The Birth of New Farbranch

by Tanaya Lee

Samuel is living in the remnants of Farbranch, a town destroyed by Mayor Prentiss' army a year ago. He is the oldest boy living in the town, having been only a few weeks shy of his thirteenth birthday at the time of the attack, and spared by the army for it. When he struggles to overcome his own experiences and bias, he finds that there's more to being a man than just his age.

The Birth of New Farbranch

I sit against the trunk of the oak tree that used to be at the edge of town.

It's not that the tree's not there anymore- it's the town that ain't. It's been a year since the fall of New Prentisstown, and since it became New Haven. It could've been Haven again, but after all that's happened with the Ask, Mayor Prentiss, and the treaty with the Spackle, it only seemed right to rename it. The town was so broken during the war, and there were so many deaths that almost everything had to be rebuilt.

I take a bite of my sandwich and look over the edge of the pond, breathing in the air that still smells like smoke. The outlines and some walls of the old buildings are still around, but most of the town's buildings were wood and burnt up. The ones with enough left to be fixed are getting fixed, the ones without enough left are being torn down and used for parts. I hear people working as I eat, hammering and gathering. It's been a long time since most of the buildings were in any shape to be used, but we're almost there.

Todd Hewitt, Viola Eade, the Sky, Wilt, and Todd's Pa, Ben, have been working 'round the clock to make the treaties between the Ask, the Answer, and the Spackle work. Everyone knows all of this by now. Everyone knows about what happened with the Prentisstown men, and Mayor Prentiss himself, and for some reason, even those of us who live far from New Haven are s'posed to care, but it's hard to give a damn when yer whole town is written off. After the New Prentisstown army came in and destroyed everything trying to get Todd Hewitt and take over Haven, we were left within nothing. And none of them cares. NO ONE CARES

I look around quickly, cursing softly as a group of ducklings walk over to me, quacking curiously. My noise got their attention.

Whirler boy! Bread? Bread? They all chime one after the other. I roll my eyes and toss them little pieces of crust from my sandwich. All the animals call us and our animals whirlers, whatever the hell that means. They never tell us anyway.

"Take this and get!" I say. "And stop listening so close, it's rude!" I shake my head and try to shoo them. I know the ducks- especially the ducklings- mean no harm, they just want free food, so I shouldn't be so mean to them, but animal-Noise is all the same usually. Now the squirrels are little assholes, but there haven't been many around since the invasion. Too many trees were torched and they took off into the safety of the thicker woods.

I stand up and toss the ducklings the rest of my jam sandwich. Hildy will be looking for me by now. She's been leading the rebuild of the town, but it's slow. Everyone's been working around the clock- everyone that's left anyways.

We lost a lot of the adults thanks to the Prentisstown men, not that there were many to start. Farbranch only had about fifty of us, and now we're closer to thirty, and half that is kids.

I'm the oldest man left behind after the army recruited men and killed anyone who tried to stop em. We become men when we turn thirteen, after thirteen rotations of thirteen months each, and I was a few weeks shy of that at the time. I guess given what happened with New Prentisstown, I should count myself lucky, but it does mean that I've got a lot to do these days. The town's a lot quieter too, but ye start to miss the noise sometimes.

"Samuel, lunch's over! Get a move on!" Hildy calls from the middle of what's gonna be town square. I sigh, my noise filling with some choice words I learned from the men at the tavern before they all died or left. I go back over, some of the little kids playing in the brickwork we laid that morning to outline the square. The little boys hopped around the bricks, their Noise filled with excitement. Build! Impress Ma!Meantime the little girls jumped around with them, following the bricks just the same, but as always they stayed quiet. Not a peep of noise from them. Never is.

"What next Ma'am?" I say. Hildy laughs.

"Can't ever tell if yer being sarcastic or polite, pup." Her eyes twinkled with laughter. For a second, she looked like the old Hildy, under all the scars she'd got during the attack.

Though she'd seen worse than the scars when it happened.

I tried to push out the memory of her husband Tam- she didn't need my noise reminding her. She'd gotten super old since Todd Hewitt and the hell he brought was here, not that she'd ever blame him for any of it. She was pretty old to start, but these days her hair was white as the snow in lots of parts. She laughs again, though it doesn't meet her eyes and she cuffs me upside the head.

"Don't go callin' me old, boy pup. I've got lots of years in me yet."

