Tumbledown

Chapter 11

Another evening spent at the fireside and no word from Dylan's contact and Maddie could not help but spend it glaring at Lissa.

"Is there anything wrong? You seem to have been staring at me for hours."

Maddie was not even aware that she was staring so openly.

"Where is Dylan tonight he usually likes to join us?"

"He is talking to his contact in the city, checking to see if it is safe for us to leave."

John wondered how this was possible.

"He is in his hut at this moment so how is it he can talk to anyone? Mobile communications outside of the capital are limited to citizens."

Lissa raised her eyebrows and looked to the sky.

"He is using the great god kali to summon the airwaves that can carry his voice to the city and blow the words into Dylan's friend's ears."

Lana looked astonished.

"Really Lissa? I am sorry I mean Lysette."

The whole camp erupted into laughter at this enquiry from the young girl that they all loved.

So you do have a sense of humour behind those cold eyes thought Maddie.

"You two are good to go and what is all the laughter I hear out here?"

"It is Lissa who knew that she had such a good sense of humour?"

Dylan knew, it was one of the things that he loved about her and there were many more things that he loved.

"Yes Lissa has a sense of humour and you should all feel privileged to have been shown it."

A smile of Impatience from Lysette showed Dylan that he should move on.

"My contact says that it is now relatively safe to travel and I have drawn you a map which pinpoints the check-points to avoid."

"Dylan was handing the map to John when Maddie snatched it from him.

"He knows where he is going, I need to familiarise myself with this place. It is also sexist to assume that only the man can read a map."

John gave a loud involuntary snort at this statement.

"There is no sexism here; they don't know the meaning of the word. Just like there is no racism or discrimination against those of a different sexual orientation than their own."

Maddie was altogether fed-up with John defending this crazy place.

"It is easy to have no racism if everyone is white and the same culture as your own."

Dylan looked confused but countered her statement anyway.

"You are deep into the north of Velaria and the population here is white in its majority but as you get closer to the Capital in the south our people are much more diverse. What is sexism and why should we discriminate against someone's sexual preference?"

My god thought Maddie it was like talking to a child until she remembered all of the questions she had thrown at Dylan.

"To be sexist is to discriminate against a person because of their gender, racism is to discriminate against someone on the basis of their skin colour and why indeed would you care who someone was attracted to?"

John was doing it again, trying to be the voice of reason in a world that still made little sense to Maddie.

"We have discrimination here too but only against those who cannot contribute to society."