D. MacHale - Raven Rise

Huge question. They had no idea that I had come from another territory in another time. For all they knew, I was planning on taking a boat and sailing back to wherever it was I had come from in the first place. They didn’t know I had nowhere to go and my boat was buried under a few thousand tons of rubble.

“I can’t go back home,” I told them honestly. “The reasons for that are too complicated to explain. Even if I could, I’m not so sure I’d go. Rayne is my home now. I want to do what I can to help rebuild it. But that won’t take forever. I think that once the village is rebuilt, we can look to the future and start building another fleet of pilgrim ships. Veelox is still waiting. There’s an entire world to bring back from the dead, not just a single island. I want to be around to see that.”

All three tribunal members exchanged looks, and smiles.

“That is what we hoped to hear,” Genj said. “Given how hard you’ve been working, we aren’t surprised. Still, we needed to hear it. Seeing as this is the decision you have made, we’d like to inform you of a decision we have made, along with many other village leaders.”

As if on cue, people started walking into the large chamber. They had been listening to this conversation from the tunnels surrounding the cavern. Everyone was dressed in the same formal clothing that the tribunal wore. I was suddenly feeling kind of cheesy in my sweaty work clothes. In all, there were around thirty people, many of whom I recognized as leaders of various groups within Rayne. There were engineers, musicians, doctors, architects, security people, and pretty much every leader of every important group on the island. Telleo was there too. She stepped behind her father with a broad grin. What the heck was going on?

Genj stood and looked me right in the eye.

“We have been discussing this for quite some time,” he began. “The vote was unanimous. There has been a vacant chair on the tribunal of Rayne since Remudi left. It needs to be filled. We would be honored if you took that seat. You have earned it, Pendragon. Will you help lead Rayne and Ibara into the future?”

To say I was stunned would be an understatement. These people were asking me to become one of the four leaders of the village. Of Ibara. And for all practical purposes, of Veelox.

They had brought the idea up once before, but I didn’t take it too seriously. It was right after the battle and everybody was caught up in the excitement of victory. I thought it was just one of those things that you say in the moment, but don’t really mean. And since nobody had mentioned it since, I forgot all about it. Until then. There was no mistake. They were serious. They wanted me on the tribunal.

So many thoughts flashed through my head. Could I do this? I was only a kid. Eighteen years old, I think. Who knows? I haven’t blown out a birthday candle in a bunch of years. Of course, I’d seen more things in those years than most people see in a lifetime, and that included the people who now sat on the tribunal.

I truly didn’t know how to answer. I looked at Telleo. She smiled and gave me a nod of encouragement. She wanted me to accept the offer. I think it was seeing her that made things come clear for me. It suddenly seemed as if everything that had happened could very well have been leading to this. Maybe this was my destiny as a Traveler. I had battled Saint Dane on eight different territories. Maybe the battle for Ibara was actually the final battle for Halla. Saint Dane threw everything at the small island, and lost. Now he was trapped here. It made me think that I had done the exact right thing in burying the flume. I had ended Saint Dane’s reign of terror. Now I was in a position to start picking up the pieces. Suddenly everything felt right. I was in the right place. This was the way it was meant to be.

“I would be honored,” I said, bowing my head in respect.

A cheer went up from the crowd. Everyone applauded. Telleo ran around the desk and gave me a hug. While we were hugging, I shook Genj’s hand, then Moman’s, and Drea’s. It was incredible. I was officially one of the leaders of a village. Of a territory. Its future was in my hands; I wasn’t about to fail. It was the best feeling in the world.

What made it all the better was that life didn’t change all that much once I had been elected to the tribunal. It wasn’t like I suddenly had to get all serious and attend meetings and wear stiff clothes and give speeches or anything. Just the opposite. My relationship with the tribunal was pretty loose. They’d ask my advice and I’d offer my opinions. Sometimes we’d debate over things, like whether we should build another common celebration area before tackling the next ring of homes. Or if we should push deeper into the jungle with our construction, which would allow for larger huts. It was easy. I still got to lead my group of builders and got my satisfaction from that. The only real difference was that Twig and Krayven started kidding me about being on the tribunal and being one of “them,” but it was all in fun.

No, it was more than that. In some ways this was the ultimate victory that the Jakills sought. They wanted the truth. They wanted their voices to be heard by the tribunal. Now their thoughts and concerns were very much on the tribunal’s plate, through me. I wished that Siry could know that. I wished that all the Jakills who lost their lives could know.

Many of the debates I had with the tribunal were during meals. I had lots of dinners with Genj and Telleo. We’d talk about the day’s work and the troubles and successes we were having. The conversation usually went to things like what we should do in the future. Rearming the water guns for the protection of Ibara was important. There was no telling if the Flighters would stage another attack. We talked about creating an additional security force to concentrate more on threats from off the island. It was exciting to know we were making decisions that would impact the future of an entire civilization.

There were problems, of course. It wasn’t all perfect. The work was hard and there were many injuries. Telleo assembled a medical force and supervised the doctors to care for everyone as best as they could.

Like I said, I was pretty close to Genj and Telleo. They had become my second family. But it wasn’t without a little weirdness. There were a few times when I got the feeling that Telleo wanted our relationship to be a little more than the brother-sister thing we had going on. It usually happened when we were sitting on our perch, high above the jungle. A few times she held my hand. That was okay. It was all innocent. But still, I didn’t feel comfortable holding my sister’s hand. A few times she looked up at me, right in the eyes, and I thought for sure she was going to lean in for a kiss. I usually coughed and changed the subject. I didn’t want to embarrass her or anything. I really liked Telleo. But I didn’t want things to get weird. There was too much going on to be thinking that way. You know, about having a girlfriend. Especially with a girl who was the daughter of the guy I sat on the tribunal with. There were too many things that could go sour.

Besides, I had already tried that once with Loor. I still have such strong feelings for Loor, but she made it very clear that as long as we were in the middle of this battle with Saint Dane, a serious romantic-type relationship was dumb. No, it was impossible. Of course, I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened between her and me now that the war was over. Would we ever see each other again? If we did, would we still have the same feelings? The main thing we had in common was the fight against Saint Dane. Now that that was over, would we have anything to talk about? I guess it doesn’t really matter. We won’t get the chance.