"Not a boy no more ma'am. I'm a man now, remember?" I say proudly, rubbing my head where it smarted.

"Ey, ye're right. Not so much a pup neither I suppose." She pointed towards the wreck that was left of the buildings. "We've got some more materials gathered. I want ye to grab a barrow and load up what wood ye can get. After that, bring it back here and we'll start laying out the guides for the houses. Everyone's getting real tired of the tents. We want to get a few buildings up before it gets too cold again." I nodded while she talked.

Last winter we stayed in a nearby town, but as soon as it got warm again, they gave us the boot. Guess an extra thirty people is a bit much to take when ye only got sixty or so yerself.

"Sure thing Hildy." I say. I run off to go to grab the wheelbarrow from what's left of the farms when I see it coming.

A man on a horse, and a whole lot of Spackle behind him.

I don't even remember shouting- but I must have cause Hildy and a few other women from the town are there before I even realize that I've fallen backwards to the ground. My heart races hard in my chest, my vision blurs and everyone around me winces as my Noise throws memories of the day of the invasion at them.

The fire, the screaming, the bodies in the street, kids lost and crying, animals dying left and right and their noise begging for mercy. Everything burning and hurting- my side began to ache at the memory, the mayor's son's horse rearing up and stomping down on me-

PAIN. DEATH. BURNING. FIRE. DON'T HURT MY PA! NO! IT HURTS.

"Someone get Sam out of here!" Hildy's voice cuts through my Noise, as though she's directing her silence to cover it, and someone hoists me up, dragging me off.

Suddenly, I can't see at all.

I wake up in my tent a while later, still trembling. A girl about my age sits next to me. It takes a moment before I recognize her.

"Payton… what the hell happened?" I ask. She looks at me for a moment before fidgeting and looking away.

"You had a terror." She says. I can feel my face go hot, there's no way I had a terror. Terrors weren't uncommon but mostly only the little kids would get them. They'd suddenly see or think of something that reminded them of what happened and they panic- crying, screaming, shaking, thinking they were there again… there's no way I had a terror.

Nightmares were one thing, but a full on terror during the day?

No way.

"Ye're full of it. I must've just passed out from working too much. I didn't finish my lunch today," I say, my voice firm. Payton doesn't push it, but she offers me water. I take it and drain the cup, then close my eyes. "What's with the horse and the Spackle?"

"Ben Moore came with the Spackle to talk to Hildy. Ma and I brought you here, so I don't know much else." I have to talk to Hildy. We're too close to Prentisstown, the Spackle never come here. What could they want with us?

"I'm going to find her," I say, going to stand up. Payton put her hand on my shoulder, pushing me back down.
"Ma's orders, you're supposed to stay in bed for today," Her tone became firm, this clearly wasn't going to be an argument. Payton's Ma was a doctor, and she was learning from her.

Part of that was being a pain the rear.

"Well, I guess if that's what Dr. Reed says-" I jumped up past her and hurried out of the tent, shooting a grin over my shoulder at Payton as I ran. "Just don't tell on me!" I called, and headed for the farm house we've been using for town hall whenever it came up.

The building is white and has two big wings coming out from the side. The chimney of the building goes up and turns to a point with smoke coming out the end. Hildy once said that it was made to look like a 'swan', a bird from the Old World. Apparently it was made out of an X Three 200 ship from when Hildy landed in the New World.

I look around and go inside.

Hildy and Ben are talking in the middle of the farmhouse. I go up to them all casual but Hildy raises her eyebrow at me.

"What're ye doing up pup?" I shrug and make like it's no big deal, then look at Ben. He smiles at me kindly, like my Pa used to. I try to fog my noise but Ben's Noise covers mine anyways. Ben learned to speak Spackle, and when he does, it's like he's speaking right into my head.

Hey Sam, you alright? I'm sorry if I gave you a fright. I wasn't 'specting anyone to be so close. The Land and me don't mean any harm.

I rub at my ears. Ye'd think ye'd be used to all kinds of sounds by now, but his Noise is so calm, so collected and focused, it's like nothing else I'd ever heard.

"Why are the Spackle here?" I ask. Hildy cuts Ben off.

"Ben has asked us to take in some of the Spackle… or the Land, as they prefer to be called," She says.

The Sky has requested a hand of good faith. The Land stands together, but for now must remain apart. We don't have the resources in New Haven for all of the Land, and we all lost so much during the war.

