Latula vividly remembered the first time she'd heard about the Signless. Having been little more than a student of the law at the time, she'd been sitting in the corner of the court while the older legislacerators mingled and chatted.
The young tealblood sighed, nibbling on her rather unappetizing lunch, watching as a group of males standing relatively near her talked. She wished she could skip all the training and get straight to hunting down criminals. That sounded so much easier than memorizing all these dumb books and taking tests.
One of the trolls commented, "Have you heard about the Signless' most recent sermon? It caused a riot in Silasbeck."
Latula's ears perked up. She'd heard rumors about a troll that went around preaching about equality for all, but she'd never managed to glean any actual information on him. Later she would realize that this was because the Signless' Sermons were still a fairly new idea at the time. Swiveling around to focus on the speaker, her teal eyes narrowed behind her tinted glasses.
"Mmhmm," the tallest in the group replied, "I'm surprised the highbloods haven't sent one of us down to nab him yet." Latula knew that by "us" he meant the Legislacerators, and felt a stir of excitement. It was always exciting whenever a legislacerator from her particular branch was assigned a job, because, if the target wasn't considered too dangerous, they would bring the neophytes along to learn.
"Yeah," chimed the only female, "They usually have us give it a try before dirtying their precious hands." There were some good-natured chuckles at that, but then a quiet troll in the back spoke.
"They probably don't want us getting any ideas. I mean, we're known for doing what we think is just, and our laws are of a different sort from theirs. And isn't that what the Signless is preaching? Justness? Fairness? Equality?"
The troll who had brought up the topic in the first place hissed and glanced around. "Shut up! Do you want to get in trouble?"
The quiet troll replied, his voice dropping slightly, "Well? It's true. Half of us would run off and join him if he wasn't preaching about nonviolence too."
"I wouldn't," snapped the female, "Unlike some trolls, I know what loyalty is."
The quiet troll shrugged, and the conversation veered off until they were talking about who was dating who and in which quadrants. Latula stared at them hard, her eyes boring holes in their backs. She was no longer listening.
She needed to meet this Signless. She needed to hear what he said, to decide for herself what equality was.
It was the first law of being a legislacerator. Above all else, fight for what is just. After all, how could they judge others if they were swayed by unjust forces?
Unfortunately for the aspiring legislacerator, she would find it very difficult to catch hold of the Signless. In what little free time she had in between her studies and training and caring for Pyralspite, she combed her city and the surrounding cities for signs of the Signless.
For all of her skill, she came up with absolutely nothing.
The Signless and his followers were extremely good at covering their tracks and flawless when it came to letting only the right trolls know where and when they would be holding sermons. Being a tealblood, Latula found herself outside of that range. Even if she did find a troll who most definitely knew something, they refused to tell her.
There was also the matter of covering her own tracks. If the legislacerators found out that one of their own was searching for the Signless, she would surely be punished, if not culled.
It would be almost a full sweep before she found anything, some time after she'd graduated and become a neophyte legislacerator, adopting the name Redglare.
Redglare was wandering through the streets of Tipor, one of the multiple cities in one of the many jungle-like forests of Alternia. While she liked trees, this particular city was too hot for her liking. Unfortunately, she couldn't leave. Her superiors had told her to stay here until otherwise notified, and stay here she would. She probably wouldn't have listened unless they'd strongly implied that she would be given somebody to hunt here, but that was besides the point.
Redglare wasn't really paying attention to her surroundings as she walked, choosing instead to focus on keeping as cool as possible. The streets were scattered with trolls, most of them sitting and drinking whatever they could get their hands on. Pyralspite hadn't come with her this time; it was too much trouble to watch the dragon lusus in a city like this one, which was both made entirely out of wood and too cramped for the large lusus.
A troll came out of a street that met the large street just in front of Redglare. Ordinarily, this wouldn't have been an issue, but this particular troll had a large plank over her shoulder. Redglare barely had time to register that there was, in fact, wood coming straight for her face before it hit her.
The long plank hit her right in the middle of her nose, and she let out a yelp as the blow sent her flying onto her back. Blinking away stars, she sat up, groaning at the pain that flared around her nose. The diminutive troll who had been holding the plank promptly dropped it, letting out a cry as well. She dropped down beside Redglare, hastily saying, "I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going. Oh, god— Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Redglare promised, but she could feel the blood pouring from her nose.
