The disbelief increases, and there’s even a hint of anger.
Why do you wish to bring them in? asks Leaf incredulously. They are too young, too weak to be part of any sort of decisions.
They haven’t yet proven that they have the ability to offer significant counsel, agrees Poison. Windy doesn’t say anything, but I can tell she’s in complete agreement. Sticks and Flower seem rather against the idea too. But then, I wasn’t expecting it to be popular.
“Tell me, how many Pathwalkers are there?” I ask. Several of them look at me as if I’m mad. Understandable: I could just count them, couldn’t I? “Humour me.”
There are seven Pathwalkers, River answers calmly after a moment.
“That’s right,” I agree, “though since I’m an outsider, don’t count me.”
Six, then. Myself, Herbalist, Weaver, Wind-whisperer, Grower, and Wood-shaper.
“And how many Warriors are there?”
Fourteen, Shrieks answers promptly. If we do not count you. That is a far smaller number than there should be, however.
Especially since you’ve lost two more of them since ripping through our village like a wind-storm, accused Windy.
About to speak in my own defence, I’m beaten to the draw, barely able to take a breath before River starts speaking.
You’ve heard our story of what we faced, she tells Windy angrily. She has? That’s news to me, but I suppose River and Tarra would have had to be doing something while I was Binding the Warriors. How long before a beast like that would have attacked our village, probably causing far more casualties.
She has a point, Tarra backed up. It had Evolved for a second time – you know what the death rate is normally for facing a beast like that. You found that out first-hand, she says pointedly. It takes me a moment to realise that they’re talking about the attack on Kalanthia. I hadn’t realised that Windy was the one to kidnap Lathani.
The reminder of an old anger takes a moment for me to beat back. Lathani isn’t itching to kill her any more; how can you? I ask myself. I can wait until Kalanthia decides what retribution she requires.
For now, though, the responses from River and Tarra appear to have been enough to quell Windy’s desire to attack me, so I just continue the conversation. Take advantage of small mercies and all that.
“How many Warriors would you expect to have normally?” I ask Shrieks, actually quite interested in the answer.
Between thirty and forty.
So it’s a ratio of one Pathwalker to five Warriors, or thereabouts.
“And how many Unevolved adults are there?” I’m not going to speak of hatchlings, of course. Since they’ve all been sacrificed, there are none to worry about right now.
This question apparently requires a bit more thought to answer.
We don’t keep track of them all, volunteers Sticks hesitantly. They die too frequently.
That’s depressing. Well, hopefully the changes I’m going to make will reduce the death rate.
“Give me an estimate.”
Perhaps…two hundred? ventures Tarra. I suppose she’d have a better idea than most: she deals with injuries and illnesses, so is probably aware of when large numbers of Unevolved have died recently, or when they haven’t.
“Do you see what I’m getting at here?” I ask, leaning forwards. The incomprehension I can see gives me my answer. “The problem is that the Unevolved are the biggest group by far, yet they have no voice in the decisions made about the village.”
But why should they? asks Flower. I was expecting it to be Windy, honestly, but maybe she realised that her sister would object and so stayed quiet this time.
“Well, why shouldn’t they?” I turn the question back to her.
They haven’t proved themselves, answers Sticks instead. We’ve all worked hard and advanced. We’ve survived for years and gained useful knowledge and understanding during that time. An Unevolved only needs to survive a single year as a hatchling. Why should we listen to them?
It’s an interesting point, using age and experience as an indicator of wisdom. The problem is that while there is a correlation between the two, age doesn’t necessarily mean wisdom, nor does youth mean stupidity. For me, the recent situation with the samurans is a case in point.
“I understand your point,” I reply calmly. “But I fundamentally disagree that the group which is more than ten times bigger than either of your groups has no representation. What I suggest is that, just as I’ve invited over six of the Warriors, that we invite over six of the Unevolved.”
That gives them equal weight in the discussion to each of our groups! objects Windy, as appalled as I was expecting her to be.
“Be glad that I’m not suggesting proportional representation,” I respond, fixing her with a hard look. “Since that would give you only one representative, the Warriors two, and the Unevolved around twenty.” She subsides, but glares at me nonetheless.
