Season 1, Episode 6 - The Tree Plot XV - "The Geography Lesson"

About two hours ago.

For the forty-third time that morning, Lynn had Audrey on the ropes. Out of a deck of 52 cards, Lynn possessed 49; Audrey, a mere 3. Lynn should’ve been able to close her out by now.

Yet, the card game of War gives and the card game of War takes. Audrey still had a queen among her cards, taking down one of Lynn’s jacks. That traitorous jack took a ten from Lynn, then Lynn lost another five low-ranking cards, meaning that in the span of a minute, Audrey was back up to 10 cards.

Lynn leaned back in her seat and sighed. “Let’s call it a draw.”

“Hooray for tying!” Audrey exclaimed, sitting across from her at the kitchen table in Mackenzie’s apartment. Mackenzie herself would be gone for a while - off doing class rep business for the Academy - but she allowed Lynn and Audrey into her place while she was away. The three had big plans for today - the Tree Plot would be this very evening.

Lynn could already imagine the steaks to be eaten at the Top of the World. Situated on the highest floor of a skyscraper in the Financial District, it offered a view of the entirety of downtown Narragansett. The steaks there costed about a month’s salary for the average millworker, and even if you scrounged up enough, the reservation waiting list was already far too long. Only the elites got to eat there - yet all Audrey, Lynn, and Mackenzie needed to do was plant a tree and they’d be in.

Lynn reminded herself that the steak - and the lobster, can’t forget the lobster - wasn’t the only reason she was doing this. The actual planting of the tree was a symbolic gesture of cooperation. The State Police would be there. The Academy would be there. Lights and cameras would be there. By planting that tree, she wanted to tell Narragansett that Rddhi users weren’t the problem. And with that platform, maybe she could demonstrate to Rddhi users that the average citizen of Narragansett was hurting in today’s troubled times. By planting a tree, maybe she could build a bridge.

And that’s also why she needed to look her best. Well, the suits were Audrey’s idea, but they definitely looked snazzy. Audrey looked like a proud father when she tied Lynn’s tie for her earlier that morning. As to why they were getting dressed in their suits in the wee hours of the morning when the tree planting wasn’t until that evening - that was also Audrey’s idea.

But darn, do I look good in this.

Lynn and Audrey glanced at Mackenzie’s window; several raindrops gently rolled down the glass on the other side. A light drizzle fell from a gray sky onto the city, but according to the weather report, it would clear up by midday before returning later that night. More than enough time to plant a tree, so the event was still on.

“I feel like we haven’t really hung out like this before,” Audrey realized. “Just us two."

Lynn nodded, absent-mindedly twirling her blue streak of hair around her finger. “Huh…you’re right. We’ve only really talked in class before.”

“You’re from Pennacook, right?”

“Yeah, not that far north of here.” Lynn thought fondly of her suburban hometown. Even though they’d be eating at the Top of the World Wednesday night, Lynn couldn’t wait to return home on Thursday for Thanksgiving and demolish her mom’s cooking. She made a turkey like no other.

“And your family’s from Ireland, right?” Audrey followed up.

Lynn was born here, so she had no memories of her family’s origin. Her father and mother often spoke fondly of it - rolling green hills and vast fields. Her father even had memories of visiting Dublin in his youth; a French atomic bomb struck the city before her mother got the chance to see it.

Lynn nodded. “I’m proud of my Irish heritage.”

“They say Eire is beautiful.”

Lynn looked at her blankly.

“That’s what they call Ireland in Gaelic,” Audrey explained.

“...what about you? Where are you from?”

Audrey looked even prouder about her heritage than Lynn did. “I come from the lovely land of Belarus!”

That drew another blank stare from Lynn. “...huh? Where’s that?”

“Eastern Europe!” Audrey exclaimed, always ready for a teaching moment. “It’s next to…next to…uh, do you have a map?”

Lynn didn’t have a map, but Mackenzie did. Lynn slid out of her chair, found Mackenzie’s history textbook on her desk (Mackenzie already did her Thanksgiving break home that past weekend), and returned to the table with it. She found a current map of the world near the back of the book.

Audrey scanned the eastern side of Europe for it. “Ah, here it is!” she exclaimed, jabbing her finger on an oval-shaped country sandwiched between a bunch of other ones. She then rubbed her chin. “Huh…there are a lot more countries than I remember on my map. Where did the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics go? And these cities…what happened to Constantinople? Why isn’t half the world covered in British pink?”

Lynn scratched her head. “Just how old is your map?”

Audrey beamed proudly. “I found it in the ruins of a schoolhouse while exploring upper New Hampshire in my early days. They said it was even abandoned long before the Unleashing!”

“Well…a lot’s changed since then.” Lynn placed her own finger on Belarus, then slid her finger across Europe, moving across countries of various shapes and sizes. The assortment of names and locations failed to ring a bell in Lynn's memories of school lessons, so she spoke slowly, struggling to pronounce a few of the bold-faced words in tiny print on the map. “Belarus, Ukraine, Ruthenia, Carpathia, Transcaucasia, Rusnakia, Kashubia…”

“I actually recognize some of those names,” Audrey realized. “We used to all be best friends with Russia, but then Germany smacked Russia around and became their new best friend.”

