She set the pace just a little slower on the way back. It gave Ezra and Heather time to trade part of the miner’s lettuce for part of the dandelion greens to make a mixed salad; Danielle added her greens to Heather’s bag as well. Tentative plans were made for everyone willing to try out brain tanning on the squirrel hides the next afternoon, and they were able to confirm their pit from the first attempt was still there in the ruins (and show the boys where it was). Then they got back to camp, Sadie stashed her nutria in Tom’s cold box “just for overnight,” and everyone went to their rooms to get their chosen food for dinner.

  The SHAD party girls split the last of their older, sliced nutria meat and the salad. The discussion as they ate quickly in 6024 was about whether the party should be more serious about everyone keeping what they caught now, or whether they should get the guys sharing out their meat the way the five girls had been so far. Danielle thought they should probably share out all the food evenly when they were hunting together, as they had been that day; she also wanted the boys in on that discussion, however. They didn’t have time to resolve the issue before Danielle had wolfed down her share of the meal and re-infused Flash Shield into her staff. Akari rolled up her last slice of meat in some salad leaves and followed her out the door.

  The rest of the evening passed in a blur. They were the last ones back, so the Organizer’s Council reconvened as soon as the SHAD party members who were also Organizers got back from clearing their snares. Together, they met and voted on everyone else who wanted to join the Shade Tree Society, first in hunting party groups, then in batches of ten. There weren’t any requirements at that point except that the prospective member was willing to abide by the charter, and the System figured out after the fourth batch that they were always voting the same, and stopped giving them individual polls for each person; instead, it listed everyone in a batch, and changed the choices to “Accept / Reject / Split list.”

  The only time they didn’t take everyone who came to request membership was when Granite showed up in a group of ten. “Weren’t you passionately trying to convince Zephyr to join another party right before we voted on the name and charter?” Danielle asked him.

  “He sure was,” Zephyr confirmed.

  “I, um, changed my mind?” Granite said, either uncertainly or as a terrible attempt at a lie.

  “What convinced you that the Shade Tree Society is better than the Six Elements Legal Party?” Zephyr asked.

  Granite stood there, silently turning red for at least thirty seconds, then finally said, “Never mind,” and simply left.

  Zephyr sighed. “I wonder if they’re all doing this to each other, or just to us?”

  “Don’t worry about it too much,” Danielle said. “We don’t have any secrets for them to steal right now anyway.”

  All told, they accepted 272 Welcome Members, for a total membership of 286. “I almost literally can’t believe this,” Peter said. “This is practically one in every four people in camp!”

  “I guess the ‘army’ head-cases scared a lot of people, and then we got noticed somehow,” Danielle said. “It’s still kind of mind-blowing.”

  “Oh, I found out part of that,” Sara Wheatley said. “I went to see if I could catch up with some of my old student council friends during the dinner break, and found two other parties out behind other buildings, holding their own meetings. Word is the rest went earlier, so some people have been behind every building in camp in the last 24 hours, talking or at least listening to people talk about how the town should be. Our party brings the total up to seven, now. Well, five, and the two so-called armies.”

  “I spent most of the hour mingling,” Arabella Klein began. “I think part of the reason we got so much membership is that we went practically last, and we specifically answered some of the biggest worries. The other really big party is the Systemist one, and people are worried about them. There’s a Christian equivalent actually calling themselves the Theocratic Party, and they’re worrying people almost as much, except they’re smaller. The alternatives, though, are the armies, the Safety in Order nutjobs that want to make laws for absolutely everything, and a group calling themselves the Intelligent Authority Selection party whose main idea is to identify the home-tutoring people and vote for them on the theory that they’re better educated than the rest of us.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “I guess I can see how a big chunk of the camp would find us the least scary option if those are the alternatives,” Lucy said. “People must be pretty divided over it though, or there would’ve been more hunting party leaders here.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Peter replied. “We said only groups of four or more counted, and there are a lot of twos and threes out there.”

  “That’s true, but it’s also true that some parties are divided,” Rillian said. “My hunting party has eight people, and only five of us finally joined. Two more are in Six Elements Legal, and the last one might’ve gone to join that last group with the long name. Sorry to say it, Zephyr, but there are some people out there who think making you a leader isn’t, um, very intelligent.”

  Zephyr snorted. “I don’t blame ‘em,” he said. “Most of my ‘youth leadership’ activities so far have consisted of wasting people’s time or sulking uselessly in the furthest corner I could find – mostly because I get forced into it against my will.”

