Unfortunately, Verona wasn’t able to finish reorganizing her library. Barely ten minutes later, when she was halfway through categorizing her memories of university, Shaper Mila called all of them back with a touch to the shoulder and instructed them to go to their classes. Verona exited the Room and stretched her stiff limbs one by one, deliberately lingering until the others were already gone, staring at their timepieces to work out which way to go.
She checked her schedule one more time, gesturing to bring it to the top of the interface. Yes, she did have advanced Shaping first. And if her instincts were right…
Shaper Mila glanced at Verona on her way out the door. “Come on, I have to go teach.”
Ask her now! “Do you teach advanced Shaping?” Verona blurted out. “That’s what I have right now.”
“Yes, I do, actually,” Shaper Mila said. “I can show you the way, if that’s what you were worried about.”
It wasn’t – Verona was confident that her timepiece’s directions would be sufficient – but it would be an opportunity to talk to her. Verona nodded, trying to conceal her excitement. “Yes, please.”
“Well, come on then,” Shaper Mila said, holding the door open.
Verona hurried to her side, almost knocking over a chair in the process, and fell into step with her as they walked down the hallway. She had to bite her lip to keep a flood of questions back. How could she make Shaper Mila understand that Verona was a shaper too?
Analia’s voice, unbidden, popped into her head. Just go for it! Worrywart. Verona took a deep breath. “You know, back before – all this – I was hoping for a degree in mechanical Shaping.”
Shaper Mila snorted. “Why not pick something actually useful?”
Verona felt blood rush to her cheeks. “I knew it wasn’t going to earn me a lot of money. I just really enjoy Shaping, that’s all. I wanted to understand it. And I was starting to think I was, until just now. I never imagined – “
“ – that there could be a third Room?” Shaper Mila cut in. “Neither did we. Amazing, the things the Hundred Worlds keep from us, isn’t it?”
Verona stopped short. “The government knows?”
“Of course – that’s how we found out. They’ve been keeping a lot of things secret for years. Doesn’t seem right, does it?”
The enormity of the thought silenced Verona for a minute. Of course governments kept secrets, but they weren’t supposed to hold back research. Verona had only known about the Room for an hour at best, and she could already tell it would be massively useful. What right did they have to hide that knowledge?
“If they’d stoop this low,” Verona managed, “what else could they be hiding?”
“We don’t really know. We have our spies, and useful contacts, of course, but they have to be careful not to blow their cover.”
“How did you find out about the Room?” Verona asked, surprised at how forthcoming Shaper Mila was being.
“Oh, I forgot, you haven’t been to one of the assemblies yet.”
Verona shook her head. “What are those for?”
“Oh, one of the Council members – those are our leaders – will just talk to the new recruits about things. Give you some background, explain things to you.
“Anyway, One of our leaders, Teacher Trebain Eracle, actually used to work in some top-secret department. He’s the one who discovered the Room. He had been frustrated with the government for a while, but when the Worlds Council ordered him to keep it a secret, he rebelled and started the Absolutes. He found a few other malcontents among the Nirvanists, and together they formed the Council. You’ll be learning all this in the daily assemblies.”
“That’s something I’ve been wondering about,” Verona said. “Why do we have classes at all? I understand weapons instructions, but why do we need Shaping and politics? Not that I’m complaining,” she added hurriedly. “I love Shaping. It’s just – you’re rebels, you’re supposed to be out there fighting for the cause, right?”
Shaper Mila regarded her strangely for a moment. “It’s not open warfare, though if they ever discover this planet, it will be.”
Verona absorbed this new piece of information. So they were on an undiscovered planet. How had they managed to keep that a secret? It would mean they had enough people on the inside to successfully hide the results of a space reconnoiter.
Shaper Mila stopped at a door numbered 456b. Her hand paused on the handle.
“For now, Verona, this is a war of hearts and minds.” She fixed Verona with a gaze so intense that she forgot to wonder how Shaper Mila had learned her name. “Too many young people come here thirsting for blood. But change will only truly happen when the majority decrees it, not a minority with guns. And maybe, if we’re lucky, we’ll be able to keep the casualties low.”
Sobered by the implications of Mila’s words, Verona headed to her seat. Class had already started when she thought to ask the Shaper why, if Trebain cared so much about freedom of information, he hadn’t told the Hundred Worlds about the third Room already.
End of chapter
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140,665 Literary Works • 673,584 Reviews
Whoo, looks like I've got a lot to catch up on. On behalf of Team Monkey, I can do it!
This is the only sentence that didnt make any sense to me. I thought that the Hundred Worlds was basically the government, and that it was the government who first knew about the third room and the government who kept the information from the general populace. I can see now (after writing that) what you wrote to Lightsong in explanation, and clearly I was confused about the same thing as him. It's a simple thing, really: better clarify who the Hundred Worlds is.
That's all I got for recommendations!
This chapter was sooo interesting (I agree whole-heartedly with Carlito!). What's happening in Verona's life right now simply emphasizes the brilliance of this novel and the planning you've put into it. I love it! All these secrets, suddenly revealed... Of course I didn't understand the magnitude of the discovery of a "third room" before, but here I'm glad that we got to see, first-hand, Verona's amazement, being a lover of shaping herself. I really liked to see her personality shine through while she tried to talk with Shaper Mila - who I also really like, by the way. Even after seeing how brash of a character she can be, it was sweet (and relatable) to see her hesitate when trying to speak to a teacher.