I can feel my Noise flair with anger.

We had lost a lot too and none of them came for us.

We lost resources, that's the biggest thing. We have little water, scarce food. The forests were damaged and we just don't have anything nearby until it grows back. You have much more in resources than we do, and Farbranch could use the hands. They're willing to work, just like the rest of you.

"I've already made my decision Sam. Ye may be a man now, but that don't make ye in charge. We'll be taking in forty Spackle," She takes a deep breath when Ben gives her a look. "We'll be taking in forty of the Land," I go to protest but Hildy holds up a hand to quiet me, already hearing the protests in my Noise. "We need the hands to work and the eyes on the pups. With thirty of us and little more than fifteen of that being pups, we'll get a lot more done."

"Where will they sleep? Who's gonna feed them?" is all that I can manage.

"They're more than used to building their own beds out of grass and fibres, and finding their own food. Spa- the Land is used to travelling. They've already started and will have their beds done by supper. We're all gonna work together on this," She says.

I shake my head and hurry out of the farmhouse, feeling Ben's eyes and sympathy at my back.

I walk towards the tent-town we built up in the place that the bakery used to be. Close enough to most of town, while still close to the animals we saved. I can hear the cows mooing in the distance, calling out Foood! Fooood! as they see a woman with bales of hay walking by the fence. Some of the younger calves follow after their mothers, their Noise calling after them.

I kick a rock and look up, seeing a group of Spackle that're working on whatever Spackle do. One takes the rock I kicked and adds it to a pile no bigger than half a bale of hay. I shudder- their pale skin and long arms and legs covered by moss-made and woven clothing, their weird mid-face mouths, ears by their jaws, and black eyes- just seeing them makes me want to chuck.

I turn to go the other way, and suddenly find a webbed hand on my shoulder. I gasp and knock it away with the back of my hand. The Spackle looks scared and steps back, looking like a kicked dog.

Damnit, now I feel like an asshole.

"I uh…" I start. "Sorry. Whatdya want?" I ask. And the second the words are out of my mouth, the Spackle Noises a flint at me, pointing at the gathering of sticks they've made, circled by some of the rocks. "Oh, right." I go over to the fire we've got going on our side and pick up a flint and steel, and hand it to him. "Just don't lose it."

The Spackle watches me for a moment with his big black eyes before nodding and going back to the other Spackle. The Spackle make me uneasy.

I decide right then to spend as much time far away from them as I can.

It's been a week since the Spackle got here and it looks like everyone else is used to 'em already. A group of Spackle and a few of the women work on some of the buildings that weren't totally burned down.

Hildy was right about one thing, with all the Spackle working we've got a lot done. Spackle are real good with their hands, and they know how to build lots of shelters up quick. They taught Hildy and the others how to make walls almost as good as brick with branches and wood, and this stuff they made with mud from the river, cow dung, straw and sand. They've been building it in layers, so there's about six almost finished buildings now.

I sit on the ground, my back against the oak, watching all the kids and the little Spackle play together as Hildy goes around, making sure everyone's on track. She comes up to me and sits down on ground beside me.

"Hey pup. Ye're lookin' a little down. Everything alright?" She asks.

"Yeah, everything's great," I say, not even bothering to hide my frustration. Stupid Spackle-lets. I'm a man now. I should be working. Effing Spackle. Except I don't say Effing.

"I know pup-sitting isn't what ye want to be doing, but we've all gotta take our turns. Half of us and almost half of them is kids, we gotta take that into thought. If the Land don't have to worry about their pups, and we don't have to worry about ours, then we can get more done," She says, politely ignoring my Noise. She looks around and sighs like she's happy. "Didn't ever think we'd have so many buildings up and going already. Yeah, we can only do a foot high of wall a day, but… it's something. We can get people back into homes soon."

"I'd prefer wood and brick to dung, but that's me," I say. Hildy laughs and stands up.

"We'll fix up the insides, don't worry about it pup," She nudges my foot with hers. "An try to watch yerself with all the pups around. Don't need em picking up new words." She says. She waves to the kids playing nearby and heads off towards the group collecting the river mud. For a moment, I watch the kids playing with the other little Spackle before it's too much.

I get up and walk towards the Farmhouse.

