Chapter 11: The Council's Answer

The council of Soleth deliberated for two days. Sera spent those two days doing what she had always done in uncertainty: working. She toured the valley with Addo, making notes, cataloguing what she saw with the eye of someone who intended to remain here rather than someone assessing a possibility. She spoke with the valley's farmers about the soil remediation techniques she'd described to Drusse, and found that they were not merely interested but hungry — the eastern field problem had been getting worse for three seasons and no one had known how to address it. On the second afternoon, a man named Rael found her in the eastern fields. 'You actually know what you're talking about,' he said. Not a compliment — a recalibration. 'My tutor believed in knowing your neighbors' problems,' Sera said. 'In case you might one day need to solve them.' 'And now you need to solve them,' Rael said. 'Now I need to solve mine. Yours I can help with as payment.' She looked at the dry patches that marked the iron deficiency. 'The volcanic mineral supplement takes two seasons to fully correct it. But the improvement is visible within the first planting.' Rael studied her. 'The council is meeting now,' he said. 'I know.' 'Drusse likes you.' He said it like it was information with implications. 'She doesn't like most people quickly. It took me eleven years.' 'What does that mean for the vote?' 'It means Drusse will argue, and when Drusse argues, she usually wins.' He looked at the eastern fields. 'We could use the supplement knowledge regardless. But a queen and two thousand skilled workers is a different resource than a teacher.' Sera understood this. She had always understood it. The calculation of usefulness was not beneath her — it was the most honest kind of negotiation. 'Tell me what Soleth needs,' she said. 'Not just the fields. Everything.' Rael looked at her for a long moment. Then he sat on the ground and began to talk, and Sera listened with her full attention, and two hours later Drusse sent a messenger to find her with the council's answer. It was yes.