HUNGER
The people are starving. There is not enough food to go around. The hunters have all been drafted. The Regin greenhouses don't produce enough — Despite the expansion, they don't produce enough. The people around me—around all of us—are thinning.
A friend of mine's family is dead. Their child, well-meaning and hungry, foraged for them a mushroom. The mother, well-meaning and hungry, inspected it and found no sign of poison. My friend chose to let them eat it in their stead, a seemingly noble sacrifice.
The mother, well-meaning and hungry, was wrong.
I think this friend of mine is starving themself, now. I don't blame them.
AFTER
The Society tells me this: The Nomad says that things will not return to the way they were. The Nomad says that a turn will come, and everything will change. The Crows advise everybody to learn their values. Learn yourselves well.