Last time, officials took stuff.

Those who gave up their artifacts are hushed with the loss; those who never had any to begin with are quiet out of respect. Or, perhaps, out of satisfaction, because now everything has been equalized.

This does seem like something Amon would be down with.

But honestly, Cassia, you can’t tell the difference? This is important. If the people without artifacts still feel sorry this happened, then it was probably a bad thing to do and suggests your society isn’t acting for the sake of society. On the other hand if they’re barely restraining their glee, then it probably was just because the whole artifact thing was causing a ton of tension.

Oh, and Xander whispers that he hid it in the newroses…in front of Ky’s house, for some weird reason. If he was just trying to hide it somewhere no one would stumble on it, his yard or hers would work better. Really, the only reason for picking Ky isn’t her random guess he knows it’s Ky’s, because he can’t. It’s either that he doesn’t like Ky and figures if anyone’s going to be blamed it should be him, or because he’s figured out Ky’s an aberration (it might be something medical people know) and unlike Cassia assumes that they won’t demote him any further over just an artifact.

He couldn’t have picked a better hiding place. We’re all charged with keeping our yards neat and clean. If Ky digs in his own yard, no one will suspect anything. I just have to tell him where to look.

But really all speculation is pointless, the reason it happened is convenience.

Anyway. Hiking time. Again. Now they’re getting paired up based on ability. Since Cassia’s still the overall better hiker than Livy, she gets Ky.

The guy explains that this time their goal isn’t to get to the top. It’s to find obstacles.

“Every pair takes a bag. Tie the markers on branches near fallen trees, in front of particularly bad thickets, etc. Later, a survey crew will come through. They’re going to clear and pave a path on the Hill.”

I’m not sure how that works with their whole splitting up thing. They’re going to be marking stuff all over the place, which isn’t how you make a clear path.

They’re going to pave the Hill. At least Grandfather doesn’t have to see it.

…Cassia, there’s a really big difference between “they will pave a path on” and “they will pave the thing itself”. Hell, had there been one your grandfather might have been able to climb it in his old age. Elderly people have terrible balance in addition to their brittle hips, so even ground is really important for them.

The official tells them that they can make rock piles if they run out of flags, because rock piles are so noticeable when there’s rock everywhere. Yes, I know people use them as markers but that’s people who aren’t so incompetent they were expecting detailed directions for how to walk up a hill.

Proving my point, no one gets what one is so the official tells Ky to show them. Another thing Ky is special for.

I feel disgust when I think of how we climb our little hills when the Officials say the word. How we hand over our most precious items at their bidding. How we never, ever fight.

So, we’re past halfway into the book. Does this mean you’re considering actually fighting back now?

But instead it’s time for more chatting with Ky.

“My artifact …”
Is that all he cares about? I whisper fiercely, “It’s in your flower bed. Buried under the newroses. Dig it up and then you’ll have it back.”
“I don’t care about the artifact,” he says, and although he still does not touch me, I am warmed at the fire in his eyes. “I couldn’t sleep all night, worrying that I’d gotten you in trouble. I care about you.”

This is tolerable if standard romance. It’s followed by a detailed description of his appearance and how she wants to touch him everywhere, which is less so. And of course, he’s less pleased that it’s Xander that helped her save it.

Then he turns and begins to walk through the trees again. It is slow going; the underbrush grows so tangled here that it’s more of a climb than a hike. Trees that fell have not been cleared away and lie like giant bones across the forest floor.

Huh. So this is related to what I was talking about last time she said the other place was “semi”-cultivated and how what was she judging it in comparison to.

This doesn’t sound like wild forest. Wild forest doesn’t have thick undergrowth because the trees block the light. And it shouldn’t have fallen trees everywhere because creatures should be breaking those down. It does bear a decent resemblance to what a mostly cut down forest regrowing might look like, though, complete with some weedy invasive making up the underbrush, and with the ecology crashed so that decomposition is slowed down.

It’s also possible she’s just overstating things, so her idea of underbrush is relatively minor, and she doesn’t really grasp the concept of going around bushes, and she thinks even a few downed trees is a huge deal. More description would really help here.

But instead it’s time for more relationship drama. She wants to know if Ky was teaching Livy how to write.

Ky stops again and looks at me. His eyes seem almost green under the canopy of the trees. “Of course not,” he says.

It does not say, but I’ll assume, his expression is one of amazement she could be such a moron, followed by wondering how on earth they haven’t been caught yet.

I feel stupid

And for once it’s justified.

Ky’s cover story was that they were doodling trees together. He is naturally super good at that and shows her. She says that people don’t draw once they’re out of elementary school, begging the question of why people draw when they’re in elementary school either.

Cassia apologizes for how she acted earlier and Ky says it’s fine.

“It’s good to see you jealous once in a while.” He smiles, sun in the woods.

Huh, so the whole bringing out the worst thing apparently goes both ways.

She wants to know why he gave her the compass at all (also, apparently his current family knows he has it, so they’re keeping a secret of their own)

“When Em gave me the compact to give back to you, I noticed how much alike they were. I wanted you to see it.”
His voice sounds lonely all of a sudden, and I can almost hear another sentence, the one that instinct still keeps him from saying: I wanted you to see me. Because isn’t this what it’s all about, the golden case with the arrow, the bits of story offered here and there? Ky wants someone to see him.
He wants me to see him.

This is a really good explanation for Ky’s interest.

It also makes me all the more frustrated by the plot we got. Because of course by the time Ky decided he wanted her to notice him, she was already all but glued to his side.

You know what would have worked perfectly well? Their interaction starting with the poems. Ky sees her looking at them. When she shares with him a secret, he feels like he can trust her with his own, and naturally becomes attached to the first person he’s been able to open up to at all.

My hands ache to reach for him. But I can’t bring myself to betray Xander in that way after everything he has done

Well, at least she’s finally acknowledging just how much this whole business sucks for Xander. She still hasn’t gone so far as to admit the correct thing to do would be to split up, not even to tell us that’s impossible.

Since they can’t hug, she tells him the whole poem.

“The words aren’t peaceful,” Ky says.
“I know.”
“Then why do they make me feel calm?” Ky asks in wonder. “I don’t understand.”

Okay, look, I get Cassia has no frame of reference for this, but you’ve been spending the book being annoyingly hypercompetent and educated. You damn well should understand. This is just the author trying to hammer in how profound the poem is.

Cassia, for once actually working something out on her own, says, “I think it’s because when we hear it we know we’re not the only ones who ever felt this way.” Good independent thought there, Cassia.

They repeat the poem to each other for a while, then before they go back down, she writes her name for the first time. He says he’ll teach her the rest of the alphabet, and then she can write poems of her own. And he gives her another napkin drawing/poem.

“Thank you,” I say. “For teaching me how to write.”
“Thank you,” he answers. There is a light in his eyes and I am the one who put it there. “For saving my artifact and for the poem.”
There’s more to say, but we’re learning how to speak. Together we step out of the trees. Not touching. Not yet.

Huh, cautiously optimistic where this is going. Now that they both know they like each other we’ll hopefully get less of Cassia just mooning over him, and maybe they’ll start getting really involved in rebellion.