Eventually, they start seeing the tops of skyscrapers in the distance, with blocky designs and huge windows. There's an expansive park separating the buildings on the very outskirts of town from the edge of the woods. There are several artificial looking lakes, and unusual birds that look like turkeys with the plumes of peacocks. There are only a few people in the park at the moment, all minding their own business.

"Skyscrapers?" Thea asks no one in particular. She hadn't really known what she was expecting, but a skyscrapers and well-maintained park certainly hadn't been it.

"I guess it's good that we got dropped off a ways into the woods," Rom muses. "If we'd shown up in the middle of this, the kids would probably have passed out."

"Hildre did say that it'd be safe on the other side, right? I guess he accounted for that."

The two of them wait there for a moment, resting from the hike here from the clearing, and straining their ears to see if they can hear anybody speaking, trying to tell if it's a language they recognize.

Neither is trying much at all to hide, so if someone's paying attention to the border between the parkland and the woods, it won't be too hard to spot a couple distressed, rough and dirty-looking thirty-somethings, a man and a woman both wearing fairly plain clothes.

The sounds of people speaking are remote, but it is very obviously a completely unfamiliar language. Nobody thinks to look over towards the woods, so nobody notices that there's anyone in them.

Rom and Thea share another worried look.

"Should we...try and talk with them? Even if the local language isn't one either of us know, maybe if they hear us talk they can find someone who speaks something mutually intelligible?" Rom asks Thea.

Thea in turn looks up at the sky. Assuming that they're at a similar latitude to where they were before, and that it's roughly the same season, it might be close to noon. "We've probably got a few hours before dark. Do you think they'll let us go back to the clearing with time enough to make it back before then? If they do, do you think people might follow us back and hurt the kids?"

Rom contemplates that for a moment. "I don't think we're going to be able to manage living out in the woods in definitely, not on our own. We've got over eighty people. Even if manage to make enough shelter and find a source of fresh water, feeding all of us would draw attention eventually, and if they just think we're a bunch of squatters they're probably not going to care much about what we say."

Thea nods in agreement. "Alright."

They share a moment of deep breathing to calm their nerves, before walking out into the park, looking for and trying to get the attention of anyone who looks like they might work at the park.

There doesn't seem to be anyone working in the park, just robots driving around and cutting the grass. They can see a few adults enjoying a picnic of delectable looking food, including a woman slowly eating through a plate of chickpeas. She eventually turns her eyes to the two people looking around in the park, although she doesn't say anything.

...Robots?

No, they need to stay focused. If there's nobody official, then they'll just have to hope that normal park-goers won't call the police on them for walking up and talking in a foreign language. They'll look for someone who isn't eating, though, since rudely interrupting a meal probably isn't going earn them any extra trust. If they can find someone who doesn't look like they're going to run off as soon as they approach, they'll head up to them and Thea will speak first, asking, "Hello, do you recognize the language we're speaking?"

They also discover a man dressed in a short white skirt, sitting down on a bench and enjoying the weather. He looks at them in confusion, before saying some words that they don't recognize in the slightest. He brings out a phone, confusedly looking through it, hoping to find a pictogram that's somehow helpful here.

Alright, it was pretty unlikely they'd just pick someone right off the bat who'd understand them, and it looks like they might be trying someone regardless, so Thea will nod hopefully to the man, while Rom keeps an eye out in case anyone else is coming up to them with an aggressive or hostile posture.

Nobody else shows up! The man eventually finds a very simplified image of two people talking, in VERY different scripts, hoping it gets the idea along. Then he points to himself. "Charon". He really has no idea of how bootstrap a language from scratch! But he'll try to make it happen, pointing at and naming one thing at a time.

Okay, this is workable. Thea nods again, naming herself as "Theodora" and Rom as "Romuald", and cooperating with Charon, naming the same things he points to. A moment later, Rom gets a surprised looked on his face, which quickly transitions to embarrassment and then to hope, as he pulls out a small ring-bound notepad and pencil from his pocket. The paper is a bit damaged from the rain they were running through before they arrived here, but it's dried enough that it's just about usable. Rom will do his best to phonetically transcribe the words that Charon uses, connecting them to associated word in Thea's language. He'll also continue keeping watch, though he's more so keeping track of the time now rather than anticipating hostility.

Pointing-and-calling introduces the duo of new arrivals to grass, benches, water, ponds, and buildings! He thinks about who to call for help, before eventually just calling the mayor. He starts quickly explaining that 2 people who seem to have lost the ability to speak have met him at one of the Hinterland Parks, and he wants them to get some kind of help to get back on their feet. He's very unsure about how to proceed from here. He tries to ask about how they'll get shelter, pointing at an illustration of a man standing inside a house during the rain, contrasting it with illustration of a man standing outside and getting wet.

Thea and Rom consider this, consulting the lexicon they've built, before doing their best to attempt to convey "get our people into house with help from your people". At least, they hope that the word they're thinking is for help actually means help.

The two of them will also occasionally check in with each other over the course of the lexicon-building exercise to see if they can figure out any ways to express the fact that they have seventy nine children who will feel physical pain and suffer physical illness if you pay too close attention to them or feel emotions too strongly near them. So far at least they haven't heard any words for the Affliction or the afflicted yet, so it's possible that these people don't really have a concept of it as a thing, giving Thea and Rom some hope that they won't have to deal with the same hatred that had them running out of a burning building earlier today.

Charon understands enough to get their idea. He's not entirely sure about where they'd end up; it's a parent city, with lots of big apartments for extended families. Presumably, they have enough vacancies for everyone, even if they might end up spread across multiple buildings. The vocabulary they've managed to amass so far doesn't come close to mentioning anything about anything remotely related to psionics, so Thea and Rom won't be able to explain the situation particularly well for Charon.

Getting into the why of it may have to wait, then. Is communicating that the kids with them need to be kept away from other people, for the kids' own health and safety, feasible to communicate?

Charon manages to understand the idea, but he's totally confused. He still nods and tries proposing some ideas for where the kids might want to live. He finds some images of unusually nice tents, as well as rural areas surrounded by vast acres of crops, seen from far above.

Thea will nod along, agreeing that these options seem better than anything especially dense or urban.

She'll collaborate a bit more with Rom, and maybe start actively seeking out words with the help of Rom's pencil and paper,by attempting to draw pictographic depictions of various sorts of scenes or arrangements. Her next goal is to try and communicate that it needs to be just them, Thea and Rom and the other adults who are currently taking care of the children, who directly interact with the children.

"Do you think they might assume we're just lying about this, if we keep trying to make sure no one ever sees the kids?" Rom asks Thea.