No one's been in there since Ben and Hildy met, it'd be nice to get some peace and quiet from all the Spackle Noise. It's bad enough to have the noise of boys around, but with the Spackle it's non-stop. It's how they talk, and they sure don't get enough of talkin'.

I go into the farmhouse and stop, the sound of both muffled Noise and total quiet standing out from the top loft. I call out, looking around.

Ain't no one supposed to be in here.

I'm not even supposed to be in here right now. Everyone was supposed to be working. I go over to the ladder leading up to the loft and tug on it. It doesn't wiggle at all, so I climb up, skipping the broken bottom middle-step and pulling myself up.

"Hello?" I call out. I walk forward and look around the bales of hay stacked on the loft, hearing the Noise getting greyer, like someone's tryin' to hide something.

I climb up and over the bales of hay leading towards the back of the loft, tryin' to follow the Noise. I finally get to the back corner of the loft, which seems to be cleared out and I gasp.

Half staring, half wincing away, I see two Spackle with nothing on- and one of them with a blotch on his neck, starts throwing words in his Noise at me, and it's like being hit with rocks.

I back away and climb back up and over the bales of hay as fast as I can, back towards the ladder, and start to climb down. As I do, my foot slips by the broken rung, and I fall backwards onto the floor with a thump. I lay there gasping, air knocked out of me.

By the time I can breathe again, I need to hold my side for another minute before I can sit up, my ribs still tender to hits from where they were broken.

My head spins and I feel like I'm gonna throw up. I mean, thinking about it, I guess all those Spackle-lets had to come from somewhere, but who wants to think about that?

I get up and limp towards the barn door, holding my side when Hildy hurries past, and when her eyes finally find me, she ain't happy at all.

"I was gone for five minutes!" I protest.

"And in that five minutes, one of the Land pups and one of ours nearly drowned! Ye were supposed to be watching them!" Hildy yells. I'd only ever seen her this mad once before, when she killed the man who stabbed Tam.

I was probably gonna go the same way.

"If that Land pup hadn't gone in after him, no one woulda known and Dr. Reed's little boy would've died!" Hildy stands over me, making me feel half my size in the chair she has me in. "Well, what do ye have to say for yerself?"

"I just- I needed to get away. The Spackle- there's so much Noise with them-" I try to explain, but every word I say seems like it's not enough.

"So ye ran off, without telling no one, to the farmhouse? What were ye even doin' in there?" Hildy looks so tired and angry, I don't even know what to tell her.

The Spackle were- and then she loses it.

"Ye were off watching Spackle fuck?!" She yells.

And that's when I knew I was gonna die. Hildy was a good woman who hated swears, if she was mad enough to swear, a knife to my neck wasn't far behind. She seems to realize what she's said and tries to collect her temper.

"I wasn't tryin' to watch them Hildy, I just- found them." I try to explain again, but she doesn't seem to be listening.
"I know with the men gone… and yer at that age now- god above only knows I'm not the right one for this- ye need someone around to explain all that stuff to ye- We've been letting ye down with that sort a thing, it's something a Pa will usually tell his boy-" And I know where this is going and I know that Hildy is trying to help but I stand up from the chair and cover my ears, my face going red hot.

"No, Hildy! No! I'm fine! It was just an accident!" I shout. This seems to snap Hildy out of it. Her face and body relaxes and she finally sighs, scratching the back of her head.

"Well look. I know ye're a good man Sammy, but ye made a big mess this time and it's not gonna be something we can just forget about. Someone almost died- all cause yer not getting on with the Land. Like it or not, they're here to stay, and they're doin' a lot of good for us. Ye owe Dr. Reed and ye owe the Land. Starting tomorrow yer gonna be helping Dr. Reed with her duties, she's had quite a scare and could use some help keepin' up with all the injuries. We're doing hard work, and some people have hurt themselves-" Hildy starts, then looks at me. "Yer ribs again, Sam?" I manage a weak nod.

"I fell from the broken ladder in the farmhouse," I say.

"Go get that looked at. And apologize while yer at it, and let Dr. Reed know ye'll be her second while Payton takes care of her brother." I nod again and leave.

These Spackle were going to be the end of me.

Dr. Reed got the first house that was finished since she takes care of everyone in her home. Hildy probably figured the sick and hurt shouldn't be out in tents.

When I get to Dr. Reed's place, I look in the window and see she's inside with Payton, taking care of her boy. I can't remember his name, but he was small- probably three, and had wild curly hair. He was talking away and I could hear his Noise through the door.

