Tall stone walls surrounded Tanuki. The tiny bumps in them revealed that this room was carved, or more precisely punched, by the scorpions.
A large mushroom sat in the middle of the room, spewing out thick spores to illuminate the place. There weren't any chairs in this large room, only orbs cut into bowl-like halves, which the satis crawled into to rest while they observed the formal hearing.
Tanuki felt the same anxiousness as he did on the first day of high school. It was shameful to admit, but he feared his life just the same way back then, and he also felt the gaze of everyone that was observing him, waiting for his smallest mistake, which this time was the truth as he sat in the middle of this tribalistic courtroom.
Suchreet walked beside the large gong located opposite the crowd and punched the disk. It created a loud noise that got everyone's attention, but it wasn't exactly what Tanuki was waiting for.
"It's not made out of bronze, so what could it be?" He thought to himself before the loud speech of the scorpion deafened his thoughts.
"My honorary brothers and sisters! Today we've come to this sacred place to decide the future of the Sati Tribe. Our chieftain, Soma, has left the tribe after committing a series of unfaithful actions against the elders' path. He has now returned, bearing not just one, but two outsiders on his back! Betraying one's home and revealing it to an outsider are two of the most serious crimes one could commit! It's even worse than killing a fellow brother or sister, as doing either of the aforementioned crimes could result in the ruin of every sati of our tribe!"
Maduka could barely contain her anger. She was frustrated not so much because of what Suchreet was saying, but because it went on for so long that she forgot what she was angry about in the first place.
Soma patted the goblin's back with his tail. Though he didn't say it out loud, he asked her to be patient and wait for their turn to speak. Maduka complied.
Suchreet continued with his speech.
"Now, I'm a generous man. I follow the elders' path with all my heart and I believe that there's no excuse for hurting a fellow brother or sister. I propose, and it truly saddens my heart that it has come to this, but we shall banish Soma for his crimes. Only bad things can come from keeping a madman around."
Suchreet took a step back. It was Soma's time to speak.
Tanuki knew that whatever he was about to say had to be really good in order to defeat the other sati's arguments. He feared the outcome of this hearing and more so what fate he and Maduka will be dealt with.
"I should stop being so friendly to every stranger." He thought to himself, remembering the Professor. "They might offer valuable information or they might appear like damsels in distress, but I can't know who's an enemy and who's not. I let my guard down, again, to help someone I don't even know. Now it's not just my life that's in danger, but Maduka's too, and I promised I'd defend her!"
The thought of not fulfilling his promise left him spiraling down the drains of his fears, right towards the drowning depths of despair. His core trembled from the mental anguish he felt, which Maduka noticed. She put her hand's on Tanuki's and looked him in the eye, worrying.
"Right," Tanuki thought to himself. "I shouldn't let my fears corrupt Maduka."
He forced a smile and winked. This was enough reassurance for Maduka, and she returned to observe the hearing. The moment she looked away, Tanuki's smile was swapped out with crippling fear.
Soma began his speech.
"My fellow brothers and sisters! It is I, your chieftain! Loyal to the very core to a tribe he loves so much, a tribe he spent almost three-quarters of his life cultivating. We've faced many dangers throughout the centuries, but none was so great as the pink rot. It is true that my efforts to handle this situation have been less than worthy of the elders' smiles. But I believe that even they could understand that this enemy is far greater than any our tribe has witnessed before. Our food supplies have been broken, our sons and daughters are starving, and we've resorted to consuming nonother than the enemy's poison. I believe that this is the greatest and vilest opponent we have ever faced. Thus, I think the only way we could survive this great opponent is if we strain away from the elders' path. It's hard to say it out loud and I can feel my stomach turn from even thinking about something so outrageous. I have betrayed the elders' path and also betrayed the elders' love. I'm sure now that I'm not a leader worth being remembered by history. But it's a burden I can bear, so long there's a future for the sons and daughters of our great brothers and sisters. Thank you."
Soma sat back into his stone bowl. The crowd was left speechless.
Tanuki didn't know what the true source of this conflict could be, but he felt the weight of the chieftain's words, and even he found himself left a bit emotional.
Votes began to pile up. Even though Soma never mentioned he should be kept as the tribe's leader, people began voting for him one by one.
Out of the forty scorpions, only fifteen could vote. Only men had the right to raise their hands and only those that have reached a certain age.
Five restrained from placing their vote. Four voted for Soma. Six for Suchreet.
They were still on the losing side.
"Shit!" Tanuki leaned closer to Soma. "What do we do now?"
"Suffer the hammer of democracy."
Soma was calm about the results. He fought in a fair game and lost against a fair opponent. There was nothing he could've done now.
What seemed like the end of this voting session took a sudden turn as Suchreet proposed another question.
"Then it's decided! Our next vote will go about how we dispose of the outsiders!"
The words hit Tanuki like a tornado. His entire core froze as he just realized, this could be the end for them.
"What is dispose?" Maduka turned to Tanuki. "Maduka don't know dat word. But Maduka's smart girl! She knows how to do handstand, and speak to sheep, and…"
She went on about something, but Tanuki couldn't hear a word out of her mouth. The entire world became silent from the deafening mist of fear that fell on the courtroom.
He turned to Soma and whispered quietly so Maduka couldn't hear his words.
"Do we run now?"
"Oh, why would we, Mister? This is democracy. What the tribe wants, the tribe will do. It's only fair this way."
Tanuki was taken aback by his answer. Even though he was so kind, so friendly to the scorpion, he was just as committed to the tribe as the other violent sati.
That's when he finally realized:
Besides Maduka, he had no friends in this courtroom.
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