"That...is a good point. We might need to ask Malou about whether it would be okay to let one or two of these people come and see the kids for themselves," she replies. "We try and communicate that whenever the help this guy called for shows up, though."

Eventually, a car arrives. It's a van that's close in size to an ambulance, with 4 rows of amply spaced seats. "We take you there", he says, pointing at the city. "And get what you need."

Do they have the words to ask, "How long?"

Yes, they do. "When is too long?" is what Charon replies with.

"After sunset," Rom answers. Noticeably, despite Thea having done most of the talking so far, Rom's accent is improving as quickly if not faster.

Charon strokes his chin for a moment. "After sunset is more than enough", he eventually says. Then he finds an image of quite nice looking tents on his phone. "Get some of these, get food, get settled. Get started", he says. He moves into the second row of seats of the car, motioning for them to follow him. "Food and tents to start."

Thea and Rom give each another look, before nodding to each other and getting into the car with Charon.

The car drives off towards the city, accelerating very, very fast. It doesn't take particularly long before the two of them find themselves at an outdoor equipment store at the first floor of a skyscraper, with a wide selection of tents and jackets visible as they take a look around. One of the tents that they saw a picture of, a relatively large one with room for 4 or 5 people standing, can be seen arranged in a display together with a very thick and plush sleeping bag.

Neither Rom nor Thea have much experience with shopping for tents, but they're here now so they'll have to try their best. They'll look for tents that seem durable and good at keep water out, and with some ability to increase and decrease the ventilation, so that they can be used regardless of whether the weather is hot or cold. They're not too worried about weight or portability, since presumably if the group is moving they'll hopefully be moving to one of those relatively isolated rural places that Charon showed them back at the park. They're also going to need a bunch, since they're housing 84 people, though the fact that most of those people aren't adults might help.

84 people? That would be VERY impracticable! Are they really sure that not setting up within one of the skyscrapers would be better? In any case, Rom and Thea can find tents that perfectly fit the bill; they're made of ultra-strong fabrics, with hydrophobic coverings that make the rain just bounce off. They come with thin plastic films that can be added or removed to control the amount of insulation, making them fit for both summer and winter. They're going to need more than just one car if they want tents for 84 people; but Charon can get the logistics arranged without too much effort.

After conferring with Rom and the lexicon some more, noticing some additional words that they've been equipped with, using more drawings and some childish metaphors (like referring to the brain as 'inside head meat') to acquire the proper word for things, this is Thea's attempt to answer the question regarding them being sure about not living in one of the skyscrapers. "This is not a real question, but could we be in a skyscraper that no one else is in, there is only us? I don't think we can do this. Children with us get sick, or get always sleeping, or die when too many people are nearby feeling or thinking at them. People with the same problem are mostly okay, but even Rom and me are careful about thinking and feeling close to the children. Other people who don't know and live in the same skyscraper think about the children living in the skyscraper, the children get sick. Other people who don't know and live in the same floor, the floor above, the floor below feel big feelings, the children get sick. A skyscraper with other people is not easy to make work."

Getting more cars to bring tents would probably be good, as well as food. But for the same reason that living in a skyscraper is not really feasible, Rom and Thea, as well as the other adults in their group, Marie-Louise, Roland, and maybe Hildre if he's recovered by the time they get back, need to be the only ones who actually bring the tents and food and things to the place where their people are staying. The children might be able to handle one or two strangers, but it will still make them sick, just hopefully not more than they'll be able to recover from with time and shelter and food, and more people than that at once will likely cause permanent damage to at least a few of the kids.

Charon is incredibly confused. But he thinks to himself for a few moments. "We can't really empty a skyscraper to fit in just 84 people, no. We could have... farmsteads, with 84 people. But that'd need time. We can get you shelter, and take you to farmsteads to live on. There, you won't have many people around. That's probably the best thing. And we want a doctor for the children, to be there if anyone ends up needing help."

Thea and Rom both nod as Thea replies, "Farmsteads eventually, tents now. A doctor is okay, for not getting sick from normal things, but the doctor needs training to not hurt the children with thinking or feeling. We have two people who can help with that."

Presumably they are still getting tents and food and things, possibly while Charon calls for more cars?

"We'd want to get a doctor to start training rather soon, I'd think." Charon is helping them pick out and get some tents; he also calls the mayor, who helps with the logistics of getting more cars to move things around. "Food will also be coming with the cars, yes." Eventually, he's filled up the car he used to get to the city with tents. "Let's get these over. And start heading somewhere better to set them up."

Rom and Thea both nods to it being a good idea to get a doctor trained as soon as possible, but they're less certain about finding a new place to set up the tents. "Moving the children seems hard. I think strangers would think or feel about many children coming out of the forest. It is not normal to see."

"We want to be moving them into the forest. Not where people are looking. I know a good place." He starts making his way to the tent-packed car. "We start now?" he suggests.

"We should talk to Malou first, at least, right?" Rom asks Thea (not in Charon's language), which she nods to.

Turning to Charon, she relays, "We talk with our people first, so they know what is happening. But yes, after that."

And thus into the car, and presumably back to the park.

Charon drives them back, stopping near the edge of the forest. "So, talk to Malou, and get back here. And I can start taking you somewhere that's a good place to stay?"

They both nod to that. "I don't know when we'll be back here. Things maybe happened after Rom and I left. We will bring the others here maybe soon."

Then the two of them start hurriedly hiking back, following the signs they left earlier today (assuming they're still there).

Fortunately, the path back hasn't been lost, and when Rom and Thea can see the clearing again, things seem to have improved from before. Hildre is awake, though he's still resting against a tree, while Roland most of the children enthralled in some kind of meditation or mental exercise, and Malou is constructing a shelter from branches and leaves, with Daniel, Evan, Sigge, Tim, and Varts wordlessly following her example, with several basic shelters having been completed. The youngest, Daniel, looks in Rom and Thea's direction as their attention passes over him, prompting the others to follow suit, eventually prompting Malou to check what they're all looking at.

Rom and Thea keep their focus on Malou as they continue their approach, before explaining everything that's happened so far. There's a considerable back and forth as Malou comes to grips with the nature of their situation, the advanced technology, the generosity of the people Rom and Thea encountered (and what it implies about their broader society, that an entirely random encounter has had this positive an outcome), the short- and long-term movements of the group, the need prepare the children for outside contact with a doctor at least and possibly with any other locals that may be involved in helping them set up in the new location, and more besides.

While Malou thinks and discuss things with Rom, Thea heads over Hildre, who smiles wanly as she approaches. "It sounds like you and Rom have met with considerable success," he says.

