Shipwrecked - Chapter 143: Timing (Mfb ped creampie inc cousins)

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Chapter 143: Timing

I checked in on Keekah, Amy, and the babies while I carried Katie over my shoulders. She was big enough to walk on her own for very short distances, but she loved it when I carried her places. Usually, I would pause and dance with her in the air, or swing her around. She giggled and babbled syllables resembling words. Every now and then I heard, “Dada” or something similar. Katie knew a few, for sure, but she hadn't yet gotten to where the sounds coming from her mouth were well-crafted.

The new mothers were napping late in the morning, so I sat their breakfast nearby and carried Katie out to Bailey's waiting arms. She wanted to nurse, so I left my daughter after kissing my young wife. A wall in the common shelter had a crack forming, and I wanted to get a closer look at it. I headed in, but paused when I heard moaning and light grunts.

I slid back the curtain separating the shelter from the common room and saw Mie and Poln having sex. Both were nude, Mie on her back on a mattress, a pillow under her ass, Poln laying over her, his buttocks clenching and relaxing, his mouth hanging open, his eyes closed. Her hands were at her sides as the boy pumped himself into her little pussy. The thirteen-year old was watching her cousin's face as he started to grunt louder.

The boy came inside his older cousin with a grunted whimper, then strained against her body, his ass clenching tight.

He pulled off her quickly and then spotted me, a grin spreading over his face. I returned it, then Mie giggled and waved me over. Poln headed out the door.

She didn't move and flexed her open legs as if to offer me seconds.

I laughed and sank onto my knees between the young teen's thighs. My cock was still flaccid, so I stroked myself looking over her young body. Slender as she ever was, the girl had filled out somewhat over the months since her first period. Her breasts were still small but growing, dark-brown nipples tight and lovely. Her bush was now full, covering her dark genitals. A thin trail of white cum slowly leaked from her vagina.

That got me hard quickly, and I leaned over Mie, kissed her lips, then pushed my penis inside her little opening. She was tight, as always, and it took several careful strokes to open her enough to push the tip of my dick against her cervix. Poln's cum helped lube her tiny hole, and in seconds, I was rutting with the girl and kissing her as we fucked.

She'd gotten her IUD put in by Manu a few days earlier. I was no longer worried about getting her pregnant, though, I admit, the thought of my seed finding Mie's egg had been a thrilling one.

Not that I needed anything extra to enjoy the girl. She was soft and lithe. She moaned sweetly and her body quivered under me with just the right amount of motion. I held Mie's head in my hands as I started to fuck her harder, pulling her up to me as I used an elbow for support. She breathed heavily.

Mie was one of those young women who came from vaginal penetration. Maybe it wasn't only that, though, since her clit was truly positioned perfectly to get rubbed by my groin was we mated. Whatever her triggers, the girl came hard around my cock, her vagina clenching and growing very slick.

I'd churned Poln's small load into a foam around her opening, and I could feel my own seed rising up. I bucked against Mie, slipped deep into her body, her cervix stopping me from going further. I grunted into her ear, “Oh, Mie... oh, Mie... oooohhh...” My penis throbbed ropes of cum into the thirteen-year old's vagina. I buzzed as euphoria swept in and my release was intense. I shuddered with each spurt, driving myself as far inside her as I could, cumming against her cervix.

She cooed and grinned when I opened my eyes to look at her. I smiled back, then kissed her lips quickly, rolling off her to one side. “Thank you, Mie...”

“Thank you,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.

We sat a moment before I had to say, “Lots to do today...”

“I know. I'm ready,” she replied, jumping to her feet and letting the load of cum in her pussy drool down one leg as she raced out the door.

I shook my head, laughing, then shrugged to accept my good fortune. I let out a long breath, then laughed again when I realized I'd found a crack in the shelter room, but not the one I'd been expecting to address.

