Naria and I had been invited once again, and we sat next to each other. She was holding my hand tight everytime Greta was asked to answer. Błażej Fördern was a rather tall man with black hair, and was wearing a brown suit.

'In our country', he said at the half of the debate, 'one of our strengths is indubitably the union and the harmony of our people. However, there are times when things are not going this way, and problems oppose people against one another. One of these problems we are facing is the agricultural crisis…'

'You mean, one of the problems you are facing after the actions you have taken!' interrupted Greta.

'Yeah! Well done!' Naria exclaimed, raising her fist as I was trying to calm her down.

'During this crisis', the president continued, 'I did not stay behind my desk. The role of a true president is to travel across the country to meet the people, their complaints and their question marks. And one of the recurring issues they told me they were facing, was the decrease of the exportations for most of their products. What are your solutions to solve this problem, Ms Pfirsich?'

Greta adjusted her glasses before answering.

'The agricultural crisis is indeed one of the main concerns of our people. Without being able to sell their products properly, how can one see a bright future for their business? We have been overrun by Dalmasca and Nabradia, to cite but a few. Chocobos and cockatrices make for a fine flock, but although new species have been introduced into our farms, revenues are little and prices are harsh in the international market. However, there are ways to increase exportations by diversifying the range of products and entering new markets. What about developing nanna farming? Nanna cheese and milk are still unknown in big markets like the Empires, and they have been proven to be good for the health. If I am elected president, I will sign a pact with the Garif, so they can provide us with some of these interesting animals. More products means more chances to export Landisite agriculture, and this could be a solution.'

'Yeah! Exactly as we said before!' Naria screamed again.

According to the Landisite Constitution, dating from the previous century, the future president was elected at the absolute majority of the votes cast. If that didn't happen in the first round, then a second round was organized with the two highest-scoring candidates. This was exactly what was happening, thus the presence of these two candidates in the debate. A same person can only aspire to two presidential mandates, each one being of five years.

'Hah!' President Fördern said. 'What a surprising idea from the candidate who recommended shutting down our most valuable factories!'

'I never said we should shut them down', Greta quickly corrected. 'But rather, that we should operate a giant operation of industrial transformation in our country. This is what Landis needs the most at this moment. By using renewable energy to produce what we do best, not only will we come out better off, we will create jobs as well. A whole range of the industry is yet to be discovered, and none of our leaders dared to try it before. If I am elected president, I will be the president of change and progress!'

All Green Progress allies applauded.

After the debate, there was still work ahead of us. Law proposals needed to be refined, and leaflets needed to be distributed to a maximum of people. This time, I had been asked to participate, but I refused. I was not a member of the Party, and distributions occurred mostly at evenings. I didn't want my mother to worry more than she already does. But Naria accepted. After all, she didn't have to answer for anything to anyone. So I kept travelling to Kalthof every morning, and coming back every afternoon. I had noticed Basch had begun to ask more and more questions at every dinner. He was convinced I was a member of the Party, and whatever justification I gave wouldn't do. So I quickly gave up explaining to him, and I gave the simplest answers possible to his curiosity. As for Mom, she was still worried to see me travel everyday restlessly, but she had begun to accept it; and without being supportive of the Party or anything, she wished me luck everyday, asking me to give my best.

And finally, the big day came. The period and end to the election. I arrived at Kalthof earlier in the morning this time. The sun was shining high in the sky, and people had just begun to arrive in the Party's headquarters. Naria came early in the afternoon, bringing a dozen of pies this time – so each one of us came with their own chocobo. The giant room was decorated exactly as the previous time, and Drugi was still standing next to the blackboard, ready to collect the results. Many journalists followed Greta Pfirsich as she went to vote in the nearest polling station. The others voted as well – except Naria and me, of course.

'Have you heard the news?' said someone as soon as we got back in the building.

'The post-debate poll results came out!'

'Look!'

'It's incredible!'

I managed to get one of the papers that were going from hand to hand, and read what was written.

'We are first!'

'Greta rocked the debate!'

