"A wise owl sat on an oak; the more he saw the less he spoke. The less he spoke the more he heard. Why aren't we like that wise old bird?"

Home

They stayed later than normal. Lamps were set up out in the school yard and people decided to through a celebration. Not for Illea, or the fact that Josie was one of sixty-two girls who were going to go live in the palace, no all the dancing and singing was for Bonita. They danced Bonitan dances and sang in Spanish instead of English. They told stories of old Bonita, of heroic sailors coming from over the sea to settle their home. Stories on much our ancestors were smart enough to think of the number zero.

People ran home and brought back food and drinks. It was an impromptu festival but no one cared. It wasn't every night that Bonita got to shine it's light, and now two Bonitan girls were off to show the rest of Illea that Bonita was great. Josie wasn't allowed to sit for hours, moving from dances, to singing, to talking with everyone, and even a play; El Callejon Del Beso. The laugher was infectious and the children relished a chance to stay up late and run around playing games in the school yard.

Slowly people began to trickle home, taking some food, and packing things away. They hugged and kissed, not remembering how the celebrations had started, but not caring much. They were a celebratory people and there hadn't been a good reason to start a party in a long while. Since most people were focusing on making ends meet, not singing songs. Josie was the last to leave. Her mother and brother, Aleix stayed while the rest of the family went home to put Laia and Leandro to sleep and prepare for tomorrow's workday.

At last all the people were gone; only a couple from town were still awake with them, picking up the last few pieces of rubbish on the floor. The couple's dog ate up the food with bounding enthusiasm. The woman came up to her, brushing away a loose strand of hair she said, "I liked what you said, about Bonita." Josie nodded to her, too tried to smile. "Come sit, I'll tell you a story." Josie nodded again, she knew the woman by reputation more than actually talking to her. Aenor Crofter, she'd come into Bonita from other province – Josie didn't know where – and fallen in love with her husband in Sjoase. Some distrusted her for where she came from and her distance towards some of them. Most seemed to think she was nice, but distant all the same.

Josie sat, knowing a story from another province would interest her more than any of the ones she'd heard a thousand times before. Aenor smiled, "Once upon a time there was a girl, a little like you, a little like me." Josie smiled, guessing where this was going, "one day, she got a letter in the mail, but it wasn't addressed to her. It was for her older sister, because his girl was not yet sixteen and she wasn't old enough to enter. She bounced around about not getting to marry the prince, but at last she settled. She beamed with pride when her sister was chosen instead."

Josie laughed, "Why would she do that?"

The woman smiled again, her expression soft and wistful. As if she was going to another place, another time. "You have a strange culture here, Josephine Agrarian, but in most places it is something to be proud of to join the ranks of the selected." Josie nodded, knowing now that this story was not going where she had first thought, but in a completely different direction. "Anyway, as her sister went off to the palace to meet her only love, the girl wondered where she would find her love. She looked high and low for her prince charming. She changed her hair colour and looked at money and breeding rather than the person inside. She was hurt, she was crushed, she scolded herself for being a fool. But one day, she came home, tears wiped from her face. She found her family there like they always were. All her siblings had moved on, but she could not leave the only true love she had.

It was that day, her older sister came home. Behind her was an old Six. In though days the caste system with only just starting to be faded out and his man was a Six through and through. He was a family friend. His name was Reed, and at first the girl didn't even look at him. But on that day they began to talk, about nonsense at first; the weather, the market food prices, which colour was the prettiest and why the sky was blue. Her older sister left, and he, being their attendant left with them. She watched him leave the room, wondering why the sky was blue.

She forgot about him over the months, a new boy came into her life. Until she met him again, on the street. His mother was sick with fever and he was trying to pay her doctor, but the man, an old Three, refused to take it. Yelling at him for being too high to serve a Six. The man named Reed fell to his knees in front of her in despair. She watched as the woman was kicked out onto the street, followed only by a rain of curses. She come over to them and hugged them softly. 'I'll pay the woman's way.' She said, 'I was once a One, my sister is the Queen, are you too high to serve me?' The doctor shook his head and let them back in.

It was only once the woman recovered that the girl, whose name you might know, took her revenge on the doctor. She asked her sister to make a law discrimination against old castes were to be banned, fines to be issued. However it wasn't enough, she had the doctor stripped of his liberties and given a manual labour job in the mines. Now he worked the job of an old Seven, the lowest of servitude.

She told Reed what she had done, and he cried. He told her she had done the wrong thing, that while she had good reasons, the man's family – who would suffer – were not to blame. She realised her petty revenge had not brought the man happiness, and also that she had wanted to bring him happiness. She touched his shoulder and said 'I'm sorry,' Reed nodded. 'Thankyou, none the less, for what you have done,'

From that day on she fell in love with him, not because of his looks, or his money, or his old caste, not even because of his personality. It was because of his family, because she loved him for no reason, because when it came down to it, all she wished to do was make his happy. They married and have lived together, a half way life, one on the bottom end of the castes and the other as part of the extended royal family. They live a good life even to this day. It is a live I have always searched for. Do you?"

Josie looked at the woman named Aenor. "How do you know that story?" Aenor looked at the stars and gestured to them, "The stars whispered me a riddle, a little birdy sang a song in my ear, once even a black cat curled up in my lap. That is how I know, Josie, but that is not the point. It is about what you learned from that story."

"I didn't learn much, only that you're a good teller, and the Queen's sister married an old Six."

"You did not know that?" Josie shook her head, "I don't know much about the royal family, they aren't talk about much in my family. Accept the Prince, who my father thinks…oh, never mind, it's a silly thing any way. If it's true, maybe I'll find out when I get to the palace. But I have to go now, I'm going to have to start packing." Aenor smiled, and stood with her.

"That you do, Josephine Agrarian, but remember my story for me. Try and think about what it means." Josie nodded.

"Thankyou for telling it, and…call me Josie."

"That I will, Josie. Now, hurry on. Big day tomorrow," Josie nodded, turned and met up with her mother, who was just about really to go.