- - -

I was down to the East a ways to defecate and clear my bladder, thinking about the future. There was an old Whitney Houston song which declared that children were our future. In many ways, that held true on Phoenix. We had four little ones, as well as Mie and Poln. In most places, you could count amongst the children Bailey, Keekah, Tila, Tika, Kylana, and Hunamu, even Amy and Hakee in many cultures. But that group consisted of adults here. Bailey, Keekah, and Amy were mothers. Hakee was eighteen. The twins and their siblings had taken part in many adult things, including intimacy and community discussions. And Mie and Poln had become responsible young adults, despite being only thirteen and eleven, respectively.

But it was really Katie, Azure, Harry, and Hermione who held my attention. They would need us to provide for them for some years before they could contribute much, and even then, more years were needed to have them doing what Mie and Poln had done at a fairly young age. It felt like a big vulnerability, one I had to constantly account for. As I pondered both the planned newcomers and the troubling ideas Gale and I had shared regarding the cocaine, I had to take a deep breath to keep my self-doubts from bubbling up.

Would I want a world for those young ones where someone like me felt that it was alright to indulge in a dangerous drug? The answer wasn't so clean and clear. As Gale and I had discussed, we treated alcohol and marijuana as perfectly acceptable, the latter even during periods of work. Pot made passing routine, rote tasks more enjoyable, and it wasn't unusual for one or many of us to toke from a pipe or a joint while pulling in fish, or to get stoned while we put up a new building. It didn't seem a hazard at all, and so far, no one had so much as mentioned that it was worthy of concern.

Alcohol we treated a bit differently for a couple of reasons. Good alcohol, that which had been bottled somewhere far away, was in limited supply. Sure, we could make island wine, of which Tok had a dozen or more recipes, at any time, and so long as what went into it didn't significantly affect our supplies, it was readily available. But it did use those supplies, and unlike marijuana, we had no ability to make our own sugar, at least not in significant quantity. Marijuana we could grow easily and in quantity. It was effectively renewable. Alcohol was not.

Plus, alcohol did affect one's ability to think and move and perform careful actions. Putting up a building is no event which featured buzzed hands. But even then, there was no social issue with having a midday drink or an early-afternoon shot or two of rum. Moderation was the key in alcohol, and so far, we'd not had anyone take an unfair share or partake in ways which put themselves or others at risk.

Cocaine would be different, and I knew it. I'd had a friend years earlier who swore by the stuff during college. Sure, it helped him study long hours. He was pre-med, after all, and he was trying to pack in his coursework as thick as possible to get ahead. He snorted a line or two several nights a week. I'd shared a few moments with him, but never got hooked the way he had.

It only took about three months for him to act very different than before he started using so frequently. He had bizarre reactions to things, out-sized anger or frustration or joy. Then he became withdrawn, too-tightly focused on his school work. It turned into a classic burnout during our junior year of college, and I lost track of him soon after. I hope he got help, but he completely disappeared from my life.

It made it easier to think I'd be generally against what Gale and I were going to propose. I tried to keep that memory of my friend close at hand. But even so, there was always going to be that temptation, and I wondered if, when the time came, I might advocate partaking anyway.

And then my mind shifted to the Uhonamonans. I was making my way back to camp to start restacking seasoned wood for the fire which had started to lean and risked tumbling into a jumbled pile. Our scheduled call with the other island was in a few hours and I went over in my head the points we wanted to bring up about our immigration policy and the instructions we were giving those seeking to immigrate to Phoenix. The longer I had to think about it, the less comfortable I was taking them in. I'd already decided to be very strict about the terms, especially the interviews and the three-month trial period. We couldn't afford to be loose with our standards. We'd been very lucky so far with those who had come, from Uhonamona and elsewhere, but we couldn't continue to leave it to chance, especially given how many might be coming in January.

