Despite Marius' earlier predictions, and exacerbated by Bug's suddenly voracious appetite, their boundless stash of food had vanished after a mere five weeks. Beriven and Thug, who had been chosen by lottery to make breakfast, were busy staring at an empty freezer as if they could make something appear inside.
"We're hooped, huh?" Thug said.
"Looks it." Beriven agreed.
They reported as much to the others, who responded as children tend to.
Childishly.
"What? No food? What about the Berries I saved in the back corner?" Anita asked.
"Sorry. I got hungry in the middle of the night." Bug admitted, sheepishly.
"Sorry? We're all going hungry now because you couldn't wait till morning. What are we gonna do now?" Anita asked.
"I say Bug buys breakfast, then we go grocery shopping." Thema said. Thug and Beriven both gave an enthusiastic shout of agreement, while Bug struggled to have his protests heard.
"You can take some money out of the food pot for it, Bug." Marius said, and Mystery nodded in agreement when Bug looked over to him. Bug's expression changed sharply, as a grin broke out on his face.
"What should I get?"
"Minced Pastries!" Tha'varr said, excitedly. A few more cheers of assent, and when a moment passed without protest, Bug nodded.
(A minced Pastry, for the record, is a sweet pastry of some kind, ripped up into small pieces and served on a bowl of thick whipped cream and fruit)
"I'll be back soon." He said, and taking two Ducats from the pot, ran out the door.
Marius waited until Bug was out of sight, before taking out some paper and their last pencil. "Top of the list," he mumbled to himself, and wrote 'pencils' on the top of the sheet.
"Thema?" Marius asked. "Could you go help Bug, in case it's too much for him to carry?"
Thema nodded, and jogged out the door after Bug.
"Two things, everyone. First, I want to throw a party for Thema and Bug. They started work a month ago, and besides, who hates a party?" Marius asked, looking around with a grin, as if expecting an answer to his query.
"Second, since we've found work for Thug, I figured we'd start brain-storming for Anita and Beriven. If anyone's spotted a good spot to ask, I'd like to hear it." Marius finished.
"How about that soap shoppe, the one with that nice lady?" Anita offered.
"You mean the one that gave you the soap? Are you sure it's a good idea?" Beriven asked.
"Well, I'll mention that she's found work for her friends. Say that they're shy, and needed someone to hold their hands for them. It can't hurt to ask." Marius replied. "I was also thinking of having both of you try at the space port. Beriven can read, and Anita's close enough that a bit of practice should get her by, so you can do some of their more complicated work."
"That's a good idea. Especially since the space port's so close." Beriven agreed. "But we might need to wait on this plan, Merry."
"Why?" Marius asked, confused.
"We don't have any more clean clothes for us. It's barely enough for Thug, Berry and Thema." Anita pointed out, and Marius' shoulders slumped.
The group looked a little dismayed by the news, and looked longingly into their coin pot. Untold riches now looked more like sparse change.
"The more we have, the more we want." Mystery said, and Marius nodded in agreement. Beriven raised an eyebrow, and the others stared, confused.
"So we'll do this." Mystery said, startling the group with his sudden decisiveness. "Berry and Thug will get the groceries after breakfast. Merry and Anita will ask around town for clothes. Ask about places that sell things cheap, and ask to see if places will offer discounts. Bug and Thema should take the day to rest and play, since they've been working. Tha'varr and I will ask around for people who have old clothes that they don't want."
Mystery finished speaking, and without another word, stood up and walked into the fridge, looking quite intent on something the others couldn't see. When he came back out, he was carrying a small portion of the Minorsan Sorbet.
"You pack-rat!" Thug exclaimed. "How'd you hide that?"
Mystery only winked at him, as he took out a spoon and sat down again.
Just after breakfast, Marius found a moment to talk to Mystery privately. In a whisper, he asked "should we really have Tha'varr out alone? You know how people feel about aliens."
Mystery smiled, and said "She won't be alone."
"I know, but still," Marius began, not able to articulate his thoughts.
Mystery smirked suddenly, and jabbed Marius in the ribs. "You like her."
"Do not!" Marius exclaimed.
"Just teasing." Mystery told him soothingly, though a raised eyebrow let Marius suspect that he wasn't being entirely truthful. "But we need to find a place where people accept her, if we're going to find her a job."
Marius inhaled sharply, and took a moment before he spoke again. "You're right. Just be careful."
"Find us some more clothes." Mystery said in response. "And a better way to clean them. Walking all the way to the river and rubbing them against rocks takes way too long."
"Hear ye! Hear ye!" Someone called, and Beriven turned to regard the crier.