Land caught me! Swimming- Fast- River- Ducklings- Wanted to Pet Them Ma! I feel shame rise up in me, and I knock quietly on the door. Payton answers it and then looks away from me.
"Ma, Sam's here." She goes back in, not looking at me. I really wish she'd yell or hit me. Women's silence is so much worse than even the Noise from the meanest men. Dr. Reed looks at me and comes over, her face kinder than Payton's. Must be something she learned as a doctor.

"Yes, Sam? Is there anything I can do for you?" She asks. How's it that kindness is even worse than silence? I nod and look at my shoes.

"I uh- I wanted to apologize for what happened Ma'am. Hildy told me that I'm 'sposed to come help ye until yer boy is better," I wince and lift my shirt. "She also told me to get my ribs looked at." Dr. Reed leans down and examines my ribs, then leads me to a bed. She presses on my ribcage and I wince.
"Is the pain a sharp pain or a dull one?" She continues with her asks before finally nodding. "Looks like you badly bruised them. You're lucky you didn't fracture them again," She says finally. I nod and pull my shirt back down.

"How's yer boy doing?" I ask.

"He's doing better now. Spit up a lot of water… the water is still cold this time of year, so we have to make sure he gets back to the right temperature," I nod and stand up.

"Well Ma'am, I'm ready to work."

Dr. Reed sends me out to gather some herbs after giving me some supper. It's a late supper, but I've got some time before nighttime. She gives me a basket and a paper with pictures so that I knew which ones to grab.

I'm walking down to the edge of the forest when I pass a group of Spackle, and one word comes from all of 'em as I do.

The Sapling.

I look at them as I pass and I recognize one, the one with the blotch on his neck, whispering to another one.

"What the hell is 'the sapling'?" I ask, looking around. Ain't no trees here. The one with the blotch looks like he's laughing at me now- pretty bold for someone who was seen like he was.

You're The Sapling. That's the name The Land has given you.

I pick up a stone and chuck it at him, turning around to leave as my Noise picks up in anger and embarrassment.

"Ye can take yer stupid name and shove it up yer Spackle-hole," I say. I hurry off down to the riverbed, where Dr. Reed says the plant grows.

I stay there, collecting the plants she's wrote and drew for me, but I'm not at it for more than an hour before I see smoke coming up from near the tents. I drop my basket of plants and stare in shock, my heart starting to run again.

Fire. Burning. Death.

I hold my stomach and throw up in the grass beside me. It's gross, but better than fainting. I run towards the smoke, hoping it's not as bad as the smoke is making it look. But it's a lot worse.

All the Spackle beds are on fire, and a bunch of Spackle are screaming, burns on their arms, and legs, and… all over. All I can do is stare in shock. Dr. Reed is already there, pouring water on burns, racing around and trying to bandage at the same time. She sees me and calls me over.

"Sam! Get over here! I need all hands on!" She shoves a bucket at me, which I'm about to toss onto the flames before she corrects me. "Pour it slowly on the lighter wounds. We have to clean them and try and save as much skin as we can. I hurry over to the closest burned Spackle and kneel down. She's just a little thing, and her shoulder is burned.

"Okay, this is gonna hurt…" She winces away from me as I pour the water onto her burn, then relaxes as it starts to soothe it, even just for a moment. She looks at me as I start to wrap the burn.

The Sapling? She asks, surprise in her Noise. I grit my teeth and ignore her Noise, even though it sounds right in my head. Her Noise speaks again. The Sapling is helping The Land?

"I ain't no sapling. I'm a man, see? I'm almost fourteen years old now." She continues to watch me until I finish off her bandage and she runs back to her mother.

We spend a long time bandaging and treating the Spackle while everyone else puts out the fires, each and every one of the Spackle calling me "The Sapling". By the end of it, I'm getting real tired of it. I find myself in front of the blotchy Spackle again, treating his hand, now using water and a mixture Dr. Reed made. Dr. Reed has spent most of the day treating the worst of the burns, so I've seen almost every Spackle who ain't almost dead, and there's a lot of kids in that lot- which is better than them being with Dr. Reed I suppose. There's more of em than I ever thought would be hurt. They cry and if yer not looking at em, Spackle-lets sound and act a lot like normal pups.

We are The Land. Spackle is what we were called by those of your kind who killed us, The Clearing.

