Little Larry and Ferne' were deep in conversation when Annabelle walked in. He looked up and upon seeing Annabelle said, "Oh it's you" he said "I can't believe that you were so easy to capture. The Mamlish didn't even need to try. They came to the door, and said, "Hey we want to arrest Annabelle" and you were like "Sure, that sounds like a golly good time" and then you went. No plan, no resistance nothing"

"It wasn't like that," said Annabelle.

"Yes, it was!" said Little Larry. "Ferne' was there. He heard everything you said. Then the burly guard who arrested you wrote an account of what happened, and it was posted on the columns. And everything he said aligned with what Ferne said"

"I was drugged by Madame Green," said Annabelle. "I don't know why none of you are listening to my warnings about Madame Green"

"Madame Green is wise" said Little Larry "But you have shown yourself to be foolish. I can't believe I once admired you. I now look up to Ferne', he hasn't let me down, yet"

Annabelle felt an irresistible urge to defend herself but instead said "Well Ferne' has many strong qualities, which makes him worthy of your admiration. I hope that he will continue to prove his character when put into difficult situation. Time can only show whether or not he is genuine and not just puffed up words"

Annabelle walked away and she realised that she had lost a lot in the Mamlish's last attack. She needed to prove herself again. The strength potion had worked, but not as well as before. After all the time she had spent with the Mamlish, their worries became hers. "Can the shepherdless govern themselves? They just wanted to be left alone, but if they are left alone, they would still have each other, and they didn't always get along."

The Mamlish had systems, bureaucracies and all sorts of things she had never thought of. They had protocols about how decisions were made, who made the decisions and what criteria were used to make the decision. Afterwards they had review boards to determine whether or not the decisions were good ones.

It was better than anything that the citizens of Zilby had – an old lady handing out potions and then deciding the leader based on who didn't die. It had its advantages to be sure, but it seemed a little bit wasteful to her.

Would a democratic system be better, it seemed better, but the people of the island were misinformed and did not understand how the power structures work, that made them very easy to lie to.

She watched Little Larry talking to Ferne'. Ferne' could answers all his hesitations without ambiguity. Confidence was a good thing, but so was admitting your limitations. Annabelle had never felt more uncertain in her life.

It was right that Little Larry had turned on her, he made some good points, she had had run ins with Madame Green before and Madame Green had told her that she was missing the point and didn't understand what she was doing. Madame Green had told her that she was not right for the job. Madame Green had said that she wanted somebody else to lead the armies, all this she had heard and yet she still accepted the drink from Madame Green. And even now she was with people who wanted to keep Madame Green in the loop. If that wasn't foolishness then he didn't know what was.

As she was thinking things over Madame Green came to Annabelle. "You feel betrayed" she said "I can understand that"

"What do you mean "I feel betrayed?" said Annabelle "I was betrayed. You drugged me and then handed me over to the enemy"

"But you're fine now" said Madame Green perhaps a little bit quickly. "Water under the bridge"

Annabelle paused before saying "You had no way of knowing that I would be fine now. In fact, the most plausible outcome from the series of actions that you took would be for to be dead now"

"True, but look at all the good that has happened since then. Ferne' has into a capable leader, his friendship with Veronique has blossomed. We know more about the workings of the Mamlish justice system"

"Those are small prizes compared to the price I paid" said Annabelle. She pulled something out of her hair "Just like this clip is nice but it is not nice enough for the price we pay."

"Annabelle, you're emotional, you've been through a hard time." Said Madame Green gently caressing the top of Annabelle's biceps "With time you will understand the decisions that I have had to make. What terrible sacrifices I have had to endure"

"Damn right, I am emotional" said Annabelle angrily "But that doesn't mean that I am wrong"

Ferne' and Veronique walked into the room. "We've been watching the harbour. The Mamlish are preparing a boat and filling it with supplies" said Veronique.

"I heard a rumour in the market today. They say that the overlords have put out advice that Mamlish return the mainland" said Ferne'.

"Has the Lowly Lady Leda or any other of the high ranking Mamlish posted anything on the columns?" asked Annabelle.

"Not that I know of" replied Ferne' quickly.

"Then I think that we should treat the rumours as untrue" said Annabelle. "The Mamlish don't like ruses."

"Oh I don't know" said Madame Green "I'd say that they don't like being caught in a ruse, but they love to accuse others of duplicity, but if they are confident in their position, they don'tmind being deceptive as the rest of us"

"How would you know this?" snapped Annabelle.

"Because that's how they have been whenever they have come to me" replied Madame Green.

"When you sold me out, et cetera et cetera." said Annabelle.

"Annabelle!" said Ferne' with disapproval.

"Annabelle has the right to speak her mind" said Madame Green. This sentence infuriated Annabelle more than any other she could have thought of and she involuntarily clench her teeth whenever Madame Green said anything.

"The Mamlish don't like records of their wrong doings. They care about their legacy more than they should." Madame Green continued. "We should learn from their mistakes rather than squabble for power."

"You are always the one who gets excited whenever anybody shows leadership potential," Annabelle noted.

"Yes, we must keep the counsel of many. That way when one person overlooks something then perhaps another will see it and bring it up" said Madame Green.

"But won't that inevitable lead to infighting and a power squabble" Annabelle hated that Madame Green sounded wise.

"Not if we treat each other with respect"

"See Veronique, Ferne'" Annabelle turned her body to them "She uses the same language as the Mamlish – respect, order, honour, charity etc. How can we trust her?"

"What would you rather have then, if not respect?" asked Madame Green.

"Calling a spade, a spade" answered Annabelle.

"What if the spade is in fact a fork? How can we bring that up without coming to fists?" countered Madame Green.

"There will be no need for that" said Annabelle "Because truth will reign supreme in this society."

"I see" said Madame Green to Ferne' "This is why we need checks and balances. She cannot even contemplate a world where she is mistaken, but she is. One can both rude and tell lies"

"What should we do if the Mamlish leave on that ship?" asked Madame Green after a moment's thought.

"We should follow them" said Ferne' and Veronique together "And make sure they never come back" completed Ferne'.

"They won't do anything without posting it first on the column" said Annabelle as the last word.

But Annabelle was wrong. The Mamlish set off at midnight. Nobody was watching the boat because Annabelle had told them to all go home and get some rest. Nobody knew anything was awry until the burly guards gathered outside the compound to receive their daily instructions

Nobody came to greet them. Nobody listed the danger areas. The great bank was looted of all its gold. No ships of supplies entered the harbour all day. The children were not inspected at school and the market was empty. Only the sea was fill of people harvesting muscles for food. Annabelle walked through the colonnades. All of the notices had been taken down. Every last one.

"Does anybody know where they went to" asked Annabelle of her soldiers.

"No, between the curfew and the having nobody keep an eye on the boat, we have no clue" came back the general response.

"Nobody knows anything that happened between 11 last night and four thirty" said Veronique by herself.

"Why was nobody watching that boat!" screamed Annabelle.

"I wanted to" said Veronique "But you told me to stop wasting my time and to go to sleep."