I also like the doubt and worry you planted at the end. More and more, we're seeing how Verona is surprised by how the Absolutes work.
Great job!
Thanks so much!
*blushes* Trust me, in a few chapters it'll start feeling a lot less planned...
Hello again!!
Things are definitely getting interesting (not that they weren't before :p) and like I said in the previous part, I love all of the moving parts going on right now in this story. I think I'm keeping track of them all (I guess I'll find out as things keep moving forward...) and I love that you're leaving the reader guessing because that makes us keep reading!
General thoughts.
Veeeery interesting chapter. I like this teacher more now because she seems a lot more human and like she approachable and relate-able. I like that, through her, we're learning things about the world without it being a big, boring info-dump
I'm a little worried about Verona in the same way I was worried about Analia. Verona had a goal and now I feel like she's being swept along with the plot. I think she has a little more direction that Analia because at least she knows which side she's on and she's working with this group to achieve a larger, greater goal. I like that she's taking initiative with this teacher, but I would like her to take more initiative with her plot. Maybe she needs a bigger role in this movement or she needs to make another life-altering decision. I don't know, it's still early with her plot and I'm less worried about her than I am Analia, but just something to keep in the back of your mind
Specific thoughts.
The only thing I would add to this introduction, is how Verona feels. You sort of allude to it with words like "unfortunately", but I'd like a little more about how Verona feels about not being able to finish right now and having to go to class and anticipating talking to her teacher.
Love that little action detail about her nearly knocking over a chair
Now I'm assuming this is a memory of Analia's voice right and not her "Voice"? Does she feel anything or think anything when she "hears" her sister's voice again? I know Verona misses her...
I would like more information, in general, on the Hundred Worlds. It was mentioned in the other chapter too and I don't really understand what it is, but it seems important. Is this their governing body?
And I'm guessing this is going to happen at some point over the course of the story...?
Not needed. We'll see her absorbing the information through her thought processes that come next, so you don't need to set it up.
This is just seriously so interesting. Write. Faster!!
See you in the next part! Let me know if you have any questions or if anything I said was confusing!
Thank you! The Hundred Worlds is all the worlds humanity has colonized, united under a central government. It's not exacty 100 planets, but they like to call it that. The government is usually referred to as the government or the Senate.
Hey Meandbooks
Happy review day!
I can’t find if I have reviewed any of shaping faith yet but I having been following it as it has come out. Do you mind adding me to the list of people to tag when you release new chapters? I have been really enjoying it so far.
Verona strikes me as the sort of person who would be frustrated and impatient with the tantalising new information, but not quite enough of it to satisfy her curiosity, especially when interrupted. It felt odd to me this emotion was missing as it would be what I would feel.
I think it is fantastic how you are revealing you world to us without any info dumps the idea of the rooms is great and your characters are well differentiated. The twins obviously have different reactions and defined personalities and you switch between them really well.
I honestly can’t find anything to pick on. I love Shaper millers comment “For now, Verona, this is a war of hearts and minds. Too many young people come here thirsting for blood. But change will only truly happen when the majority decrees it, not a minority with guns. And maybe, if we’re lucky, we’ll be able to keep the casualties low.”
It makes me belive that the rebel group is 'good'.
Looking forward to reading more, Ferran
Thank you for the review! I'm so glad you're enjoying it, and I will start tagging you.
Hey, Happy Review Day! I'm here to review.
Anyway, I would like to save Chapter Nine and Ten are by far my favourite chapters (I might or might not read the chapters before. >.> I've lost track :3) because they contain politics, and I like politics. It's nice when it's not all about fighting against the oppressive government. :3
I don't think you need the dashes. Here it's more to having a break rather than putting something new into the sentence, which is stil something that I think is not needed. Verona can do saying all these smoothly. It just doesn't seem natural.
Also, I wanna talk about Trebain. You said he found the Room and the government told him to keep it a secret. Was what he found not the third Room? I'm actually a bit confused. Mila implied that the Hundred Worlds knew about the third Room and Verona at the end wondered why Trebain didn't tell Hundred Worlds about it. Was it possible that Trebain did told the government about it, and not to the people in general? This is the only way I can see it makes sense.
Okay, other than that, I'm going to echo how intrigue I am about the society and the government in this world in general. I think there's a bigger things that are kept hidden the readers by now, and I'm definitely hooked up by it! I forget what the Third Room really is, so I'm going to reread previous chapters to know about it since I've the sense that it's going to play a crucial part in here. Verona's being observant too, which is an awesome trait for her. :3
Keep it up!
Thank you for the review!
)
And it was the Third Room he found. The government wanted it kept secret because reasons. (Which you may or may not find out later.
You're welcome. :3
Can you explain this part then?
She's wondering why, now that Trebain is actively working against the government, he hasn't just told everyone about the Room by announcing it on their version of the Internet or something. ("Hundred Worlds" is referring to the planets and the general population, not the government.)
Sorry about the confusion - I'll reword that section.
Ooh, I see. Now that makes things interesting. Thanks for the explanation!