"Carol? Daryl?" Garland drops the folder he's carrying on the desk as Carol scurries to her feet to hug him. Daryl rises and holds out his hand. As Garland shakes, he says, "Daniel just signaled there was a group coming in for refuge. I didn't know it was yours."
"Didn't recognize ya at first," Daryl tells him.
"Or I you," Garland tells him. "You look ten years younger!"
"Growin' it back," Daryl insists, running his hand over the soft stubble on his cheeks where his goatee once was.
Garland pops his head out the door to dismiss the guard. "Go tell Shannon that Carol and Daryl are here. I know she's somewhere in the museum."
"That's Daryl Dixon?" the guard asks in a voice of awe and peers in the room. He's about twenty-five and blonde, and his blue eyes are starstruck. "Oh, sir, can I shake your hand?" He steps in with his hand out toward Daryl.
Carol stifles a snort while Daryl skeptically shakes the guard's hand.
"And yours, ma'am?" the guard asks. "Carol Stuart?"
"Carol Dixon." Carol extends her hand to shake the guard's, but he raises it to his lips and kisses it, smiling as he lowers it. "It's a true honor."
Garland waves him out impatiently, and the guard scurries on.
"Hell was that?" Daryl asks as Garland closes the door.
"Let's just say you two are legendary around here, given how you brought down the mutineers." Garland plops down into the desk chair and gestures for them to sit down across from him. "Kayden is relatively new. He and his sister stumbled on Jamestown in July, but he's heard the stories. And seen the exhibit."
"The exhibit?" Carol asks as she sits down in the chair across from him.
"Shannon had the…perfectly Shannonesque idea to redo a section of the museum to contain exhibits about the history of Jamestown as the first permanent post-apocalyptic settlement. She figures it will serve as a history lesson to future generations. There's an exhibit on the Heroes of the Mutiny of 7 NE."
Daryl sits in the chair next to Carol's "NE?"
"New Era. It's how the council has chosen to date things. BNE – Before the New Era and NE – New Era. The NE dating starts with the first January to follow the Great Sickness."
"Guard said yer name was Mayor Barron?" Daryl asks.
"Barron's my surname," Garland answers. "We held elections in July, after the transition, and I was elected Mayor of Jamestown."
"But ya ain't sheriff?" Daryl asks.
"When the men and women of the town council drew up a new charter in August, they decided a person can't be both sheriff and mayor. They wanted to make sure the mayor stays accountable to the law. So I stepped down from that position and Earl – you remember my old bailiff?" Daryl nods. "He's sheriff now."
"You said the men and women on the council?" Carol asks. "You have some women in the government now?"
"Three. There's Ana – you met her. She was the judge who presided at the treason trial. I think Daryl met our veterinarian, Carolyn?"
Daryl nods.
"She's on the council. And uh…well…." He smiles. "Let's just say my lovely wife knows how to politic. Shannon greased palms and kissed babies, promised a chicken in every pot, and got herself elected to the council after the transition."
"I'm not surprised," Carol replies with a smile. "Who else is on your council?"
"Dr. Ahmad is a member," Garland answers. "Then Barry, he's a hunter, I think Daryl worked with him while he was here. There's a former sailor, who's now a captain – which is to say he mans one of the ships. But a captain has no special power above that of anyone else on the council. There's a fisherman, and our new farm manager. And then there's me. As mayor, I'm the ninth member and chairman of the council." Garland leans back in his chair and asks, "So I understand you've come with a group of twenty-eight men and women, seeking refuge?"
"Mhmhm," Daryl murmurs.
"What happened to the Kingdom?"
Carol solemnly tells him about the community's collapse and how she got most of her people to safety in other camps in the alliance. "That school was never an ideal location for a camp," Carol says. "Ezekiel made it work, though, and so I built on what he started, for as long as I could."
"And I'm sure your people are grateful to you for that." Garland tents his fingers. "So here's how this works now. We're going to interview all your people – find out their skills and talents. Earl and his deputies are doing that even as we speak. We're going to search and inventory all their belongings. After the interviews, the council will meet, discuss the matter, and then vote on whether or not to grant you probationary admission."
"No trial?" Carol asks.
"We don't have trials for that purpose anymore. Ana convinced us it was too inefficient. Now if the council say yes, we're going to ask for an entry payment of some sort, some portion of what you brought with you, and the rest we'll return. If the price is agreeable to you, we'll take you in on a probationary basis."
"Would we be expected to go four months without weapons?" Carol asks.
"No. The probation period is only one month now, but you'll get your weapons back right away, after the vote, and you'll have them while on probation. As long as you don't break any laws during that month, and you haul your weight, you'll become full citizens of Jamestown in just four weeks, which means you'll have the right to vote for council, to sue in court, and all the other protections and benefits of citizenship. But you get the responsibilities right away. Once you're accepted for probationary admission, you'll be assigned jobs – twenty hours of work a week to contribute to the community. In exchange, you get basic, sustenance rations. That leaves you time to work for each other's rations if someone can't work."
