“Those two are hard at work, I see,” Haiko said, looking over his shoulder.

August glanced back over his shoulder, catching sight of Kalter digging a post hole next to the second [A-Frame Hut]. He’d had his back to them, so he really hadn’t seen what they were up to. More buildings, more room to sleep—preparation for bringing in even more Voithos to the Island.

They hadn’t spoken about summoning anyone today, but he doubted that the request would remain unasked—Rittan had too good of a nature to allow someone to suffer in Limbo for longer than they needed to, and every day where they didn’t save one of them would weigh on him.

“Haiko,” August said eventually as he caught the first wisp of smoke against the strike plate. “What kind of person was Kalter, back when you were all alive?”

Haiko turned back in an attempt to meet his gaze, but he kept his eyes firmly on the tiny spark that was taking form within the kindling.

“It is a hard task to take everything you know of a person and then distil it down to a single descriptor,” Haiko said, tilting her head. “Kalter was many things before I died, and she grew through her experience as much as anyone—I do not think I’ve spent enough time in her company since I have returned to detail those kinds of differences.”

It was as much of a non-answer as any he’d ever heard—her verbosity acting as a mask for how uninformative her response really was.

“Just so we’re clear,” August said, moving the now burning kindling into the Kiln, placing it beneath the prepared fire. “You can simply tell me to fuck off if you don’t want to answer a question—I won’t hold it against you.”

“I’m out of practice, I see,” Haiko laughed, covering her mouth with a hand. “August, I must admit my uncertainty about the dynamics of this group—Rittan defers you to quite readily, I’ve noticed.”

“We’ve spent a few days together, and Rittan is a nice guy; that’s all there is to it,” August offered in answer, “As far as the dynamic here goes, I’m not a tyrant who wants to make all of the decisions and demands to be obeyed, you’re free to do anything you want.”

“Yet you are the one with the power here,” Haiko pointed out.

“Bullshit,” August said dryly, leaning back as the fire began to take. “The moment I summoned Rittan, I gave away any claim to power I had—I’ve seen what a Voithos can do, and I doubt I could even slow one of you down.”

“Physicality is not where power begins and ends,” Haiko caveated.

“Kalter almost killed me when I first summoned her—would have killed me if I couldn’t heal quickly,” August said, shaking his head, “Cooperation between us only exists so long as our goals remain aligned.”

“That is the nature of all groups,” Haiko said, frowning. “I truly hope I haven’t given you the impression that I would act in the way you are suggesting.”

“You’re not the only person here, are you? Besides, it’s not even relevant if you have or not,” August said, meeting her gaze for the first time. “Having the ability to leverage force supersedes whether or not you have the desire to.”

“Whether the actor uses it or not, the threat exists implicitly,” Haiko said in understanding.

“You are correct, though; physical strength isn’t the only expression of power here,” August said into the silence, “Access to the system remains unequal between us, and for you to obtain the benefits, you’re incentivized to cooperate with me, or—”

“To force that cooperation by leveraging our own power against you,” Haiko said, considering. “I see.”

The heat of the fire began to radiate out of the hole in the front, the flames licking at the interior of the Kiln.

“More or less,” August agreed. “There are other elements to it as well; Ladybug here could probably kill every single one of us on her own—having her on ‘my’ side balances the scales between us, but I don’t want to have to rely on something like that.”

Haiko raised an eyebrow at Ladybug.

“Like I said, I don’t have the ability or the desire to become a tyrant, and I don’t want to weaponize my own expressions of power to get my way at the expense of everyone else,” August said, turning away from her. “It’s better if we all have an equal voice in our macrocosm of society—even if that means my singular vote eventually gets lost amongst the quickly growing Voithos voting block.”

Haiko let out a strange laugh.

“A Voithos with the ability to vote?” Haiko said, watching him. “That is a very novel consideration.”

“If you live, work, and play within a society, you should have a say in how it’s set up and governed,” August said simply. “It’s the trade-off for agreeing to follow its rules and restrictions.”

“How generous,” Haiko said, “And how are the rules and restrictions of such a society decided?”

“By the votes of the people who live in it,” August nodded.

“Fascinating,” Haiko said, a strange lilt to her voice. “August, I do believe you are making one erroneous assumption, however.”

Was there an actual error present in his methodology, or was it simply a difference of opinion?

“Where’s the error?” August prompted, glancing over at her.

Haiko met his gaze again.

“Just because all Voithos share the same origin doesn’t mean that we are of a singular, homogeneous perspective,” Haiko said, watching him. “The differences between Rittan, Kalter and I should be proof enough of that—although I’m sure there remain some topics that would reflect a one-sided split.”

August closed his eyes for a moment, unable to think about it critically while she was watching him. Of course, there would be differences between the Voithos; they were individuals, just like he was. He couldn’t just assume that they would all have the exact same opinion on everything just because they were the same race—humans certainly didn’t vote that way.

“You’re right,” August admitted, opening his eyes again. “I shouldn’t be grouping all of you together like that—sorry.”

Haiko smiled.