15
The tunnel ends, and a huge cave opens up before them. The fliers land at the opening, where they plan to wait for the gnawers and crawlers to catch up. Lumis and Gleam both shine their lights full blast (even they are excited to see the cave), but it does not penetrate far into to the darkness. Gregor cannot see the top or bottom, but he can hear a river somewhere in the distance.
"I knew we would find it," Luxa says in a whisper, then starts making plans to survey the area. When the whole team has arrived, they all split up. The shiners stay at the opening, so the humans all use flashlights. Wynnora and Howard go to the right with Nike, while Gregor goes with Luxa and Aurora to the left. Lapblood and the crawlers explore the center, while Hipp, Hector, and Whiptail stay at the opening.
Gregor and Luxa keep flying forward, trying to stay with the wall to their left. He starts to wonder if there is any end to this cave, but Luxa and Aurora insist that the wall is definitely curving. That means the cave is a circle. It take 45 minutes before they run into their cousins, meaning between the two teams, they have circled the cave. The teams fly across the cave back to the entrance, and wait for Lapblood to return with Kik and Kot.
Gregor thought everyone would be anxious to begin duscussing the cave. He certainly was. He wanted to hear what the others found and their thoughts on plans, but the only thing they all decided on was staying there a full day tomorrow (Gregor was thankful for this. His shoulder still ached from the rapids, Howard was still in a lot of pain from his injury, and most of the party was exhausted). Gregor looked around and saw all the Underlanders avoided each other.
Gregor looked over to his cousin and mouthed "What's their problem?" She gave a weak smile and mouthed "I got this" back.
"So," she said. "What section will the humans get? And will everyone be using this entrance? I mean that seems awfully inconvenient." Luxa exchanged a look with Lapblood, and Gregor thought it almost looked like suspicion.
"The division of the cave will be determined by representatives of each race," Luxa said plainly.
"Oh, right. Of course. It's going to weird though huh? I mean. Are you going to draw lines?" Gregor got it now. The Underlanders were all avoiding each other because they could now see that dividing the land would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible. It was ridiculous to think about really. Were they going to try to paint lines down the cave and have everyone stay in their spot?
"I do not appreciate your tone, Overlander," Lapblood growled. "War is on the line here, and I will not have you mock the situation."
"Oh, I'm mocking the situation?" Wynnora asked. "You're the ones giving each other the cold shoulder. You have a monumental problem on your hands, and you're just going to ignore it? Why? Because you are afraid?" Lapbood tensed up as if she were going to attack Wynnora.
"Wynn is right," Luxa said. Everyone is surprised. "It is our responsibility to begin forming a plan now. We cannot ignore this problem to comfort ourselves."
"And what would you have us do," Lapblood asked. Wynnora sat down, pleased that she successfully instigated the discussion.
"We must form a plan that we all agree with. We may be the only members of our races who will side with each other," Howard puts in.
"We all disagreed earlier, and I do not think discussing the solutions will help matters," Luxa says. "Each is as dangerous or impossible to achieve as the others. We already know this."
"So why not vote on it?" Gregor suggests. "You're not idiots. You've probably been thinking about this the whole trip. So vote on it. Majority wins, and you can all get behind a solution." Wynnora already has her notebook out, and volunteers to help take down votes and read them to keep everything anonymous for the Underlanders.
The expedition team hesitates at first. Then Kik and Kot say they like the idea, and soon everyone has agreed to vote. Luxa and Howard are able to write their vote down themselves, and Wynnora helps everyone else. Then she quickly tallies up the votes, and everyone sits anxiously awaiting the decision.
"Well someone thinks you guys should just fight it out. There are three votes to have a council divide the land. And the winning decision, with the majority of six votes goes to," Wynnora smiles happily, "The first multi-species city."