Sharilien by aimeegneiting (book club recommendations .txt) 📕

The year is 2250.

The only place humans live on the planet Terra. Vast ranch and farmlands surround the mammoth city, with several small hamlets spread out in the countryside. There are a number of forests and lakes, as well as the large river passing through the middle of the gigantic circle, around which there is a tall, thick, wide wall. This wall encompasses all that there is left of the diminished human race, except for ruins of the great civilation that once was.

The Past

It was 2025 when it started. A terrible disease that spread slowly, through the means of contact. If it had been able to spread through the air, the human race would have been doomed. The doom almost happened anyway, but some of the brightest and best devised a way to save some of the race. Construction was begun, and the city with its protecting wall was built by the time the disease had slaughtered the populace of a number of countries. Transportation to and from the diseased places had ceased. After checking each person that was to start anew in the city for traces of the disease, appropriately called Man's Bane, they were allowed in. Everything was checked, supplies, cloth, animals, tools, everything for the disease.

Finally, in 2040, the city was populated. People who knew about farming were farmers, trading, became traders, and so forth. Tears were dried, hands began to do what they did best, and children were taught. Years passed, and as they did, memories were locked away. and forgotten, lost as the older generation faded. Man's Bane was just a tale, to the new generations, a fable it seemed. They, the new generations, had not known anything but life inside the giant wall. Many good things had been lost.

Once, in 2127, a band of older male younglings (Shorthand known as he-lings, and female younglings were shorthand she-lings. They were not considered working adults til they reached 18, but they began their apprenticeships at 13. These were between 10 and 12.) successfully found the hidden way to the top of the wall. This way had not been used since the beginning of the city. The younglings looked far and wide over the land they could see. It was wild and overgrown, with thick grass, plentiful trees, and a lot of wild animals, who had recovered, through the years. Reluctantly, they returned to the city, keeping quiet about what they had seen, except for whispering it to some of the other he-lings, who passed it on before they became apprenticed. This was a big secret to them, though forgotten quickly as they grew into men. They all, of course, kept it a secret from the she-lings.

The Present

The Breeding Mistress, to make enough younglings for the human race to last, to survive, pairs a man and a woman whose families haven't paired recently,and when a babe is a week old, hands it to one of a few women who, though they never mate, have trained in their apprenticeship to raise babes to the age of three, when the youngling moves to a House, wherein it lives til it's 13th birthday, and it is presented to the leaders of the crafts (Everything is a craft, from raising sheep, to weaving cloth, to raising babes. Leaders of the crafts, know much of their craft and are chosen each year.), who decide what the youngling would be best at.

Unfortunately, the Breeding Mistresses were too good, in the past. Sharilien is crouded, and soon there will be too many people to feed and clothe, and house. The younghling Houses were all crammed. But the Breeding Mistresses, following instructions passed on from the ancestors, had to continue. There was no other way for the breeding mistresses were meant for only one thing, picking who made babes, who grew to make more younglings.

One particularly athletic she-ling (considered pesky by the he-lings) named Kelara, is the child of a sheepherder and a merchant. She is on a mission she gave herself, to spy on the he-lings. Kelara likes to give herself missions, but, she thinks to herself, This is the biggest ever! Won't those he-lings be so surprized!
She is certainly in luck, or would it be misluck? At that time, one of the elder he-lings is telling the tale that had passed down. The tale of the way up the wall. The little he-lings are soaking it up. They had never imagined such a thing. None of the living had seen it, it was a fantastical myth.
"And those he-lings saw all sorts of things! They returned though, and passed down the myth i just told you, before they became apprenticed. Someday you're gonna have to pass on this tale, but only..." He stares into their wide eyes. "Only to other little he-lings! And never, never let a she-ling hear of it! It is out secret, y'see?" The little he-lings all nod, and following the instructions, they repeat the vows all little boys had taken for over 130 years. They are not fancy, just simple he-ling promises. The little ones also promise never to try to find the secret alone.

Kelara is utterly shocked! Incredible, she thinks, simply incredible! How did i get so lucky today? She thinks some more then comes to a stunning conclusion. "I must find the way!" She races to the crammed House she lives in, and grabs her bag, which holds a blanket, flints, and a waterbag. Running to the marketplace near her, Kylara buys bread and meat, and fills her waterbag in the market fountain, kept clean to drink.
"Okay, here i go!" she mutters to herself excitedly as she walks to the city gate. Eventually she makes it throuhg the press of people entering and exiting. "Whew!" Kelara meanders, apprearing as if on a walk, which she has often done. Finally, footsore, she is hidden from anyone's view and runs along the wall. "It's so big!" She huffs, panting. "Will i ever find the way?"

Publication Date: 11-26-2010

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