Turning the Storm by Naomi Kritzer

the wasteland—or something—and their main grudge is against the Circle.”
    “And there are the songs,” Ulisse said. He looked at me. “Daniele? How much in those songs is true?”
    I shook my head. “Pluma isn't in the wasteland,” I said. “I don't know
that
much …”
    “If you think about it,” Valentino said, “magery has been used for
centuries
, for
thousands
of years. Why would it cause a famine
now
? And if it was going to cause trouble anywhere, why wouldn't Cuore be affected?”
    “Only one thousand years, and it wasn't until recently that the strongest magery has been used,” Ulisse said. “The last war was particularly intense. And
no one
makes anything like magefire in the skies over Cuore.”
    “Are you saying you believe the songs?” Valentino asked.
    “No,” Ulisse said, in perfectly even tones. “Of course I don't believe them; of course none of us believe them. So, Daniele. You were going to tell us what
you
know.”
    “Some time back the Circle sent soldiers to keep the displaced farmers in the wasteland from migrating north,” I said. This was common knowledge in Verdia, but Valentino looked surprised.
    “Are you sure that was why they were sent?” Valentino asked. “Maybe there was another threat from Vesuvia …”
    Ulisse snorted. “Vesuvia is in no position to threaten us anymore—if they ever were.”
    I wondered if he knew something about conditions in Vesuvia that I didn't. “What are you saying?”
    Ulisse shrugged. “I'm just saying that maybe the war wasn't fought for the reasons we're all supposed to believe.” I knew that was true; Lucia had told me that the war was fought over a perfume ingredient, and they'd told us otherwise at the time. “Anyway, Daniele, go on. The Circle sent soldiers.”
    “Right. We actually knew it couldn't be for a new war, because there were no mages with them; they couldn't have been planning to challenge the Vesuviano Circle. Refugees who tried to go north past the soldiers—well, some were killed. Others were rounded up and taken somewhere, no one was quite sure where. According to what I've heard, they were taken to camps near the border with Vesuvia and enslaved.”
    “That's illegal,” Valentino said. “Who was enslaving them?”
    “The soldiers,” I said, “on the orders of the Circle. The Circle wanted the prisoners to build a wall along the entire border with Vesuvia, since the border can't be defended magically anymore. You know—and this is something I've heard on very good authority— magery doesn't work in the wasteland.”
    “We'd heard that,” Ulisse said, “though the Fedeli still deny it.”
    “Well, it's true.” I paused for a moment, then went on. “That's where the uprising started, those camps. And that's what the Lupi did for most of the summer— they freed the camps. Then just as the summer was ending, we heard they were heading north. Then almost immediately after that, we heard that mages had destroyed their army and they'd retreated to the wasteland. Then I came north; that's all I know.”
    “Well, it sounds like we don't have anything toworry about, in any case,” Valentino said. “It made me
more
nervous that no one was talking about it, you know? Like, there must be something we
should
be worrying about.”
    “Worry about Sura,” Quirino said. “Or Signora Clara.”
    “Do you know any more of those songs?” Ulisse said.
    “I know them all,” I said. “If you want to know the truth, I kind of liked them.”
    Ulisse hummed the tunes quietly, and it turned out he knew them all, as well. He even had them memorized. I was impressed, as he wasn't a musician. “Ulisse's got a crush,” Quirino explained.
    Ulisse turned bright red. “That's not true.”
    “Oh really? When was the last time you flirted with a lady and
didn't
compare her to the mythical Eliana? Could it be, say, a couple of months ago? Maybe before you ever
heard
the songs? Give it
up
, Ulisse; she's probably