The Nightscape

Compromising

"Now, does anyone else want to have a turn at running away?" Zidros asked inquisitively, looking around at his gathered council. They all exchanged confused looks aside from Lyra, who inspected his face to see if this was an attempt at mockery. It didn't seem like it.

"I- why are you asking that?" Guy questioned. He kept trying to catch Ettie's eye, but she was quite firmly ignoring him. Her expression was unreadable, and she hadn't spoken a greeting to the duo when they arrived, unlike the others. Zidros looked and Guy and shrugged. 

"Well, Lyra and Anya ran away, and now they're here willingly! So, if anyone else wants to run away for a little while so you'll come back and work willingly, go ahead! It'll be better for the future of all if you all settle in and help me out with my plans." Zidros said chirpily. After a moment, no one spoke or left, and Francine narrowed her eyes at the duo. 

"Which, to me at least, begs the question of why. Why did the two of them come back willingly?" She wondered lightly, though it was clear what she was accusing them of. Lyra arched a brow at her, sulkily refusing to answer even as Zidros looked at them both promptly. Anya took a long drink from a pitcher on the table, set out particularly for her, and then answered at her own leisure. 

"We came back for two main reasons. The first is that we had to. Let's be honest, even if we had refused to come back, we would have been brought back here anyway. And the second, if I am being entirely honest, is because I don't think that your plan is entirely terrible." Anya reluctantly admitted. When Zidros's face lit up with delight, she was quick to continue. "However, it also isn't all good. Which brings me on to another point that myself and Lyra were discussing on the way here." The young woman said firmly, ignoring any attempts by Zidros to interrupt before looking at Lyra. She reluctantly snapped out of her sulk to sit up straighter, looking across the table at the strange boy coolly. 

"Yes. Zidros, we think that the way that the current communities are structuring themselves is unsustainable and perhaps downright wrong, however what you are planning to do really isn't much better. I suppose what I'm saying is, how much influence are you willing to take from us? Because if you aren't going to listen to us, you might as well kill us now." Lyra told him firmly. Zidros blinked at her, looking a little surprised for a moment before continuing. 

"Well, I'm not going to kill you at all, so you should stop thinking like that. And of course I'll listen to input! I know better than all of you in the world of the Scapes, but I was locked away in a temple for generations. I don't know the minds of the people anymore, and that's where you all come in!" He said, looking around him at the gathered council. Francine frowned, as though she wasn't sure what to do. Lyra glanced to Anya, and the latter gave her a slight nod. 

"Well, then I suppose that we can work together. It couldn't be much worse than what's currently going on." Anya said. Guy sighed. 

"Look, I hate to say this because it feels like I'm turning on my own people, but I would like to bring them here first. I can convince them to follow me easily, but I won't do it unless you honestly think we can support them here. And how can we? There's no way to get food, or water!" He pointed out, rubbing a hand over his face. Zidros frowned and shook his head. 

"No, there's plenty of ways to get food here. We just need to find a moslou tree, get it's seeds, and then grow them. The fruits aren't nice, if I remember correctly, but they will keep you alive when nothing else does. Not a permanent solution, but it will keep us all afloat until we can build up proper farms. There used to be domesticated animals that were raised, but I haven't seen any. Maybe they're hibernating! Anyway, I agree that we need to set up for when everyone comes here, which is why we've already started working on everything!" He said.