I look around the group. “Do any of you have any reasonable objections to this idea which haven’t yet been discussed?” Several look as if they’d like to argue, but they subside as my eyes flick over them. “Alright. Tarra, Shrieks, please go and invite them to suggest six representatives to come over.”
They agree and the rest of us wait with varying degrees of patience for the Unevolved to be chosen and come over to us. The Unevolved seem to be as disbelieving at first as the rest were at the suggestion, though I notice that there’s none of the anger with which my proposition was met among the Tier twos. Instead, I see something that looks like excitement, and maybe even hope.
Is this true? asks Yells-a-curse using our Tame Bond to contact me. After having been the one to discover the shaman’s insane actions, he seems to have lost a lot of the fear and awe he had for Pathwalkers. Or maybe it’s just with me. Are we really being invited to be part of the decision-making?
It is, I tell him. So pick your representatives well.
By the time the moon has moved noticeably and some of the Tier twos are shifting impatiently, the six Unevolved representatives have been picked and move over to join the circle. Not wanting to have a repeat of the awkward shuffling, I get everyone to make space for them before they make it over. Apparently not wanting to have them sit among the Tier twos, Flower and Iandee shift apart to make enough space for all six of them to sit down there. It’s a bit cosy when they do so – the space isn’t quite big enough – but they’re here. That’s the most important part.
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“Welcome,” I say to the newcomers, smiling at them to try to put them at ease – they look understandably nervous. I say a few words to explain why I wanted to bring them in, and to summarise for both them and the Warriors the question which we were discussing before they joined us.
The Unevolved still look a little shell-shocked at even being present for the discussion; when I start asking them questions about whether they think that their brethren would be willing to do as much even if they weren’t being motivated by food, they seem hesitant to give a definitive answer, shooting nervous glances at the Tier twos. I decide to go easier on them. It’s going to take time to encourage them to talk freely.
“It’s my belief,” I start, “from my experience and knowledge of systems of motivation back where I’m from that using access to food is actively detrimental. I understand that if an Unevolved eats without permission, even if he does it outside the village, there are serious consequences?” I check.
Banishment at the least, answers Tarra calmly. Usually significant physical chastisement first.
“In short, you beat them up and then toss them out of the village,” I summarise, pushing my anger at the injustice deep down inside me. She hesitates.
I…suppose it could be put that way. I shake my head involuntarily.
“Where I come from, there were multiple studies done on humans – my kind. Even if our diets aren’t identical and our ways of having and raising our children aren’t the same, I suspect there will be similarities between our psychologies given that we’re both clearly social creatures.” I see that most of them look a bit lost so I decide to move on rather than going into the question of what psychology is and the differences between us. “Anyway, what was discovered was that there are basic needs within us for food, shelter, warmth, and social belonging. If these needs are not fulfilled, it becomes very difficult to focus on anything else. What I’m saying is that I suspect that one reason why so few adults become Evolved is because the basic needs are not in place.”
This, predictably, sends a flurry of grunts and clicks around the circle, confusion mixing with hope combining with disbelief.
Do you have any reason to believe that this might be the case, apart from your experiences among your own kind? Shrieks’ voice cuts through the murmur of the gathering, turning all the attention back to me.
“River,” I say simply. They all turn to look at her. The Pathwalker in question sends a quick panicked look at me, apparently not completely comfortable with all the attention suddenly being on her.
What do you mean by that? asks Tarra warily. I noticed Reducer’s talent while she was still a young adult – you cannot use her as proof that all Unevolved are capable of becoming a Pathwalker.
“No, but how long did you expect it to be before she would achieve Evolved status?” I ask pointedly. Tarra hesitates.
Perhaps another three more years. At the minimum.
“And that is my point,” I say strongly, leaning forwards and once more looking from one to another. “I’m not denying that River is talented. But what I am saying is that the current system actively discourages your Unevolved from making any steps forwards. They are so focussed on resource gathering that they can’t work on their own progress. They don’t have access to Cores. And they’re in danger which means that the longer they take to make progress, the more likely it is that they will be killed before they can actually Evolve. Or if they want to try to evolve quickly, they have to put themselves frequently in situations of high danger, increasing the chances that they will die before succeeding. Or am I wrong?”
You’re not wrong, agrees Tarra, her tone neutral though with a hint of discomfort in the Bond. No one else pipes up to gainsay either of us.
