After the ceremony, a massive parade of newly anointed citizens of the Empire is seen walking in droves. They came from the Grand Armory where their citizenship ascension was held. The citadel was just across a busy road, where a congestion of fancy horse-drawn carriages was stuck in a standstill because of the foot traffic caused by those who didn't have animal transport of their own.
"Come on, move it!" a driver shouted at a family crossing the street. The driver followed them with his cold gaze, gritting his teeth with such scorn.
The family appeared to be former slaves, wearing only plain clothing, and had a humble look on their faces. Their fifteen-year-old daughter was leading them, with the rest of her family following.
"Statlicker!" the driver blurted loudly.
The family's daughter glanced back, brows furrowed, but she was held back by an older man from her pack, possibly her father. He appeared to have scars all over his wrinkly face, a lasting remembrance of the maltreatment. He looked at her with his longing eyes. He knew they were free now, but the scars of their past would forever mark them with prejudice. The daughter sighed then they walked away from the scene.
Statlicker. It sounded weird to Jonas. He heard it once before from Adolf, but never knew what it meant. He only recalls when the young master used it. It was a fairly normal day at Geisfort when a noble family from a neighboring land came to visit Lord Hans Geisler. The patriarch of that said family was a fellow mage from the last crusade. Jonas could still remember how Adolf kept telling him that they were a family of statlickers. Jonas couldn't care less to know what it meant since he was giving the fat Adolf a piggyback ride.
Thinking about it, Jonas cringed. But what unfolded in front of Jonas made him remember. Watching from the side of the road, he wondered what power that word held. He kept his eyes on his fellow newly ascended mages. He felt the glares judging from every angle, looking at their rugged hands, laughing at the sight of dirt inside their fingernails.
Suddenly, a man with a large belly wearing an ornate set of clothes bumped into Jonas and pushed him to the ground.
"Watch it, kid!" the man said, twirling his moustache. "Don't just stand there like an idiot!"
Jonas's father stepped in between his son and the man, "Forgive us, sir, won't happen again."
The man stared, "Know your place, statlicker," he said before he went on his way again.
It's that word again, Jonas thought.
"Are you hurt, Jonas?" his dad helped him up.
Jonas only nodded, dusting himself off, "I am." he was deep in his thoughts.
His father could read his face; he sighed. Jonas's mother was standing behind, hands on her husband's shoulder.
"I'll look for our driver," his father said, giving Jonas a firm tap on the shoulder, leaving Jonas and his wife behind.
Oh, right. Lord Stein also gave us a carriage with our own driver. Jonas said to himself, eyes still on the ground.
The noise from the crowd and from the road occupied the silence between Jonas and his mother. He wanted to ask her about Lord Hans Geisler being his real father, but before he could even speak, his mother broke the awkwardness between them.
"It's a bad word," she said.
"Huh?" Jonas turned to her, "What is?"
"Stat and licker."
"Statlicker?"
"Don't say that," she said sharply, "I just said it's a bad word."
His mother scolded him often; he was never a spoiled or a rotten child to his parents, but the three of them were together in that wretched household they served.
"Sorry," Jonas smiled slyly, "What's that supposed to mean anyway?"
"What is?"
"Statlicker," he answered.
"For the last time, don't say that, Jonas." She looked disappointed.
"But you asked what word I was asking about!"
She puts her pointy and middle fingers' knuckles on Jonas's temple, playfully pressing on it, "Yeah. But you could've just said 'stat' and 'licker', Jonas. Those two words separate are fine, but those two together? They are bad. Very bad."
"So, why is it bad?"
His mother paused, hesitated to explain. But, in the end, she figured Jonas was old enough to know about the complicated hierarchy of the Empire.
She sighed, "When lowborn slaves are elevated, usually from the benefits of an awakened slave child, people with higher status get nervous, or sometimes they just don't like it."
"Why?"
She gave a half smile, lips lifted on one side, "That's just reality, Jonas. People who lived their lives in excess do not like to share the gifts they have or could have with people they deem unworthy of them."
"You said ascended mages from lowborb families, what if someone from higher up had a child with no affinity? Do they sell them off like slaves?"
"Children with no affinity from elite families remain free. That's how the Empire has freeborn workers."
"So, we slaves need to ascend, but those on the top don't get to descend?"
Some people walking by gave glances, and some had their ears twitched by what Jonas said.
She noticed and put a hand on Jonas's cheek, "Use your inside voice, my dear child."
Jonas huffed, "It's unfair."
"It is. It is unfair, Jonas. This is the world we are born into. This world is unfair to people like us. People like us don't get a say on the system that governs the land we plow. Fortunately, the divine system governing the magical realm in which we live grants us power equally. With affinities, we get to say what we want to say; it just takes one moment to seize the opportunity to do so. Jonas, I may not know what magic you hold, but what will you do to change the system?"
"Whoa," he said, longingly staring at his mother with such surprise. He never heard her sound so serious before. Hearing her speak something profound made him lose the anger he felt earlier.
"Jonas, we make do with what we have until the right moment. You'll see."
"Mother," Jonas said, but he took a while to continue, "What—"
A carriage with silver embossed decorations stopped in front of them, and the door swung open. Inside was his father, excitedly waving for them.
"Your chariot awaits, my beloved!" he shouted playfully, offering his hands to his wife. People passing by stared with amusement.
"Oh!" Jonas's mother said, "What a handsome chaperone!" She joined in with the fun and accepted his hands, gently assisting her to step inside.
Jonas felt embarrassed. There were snickers and giggles behind him.
"You, too, son, come now," his father gestures for Jonas to come.
Jonas groans, but he has no choice but to go inside the carriage.
"Let's go home," his father said before closing the door.