They were right. If the election result was the same as this poll's, then Green Progress would win the Presidency of Landis. Was such a thing possible?

'My friends', Greta said with a strong voice. 'Let us not take conclusions too quickly. Everyone, at your post! We've still much to do!'

For the dinner, this time, there was a big buffet for every member, supporter and journalist. I often wondered where all the money came from, but Danek told me the previous time it came from the members' subscriptions, and since their number grew drastically since the beginning of the campaign, the Party had more money. And it also came from State subventions, which were given to all official political parties.

I was about to fall asleep again when I suddenly felt a strong hold on both my arms. I screamed.

'Hahahaha! Such a fright, isn't it?'

'Let him get a grip on himself, brother.'

The two voices kept quiet and I opened my eyes… Cirla and Margit were before me.

'Sorry…' I said. 'What in the world are you doing here? Shouldn't you be helping your father?'

'We asked him', Margit said. 'We really did. But all that we earned was 'Go back home' and 'Do what you want but don't follow me.''

'So, after insisting and not being able to enter President Fördern's headquarters, we chose to pay Green Progress a visit!' Cirla concluded.

'It's beautiful here! Look at all these flowers!' his sister exclaimed.

'But… Isn't there a problem that you're here?'

'Nah! We're just teenagers like you discovering politics. And since we're here, we're also going to support Green Progress… just for tonight. And… one more thing, Noah', Cirla said, raising his forefinger. 'You think too much that we're working all the time helping our father. That's not correct!'

'All we did was correcting a few papers and sharing our ideas with him', little Margit added. 'That's nothing in comparison with what you did here!'

'You've done a fantastic work! So you've been really involved in the Party's official law proposals! Working directly with the hierarchy! That is great!'

I tried to thank them but they kept praising me on and on, so I just interrupted them and invited them to take a meal at the buffet. They immediately obeyed.

'Where is Naria?' Cirla suddenly asked, his mouth full of meat.

'I don't know', I admitted. 'She's been working with the agricultural hub and she made friends there, so I guess she must be with them.'

'But that's so wrong, Noah!' Margit shouted after swallowing her juice. 'As a gentleman, you should always stay by her side! No matter the new friends, no matter the circumstances! You are important!'

'Maybe but, err… Could you keep your voice down?'

'Let's look for her', Cirla suggested. 'We have to congratulate her for all the effort she put into her lessons.'

'That's right! Let's go!'

Nareszcie was, as the previous time, at the other side of the room. But unlike what I had thought, she was alone. She greeted my friends with a full smile:

'Well hello, you two! I've missed you! It's been so long! Woohoo Margit, you're cuter than ever!'

'Oh please', Margit said, turning all red.

'Noah wanted to tell you something', Cirla said, without looking like it.

I promised to take my revenge against him once we met his Archadian 'Doll'.

'What is it?' Naria asked, turning her beautiful look towards my blushing face.

'Actually, it's them', I managed to say.

Fortunately, Margit followed my thought and they congratulated her for taking her lessons.

'It's a strange feeling!' Naria said. 'I feel almost as clever as the three of you, now!'

We laughed and a member of the Party asked us to speak more quietly.

'Let us go to my table', I suggested. 'There's almost no one around there.'

In the middle of the crowd, I lost my friends. I tried to keep Naria at sight but she vanished like the others. I was too shy to push people on the right and on the left, so I just waited for them to move and made my way forward. Finally, my sight was clear. I reached the bottom of the room, where I left my table, and… watched my three friends as they were talking to Basch.

'B… Basch? You too?' I said.

'I finished work at the farm so I asked Mom if I could go and she said yes. I finished everything I had to do. Can't say the same of you, heh?'

'Oh come on', Margit said. 'Noah has worked so hard with the Party, let him do what he wants!'

'It's so strange', Naria said in a low tone. 'Before reaching this place, I was convinced that Noah had come before us at the table, and that it was him waiting for us.'

'Hah! Don't compare me to him, okay?' Basch said.

