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“We have struggled long and hard together. We have sacrificed. We have done without so our neighbors would not. We have stood firm against the evils of the apocalypse and refused to allow the forces of chaos to drive us from our righteous course. We have pushed ourselves to the limits of human ability, and then broke those limits through faith in God and faith in each other.”

“Praise Jesus!” shouted a woman from the back.

“Amen!” shouted several others, included Rue. Lula clutched her hand in agreement.

“It is with elation in my soul that I can tell you that our perseverance has bore fruit. Our engineers have achieved a breakthrough at the Algiers Power Plant. A breakthrough that will finally restore electricity to the entire city!”

A collective gasp of excitement flowed over the audience. The Baron offered a summary of the plan. Phase one would launch in two months with the restoration of the power lines through the Algiers district. Once the power grid was confirmed for Algiers, the efforts would expand to each district until the entire city had power. The Baron estimated that the complete project would take five years. He then asked Chevalier du Os to explain the process in detail.

Rue’s mind was racing. Electricity! It sounded like a fantasy. No more burning candles for light at night or having to fill a generator to operate the water purifier. In five years or less, she’d be able to flip a switch just like in the days before the war.

Hank would find fault. He always found fault with Baron Samedi. Hank took a disliking to the Baron the first day he saw him. Said the Baron was up to no good and would turn Nola into his own little dictatorship. And each time the Zombi Court announced a new initiative, Hank would go on about how it would fail or turn out to be bad. And the more times the Baron proved Hank’s suspicions wrong, the worse Hank’s hatred grew.

Rue always suspected Hank just hated on Samedi because his brother had been killed by ferals, and the Baron being a zombie himself reminded him of that. But it wasn’t Christian to hate on people just for sharing the same affliction as those who did something wrong. Even the Voodoo Queen, for all her venom-spitting in the Baron’s direction, still respected his good works for Nola. Rue supposed Lady Rae just put on airs to keep Samedi on his toes. Way he gave as well as he took from her; it wouldn’t surprise Rue if there wasn’t in fact some affection between them even with him being a zombie. Stranger things have happened.

Joseph bought them all sweetened drinks from a street vendor after the session ended. It was close to midnight by the time they left the courthouse, but lots of folks stayed in the street socializing and buzzing with excitement about what had happened.

“You know, Ms. Rue, Mr. Hank could profit from this if he up for it,” said Joseph.

“He ain’t gonna look for no work at the power plant.”

“No, no. I mean a man of his skills could scav up all those old appliances that got left behind and that nobody ever bothered with all these years for want of electricity. I didn’t see no for any other scavengers in the assembly, so word will be slow reaching them.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea!” said Lula. “Hank could go find all those things maybe even still in the boxes, and you could sell them for a fortune to people!”

“Archmage Hex paid a man $200 for a microwave oven, and it needed additional repair for it to work. Imagine what people will pay for working ones don’t need no repairs once power is restored.”

Rue nodded in agreement, but then tilted her head in confusion. “Why your Archmage be needed a microwave? Amount of fuel it take to run a generator to power it just as for cook on a fire.”

Joseph looked around for eavesdroppers before leaning in to Rue. “We’ve had electricity at the Circle for the last year.”

Lula slapped her son on the shoulder. “You ain’t told me that!”

“I’m telling you now!” He rubbed his shoulder. “Ain’t known yet. Archmage want to keep it that way until we’re for sure it’s stable.”

“How you all get electricity? Ain’t none of you engineers, are you?” asked Rue.

“Engineers? No, ma’am. But we have alchemists been working on a special generator that don’t need fuel. Runs on crystals.”

“Oh hush your mouth!” said Lula. “Now you are telling stories.”

“Mama! You gonna say something like that before Ms. Rue knowing what you’ve seen? Besides, it ain’t all that strange. A quartz battery is made from a tiny little quartz crystal. Same principle just on a bigger scale is all. So far, the generator’s been stable enough to power lights inside so as no need for oil lamps and candles. You know this been a concern for the Archmage after that fire few years back damaged a bunch of books. And we’ve been doing more and more with it to see how much power it can output. Archmage got big plans.”

“And what you all gonna due with this crystal generator?” asked Rue.

“Well, Archmage is hoping we can get enough power make Bywater its own local water purifier, so we don’t has to wait on the Court and all. We know the Baron means to get around to citywide plumbing on day, but one day is a long ways off. So the Archmage, he got to figuring be good to take care our neighbors while we wait.”

“Well bless his heart,” said Lula. “But… this probably ain’t the time… but don’t you just…” she waves her hands around wildly as it casting a spell.

“Mama, hush.” Joseph looked around again, and then motioned for them to start walking home. “Ms. Rue don’t want to be hearing this.”

“No, it’s fine,” said Rue. “I was sort of wondering what you meant before ‘bout conjuring water.”

Joseph took Rue’s hand in his and gently squeezed it. “Ms. Rue, I know you been disapproving of me practicing magic. But as I explained to mama, magic just another talent. Like being able to do math without needing for scratch paper or running fast or being able to lift heavy things. Or like getting an old power plant up and running, like they doing now. Talents are just talents. It’s what you do with them decide whether it’s good or bad.”

Rue nodded. “Well true that I suppose.”

“He just conjure a tub full of water at a time,” added Lula. “He ain’t Moses parting the Red Sea.”

“Still, a tub full of water out of nothing is something!”

“That’s how I been taking care of mama. I conjure water then sell it to folks in Bywater. It’s good for everyone ‘cause I sell it for less than the market in the Quarter, and folks don’t have to go out their way to get it. But I can only conjure so much a day before I start to tire. Otherwise, I’d probably just give it away for free.”

“If you working, even if it’s conjuring, you should be paid,” said Rue.

“That’s kind of you, Ms. Rue. Very kind. Archmage doesn’t like the idea of charging people for something they need to survive, but he understand that when something hard to get those that got it need to make something for it. But that’s why he hopes to get a purifier up and running. We got so much water up and around here in Bywater but it just needs cleaning. If we can clean it all nobody ‘round here ever need to pay money for water again.”

“And too that be helping the whole city, ‘cause if Bywater is self-sufficient then Baron don’t need to put resources into it and can help others quicker,” added Lula. “That’s a fine thing he’s doing. A fine thing.”

“Lawd, child. Lawd,” said Rue. “You need be apologizing to that man for me, seeing how I had so many bad thoughts about him.”

“Oh, never you mind that, Ms. Rue. Archmage Dex got himself a thick skin and don’t worry none what people think in the privacy of their own heads.”

“Just the same, you let him know I said he doing God’s work.”