Chapter 57
Two Sides of a Coin
People were peeling off both sides of the street as if something were pulling them in—shoppers with greens, browsers at the clothing stalls, carts and all, pressed the same way. Some rose on their toes to look ahead. Others tugged a companion and said, "There's a rally at the Mint."
Nova swallowed the last of his flatbread. A smear of oil still clung to the corner of his mouth.
"What rally?"
"We'll know when we get there," Lila said.
Eren hadn't meant to shove into the crush, but the flow was already pushing from behind. One hand held the packets they'd just bought; the other kept Nova close. Lila angled in beside them. Caught in it like that, the three of them went along East Street toward the Mint square.
The closer they got, the more blue-gray flags with gold thread there were. They hung between lamp posts and temporary wood frames. Sun hit the six-sided crystal pillar at their centers and made it sting the eyes. The Mint's main doors stood high on the north side of the square, the same crest pressed into the lintel. Out front they'd raised a wood stand under a clean cloth, rows of Crystone lamps along the edge—as if daylight alone weren't bright enough.
This wasn't some market-corner fuss.
The space below the stand was already packed. Gray work clothes, mine vests, old plant aprons—mixed through the crowd. Eren spotted a few familiar mine-guard faces off to the side. Others had come straight from the pits, still gray with dust.
They'd barely found a place to stand when the host on the stand lifted a hand.
"Quiet, please. Quiet, please."
He wore a pale-gray town-hall coat, a small badge at his chest. His voice came through an unpowered tin megaphone. It didn't quite drown out the talk below.
"Today the Iron Crystal Guild and the Rusak town hall jointly announce a set of labor protections and livelihood measures. Please welcome the Guild President, Mr. White Stone."
Applause jumped a notch at once.
Eren looked up.
A fair-haired man came on from the side of the stand. The cut of his suit was hard, widening the shoulders. White gloves showed at the cuffs. His shoes shone like new—not a speck of dust.
A closer look caught another man in white at the edge of the stand. Tall without bulk, black hair tied at the nape, a long blade slanted across his back. A length of hilt showed at the shoulder. He didn't go up. He only stood below the steps, planted right across the way onto the platform. Wind moved over the square and stirred the cloth. His eyes didn't move at all.
Eren gave the blade another look.
Not far off, Mayor Orlova was at the side of the stand too. She wore a mist-blue knee-length suit dress under a short jacket, the waist still cinched sharp, the town crest pinned at her left breast. Dark chestnut hair was coiled low. A proper smile sat on her face; now and then she gave the crowd a small nod.
Someone in the crowd muttered, "How come the Mayor isn't speaking first?"
The person next to him shot back, "Mind your own business. Just listen."
White Stone walked to the front and set a hand on the megaphone. He didn't rush to speak. He swept the square with his eyes first. The pause wasn't long, but the noise below dropped on its own.
"Friends."
His voice was steady.
"We've lived on this waste for ten years. Here, ten years ago, hunger and sickness were often how a life ended. But in Rusak today, we have food, clothes, roofs over our heads. We have walls against bandits, a hospital for wounds and illness, schools where people can better themselves."
The square quieted a little.
White's gloved fingertips rested lightly on the stand's edge.
"In Rusak, people do more than survive. This town should be—and has become—the safest, most dignified place on the waste."
He stopped there, gave a slight bow to the crowd. Applause started at the front first.
"Today the Iron Crystal Guild has chosen to do what little it can, and take that life a step further."
The applause spread back fast. Someone yelled, "Well said!" A few workers clapped with him.
"We will provide guaranteed housing."
On the last word, his white-gloved right hand closed into a fist at his chest.
Then the applause broke open. People up front shouted first. Farther back, someone rose on their toes toward the stand and asked the person beside them, low, "What housing?"
White didn't hurry to shut it down. He let the noise roll once around the square, then went on: "At Crystone plants, the mines, and every high-risk trade under Guild companies, we will also issue the latest protective gear—free of charge."
This time the cheer came faster. A few men in gray work clothes looked at one another. Someone whistled.
"We will also extend injury cover and insurance to more of our fellow workers."
Applause again, with a few calls of approval mixed in.
White said a few more lines—order, hard work, a shared future.
When he finished, he nodded to the crowd and stepped back to the side seats.
Mayor Orlova went to meet him and shook his hand. Facing the square, her smile held steady; the town crest caught light on the mist-blue jacket. They stood side by side a moment. Applause rose again.
Then a Guild executive took over. He took the megaphone and walked them through registration for guaranteed housing, gear distribution, injury cover, and the claims process.
Talk rose through the crowd again.
"They're really handing out gear?"
"Guess the union didn't raise hell for nothing."
A miner just ahead of Eren tipped his cap up and laughed a curse. "About damn time. Our old goggles are cracked like spiderwebs."
Lila's face eased a little.
"If the gear really comes, fewer people get hurt at the pit, right?"
Eren heard her and only grunted once.
His gaze swept out through the crowd. At the far rim of the square it stopped by a lamp post. In the shade stood a tall man, a head taller than the people around him, old work coat buttoned to the second clasp, short stubble clear in the side light.
Eren knew him. Yue Xingchuan—the one they'd met before.
Two or three others stood close beside him, heads nearly touching. Lips moved now and then, but nothing carried.
Far off, applause rose and fell. That little knot never moved with it.
Lila saw them too, and blinked.
"Isn't that Yue Xingchuan?"
Nova rose on his toes and followed her look.
Yue seemed to feel eyes on him and lifted his gaze once. Across half the square he might not have made them out. He dropped his head again at once and listened to the person beside him.
Eren watched a moment, then pulled his eyes back.
When the executive got into the details, people around them started pushing forward to hear more. The host kept asking them not to crowd up. Town guards at the outer ring raised their hands to hold the line. Mayor Orlova stepped forward two paces again and soothed the front ranks with a smile.
"There will be a process. Please don't rush."
As she spoke she turned half aside to let staff through, and stayed on the stand herself. She kept smiling at the crowd. Her feet never crossed the gold thread of the Guild cloth.
The rally dragged on a while before it broke.
When the crowd finally began to loosen outward, Eren looked once more toward the foot of the steps. The man in white with the blade still hadn't moved. When White sat in the side seats, he stood below. When White turned to listen to a clerk, he only shifted a little, keeping himself on the nearest path. The Crystone lamps on the stand were bright; they chilled the edge of his white coat. When workers below clapped, he didn't so much as lift an eyelid.
The three of them had been shoved to the east side of the square. Nova still held the empty paper wrap. Someone stepped on his toe and he edged back half a step. Eren raised a hand to block a shoulder shoving in; Lila saw his hands were full and took one of the small packets from him.
People around them were still talking about the good news they'd heard.
"I'm registering tomorrow."
"Don't rush. There'll be a queue for sure."
"Still gotta get in line—better than nothing."
The words drifted out with the crowd toward East Street, floating over the square like heat.
Farther along, Lila looked back at the flags still up before the Mint doors.
"Sounds like good news," she said.
Nova nodded. "Does that mean you'll get home earlier after this?"
Eren didn't answer.
He thought of the stone that had come down at the mine ramp mouth, and of the miner sitting by the shed with lips gone white.
He shifted the box of scent Crystones to his other hand.
"Let's go home," he said. "Don't crush the stuff."
"Okay," Lila said.