I felt ashamed for having fallen asleep, even if it was just for some minutes. In front of me, brother and sister were still conscientiously working on their numbers. The weigh on my thighs had disappeared: Naria had already gone to sleep on Basch's. The latter was still awake, looking at the blackboard from time to time. It was surprising to see Basch so concentrated on a task. It kind of made me happy. Fortunately, as I had thought before, Naria's region had not appeared on the board for hours, and neither did mine nor Basch's. So all the home stretch was left to my two Waldgott friends, which kind of made me annoyed.

'Is it okay for you to do all this?' I ventured to say.

'No problem!' Cirla exclaimed, without raising his feather. 'We had expected some task like this before coming. We're always ready to help, even if our father wouldn't agree on it!'

'You mean, especially if Dad wouldn't agree on it', added his sister with an angelic laugh.

'By the way', Cirla added, 'According to what I have here, Uwielbinie voted for Greta Pfirsich in majority!'

'Really?' Margit said. 'Then Naria has done a nice job convincing everyone!'

I looked at my sleeping friend and smiled.

'Results!'

'Results!'

'But…' Margit said, visibly disappointed. 'We were just finishing this report for…'

'Hand it over to me.'

Greta Pfirsich, who was walking nearby, stopped at our table and took their papers with a big smile.

'You are friends of…' she began.

'Noah', I said.

'… of Noah's, aren't you? Thank you very much for coming.'

She played with Margit's curls for a second then went away.

I was about to say something when the little girl opened her mouth in amazement and exclaimed:

'She's so cool!'

'You see? I told you!' Naria approved, awoken by the 'Results!' cry.

We all sat at our places and listened to Drugi, who was coming back from outside – the chocobos ballet again.

'My friends', he began. 'This year, and tonight in particular, we have had the opportunity to make a real change at the highest level of our beloved country. Our party, Green Progress, has made a spectacular advancement among all categories of Landisites. Now has come the time to have the final word of the story, the final results of the Landis Presidential Election. They are in this envelope you see before you – the same has been given to the President's headquarters. But will he remain president again for the next five years? This is what we will see now.'

The silence was so overwhelming I could hear Naria swallowing.

Among the results we gathered as a group, Green Progress had the highest score in almost half of the regions, and Order and Justice had the other half. So it was very risky to pick up a winner out of these reports. Plus, what we did didn't show the results on a national scale, which we hadn't been asked to do.

'The second candidate gathered a total of 49.24% of the votes.'

So close! The winner would not have won hands down. If Green Progress made this score, then I thought everybody could be proud of what we did, even if it's the second place.

'Come on!' the journalists lost patience. 'Say who it is!'

'It is…' Drugi said.

What if Greta had won? Naria would be the happiest girl on Ivalice, that would comfort her for years. After all, GP won according to the polls, and we had all our chances after the progress we made. What if the small village I was born in, Uwielbinie, could represent all of Landis, for once? All the lights were green, and Drugi just had to say that the President's party came second. I took a look at Cirla; his long hair was sticking to his skin, and his eyes were throwing red lightning. I had never seen him this way, even before an exam when we were in school. Margit was hiding her face behind her hands, her body was all shaking. Basch closed his fists and Naria was simply… motionless. I was holding my breath when I sensed a hand on my shoulder:

'Hey!' Danek whispered.

I nodded to make him know I was listening despite the crucial moment.

'Before we have the results, I wanted to tell you something. I've seen many law students be proficient in Education, Military or Social domains… But you, you are very good at every single field. Congratulations, little lad. I don't know what you'll choose to become, but let me tell you you will go very far.'

And he turned away. His words made me feel even more confident about our victory. I owed so much to this man. Now the first place had never looked so close. Drugi just had to say it.

'… Greta Pfirsich from Green Progress.'

A general silence settled in the room. It was so disturbing that Drugi could continue:

'Błażej Fördern has been re-elected with 50.76% of the votes cast. Thank you.'

