Page 113 of The Warrior
Magni shook his head at Khan. “Aren’t you going to say something? First you allow women to have a voice, and now children too?”
Khan looked thoughtful and then he rose in a slow movement. “I’ll allow this town hall meeting to take place, but there will be no vote and no children present.”
A collective sigh of disappointment was heard from all the children.
“It’s okay,” Pearl comforted them. “We can do a separate town hall meeting for children only. I would like to be present and if some of you have good ideas, I’ll present them to Lord Khan on your behalf.”
“It’s late anyway,” Archer added.
Nero wrinkled his nose. “It’s only eight-thirty.”
“Goodnight, Nero.” Lord Khan gave him a direct glance that made the boy lower his head in respect.
“Can I stay?” Tristan asked. “I’m fifteen and I’m not a student.”
Khan looked to Shelly, the assistant mentor, who was still in the room and fifteen too. “Tristan, you and Shelly can stay, but you’ll keep quiet unless spoken to.”
Solomon stuck out his chest. “I’ll be fifteen soon, can I stay too?”
“No.” Archer stabbed a finger in Solo’s direction. “I’m placing you in charge of getting everyone to bed. Make sure they use their teeth cleaners and stay in their own beds. Lights out at nine-thirty, okay?”
Proud to be trusted with the responsibility, Solomon nodded with a serious expression. “Got it.”
A minute later all children had left the dining room. Pearl tilted her head. “Athena, dear, would you like to lead the meeting? I know you’ve done many town hall meetings in the past.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll let you do it. It was your idea.”
Magni’s expression was that of a thundercloud but he had resumed his seat next to Khan.
“With the children out of the room, let’s start our first town hall meeting,” Pearl began in a soft voice. “Today’s agenda will be to discuss visions for our future. Let’s begin with ideas on how to deal with the list of almost seven hundred Motlander women and men who are interested in a relationship with an Nman. And by relationship, I should specify that some of the people on the list are interested in friendships with the potential to grow into more.
“By people, you mean women, right?” Marco asked.
“There are twenty-four males on the list too. Twenty-one of them have expressed an interest in a romantic relationship.”
The men exchanged glances, but Finn was the only one who commented. “Think of it this way, Motlander males are more feminine than most of the women in the Motherlands anyway.”
“Hey, that’s offensive,” Christina complained. “You make us sound like we’re masculine.”
Pearl continued. “Let’s focus on ideas on how to match the Northlanders with the Motlanders.”
“How many Northlanders have signed up so far?” I asked.
“Applicants are still trickling in from both sides of the wall, but so far we have two million and eighty-seven thousand Nmen hoping to find a wife.
A loud whistle came from Archer. “That’s a lot.”
“Yes, and the number is growing fast. I don’t see how we can make the best possible match without interviewing all of them, but that’s too time-consuming. The Council is overwhelmed with the disaster relief after the earthquake and they asked if we have suggestions.”
Shelly raised her hand.
“What do you suggest, Shelly?”
“Algorithms.”
“What do you mean, algorithms?”
“We have millions of men and seven hundred women. We could have all participants fill out a questionnaire and design a program that matches the people with the highest compatibility score.”