Still, we had decided, as a group, to accept the newcomers, so I didn't dwell long on my objections. It was just a matter of screening and planning at this point. So, I thought about Gale's plans for resources, and Nina's defense training. I considered where we'd put the newcomers. They would bring tents and some building supplies with them in Ekoh's boat, it was expected, but would they set up camp near the main village, or in the North? Gale insisted that in order for the optimal resource strategy to work, we needed to start on the new crop fields immediately upon the newcomers' arrival. There would still be time to plant the Fall and Winter crops if the fields were ready, but the first one, the largest one to the East of the North lake, would probably take several weeks to be available. It would be close, Gale had said, but we had to set that as a priority, even before establishing permanent housing.

It was a bit of a conundrum. I didn't know how we could have the newcomers living in tents during the Summer and Fall storm season. They'd have to take refuge in the permanent structures, which would mean lots of time spent securing tents and having makeshift beds throughout the main shelters.

If they camped North so as not to lose several hours to treking there each day from the South, it would be even more difficult. The building in the North had been greatly improved and could reasonably well accommodate ten or twelve people. But it could not hold twenty or more in addition to all the extra supplies they'd need collectively. When the storms came, and they would, frequently and ferociously, we had to have something more permanent ready to go. I made a note to discuss that with Gale as soon as possible. We had started holding a standing call with those in the North each day thirty-minutes after sunset. It gave us a chance to check in and make sure everything was okay, and it gave us time to have discussions of policy or subjects more personal, such as when Tok and Amy giggled about something cute Azure had done that day. I figured I'd bring up with Gale that we needed to reprioritize shelters for the newcomers if they were to stay North, which it seemed certain they would.

It was already approaching sunset, so I headed down to help Mie and Poln gather up the last crabs and clams while we could still see to do so.

- - -

Nina had returned from the North with some training plans she wanted taken up in the South. We'd been training a few minutes each day, mostly in finding positions in the event of an assault, based on Nina's ideas. She wanted to add more to what we trained, already having Popko up to speed and working with those North as much as they could around the field work. Nina had left to return North a couple of hours before dark, and I raised her on the radio at the scheduled time.

“We drilled a bit a little while ago,” I told Nina after I'd updated Manu on the conditions of the mothers and their new babies, “it's going to take some practice to do this stuff automatically.” The drills were difficult for us to work through, having to imagine scenarios and figure out how to take charge and direct our defense. We practiced with each person acting as the lead. We had no idea what combination of people might be around, so even Mie and Poln were given instruction in how to assume leadership. I did the best I could based on Nina's instructions, but I knew little more than those trying to learn.

“Good. Keep doing that every day. Listen,” Nina said, “any chance we might negotiate more arms from the Uhonamonans?”

It was a good question. We had thirteen firearms, all functional. Eight were semi-automatic rifles, military weapons. There were also five pistols, including the one I had claimed from the wrecked boat so long ago. Two of the rifles and one pistol were kept North, the rest mostly in the common shelter and in the main storage building, along with some ammunition in each place. It was enough, I thought, to protect those of us currently on Phoenix.

But with as many as ten new people coming to the island, we could certainly use a couple of more. “I'll bring it up. See what we can do.”

“Thanks,” Nina replied. “You wanted to talk to Gale?”

“Please.”

“Love you, Kal.”

“Love you.”

There was a shuffling sound then I heard Gale's voice. “Hello, Kal.”

“How are things in the North?” I asked.

“Good. Hard work right now, but that's how it should be,” she replied. “What's on your mind?”

“Shelters. For the newcomers.”

I heard the sigh in her tone. “I thought we'd gone over this and you'd approved the plan to prioritize the fields.”

“We did, but I've been thinking more about that. It will be storm season in just a few weeks. How are these people going to live North in tents? The building there isn't capable of housing so many people if they need to seek shelter.”