When Lynn raised an eyebrow, Audrey laughed. “Sorry. That was just me being cute. I know all those countries used to be oblasts of Russia. And I know that a lot of atomic bombs were lobbed around there. And I know they’re all German satellite states now.”

“Sometimes you surprise me with how much you know about things,” Lynn said.

Audrey tapped her head. “I’m not good with learning at school, but I’m a lot better with learning by living. I’ve met immigrants from all those countries while traveling around New England. Their stories aren’t something they teach you in school.”

But then she scratched her head. “But reading is something they teach you at school. I only learned how to read a few years ago.”

That took Lynn by surprise. She still remembered her first day of school - everything was so bright and new and exciting and the smile on her face spread wide. She also remembered the second day of school; all that brightness disappeared when she realized that this wasn’t a one-off thing, she would have to go to school for the next twelve years. “Really? I thought everybody had to go to school.”

“Near Narragansett, they’re pretty good at it,” Audrey supposed. “Not so good once you leave the big urban areas.”

Lynn chuckled. “What a country.”

Audrey smiled. “What a world.” She yawned and rested her face on Mackenzie’s kitchen table; Lynn followed her gaze into the living room, where a muted black-and-white television displayed Captain Kepler of the Russet Military Police; he also served as the administrator of the district’s civilian government.

“He’s the one who put together this whole shin-dig, right?” Audrey asked, watching Kepler give a speech from his office, flags behind him.

“He’s afraid the violence between the Academy and State Police could spiral out of control,” Lynn reminded Audrey (they had all been briefed on this). “And he's afraid it could lead to more civil violence between New England’s factions. So, he’s offered this whole tree planting business as a way for the Academy and State Police to come together.”

Lynn couldn’t help but grow quiet at the mention of the State Police. Long ago, she felt hell-bent on destroying them herself, but then she got older and reality got in the way.

She rubbed her face. I’m sure there are good people in the State Police. Not all of them are bad. That’s what I need to plant that tree today and reach out to them. Because I wouldn’t be the only one reaching out, and everybody reaches out and realizes that everybody’s hurting, that’s how you change a country. I need to help the good people in this country realize that, if they all come together, they outnumber the bad.

She rubbed her face harder. But that’s the difficult part. All the good people in this country have different plans for it. Different opinions. And I’m sure the people I consider bad consider themselves good. Does planting a tree really bring them all together?

Lynn thought of following Mackenzie to the Academy and following Babs into battle last month at the warehouse.

I’m not good at leading. I need someone to follow. But is there anyone out there who sees things the same way I do?

Audrey reached out and placed a comforting hand on Lynn’s arm; Lynn smiled in gratitude and rested her arm on the table.

“Are you tired too?” Audrey asked, her voice soft. “Of all the politics?”

Lynn let out a rueful chuckle and nodded.

“I miss how it used to be,” Audrey admitted. “Before the State Police raid, before the smuggling ring, even before the economy collapsed. Things just felt easier then. Now, everybody’s just angry. Every day, it feels more and more like everything’s going to collapse.”

Lynn's eyes widened in surprise when Audrey suddenly stood from her seat. “But! I think we’ll be okay!”

She then collapsed back in her seat and sighed. “I met somebody a few days ago who said one person feeling healthy doesn’t mean society isn’t sick as a whole.”

This time, Lynn put a comforting hand on Audrey’s arm. The two smiled at each other.

“Well, if we want to make society feel better, it all starts today,” Lynn supposed, rising from her chair. She strolled over to Mackenzie’s counter - in the space where her New York Minute once resided now stood a small, golden trowel on a stand. The Golden Trowel, if you will.

“Used by Mr. Stockham himself in the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of his new Academy,” Lynn recalled, running a hand over the Trowel. Her eyes glazed over as she pulled the Trowel off of its stand - despite being made of solid gold, it felt incredibly light. “Now we'll use it in the groundbreaking ceremony for our Tree Plot.”

From the table, Audrey raised a hand. “Hey, Lynn, maybe you should put that down. Mackenzie’ll kill us if something happens to it.”

Lynn sighed and nodded. “You’re right. It’s just…isn’t it nice to be doing something like this? I’m not getting shot at a warehouse or getting tossed around at a Combat Simulation. I’m just planting a tree.”

Audrey found herself nodding along. “I’ve been shot at three or four times this semester already.”

Lynn gasped. “Me too! I actually got shot at the warehouse!”

“I broke my nose during the State Police raid! A serial killer threatened to wear my skin as a cloak!”

Lynn stepped toward the table; Audrey rose from it. The two linked arms and started dancing in a circle and laughed all the while, feeling weights being lifted off their shoulders. Lynn saw the way captured Dawes gangsters cried out when the State Police captured them; she saw Reed in her bandages and casts after being nearly killed in a sewer.

Who really wants to fight and battle after seeing friends and innocents get hurt? Who really wants to be a soldier?

The Tree Plot has to work. We need to use peaceful methods to establish peace. Otherwise...

Lynn pushed that thought of her head. “No more philosophical questions!”

“No more moral dilemmas!” Audrey repeated. “Just an adventure!”

“Just planting a tree!”

“And eating lobster after!”

“Lobster! Lobster! Lobster!” Lynn cheered out. She and Audrey unhooked their arms and threw them upwards towards the ceiling.

“Plant a tree! Plant a tree! Plant a tree-”

Lynn flung the Trowel into the ceiling.