Editing God Crossing (section)

==Rivers' Day Off==

Mite Xu and [[Berren]] entered the Great Hall and were quickly escorted up to the private balcony by the armored Pai.  He was seated in his light gray civil robes, bent over a stack of letters and reports, with a low cup of tea at his elbow.  [[Marta]] was seated on the railing looking over the crowd of workmen below, jostling for a cold mug of beer after their shift on the new council chamber.  [[Rivers Between Us]] looked up at them with a troubled look in his eyes, then quickly smiled and gestured for them to sit across from him.

Berren put up his boots in a chair.  “What kind of Marukan drinks tea in beer house, oh great sorcerer?”

Rivers' smile broadened, and he said curtly, “I’m being friendly, but I’m incredibly busy.  I understood that you had logistical questions?”

Marta gave her brother a look of disappointment, rolling her eyes at him silently, and he averted his eyes.  Xu spoke up.  “Well, we have finished the basic infrastructure for the water and sewage system you requested... I’ll be working on the treatment plant and pump station for the next couple of months, but...”

Berren broke in, “It’s the essence lighting.  We can’t tap ambient essence in God Crossing; there’s no demesne or manse to fuel it.  We could try, but the essence flows might collapse, and...”

“Right, right, I follow you.”  He drew a blank sheet of parchment from a pile at his right elbow and took a quick drink from his tea.  Marta quickly ran over and refilled his cup, but did not offer any to his guests.  “What we do is... we... put in a work order to the genesis engine.  What we need is some kind of luminescent fungus... I’ve heard of them in the far east.  Only this should be a mushroom with... an indefinite lifespan... reproduces by cuttings... and grows on... what do we have a lot of around here?”

Xu offered, “Manure?”

Berren posited, “Children?”

“Freedom?”

“Dirt?”

Rivers raised a finger.  “Beer!”  He jotted down the notes under his picture of a rather ordinary looking mushroom.  “We’ll grow them in translucent pots.  Don’t like the light?  throw a cloth over it.  Feed it a cup of beer once a month.  There.  Pei?”

The warrior strode over to his table an saluted.  “Pei, take this work order to the Infinite City and see that it gets directly to Lyssa.  I want a twenty of these in three months.  Thank you gentleman.”

Mite Xu stood and bowed.  Berren said, “What, already?” as Marta slowly began tugging on his chair, forcing him to rise.

Rivers Between Us stood as well.  “Let’s walk and talk, Berren.”  As they moved to the stairs, the sorcerer watched their feet and said, “You know, I had a dream last night where the entire city of God Crossing looked like a field of grass, full of wild flowers, benches, streams... a garden really.”

“Well, that would be difficult, with all the houses and roads and...”

“Hear me out.  The roofs.  All of our houses here have flat or terraced roofs, right?  Except for the major civic buildings, that’s been our design all along.  I want grass, wildflowers, shrubs, fountains, all of these automatically irrigated by various levels of treated sewage water, some fit for fertilizer, some fit for fountains and brooks.  Tell me what you think.”

“That would be incredibly difficult; the level of treatment necessary to completely remove all odor and salts would...”

“I can see that you’re already thinking about it.  Perhaps a salt marsh as an intermediary?  Talk with Xu and send me a proposal.  I’ll get you the men you need.”  He patted his school friend on the shoulder then gently nudged him to take the first step down the stairs.

Berren stepped blearily past Pai as she saluted him, almost running into the next pair of supplicants.  He heard Rivers call out behind him, “Ah yes, the road crew.  Now tell me about this demesne you’ve found and explain to me why you ever let a single fatality happen on your watch.  You have three minutes.”

Mite Xu was grinning at his side.  “I love watching him work,” he confided.

“Hmm... but don’t you ever feel like you’re being left behind?”

Xu stopped in his tracks, and grabbed Berren by the shoulders of his robe.  “Do you really want to be in his position?  I heard from Lyssa when she was in town that today was supposed to be his day off.”

“Yeah.”  He looked up to the balcony to see Marta worrying over his tea again.


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[[Heaven's Mandate]]