It felt like the straw mattress I woke up on was entirely unrelated to the one I'd taken so long to fall asleep with. A distant relative at best, its embrace was warm and comforting, a reaffirming place to wake and whispering promises of a good day. Nothing like the harsh bag of straw on a stone slab of the night before.

But it wasn't really the bed which had kept me up, I knew. It was sleeping here, in a new place, alone, and unprotected. There weren't even doors in Oasis if you didn't count the heavy stone gates dividing the districts. Instead, I was here while all the girls were elsewhere, and while I didn't have any particular expectation of being murdered in my sleep, it was always something on the back of my mind.

Yet somehow I survived the totally menial task of sleeping through a night, and was now rubbing my eyes at the morning sun, already glinting off the marble-white rooftops on the other end of the city through my room's breezy windows.

I was on the first floor, which was apparently an honor. It got hot in Oasis, and hotter still in the higher rooms. Many of the buildings closest to the wall had multiple floors, and only the priests, high priests, and most renown of the warriors were permitted to reside in the bottom of those sheltered few houses. I should have been flattered, but admittedly, it just felt like an open, ordinary room to me.

I thought to head over and up, to see if the girls were up...which was stupid, given that Saga and AEGIS always were, if nothing else...and maybe to find out if their accommodations really were much warmer than mine, when I heard a gentle knock.

I glanced over and found Rio standing there, still in a lab coat, though one stained in a different pattern than the one from yesterday, her hair tied up and oval glasses catching the morning sun.

"Glad to see you are awake. Did you sleep well?" she asked.

"I managed alright. Uh, did you?"

She gave me a broad smile. "Of course. You are probably hungry? Or would you prefer to check on your colleagues first?"

"Let's check in on them, if you don't mind."

She shrugged and gestured towards a set of clothes which had been laid out for me. The same airy, light fabric that everyone else here wore, but I also noticed it was adorned with the armored plates over the heart and shoulders which marked a warrior's garb.

"Uh," I said. "I hope you don't mind if I don't."

"Of course not. As I said yesterday, all those in the city are free to do as they wish. How you dress is no concern to anyone."

"Thanks for being so understanding."

She shook her head and chuckled. "Yesterday when you were walking the town, did you catch many odd glances?"

I thought about it for a minute. I'd been paying pretty close attention for that at the start, but once I started learning about the city, I'd kind of become captivated in my own thoughts. Even so, I couldn't remember a single person giving us too much scrutiny.

"No, not a one," I said. "Which is actually kind of weird, thinking about it. We got more attention in Japan by far."

"Well there you have it, how much Oasis cares for your fashion sense. The clothes are offered to you because they are suitable to the climate and for no other reason. Wear them or do not, it is your choice."

It was a nice gesture, and my street clothes were a little dark and a little heavy for the desert sun...but it also felt pretentious to be dressing up like that, especially in a city of castes. Plus much of the utility would go to waste, being strapped in under my exoframe. I decided to take up her offer and not, at least until I understood better how to fit in around here.

So I was surprised when we came up to the girls and found not only were they all up, they were all dressed in their new outfits, flowing light fabrics and hoods and veils. Lia looked as excited as anything to be dressing up, while Karu appeared hesitant about how the loose garment refused to act as such around her chest.

Personally I couldn't find words to complain. Every one of them looked fantastic, even Tem and Saga, for whom the flowing draping nature of the clothes seemed ideal to cover up their scarecrow-like frames.

"Aww," said AEGIS, grinning daggers as she advanced on me. "Are you getting all excited about us dressing up? Fantasizing about your own harem?" Her demeanor changed as she batted her eyelashes at me. "Oh, powerful sultan, we are your loyal playthings. Your every wish is--ow!"

Lia snorted as she finished throwing the shoe at the back of AEGIS' head. "Hey bro. Why aren't you wearing yours?"

"Terrified of cultural appropriation," I said with a shrug. "You hungry?"

"Hungry for you," AEGIS said, clawing towards me. The second shoe caught her with equal precision, and I gave Lia a long-range high-five from across the room.