  “This is going to be different, yes?” Tallula Rivera asked him.

  “Yeah. I volunteered for this one,” Zephyr said, “and unlike everything before we got Sent, this one might actually matter to people in the long run. I might have some bad habits to kick, but I am taking it seriously. That’s why I’m here, and not sulking in a corner of Lithios’s room.”

  “Like they’d let you,” Rillian said.

  “Let me, nothing; they tried to make me. I might have unlocked an escape artist Skill,” Zephyr said. “I’m really, really lucky Danielle was already there looking for me when I bolted.”

  Rillian raised an eyebrow at him. “Really?”

  “OK, I’m probably not really going to get an escape artist Skill for slipping out of a pair of badly tied shirts, but they seriously tried to tie me to a bed to make me stay and help them plot to rig the elections in all five buildings,” Zephyr said.

  “Well we definitely have to put a stop to that!” Arabella exclaimed. “How are they going to do it?”

  “I think we already did stop it,” Zephyr said with a grin. “Their plan relies on every Systemist in camp voting for a specific person they’re told to vote for. I think the ones that just joined the Shade Tree Society are probably not going to actually do that, though, y’know?”

  “We should figure out who our own candidates are for each building, at least,” Tallulah said. “So our people will know who they should vote for.”

  “No,” Danielle said, looking up at the sky. “We should go to bed. It’s actually dark, and that means none of us is getting a full night’s sleep as it is. Even if we already knew exactly who we wanted to endorse (ahem cough Lauren) we have no way of getting ahold of our members between now and then, and even if we could get ahold of them, we don’t want to be a party that tries to control its members that way. That’s one of the things people joined us to avoid, after all. Instead, nominate people you heard during discussion time saying intelligent things, and maybe accept nomination if they nominate you; if the Society wins seats directly that way, good. If we don’t, then we’ll talk to the people who do win and if they don’t already have a plan for core laws for the town, then we offer them ours. Oh, and all those of us who believe in praying? Pray for good leadership.”

  “Heh, you’re not worried about the System answering more efficiently than your god?” Rillian asked.

  “I am not,” Danielle said. “Even in your religious beliefs, the System is supposed to help us survive and do things better, right?”

  “Yes, and?” Rillian asked leadingly.

  “I heard Belle’s idea of a sermon, or lecture, or whatever you call it; and I just learned that Lithios thinks it’s a good idea to create leadership by tying people to beds. If the System really has a will and a method to influence an election like this? I still wouldn’t expect it to choose leaders as weak as those,” Danielle said.

  “Ouch,” Zephyr said, and made a sound-effect like something sizzling or burning.

  “What if it ends up being Zephyr and me and Tallulah and, um, Cynthia let’s say?” Rillian asked.

  “Then that’ll be a lot less scary than having it be Belle and Lithios and – is Brooke your water? I got the idea she was some kind of prominent, but I don’t actually know for sure,” Danielle said.

  “It’s Lithios for stone, Terrance for wood, Brooke for water, Ember for fire, Sirocco for wind, and Belle for metal,” Zephyr said. “Right now, anyway! Lithios is the only one who even technically qualifies, even out here, though; so it’s a race to be the first of each element to get an elevated Class. That’s part of why Brooke, Lithios, Terrance, and Belle all really want me to do things their way; Ember and Sirocco aren’t kids of Inside leadership like those four are, and they want me to replace one of them.”

  “Ah. As a member of your hunting party, I think we should talk about what you want in that regard, and how it affects your goals; but not tonight. Look, there’s the moon! It looks, um, weirdly more similar than I expected to last time I noticed it? Anyway, my point is, it’s night, and tomorrow’s a big day. Goodnight, everyone,” Danielle said.

  The last remnants of the meeting finally broke up and headed for their buildings. The fire was banked instead of put all the way out for some reason, but Danielle didn’t care as long as it was safe, and it seemed to be dealt with as far as that went. She and Akari (who was still shadowing her like a real bodyguard) made their way back to the room. She made herself shower and wash her clothes, because it was entirely possible she’d be called upon for more public speaking tomorrow (ugh). Heather sleepily assured Danielle and Akari that breakfast was prepped, and reminded them to check their mana before bed. Danielle started off her new token stash with a ten point mana token, and crawled into bed.

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