It had taken some effort to convince her, but in the end Little Vi had come with us to the Ecstasy Nirvana bar. It wasn’t really a place for kids, but there were still enough unused rooms in the upper floors of the building where she could stay. She had gathered her stuff and some of the food and tea leaves with her. The final plan was to move her into the old concert hall behind the bar and its backstage room but for now we had dropped everything in Eveliths room. It was the best idea that we could come up with for now. Leste and others would have to work hard to make the place ready, which would probably take more than an octoweek. In the meantime little Vi would sleep here. Which also meant that I really had to sleep in my own room from now on.

Little Vi was probably the biggest shock since my awakening. It had been a rather world-shaking experience to simply get used to other humans, but living with a kid that came from the fundless tribes was a new experience all together, and one full of surprises. I had never anticipated how much life one little kid would be able to bring into a building, even an unconventional one like the Nirvana Ecstasy. And she seemed to be equally eager to learn about our world than we were about hers. She asked a lot of questions but she also could tell us a lot about most aspects of the fundless society. They were organised in gangs of an ever-changing composition, which usually moved from ‘freehouse’ to ‘freehouse’ in a nomadic fashion. Being fundless and excluded from any official network they seemed to mostly have an exchange economy without any real currency based on simple stuff like food and tools. They lived from crafts, and even had hidden places in other parts of The City where the vegetable ‘real food’ was grown or even where animals were bred. These places were so secret that most even Leste hadn’t heard about them, bur Little Vi had seen several of such places, although she could locate none without the help of adults.

Argon, who had been like a father to her, seemed to be a specialist in non-human lifeforms who knew a lot of both animals and plants, and had taught her a lot about them. Little Vi was very interested in old Velias mint tea, and also in the ancient stove top kettle with steam-whistle that she used to heat her water. Vi also seemed to like old Velia herself and her stories a lot, as if she was much closer to the fundless world than we were.

We evidently kept her away from the bar and the more 'mature' things that were happening there as some would call it, but she liked the upstairs floors and the big windows that looked out on The City. Sometimes she sat immovably with some kind of diary and a pencil on her lap, looking at a single bird. It was clear that she was quite good at being on her own, even if she liked our company. She even got used to San Yaoyao after a while.

A few days after bringing her to the bar I was sitting with her, Evelith and Leste in Velias room. She was mixing tea leaves for Velia to make her mint tea more interesting. Evelith tried, for once more, to find out more about her and tried some more personal questions. “So Zap and Argon are really married? But they’re not your real parents?” “Yes, they are married. Some grown-ups are. Is that so weird?” Evelith didn’t answer, but something in her eyes seem to lighten up. “Little Vi was found as a baby by someone from the Onga gang, and they took good care of her as the law of the free people says. But when old Onga died the gang fell apart, and then Little Vi was taken in by Zap and Argon. They stayed at the same freehouse as the Onga gang at the time but they joined other gangs from time to time, and they had some work in the freehouses and in the secret growing places.”

“So Where does your name come from?” I asked. She looked at me, not really understanding. “My real name is Vitlon. But that’s not a good name for a little girl. It more sounds like a name for a dumb robot. So I have them call me ‘Vi’.” Evelith nodded. “Vitlon is a strange name for a girl indeed. Where do you fundless get those strange names?” She seemed a bit offended. “My name is not weird! Little Vi has a good name! The free people have normal names. It’s you fundslaves who have weird names. But Vitlon is not a free peoples name, it’s a name in Ina, outsiderspeak. It means ‘life’. They called me that when they found me as a baby, Little Vi was almost dead but she lived on.”

Leste stared at her. “Outsiderspeak?”, He muttered.

“Yes, the outsiders speak it.” She said, as if it were the most normal thing on Earth. “You know the language of the outsiders?” He asked. Everyone in the room stared at her in astonishment but she didn’t seem to notice. “Only a little bit. Onga knew how to speak it. Orra also knows it, and he taught it to us when Little Vi was a kid. He has been outside for years before he came back to the Onga gang. Some say he even moved back when the gang broke up. Haven’t seen him seen him ever since.”

“So there really are outsiders?” Evelith said half asking, half stating an obvious truth. “And they speak another language…” She paused, and Vitlon corrected her: “No, Not one language. They have a lot of languages. They live in big gangs like the free people, and they have different languages. Sometimes they live in small cities in the wilderness, or travel around like we free people do. Orra only knew their most important language, Ina. It’s also the language they use between different gangs. Little Vi can understand and speak Ina a bit.”

“Is it normal for the fundless to speak outsiderspeak?” Velia asked. “I’ve never heard of that before.” “No, most free people speak just City-speak like the fundslaves do. No-one else in the Xando gang knew Ina. But some of the traders do. And some of the outsiders speak City-speak. But they also say that some of them outsiders don’t like it if we know their languages.”

I looked at Evelith and Velia, who were as stumped as I was. All this information seemed as new for them as it was for me. “Do you know how to reach the outsiders?” Vitlon nodded negative. “No. It’s a big secret. Only the traders know. The wall is impossible to get through. And it can kill you if you try.”

“Have you heard of Lahkap?” Velia asked. Little Vi seemed surprised and hesitated whether she would answer. “But, that’s a secret name. You should not know about it!” Velia nodded. “I know some things that few know, but less than the people in your gang.” “The adults never used it when they knew Little Vi heard them. But they say it’s a door to the outside world. No-one knows where it is, only the traders who keep it a secret. And the outsiders don’t want city people coming over. Little Vi heard they hate the fundslaves. They don’t really like the free people much even. They hate the City and all its people. It’s still about the war.”

“What war?” I asked. “That can only be the war of the Earth between the City and the Earthling-coalition, 300 years ago or so.” Velia said. “But the enemy was completely wiped out, not?” I mumbled. “The rebels were killed and all of the wilderness and sea was turned into City.”

“Do you really believe that propaganda, Adaman?”

I couldn’t answer more than. “I don’t know.”