"Everyone can work," Daryl says.
"Then you can spend that extra time growing food in your own private gardens, or hunting and fishing and scavenging."
"If we do," Daryl asks, "how much goes to the common pot?"
"None, if you're doing it on your own time. What you catch or find or grow on the clock goes entirely in the common pot. Everything you do on your own time is yours. As for housing - "
"- We just need someplace to pitch our tents," Carol says.
"Well, you can't be in tents out here in the winter or during thunderstorm season. We have some extra beds available. We've lost a few people, but we've also been preparing for the possibility of growth, whether through birth or through taking in refuges."
"Wanna build a cabin," Daryl says, "for me 'n m'wife. A piece of land somewhere inside the gates is all I ask."
"You'll be given land to build on, if that's what you want," Garland says, as though he already assumes the council will vote to take them in. "Our tools are freely available to you at no cost, but nails, screws, things in short supply – you need to pay for those. You can do that with extra labor for the community or through bartering goods. You can also scavenge your own supplies, and you're free to cut down trees in the designated lumber areas. While you're building, you can - "
The door bursts open, and there's a squee of excitement, followed by, "Carol! Oh my God I can't believe y'all are here!"
Shannon looks no different. Her long, curly red hair is the same length, and her eyes are just as green, but she's put on some weight. A lot of weight. It's not until Carol has stood up to hug her that she realizes the woman is pregnant. Carol steps back after the hug and asks – "You and Garland are having a baby?"
"I'm about to drop in eight to ten weeks," Shannon answers. "We weren't planning on having one, but Garland's not always successful at pulling out."
Garland rubs his eyes. "Darling, please. They don't need the details."
By now Daryl has stood up and also gives her a sideways hug before he peers down at her pregnant belly. "Congrats, man," he tells Garland.
"Did you tell them they're welcome to live with us?" Shannon asks.
"I hadn't gotten around to it. But, yes, you two are welcome to live with us until you get your cabin built." He adds, hastily, almost as an afterthought, "Assuming the council approves your admission."
Daryl licks his lips and says, "Can't wait to get me a piece of Grandma Bonnie's strawberry pie!"
"Oh," Shannon says, almost as if she's sadder for him than she is for herself, "I'm sorry, sugar, but my mother passed away this past fall."
Daryl's thumbnail goes straight to his mouth and he mutters a condolence.
"We had a really bad bout of influenza in September," Shannon explains. "Garland ordered a quarantine, which probably limited the deaths, and Dr. Ahmad and the others fought it valiantly, but we still lost a few people, especially among the young and the old."
"Is Gary all right?" Carol asks with alarm.
"Gary's fine," Garland answers. "Unfortunately, we lost two of the orphans, including our little Terrance." Garland grits his teeth. He pushes back his chair and stands. "Well, let's go talk to your people."
When they get to the theater, a group of three guards is peering inside and whispering to each other. "Twelve," one says.
"No, eight," replies the second.
"I saw twelve," the first insists.
"But four look like they're already taken," says the third. "And that girl can't even be seventeen yet. So only seven."
"Boys," Shannon calls, and they suddenly snap to attention. "You can worry about picking flowers and wooing the new ladies later. Right now I need one of you to gather the town council and send them to the council chambers."
"Yes, Councilwoman," a guard replies.
"You other two can go back to the front gate," Garland tells them.
The guards disburse and Carol and Daryl go into the theater where Earl and his deputies are interviewing the Kingdom's people and taking notes. Earl looks up from his spiral notebook, tucks his pencil in his front pocket, and comes over to greet them both. The salt-and-pepper haired deputy has grown a handlebar mustache.
"We got them all some apple juice and cornbread," Earl says. "They said they hadn't eaten since last night, and it's already mid-afternoon."
"Thank you," Carol tells him.
A woman from the Kingdom raises her cup of apple juice and says, "Sorry we doubted you, Queen Carol!"
Earl grins. "Queen?"
Carol shrugs.
"You should explain to your people what's going on," Garland tells her. "Shannon and I need to go to the council chambers. I'll be back once a decision is made."
Carol goes to the stage before the screen to explain what's happening. Earl and his deputies resume their interviews and note taking. That takes about an hour, at which point Earl tells Daryl and Carol, "I need to go report to the council. Sit tight here." He leaves two of his deputies at the door.
Only fifty minutes passes, but it seems like an eternity waiting. Garland returns and draws Daryl and Carol aside. "The council has voted to offer your group probationary admission. The admission fee will be your wagon, for communal use, and the first foal to be bred by your stallion and mare."
"And?" asks Carol. She was expecting them to demand more for the safety of fences, the plenty of the docks and fields, and the beds they're offering.
"That's it. All of your other things will be immediately returned to you."
Carol takes the stage before the movie screen and tells the remnants of the Kingdom the terms of admission. "All in favor of accepting Jamestown's offer?"
Every hand goes up.