Gale and I had been over most of this territory before, but I didn't recall how we'd settled this point. We knew Tok and Gale had been earning a salary, of sorts, while in Uhonamona. It was a communal society, but they held fast to incentivized work and activities and provided a wage above the typical stipend for those who performed certain valuable tasks and did so for longer hours than required. It meant the two had earned some value through fishing and teaching, and they'd bartered to have the Uhonamonans pay them in supplies for new shelters, tents and items for sleep for the newcomers, and a couple of needed tools. It meant we didn't have to put in the labor to fell the wood or to await seasoning.

Gale answered by saying, “I know. That's been in my thoughts, as well. I really think we need those fields, though, especially since they'll be here too late to get the Spring planting in, and probably too late for Summer. We've got a small window for the main Fall crops.”

“I understand. But you remember how those storms get. Every day for two weeks? The North shelter can't take that many people for that long. We have to have something in place.”

“You're right,” Gale conceded, “I'll work out new projections right now, see what I can do.”

“That's all I can ask,” I replied, “and thank you. Listen, I've got the call with the Uhonamonans in a few minutes, gonna grab a bite before that. I'll reach back out in four hours to let you know what they say.”

“Thanks. Take care, Kal. Give my love to everyone.”

“I will. Love you, Gale.”

- - -

Hakee handled the translation during our call with the Uhonamonas. We spoke with Mikimiko, a young man I'd met briefly during my stay in Uhonamona before the raid. He had learned a little English from Gale, but we tried to keep the conversations with our Southerly neighbors in a language less likely to be understood by anyone listening on the open band.

I listened as Hakee finished passing on all our terms and conditions, then awaited the response. The Elders had been in attendance and were listening, and they asked for an hour to discuss. I'd included a general desire to barter, though I'd not had Hakee tell them what was desired.

An hour later, they reached out to us with their thoughts. Instead of accepting, rejecting, or negotitating our terms for taking the newcomers, they informed us that they had contacted Progress United three days earlier and that representatives from that group were to arrive to meet with them in Uhonamona the following day. The Elders had voted unanimously to join the War on the side of Progress. Hakee groaned before she told me that concerning event.

It meant, they told us through Hakee, that there was a great deal of activity going on. They expected to get into the fight immediately, and they were ramping up their training and pulling people from their labors to be ready to go to war. It also meant that the ten people who wished to emigrate from Uhonamona had swollen to six dozen. I couldn't suppress a sound which I think meant 'you have to be joking.'

“We can't possibly take that many, Hakee. No way.”

She nodded and passed it on to the Elders. They said they understood, and they were unwilling, anyway, to let so many go. They would allow ten, no more, and they suggested we take the nine of the first ten who had asked to leave, though they strongly advised us to deny Ekoh.

“What? Why?” I asked through Hakee's translation.

“Because, they are saying he is no good... uh... I think they mean he's a cheat.”

“A cheat?”

Hakee listened a moment then said, “They say he has robbed them and lies. They say he is hoarding supplies that aren't his.”

“Hmm,” I thought about that a moment. It seemed odd, to say the least. If the man was a cheat, a robber, why wouldn't you want him to just leave? I'm sure that if the Uhonamonans were telling the truth, it wouldn't take too much effort to reclaim what was taken from them. “Tell them we'll consider their words.”

“They wish this process to be over very quickly. They wish to focus on the War ahead,” Hakee said after listening to the Elders.

“We're preparing to take them in about six weeks,” I replied.

“They ask if this time can be pushed closer to now.”

“How much closer?”

“Tomorrow.”

“What?!”

Hakee listened again, then added, “They say they wish these people gone before the Progress United representatives arrive in the evening. The Elders say they will send a boat out with the nine at Dawn.”

I paced around, trying to calm down. I needed to stall. “It might be ten. We haven't decided that. We wish an hour to discuss this right now.”

The Uhonamonans agreed, and we turned the band to where we could call the North set. Two of three Phoenix Elders were there, and I was able to raise Gale, asking her to get Manu and Tok while I gathered Kate and Hakee. I wanted my Vice to be there, and Gale as well since she was point on Resources.

