They appear in midair, visible out of a few thirtieth-floor apartments.
One starts to fall. The other catches her by the arm, flings out - wing-shapes of light - and slows her, spiraling down until they're at street level.
They appear in midair, visible out of a few thirtieth-floor apartments.
One starts to fall. The other catches her by the arm, flings out - wing-shapes of light - and slows her, spiraling down until they're at street level.
"My world is not very nice in some ways and I am concerned people would... learn the wrong things."
" - you could pick ones who are all right not coming home, if you can give them safe lives there."
"We could teach your world things to make it nicer without anyone here learning whatever you don't want us to learn."
More books! This one is about a little purple girl who gets lost in a big shopping mall and responsibly finds the police so they can get her home. This one is about a little girl from the equator who is smaller than all the girls in her cohort because of being born out of season; they tease her until they learn not to tease. This one is about electricity.
They can make them right now and get them printed down the street. "How All The World Ended Slavery" and "Laws of War" and "Workers' Rights!" and "Rule of Law" and "Birthright Citizenship".
They get delivered with dinner.
"I am!" She sounds out the titles. Apparently she doesn't think it's weird that there is a children's book about war.
There will be soon, they're publishing it online so it's verifiably a real childrens' book you can really buy your little blue.
It used to be that the rulers of countries made the law, and it was silly to think that they could break the law. Some of them ignored it all the time, and some of them could not afford to anger their subjects, and some liked to follow the law because it was better for their subjects if they were predictable. (Queen Ghastly: What pretty land. Give it to me. Queen Grand: I want to own that land! But if I take it, then my people will not work as hard on their land, knowing it might be taken from them. I suppose I will leave it.)
But then a few small countries with weak kings made their rulers subject to their courts. If the ruler took something, their subjects could demand restitution. The courts would order the ruler to make it right. Some rulers ignored their courts, or bullied them. But some didn't. And their countries flourished, because people knew nothing could be taken from them. And the good rulers said to themselves 'well, I am predictable; my people know I won't steal from them. But I have some irresponsible grandchildren and rivals and advisors. I want to bind them to be predictable like I am, for the good of the land'. And they built courts, and empowered the courts to make their laws. (Queen Ghastly: ewwwwww. Queen Grand: Hmmm.)
With this change came a change in how we think about the law. The law is not 'the set of rules the ruler uses to decide disputes' - the law is the set of rules the country uses to decide disputes. And everybody can get in trouble if they break it. Anitam has a council. The council is very powerful. But if a councilperson does not pay for lunch, they will get in as much trouble as the rest of us - because that's a stabler system than even the most virtuous queen.