The Systems Challenge

"You know what? Fine. Let's give the kid a vote, alright? It'll save us a lot of headache, since who knows where those two are anyway," Stanley snapped, looking like he just wanted this to be over with already.

Elin wasn't sure what had happened while they were gone for everyone to have reached a decision, especially one that she had a feeling wasn't going to work out so well. For one thing, while the bear was slow, it could still decide to roll over or something. Not to mention that if she'd understood some of what had been discussed, they hadn't really been able to cut through the skin of the bear in the first place. Which, in turn, meant that they wouldn't be as likely to be able to even get to the muscle on the bear's neck.

Assuming it had muscle to begin with.

Elin felt herself freeze as Stanley glanced at her. She wasn't sure why, but it was like he'd somehow taken control of her for a moment with just that gaze. "You'd agree with me right?" Stanley asked, Elin feeling certain that he was talking directly at her and only her.

Elin opened her mouth to reply, not sure what she was going to say, only whatever it was, was what someone else wanted, rather than what she'd wanted to say.

"It doesn't matter what you think she will or won't agree with," Kim said. Her voice, somehow severing the connection that had Stanley operating her like a puppet.

Elin wasn't sure what it was about, just that she was thinking that she'd at least like to take a bath. If only to wash away any remains of whatever had just happened to her. Although, while she also felt thankful towards Kim for saving her there, she didn't feel like it changed anything between her and Kim. As she couldn't be sure that Kim had done that intentionally, nor did she think that it meant that Kim might actually think more about her feelings from this point on.

"What, I can't even talk to others about this now?" Stanley protested. "Where's the justice in that?"

Kim merely shook her head. "It doesn't matter. We returned from a walk to have found that a decision had been made and you're insisting that someone who wasn't even a part of that discussion has to actively participate in the plan. A plan she wasn't even given a chance to share her thoughts on before it had been agreed to," Kim retorted.

Elin looked around. She wasn't sure if this going to end up like the other discussions had. Where no one was able to get anywhere. That it would just end up wasting time with circular arguments that didn't convince anyone or resolve anything.

"So, we're supposed to just go back to the drawing board just because she doesn't want to participate?" Frank asked, his voice laced with hostility.

"We're not saying that," Sonya merely replied calmly, though Elin noticed her muscles looked rather tense and she wondered if Sonya was merely putting on a calm front. "We're merely arguing that I shouldn't be required to be an active participant in the plan. I'm willing to transport everyone in your plan to the bear's head, but beyond that, it'll be up to you to… uh… decapitate the bear."

Elin wondered why Sonya had hesitated there, but didn't see a reason to ask about it. For one thing, she didn't care to pry, but merely felt like there was something there behind her hesitation.

"So, what is it that you're saying exactly?" Stanley asked, sounding as if he was confused. "First you're saying you won't help, but then you're saying that you will. Which is it?"

"It's exactly what I said. That' I'm willing to transport you there, but nothing else. That you'd be on your own at that point. That you'd have to figure out your own way out of there or whatever once you want to leave," Sonya answered. "I don't work for you, nor do I care what happens to you. You made that clear from what you did to Heather and me, okay?"

"Look, if you're still mad that we abandoned you to the goblins, we're sorry. We knew that we wouldn't be able to do anything about them. There were just too many for us to handle," Stanley pleaded.

Heather scoffed, pulling everyone's attention to her. "You know it's not about that. It's about what you had us do before then. We might now know why we couldn't fight against what you 'suggested' we do, but we know that it wasn't our choice to do any of that."

Elin almost felt like she was watching a play. The kind that she'd always had to sneak into to watch. The kind that her father would never want her to see. As such, she found it hard to even remember to breathe as she watched, fascinated by the twists and turns of what the words were hinting at that had occurred.

"What're you talking about?" Stanley asked, sounding as if Heather's words hurt. "I asked clearly if you wanted to do that before you did. Are you regretting your decision now?"

