The Snuggery was crawling out of bed, stretching and yawning, and beginning to bubble with the energy of morning and breakfast and getting ready for the day. Enim was rocking a grumpy little Quena on his hip, singing good morning songs to her, rubbing shoulders with Cahuan and enjoying the general friendly bustle. It was amazing how much he had become used to this. How much he had missed it.

Lhut was still sitting in a corner, quiet and withdrawn, his fingers caressing a bead on his wristband, his lips whispering a silent incantation, a prayer. Enim met Lhut's eyes when they came back from infinite distance, from watching the pain sink down to the bottom of the sea and to the back of the mind.

With a happy smile Enim settled beside Lhut, leaning against his broad shoulder as he winked over to where Torly and Yoor were lounging, soaking up the atmosphere.

"So you are now a special representative? Of the county?" Eyes narrowed, Lhut tried to grasp the meaning of this.

"Yes," Enim nodded. "I am in the employ of the Council of Varoonya, charged with writing reports on the situation in Shebbetin, so that the Council is well informed and can take action."

"Good." Lhut paused. "But isn't that what we did last time? You just wrote a report, to the Council bureaus, so that they would be informed and able to take action."

Enim cleared his throat. "True. But I guess my letters were too short and sketchy after all. I have brought back some other reports, examples of what kind of thing gets submitted to the Council, so I can get a better idea of how this should be done."

"Good," Lhut said again, but it sounded more like someone lost in thought than someone full of enthusiasm.

Enim spread his hands in an open-ended gesture. "I guess we just have to say it more than once. More than twice, even. But surely we will not be discouraged so quickly?"

* * *

"Is it so hard to realize we exist?!"

Kaya was fuming. "Can't they see? Or do they simply not care?"

She began to pace up and down the Snuggery courtyard. "What we need is not better reports. It is a better Council! One that understands. And acts!"

Enim rubbed the back of his head. "Well. There will be a new Council. But I don't know if that's going to help."

Kaya spun around. "There will be a new Council?"

Enim nodded. "Yes, of course. You know the Choosing is at solstice. After that, the new Council gets formed."

Kaya was looking off into the distance. Her finger aimlessly traced the scar at her temple. "There is a Choosing," Kaya said to the wind. "And we do not know. Since we have never chosen a Council, and never heard or seen anything of the Council that would help us here in Shebbetin, we do not know. We have never cared."

"How do you mean, you have never chosen a Council?" Enim asked. And then he almost bit his tongue. He turned his face away, pale. "People in Shebbetin have not been included in the Choosing?" Enim's voice was low, tense.

Kaya said nothing, staring blindly ahead.

"The owners have been," Lhut murmured after a pause. "I think. They go to Behrlem, where the Choosing for Shebbetin happens."

There was a strained silence.

"We have never known," Kaya finally said, still in that distant voice. "We have never cared. However," she said, her gaze coming back to this world, "maybe this time, we will."

Her voice grew loud and strong.

"We will be there! In the Choosing!"

She tilted her head back, shouting into the sky.

"And we will bring the right people into the Council! Ourselves!"

*

Two of the children bustled importantly up the steps into the Snuggery. Enim leaned sideways to make room for them. He had finished, anyway. Translated, or explained the whole thing to Yoor and Torly as best as he could.

Torly's mouth formed a round "Oh."

But Yoor caught fire immediately. He got up, letting his body move with the tale. "Yes! Excellent! We will launch our own grouping! The grouping of The Mountain. When we are in, the Council will definitely realize that Shebbetin exists. The people will raise us up! And once we are the chosen ones, we can make anything happen!"

Yoor mimed waving a flag in the wind, or possibly galloping across country on horseback. Several kids raised their heads with interest.

Torly snorted. She turned to Enim. "Do we even know how to register for the Choosing?"

Enim spread his hands. "No. Of course not."

Yoor looked down at them. "Never mind! We'll find out! Won't we?" His eyes sought Torly's.

"Well. Um." Torly cocked her head.

The two important children bustled back out of the Snuggery, a rag doll cradled carefully by one, a book and a tambourine by the other.

Torly ran a hand through her hair, tugging at a wayward curl. "I suppose someone in Varoonya is bound to know this. And we're going back soon anyway."

She raised her head determinedly.

"Yes. We can do it!"

* * *