It was a busy week for David and the Lily Rose, but when he sailed up to the edge of the glowing green circle, he hoped it would be worth it. It would make a statement one way or the other, he reasoned.

“Phytoplankton. Clever. And neutral, from what Lace said.”

“We don't need to go in there, do we Captain? That's just eerie.” The Captain’s Mate was peering over the side with him.

“Well, unless you can throw really far, yes.” David could almost see the far side of the circle between him and the horizon.

The mate shuddered and replied, “Well, it’s your ship, Sir.”

One of the clerks he had borrowed from Gillik came out with an armful of paper rolls, and he was followed by another clerk struggling to carry a full bucket.

“I'm told we are finally there, sir?”

“We are sure it is the GREEN circle?” David asked for the tenth time.

“That's what the liaison said, sir...”

“Nothing for it then.” He watched the green ring swirl as the Lily Rose cut through it, then saw it close behind them. They were moving as slowly as they could, because they didn't want to risk dropping an anchor. “OK, I don't know how much time we have so, first bucket!”

The clerk heaved it towards him, and David picked it up with one hand and lifted it to the rail. “Do we read the names out loud, or is just having them handy enough, do you think?”

The Mate answered, “Will be faster if we can just dump the bucket all at once."

“True. I bet they aren't asking every single penguin, either.” And he tipped the bucket over, sending hundreds of small pebbles splashing and sinking into the deep.

They were on the fourth bucket when David heard someone call his name.

“Hi Lace, how is it going?” He answered.

She gave him a suspicious look. “We were a bit behind but then pebbles started raining in. The parliament spy squawked and swam off. What are you doing? Trying to get us accused of fraud?”

“Oh, no, nothing of the sort! Have you met Orion? He’s the liaison between your King and ours in Gillik.” David watched as Lace searched the deck, before directing her eyes to the stern of the Lily Rose, where an old bearded man sat floating in the dingy, which was roped to the ship. He waved at her.

“No, I don’t think I have. I mean, I knew some kingdoms had them, but what does he have to do with this?” Lace just stared at him, looking skeptical.

David gave up on yelling down the side of the ship and climbed down the rope, seating himself carefully in the dingy with the old sailor. Up above, another bucket of pebbles went over the side, with the clerks frantically ticking off names on their long rolls of paper. More sea creatures and merfolk were peeking above the surface, outside the glowing ring, to see what was going on.

When lace joined him, he told her “When I left you last time, I went home and talked to Orion. He took some time to find, because he lives on his boat, and is usually only in harbor when he has to be. I could relate, and I did find him and bring him back finally. We had a meeting and went over some numbers, and he went down and talked to some of his ocean contacts, and then I got the Sailor’s Guilds involved, and we came up with this plan.”

“What plan?” Lace asked testily, leaning with one arm over the side of the dinghy.

“It’s all legal, I promise you, Lace. Every one of those pebbles is the vote of one person, who meets all the criteria. It took a lot of clerks, which luckily my father has, and a lot of fast work. It was frankly, a big headache. I haven’t slept in days. But we wanted to make sure no one could complain. Well, they can complain, but not actually do anything about it. They changed the rules themselves.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about. You are voting?”

“I am, yes. The rest are other sailors that we are representing. Even a few fishermen, when we could talk to them, but we just didn’t have time to bring many aboard this time. Luckily, the sailors nearly all belong to the guild, so they were easier to track down. We still missed a few. I’ll try to get more next election.”

Lace stared. “Sailors can’t vote!”