"We have! And you seem to be making a quick recovery. Roland mentioned that making contact with...that, might have put you out of commission for a day or more, but it seems like that was an overestimate?"

Hildre gently waves a hand. "It was a good guess, what I would've said if you asked me how long I might be out beforehand. But it was surprisingly gentle, like it knew what it was doing, knew how to take as much of the burden as it could. Easier than making contact with most people, honestly, even if it was also much more...just more, I suppose. You saw what it was like physically, big-but-small, bright-but-dark. It was like that mentally, too. I'm not certain whether I'll never forget it or never truly remember it." He shrugs with a chuckle. "Maybe both?"

Thea shares Hildre's chuckle, and they chat for a while longer, before Malou beckons her back over and begins to explain the plan to her and Rom, but projecting enough that the children can also all hear. "I'll be heading out with Hildre and you two to meet with the locals, while Roland and the children will keep quiet and stay back, out of sight. We'll signal Roland if he needs to take the children back deeper into the woods, but if everything goes alright, we'll coordinate with the locals to get us all moved to a better place to camp, distribute the food they're bringing, and start talking about getting us all settled somewhere else on a more permanent basis."

No one said anything in response, but Rom and Thea both nodded, and there was a particular character to the silence, perhaps in particular the absence of sounds of distress or confusion, that indicated all the children understood. Thus, the group began to move, following Rom and Thea's track one more time, Roland and the children halting at a point that, to the unafflicted's senses, was not really distinct, but which to the afflicted, was just beyond the edge of the hazy stinging sensation of broad visibility to people waiting for them beyond the trees.

The party of four continues forwards, with Thea and Rom at the front while Malou and Hildre follow behind, reviewing the lexicon their younger colleagues built up during their first expedition. To Charon, if he's there, he'll see the familiar faces of Rom and Thea, as well as a middle-aged woman, hard-faced with streaks of silver in her hair, and a surprisingly spry elderly man with wispy white hair walking behind them.

Charon, waiting next to his car, waves at the 4 people approaching him. "Food now, what food?", he tells them when they get close enough that he won't need to shout.

Rom and Thea quickly consult with Malou, since she's the one who generally did the cooking back at the orphanage. It wasn't feasible to keep individual records what each orphan's diet was, given the affliction, but Malou still knows what foods tended to get eaten first and what things tend to have the most left-overs.

With Thea and Rom's help, Malou communicates that, overall, the children's tastes are maybe a bit more conservative than you might expect from kids and teens whose eating isn't subject to strict control. Bread is popular, naturally, but sweets or fruit (other than nuts, which seem to be the most common between-meal snack) aren't, and vegetables are quite popular, alongside fish for protein (at least when Malou can get it fresh from the fishery). There don't seem to be any children with lactose intolerance, nor any allergies, at least to any of the foods that Malou has made. She can sort through the food that's been brought and pick things that she can't affirmatively declare are safe.

Eventually, several vans, all carrying huge portions of together with plastic cutlery, arrive on the outskirts, close enough to make it relatively easy to carry them the rest of the way. It's all vegetarian; there are chickpeas, lentils, soups, and beans, all of it hearty, filling and vegetarian. Someone also hands over a map of the nearby forest, with the city clearly to the south, with one building maybe 3 or 4 miles in clearly marked on the map.

Malou is a little dubious about all of the protein being plant-based, but if it's what they have then it's what they have.

Thea will consider the map for a little while, consulting with the others on how much information to share, before deciding to labeling the clearing where they all first appeared, a little over a mile and a half into the wood (though the path that Rom and Thea took and have been following since is a bit longer, on account of being a slightly diagonal). Everybody had moved out by now, and if somebody did try and track the children down they'd have to follow their tracks through the woods, which would hopefully take long enough that it won't be a problem.

Eventually, heading towards the area marked on the map, they find a small building in the middle of a small clearing in the woods. It's just a public bathroom, and the clearing is wide enough to let a few of the kids set up tent within it, although the majority will have to find space between the trees.

Distributing out the food takes a little while, carrying 84 people's worth of food on four backs is just always going to take time, even if two of those people weren't past their prime. They'll manage, though, and actively request that the locals don't help carry the food any further than the edge of the forest, to minimize the risk of exposing one of the children to them.

After that comes the move to the new location, which will probably end up continuing a while into the night. There might be room for tents around the bathroom, but none of the tents are getting set up there since it's too exposed to potential people coming and going from the bathroom. Instead, all the tents will be set up among the trees, and additionally camouflaged with vines, fallen branches, leaf-litter, and similar material. To the average observer, it would probably be clear that something has been done in the surrounding forest, but hopefully not clear what, or that it's currently being inhabited by a few dozen children and their caretakers. While the tents were being put up and covered, some of the teens were also filling up water-bottles and containers that came with the food with water from the bathroom taps and sharing it around the group.

Once that's all well under way, Malou, Hildre, and Thea will make the trek to meet back up with the locals and start getting into the weeds of preparing a doctor for working with the children and the matter of long-term movement to proper housing.

They can speak to Charon, who has sent for help from some logistics help with the moving. They suggest moving them towards a sparsely populated farmstead on an island a good distance away from the city; they're not sure how to avoid the children being exposed to people, but they could be sedated on the way over if that's necessary to let the captain and crew take the ship with them on it. They don't have many ideas for getting the children a doctor; their main idea is again to have the children sedated and then taken to the doctor, with the more resilient adults informing the doctor about the condition of the children, but they think it'd be tough to find a way for the doctor to head to the children without also hurting them through thinking.

They aren't sure that being sedated actually prevents the damage caused by the Affliction? With Rom and Thea's help, Hildre communicates that the feeling of other people's minds are like fires, and that if your hand falls into a fire while you're unconscious, your hand will still burn even if you don't feel it.

Moving to a farmstead on an island does seem like basically the ideal, though. Hildre (again with help) will say that there is something that he and Roland can do to take on the burden of attention, for a while at least. This might be useful during any intensive medical inspection, and maybe during the the move as well if some additional mitigation can be used. For the latter case, Malou (likewise translated) suggests that the children might be housed in containers with sound-proofing, which the ship's crew and captain are told contain living things but not given further information, and Hildre says he'd want to test something like that first before he can be confident that he and Roland could handle it for the long-haul but that it sounds promising to him.

Hildre continues that, for the long-term, he would like to do some training with an individual doctor who is willing to become a part of this new community. In a one-on-one setting, he will be able to guide the doctor through the particular mental gymnastics to achieve the mindfulness and careful thinking-and-feeling that allow Malou, Rom, and Thea to be tolerable presences for the children. It likely won't be instant, but he's had some success with this process in the village they fled here from and believes it shouldn't take more than maybe a couple weeks to see sufficient gentleness of mind to allow for regular contact between the doctor and children without himself or Roland there to mitigate the harm directly.

