Bribeaux hundreds of years ago was very different. Children didn't need to go to school, only the richest could afford tutoring for their children. Mostly, those pre-adult spent their days getting in the way, trying to be quiet, or laboring in unsafe conditions until they lost a limb. Thierry Chartrain had been intended to learn the family craft, whatever it was. (No one bothered to remember centuries later.) He hated the idea of being tied to the family business for the rest of his life, and ran off to the city, to join other urchins in thieving and letting their hair get shaggy. It wasn't that hard, in some ways. Gangs of young teenagers could hunt about like packs of animals, and food was plenty in this time before the revolt. Perhaps it was worse though, than if they had to spend their days scrounging for food. There was so much trouble to be gotten into...

     It took several horrifying seconds before Thierry remembered he could look away. His limbs had turned to piles of pudding by the horror, but he had to escape from the screaming and laughing. The lattice work that had proved so easy to climb, seemed so much more difficult going the other way. That screaming too, didn't help. This time of night, it wasn't an uncommon sound. Crime, of course, but also the scarcity of entertainment for those with money.