"That's an odd but interesting question," she says, tapping the armrest of her chair as she thinks about it. "There's one thing that immediately comes to mind."
She pulls over one of the bins on the floor and pops it open to pull out a selection of photos and illustrations. She spreads out, from left to right, an illustration labeled "Abenaki tribe," a black and white photo of a group of lobstermen, and a photo of quarry workers that has "1891" written on it. "What do these all have in common?"
You look up at her to see if she actually wants an answer, but she goes ahead and explains.
"Arbor Isle exists because people keep taking what they want from the area regardless of the consequences. English settlers brought destruction and sickness to the Abenaki people who lived here when they arrived. They farmed the land until it could no longer yield crops because the soil was so depleted. For the past few decades, the lobster population has been getting depleted as well, not to mention the issue of endangered whales being caught in fishing nets all around here. The quarry isn't what it used to be, but it's still been a cause for deforestation and pollution over on Echo Island, which is essentially an extension of Arbor Isle."
"You're saying the people of Arbor Isle keep draining the region of resources and have generally been terrible for this place ever since they got here," you say.
"More or less," she replies.
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