| Generated by Pollo AI text-to-video AI software |
Resi walks into the common area of his wing where everyone is watching his
nationwide address. Most of the kids here are from his Fold, but there are a
few from different Folds. The TV version of him is just finishing up his
speech. “To reiterate, House Kutelin is here to stay, but we are no longer
accepting new members, and will be doing what we can to reinstitute the
Kidjum so that Tambora can successfully return to its roots, and begin
letting our collective subconscious help us find a happy and prosperous
place for all adult citizens of the island. Thank you.”
The broadcast ends, everyone looks back at present moment Resi. “Sir, I
don’t understand,” Banu says. “I thought we were starting a revolution.”
“We—” He has to clear his throat. “We don’t have the space or resources to
take in more. Aren’t there three people in your room? Which one of you
sleeps on the floor?”
“We were waiting for you to fix that for us,” Banu replies. “Something’s
changed.”
“Yeah, who got to you? Speaker Lincoln?” Nita guesses.
“No, it wasn’t someone from the Assembly,” Banu says to Nita.
“Right. What did the Ambassadors say to you?” another boy, Rimba
presses. “You spoke with them, and suddenly you’re on board with the
Kidjum?”
“The Kidjum was supposed to return days ago,” Resi reminds them. “The
Ambassadors have nothing to do with it. We can’t stop them from going back
to the old ways. I wasn’t helping them before, but it’s gotten out of
control. We’re being exiled, and we still don’t have anywhere to go. How am
I meant to feed all of you?”
“So why have we been sabotaging the Kidjum this whole time if we didn’t want
any more kids to join us?” Darima questions.
What the hell is she talking about? Resi telescopes his neck as far as
possible. “Who’s been sabotaging the Kidjums? I’ve not ordered anyone to
sabotage the Kidjums.”
“We’ve been wetting the coals to prevent them from conducting the fire
ceremony,” Darima goes on. “We’ve been stealing sheets and cots, and sending
cancellation messages to fifteen-year-olds, redirecting them here.”
Resi looks around at his Fold to see about half agree with Darima. Half look
just as confused as he is. As his heart sinks, it buoys back up just a
little bit when it appears Chaya is one of the clueless. He wouldn’t know
what to do if he found out that the person he was leaving his sister with
betrayed them. “Who told you to do that?”
Now everyone has a look of confusion on their face. “You did, sir,”
Darima claims. “You’ve been sending messages this whole time. You were quite
specific about what you wanted us to do. You even gave us keys to the
Tadungeria.”
“I don’t have keys to the Tadungeria,” Resi argues, “because we don’t
use it, because we don’t do the Kidjums. I don’t know who you’ve been
talking to, but it wasn’t me. Raise your hand if anyone has spoken to me in
person about stealing cots, or drowning coal.” He nods when no one raises
their hand. “Well, there’s your answer.”
“It came from your address, see?” another girl claims, who isn’t even in his
Fold, and probably shouldn’t be here for this discussion. Except apparently,
this goes beyond this wing, to other members of the House. She shows him her
device.
“I’m taking this.” He scans the group. “Where’s Arumay?” Their techiest tech
wiz.
“Right here.” She’s behind him.
He hands her the device. “Find out who’s doing this, and how.” He goes back
to the crowd. “From now on, you don’t do anything unless I tell you in
person. This created an enemy that we don’t want. We can’t go up against a
whole nation’s soldiers, and if the other nations get involved, that’s
goodbye House Kutelin. Get ready to see God.”
Arumay hands Resi the device back after having barely any time to check it.
“No one hacked the network. They just typosquatted. The emails came from
resi dot brookes with an e in your last name, rather than
resi dot brooks.” She scowls at everyone. “They’re just idiots. I
think I remember getting an email from that address, inviting me to a new
distribution pod. It went straight to my spam because I have decent
filters.”
Resi sighs, and takes a moment to compose himself before he says something
bad. “We are not sabotaging anyone. To be clear, this is not a revolution, a
rebellion, or an insurgency. We were told that a fifth House was an option.
We have since been told that it is no longer an option, and that we
must leave. I can get us through this, but you have to work with me,
not against me. Pay attention to the way we spell words. I will never just
send you an order to do something that you’ve never done before. We will
always have talked first. I was going to be fully transparent with you, but
now I know that I have to keep secrets, like the Assembly. The Kidjum is not
just something that we are allowing because they’re giving us no choice.
Letting it go on is absolutely integral to my plan to find us a new home. I
won’t tell you more than that, because now I don’t know who I can trust. One
of you impersonated me and committed treason. Until I find out who that is,
you’re going to have to trust me without reciprocation.”
“We thought this was going to make our lives better,” Kasati contends. “We
thought we were helping push the island into the 26th century. But if things
are going to go back to the way they were, and we’re not going to fight it,
what are we even doing here still? My dream was probably gonna lead me to
join Ilah. I might have ended up being adopted by your birth family.
You took that from me with your lies. It doesn’t matter if we read the
messages wrong. What they were telling us to do was exactly what we should
be doing, and if we’re going to stop, then I’m going to demand that the
Assembly allow me a latent Kidjum to make up for what I missed. But that’s
up to you, Res. Is what you’re doing helping, or should we quit while we’re
ahead?”
Resi shakes his head. “The Assembly never said that make-up Kidjums would be
an option, but please, before you flood their inboxes with requests, allow
me to ask on your behalf. If you wanna leave, you can leave, but if your
exile applies whether you stay with us or not, you should know that there is
no returning. You would be choosing to be exiled alone, and I won’t help you
find a new place to live. I only help Kutelins. Give me two days to reach
out to the Speaker before you make any irreversible decisions for yourself.
And for the love of Yana, leave the Kidjums that are moving ahead
alone.”
Some seem agreeable. Others look embarrassed for having been fooled by the
fake emails. A few are still indignant, and will likely continue to be a
problem.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go make a new video so that our whole
House knows where we stand, and that what I say goes. I’m First Tongue of
Aether, I speak first. It will be coming from resi dot brooks, no
e.” He leans over to Arumay as they’re dispersing. “Find out who sent
those other messages. I wanna know who’s trying to get us killed.” Wait. “No
e in my last name,” he clarifies to his Fold. “There
is one in Resi.” He shouldn’t have to dumb this down. Maybe
not everyone deserves to be in his Fold.
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