25
On the evening of the second day after the festival, the council decided that Arbor should be banished. Among the leaders, who argued all positions in front of the village before voting, there was only one dissenting voice, and that was Simply Sue, who said we couldn’t banish the blood of one of our own without causing bad blood, and that it was wiser to keep Arbor close, even if it meant keeping her under constant watch. I agreed and let it be known, but as the person given offense, I wasn’t allowed to vote and had to forfeit my ollam power as well.
On the morning of the third day after the festival, the door of the shame cabin was open, and both Arbor and Bebe were gone. Astrid told me she was pretty sure what’d happened: that Arbor had promised to do things, s*x things, for Bebe,