Charon is struggling to wrap his head around how things work, but nods to himself. "So, if the captain has no idea of the existence of the boat's other passengers, the children are safe from the attention? And if you need a doctor, we're happy to send you one of ours. Meditation is a common practice; perhaps the doctor's presence would already be tolerable, thanks to how well he can manage to still his mind."

"Yes, the crew and captain may still direct some attention towards the children, but the fact that it will be general and not specific makes it...softer?" Thea explains, quickly glancing over to Hildre in case he objects to the metaphor, which he doesn't. "Like having a heavy and rough metal weight on top of your head, or the same heavy metal weight on top of your head but with a pillow between it and you."

"Meditation wasn't common back in Tunn, so I can't for certain, but experience with stilling his mind does seem likely to help," Hildre admits.

"Are you ready to experiment with it? I'm ready to call over a doctor and see whether that works, if you're ready."

"Yes, I'm ready," Hildre nods.

"So, yes." Charon calls someone on his phone; eventually, they find a doctor who's happy to treat the children and relatively good at meditaion. He arrives on the outskirts of the forest some 40 minutes later. "I was sent here to help care for some children, who can't really have me pay them any mind? I'll try my best, but I think I'll need time to get used to things working like this."

"It is strange, yes. I am an expert on this issue, and would like to help you get used to it, and to help the children handle the attention until you do. Would it be alright if I asked you to meditate here, and maybe to pantomime some basic diagnostic practices on me while you meditate, to see what sort of baseline we're building on?"

"Well, sure? I'll meditate here a bit, and show you what a medical examination might look like. Probably starting with the examination." He plays at using a stethoscope, using his thermometer, taking a cotton swab, asking about any symptoms of rashes, and going through the motions of trying to diagnose common problems and doing a preventive checkup.

Hildre will play his part as the ostensible patient, keeping note of the sensation of the doctor's attention, what steps of the examinations prompts how much attention on what parts of the body, what the character and intensity of the attention is, so on and so forth. Once that's done, he'll prompt the doctor begin his meditation, and if the meditative state isn't too fragile, ask the doctor to repeat the examination while still meditating.

The doctor makes his best effort to keep his mind clear, going thorough the motions of a medical examination with a clear mind. He's constantly confused by the idea, but manages to mostly keep his mind off the person standing in front of him. Following a quick meditation session, he has his mind mostly focused on the sensations around his body and the sense of stillness pervading his mind, although there's an undercurrent of confusion; he has no idea what he really should be doing.

"It is an unnatural, maybe even paradoxical state of mind," Hildre says without audible prompting, simply reacting to his perception of the doctor's reaction towards the end of his second run through the faux-examination. "But you're capacity for it is strong, as I hoped it would be. It will still take time, but I am confident that you will be able to achieve the separation between action and thought that we need, if you decide to continue helping us. Regardless, I believe between myself and Roland we will be able to handle the weight of all of the children being examined."

"Should we get on with that, or is there anything else you all need to know first?" Malou asks the locals.

"There isn't anything else I need to know", says the doctor. "And I'm fine as well", says Charon. "So, you should probably just go off to help the children with all of their needs."

The four all nod to that, but before heading back to the camp Malou asks Charon, "Any idea when we should expect news about the move to the island farmstead?"

"It shouldn't take more than a few days to find a ship, and a few more days after that to get it over here. A much bigger issue would be the logistics problems of getting you somewhere without the captain noticing, if so many of you are so extremely vulnerable to attention."

"We'll try and think of some more possibilities for keeping attention off of the children during the move in the mean time," Malou replies.

That'll be the last thing the four bring up before making their way back through the woods (presumably with the doctor in tow).

The doctor just follows them quietly, walking in an even, steady rhythm, thinking of the huge range of sensations arising every moment in his consciousness.

It's a good ways to the restroom that the campsite, and it's getting pretty late (especially for Rom and Thea, who've been doing a bit more hiking today than either of them is used to), so they can break for a bit and have some of the food and drink before beginning the check-ups.

For the doctor, he might be somewhat disbelieving of the idea that he's surrounded by over six dozen children with ages ranging from 4 to 18. He can hear quiet sounds of habitation, but if he's ever encountered children in these numbers before then it might almost be disturbing how quiet and still they must be, for them to not just be less than totally raucous, but so subtle that he can actually make out most of the natural sounds of the forest over the calm breaths and gentle footsteps emanating from the camouflaged camp.

"Unless you believe we should do otherwise, we'll begin with the oldest children first. They're the most experienced and capable of handling the attention in case something goes wrong," Hildre says as they come to the end of the break.

The doctor nods. "I think it'd be best for you to take them to me, one at a time. Do you think there are any precautions I should be taking?"

The elderly man considers that for a moment. "If you feel your mind wandering in a way that the child is reacting poorly to, and you're not in the midst of something which cannot tolerate interruption, I suggest focusing on either your own body, or one of Marie-Louise, Romuald, or Theodora. None of them bear the affliction, so there's no worry about it causing them harm at any point."

Without a word, a man in his early twenties, dark skinned and a shaved head rises up from the camouflage, a teen girl with pale skin and short hair a similar shade of blonde as Thea's following behind.

"Oh, yes, also," Hildre continues, "It likely won't be relevant for the teens, but as we move on to the younger children, you may notice some...distortions in your cognition, as a result of what Roland and I will be doing to mitigate the harm. We'll be doing our best to be unnoticeable, but if you do detect something, try to not worry unless it's interfering with your task or causing you some distress, in which case you should focus away from child being examined as I mentioned earlier, and Roland and I will stop what we're doing so that you can recover and we can work out what went wrong. With that in mind, whenever you're ready, give us a count-down before beginning the examination."

The doctor is mildly confused for a moment, but eventually decides he's ready, counting to three before he starts examining the children to find out whether they have any illnesses he can do something for.

Hildre and the younger man (Roland, presumably) both close their eyes as the doctor counts down, and as he begins his examination, the girl also closes her eyes and tenses up just a bit. Aside from that, this first examination goes about normally. This girl seems quite healthy, no infections or injuries or lingering illnesses. There's the very tail end of altitude acclimatization, but she's otherwise in pretty much perfect health.

The doctor, in a state of intense flow and concentration, moves from one child to the next, merely thinking about any condition and keeping his mind off the children themselves.

