Gillian liked to imagine that it was a gold-plated gong, like the ones that graced the temples of the mountain tribes within the pages of her mother's books. But she was in the town hall, not a temple, and instead of hundreds of shaved heads and robes occupying the seats before her, there were only three dirty faces. But curious eyes peered out from the dirt, and that was all that mattered.

"We gather here today to discuss the essential questions of the universe. But where does one start when given infinity? I say we begin with the hierarchy of the magician society. Who controls who? How is status determined? Does the Queen's Shadow have a say in the Queen's decisions? Begin!" Gillian banged the ladle against the pot once again, then helped the trio of teenagers up onto the stage with her. They gathered in a circle, sitting criss-cross on the splintered wooden planks.

They called their weekly meetings the Discussion Group to sound official, but in reality they were just four bored teenagers whose school had been burned to ashes by the magician queen's soldiers and whose parents gave them time off from work on weekends. They were too old to play kid games and too young to have any say in actual town hall meetings, so Gillian had decided to hold meetings of her own.

"The soldiers are the lowest on the ladder, I bet. I've only ever seen them do little tricks with their magic to scare people. Nothing that actually does any damage. Why else would they have to learn to swordfight?" Chess scratched a black mark on her face as she spoke, spreading the smudge to her ear. Her father was a blacksmith – the only one in town – so she was practically a living chimney from the soot.

Gillian nodded. "Makes sense. So soldiers at the bottom, then what?"

"I bet the teachers are next. The ones that the soldiers bring kids to when they find out they have magic." Sonia paused, melancholy for a moment. Gillian and the others knew she was thinking about her older brother, taken away before she was born after he had shoved a soldier without touching him. "Nobody with strong magic would become a teacher. Teaching is just talking, no powers needed."

"I don't know, have you ever tried to make a kid sit still? A little magic intimidation would definitely be useful there." Mirko laughed.

Sonia's expression remained glum, so Gillian pressed onward, "After the soldiers and the teachers, there has to be some kind of aristocratic hierarchy. It could be based on strength, but since most magicians don't have the same powers I don't know how they would compare their strengths. Or it could be based on popularity." The others nodded, deep in thought.

"What about the Queen's Shadow?" Chess interjected. She leaned forward, propping her chin on a soot-blackened hand. "He doesn't have any powers. Some soldiers came into my dad's shop last week to pick up some daggers and they said he was magic-resistant. Like his power is that nobody else's powers affect him."

Mirko whistled. "Damn, I'd love to have that power. Nobody can hurt you."

"Maybe that's why he's so high-up. He's too dangerous to treat like a commoner since he's the only one they can't threaten. Maybe it's a fear-based hierarchy," Sonia said.

Gillian nodded along with them. "Whatever it may be, we can never really know unless we see the magicians for ourselves." The others looked up, their gazes asking the same unspoken question.

Gillian continued, "I think the Discussion Group should go on a field trip to the royal city. Obviously, we can't go around asking the magicians how their government runs or we'll get arrested. But I have a plan."

They all leaned in, huddled in the center of an empty town hall with their patchwork clothing and dirt-mottled hair. They didn't know it yet, but they were revolutionaries, and information was their secret weapon.

~