Earthseed

work for us, and tie them up the rest of the time. They’d be sorry.” Several people clapped and whistled their approval.
    “All right, all right,” Lillka shouted back, trying to regain control of the meeting. “We’ll send out a delegation tomorrow, make our request, and give them a warning. If they refuse to cooperate, we can take action—they know there are more of us. But don’t get into a battle with them. We’ll try to figure out who we can spare for the trip. Right now, just try to get as much work done as you can today.”
    The meeting broke up with murmurs of discontent. Dmitri patted Zoheret’s shoulder and left. She waited until the crowd had thinned out, then went to Lillka.
    Brendan was speaking to her; Lillka shook her head violently. The blond girl’s face had broken out in red blotches; she glared at Zoheret as she approached. “Don’t you have work to do?”
    Zoheret nodded. “I’ll get it done.” Kagami passed her on the steps and hurried away. “I want to go with the delegation.”
    Lillka said, “We’ll see.”
    “I have a right to go. I caught them, and they could have hurt me badly. You can get along without me for a little while.”
    “Ask Brendan. Maybe he should decide.” Brendan gazed at Zoheret with his pale blue eyes and shrugged; his freckled jaw tightened. “It’s my fault in a way,” Lillka went on. “Someone else can be the leader after this. I’m tired of trying.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “It happened once before,” Lillka said in a low voice. “Brendan knows. I didn’t tell anyone else. The last time Ho was here to trade, I checked our supplies the day after, and we were short some flour and vegetables. At first, I thought I’d made a mistake, so I got a lot more organized with my record keeping. I thought someone here might have taken the stuff and forgotten to mention it, so I asked around, but nothing turned up. Then I told Brendan.”
    “I thought Ho might have taken it.” The boy took off his hat and scratched at his sandy hair. “But I wasn’t sure, and it was too late to do much about it by then.”
    “It’s my fault,” Lillka said. “I should have had the storehouse guarded after that, but I kept thinking it wouldn’t happen again, that maybe Ho just needed a few extra things that one time. And I was afraid of getting everyone worked up about it if I told them.”
    “Why did they do it?” Brendan asked. “It doesn’t make any sense. They could have borrowed from us and paid us back with more fish later. They must have known we’d find out eventually.”
    “Maybe not.” Lillka shook her head. “They got away with it once. If Zoheret hadn’t been there, we would have had another mystery, that’s all. Why trade or borrow when you can get something for nothing?”
    “We’ll go and talk to them,” Zoheret said. “They’re not going to lose their whole trade in fish for a few vegetables and some flour. It’d be stupid.”
    Lillka sighed. “I hope you’re right.”

8
    Tonio held up an arm. “Wait.”
    The lake was still and glassy. The midday light above was hazy; fingers of water lapped at the shore. On a rise several paces from the lake’s edge, five log cabins sat on cleared land. A wide ditch formed a semicircle around the cabins, as though someone had begun to dig a moat, then abandoned it. A stone fireplace in front of the cabins held charred, blackened pieces of wood.
    “Do you think they’re hiding?” Zoheret whispered.
    “They might be. They might be waiting to see how many of us there are. They could have set a trap.”
    Bonnie edged closer to Tonio. “Their boats aren’t here. Either they’re gone, or they took the boats away and sneaked back. We should send in just a few people while the others wait here.”
    Tonio glanced at Bonnie with narrowed eyes. “We can figure out what to do without your advice.” Bonnie stepped back. Her green eyes were hidden by the shade under the trees, and Zoheret could not read her face. Tonio had been needling the girl since early morning.
    “Five of us will go in,” Tonio went on. “The rest of you wait.” The others huddled closer in order to hear him. “If anyone comes out and looks threatening, fire.” He slapped the stun gun at his waist. “There’s only twenty of them, so that shouldn’t be hard.”
    Zoheret wanted to object, but Tonio was already pointing to those who would accompany him. He grabbed Bonnie by the arm. “You, too. You can