In this manner, the examinations progress. The children face it with bravery, and seem to come away largely unharmed, even the youngest ones. Hildre and Roland, however, certainly seem to wear down over time, with Hildre eventually calling for another break after about half-way through, and nearly collapsing to the ground by the end of the second half. Roland, while not quite so powerfully effected, is still panting, drenched in sweat, and shaking from the exertion by the end.

Still, the cognitive distortions that Hildre feared did not ever seem to materialize. A few of the youngest are recovering from coughs, likely caused by a small amount of smoke inhalation going from Malou's story of what happened to the orphanage they once lived in, combined with the stress that fleeing put them under. One 12-year-old girl also has a cough, though it appears to be from a chest cold rather than the smoke. There are several with small scrapes or bruises, likely from hiking around the forest or constructing the camouflage for their tents. Otherwise, they all seem healthy.

It's quite a relief that none of them are particulary sick or injured! Again trying to keep his mind off the children themselves, he bandages up their scrapes and bruiss. He also orders drone delivery to give him a few inhalers that'll be able to ease the coughs from smoke inhalation among some of the children. "Do you think I should leave for now?" he asks some of the adults. "I think I should keep my distance when I'm not needed."

Hildre nods. "It would be good to let your own mind rest. I'd understand if you decided to pass this responsibility off to another, but if you don't and would allow it, I would like to arrange some later time for Roland and me to come by and help with further training, which will hopefully make maintaining the necessary state of mind less effortful."

"I'd be happy to have some more training with you, but I think I'll drive off back home, yes. See you again!" The doctor starts walking off, wanting to return to his apartment. He's totally exhausted after keeping his mind blank for so long.

Hildre (as best he can with his remaining stamina) and Malou will wave goodbye to the doctor, followed a moment later by Roland, Rom, and Thea.

The group probably won't reach back out to anyone that night. The children (or at least the ones who are still awake, as well as Roland, Rom, and Thea) will marvel at the delivery drones when they arrive, and the medicine put away along the preparations for tomorrow's breakfast.

It takes longer for everyone to get settled for bed, naturally since this is most of the children's first camping trip and much further from home than any of them have ever been, but eventually all of them are soundly asleep. The adults sleep in shifts, to make sure that nothing unexpected happens overnight.

The inhalers are all distributed along with food in the morning, and aside from some of then young ones having trouble getting the hang of breathing in the medicine rather than just spraying it into their mouth, there doesn't seem to be any further trouble on that front.

Eventually, the time comes (according to Rom's timepiece, which they synchronized with the clock on Charon's fancy mobile picture-phone yesterday) for Malou and Hildre to head off to the edge of the woods meet back up with the locals' ambassadors, to receive any news that's broken overnight or during the morning.

The only idea they've had since yesterday about moving the children is to try moving them over a longer period in small batches, which might let them be more stealthily moved, and will regardless make holding off the attention of unwitting observers less strenuous for Hildre and Roland. Charon mentioned that it'd probably be a few days before significant developments with the move, so hopefully they have more time to come up with something clever to make it less of an ordeal.

Charon nods at the idea. "Moving small groups of children, together with cargo, on big ships, would probably be the least straining option available, even if it takes quite a bit of time. I think it's an excellent idea. That being said, is there anything you need us to supply you with, or will the approach we took yesterday be sufficient going forward?"

"Reading material would be good," Malou mentions, waving the little notebook-lexicon they've been using to make communication feasible. "This suffices for us, but I expect it would be good for the children to learn the local languages themselves, particularly once they come of age and move out from under my roof."

"Perhaps some games or play-toys as well," Hildre adds. "We didn't have time to gather them from the old orphanage, and I imagine that once the novelty of camping in a new and unfamiliar place wears off the children will be hungry for fun."

"Books, fit for learning the language, and games can happily be provided! We have a huge breadth of card games available, I'll send over a folding table fit for playing together with a few of the more accessible card games to play, as well as a few simple and fun books for the children to learn our language from."

Malou nods to that, then continues, "A weather report would be helpful as well, at least if there's any rough weather expected."

"Certainly, although you have no worries about that at present. Do I head off so I can come back with some books, and some cards? Or is there more I need to know?"

Malou thinks on this for a moment. They have water, food, shelter, and medicine, and soon also some entertainment. A reasonable plan to move to a long-term home is in the works. That's about all she thinks they need at the moment. She looks to Hildre if he's thought of anything

He nods to her, then looks to Charon. "Do you know whether the doctor who helped us yesterday has decided whether he'd like to work with us long-term, and if so, do you know if he has a time in his schedule for Roland and me to come by and begin his training?"

"I think that he'd be happy to work with you long-term, yes. He presently has time in his schedule for some training later a few hours later today. I think I'll head off and bring you the books and cards, if there's nothing else you need right now."

That will indeed be the last thing the two of them bring up. They'll arrange the time for the next meeting, then head back to the camp.

As always, there is no end to the tasks at hand when taking care of dozens of children, even afflicted ones. Malou is careful to not let her thoughts wander in the children's direct, but is unable to suppress the feeling of hope for their future she feels. The world they've found themselves in seems so different from the one they left, and while the apparent absence of those who share their condition tinges the hope with sadness, the absence of the hatred for them shines brighter.

Instead, she'll spend her time working with Rom and Thea, checking and rechecking the food and water reserves, keeping watch for hikers who might stumble upon the camp while looking for the bathroom, helping repair damaged camouflage or rebuild collapsed tents when Hildre or Roland inform them, and occasionally letting the six eighteen-year-olds practice enduring relatively concentrated attention or emotion.

Time passes, at once slow and fast. Then, it's time for the doctor's training. Hildre and Roland deputize the six eldest teens, and then head off once more to the meeting place.

The doctor is waiting at the edge of the forest, anxiously. He's incredibly curious about what the training to be able to work with the children will be like.

After greeting him once again, Hildre launches into an explanation of the first step of training, "Today, we'll be preparing you for future work, giving you some experience with what I called 'cognitive distortion' yesterday. First, though, we should find a place where you'll be comfortable. If you have a strong preference for speed and find the park acceptable we can begin just by finding a seat, but if you have somewhere that you feel particularly safe and secure, that would be ideal."

"I feel perfectly safe and secure here, really." He looks around, finding a bench, and sits down on it, ready for the training.

With that, they'll get started. Hildre will direct the doctor to begin the meditation that he's familiar with while the two seat themselves nearby and close their eyes, refamiliarizing themselves with the particular character of the doctor's outermost mental emanations.

Once the doctor's achieved a reasonable level of mental stillness, Hildre will continue explaining. "We're going to make contact with your mind, now."

