Jack of Harts

Dawn DeMarco observed the forms of the master and servant society the Chinese built in the Hyades Cluster because she grew up on a world that lived an idealized version of the concept. It was a voluntary game to her people, but she used the skills she grew up perfecting to inhabit the role the Hyades Cluster citizens needed her to play. And she pulled the rest of us along with her. She introduced us as her compatriots, and the locals quickly put us on the same level as her. Well, maybe a step or two down. Especially when those of us who had no understanding of royal or caste systems failed to act the way we were supposed to. But the locals were surprisingly good at coaching us to correctly play the role when we deviated too far. Being taught how to play the part of a master by a servant caste learning what it was to be free was one of the more surreal dancing acts I’ve played in my entire life.