“Okay,” I said once everyone had gathered, “here's the deal.” Amy took notes while I summarized the twist in the negotiations. “And they want them sent out in the morning. I want everyone to know we won't make a decision like this under pressure unless we are certain. But right now, hot reads from everyone. Reactions?”

“Not happy,” Gale said immediately, “I can't possibly adjust my projections by tomorrow morning, though...” There was a pause, “My second thought is that moving up the timeline is much better for the crop schedule. It means we might have time to get shelters built here and get a head start on the new fields.”

“Thanks. Next?”

“Don't like being held hostage, in a sense,” Tok suggested. “And their words about Ekoh are, what is the word you like to use, Kal... Bullshit.” I chuckled and he continued. “I do not believe he is a thief. I believe the Elders see that their stupid push to join the War will be costly. They are thinking of being thieves, themselves, I think.”

“If we agree to take them,” said Kate, “I assume the trial period is still in effect?”

“Absolutely,” Amy added from my side, “it has to be honored because it's codified. Only the Exceptions protocol can override that.”

Manu added, “So long as we have time to decide upon arrival, that we may immediately send back those who we do not wish to be here, and assuming Gale is in favor, I can accept an earlier arrival.”

Hakee generally agreed with her mother.

“Right, so,” I said, “Gale, had a moment to think further?”

“Yes. While you were discussing, I did some quick math and, though you can't hold me to this back-of-the-napkin sort of thinking, but I actually think it works out much better for us over the next year to have them arrive in a few days rather than six weeks. I'll keep grinding, but right now, despite this being a bit sudden, I'd be in favor.”

“Council? I need your advice, then.”

“I'm in favor,” Tok said, “so long as we negotiate for something of value. We're helping them out, and they know it. Thieves or no, they'll negotiate.”

Kate and Manu confirmed that they felt as Tok did.

“Then I'll take this advice to heart. Thank you. We will call back once we finish negotiations. Keep your set on if you've got the juice. Otherwise, in two hours or so.”

We flipped off the power of our set to preserve our battery. “Thoughts?” I asked Hakee, “what do we ask for?”

“Nina wants weapons.”

“That seems like a good request,” I replied. “Two or three rifles, plus ammunition. A couple of cleaning kits, too. They got a bundle of those in the raid. We've only got the one Freya and Kelv left with us.”

Amy pursed her lips, then said, “They should give us enough for everyone leaving there to have one.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“Think about it. They're going to join Progress United. They'll get arms and ammunition, right?”

“Seems likely,” I concurred.

“So we need guns to protect ourselves. They should send at least ten rifles.”

“Agreed,” Hakee added.

“Good idea,” I paused then said, “They probably think they're just allying with Progress. In reality, I bet, they are accepting themselves as a colony of that... uh... nation, I guess.”

Amy nodded, “That's how it usually ends up from what I've read.”

“We'll have to face that some day. Hopefully not soon.”

“Would you want us to become a colony like that?” Hakee asked.

I shook my head. “No, I don't think so. I don't want to have to obey some remote ruler. We can hold our own here. Though,” I admitted, “having access to medicine and medical care... that's worth having the conversation.” It was our one real weak spot, aside from defending ourselves. A serious illness had already cost us Hona, and it was just a matter of luck we'd not had more such moments.

“Anyway,” I said, storing that away in the growing list of things to worry about, “Anything else we should ask for?”

“Ekoh and his supplies,” Hakee said firmly.

“We'd already decided that, I thought.”

“We need to make it clear to the Uhonamonans that we won't let them hold him back or rob him.”

“How do you suggest we say that diplomatically?”

“I dunno. I'll think of something.”

I almost protested, about to suggest that we needed a plan. But I needed to trust Hakee as my Vice. I needed to see her take a risk and think on her feet. I knew she was quick and that she understood our situation. I had no good plan, anyway, so letting Hakee handle that moment in the conversation was as good an idea as any. “Okay. Diplomatically.”