And indeed, in the following moment, the doctor will experience a sudden and palpable feeling of presence, quickly followed by a second, coming from the directions of Hildre and Roland respectively. Their positions and postures haven't changed, their body language is calm, almost sleep-like, but the feeling of their simple existence, or perhaps specifically of their existence within the doctor's awareness and perceptions, is insistent, maybe even overbearing.

He tries his best to remain calm and neutral, but struggles not to respond with confusion and befuddlement. He doesn't make any attempt at stopping whatever they're doing, still.

"We've made contact," Hildre states, his voice steady. "It's reasonable to be confused. I imagine you haven't experienced much like this before. For now, trying to control that feeling isn't the goal. There is no problem."

There's a long pause, the two men simply quiet as their perceived presence continues to weigh on the doctor's mind.

Then, he continues. "We are going to be exerting force, gently, now. We'll begin with the direction of attention."

That feeling of weight then begins to move, the two distinct weights shifting from the locations of the men to a point between them. Nothing in particular is in that direction, it's just a patch of the ground, but nonetheless its contribution to the doctor's perceived world is disproportionate. Maybe a part of him begins to assign it some importance, such as beginning to piece together a pareidolic face. Soon the direction of the weight changes, though, drifting in a lazy circle around the doctor. It lets it leave his field of view, or lets it reenter, he may notice a subtle moment where his brain almost seems to change gears, maybe even a tingling in his ears as he suddenly becomes more aware of the sounds coming from the direction of the weight.

He just... lets it happen. It doesn't feel much like training, but he's happy to do it if it lets him be able to treat and care for the children.

"As I said, this is more so preparation," Hildre states, almost unaware of whether the doctor actually said anything out loud about his feelings. "Like stretching before any exercise. Regardless, you seem to be taking to it well. We will move on to texture modification now."

The weight of feeling, continuing in its circulation, begins to change in a different way. As it re-enters his field of view, the 'gear-shift' from aural to visual doesn't occur, and the weight still feels more as if it's pulling on his hearing than his sight as it drifts across his field of view. He may experience some oddity with the focusing of his eyes as it does so. Then, as it exits his field of view, the gear-shift occurs, but not brings his vision to the fore, even though the direction of the weight isn't somewhere his eyes can see. This prompts a somewhat starker change, as surprisingly vivid visualizations, almost hallucinations, spring unbidden in his mind, portraying the world that perhaps was latent within his internal mental model of the world around him. When the weight moves back within his field of vision, it changes once more, but instead of to a different sense, a more granular transformation occurs. The way he sees changes, not inside his eye, but rather how his mind is processing the visual information he's sensing, altering the process of perception. Colors, light and darkness, shapes and forms, movement, and other aspects of his visual sensorium all shift, not in terms of their values, green remains green, shadows remain obscured, but in terms of their recognizability, their importance, their meaning, their capacity to to connect to concepts, to summon memories, and to provoke thoughts in his mind.

He starts feeling uncomfortable; it feels like he's being taken to an alien dimension, where anything can happen. But he's too curious to not keep going, and keeps sitting down and paying attention to everything that's happening.

"The next step will be a large hurdle. It may interfere with your perception of time, but Roland and I will be keeping close watch of it. We will begin substantial modification now." Hildre's voice remains steady, but there's nonetheless a hint of strain in it.

Indeed, the change that comes is not only strenuous, but distressing, in a way which may itself be quite disempowering. The warping and shifting of the interconnected characteristics and significance of his perceptions seems to deepen, in a way which immediately presents itself as icy cracks spreading through stone, roots burrowing through soil, and other metaphors rapidly diverging in meaning and implication, evoking emotions in a chaotic and muddled deluge, individual feelings rising to almost painfully extreme heights one moment, before crashing back down into the chaos the next, only to be replaced another, unrelated feeling, spiraling out of some other aspect of his environment, or from a memory, or from his own meta-cognitive perception of the ongoing chaos.

This point is also when more physical effects become apparent. Heart rate fluctuations, rolling waves of muscle tension and relaxation through his head, neck, shoulders, arms, and chest, and difficulty maintaining a steady breathing rhythm are all obvious even through the mental maelstrom.

He's in good enough shape that he can handle the physical exertion, and determined enough to keep going and stay calm.

"You've done well," Hildre's voice is significantly more tired than previously, though the context of the words and sounds may be difficult for the doctor to register through the ongoing chaos. There's a short pause, then he adds, "We will progress to the final step, though Roland and I are both fairly taxed, so we won't stay there long. We will begin disjunction now."

The change is difficult to notice at first, given the overwhelmingly distracting nature of the 'substantial modification' he was being subject to. After a moment (maybe, or maybe longer, it remains difficult to tell), it actually seems like the chaos is abating. The spurious connections, explosive emotional spiraling, and never-ending thought-cascades steadily quiet as the underlying network which they are embedded is rendered numb and insensate. Soon, there is nothing.

Muscles relax. A heart beats. Lungs breath steadily. Eyes see and ears hear. Skin feels a gentle breeze as it blows.

Then doctor is back. It is significantly later, close to the end of his scheduled time for training though not too close. Hildre and Roland have both leaned more fully into their seats, though neither looks quite as completely exhausted as they did last night after all of the examinations.

"That will end your training for today," Hildre says breathlessly. "If you'll allow me to assign you some homework, I'd like you to review and contemplate your experience of today's events." He pauses again to catch his breath, as well as to take a swig of water from a bottle that Roland passes him. "The effects of contact, especially during substantial modification and disjunction, have likely interfered with the proper integration of the memories you've formed. Being able to access those memories will be critical to developing the skills you'll need."

"Well, that doesn't make much sense to me, yet. But I think that the review process, and the contemplation, would make everything fall into place. I'm looking forward to joining you, as the doctor for your little, isolated community. How far along am I to being safe around the children, in your opinion?" 

The two men both get a thoughtful look for a long moment. "Much closer than I expected, and about as near as I dared to hope. Assuming nothing goes wrong, I'd be willing to consider unmitigated exposure after three sessions of guided training, and a week of total practice whether with us or on your own," Hildre answers, finally.

"Well, that's quite good, that I'll be able to there for the children relatively soon." Charon arrives in a car, carrying a few folding tables, books for new readers and a few fantasy and sci-fi epics, and several packs of playing cards from different games, covered in plastic sleeving. "Here's the entertainment you were thinking of getting. Do you have ideas for what the kids might find fun, so I'll have a better idea of what to look for?"

Roland quickly looks at his borrowed timepiece, belatedly realizing that yes, this is around when Charon said he'd be bringing the materials that Malou and his teacher had requested earlier. He lets out a weary sigh as he prepares to carry most of these things on the hike back to camp, and drains the rest of the water bottle. They really should've brought Rom and Thea along.