"Quit listening so close, it's rude. Besides, yer lot killed lots of us, burned em with yer acid spears," I shake my head, knowing that my history was a little fuzzy. It was all before my time, and no one likes to talk about the Spackle War much. The Spackle takes his hand and touches his blotch.

This is where I was burnt by The Clearing so long ago. I look at the blotch on his skin, that now that I really think about it, does look like a burn. My ribs start to ache.

"Yeah, well, some of em tend to do that sort of thing," I say. I try to push back the memories of the invasion, but the look on his white face tells me it's too late.

The Clearing are more complicated than I thought. They attack and kill their own kind. Yet The Sapling hates The Land far more than The Clearing. Why is that?

I grit my teeth and stare up at him, my Noise flaring. "Well, Spackle killed us during the war- and all of ye Noise all the time, and… and…" I found it harder and harder to pin it down. "And ye come up with stupid names for things! Like what the hell is 'The Sapling'?" I ask.

Like 'Spackle'? I can hear in the tone of his Noise that he's laughing at me. You are The Sapling. You should feel honored. It's not often that The Land gives an individual from The Clearing a name. The Knife was another to get a name from The Land.
"The Knife?" I asked. "Ye mean Todd Hewitt?"

I do believe that is what The Clearing call him.

"He's another one who can go eff himself." I tell him. He seems to go to argue, but Hildy finally comes to the site.

"We found her. The person who set the fires." She says, her face white as a sheet. "It was Francia."

I stood there, looking like Hildy had cuffed me. Francia? It'd been so long since anyone saw her, since the night of the invasion- we all thought she was dead.

"Ye're…. ye're sure?" I ask, even though it's a stupid ask. We all knew Francia, the ex-deputy mayor. Hildy better than anyone.

She was her sister after all.

I look around and I'm not the only confused one. Everyone's looking like Hildy just told them that cow dung could cure blindness. Hildy clears her throat and looks at everyone.

"There'll be a trial in a few minutes. Everyone who can come, should," She says, before turning back towards the farm house.

I finish treating the burn victims and hurry over. Everyone that's not too hurt to walk goes, except for the kids, and they squeeze into the farmhouse. The loft is filled and how we managed to squish in thirty or so bodies I'll never know, and a group of white legs hang down in front of me as I try to watch. Hildy stands at the front, Francia's on her knees, her wrists and ankles tied behind her. I stare at her, shocked. Francia took care of us, why would she do something like this? She was a little rough around the edges, but she loved the town.

Hildy speaks up finally. "Francia, what do ye have to say for yerself? Ye were found a-lurkin' in the woods just after the fire started after being missing for a year and a half, with a flint and steel in yer pocket," Hildy says, her voice stern, but even without Noise ye can tell Hildy really wants there to be a good reason. Half the room, with their silence, is the same. The Noise in the room is mostly confused, mine being the only human noise in the whole place.

Francia looks up at her sister, and she ain't angry or scared or nothing. She looks and shakes her head like she's disappointed at everyone around her. "None of ye know what happened. The Prentisstown men, what they do when they catch ye and don't wanna let ye go… what the Spackle and the men did to lots of women an' pups in Haven. I never thought I'd make it back here, an' if I did I thought ye'd all be dead. But it looks like some of ye did make it," She smiles, and everyone watching tenses.

"I was so happy… my town was alive. But then I saw ye with the Spackle, acting like nothin' never happened between us and them and being all friendly with them, letting our pups play with theirs. Acting like one big town with those… things," She says, her voice getting poisonous. "God has seen you all and he knows… he knows! Proverbs 17:15! He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord!" She yells.

I hadn't heard bible verses in so long, it reminded me that Hildy and the whole New World were the settlers of God. Francia must hear this in my Noise because she begins to laugh. "Ye see? Even yer oldest pup's forgetting the ways of the Lord! All of ye are responsible for letting the wicked corrupt our pups! Not even going to church anymore! Ye don't understand, I'm saving my town from those abominations!"

Hildy looks furious. She pulls her gun and points it at her sister's head. "The punishment for attempted murder and arson's death. 'There are six things which the LORD hates, seven which are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood' Proverbs 6:16-19. Ye'll remember I know the Lord's word too Francia. Ye admitted to the crime, and we find ye guilty. Ye're sentenced to an execution."

