Knightfall (Chapter 10)

  Jubilee sat at the table, savoring the stew.

  “I hope you will forgive my gruel.  It is only a trifle.”

  Jubilee regarded the old man.  He was a short asian man, named Ju, with a long white beard.  He was more humble than any person she had ever known.

  “No, no the stew is very, very good. Can you tell me about the Knights?”

  He smiled at her, regarding her carefully.  Lady Katherine had told Jubilee to look for him when she reached the settlement.  He was half Elysian on his mother’s side, but had never trained his Gift with the Knighthood.  Nevertheless, he had known many of the officers of the Knighthood before the Knight War. 

  “Do you know why your parents chose your namesake?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Do you know why your parents decided to name you Jubilee?”

  “Not really.”

  Well, the Knight War destroyed a large portion of the population.  Most of the major cities over the world were destroyed and those that were left were devestated.  Most of the soliders were killed in the war as well.  Most of the people that were left were techies.”

  “Techies?”

  “People with technological know-how.  The computer geeks, the lab nerds, those sorts of people.  These were also the type of people that were into science fiction and fantasy.  It didn’t matter if it was books, movies, comics, games, cartoons, anything.  That’s why alot of the settlements and people have the names that they do.  These names are taken from all sorts of places.  Your name is taken from a comic book series called X-Men.  It also later became a cartoon and a movie.  It was about people with extrodinary abilites that made them different.  These people were called mutants.  Your namesake was an Asian-American named Jubilation Lee, or Jubilee for short.  Her ability was to disrupt machinary and manipulate light and electricity.”

  “How come no one ever talks about this stuff?”

  “It has been so long that people have gotten used to it.  No one thinks about it anymore.”

  “What else can you tell me?”

  He smiled, “Get comfortable young one.  You have much to learn.”