"I know that most of the older boys and some of the girls were fans of a ballgame they'd developed," Hildre answers Charon's question, rolling a hand vaguely. "The children don't often put names to things when they aren't speaking of it to an adult or an unafflicted peer. Other than that...opinions are somewhat difficult to safely extract from afflicted children, even for Roland and me, so I don't think there's more I can say unfortunately."

"Hmm, I'll return with a ball that's good for playing games with. Are there any food allergies or preferences, among the people in your group?"

"I know we have four with a peanut allergy and three with a stonefruit allergy, but none other than that. As for preferences, it's a little easier to tell what foods they like, but not by a whole lot. The most we really know is that they like starches, especially bread, tree nuts, and fresh fish," Hildre replies, beginning to slowly make his way up from his seat.

Roland also stands up, and starts doing some stretches to get ready for the hike.

"Certainly, no peanuts or stonefruit. We'll see if we can get some sushi, kept properly cooled, for the kiddos; it sounds like something they'd truly love. I'll see if I manage to scrounge up some bread, but we don't eat much of it, so it's quite rare. I'll come back with the food at a time fits your schedule. I should probably also bring with me some cargo robots that can follow you on the trails, so you don't have to carry so much with you."

Hildre chuckles at the mention of cargo robots, and Roland looks over with a mixture of appreciation, guilt, and just a little frustration.

Thus, they work out a good time for the doctor to come by for his next session of training (for real this time), and for Rom and Thea to come back and pick up the food (and/or guide the cargo robots back to camp), before loading up with folding tables, books and cards and heading back to camp.

Fortunately, things have going mostly alright. Marit, as the eldest of the teens, reports today's events while Rom and Thea help set up the tables in a place that's well-shielded from the view of the bathrooms. No new injuries or illnesses, and the medicine is helping the little kids with coughs to recover, but a lot of the younger ones are also starting to really process that they're probably never going home, and it's dragging the mood of the whole group down. The news of the cards and books, naturally, is very welcome, and soon Hildre, Roland, and the teens have their hands full organizing some basic turn-taking so that the younger children don't hurt themselves or each other competing for access.

Things settle down pretty quick, falling into what is becoming their new normal, to a degree at least.

Eventually, it's time to meet Charon once again, and it's Rom and Thea's turn to take the hike again.

Charon arrives, together with the doctor, revealing robots that look more like boxes on wheels. They all have metal boxes within them, loaded full of food for the children. Charon explains how the robots work. "The robots are designed to follow after their human leaders, if they're not following pre-planned routes inside of cities. They need charging, but you can charge them inside of the public bathroom, so don't worry too much about them."

Rom is visibly resisting the urge to simultaneously disassemble the robots to find out how they work and also hoarding them like a technological dragon. He is doing admirably but will probably be fascinated with them all along the way back to the camp.

"Thank you both so much for your help," Thea says to both Charon and the doctor. "If it's okay for me to ask, I've been curious...how are you affording helping us like this? Is this," she gestures at the robots, "and everything else just...not difficult to share? If not, is there anything we can do to repay you?"

"It's not difficult to share at all, no, not at our level of wealth. We're more than happy to care for you like this. If you wish to repay us, merely raising the children well so they become hard-working adults will go a huge way. Being a parent is a huge amount of work, and it deserves a reward for the value of letting our society have a future. You getting food and shelter like this is less than the absolute minimum of what you deserve."

Thea's moves through being doubtful, awe-struck, and tearful as she absorbs and considers Charon's response. "Th-thank you. We'll try our best."

Thea quickly masters herself again, and after letting Charon know that the books and cards have both been a major balm to the children, unless there's more he or the doctor want to ask or say, she and Rom will guide the cargo-bots back to the camp.

The food is distributed, and things continue largely as they have earlier in the day. There's still an undertone of sadness or even grieving, but the relative freedom afforded by being camped in the woods rather than attached to a fishing village and the allowance to play more loudly and spaciously has been buoying their mood.

It's also discovered that robots in follow-mode possess enough 'attention' to irritate the youngest children, though fortunately they can just be turned off when not in use.

Eventually, the second day of their arrival fades into night. The children are easier to put to bed than almost any other time the caretakers can remember, having taken full advantage of the afternoon and evening to expend their energy. The adults take some time for themselves after everyone else is asleep to more quietly celebrate the generosity of the locals and the seeming brightness of the future, and to reaffirm what the plans and schedules are for the coming days, who will be going on which hikes out to the meeting place, and other such things, before beginning their sleeping shifts as the previous night.

Morning comes again. Breakfast is made (with a greater diversity of components) and distributed. Roland directs the children to set aside some of their time to read the books and practice the language inside, which evokes some moaning and whining from kids who had gotten used to not having any tasks or chores for the last couple days, but no coherent resistance forms since it's clear from Roland and the other adult's minds that things will be much harder later on if there aren't at least some of them who learn the local language. There might be some delinquency, since Hildre and Roland leave to meet with the doctor for his next session of training, but a day or two of laxness won't be the end of the world.

Just in case, the two men will also bring the cargo-bots with them. Roland's back and shoulders are still a bit sore carrying the tables all the back to camp on his own yesterday.

The two of them quickly find the doctor again, ready for another session of training. He's mildly tense, expecting another experience as intense as the one he had yesterday, but he's also excited to see what happens next.

They'll all find seats again before Hildre explains what today, and future training will be like. "We'll be working through most of the stages passed through yesterday, but we'll be focusing on one at a time now instead of going through all of them in sequence. In addition to Roland and me modifying your mind, I'll also be guiding you through the process of making these modifications into something that you can reach for on your own, with being able to summon and dismiss all three at will being the ultimate goal of the training."

The two men both settle more fully into position, closing their eyes as they did yesterday.

"Today, we'll be working on direction and texture, and learning to control them passively. We'll make contact now."

And indeed, just as before, the weight of Hildre and Roland's simple presence on the doctor's awareness magnifies considerably.

"And moving right to modification."

The weights again converge to a single point, though this time rather than beginning to drift in a circle, it simply moves to the center of the doctor's field of view.

"First, we'll make some basic modifications, slowly and one at a time, to let you develop a sense of what they're 'made of', so to speak. Then we'll make one modification, undo it, and relax our contact, then you'll try and recreate it."

And thus they do, slowly moving the weight around or changing the perceptual characteristics of the things it falls on, repeating the changes several time. Hildre and Roland are both paying close attention to the doctor's meta-cognitive attention as well, and once it seems like he's cottoned on to the granular cognition ingredients a particular modification, they'll move to practice, creating and undoing the modification they've identified as being potentially realizable, before allowing the weight of their presence to lighten almost back to normal and directing the doctor to try and put together modification on his own. If he succeeds, they'll move on to instilling the awareness of a different modification, and if he struggles, they'll gently nudge his attention towards the elements he noticed but hasn't yet put into the right mental place.

