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"No," I tell Anna "I need to keep thinking There’s so I’vethe "

"Is that true?" Anna asks one of the s unhappily "It could be," he says "But I don’t see how We always have e would want to harm the patients? We all want to find a cure"

Neither Anna nor I state the obvious Perhaps not everyone in the village feels this way

"I made your stone myself," Anna says to me She hands lance up at her for the first time and see that she has the blue lines painted all over her face and ar day, I dress with the cere tradition"

I take the stone from her "I have a vote?" I ask

"Yes," Anna says "It was decided by the village council that you and Xander could each have one stone, just like everyone else"

The gesture touches me The people here have come to trust the two of us "I don’t like to leave Ky," I say "Can someone put my stone in for me?"

"They could," Anna says, "but I think you should see the vote It’s so every leader should witness"

What does Anna mean? I’m not a leader

"Would you trust Hunter to stay here and keep watch?" Anna asks "Just for a few moments, so you can cast your vote?"

I look at Hunter I rehter, and he put that beautiful poe, and this way I can ask Anna about the flowers again

Hunter hands his stone to Anna "I vote with Leyna," he says

Anna nods "I’ll put it there for you"

Anna was right

What I see is so extraordinary, I alet to breathe

Everyone has come with a choice in hand Some, like Anna, carry two stones, because they have been asked by someone else to cast a vote by proxy So much trust must exist for this to work

Oker and Leyna stand near the troughs, and others, including Colin, watch to make certain no one moves stones from one place to another There are two choices today: to vote with Oker or to vote with Leyna Soht up and cast their stones into the trough near Oker They think we should give Oker’s caible patients The more cautious ones cast their stones with Leyna, ants to try several different cures

Oker’s trough is almost full

The decision is e rock, and as everyone clutches their little named stones, I think of Sisyphus, and of the Pilot story, the one I traded the coo Beliefs and ether that you’re never sure which is tale and which is true

But perhaps that doesn’t matter Ky said that once, after he’d told me the Sisyphus story on the Hill Even if Sisyphus didn’t live his story, enough of us have lived lives just like it So it’s true anyway

Xander h the crowd to find me He looks both exhausted and illuminated, and when I reach out with ht "Have you voted already?" I ask

"Not yet," he says "I wanted to ask you how certain you are about the list you last sent us"

We’re close enough to Oker that he can hear e say, but I answer Xander honestly anyway "Not certain at all," I say "I " I see a little flash of relief cross Xander’s face;this has made his choice easier Now it’s not as if he has to choose between Oker and me

"What do you think you missed?" Xander asks

"I’ to do with the flowers"

Xander tosses his stone into the trough near Oker "What will you do?" Xander asks

I’h about the choice I’d beMaybe for the next vote I’ll be ready, if I’m still here So I reach into ave me and I put the stone inside, next to thethe lines aze htful, a little disconcerting I look away, to Xander

"Which way do you think Ky would have voted?" Xander asks

"I don’t know," I say

"The plan is to give the cure that wins to Ky," Xander says gently "Because he’s the most recently still"

"No," I say "They can try it on the other patients first" But hoill I stop them?

"I think this cure ork," Xander says "Oker was so certain I think--"

"Xander," Oker says, his voice cutting between us "Let’s go"

"Aren’t you staying for the flooding?" Leyna asks Oker, sounding surprised

"No," Oker says

"The farht," she says "This is their part of the voting ceremony"

Oker waves a hand in the air, already"No time," he says "They’ll understand"

"You’ll be in the infirmary?" Xander askshim, until I knoe have a cure that works But I can’t seem to leave I have to see the way this plays out

Colin moves forward and holds up his hand to silence the crowd "The last stone has been cast," he says