"I'm sorry," the other troll repeated, olive eyes wide. She ripped a sliver from her skirt and handed it to the other troll. "Here, use this to stop the bleeding. I'm really very sorry," she repeated, "I should've been watching where I was going."
"It's fine," Redglare repeated through a mouthful of blood, "I should've been paying more attention." She looked down mournfully at her outfit, which was now stained with blood. Oh, well. At least she had multiple sets.
The oliveblood frowned. "Really?"
"Yeah," the neophyte legislacerator said with a warm smile, "S'nothing." She did, however, take the proffered strip of cloth and use it to plug up the bleeding.
"Huh."
Redglare looked at the kneeling oliveblood, who was still frowning, her large eyes puzzled. "What?"
She shrugged, her bushy hair rippling with the movement. "Nothing. I just expected different from a highblood."
Redglare flushed teal and hastily said, "I'm not that high up on the henospectrum!"
The little oliveblood grinned, baring her fangs. "Still higher than me," she purred, giggling slightly.
Redglare shrugged. "I still bleed the same, don't I?" She gestured loosely at her bloody nose. "What do you need the wood for, anyways?"
The oliveblood hesitated, chewing on her lower lip. Finally, she asked, "Can I tell you a secret?"
Instantly on guard, Redglare asked, "What type?"
She replied, tone rather matter-of-fact, "One that you need to keep."
Redglare was silent, quietly thinking it over. Once she promised something, she had to keep it. It was just something she did. On one hand, making a random promise like this could get her into serious trouble. On the other, she was too curious a troll to not agree. With a sigh, the legislacerator agreed, "Fine."
The oliveblood's face split into a wide smile. "Excellent." She looked around to make sure nobody was listening in. They weren't; it was too hot for anybody sane to be out. Still, she leaned closer and dropped her voice, "At sunset, a mile south of here, if you follow the river, you'll see a boulder. It's huge, and there's moss on it that's shaped like a bunch of honkbeasts in flight. Remember that?"
Redglare nodded mutely, unable to move, staring frozen into the bright olive eyes of the other troll. Whispering, "Meet me there," the oliveblood slipped a piece of paper into the Neophyte's hands. Without a second glance, she turned away, grabbed her plank, and scurried off.
Startled by the strange instructions, Redglare unfolded the piece of paper. In the center of the paper was a four-square grid, not unlike the ones that older trolls drew to explain the quadrants to younger trolls. Except there weren't any spades or diamonds of hearts or clubs. Instead, there were the symbols of trolls. Starting in the top right and going clockwise was a symbol that resembled an M, a symbol that looked like a gate, and a symbol that looked like a lasso. The last box, in the top left, was completely empty.
Redglare's eyes widened behind her tinted glasses. The Signless.
She wasted no time going back to the respiteblock where she had been staying and searching for something suitable to wear. The glasses would stay, obviously. But her normal teal and red uniform wouldn't do. If any other legislacerators saw her going to one of the Signless' Sermons, if that's what it was, then she was royally screwed. She couldn't wear too much teal, or else the other trolls at the Sermon might not want her there. After all, the oliveblood earlier had made it clear that even tealbloods were expected to treat lowbloods like shit. She couldn't go without a color, because that would get her culled on the spot, or at the very least reported. In the end, she decided on a simple grey shirt and black tights, opting to wear her bright red boots simply because she liked them. Over that, she wore her cloak, which was a white color with teal scale patterns along the sleeves, hood, and bottom of the cloak. The entire thing was tied off at her neck with a red ribbon that was woven through the open holes in the cloth to form her symbol. Satisfied, Redglare took one last look at herself in the mirror, and left.
It didn't take her long to walk to the boulder, although she wished several times that Pyralspite was here, if only because she would make the journey go faster. She knew that the walk couldn't have been more than twenty minutes, but that didn't change the feeling worming in her gut. What if she was going to the wrong place? What if they didn't want her there? What if she was supposed to bring something, or wear something else? What if what if what if what if?
She turned the bend of the river, towards the boulder with the honkbeast when she suddenly understood why she'd been smacked in the face with a plank this morning.
Set up on the shore was a platform made of wooden planks. Two trolls stood upon it. The taller one was a jadeblood, and her eyes travelled around, keenly searching for any sign of danger. The other, a goldblood, was talking to her mildly, his odd multi-colored eyes fixed on the fire that glittered just in front of the stage. Other trolls were scattered about, mostly rustbloods and the occasional greenblood.
