Earthseed

dark for some time before Zoheret and Bonnie reached the settlement. Lillka and Brendan sat on the storehouse porch; two lanterns hung above the doorway. Two glowing eyes peered out from the shadows by the steps; Dmitri, sitting on one step, reached toward the eyes. Mimsy slunk up the steps, followed by three kittens; she had mated with Roxana’s tawny tom and had set up housekeeping under the porch.
    Dmitri lifted his head as the two girls came into the light. “I’m hungry,” Bonnie said. Brendan got to his feet and went inside.
    “Tonio told us what happened,” Lillka said. “What took you two so long?”
    Bonnie lifted her head. “I didn’t want to catch up with them. I didn’t want to come back at all. They think I helped Ho. Zoheret talked me into coming back.”
    “They didn’t say anything about that.”
    “Why should they? It doesn’t matter. Zoheret told them not to burn the cabins, but they didn’t listen to her.”
    Brendan came outside and down the steps, handing each girl some cold roast meat wrapped in bread. Bonnie tore at her food while Zoheret nibbled.
    “I’m tired,” Bonnie said when she was finished. “I’m going to bed.” She turned away and walked through the clearing to the road, disappearing into the shadows.
    Zoheret sat down next to Dmitri. “I hope you weren’t worrying.”
    “I wasn’t.” He held her hand for a moment, then let go. Lillka and Brendan came down the steps and sat on the one below them.
    The rain had cleansed the air; the night was cool. “I don’t know what to do now,” Lillka said without turning around. “I don’t want to be the leader. Someone else can run things now.”
    Zoheret said, “I think we ought to talk to Ship.”
    Lillka turned her head. “No. We have to stick it out.”
    “Don’t talk about sticking it out when you’re ready to give up.”
    Lillka looked away. “I haven’t done a good job.”
    “That isn’t the reason. It’s because things are getting harder. It was easier before. If you give up, I’ll go talk to Ship.”
    “You can’t.”
    “Try to stop me. And if you resign and call another meeting, I’ll ask everyone to vote you in again.”
    “I’m not so sure they’d make me leader now.”
    “Lillka, you’ve got to stay on. Don’t you understand? If you try to get out of it now, you’ll just be telling everyone that we’re losing control. Do you know how discouraging that’ll be? And all the disagreements will come out as soon as we try to pick another leader.”
    “She’s right,” Brendan muttered.
    “If you don’t stay on,” Zoheret said, “I’ll go to Ship. But if you do, I won’t, because then I’ll know we can settle things. You can give it up later when we’ve worked things out, if you want, but it isn’t fair to resign and hand the mess to someone else.” She paused. “You wanted it. I saw the look on your face when you got approval. So you’d better keep the job.”
    “All right.” Lillka sounded defeated.
    “I don’t know what the problem is,” Dmitri said. “Ho’s group will know better than to come here now. We don’t need his fish—we can learn how to catch them ourselves. They got a good lesson. Maybe Tonio did the right thing.”
    “We have to live with them, though,” Brendan said. “Here, and where we’re going. Sooner or later, we have to settle this.”
    “Just wait.” Dmitri got up. “They’ll need something from us eventually, and then they’ll have to come here, and we can talk.” He went down the steps and turned to face them. “And if they don’t, too bad. The Hollow’s big, and a planet’s bigger.” He gestured at Lillka. “We’ll do all right. I’ll talk to Tonio.” He left them.
    “Are you coming to bed?” Zoheret asked Lillka.
    “We can’t. We have to guard the storehouse now, remember? It’s our turn. Roxana and Lars are patrolling the fields with Serena’s dog.” She sighed. “I wish we had more dogs. We could use them now.”
    “Breed Red with that female retriever of Jorge’s.”
    “I think she’s already pregnant. But we’d have to train the puppies—Red doesn’t know what danger is. He thinks everyone’s his friend. I’m scared. This isn’t the end of it, Zoheret. I’m afraid something else will happen.”

9
    Zoheret lay on her cot, a cloth over her brow. Her fever was down and her skin felt damp and clammy. She remembered vomiting during the night until there was nothing left inside her; now her head and