He... struggles with the unfamiliar mental motion, but he does manage to do something similar to the perceptual shifting they're trying to teach him. He concentrates very intensely, and his mind is totally devoted to recreating the perceptual modification.

It's strange, and certainly very difficult, but as he tries, and as Hildre and Roland guide him, it gets easier. Then, suddenly, it clicks in an almost physical way, and the modification stays, without Hildre, Roland, or the doctor's active effort.

"Good! That's the first. We'll keep going for today, working on other modifications. The more of it you experience, the easier it'll be to return to, and to arrive at on your own. By the time we're done today, you'll hopefully be comfortable enough with it to practice on your own, without our help."

And in this manner, they continue until the end of their scheduled time. Hildre and Roland both seem pretty drained by the end, maybe even more so than after yesterday's session, and they'll both rest in the park for a long while after the doctor head's off, recuperating from the exertion before hiking back to camp.

Time passes. The doctor's training progresses at just shy of Hildre's most optimistic projections, steadily working through implementing directional, textural, substantial, and partial-disjunctive modifications, first with Hildre and Roland's help, and then without. By the time a week passes, the doctor's ready for an unmitigated follow-up examination of the children, which goes just about perfectly (though the doctor himself likely needs some time afterwards to process and integrate the results of the examination).

Eventually, after no doubt a considerable amount of negotiation work behind the scenes sorting through potential homes and potential crews to move them there, it comes time for the first bunch of children to head off to the farmstead will they'll be staying long-term. In this case, it'll be Malou helping handle the ship's crew, Roland keeping watch of the children, Rom to help take care of the house the children will be setting up in, and a mix of teens and younger kids so that Rom won't have to be on-call handling the younger ones all of the time.

Now they just need to actually make it there in one piece.

They manage to find a cargo ship, keeping much of it empty to let the children enjoy the ride over. They've prepared a temporary in a cleared area near the back of the ship, far enough to keep any exposure to an absolute minimum. After a 5 hour trip over, they arrive at the island, consisting of vast greenhouses growing strawberries, blueberries, and other perishable, fragile foods. Past all the greenhouses, they can find a 15 story building surrounded by a beautiful garden of flowers and ponds, the view from the top reaching all the way to the end of the island. There are several cars hidden inside a garage. The front door just opens; the key, very small and cylindrical, can be found lying on a table when you get in behind it.

All them, from the smallest of children in this particular bunch to Malou and Roland who aren't staying long before making the journey in reverse to start preparing the next bunch of orphans, are simply stunned by the accommodations.

It makes sense, given the stunning wealth and technological advancement of the society that's received them, but even so, none them really stopped to think what a 'farmstead' would be to this culture, let alone what actually exploring and experiencing in person would be like.

The youngest children immediately begin familiarizing themselves with nook and cranny of the place. The older teens share a long day of making sure they aren't dreaming. Rom reads through all of the documentation, literature, and manuals for the island and the buildings and machinery present on it with the hunger of a man who has never eaten in his life. Malou and Roland both have to marshal their will to pull themselves away from the nigh-paradisaical environment, but they manage it.

All can agree, this is the beginning of something truly good.

There are quite a few dorms, consisting of wide beds attached to nice bathrooms. In addition, there's a very large common bath, with a big pool for dozens of people to play in together or swim in. The pool is empty at present. About half of one of the floors is dedicated to a kitchen, with a pantry containing enormous amounts of ingredients, probably enough to last a month or more. There's an elevator taking you all the way to the top; there's a rooftop park there, with soft and warm grass. The top floor has an entire room with a soft, comfortable floor to sit or lie on, and the walls are all made of a strangely slippery kind of glass that gives the illusion of the room being outdoors. In addition, there's a cinema room, with both ordinary cinema seats and a very comfortable carpet to sit on. Elsewhere, there is an entire hospital room. It's designed to let one doctor handle simple operations, even coming with a built-in automatic anesthesia machine.

There's a library, with several comfortable chairs to sit on. There's a shelf dedicated to information on the island, its buildings, and the farms. There are dozen of books on its shelves. All the documentation is incredibly detailed, with one book consisting of nothing but blueprints and inventories of every single article used in the main farmhouse. There are similarly detailed books describing the greenhouses, as well. They're currently worked by robots, with the book explaining how farm laborers are to replace parts and follow simple troubleshooting instructions to maintain them, together with incredibly detailed listings of all the robot's parts and blueprints for all the robot's hardware. Finally, there is a more general book about agronomy, explaining the optimal cycles of planting, harvesting, and care for a wide variety of labor-intensive, short-shelf life foods that have to be grown on compact farmsteads relatively near population centers. It also comes with information on how to optimally decide which plants to grow in which greenhouse, based on the prices of different berries.

Steadily over the following days, the orphans and their caretakers (the doctor now included) trickle out of the woods and find their places on the island. The younger kids quickly become accustomed to their new amenities, often gathering for their wordless conclaves on the roof and top-floor and playing their obscure games all across the lush island landscape, while the teens and adults (besides the doctor, naturally) have a much more persistent sense of fascination and awe at what they've been given.

Rom takes to robotics like a fish to water, and soon becomes the primary repairman of the group (and Evan elects himself to be Rom's assistant), though Malou has Roland make sure that all of the children are getting at least some experience with the tools and tasks, as well as keeping up with their language work. Notably and seemingly of their own initiative, Mina, Varts, and few of the younger teens have developed a practice of documenting the goings on of the island in notebooks, producing records of surprisingly great detail. These are a great help to Malou, who smoothly integrates the organizational tasks of the farm into her running of the orphanage, as transformed and transplanted as it is.

Thea does what she can around the island, being another pair of hands for repairs, a pair of eyes to look for books in the library, a source of unafflicted attention for the oldest teens to test themselves against, but with only three other unafflicted on the island, her former role as the primary liaison with the unafflicted people of Tunn has seemingly been rendered rather superfluous.

The 15-story compound has an endless supply of hot water, as well as a practically infinite selection of videos to see in the cinema. Having the children sit down to watch some educational programming would probably make life a bit easier for the adults. The doctor doesn't do much, most days. He spends his time reading, meditating, and helping out with the rows upon rows of greenhouses once in a while, when he isn't trying his hand at cooking. The days go by without much worry; it's not much work to harvest enough berries to pay for the modest expenses of the palatial complex, with the doctor handling the relevant finances.