Suddenly feeling horribly self-conscious, Redglare stepped forwards. Unsure what to do, she sat down in a stray rock, just on the edge of the light. She could tell immediately that she was the highest blooded troll here, and that made her uneasy for the first time in her life. Sitting there, fiddling with the sleeves of her cloak, she watched as other trolls emerged from all directions. The jadeblood watched all of them come, smiling at them when they greeted her, making sure that they didn't pose any danger. Redglare felt those jade eyes on her, and she stiffened. But she met those eyes and cautiously smiled. To her relief, she received a smile in return.
A little bit after sunset, the goldblood stood and muttered something to the jadeblood. She nodded and he walked off the stage and vanished into the small crowd. There weren't many trolls here, maybe twenty or thirty at the most. Not as many as she'd expected.
Redglare had just begun to get uncomfortable when the jadeblood stepped off the stage and another troll stepped on. There was a collective gasp, and then the entire bank fell silent. The only sounds were the bubble of the river and the footsteps of the troll. He wore a cloak, uncolored and unadorned with any sign. Redglare felt a chill run up her spine.
It really was the Signless.
He pulled his hood down around his shoulders, revealing scruffy hair and a boyish smile that completely offset the weathered look of his face. What caught and held Redglare's gaze, however, were his eyes.
They were unlike any color she had ever seen before, and she pulled off her glasses to see them in their true colors. They almost seemed to glow, like embers hidden in his face. Yes, she thought, They're like embers. Impossibly bright, impossibly intense, their light traveled throughout the clearing, meeting the eyes of everyone in turn. When they met hers, his eyes widened and he seemed to freeze. She did, too, but for different reasons, frozen in place by those startled red eyes. He hastily tore his gaze away, and she frowned, confused.
The crowd whispered, but he began to speak. Immediately, everyone fell silent. "I know you're here for some grand speech," the Signless began, "but I like to keep these short and simple. After all, what are we here for?"
The trolls buzzed, and Redglare whispered, "Equality." Not justice. Not yet. But soon.
The Signless nodded, his eyes searching out three spots in the crowd, and Redglare noticed the oliveblood she had bumped into earlier in the day. The diminutive troll was sitting near the front, writing feverishly in a book. "We are here to prove that we can have peace, so that we can see beyond the hemospectrum. Look around you. Who do you see there?
"I see trolls. Short trolls, tall trolls. Trolls with kind eyes and trolls with hard faces. Starving trolls, lucky trolls, trolls all around. I don't see brownbloods or yellowbloods or greenbloods. Here, it doesn't matter what your blood color is. We're here, standing on the same ground, breathing the same air. The highbloods don't own the world, but neither do we."
The Signless took a deep breath, and he continued, "I've seen a world where we all live in peace. Where an oliveblood can have a purpleblood matesprit and a ceruleanblood can chide even a fuschia without getting killed. It's possible for us to live in harmony; I've seen it."
His eyes met hers again, and something passed behind them, a familiarity that seemed distant somehow. He said softly, "I've seen it." She couldn't pay attention after that, although it wasn't for lack of trying. The Signless kept distracting her every time his ember-like gaze passed over her, which occurred with increasing frequency as his sermon went on. Though unable to focus, the meaning of his words somehow found a root at the very center of her being. Without her knowledge or consent, the meaning burrowed deep down until it settled, firmly a part of her and her ideals.
Peace. Liberty. Equality.
They were all such huge ideals, and yet he spoke of them as if they could be achieved if everybody just believed. And Redglare admired that. She could admire somebody who had obviously seen the weight of the world and still continued to dream.
When he finished speaking, the watching trolls lingered. Several stood and came up to speak to him, shyly, reverently. The Signless stepped off the stage to speak to them on their own level, with an easy wsmile and a full laugh. Other trolls started back the way they'd come, talking excitedly to one another and looking at strangers, wondering what they could do to help this great troll's cause. Redglare had stood to leave when she was stopped. The little oliveblood from earlier in the day ran up, clutching a book to her chest. She grinned widely. "Well? How was it?"
Redglare couldn't help it; she grinned back. "Impressive," she admitted, "I'm not sure what I expected, but it wasn't . . . that."
The oliveblood laughed, fingering the spine of her book. "I'm very glad you came, you know. It's proof that his message isn't something that just lowbloods understand." Redglare opened her mouth, but the other troll explained, "You're the highest blooded troll to ever come to one of these." After a second of thought, she corrected, "The first who hasn't come to kill us."