The journalists quickly took notes and approached Greta to see her reaction, but she obviously didn't want to react.

For the third time, the five of us exchanged a blank look, then Naria rushed into my arms, all tears:

'I believed it so strongly, Noah! I believed this year was the year! And that we would win…'

'I'm sorry Greta has lost. But look at the positive side: the Party is now famous!'

She sniffed and raised her teary eyes towards mine. Then, in a common gesture of exhaustion, the five of us fell on the ground.

During the weeks following the defeat, I did not dare to come back to Naria's farm. First, because I knew she would be inconsolable that her idol lost. And second, because she was certainly very busy after all this month working for the Party, taking lessons, and delegating land work to Sydor. She had to keep up with what happened at the farm, dirty her hands again and probably make some changes to the way they worked. Alright, maybe the right motive was that I had no specific reason to go and see her. On the contrary, Basch went to see her almost every day, or they met with other young people at the central place of the village. I felt particularly uncomfortable meeting Naria with Basch, so I never accompanied him.

One day that both were having fun in the village, someone knocked on our door.

'Who is it?' asked Mom. 'It's too early to be Basch!'

I shrugged and opened the door.

'Hi Noah! Is your mother here?'

Little Margit, her hair all messy, did not even wait for my answer and rushed towards Mom.

'Auntie, it's terrible! Please, you have to help me!'

'Ma… Margit Drimer? What brings you here, my dear? Where is your coach driver? Is your mother aware that you're here?'

'Please, auntie! You have to believe me and come with me right now to the Waldgott Hospital! My brother is in a bad state!'

'What happened to Cirla?'

Margit completely ignored my question and pulled my mother's arm. It was so unusual from this well-behaved little girl. I knew something really bad had indeed happened.

'Alright, I'm coming with you, Margit. Please calm down. Noah, you're in charge of the house until I come back.'

I nodded and looked at their shadows getting farther and farther away.

My mother came back early in the afternoon, but refused to tell me what she saw.

'Margit made me promise I don't tell it to anyone! She didn't mention an exception. But maybe you can pay the Drimers a visit and see for yourself.'

'Is Cirla out of the hospital?'

'Not yet, I'm afraid…'

I immediately took some gil and paid a cart to Waldgott.

Once I reached the house, it seemed like Margit was waiting for me.

'It has a link with Doll. I don't know how exactly, but my brother managed to exchange some words with her and it infuriated some people around her', she told me.

I then remembered our conversation about how supposedly dangerous it was to approach an Archadian.

'But why is your brother in the hospital?'

'They… They stabbed him in the shoulder. It was horrible. We cannot say anything to the parents and we needed an adult to sign some papers at the hospital; this is why I thought of your mother. I'm sorry to put you in this situation…'

'It's… it's okay! Do you know who committed this crime?'

'No. I just know they're Archadians who are trying to protect Doll's 'purity' and what not. They're not even from her family, although a family member might have sent them. If Mom come home and asks, the official version is that Cirla's having a complete medical check at the hospital and by the time he remembered he had to do it, he didn't have the time to warn anyone, alright?'

'But why can't you say it to your parents? It's important, you know! And after all, Cirla did not do anything wrong! It all comes from these filthy Archadians! If Doll is the problem, don't mention her; just say… he has been attacked randomly.'

'This attack cannot be seen without its context', Margit shook her head. 'It's indubitably because Cirla's interested by Doll that they did this to him. But the true reason why he asked me not to tell anyone anything is not the attack itself…'

'What is it then?' I asked, beginning to fear.

'I shouldn't make you worry more – the doctor said Cirla's not in danger. But this paper left him completely mad. And even if all this is a secret, I'm sure he would allow you to know.'

I bent over the table to see the paper she was talking about. It was an old scrap with bloodred letters scribbled onto it.

'They left this in his pocket before fleeing', Margit explained.

She unfolded the paper completely and I blinked, not exactly sure of what I was reading:

NEXT TIME, IT'S YOUR SISTER'S HEAD.

I gasped.