'But how could we not: you are twin brothers!' Cirla exclaimed.

'But tell me, Basch, why have you asked Mom to come here?' I said nervously.

'Because I wanted to! Do I need a reason to do as I please now?'

'Please, please', Margit tried to calm him down again. 'He just asked you a question.'

I was pretty certain he came because of Naria, which did not exactly make me happy. Immediately after, he took her arm to whisper something in his ear and she laughed, while Cirla and Margit were talking about the changing weather. I decided to ask the latter:

'So… Will you stay until the results?'

'Of course!' said Cirla. 'We're going to party all night with you!'

'Well, this isn't exactly what I'd call a party… I am dispensed from working but they are other people who…'

'Don't bother!' Margit interrupted. 'We'll be alright together! We, too, asked our mother before coming so there's no problem.'

I was about to say something but each one took one of my arms, just like when they appeared, and dragged me away to the buffet, where they suggested we ate more free food.

Independently from the fact that I was with my friends, the atmosphere in the giant room was way better than the previous time. People shared food and exchanged smiles and encouraging words. Everybody believed in Green Progress's chances to win this election now. It was just a matter of time.

At the middle of the evening, Drugi announced the closure of all votes in the country. Everybody applauded, then we came back to our tables to listen to the first results. Some polls came out, saying that we had won, but Greta swept them away with a motion of her hand.

'Let us not focus on rumors, but rather on our actual chances to win together. And thanks to everything you managed to did, they are real!'

Everybody shouted: 'Gre-ta, Gre-ta, Greta' and Naria walked up the table so she could be seen once again by her idol. Then the leader went to give an nth interview to the journalists and the five of us looked one another straight in the eye.

'Well', said Basch loudly, 'What are we gonna do?'

'What you're going to do?'

Danek, who heard him speak, came towards us.

'I see you brought company, Noah.'

'Well, I… Not really…'

'Anyway', said Danek. 'If you want to help, here's something you can do. First of all, do all of you know how to count?'

Margit, Cirla, Naria and I nodded, while Basch looked at his feet.

'I can manage well with numbers', he said.

'Very good', said Danek. 'So basically here's the task: unofficial results are coming, station by station. Your aim will be to gather the results from all the polling stations of a region, to give us an idea of the percentage we made in each place. Here's a map of Landis next to the blackboard; the red dots are the towns with a station people voted in. Dispatch the regions as you please. We need a report every half hour. Good luck!'

And he went away. Once again, we stared at one another, speechless.

'What was that?' Basch asked after Danek disappeared.

'I don't know', Naria said, 'but it's for the Party, so I gotta do it!'

'Well, if you're doing something, count me in!' Basch concluded.

Eventually, we managed to take each one a region and began working. Cirla and Margit took respectively Waldgott and Kalthof regions, for their experience with their geography, and the remaining three took three more distant regions. Basch and Naria were particularly lost, but I was there to help one, then the other, then came back to the first – until they understood what there was to do and did it by themselves.

Drugi had begun writing the results. We literally battled to get in front of the map, to see which one's region the current station belonged to. At first, there were mainly the three remote ones, so Basch's, Naria's and mine, because the big cities' results came last. So it was a bit of a mess, since I was explaining all the time and the two did not listen to me. But eventually, they began adding the numbers calmly and counting the results. I asked them to re-calculate the total three times before they give it to the Party's hierarchy – just in case. Kalthof and Waldgott coming last was a good thing, because the three of us had less work, and both Basch and Naria were very tired. The little farmer even asked us if she could sleep on our knees – mine first, then Basch's, and for an equal time. I took a look at Margit's face as I was trying to disregard the blonde head peacefully sleeping on my thighs:

'Hey! Are you alright?'

She raised her thumb with a wink, and I knew she was alright. It was a relief because she was even younger than us, so I had thought she might be troubled by staying awake all night. But the little girl kept working endlessly, very concentrated and visibly motivated. Cirla showed more boredom, but I knew his spirit was the same.

'Official results in one hour!' Drugi suddenly shouted.