I felt my stomach tighten, and as Hildy turns the safety off on her gun, I jump forward.

"Hildy, wait! Please don't do this," I beg, and I can feel her eyes sink into me.

It feels like forever until Hildy lowers her gun, and in the Noise around all I can hear is The Sapling. "I thought ye might still be too young for this sort of thing, Sam pup. This is our law, this is how we maintain the peace. We need to protect everyone. Ye saw how many got hurt today yerself," She says.

"But Hildy-" I protest. Hildy raises her voice again.
"Samuel! Enough! Yer not in charge here, no matter how much ye call yerself a man, that don't make ye in charge."

"The Land were the ones who were hurt the most! Ye didn't see it Hildy… there were so many little ones who got hurt. They should be the ones to decide the punishment," I insist. Hildy looks like she's gonna tell me off some more, but Dr. Reed steps forward.

"Hildy, Sam is right. Since the Prentisstown men started the second war… all that our old laws have done is make us vengeful and full of hate. Maybe it's best if we send Francia away. Banish her. Then she can't hurt anyone again. We need to work on peace... peace is the most important thing." Dr. Reed insists.

Hildy looks like she's thinking real hard on it before she shakes her head. "What kind of justice is that for The Land? Just letting her go don't fix nothing or change nothin'."

The Noise from The Land starts to pick up, and in it I can only hear one word. The Sky. I look over at the member of The Land with the blotch on his neck and he nods, his Noise sounding at me. Send her to The Sky. That is the will of The Land. That is justice for The Land. I nod and look at Hildy.

"Hildy, please. Don't kill her. Send her to The Sky and make her repent. Make her ask the Lord and The Sky to forgive her for her sins, and make her understand and make things right," I plead, the images of the kids with the burns, The Land and all their injuries on them flowing through my Noise. I look at Hildy and she shakes her head.

"She doesn't deserve forgiveness, Sam," She says, but her grip on the gun loosens.

"If she's dead, then all there's gonna be is resentment. It's hard to make peace with someone who's gone and don't want it," I say, looking away. "And resentment ain't no way of moving forward," I take a deep breath and breathe out, tryin' to make Hildy understand. Dr. Reed goes to Hildy and puts an arm around her.

"The forgiveness isn't for her good, it's for our good- the good of The Land. Resentment and hatred is an awful burden to carry, Hildy," She says. "Tam wouldn't want you to kill your own sister. He wouldn't want you to carry that burden for the rest of your life." She says, looking at Hildy. Hildy sighs and puts the gun away.
"Alright, you win pup."

Hildy clears her throat, her hands shaky like I ain't never seen em before. She looks up at the crowd and speaks up, talkin' to Francia but not really.

"I have made my decision. Francia, ye'll be taken to New Haven where ye'll repent and beg the Lord for forgiveness. Then, you will ask the Sky for forgiveness. Lastly, ye'll do as he says and make things right however he decides. When yer done, ye can come back to the town. By then we'll have our new laws written up and the town should be finished," I watch her talk to some of the others and they take Francia away and I can finally relax.

The member of The Land with the blotch on his neck tosses his Noise at me.

Thank you both for convincing her. He looks at me, and Dr. Reed, tilting his head like he's thinking real hard on something. If it weren't for the doctor and The Oak, The Land would carry its resentment. It would be weak at first, but as we've seen… as The Oak knows too well… resentment left unfixed becomes anger. Anger becomes hatred and hatred leads to division and strife.

"Wait, who the hell's The Oak?" I ask. Hildy laughs as she comes over, looking tired and old but not nearly as old as she has recently.

"I'm willing to guess that The Oak is you, pup," She says, nudging my shoulder. She looks at Dr. Reed and nods. "Thank ye, for stopping me from making a big mistake,"

"You can't fix the town by yourself, especially when everything's so different now… us and The Land living together is going to change a lot and it's going to take a while to get used to," She says. Hildy nods, laughing again.

"Ye know, I've been thinkin' about that too. It's gonna be weird to rebuild Farbranch, and call it Farbranch when nothin's gonna be the same as it was," She says. I grin and shrug.

"Well, Maybe we ought to take a page from New Haven's book and rename ourselves," I say.

Hildy watches me, an ask ready on her lips "And I take it ye got an idea for a name?" She asks. I nod, looking towards The Land.

"What do ye think about 'New Farbranch'?"