She grinned. “Diplomatically.”

- - -

The Uhonamonan's hailed us on time and we answered. Most of the Elders had returned to preparing for the Progress visit, but one remained to negotiate with us. Hakee laid out our position. We would take ten people wanting to join us, including Ekoh. Before they could protest including the man, Hakee told them (as she would recount after the conversation) that Ekoh and Tok had become close friends, that Tok had vouched for being able to work with Ekoh and promised he would get to the bottom of the situation. Hakee got the Elder to agree to letting the man leave without hassle. Perhaps we'd gotten an Elder on the other end who felt less strongly or was less convinced that Ekoh was a cheat.

Hakee added our request for the arms, explaining that Uhonamona would received all the weapons they needed from Progress and that we were in desperate need of such defense. They had hundreds of fighters available and would soon have practically unlimited guns, and we would be but a couple of dozen capable defenders with not enough weapons for everyone.

The Elder argued with Hakee for ten minutes or more, but eventually agreed to our request. He would ensure the arms got packed within the hour.

Then came the longest part of the conversation. One-by-one, Hakee had the Elder list each person who wished to leave Uhonamona, along with ages, dependents or partners they'd require to come along, and their skills.

Among the first ten, there was Ekoh, who we were accepting already, along with nine others with a variety of skills. The father and daughter were both skilled in fishing, both on shore and at sea. Tok had told me previously that they also personally owned a good collection of fishing gear which we could use to bulk up our supplies. There was also the aunt and nephew. He was a general laborer who had worked in both construction and the fields. She was a cook and had food preservation skills.

Others in the first ten were an older man in his sixties who had some military and labor skills, so the Uhonamonans said. What they didn't mention was that he was also a sickly man who could contribute little of what would be needed in the upcoming weeks and months, so Tok had previously told me. He was out.

A second man, in his thirties, had been suggested by Tok to be worthwhile. He was a general laborer and sometimes crewed the boats, as well. Another older man was in the initial list, and I knew from Tok that he was too much of a rabble-rouser and had too little to offer in terms of skills to even consider him.

A young woman and her mother were the other two. The daughter was in her twenties, a childcare provider who could perform general labor as well. The mother had been ill for most of the previous year, but when well, she worked the local small vegetable and herb gardens.

Hakee and I already knew that, out of those first ten, we were certain to take six: Ekoh, the father, Iplah and his daughter, Yplanah, along with the aunt and nephew, Geeni and Kilba, and the young laborer named Takino. The sickly older man and the rabble-rouser were not going to be accepted. We weren't sure what to do with the mother, Heeuah and daughter, Unune.

It was a difficult ethical dilemma. Did we turn away both because one might not pull her own weight? Hakee and I had to consider our people then on Phoenix first. Did we accept a person of known higher risk? What risk was too much? Did we help the current Phoenicians more or less by bringing them both? By denying them?

Hakee and I debated a long time but decided that we'd take the chance. Heeuah's work in small gardens would be a help with plans for new ones already made up for the upcoming weeks. Plus, I already felt bad, somewhat, for denying the sickly older man, but that was really a no-brainer.

That filled eight spots. We picked through the rest of the list.

Three people really stood out, and we had a hard time believing the Uhonamonans would actually let any of the three leave.

One woman in her mid-40s named Kinnon was a surgeon in the world before the War. At least that's what the Uhonamonans told us. A surgeon, especially one with some equipment, could be a crucial missing piece for us. Why would the Elders let someone with such a skill set go? Maybe they weren't being dictators and autocrats. Maybe Uhonamona respected individual freedom enough to not stand in the way. It seemed risky, though, to value freedom over keeping that sort of skilled medical training close to home.