The food was simple, but good. Some kind of rice porridge seasoned with herbs. It was a tiny bit citrusy, a tiny bit sweet, and had a few chunks of some kind of pulpy fruit, but mostly rice. It needed salt and there wasn't any left out for us, but otherwise seemed fine. I imagined they must eat a lot of that kind of thing here, and it wasn't the worst dietary staple.

After we'd cleaned our plates, Rio stood and addressed us. "Is it safe to say that your group's leader is this man?" she asked, and I noticed she wasn't asking me, she was looking around asking all the others. Tem was enthusiastically nodding, but the others agreed as well. Then she turned to me. "Do you mind if I work with you and teach you Oasis' ways and culture, as their leader?"

"Not at all," I said. "What will the others do?"

"Recover, I imagine. The glasslands are unforgiving. As their leader, I would ask you to work so that they may rest."

"Well she's got Athan's number," Lia said. "And mine. I wouldn't mind doing some slacking for once. I'm gonna be one of those lazy farmers you were talking about yesterday."

"Which reminds me," Rio chuckled. "You may have noticed in your laid-out clothes, but each of you has been given a role as well." She bowed graciously to Tem, who looked around startled. "I am pleased to welcome another Priestess into our fold."

Tem looked at me and made half a squeak until the bow ended. No commentary was made of the others, which made sense -- only Exhumans could be above farmers, and Saga had been placed already.

"To think…" AEGIS muttered, and then stopped.

"Yes?" Rio asked, and AEGIS responded by flushing and denying she said anything at all.

"Aww, you're jealous of Tem!" Lia cried, which flustered AEGIS even more.

"Regardless, we shall be off. I thank you for your understanding," Rio prompted me to my feet, and then paused as Lia called out to her.

"Um, so," Lia said tenting her fingers nervously. "I don't suppose...you have 'net access out here. I have kind of...a job, I'm supposed to do...online."

Rio frowned at her. "We...don't, unfortunately. But...well…" She glanced at me like I was some kind of co-conspirator in this.

"What?" I asked.

"Well, we might. We do seize their possessions if external forces attack and...die. But it's unfamiliar technology for us, and simply...handing it over to an outsider...I wouldn't want to put the city in danger, but neither would I want to tell you 'no' if I had the ability."

I put my hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze, feeling the layers of light fabric sliding under my fingertips. "Hey, it's okay. You have my promise, she isn't going to do anything that would compromise the city's safety."

"I won't!" Lia affirmed. "I'll even go over it with AEGIS and make sure we're not broadcasting a location or anything. It's just a few things for Black Shark I need to keep up and--"

"And you have my word," I said, looking into her eyes seriously.

She seemed breathless for half a moment as she considered and then nodded. "Okay, Athan, if you say so."

"Why would I want to hurt you? You're doing my sister a huge favor."

"Yes, but not all outsiders are properly appreciative. If so, I thank you for your honor."

She smiled, and then we were off, but not before I noticed a couple of warrior-caste just sort of hanging around, looking a bit like out of place bouncers.

Paradoxically, her hesitation and their presence soothed me. I'd been feeling before like this place was too impossibly perfect, and was having flashbacks to my time in university. The fact that she was hesitant to accept us after just a day, and that they had some fighters keeping an eye on us, it showed an awareness of sin, if nothing else.

"So tell me," Rio said as she brought us towards the second wall. "What brings you all to Oasis in the first place?"

"That's a long story," I sighed at her. "And I imagine a high priestess has better things to do than listen to it."

"All stories are worth listening to," she smiled. "Even if what you learn from them isn't intended of the parable. We're cut off from the world here, and what is boring to you is likely very interesting to us."

"Just how cut off are you? You fight modern armies, you know what the 'net is...heck, you at least speak perfect English, and I assume others as well. I'm actually surprised by how...not cut-off you seem, given that the world as a whole doesn't know you exist."

"You don't?" she cocked her head. "But you are American, yes? And the American armed forces has battled us many times, to say nothing of the XPCA."

"Yes, but…" I trailed off, realizing that was an even longer story. "I guess like, the government does, but people don't. We're all told the Sinos died out in the war."