"I'm not going to debate any of that," Heather snapped. "We might not be able to prove anything, but that doesn't mean we're going to be around you longer than we have to."

"Let's just move on to a vote," Sonya merely said, sounding to Elin like she didn't care about that subject. That she just wanted to get this debate over with.

"I'm good with voting now," Jonas said, a smirk on his face that somehow made Elin feel like he knew something that she didn't. Nor could she be sure why she thought that.

"But we haven't had a chance to defend ourselves from that slanderous accusation," Frank protested.

"Are you saying that there's merit to what she said?" Jonas asked like he didn't understand what Frank's complaint was really about.

Frank opened his mouth for a moment before shutting it. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

"Why should we vote on the entire plan?" Stanley complained. "Most of you don't even know what it is. Shouldn't we discuss this more first?"

"But we're not voting on the plan itself," Kim replied. "We're voting on if Sonya should have to actively participate in the plan or not."

"There you go again saying she shouldn't even carry us there," Stanley whined. "Can you stop going back and forth on that issue?"

"Hey, carrying you there isn't actively participating," Kim snapped, her tone making Elin wonder how close she was to drawing her sword and attacking Stanley. "Yes, it's participating, but more on a peripheral way rather than an active participation."

"Splitting hairs isn't going to help your case, you know," Stanley said, making it sound like a warning.

Though, Elin wasn't sure what he was warning against. Nor did she understand what hair had to do with what was being discussed.

"If you really don't want to vote now, that's fine," Jonas commented. "I mean, otherwise you'd be willing to let us get on with it rather than just stalling and wasting our time with this pointless bickering about what the fine details about what Sonya is and isn't willing to do."

"What're you suggesting then?" Frank asked, his tone making Elin wonder if maybe a fight was about to break out.

"Nothing much. Just that if Sonya should do more than carry everyone over to the bear's head. A 'yes' vote will say that she should stay and help try to decapitate the bear while a 'no' vote will say that she only need to ferry everyone there," Jonas answered, calmly, as if this sort of discussion happened every day.

Elin felt like she should say something, but couldn't think of what to say. Though, she also couldn't help but think about what it was that had nearly caused her to agree with Stanley, even though she wasn't sure about that moment herself. Like if it was just her imagination or if maybe it was similar to what Heather had described about what it was that she and Sonya had against Stanley, Frank, and Thomas.

"Fine, let's just get the unfair vote over with, okay?" Stanley said, throwing his hands up in the air as if he didn't care anymore.

"Alright. Everyone in favor of requiring Sonya to help in cutting the bear's head off after bringing everyone to the bear's head, raise your hand," Jonas said.

Elwin, Owen, Patricia, Patrick, Stanley, Frank, and Thomas raised their hands. Giving a total of seven in favor of requiring Sonya to participate in the fight.

"Now, everyone in favor of merely having Sonya fly everyone to the bear's head and letting her do her own thing after that, raise your hand," Jonas continued.

Elin, Elmo, Jonas, Sonya, Heather, Kim, and Bart raised their hands. Making the measure at a tie. With seven in favor and seven against.

"Alright, now we had the vote, so now what?" Frank demanded. "With a tie, nothing's been decided, hasn't it? We're still trying to figure out the same thing."

"Actually, I believe it was mentioned that if it's a tie, it'd go in favor of 'against' the measure rather than anything else," Bart said, his voice seeming to earn a scowl from Stanley.

"I still say we need to figure out a way to break this tie first," Stanley said, sounding rather stubborn about the subject.

"No problem," Jonas said. "We can wait for Harold to return. I mean, you did just sent him out to gather some firewood and other things, right? I mean, he sounds like he'd agree with anything you said, so long as he heard it come out of your mouth."

Elin wasn't sure why Stanley looked at Jonas that way. Like he'd said something that he couldn't refute, but filled him with a dread that he couldn't stand.

"Fine, we'll go with Sonya just taking us there," Stanley said after a moment, surprising Elin.