As soon as everyone was seated, tea was served and business began. It turned out the stranger was one of many messengers being sent to each community in the swamp from those closer to the mainland. Why they were using people from the other kingdoms might have been mentioned, but to be honest, Minnow was so excited to even be in the meeting to pay much attention. And as soon as the tea was served, it became dreadfully clear that nothing of importance would be talked about anyway.

“…if some of them can come stay here in your community… houses and hunting as well…”

“I don’t know. They really don’t like us, and won’t they get in the way. Besides, they’re not like us. They’re all lovelings and disrespectful and couldn’t catch a fish if their life depended on it. Which it would.” After a number of elbows to the ribs, and listening to Fern speak, Minnow leaned over to her sister and begged for some sort of brief about what was happening. Even if she’d been paying attention, some of the discussion was over the youngest adult in the room’s head. A few odd looks were cast in Minnow’s direction, including one from Fern. Big, pleading eyes won out this time, however, and her sister leaned over to whisper.

“The Volcano attacked the desert a couple months back, trying to take over. Now Rock’s got involved. They want to know if the desert refugees can stay here with us,” Fern explained quickly. Discussion was continuing around the group: pros and cons, many of which were being repeated.

“So you’re saying we’d have whole other culture here living with us and helping us out? That’s so cool! We could learn from them too. Like, like how they make tho…se…” Minnow didn’t realize how loud she’d responded to her sister, who was starkly on the con side of the debate as it was. Minnow also didn’t realize she’d interrupted Birch with her outburst. The glower came from everyone in the room, including the stranger, and Minnow could feel the emotions welling up inside her. Adults weren’t supposed to be emotional or intimidated or anything else. Confidence was key in the swamp. On her own, or with her own generation Minnow was confident; some might even say cocky. But she wasn’t quite a grown up yet, and after her bonding quest, she felt like a tadpole again, only ever being corrected.

She hung her head, bangs falling into her face to cover the moistening eyes and just tried to pay attention. Aunt Feather was for all the help possible. Snapper was sympathetic to the loss of a homeland. Egret and Fern wanted nothing to do with the other kingdoms. Ibis was concerned they would corrupt the children, or would bring chaos to the system. It seemed the overwhelming majority didn’t want the Desert refugees coming to the community, but it didn’t matter. Birch was in charge and had the final say.

“It was already decided in the Glades,” the matriarch said, speaking of the Swamp capital where all the matriarchs met to discuss anything that involved all of the communities. “Envoys were already sent to invite them. Now, only a few will be staying here, as the refugees are being split among the different families, but they will be here within a fortnight. We will have to build them shelter and teach them some things, but they can farm the rice and gather the peat with the tads. And then when the war is over, they will return home and rebuild.”

Amid the outraged shouts from her relatives, Minnow slipped out of the hall and ran across the rope and wood bridge back to the central fire. Back to childhood. Only then did she bother to wipe the tears from her eyes, leaving streaks in the mud that had dried to her face. Ivy, a young cousin climbed into her lap and gave her a kiss on the wet cheek, making Minnow smile again. By now, the pointlessly enraged discussion had spilled from the meeting hall and into the central area, around which all the homes had been built and connected by bridges. Most of the children turned to look, to listen to the adultl conversation, to know what was happening before their mothers gave them the news. What happened in the adult meetings was only discussed with the tads by their mothers. Minnow had to keep it secret.

Suddenly tired, she passed Ivy to Goose, Ivy’s older brother who was days away from his own bonding quest, took some of the parrot and a scoop of rice, and headed into her family’s hut, with Pyre following her. Aja generally were also kept out of the meetings, though more out of concern for space and their comfort rather than a species difference. Pyre nosed the ker gently with her hard head.

“It’s okay to mess up, Minn.”

The ker offered what smile she could and held the rice out for Pyre. “Yeah. I know,” she sighed, though she wasn’t sure she believed it. All Minnow wanted right now was to wash off the mud, eat her dinner and sleep. She proceeded, in that order, changing from nets to furs for sleep, and climbing into her hammock as Pyre settled under her for the night, providing warmth that wasn’t particularly needed.

In the morning, they awoke to a commotion. Everyone in the village awoke to the commotion. Birch had said a fortnight, but the refugees were already here, setting up tents on the walkways and bridges, barging into the homes where families were trying to sleep. And it wasn’t just a few refugees. And it wasn’t just the Desert who had come to stay. Perhaps the news had been outdated. Perhaps the envoys had been intercepted. Perhaps the Swamp had been deceived. Fights were breaking out over loving spaces and the mainlanders had only been there a few minutes.

A few had begun to stare at Pyre, who had stuck her head out the door and over Minnow’s shoulder. “Pretty aja you got there, mud eater. How’d a scum skimmer like you get such a rare prize? You steal it? You ain’t gonna steal my stuff,” a gruff man taunted in a thick mainland accent. Mainlanders all sounded the same to most swampies who lived far from the shore, and apparently the mainlanders found the swamp accents almost impossible to comprehend. Minnow shook her head nervously, and both she and Pyre ducked back into the hut before the man could grab at Minnow, who was still in her furs, or Pyre for a more intense interrogation.

Birch was directly behind the door however, and pushed the both of them back out, followed by her own plant aja. The adults needed to deal with this situation, and as despite everything else, Minnow was an adult. That meant this was her problem too.