Drip-Fed

The City of the Wastes had been built at a spot where light volcanic activity heated the bedrock up enough that the layers of ice above it had thinned to the point of near non-existence. Originally, it had just been a supply hub, used to aid adventurers and nobles after their journey from Cold Embrace down to Icebreaker Hold.

It had grown over time primarily due to an influx of the human population. The Yuki-Onna reigned in the east, holding all but the uppermost positions of honour around the great lake, and in the west, similarly holding all but the rulership positions of the Sleephold. The ice ladies were content using their positions as large landowners and their charms as graceful women to extract from the ruling dark elves what they needed.

The dark elves, in turn, lived out the purpose of this Leaf, using the mild resistances and manipulations of the Yuki-Onnas to train their political instincts for the day they would have to govern more troublesome populations. It was a harmonious arrangement in which one benefitted from remaining subservient and the other repaid that calm nature by honouring ancient agreements. Truly, the ice women knew exactly how to wield political influence far outweighing their diminutive population size. Many a dark elf that learned to govern on this Leaf left with a Yuki-Onna as a wife or a concubine.

The humans put a bit of a wrench in that arrangement.

Humans were short-lived, compared to elves and Yuki-Onnas. At 70 to 100 years of life expectancy, a human could be born and die in the period one of the elves was trained on this Leaf. This effectively locked them out of the levers of power. They simply did not have the time to build up the same degree of relations that the nobles had. It was not direct disenfranchisement, for the dark elves bore no ill will towards the humans. It was simply an emergent reality of their biological differences.

A difference humans usually overcame through their greater numbers. Humans benefited from much greater fertility, a typical manifestation of divine principles. The longer they lived, the lower the fertility of the species. That was the guideline that the gods enforced on each other, lest the Omniverse be overrun by a species crafted to be too powerful.

On Yukana, this was not a feasible option. Sustaining a large population in the forever winter was borderline impossible. The world wasn’t big enough for it either. Whenever the population of humans or other species of a regular lifespan reached a concerning level, the pressure released itself through a decade or two of frequent exoduses. Easier to move to the capital of the Sleeping Empire than stay in this frigid world.

Though this released the population pressure, it did not fix other problems those that stayed had. Over the centuries of the Leaf’s existence, the humans had elected to solve their problem of a lack of representation by coalescing into one spot, to be with their kin. That was how the City of the Wastes gradually swelled in size. The nearby tundra and taiga provided enough game for a moderately sized population and enough wood to build structures that took advantage of the heat radiating from below.

Alas, with that success came a sense of entitlement. In a small crisis about 130 years ago, the City of the Wastes produced a series of subversive or openly hostile elements that lashed out against the rule of the dark elves. They laid siege to the Icebreaker Hold and attempted to limit the Eternal Timber dungeon to Adventurers of regular lifespan. An ‘equalising privilege’, they had framed it as.

The rebellion got crushed by disgruntled Adventurers and the local nobility. Since then, a dark elf overseer was part of the politics of the City of the Wastes. Though it was still an almost entirely human city, its politics were now under supervision. Another way for the new crop of nobles to learn.

“That’s the long of it,” Yuzuki finished up her explanation, just as the quartet plus one stepped into the city bounds.

Apexus found it to be a charming place, visually. The streets were exposed bedrock, the gaps filled with gravel to make for mostly consistent flooring. The dominant variety of housing was the log cabin with slanted, slate roofs. Bone decorations, particularly skulls, were common. The slime considered that wasteful, but he knew humans couldn’t digest big bones like that.

“I expected you to advocate for a stealthy approach,” Reysha remarked. “I shouldn’t be surprised though. You’re a daring one.”

Yuzuki cleared her throat, leaving everyone besides her and Reysha a tad confused. They had been so engaged in their lovemaking that they had not caught the Yuki-Onna in her self-care activities last night. Reysha had even made sure to make up an excuse to close the doors.

“There is nothing here that I need you to see covertly,” Yuzuki responded. “Follow me, I will show you around.”

They walked deeper into the city. It was, thoroughly, human dominated. There were some halflings and various beastkins around, but they did not make up more than a tenth of the population combined. Dark elves, they saw none. The overseer of the city hadn’t returned yet from the ball held in honour of the Inevitable party.

Where that overseer would stay was clear though. A tall stone structure had been erected with greater care in the city’s centre. It was surrounded by tall walls, a fundamental statement about why the overseer was there in the first place.

Guards posted by the entrance looked at them with raised eyebrows, but let them pass. Yuki-Onna were rare enough in these parts that they accepted Yuzuki’s presence alone as a sign of permission. The way the noble lady walked reflected her upbringing. Even during her time as an Adventurer, she had never once stopped being an aristocrat.

The ice lady made for a striking image at every turn anyhow. In her light clothing, she stood out immensely. Where everyone else had to rely on furs to keep warm, the cold was her element and she used it and her yukata to show off her curves, much to the pleasure of the quartet that walked behind her.

They entered the building, then went to the uppermost layer of the tower. From there, they could see the entirety of this city with all of the 10’000 souls that inhabited it.

“See that?” Yuzuki asked and pointed towards the western segment of the city.

At first, the group did not spot it. After a little while, they managed to make out what was talked about. The log cabins in that area were newer, differentiated from the rest by the colour of the wood and differences in the building methods, resulting in a subtly different style.

“That’s where a fire burned away a solid chunk of the city 10 years ago,” Yuzuki informed them. “The incident was pinned on the overseer, the following relief efforts not accredited to him despite using his personal funds to do what the mayor would not get underway. I wish to illustrate a simple point: some people are not oppressed; they are merely ungrateful towards the reality of their situation.”

“That is the familiar thesis,” Apexus stated. Variations of this had been told to him every step along the way. Previous experiences had shown him both the unfairness of entrenched ruling classes and cruelty that the liberated could be capable of. “I make no naïve assumptions that the governed nor the governing are always right.”

“I did not mean to suggest you did.” Yuzuki flashed him a flirtatious smile. “I believe that your intellect is as girthy as your arm.”

“I attempt to be more of a man of wisdom.”

‘Fuck, he is such a dork sometimes,’ Reysha thought.

Aclysia laughed behind a raised hand. She had caught the woman’s attempt to flirt, but her darling certainly had not.

Korith was every bit as confused as Apexus was.

“The history lessons serve  to introduce the broader point,” Yuzuki moved on fluidly, like polished rock gliding over a frozen lake. “Let us proceed to the proof.”

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