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"First famine set in, followed alelina now, not needing my book; this was the part we’d been told countless ti heavier, and even though she still listened, I knew she was growing sleepy "This was the turning point for Ludania," I whispered against her cheek "Dissatisfaction over the new regireat Bodies overfilled cemeteries, and as the surplus of dead had to be burned, they created black clouds that choked the countryside The people called for another uprising of sorts, a call back to the regents of their past

"Only there were none They had all been sacrificed at the altar of a revolution" I spoke the last words slowly, quietly, as Angelina’s eyes fluttered, succu, at last, to sleep

It didn’t matter; she kne it ended We all knew

The other countries were petitioned by covert factions who sought to overthrow the new "democracies," and spies were sent forth to look for those of royal lineage closely related to that of the old throne

We needed a new leader We had to have a queen

Eventually, one was found One illing to take her place on the throne and lead our country off its own path of self-destruction

She was a strong wo When her forces arrived, easily overtaking the coovernment, she showed mercy to her predecessors only in that they were killed as privately and as painlessly as possible

A queen that powerful was easily accepted by thecountries, and soon sanctions were lifted, trade and communication were re-established The people of Ludania had food once more

That hen the class systee future uprisings, to keep people living apart so ideas of rebellion could not be coe becaal to speak--or even to acknowledge--another class’s language It was a way to keep secrets, a way to exert power and control over those ereless

That had been centuries ago--back when cities had naed, both the class systeer now than ever before

Words had become the ultimate barrier The lawother than our birth tongue or Englaise Anyone who showed any aptitude toward language was executed Persecution kept anyone else fro

After hundreds of years, the ability to decipher the words of another class had been lost, e other than our own We’d becon dialects

Yet even if everyone were equal, I would still be on the outside, because I understood all languages And my ability didn’t end with the spoken word I could decipher allthose that were visual or tactile

My father had once taken me to a round during the Revolution, and he’d shown me the way the world had once been, the way our country had once lived as a single unified nation Maybe not always at peace, but not divided into a caste systes that had once been used as a form of communication by ancient civilizationsartfully crafted sketchings that our tour guide explained had been translated by scholars into Englaise