"They did," she shrugged. "Except our god, who lived even then. He persevered, and in doing so, preserved this land."

"So...is he like...a literal god or something then?"

"That is why I call him as such, and we have an order of priests and priestesses."

"He's not...an Exhuman or anything?"

She shrugged and stopped. We'd reached the top of the second wall, the whole of the outer ring laid out before us. From up here, I could see the perfect geometry of the orchards and farms, all laid out in rows extending straight out from the center of the city, like a sunburst. Everything seemed so ordered here, so by design. It seemed almost contradictory to her statements about how everyone just did as they wanted. Things couldn't get done or succeed with that kind of complete anarchy.

...could it? I paused, realizing that until yesterday, I'd have said the same thing about a group of Exhumans. There was nothing stopping a society like this from working, except conflicting self-interests. But what if...everyone in this city legitimately wanted the city to succeed? Maybe Exhumans could only come together like this because the rest of the world was so shit to them, anywhere they could live and work in peace, have a fair shake, survive in the open without needing to hurt anyone or face oppression...maybe…

I frowned as I thought. Maybe it was like it's namesake, Oasis. An Oasis wasn't just a wellspring of life on its own -- it was defined by the desert surrounding it. The hostility of the world turned that life inward and made an Oasis beautiful explicitly by comparison.

I looked around at the white buildings, gleaming in the sun and the fields in neat rows. I looked at the workers already up with the sun, moving sacks and wagons, digging in the fields with their clothes of airy hues on their backs. And I realized, I already sort of loved this place. For what it was, for what these people had managed to create. Given the choice, I would fight to protect it...and as a warrior caste, that was my job. I was already willing to work for this city, and I'd been here a day.

"We're here, anyway," she said, shaking me out of my reverie. "This is the second wall."

"This is where I'd stand, if there was a fight?"

"You'd stand wherever you think you are needed. But this is where your fighting would begin, and the wall behind us is where it would end. As a warrior, your task would be simple -- to begin here, end there, or when the enemy is defeated, or in your death. Do you understand?"

"Lia and the others would be below," I said. "I would stand with them instead."

"And you are free to do so. As I've said before, and I am beginning to expect, will say many times more, you may do as you wish within your role. But your role is to fight and die before the enemy breaches the third wall. If you have not offered up your life before then, you have failed. Is that a role you can accept?"

I nodded. Honestly, it sounded like the easiest thing in the world. Fight as hard as you could to protect the things you love, and die before they fell. It wasn't a task I needed an introduction to.

"Good. Then you're welcome to stay as long as you want. You're a real member of Oasis now, decreed by a high priestess herself." She winked at me. "I hope you find convincing your friends as easy. Some of them seem a lot more...reserved."

I laughed as she explained their similar-but-lower duties, and how, in a siege, they would be expected to fight and die before the second wall. I stopped her with a question.

"You said yesterday that skilled craftsmen are in the second ring. My friends have many skills -- would it be possible for them to ever move up?"

She gave me a coy shrug. "I think you have a different definition than we do," she said. "Let me introduce you to our weaver."

I followed her in silence as we headed back down the wall and into the rows of buildings, navigating circumferentially through the town before she entered a doorless white building like the others.

Inside was a grey-haired man who didn't look too much older than me, seated at an enormous table that filled the entire room. Half the table was covered with the airy fabrics I'd seen so much of, in beautiful vivid color, and the rest was bare, for the moment.

"Hello," Rio said on entering, and our host looked up and lit up with an easy smile.

"Cool skies and smooth ways," he nodded, to her and then to me. "How can I help you, Rio?"

"This is Athan, he is new, and wanted to see a skilled craftsman in action. I told him we have no more skilled than you, Ed."

"More skilled, maybe," he chortled. "But none more necessary, until we give up the clothes off our backs. Shall I?"

"Please do."

Rio gestured me towards a seat on the side of the table and I sat down, not quite sure what I was getting myself into, but Rio just kept glancing at me and smiling so I put on a pleasant face and waited.

