It was something of a surprise when Tengu arrived in Haven with a ragged-clothed teenager in her arms. If anyone in Haven was still suspicious of Tengu, their suspicions were allayed by the girl being carried bridal-style and not over the shoulder, as slavers tended to carry their prisoners.

In the year or so since Tengu had built her house in Haven, things had continued to change, slowly and surely. You might not have noticed, to look in from the outside, but there were very few strangers left in Haven.

Tranders and travellers crossing the wastes had become much more common, from maybe once or twice a year to every few weeks. The people of Haven couldn’t help but notice the preponderance of bird-faced good luck charms on the traders, but when the shopkeep had raised it with Tengu, she’d just said that people were giving her too much credit.

Tengu’s property had expanded to include a workshop, from which the sounds of smithing could be heard, when she was in town. There were even drying racks out in the sun for the meat she always had, and big tanning barrels where rawhide steadily turned into treated leather.

The teenager wasn’t seen again for nearly two days. Tengu seemed to be going about her normal business, except that she didn’t leave town for more than a couple of hours at a time.

When the teenager did re-appear, she was wearing a light, cream and grey dress that had been on Tengu’s clothesline earlier that morning. Her hands were bandaged and no one could see the bandages around her ankles.

The teenagers was introduced as ‘Ora, a girl I found in the desert’ to first the shopkeep and then several of the children and teens in the town, and hence their parents. She was shy, very sunburned, and seemed interested.

Someone overheard her comment to Tengu: ‘Haven is a lot smaller than I expected.’

Ora was catalyst to the next distinct shift in the operation of Haven. While Tengu was friendly and helpful and interesting, she wasn’t very talkative and she very rarely spent more than a day or two in Haven at a time. Once Ora arrived, that changed.

The first distinct shift had, of course, been the formation of the walking group, which was much smaller than it had been, but had branched off into various little social groups over time.

After Ora woke up and had her little tour around town, Tengu didn’t leave Haven at all for nearly two weeks. The people of Haven started to suspect that she left so often because she wasn’t very sociable.

Tengu spent a lot of time in her workshop, occasionally emerging when traders were around to sell clothes, weapons, food, and supplies to the shopkeep to sell onto the traders.

It wasn’t uncommon to see Ora sitting outside Tengu’s house or workshop, twiddling her thumbs. It wasn’t uncommon to see Ora spending time with the other children and teens around Haven.

The children and teens spending time together without their parents wasn’t a particularly new phenomenon. The first particularly radical occurrence wasn’t particularly remarkable.

Ora and some of the teens were hanging out in the dining room of the store by the western gate of Haven. Some of them decided to buy themselves some snacks and drinks with the money they had all gotten from the land Tengu had bought. Ora didn’t have any money, though. So one of her fellow fourteen-year-old girls bought her a drink.

It may not have been the very first time someone in Haven had bought something to give to someone else. It was a near thing. The shopkeep didn’t find it particularly remarkable, he was too busy making sure no one scuffed up his nice tables.

The first time Tengu left town again, she didn’t take Ora with her. Ora was in a bad mood for being left out. But she went to spend time with her friends, and it wasn’t anything interesting except for some of the older teens teaching Ora to swear, which she didn’t take to.

When people spent time together in Haven, they did it out on the streets, in their walking group, or simply standing about chatting. Sometimes they spent time together in the shop, over a meal or a snack, or simply sitting about chatting.

Stolen story; please report.

Ora had been in town just over a month when Tengu left for another day trip into the wastes. She had a key to Tengu’s house and workshop, but she didn’t much like being alone.

That particular day, Ora was not in luck. Most of her peers were busy at home with a harvest of cabbages and beets. Technically, not everyone in Haven had to harvest their cabbages on the same day, but they did anyway.

Ora was meandering around the little suburb near the western gate, vaguely watching people at work and wondering what to do.

