CHAPTER 12: Early retirement
Three years since the last election result in which Hawkon picked up 6 thousand votes, and in total nine years since he was taken onto Pacifist Island as a refugee from Berk after being abandoned there.
Now 29 years old, Grugg Hawkon's lucky day had struck. Something significant and triumphant happened at the top of the Pacifist tribe.
Emme Rald was due to serve one more year in his final term before the next election, but the dragon attacks kept occurring, the island kept being showered by deadly balls of flames in Rald's naive attempts to relive the era of peace, except this time trying to relive it with wild dragons.
Emme Rald felt such pressure, sadness, and guilt at what he had let happen to his island. He never intended to get anyone killed or hurt by these attacks which has what happened. The rest of the archipelago hadn't fared any better because of their inactiveness following the Grimmel conflict all those years ago. The tribes just wanted to keep the weapons dropped and live out the rest of their lives peacefully without any conflict. They were too rusty as a result for any hypothetical conflict, even the Berserkers to an extent, one of the most powerful tribes on the archipelago.
The Docile Dragon Alliance, consisting of memberships of the Outcast Tribe, Berserker Tribe, Wingmaiden Tribe and significantly the Pacifist Tribe, acknowledged that their agreement at that summit a few years back on Berserker Island, simply wasn't working. The tribes in that archipelago-wide alliance were planning to call another summit to modernise it and to come up with new ways of making it work, because although the dragon attacks had been intense and deadly, there was still a will within the Chieftans to work out a way to bond with them.
Except now, it was going to be without Emme Rald attending it. Because he wasn't going to be a Chieftan anymore, because he was voluntarily going to step down. He was old and frail and out of it mentally but that was because of the guilt and sadness about what he's unintentionally inflicted on the tribe.
Situated on Pacifist Island inside the main hall, the old stuttering Emme Rald was giving his farewell speech to the tribe as they congregated in the hall with a huge wave of whiteness from all of their gear. It was night time and Emme Rald felt it'd be more appropriate to announce this at the end of the day.
"It has been the biggest honour to serve you all as your protector, your Chieftan across this island. But this crisis I fear has become too much of my doing. I want to apologise greatly for the harm, for the fear, and for the damage that I have inadvertently caused. I never intended for it to be this way."
The Pacifist vikings were more or less silent. They didn't seem too keen to provide a reception of any kind to the outgoing Chieftan of their tribe. The entire hall remained still like they were frozen in time. Not a single voice was uttered after Emme Rald's opening sentence.
"All I aimed to do was to promote peace, to give our tribe a historic first in creating a bond with these dragons that are coming our way. I felt like we deserved to have that given our proud historical record of living up to our tribe's title. But it was just too much. I do believe that it'll be in our best interest to uphold the Docile Dragon Alliance that continues to be upheld across the many tribes on the archipelago, there is a beacon of hope somewhere, but it's going to be taken up by somebody else and that won't be me."
Some of the vikings in the crowd wore New Pacifist leather armbands, with the logo in clear vision to Emme Rald as he made his speech. The outgoing Chieftan ignored it, for he didn't even want to acknowledge Grugg Hawkon's supporters and the type of path he's promising to take should he one day rule the tribe.
"I will say this though," Emme Rald gulped, this part of his speech being aimed subtly towards Hawkon, "whoever takes over after me must continue to promote our cause of upholding peace. We must not take a step into the dark, we must not resort to an agenda that goes against our tribe's nature. We had and have a good reputation with past tribes like the Hooligans for a reason. Let us not take such a risk, maintaining who we are will be crucial to the future."
"Very shortly I will be making my way to the Founding Father to hand in my notice that I no longer wish to be Chieftan. And I will advise him to quickly hold a new election with a shortened campaign period. Given the dragon attacks are occurring much more frequently now, we need a new Chieftan as soon as possible. For the past week however we've been free of any attack, but just purely out of a cautious note I'll be advising our father to potentially speed up the campaign period for safety reasons."
"Again, thank you all very much for the opportunity, in my name will be the Docile Dragon Alliance which I hope will be upheld, and a genuine attempt to create history with a new kind of peace. I'm sorry to all those I may have caused damage to from these attacks being allowed to happen, and I'm also sorry for letting you all down. Thank you."
Upon the conclusion of his speech, a small emergence of applaud roared across the hall as Emme Rald's viking guards gathered around him as he made his way off the wooden platform. The vikings were clapping their outgoing Chieftan not out of any love for him but purely because they were glad he saw sense and was actually able to apologise.
On his way to the Founding Father, Emme Rald hopped off the stage and was escorted by his Chieftan guards to the door, in which all of the vikings in the hall safely exited it afterwards.
Kneeling on one knee in front of the Founding Father, Emme Rald bowed his head and looked back up to the ancient viking who's bloodline extended all the way back to the viking who founded the Pacifist tribe in the first place.
"Father, I wish to no longer be Chieftan of our tribe."
This took the Founding Father by surprise, who raised his eyebrows towards the Chieftan.
"It is very much your choice, what's your thinking behind this move?" he asked Emme Rald.
"I feel guilty. I tried to make something work and to end these constant dragon attacks on our island by making peace with them in the same way the Hooligans did all those years ago but it was to no avail. I never intended for our island to be turned into a scorched wreck...it's not disastrous but the attacks are having an effect on us, we've had casualties, I feel accountable with blood on my hands...it's better for someone else to take the mantle."
"The attacks have been happening more often, that I've noticed from the reports I've received. I hear you long created some sort of alliance with the Berserkers and Outcasts and the Wingmaidens, as well as everyone else on the archipelago, every other tribe?" the father asked.
"Indeed sir. The Dragon Docile Alliance is one big alliance of all the tribes which strives to one day emulate peace between the attacking dragons and ourselves, so we can relive what the Hooligans achieved, it'll be a first for our tribe to be involved in such a wide goal. But again, word has gone around that I'm to blame for these dragon attacks, and inevitably I now feel like a murderer. I just can't deal with it anymore sir."
"You've been a formidable Chieftan, don't talk yourself down like that. I will accept your resignation and will immediately schedule a new election for our tribe-"
"Sorry to interrupt you sir, truly. But I have another bit of information to hand in - given our island has become accustomed to weekly dragon attacks, I fear holding a long election campaign as per usual would just cause more disruption and endanger our tribe. The election needs to take place in less than a week so a new Chieftan can be in place to continue the goal of creating a bond and upholding the Docile Dragon Alliance agreed on the archipelago by the tribes."
The Founding Father seemed to nod.
"Very well. I will personally make an announcement to the tribe in due course about this safety measure of an election you've advised. Can I just say, on behalf of all of us here, thank you for your service. I'm sure the new Chieftan will talk highly of you having lived under your leadership these past years. One of the proudest achievements in recent times is you extending our tribe beyond our comfort zones, sailing out into the archipelago to meet with the other tribe Chieftans, the first time it's happened in our history. You have many things to celebrate and be proud of. We will get through these dragon attacks and I'm sure your successor will do just that. Thank you, Emme Rald."
The Founding Father and Emme Rald nodded as Rald stood up from his knelt stance and gave a bow to the Founding Father. It was now official that Emme Rald was no longer Chieftan, and that a new election was set to take place not in a year's time, not during a prolonged campaign period, but in less than a week's time.