Redglare pulled off her hood, shrugging. "I'm surprised. There are tons of tealbloods who are interested." How interested? the back of her mind thought, When was the last time you heard them whispering about the Signless? Or has it just been your own obsession? "After all," she hastily added, "we do kind of have a thing with justice."
The oliveblood held out her hand. "You never did give me your name."
Redglare took it. "Redglare, although I suppose you can call me Neophyte too."
The oliveblood nodded. "I'm the Disciple." Redglare's jaw fell open and her eyes widened behind her tinted glass. She dropped the tiny hand as if it had burned her. The oliveblood smiled wryly and held up her book. "See? I record it all." She turned and shouted towards where the goldblood was destroying the stage, "Signless! Come meet the tealblood I told you about!"
A troll came out from behind the stage and ran over to where they were. Redglare was still reeling from the realization that the Disciple had given her a bloody nose. The Signless grinned at both of them. His hood was still down around his shoulders, and his burning eyes seemed all the more bright up close. He looked at Redglare and frowned. "Weren't they square. . . ?" he asked, almost to himself.
"What?" She awkwardly adjusted her glasses, and then realized what he was talking about. "Oh! When I was younger, they were—" She stopped abruptly. "How did you know what my glasses looked like?"
The Disciple's eyes widened and she let out a squeal. "Ohmygod Signless is it—" He tried to shush her by grabbing her elbow, but she continued anyways. "—Latula?" she finished, olive eyes glowing.
Redglare physically took a step back. "What?" How did they know her name? She wasn't one of those trolls who pretended she didn't have a name, but she certainly didn't go around giving it to random people. She preferred her title, like most adult trolls.
The Signless sighed and ran a hand through his messy black hair. "Sorry, Latula. If the Disciple here had remembered to keep her mouth shut, I might've been able to actually ask for your name."
The Disciple, completely unperturbed, giggled and jumped up and down a couple times. "Oh, don't be so dramatic!"
Redglare cleared her throat, still stunned. "How do you know my name?" she demanded.
The Signless sighed again. "It's a . . . long story. It's better if I don't explain it now."
The Disciple linked her elbow with his, still grinning widely. "Oh, he's being silly." She looked at him. "Don't you think we're supposed to find us all? It can't be a coincidence that she was the first tealblood to come to one of your sermons!"
The Signless clapped a hand over her mouth. His hands were so large and her face was so small that his fingers covered everything below her eyes. "And that's enough from you." She squirmed under his hand, but didn't appear at all alarmed. He looked at Redglare, and he smiled. "What would you like us to call you?"
She hesitated, deciding. "I'm Neophyte Redglare, but . . . if you know my name, you might as well call me that."
"Emffelent," the Disciple mumbled.
The Signless jerked his hand away from her, exploding, "Don't lick me!"
The Disciple kept laughing, and Redglare felt her own lips twitching. It was strange, to her at least, that two trolls who were practically legends could act so childish. The Signless groaned and shouted over his shoulder, "Rosa, the Disciple licked me!"
"Lick her back, dear." The reply came from the tall jadeblood who was helping the goldblood get rid of the stage.
This time Redglare couldn't help herself; she let out a snort of laughter. The Signless hesitated, and then he held out his hand. "Anyways. I'm Kankri, although you can call me whatever you want."
"Oooooh, are we doing hatchnames?" the Disciple asked, still clinging to the Signless' arm. "I'm Meulin. The grumpy goldblood back there — the Psiioniic — is Mituna, and the Dolorosa is Porrim, although you'll probably call her Dolorosa because she likes traditions and all that."
Redglare opened her mouth, feeling remarkably at ease in a situation like this. "I—"
"You're free to join us tonight," the Signless said, "Unless you have somewhere else to be."
The Neophyte looked at these trolls, the trolls she'd subconsciously put on a pedestal in her mind. She saw the Signless trying to pull his arm away from the Disciple, saw the Dolorosa and the Psiioniic bickering familiarly in the background, saw the way the Disciple yelped as her matesprit stepped on her foot. They were trolls. Simply trolls. Not gods and not saints and not anything more or less than trolls. Redglare smiled. "I'd love to," she said firmly. She grinned teasingly, flashing her sharp teeth for the world to see. "And I expect an explanation for how you know my name."