A fourteen-year-old girl, who had bought Ora a drink nearly three weeks ago, spotted her and mentioned it to her parents. Her parents didn’t see that there was anything they could do, since they’d already started on their harvest and it would only get finished today if their daughter helped.

The fourteen-year-old girl had a novel and frightening suggestion. They could invite Ora over to hang out, while they kept on with the harvest. The people of Haven didn’t invite each other onto their property. Their property was their business and their business alone.

While her parents were humming and hawing about the prospect, the fourteen-year-old girl called out to Ora and waved her over. She made it abundantly clear that Ora didn’t need to help harvest the cabbages and beets if she didn’t want to.

Ora didn’t help with the harvest. But she asked a lot of questions and learned a good deal about gardening while she sat in the shade of the family’s storehouse and watched them work.

Tengu always made sure that Ora had food, water, and money on her, now. So thankfully there was no need for the family to share their food with this outsider on their property.

But even the parents had a nicer time for Ora’s companionship and apparently genuine interest in gardening.

There were no immediate ramifications of this heretical hospitality. Tengu got home before the sun set and Ora waved goodbye and thanked her friend and her friend’s family for having her.

That evening, Ora asked Tengu why she didn’t have a garden, and learned of the plan.

Next time Tengu went out of town, Ora was even more annoyed about it, but she kept her word and didn’t tell any of her friends about the plan. The older teens taught her more swears and she continued not to use them.

It was two weeks before Haven’s onion harvest day. Again, they didn’t all have to do it on the same day, but they did. And again, Tengu was out of town at the time and Ora was at a loss.

Except that her fourteen-year-old friend invited her to hang out in the garden again. The onion and garlic harvest wasn’t as big or time-consuming as the cabbage and beet harvest had been. But the fourteen-year-old girl’s parents didn’t suggest she could go and spend time with Ora elsewhere.

Ora learned more about gardening, including what everyone did with their pit toilets, and had a nice time chatting and sitting in the shade, and even helping just a little bit, so that she could get the hang of it.

It only seemed fair that, in exchange for helping, the parents ought to give her something. She said she didn’t need any money, since Tengu was rich already. And the fourteen-year-old girl made another novel and horrifying suggestion: Ora could join them for lunch.

This is when the moral character of the suburb called Haven started to slip drastically. After careful consideration, the parents agreed to let Ora in the house with them for lunch. It was a strange and terrifying experience for all involved, except Ora, but they powered through it and largely enjoyed themselves.

As they were finishing lunch, Ora said: ‘Tengu told me people here don’t share, but I figured you all couldn’t be that bed.’ And by saying such a thing, she irreversibly changed the whole manner of Haven.

It started slowly, softly. People might go over to each other’s houses from time to time, but they wouldn’t share food, just sit about chatting. And then people started sharing drinks of water, cups of tea. The practice spread like a virus until finally, there were no strangers left in Haven.

And then, someone invited a friend over for a meal.

The floodgates were opened. The friend had to invite them over in return, of course. Both assured their other friends that it had been a very enjoyable sort of activity. Other people started doing it.

Soon enough, no house was safe. Every single one had been visited by another person and, in some cases, a whole other family. Except for Tengu’s. People were enjoying themselves, though, so it couldn’t have been too bad.

In the midst of it all, Tengu started to execute the plan. The people of Haven received a sudden windfall to help with all of this socialising. Tengu had bought a second plot of land, and this one was much bigger than the hundred square metres she owned already.

Ora was quite surprised when a knock on Tengu’s door turned out to be the shopkeep, here to give Ora her share from Tengu’s purchase. He was a day late, but everyone had agreed that Ora was a resident and should get a share.

Ora didn’t much know what to do with fifteen dollars, but she didn’t have time to worry herself about it. Tengu was finally taking her on trips out of town. The older teens taught her some more swear words, but she didn’t need them. She’d known the plan already, she wasn’t disappointed to be making short trips to slowly fill Tengu’s new lot with a big pile of building materials.