A second was another woman, Enumi, this one younger at about twenty-three. She had a young child of four years old who would have to come with her. But at twenty-three and a mother, she was trained in the primitive engineering tasks that went into field clearing and preparation, at least that's how Hakee interpreted the Uhonamonan Elder's description of her skills. If she came along, we couldn't take the doctor, though, since this would require two slots.

The third person was an enigma. Nooku was in his late-30s, married with two children. But he wasn't requesting that his family come along. It set off all kinds of red flags for me. His skills included basic medical training, general labor, and military training with the New Zealand army, before the War. Why, on the precipice of an open, armed conflict, would this man not be conscripted and held to his duty to his home island? Something was decidedly odd, but given his skills, he had to be considered.

There were dozens of others, most having nothing especially interesting. Lots of general labor, fishing crews, food prep and preservation, repair work. Very little specific training. No trained engineers, no medical training save Kinnon, and other than Nooku, no military training was told to us. Based on what little we knew, those three were our options.

“If you could choose...” I said to Hakee.

She pursed her lips and stared down a moment. “We have to have the surgeon. She's number one to me. And that means only one slot, so... It has to be Nooku... but why would he leave his family?”

I shook my head. “Something's not right there. A military man, trained. That's too valuable to let go. And you're right, the family... why?”

“If we could not count her child, I'd say we take Enumi instead of him. I know that's technically eleven...”

I tried to raise those in the North. I wondered if Gale or Tok, or those from Uhonamona might be able to shed some light. Gale answered and she gathered the others. Quickly, I read down the list of all the dozens seeking to come. On almost each one, Kunomo or Popko made it clear the person didn't possess the most valuable skills we sought. They agreed with the assessment of the fragile older man. They also agreed, as did Tok, that our initial eight were the right ones for several reasons.

“Kinnon is an unexpected surprise,” Tok said, “she is an excellent medicine woman. She has saved lives. That they would let her go...”

“I know, seems odd,” I agreed.

“But she is my first choice.”

The others agreed.

“Then that means we must take Nooku, assuming we haven't overlooked something. Anyone know anything?”

Kunomo's voice was soft and slow, “There was a rumor a year ago that the man might have become intimate with his neighbor's young daughter. It was just a rumor, and to my knowledge, nothing came from it, not while I was an Elder, at least. The girl did get pregnant, but she claimed it was a boy from school and the boy admitted to having been with her, so it didn't raise eyebrows. Perhaps that is what he seeks to leave behind.”

“Yeah, but his family?” Gale said.

“I know,” Kunomo replied, “I can only guess. It does seem suspicious.”

“That alone is enough reason to not take him, until we can find out more,” Hakee stated firmly. I grinned, really liking the way Hakee had become decisive and sure of herself so quickly in her new role.

“So... do we take nine, or,” I suggested, “do we accept the four-year old as a plus-one to our ten? Gale, thoughts?”

“The new little one won't affect us much, honestly. Yes, it means another dependent to provide for, but nothing which will make or break us. I've been working on the projects, Kal, still very preliminary, but I am more confident that this is still the better plan for us.”

“Good. Alright, so ten-plus-one. Are we agreed, then?”

It was a consensus.

We hailed the Uhonamonans and gave them our response. We accepted the terms we'd agreed to, and they did the same, accepting our choice of ten, though the Elder strongly advised us not to take Ekoh, and he was very reluctant to agree to Kinnon. At least the later made sense. We still didn't know what to think about their odd stance on Ekoh. But in the end, we had an agreement. The Elder said he had already directed that our weapons be packed on Ekoh's boat. He assured us all would be underway at dawn the next day.

It made me wonder if the Uhonamonans had been planning to send a group whether we agreed or not. It was unusual behavior, at minimum. If we hadn't protested, would they have shipped several dozen people to our shores? Right before engaging in the War? And just how big was Ekoh's boat, anyway? It was confusing, to be certain.

I hoped we had made the right decisions. A lot was about to change on Phoenix. I could only hope it was for the best.