2

            The unveiling was tonight.  The work they had done was evident all around them, but today's grand opening of the banquet hall was a landmark point in the rebuilding process.  By no means was it the end; there was still much work to be done, but it was, because of its nature, a cause for celebration.  Today a great feast would be held to celebrate the rebuilding of the Knothole banquet hall.
            Knothole I had served as a refuge for the band of Freedom Fighters led by Princess Sally Alicia Acorn, and soon thereafter had also become a home for many people who needed a safe haven from Robotnik.  But Robotnik had planted a tracking device on the Freedom Fighters' plane while it was grounded outside of Robotropolis, and had discovered the location of Knothole.  And that night he had razed it.  They had watched it burn, and they knew they could never build there again; Robotnik now knew where it was.  But Knothole was composed of two parts: one topside, and the other underground.  The underground portion was yet undiscovered by Robotnik, and with the aid of the Tarahassas Mountain Freedom Fighters, the underground portion had been augmented, and a tunnel had been made and lengthened, reaching to beneath a new location topside, and this would be the location of Knothole II.
            The rebuilding of a new Knothole was the product of the graft of the collective population of Knothole.  Sally had led the rebuilding of Knothole, and most of Knothole's citizens had graciously lent their support in this task.  It was, after all, their home they were rebuilding, and they would readily pledge their hand and their toil in undoing the destruction Robotnik had wreaked upon their own home.
            And today one of Sally's proudest projects was complete.  The banquet hall was built, and today it would see its first use in a celebration not only of its creation, but also of the road to a new Knothole.
            Every citizen of Knothole was invited to be in attendance.

            Sally looked, her hands on her hips, with great contentment at what had been done.  She was truly satisfied with the work she and the people had done.  This building had been of her own design, and thus she was especially proud of it.  Of course it was nowhere near the elegance of the palace she had grown up in, but she had had to make do with what was available here.  When she lived in the royal palace they had royal architects and royal blacksmiths and her father would just hire someone to build the facility.  But she had made this herself; it was of her own design.  And she also felt proud of all the people who had – and still did – worked so hard on rebuilding this village.  This building was personal for her, though, as it was the only one she had personally designed.
            She had been standing here alone for a while now.  And now she was ready.  She turned around and strode to the door, and opened it.
            A crowd was gathered outside in anticipation of the event.
            "I give you all," she proclaimed, "the Queen Alicia Banquet Hall!"

            Everyone filed into the large, capacious hall; it was, like almost every structure in Knothole, built entirely of unpainted wood, but its symmetry, and its carving and design here looked like someone had truly put their soul into it when compared with other facilities.  Light poured in through the windows high in the walls, and in the center of the room was a long table.  The hall's most important feature was its capacity; it was large; while Knothole was by no means a large village, those it did house were all able to be seated at once in the banquet hall.  Everyone filed in, taking their seats and looking around at the interior, rapt.
            There was an amiable commotion; quiet conversation filled the chamber but no one thread was discernable above another.
            Once the last person filed in, and closed the door behind them, Sally, a squirrel of the House of Acorn, approached the head of the table.  The last person took their seat, and Sally stood.
            "Thank you," she said.  The murmurs of the crowd quieted.  "Thank you for coming here today."
            Sally was a beautiful, slender girl with a beaming face.  She had been, when she was but a young girl, a princess, and she had had fine crowns and cloaks to wear.  But now she wore only a simple blue vest and simple blue boots, and yet her beauty still shone through.  So she was a striking girl, and her looks came naturally, not by any fine clothes or doctoring.
            "We are gathered here today not to celebrate the first meal in this banquet hall, but to celebrate our collective work and the product of our labors as it is manifested in the rebirth of Knothole."  Some scattered applause began to emerge from the crowd as she said 'the product of our labors' and intensified as she completed her statement.  Still, though, the crowd here was modest and their reaction could not match the reaction her father would receive as he gave a speech to his citizens.  The numbers in the audience here simply could not match the numbers of an audience like that.  Their enthusiasm, though, was genuine.  After all, they were celebrating the rebuilding of their own home, not some arbitrary political achievement the King might have been addressing his subjects on.
            "It has been a difficult struggle," she continued.  "But we have survived, and we have proven, through our hard work and our success in rising from the ashes of the flames, that we will not be defeated by anything Robotnik throws at us."  Again applause began to arise.  "Even the destruction of Knothole cannot stop us! Because we will rise up, and we will band together, and we will overcome!"
            "And I would like to honor your strength during our times of tribulation, those unfortunate weeks spent underground or in conflict."
            "We celebrate the success of our endeavors. Knothole started out as a refuge for me and a few others in the aftermath of the coup. But now it has become not only the base of the most powerful opposition to Robotnik's false reign, but also a refuge for so many more. I am proud to have accepted the first outsider to those who had been first ushered here by the royal guard, for it began the greatest accomplishment I have overseen. Here we have a haven where so many people can live a life sheltered from Robotnik and his machine. And this will continue as long as I live, or until Robotnik is overthrown."
           "And I would like to thank you all for your efforts. I am grateful for all of your hard work. Thanks to your dedication, we have made such immense progress on the rebuilding in such a relatively short time. Without your help, we might still be building Sonic's hut." She laughed softly, and now took the opportunity to scan the crowd.  She found Sonic, the fastest being on Mobius, at the head of the table.  Seated alongside him were Bunnie, the rabbit half-machine, who had been rescued from the roboticizer by Sonic; Tails, the young two-tailed fox, and Sonic's little buddy; Antoine, the often-cowardly, sword-wielding French fox who was in love with the Princess; and opposite him Rotor, the walrus and the inventor; Horatio, the doctor; and Rand, who had returned here from Tarahassas for this feast.  She found the face of Laine, the wolf, as well, halfway down the table, and recognized the faces of many others she had seen fight in the recent battles, those whom Laine and Rohan had hurriedly trained on the fundamentals.  She found Rohan, the red fox's, face as well in the crowd.  And then, forgetting reality for just a moment, she sought her father's face in the crowd.  But before she could realize it was not there, reality was remembered, and she gazed forward again.
            "That's all I have to say. Thank you, all. Let the feast begin!"
            She stepped forward and took her seat at the head of the table, on Sonic's left.
            And Horatio stood up and unveiled the feast on the center of the table, which had, until now, been covered over with a sheet.
            And it was a great feast.
            And dinner was served around.