The boy was hardly older than any of his friends, pale and peaky. Another orphan, poor and malnourished, trying desperately to find some way to stave off starvation.
"Civil war on Courascent. Find out who, and how they're doing it. Only a half-ducat tells the tale!" The boy shouted, straining his throat to be heard.
Beriven motioned for Thug to follow, and snuck close behind the boy as a tall man handed him a half-ducat.
"Six ships of the new Armada have just started a siege of the capital. The entire admiralty has joined the coup, lead by Therran Amar. The nearest army is over a week away, the capital's garrison and palace guard is badly outnumbered, and horribly outgunned. Iniquitus has an energy shield protecting the inner city, but no one knows how much longer it's gonna hold. It looks like a new lord on the Obsidian throne soon!"
The man waited for a moment longer, and then handed the boy another half-ducat. "Anything else?"
The boy smiled and nodded, and added "The army is marshaling, and the air force is sitting on their hands. Iniquitus ordered them to wait for the army before attacking. All off-world ship traffic has been grounded until the crisis is over."
The man nodded and walked away, leaving Beriven and Thug to drift back into the crowd.
Overlooking the market, on a small balcony, sat a single table with only one chair. That chair was occupied by a short, plain looking man in an unassuming brown robe. The plain looking man, quietly sipping a drink provided by the cafe below, watched the mass of humanity below with eyes that rarely blinked.
Only the keenly observant might notice that his gaze hadn't wavered from two boys buying groceries.
An irreverent stomping caused the plain man to look away, at a young boy easily as young as the others below.
"Your name, boy?" The man asked, quietly.
"Damos, sir." The boy replied, quickly. There was a note of irritation in his voice, as if he weren't here of his own volition.
"Do you recognize those two boys, down there? The ones near the Potamash stand." The man asked, pointing down the balcony.
"Yes, sir. Orphans, like me. They've had a string of luck lately." The boy replied, a distinct note of envy in his voice.
"Perhaps not luck, so much." The man murmured to himself. Speaking a little louder, he asked "Do you hate them for it?"
"No, sir." The boy answered quickly.
"Do you envy them?" The man asked.
"Of course. They look fed, and clean." The boy answered, his tone rising sharply. "Is there a point to this?"
The man smiled, and took another sip. He reached a hand into his pocket, idly, and took out a single Ducat. "Get yourself some lunch from downstairs. Tell them the guy upstairs recommended the roast."
The boy snatched at the ducat impatiently, almost lunging for it.
"Did you know they call themselves the lucky orphans?"
"Really? They'll fall apart as soon as they run out of money."
The man watched the boy's face carefully, smiling as if he saw exactly what he was expecting.
"Are you sure about that?" The man asked. "They actually found jobs, you know."
"What?" The boy asked, incredulously.
"I'm serious. Two of them work in this shop." The man noted. He waited for the surprise to fade, and the envy to creep into the boy's features, before he spoke again.
"They work tomorrow." The man said. He paused, for a long, pregnant moment, before reaching into his pocket and taking out another ducat. "I've kept you too long as it is. You'll see them tomorrow, if you want another shot at the roast. It's normally a little more than a ducat, but just say the guy upstairs said it's okay."
He stood up, and held out his hand. "Thanks for your time."
The boy shook it, looking confused.
Surprisingly, Beriven and Thug were the last group back, arriving just before the sun set. When they returned, Tha'varr gave them a scathing glare before unloading the food, quickly snatching a few items for dinner.
"She looks upset." Beriven noted.
"She wanted to make dinner an hour ago." Marius replied. "So did I, but we're used to being hungry. Being patient is a new thing for us."
Mystery beckoned Beriven into the small room they used for meetings, where most of the others had already assembled. Beriven and Thug sat down, while Marius stood by the door.
"I found a job for someone." Anita said, with a grin on her face.
"Really?" Beriven asked, with a rather bemused expression on his face.
"Yeah. You know the odd little place on the outskirts, the place that offers a free meal once a month? They're starting a discount place for used clothes, offering it out cheap. They have hordes of stuff that people have left out, gave away, or threw in the garbage."
"So you found clothes. You said you found a job." Beriven said.
"That's the neat part. They want someone there four days a week. They said they can't pay much, but I told them about what we're doing, and they said they're willing to give us free clothes if someone works there four days a week."
"How much is not very much?" Thug asked.
"three ducats every two weeks." Marius said, from the door.
"Another ducat and a half into the weekly pool, and our clothing problem is solved. Good find." Beriven said, congratulating Antia.
