Earthseed

slowly, she turned her head so that she was facing the door.
    “She’s out,” a voice whispered.
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Let’s go.”
    A pocket light shone for a moment, just long enough for her to see a head of curly dark hair on a figure bending over a sack of flour. Two other people ran out of the storehouse with baskets. The light went out; footsteps padded across the floor, receding.
    She waited, trying to come to her senses, then sat up. The room spun. She worked at her bonds furiously, at last tearing them from her wrists; they hadn’t tied her very well. Untying the scarf, she spat out the piece of cloth.
    She rose and stumbled dizzily to the door, then hurried toward the bell on the porch and rang it, pulling the cord again and again. Lights swam through the darkness toward her until a crowd had gathered and the area before her was illuminated. Dmitri ran toward her, bounding up the steps to her side.
    “Are you all right?”
    She tried to nod; her head hurt. Lillka hurried to the porch. “What happened?”
    “Thieves,” Zoheret answered. “They were stealing from the storehouse. They hit me and tied me up.”
    “Who was it?” somebody below shouted.
    “I only saw one of them clearly.” She closed her eyes for a moment before saying the name. “Manuel. Manuel was one of them.”

    Lillka had called for a meeting at midday. After lunch, everyone gathered in front of the storehouse. Zoheret, still eating the bread and goat’s cheese she had carried from the kitchen, sat with her back against the stone grill, listening to indistinct but angry muttering.
    She had heard plenty of wild talk earlier while finishing her chores. While she and Serena had been mopping Gowon’s floor, he and his housemates had been working in their garden, talking of reprisals. They outnumbered Ho’s group, didn’t they? Why not go and take what was theirs and teach the thieves a lesson in the process? They had grown impatient with Lillka, who had asked everyone to wait until the issue had been discussed and who had dissuaded one group from going after the raiders immediately. Gowon had questioned Lillka’s authority, and one of his friends had said that it was time for someone stronger to be in charge. Serena, overhearing the conversation as she mopped, had nodded, her elfin face turning grim. Zoheret did not know if Ho had been with the thieves, but she found it hard to believe that he hadn’t planned the raid.
    Lillka, along with Kagami and Brendan, came out the storehouse’s door. She raised a hand for silence while her two companions stood to one side. Dmitri, arriving late, wound his way past those who were seated and sat down next to Zoheret. He had cared for her during the night, putting cold cloths on her bump and insisting that she stay in Tonio’s bed.
    “We know what was taken,” Lillka said, speaking clearly so that everyone could hear. “We’ve lost a bag of flour, three dead chickens, five bottles of fruit, six bottles of tomatoes, and some dried meat. In other words, we didn’t lose that much, and shouldn’t have shortages. They might have taken more if Zoheret hadn’t surprised them.”
    Tonio jumped to his feet, Gowon at his side. “Are you just going to let them keep it?” Tonio shouted.
    Lillka raised both hands. “I didn’t say that. I know we have to do something. We can post a guard in front of the storehouse and by the fields, but we have to let the other group know that they can’t do this and get away with it.”
    “But they’ve gotten away with it,” Tonio said, shaking back his long, dark-brown hair. “We should have gone after them last night.”
    “In the dark? When they might have set a trap for anyone who followed? When they were probably halfway back to the lake in their boats? We don’t even know if the whole group is responsible—maybe a few did this on their own.”
    “You don’t believe that,” Gowon said.
    “I don’t know what to believe.”
    “Well, what are we going to do about it?” Serena called out. Her dog, a setter, sat up and barked.
    Lillka held out her hands. “I think the only thing we can do is send a group to talk to them.” The suggestion brought groans. “We can ask them to return what they took, and warn them that we’re posting guards. They won’t get away with it again.”
    “And what if they do try again?” Tonio asked.
    Lillka seemed at a loss. “We can round them up,” Serena said. “We could force them to