Editing Rivers Between Us (section)

==A Cog in the Machine==

I remember thinking it was funny that Darius's favorite student spent so little time in the Savant District.  To be sure, Nathan always had three books open in front of him, even when he was ordering.  I can read, you know, but I couldn't read the books that he had in front him.  I did like to look at the pictures sometimes, and if he was in a good mood (he usually was, at first) then he would try to explain them to me.  It set my head spinning for hours at a time; I'd stay up late at night thinking of ritual empowerment interlacing interfaces and automated implosion defences.

I understand people.  Since I've been helping my mother, serving drinks and cleaning tables since I was old enough to walk, I've been listening and watching.  I knew that Nathan wasn't happy here.  He was a Murakani at heart; he never did like the curfews and the mandatory military training.  Oh, he was fine with it at first, I think, as long as he could keep reading.  He loved the libraries and the machines.  I think he liked me too... but...

About a year before it happened, he stopped coming for a while.  I asked his friend, [[Berren]] I think, what happened to him (well, he was nice) and I found out that we was being held prisoner!  His uncle had been conscripted; his brother and sister had been left on their own, and he had begged leave to go and try to take care of them.  His foreman, [[Darius Marfame|Darius]], was a hard man.  He refused, claiming that Nathan was too valuable to the cause and had not finished the terms of his apprenticeship; he had not fulfilled his duty.  

When next I saw Nathan, he came to tell me that he would be coming much less often.  He gave me this ring then, because he said I reminded him of his sister.  Lucky girl!  He was to no longer study under [[Darius Marfame|Darius]], but was instead assigned to one of the salvage teams under a man named [[Eight]].  It seemed he had no more taste for his work, and had tried to leave Lookshy several times already to go to his family.  I hoped that he would stay safe, and not take too many risks... many salvage teams  return with far fewer members than they left with.

Only later did I learn the whole story; how he had tried to flee the team in the middle of an expedition, and the cruelty of [[Eight]] in response.  I haven't seen him for months now; [[Berren]] says the whole team was... but I can't believe it, I can't even think about it.  It's too horrible.

He was so quick, bright, and funny, but so sad near the end.  I pray to Tien Yu that he made it out safely, that maybe in the end he escaped.  I know I shouldn't; I know he tried to abandon his responsibilities, which is criminal, but he wasn't meant for [[Lookshy]].  I don't know which I want more, to see him safely again, or for him to never return.

-''[[Elyssa]]'', Serving-girl