“Then what if we eliminate food as a method of motivation and replace it with something else which also will offer the Unevolved more chance of Evolving?”
You’re suggesting we give them Energy Hearts? Grower inquires, connecting the dots. She sounds vaguely disturbed, but also slightly thoughtful. Though there is a small minority who are clearly against the suggestion, most seem to be more thoughtful than immediately against the idea. Some of the Warriors are looking intrigued even though others seem uncomfortable with the idea. The Unevolved look excited and hopeful, unsurprisingly.
“I am.” There’s a low susurrus among the group.
We need them for our work and progression, objects Sticks. If we give them to the Unevolved, we won’t have enough, and they might die anyway. It’s a very cold view on things, but I can kind of see her point. Not that I agree with it. But then I do have an advantage now.
“First of all, as I mentioned, giving them to the Unevolved increases the chance that they will become Evolved, which increases the power of the village.” There are a few murmurs in response to that – some in agreement, others not. “Second of all, quantity isn’t going to be a problem.”
Pulling one of the Energy Hearts my group harvested from the cavern, I show it to the group. Several of them breathe in sharply enough to be audible and I see greed glitter in several pairs of eyes and across multiple Bonds. Everyone apparently uses this.
It’s not surprising. I spoke at length with Tarra and Joy on this subject on our way back to the village. I didn’t reveal what I’m planning on doing, but I got quite a lot of useful information from them – as well as forbidding them from telling anyone where I got the Energy Hearts from. I think I’ll keep that underwraps for a bit longer.
Cores are more integral to the village than River had realised, not having experienced life as a Pathwalker. First of all, both Pathwalkers and Warriors use them to make progress to Tier three, though Tarra admitted that none of the village had reached that level in living memory. There seem to be bottlenecks which they’re not entirely sure how to get past.
Given that Bastet has been sitting at ten percent progress for the last while despite all the hunting she’s done and the Energy she’s had access to, I suspect she might be at one of those. I plan to speak to Kalanthia about it when I next see her. From what Tarra said, they tend to try to get through these bottlenecks by simply absorbing enough Energy to force it. There has to be a better way, though, especially as that doesn’t appear to help them actually reach the next Evolution.
That use of the Cores consumes the vast majority of them, and there are never enough. Pathwalkers also often use the Cores in their work. Tarra, for example uses them in some of her potions: used correctly they can enhance the power of a concoction rather significantly. But she is limited by how many Cores she can get her claws on – especially since she doesn’t want to impact her own attempts to reach the next tier.
“I have a large store of these.” I do – the cavern was very fruitful and if I can work out how to crystallise some of the Pure Energy, I will hopefully have an ongoing supply of them. “And I potentially have a method to help the Evolved make progress without them.” This gains even more of a reaction than the appearance of the Energy Heart did.
The thing is that, even though Bastet hasn’t made much progress, the other Tier twos I brought along with me have. Only one or two percent each, but they’ve still made progress which indicates that being in an area full of Energy has to be helpful even to Tier twos. So it’s a bit of a guess, but one that I feel has evidence to support it.
But if the Unevolved spend all their time absorbing Energy Hearts, we will run out of food and other resources, objects Tree, just beating Windy by the looks of it. You can’t be expecting us to go and gather all of that?
“Well, why shouldn’t you?” I challenge.
Warriors and Pathwalkers are responsible for tasks which the Unevolved are incapable of, points out Lee quietly.
“And as long as the division of labour is being done according to capability, that’s fine,” I agree. “But if it’s done just because the Warriors or Pathwalkers don’t want to do it, then that’s not. Anyway, at present, I’m suggesting using Energy Hearts as rewards for the completion of the tasks necessary to keep the village running – whether the tasks are done by the Unevolved or Evolved. In the longer term, I have an idea about how to improve resource gathering, though it’s going to take some time to set up. If everything works out the way I hope it will, you will have to labour for fewer hours, giving you more time to focus on your own progress. How does that sound?”
If the hopeful and interested looks that statement garners me are anything to go by, I might finally be getting through to them. Of course, it’s going to take time to prove whether I’m right or not, but hopefully we’ll be able to have some easy wins to motivate the rest of them.
Either way, as the discussion continues, the Unevolved finally starting to speak up from time to time, very hesitant at first, I’m pleased with the progress we’re already making.