speaker. Soft, irregular notes wafted out: nothing so organized as music, but somehow it combined with the little sounds of the quiet bar to feel like music.
“You can meet him later,” added Ember. With a resigned sigh, she added, “Sash will make sure of that.”
“Is he a performer?” asked Leander, fascinated. “Is he warming up?”
Ember considered the question. “He’s a musician, but this is about as much of a performance as he ever does. He likes ambient music, and he can manage a crowd or defuse a fight like nobody else I know. It’s like magic. We’re really lucky he moved here.”
Something flickered across Leander’s face. “Another new kid?”
“Oh, well, he’s been here a year or so? And he’s just from another neighborhood over on the other side of the city.”
“If everything’s so perfect here, why do people move to new neighborhoods?”
Blinking at the sour note in Leander’s voice, Ember said, “Who said everything was perfect? People move for all sorts of reasons: to get away from people, to meet new people, because they want a new environment, because they want to be close to somebody they care about, because they can’t afford their cap lifestyle anymore, because they want to join a particular club.”
Jenever appeared beside them to put down a basket of chips and green dip. “We do have another new resident, though.” His voice was soft but his gaze was measuring as he inspected Leander. “But I don’t expect you’ll run into Edie much. She has a baby girl taking up most of her time.”
“Oh, thanks for the snack, Jenever!” said Ember, and ate a chip. He nodded and moved back to the bar. Silently, Leander also took a chip, and then proceded to demolish the rest of the basket without Ember’s encouragement.
A little while later, as the bar began to fill up and the evening lights of the arcade glowed to life, Ember’s phone chirped and she responded to a message from Sash before warning Leander, “They’ll be here soon. Sash and Nyx, I mean.”
“And we’re all looking forward to it,” said a smooth, polished voice ruined by the hint of a sneer, and Ember looked up to see Vesper, Sash’s least favorite person, standing beside her table, a waiter’s apron tied around his waist.
Of course it was his shift this evening, because it wasn’t Ember and Sash’s. Jenever was careful to schedule Sash and Vesper on different shifts as much as possible, because when they shared a shift things could get out of hand, sometimes so out of hand that not even Dayne’s magic music could calm the situation down. Ember recalled the night she’d been sent home so she couldn’t help Sash and Vesper clean up the entire cask of beer that had exploded in the middle of the main room. It was one of her few memories of a grim expression on Jenenver’s face.
Vesper, his dark blond hair curling into one moody hazel eye, inspected Leander minutely before setting down two more tankards and removing their empty ones to his tray. “Welcome to the city. I’m sure Ember has already told you that if you need anything you can probably find a personal pointer to it here at Jenever’s.” With a nod that almost qualified as friendly, he moved away just as the door swung open and Sash loomed in the entryway.
Her hands on her hips, Sash surveyed the room like a general inspecting her troops right up until Nyx, slouching behind her, shoved her forward. She stumbled down the ramp, miraculously avoiding tripping and turning her momentum into a directed careen over to Ember’s table.
“Did I just see Vesper annoying you?” she demanded in lieu of a greeting, and then, before anybody could answer, “Is this him?” and then, to Leander, “Whatever Vesper said, ignore him. If you have any problems, you bring them to me. I’m your sponsor, so I’ll fix everything.”
“We,” corrected Nyx as he slid into the chair next to Ember. “We’re his sponsors, if this club happens. Hey Ember, did you look into what happens if Sash’s new friend ditches her?”
Sash gasped as she claimed the chair directly across from the window, where she could dimly see the reflection of the bar behind her. Her chest swelled with indignation.
But Ember, staring at Sash, cut off the incipient retort with, “Did you get your hair cut?”
Sash’s defiance vanished and she slumped, one hand moving up to touch her pink bob. “Nyx insisted.”
Ember shoved her chair back and stood up to circle Sash. “And those are new clothes, too. You made me pick up Leander alone so you could get a makeover?”
“Hey, starting a new project is the best time to have a new look,” said Sash defensively.
Nyx unfolded a long arm to tug Ember back to her seat. “Aren’t you going to make introductions?”
“Oh, right,” grumbled Ember, and did so, scrutinizing Leander in an attempt to read his reactions.
But although his eyes had widened at Sash’s entrance, he absorbed the formality of the introductions with the same pleasant, polite half-smile he’d worn most of the day. When Sash kicked Nyx under the table and said, “Go get snacks,” his smile didn’t flicker. And when Nyx responded to Sash sauntering past the bar into the kitchen and returning with several bowls of crunchy salted vegetables that he passed out to everybody but Sash, Leander’s smile only widened.
Sash ignored the lack of a bowl for herself, eating from Ember’s bowl of fried bean pods as she inspected Leander thoroughly. Then she said, “I’ll need to ask you some questions before we accept your application,” and Leander finally blinked.
“Excuse me?”
“Tell me about your previous experience working in groups.” Sash crunched down on a bean, holding the remains between her lips like a cigar.
Leander slid a sidelong glance over to Ember and Nyx. Ember shrugged helplessly, while Nyx said, “Feel free to ignore her. She didn’t get her hair cut just to scuttle her own club plans.”
Sash pointed another bean at Nyx. “Keep that up and you won’t be vice-chief.”
Nyx brightened. “Ooh, is that a promise? Definitely ignore her, Leander.”
Leander coughed and said, “After I left school I did a few different jobs. Nothing exciting. Nothing profitable. Scrounging up customers for a business. Call monitoring. Helped out at a lost and found. Did some acting.”
To Ember, this all sounded like admirable, if boring work. But Sash had an entirely different take on it. “So you’re some kind of small-time criminal on the run, eh?” Leander blinked again as Sash went on. “Well, that’s all right. Joining Club Sash is a new beginning, and a creative thinker like yourself is exactly what we’ll need. Tomorrow morning we’ll meet up and—”
“Are you really going to keep calling it Club Sash?” Ember demanded, bristling. “And why would you insult Leander like that?”
Sash finished her fried beanpod and then took one of Nyx’s sweet pickled carrots. Pointing it at Leander, she said, “Are you insulted?”
A broader smile twitched at the corner of Leander’s mouth. “Not at all. If you want me to be a small-time criminal on the run, I’m at your service.” He took the pickled carrot from Sash and ate it, while Sash looked smug.
Ember watched uneasily. While she understood and sympathized with him looking for a place in this new environment, she was starting to worry that connecting him with Sash might not just be unkind but unhealthy. Sash had a way of getting what she wanted, sometimes much to the regret of the people around her.
Cheerfully, Sash said, “Well, stick with us, kid, and we’ll take care of you. Nobody’s coming after one of my club members without going through me.”
Leander unexpectedly laughed. “You sound like a guy I met in the Exo district. No, no, he didn’t try to recruit me. Just called me ‘kid’ and talked like he knew all my secrets. He thought I’d be okay here, too.” He grinned. “I didn’t believe him, but you keep talking like that and maybe you’ll convince me.”