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New Orleans, January, the forty-eighth year of the Kurian Order: Forlorious in its decay, under the New Order the city transfored corpse Much of the Big Easy rots under a meter of Mississippi River water-save for the old city's heart, now protected by two layers of dikes The rococo facades of the French Quarter, once browning into a fine patina, fall to pieces in quiet, unreat antebellum periods, pre-1861 and pre-2022, have vanished under a carpet of lush kudzu or riverside saw grass As if the flooding and years of neglect were not enough punishment, New Orleans suffered a major hurricane in 2028: a titanic stor monster in a Japanese movie No FEMA, no insurance companies showed up afterwards to clean and repair the storm-battered city What was destroyed stayed destroyed; the inhabitants found it easier to shift to still-standing buildings than to rebuild

But the mouth of the Mississippi is too important, even to the reduced traffic of the Kurian Order, to be given up entirely to nature The metropolis, both the section behind the dike and the Venice-like portions of the flooded districts, still support a e of denizens fro those living a the lakes, bayous, and in the Mississippi estuary, New Orleans boasts a population of over two million-a total that few other cities known to the Old World can ame of the swamps, and mile after mile of rice plantations feed the masses concentrated at the sodden bend in the river

The Kurian Order encourages fecund populations A Kurian lord h vital aura, for only in feeding on the energy created by the death throes of a sentient being can he revitalize his irets about its silenced music, its smothered culture, its reduced cuisine, or its broken history Healthy,herds of humans, kept fro Kur, are the only form of wealth that matters

For the hu to see another year is now the paramount pursuit in a city once known for its sensual diversions

Though the Easy Street was only a waterfront dive, it was his waterfront dive, so Martin Clive took pride in every squeaky stool and chipped hts to sawdust-covered floor, he loved every brick of it

His customers, on the other hand, he could take or leave

Not that he didn't need the cows, properly milked, provided for hiht crowd as the winter rains poured down outside Safe behind the badge sewn to the money vest he seldoest bar on the dockyard district of the dike-hugging waterfront, he passed his ti up the men as they talked, smoked, and drank The feomen in his bar were there on business, not for pleasure

Clive perfected a three-step practice of evaluating custorained that he did it unconsciously Separating the "payers" froht's drink and who didn't had been second nature to Clive since before he acquired the establishents" froed, and passed the responsibility of serving out drinks and rousting the "buerthe re life span of his customers

Clive looked at a bent longshore of cheap beer at his lips The man had drunk, shts a week for the past ten years Clive had watched hiut alcohol, and bad diet If the longshore handing over kickbacks out of his wages, he could probably spin out astwo seats down from him, a merchant sailor drank plain coffee, sixty if he was a day, dye rubbed into his hair to darken it in an effort to look younger Soon no captain would hire hiht be He was due for the last dance within a year or two On the next stool, a boy kept an affectionate eye on the aged sailor, perhaps a relative, perhaps just a shipmate The boy did not drink either, and with hard work and a clean nose could expect to live another fifty years as long as he kept indoors after nightfall

Over at a war officer drank with three of his ent," to the point where Clive bothered to name him The officer was "the Major" to Clive, and the Major always ordered a good bottle and never complained about the cheap whiskey substituted inside That made him a fine payer The Major and his enthood They wore the reen uniform of the Carbineers, one of the horsed troops of paramilitary Cossacks who kept civil order and patrolled the streets of New Orleans

Maybe in other city establishht around, took food and drink without paying, and had his uniform silence objections But not in the Easy Street Clive had friends at the top of the city's food chain

Clive learned in his youth that if you were in good with Kur, you could thumb your nose at the Port Authority, the Transport Office, even the police and e, he bid for ownership of theon in the bar that Kur wouldn't like, and he picked up the phone Clive wore his third ten-year badge on his chest, not due to expire for six e put hiry Hoods- well, ht him peace of mind that muzzled any protest from his conscience

The inner door of the entry vestibule opened, and Clive heard the wind and splatter of the rain pouring down outside in thethe outer portal shut Clive liked the rain It drove custoutters

A stranger stood silhouetted in the door

The man didn't remove his raincoat Clive took a closer look A coat could conceal any number of unpleasant accoutrelimpse of uniform under the coat's heavy lapels The flash of navy blue and brass buttons revealed the stranger as a Coastal Marine Froh ed theabout his face ment on whether this man would be trouble or not