Morgan returned with two books, setting them aside on the table to collect the pieces of paper.
He quickly went through all of them. "Alright," he said, "A good portion of the votes went to Lucina. Therefor, with very little opposition, Lucina will act as our leader."
Lucina sighed, standing up. "Right. Well, as leader, I renounce my position and give it to Eisso." She looked over at Eisso, obviously confident in her decision. "My reasons include trust, loyalty, and overall friendship. I firmly believe that Eisso can persevere things that I would be unable to, and that he can lead us to a clean, swift victory with few losses."
Eisso wasn't completely sure how he felt about that. He looked over at Morgan, hoping for some sort of reassurance. His friend only replied with a small shrug. Eisso turned to Kenzie, but she was unlikely to protest—she looked reasonably proud actually.
He slowly stood up. "Thank you, Lucina, but…" Eisso trailed off.
"You'll do great," Lucina replied. "Don't worry."
That encouraged him to nod.
On the other side of the room, Cynthia's eyes starting sparkling. "Speech! Speech! Speech! Speech!" She said cheerfully. "Every hero needs a leader speech! And a heroic entrance, but we can work on that later."
Eisso was about to protest when the rest of them, slowly but surely, started doing the same. It was both encouraging and threatening.
Now he was wondering if Lucina had predicted this and made him the leader just to avoid saying her own speech (although, in his opinion, she was probably better at public speaking than he was).
From the way everyone was looking at him, he figured that he wouldn't be able to get himself out of this one. "Um," Eisso began. Everyone quieted down almost immediately, except for Cynthia and Morgan, who were still trying to motivate (or scare) him and continuing the chant in whispers. "I know…I know that I'm probably not the first choice. And I know that, just a few hours ago we wouldn't have expected to be told that we needed to fight a war. But in the same faith that Lucina has in me, I promise I will try my best to lead us and guide us towards victory.
"Your parents fought a war. My parents hoped I never would. But nonetheless, our parents desired only peace. Who wouldn't? I can only say this bluntly: we need to win. And we will, even if it takes weeks or months or years. Everyone deserves a little bit of peace…a little bit of hope. We can ensure that, by the time this is over, that there will be all of that and more. For decades, if we can do it right. Perhaps for centuries. Who here would help me protect what the Grimleal threatened?"
Everyone gave their own grunt or shout of approval. Eisso sat back down.
"Good speech," Kenzie whispered. "I think it worked."
"Thanks," Eisso replied.
Morgan looked over all of them. "Now that we have our tactician and leader, it's time to nominate other positions, such as second-in-command, soldier, front-liner, and so on. Write down who you think should be in each position—with the exception of second-in-command, which is entirely up to Eisso—and then hand them to me." He looked over at Eisso. "For the second-in-command, I would advise someone to will be able to take your place in battle, if necessary. Therefor—and I honestly mean no offense by this, as it's just a suggestion—but Kenzie might not be the best option. While her strength outweighs her aim, I think she would do best as a healer rather than a fighter." He turned back to everyone else. "That being said, I know how to form an effective team, and I can provide insight to anyone who's a little lost."
Kenzie didn't look the least bit offended by Morgan's comment; in all honesty, if anything, she looked a bit relieved. Eisso understood the feeling, but desperately wished that he could experience it.
Morgan handed out pieces of paper again, and some things to write with.
Eisso shamelessly wrote down Lucina as his second-in-command, hoping she wouldn't mind. At the very least, she would just be occasionally answering questions or fighting on his behalf. Plus, he needed the advice from someone who was raised to be a leader, one day.
He also backed Morgan's opinion on keeping Kenzie as a healer, if not for her to be doing what she's better at than to keep her safe. He couldn't match most of the others with a position; he could, however, figure out a good position for Owain and Noire since he had watched them battle fairly recently. For the rest of them, he just put "Whatever is best" and hoped it didn't sound too careless.