And then I noticed the table we were seated at wasn't half-empty at all. It should have been a tip-off that it wasn't the same white stone as the rest of the city. Instead, it was fluffy, white and...pulsating. In a kind of horrifying, nauseating way.

Rio reached out and gently touched the mass, bringing her finger back close to my face with a scrap of the fluff on it. I blinked a few times before I recognized what the little black spots on the white fur actually were.

"It's a caterpillar," I said, stunned.

"It is," she said, returning it to the mass. Knowing that it was a billion harmless bugs somehow made it a little less gross...but it was still a table of a billion bugs. At least the table itself wasn't like, pulsating meat, like my first thought had been.

But then I shut up and watched because Ed got to work. He took a deep breath, reached out towards the air above the bugs, and started...playing?

It was hard to describe because I wasn't sure there was a verb for what he was doing, but playing was the closest my mind came up with. Not in the sense of a game, but more a musical instrument, like a harp. His fingers twitched in the air as though plucking invisible strands, and as he did, the mass of white twisted and churned with his movements, the caterpillars moving as one to shepherd each other in and out, over and under, with a wavelike, precise motion my mind couldn't quite capture.

It was like ripples in the surface of milk, in an exceptionally large glass, except no matter how the ripples crashed into each other, they always remained patterned and perfect. And I realized, as they flowed, new strands of silken fabric flowed out of them, woven perfectly and already premade into perfect sheets.

He was an Exhuman, with some manner of control over bugs, and he was using his powers to have them squirt out fully-formed silken cloth. It was insane. It was beautiful. A very irrational part of my mind was incredibly glad I'd chosen not to wear those clothes today, but at the same time, I loved...adored, that this was all being done with an Exhuman's power.

We stayed and watched for most of an hour more, and every second he worked was as magical as the first. My revulsion over the bugs and seething mass of insect flesh gradually faded as I watched. While he played the bugs, laborers joined us, replacing batches of the caterpillars, and I saw that each group must have been fed a different diet to produce the subtle hues and differences in the cloth.

And it crossed my mind that Rio said this was their weaver, singular. This one man produced enough fabric to clothe the entire city...with a lot to spare, if the rate at which we were given clothes was anything to go by. It blew my mind, but then again, in a corner of it, I already knew what Exhumans were capable of, the immense feats we could achieve through use of our powers. I'd just never thought about what an entire city of them could do.

By the end of his performance I found myself flabbergasted by the ramifications for the second day in a row. I began to see now, exactly what this city was, exactly how incredibly it operated. Why everything was made of the same white stone, how a city could thrive on people doing just 'as they wished', how there could be such little scarcity, so few conflicting personal desires, when each person could do the work of so many, so easily.

"And do you see why, unfortunately, your friends would not serve as a skilled craftsman?" Rio asked, back at the second wall.

I had to agree. AEGIS, maybe had potential, but none of us were cut out for that kind of thing. I saw also why I was put in a warrior's caste -- the city didn't exactly have or need running electricity, so my powers weren't much more use than for fighting.

But I was okay with that. If fighting was all I was good for, I'd fight as hard as I could for this place. Oasis was a place worth protecting, and in just two short days, the people in it, the culture of it, they'd lodged themselves right into my heart.

"Thank you for showing me that," I said to Rio. "I...never knew Exhumans could do good like that."

"That's because the outside world is shit," she laughed, and I laughed too.

"Are high priestesses supposed to say 'shit'?"

She shrugged cheekily. "I've told you before, and I will tell you again. We do what we will within our role. I may say 'shit' at my discretion."

I leaned against the white stone of the wall, already hot before noon, even through my sleeves. I felt like I was learning a lot about how the world operated, but backwards. So long ago, I'd been a starry-eyed idealist, and then the more I'd fought with Exhumans and the XPCA, the more I'd learned about how the world worked. Or, more specifically, how it didn't work. But here, in this city, it seemed like everything I once thought possible wasn't just that, it existed. It was real. It was happening, right here, and right now.

"I think tomorrow, I'll wear the silks," I said aloud, and Rio smiled as she shrugged.

"Whatever you wish," she repeated.

And it was, I had to admit. The city really was.