            Robotnik heard the door open.  The room was dimly lit, not dark but certainly dreary.  The walls were all metallic.  Robotnik sat upon his mechanical throne, and before him were his many eyes, the many panels which adorned the front wall of the command room, which allowed him to see far and wide through his many cameras and surveillance systems.
            The throne swiveled around now, so that Robotnik could face his nephew who stood in the doorway.  Robotnik was a large man; though he was fairly tall, especially when compared to the animals that opposed him, it was his great stomach that characterized him.  His belly filled the gut of his uniform.  Robotnik's other characterizing feature was his moustache, which was primarily brown but had a tint of orange to it.  His nephew was called Snively for the way he spoke.  Snively had but one hair upon his head and thus was essentially bald like his uncle.  Snively was much shorter than his uncle, and very thin; as such he was ultimately condemned to be in his uncle's shadow.  Snively's characterizing feature was his long, needle-like nose.
            "Doctor Robotnik, sir," he spoke now with his nasal voice.
            "Yes, Snively. What have you for me today? I hope you have an update for me on the status of the production of the line I designed."
            "Yes, sir. Production is complete, completely, sir. They are ready for your final inspections."
            "Excellent. I will conduct my final inspections and then they shall march east. And what of the search for the emerald?"
            "Still underway, sir. I regret that I have no progress to report."
            "You'd best work harder, then, Snively! My patience is growing thin. You should have already found it!"
            "I apologize, sire," Snively said with a trace of fear.  "I have been focusing my efforts on the realization of your design. I'll be sure to redouble my efforts in the search now, sir."
            "Very well. I suppose," Robotnik stroked his chin.  "I suppose I should like to see the finished product now."  He rose from his throne.
            "As you wish, sir."  Snively turned around and exited through the door, and Robotnik followed him.

            But they would not give me death.
            So I asked them to let me return to the earth, and if the Brotherhood would kill me, then so be it.  I told them I wanted only to see her again, and if I could not, then let me die.
            But they refused, saying they had decided to protect me.
            "To protect me from what?!" I asked.  "If I can never see her again, then this coldness is a lot like death prolonged."
            "We have made our decision. We need someone outside of Haven. A check on its power. And you..."
            I interrupted.  "Then find someone else. You said I had garnered sympathy. Please, then, if you feel sympathy for me, please grant me my request."
            "It cannot be one of us. That would alert the Brotherhood to our precautionary check on their power. And then it would fail. Are we to, then, take the life of some innocent person and snatch them off the ground for our purposes? No, you have already arrived here. You are already to be punished. We should not create another casualty."
            "If I am to be punished, how can you call it sympathy to give me the punishment that is most severe? I choose death, and if you feel any sympathy you will grant this to me."
            "We are sorry," was all they said.
            It was then that I realized that I had garnered no sympathy from any members of the Brotherhood.  Or, if I had gained any, it was secondary to the role I had in their politics and their plans.  Perhaps they were wary of the power the Brotherhood had; perhaps some of them had decided together that they should institute something as a precaution, that if conflict broke out they would have something.  But what would that something be?  A refuge?  An ally?  I did not know what they had in store for me.  All I knew was that if they expected an ally in me, they had miscalculated.

            After the feast was over, the celebration had continued with dancing and music.
            Sonic even swallowed his pride and took Sally's offered hand for a dance.
            "Come on," she had said.  "Don't be such a wallflower," she said smiling, her hand outstretched.
            "Alright," he had sighed.  "But just once."  And he had taken her hand.
            And while they danced, she had leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Thank you," and nothing more.

            It was a great night.  And a rejuvenator.  It had been long since there had been so much joy in Knothole.  Its people had spent uncomfortable weeks underground in the dark after Knothole burned, as the tunnel project was begun, and then as the project was put on hold in order to neutralize the impending threat of Robotnik's great Tower, and then finally once it was complete, they had undertaken much hard work in rebuilding.  So it had been long since they had relaxed, much less enjoyed themselves.  And so today was a renewal, and they knew full well that the next day they would again resume the work of rebuilding, but would make no complaints, for the least they could do in exchange for all the Princess had given them was aid in the rebuilding of their own home, which the Princess had provided.
            They loved the night, and the next day, spirits renewed, they continued the work they had paused.