"Not necessarily" Marius said. "They might have a lot of clothes, but that doesn't mean they have the right types. We might have to look for certain things, especially nice clothes for certain jobs."
"True." Anita agreed. "Bug and Thema could use it soon."
"Who should take the job, then? It doesn't pay as much as the other jobs we've found, so whoever takes it won't have as much personal coin to play around with."
"I will." Beriven said. "Mystery isn't outgoing enough, Anita and Marius are our best job-finding team, and it's too far away to make Tha'varr walk alone."
"And everyone else has a job already." Thema said. She looked up with a wistful expression on her face, and said "That feels good."
"What does?" Thug asked.
"Saying that. We have jobs." Thema explained.
Thug agreed with a long grunt, and they turned back to Marius, who was staring into the distance as if his eyes could see something besides the concrete wall.
"What is it, Merry?" Anita asked, giving him a poke.
Marius ignored them all for a long moment, before his eyes focused on his surroundings and he turned his head to his friends. "I'm wondering why it all became so easy."
"What did?" Beriven asked.
"Getting jobs, money, food, everything we have now. For the first time since..." He stuttered suddenly, and stared at the floor. "Since I came here, I'm not hungry, I'm warm, I'm clean and I have friends."
"I'm just wondering why it's so easy." Marius finished.
The others looked down at the floor intently, unable to answer him.
It was Mystery who spoke first, saying "Anita, Thug, would you help Tha'varr with dinner?"
Anita looked at Mystery with a raised eyebrow, and asked "what are the rest of you up to?"
"Marius, Thema and Bug are going to find some cleaning stuff. Soap, a broom, even a mop. Beriven's going to help me sort out the freezer."
Satisfied, Anita and Thug left to the kitchen, while Marius took out a pencil and started writing a list. "We don't have a lot of money, so we should put the stuff we need most at the top." He said to Thema and Bug.
He gathered them close, and started explaining the letters he was writing. Mystery listened to him a few moments longer, then gestured for Beriven. Instead of the fridge, he lead Beriven into a small, empty closet. Dust laced the handle, and the door hinges were badly rusted. Mystery opened the door with a quiet yank, and stepped into the darkness.
"You wanted to warn me about something." Beriven said as he shut the door behind him. "Something about what Marius was going to say. You weren't very subtle about it, either."
"Have you figured out what Marius was going to ask?" Mystery asked, quietly.
"No. Which is what confuses me about being in a broom closet that hasn't been used since before we were born." Beriven said, with a hint of irritation in his voice.
"He's going to ask if we should start finding jobs for other orphans." Mystery said, with a note of certainty that left Beriven stunned. He clenched his fists, and took a step back towards the door, before stopping.
"How do you know?" Beriven asked, finally.
"Because he's that kind of person." Mystery answered, quickly and quietly.
"Why would he want to?"
"The scary thing is, Berry, why wouldn't you want to?" Mystery asked. "If someone offered you help, to get out of being a dirty, poor orphan, wouldn't you take it?"
"Charity is humiliating." Beriven answered with a note of disgust.
"It is." Mystery agreed. "You hear the rich, on the holo-feed, talk about giving back occasionally. Especially from Courascant. But giving back is what kids with parents do after they steal from a store."
"Right." Beriven agreed. "So why would Marius want to?"
"Because it isn't charity for him. He'll do it because he thinks he should. As if everyone deserves to be fed, clean, and warm." Mystery said.
"Wouldn't that be nice." Beriven said, rolling his eyes. "This sort of thing doesn't come cheap, and all these recent successes are starting to go to his head."
"Possibly." Mystery said, but his tone suggested he had held his own opinion close to his chest. "But what you need to decide, Berry, is if you're going to help him, or stop him."
"Stop him, obviously." Beriven insisted. "Why should we be helping all the sick, lonely orphans out there? No one else is, and trying to is just going to put us back on the streets. It will be worse now, that we remember being warm and full."
Mystery nodded, and slowly opened the door. He paused, and stared out into the light through the small gap he made in the doorway. "Is it just? To stuff your face when someone else starves?"
"Just?" Beriven asked, incredulity mixing quickly with rage. "Is anything just about our lives? Is it just that our parents are dead, or slaves? Is it just that we starve? What the hell does justice matter, when the world's like this?"
Mystery smiled sadly, and said "that's how you and Merry are different. You think the world's unjust, and think it ought to be. Merry thinks the world's unjust, and thinks he should be."
Mystery left Beriven standing in the closet, who used the darkness to hide the tears trickling down the face of a boy who, for some reason he couldn't explain to his own heart, felt betrayed.