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doing anything,” Leon said.
    â€œI said stop!” Gaia commanded.
    â€œDrop the chain, Malachai,” Leon said.
    â€œHe can’t threaten Mlass Gaia,” Malachai said.
    â€œNobody’s threatening me,” Gaia said. “It was a misunderstanding. Drop your chain. Now!”
    Malachai did, slowly setting his fists on his hips, still facing Bill.
    â€œDid you see that? They’re savages!” Bill said.
    Others were coming rapidly down from the ridge. Several of the archers readied their bows. On Gaia’s hip, Maya began to whimper.
    â€œPut up your bows,” Gaia said. “No more of this. You’ll treat the excrims with respect. They’re citizens of New Sylum now, and they have the same rights as anyone else. Yourself included,” she added to Bill.
    The archers lowered their bows but remained on alert. Gaia reflexively smoothed a hand around Maya’s back, and she watched as Bill’s gaze shifted to the little girl.
    â€œYou’re scaring the baby,” Bill said.
    â€œAre you done?” Gaia asked.
    Bill turned once more to the crims, then to the others who had gathered around, and he gave out a loud, aggressive laugh of disbelief. Maya began to cry in earnest, and Gaia slid her up out of the sling to cuddle her close to her neck. “You’re okay, baby,” she said softly, still watching Bill. Maya’s wail subsided into a little hiccupping sob, and the tiny girl wrapped her soft hand around Gaia’s neck. As Gaia kept her gaze zeroed on Bill, demanding his concession, she felt the prickling, volatile silence of the others around them.
    â€œTell me you understand,” Gaia said.
    â€œAll right,” Bill said. “But if they harm any one of us, so help me, I’ll personally rip them apart.”
    â€œAnd you’ll face the consequences for vigilantism if you do,” Gaia said.
    â€œIs that so? Are you and your boyfriend going to run the courts in Wharfton when we get there?” Bill asked.
    Gaia took a step nearer. “You’d better hope I’m still in charge when we get there,” she said darkly. “You mess around in Wharfton or the Enclave and you’ll get strung up fast with no questions asked.”
    Bill’s eyebrows lifted. “What kind of place are you taking us to?”
    â€œIt’s brutal,” Gaia said. “We’ve discussed this. Do you want to go back to Sylum to die there? You still can. We’ll give you enough water to go back,” she said. She shifted Maya to her other shoulder. “That goes for anyone else, too.” She faced up the hill to where the others waited. “Once we go over that ridge,” she called, “there’s no going back.
    Uneasiness rippled tangibly through the crowd.
    â€œNone of this is going to be easy. Life outside the wall is hard, and in some ways it’s even worse inside. But if we stay together,” Gaia said, “if we can count on each other, no matter what, I know we can build our new home in New Sylum, just as we’ve planned. That means we can’t start out divided, with some of us already second-class citizens. Do you all understand?”
    She picked out the clan leaders, one by one, to be sure they were with her. Dinah represented the libbies and the fishermen families from down by the shore; Norris’s cousin, a cobbler, headed up the trade workers who had run shops side by side in the center of Sylum; Mlady Beebe represented many of the homeowners from around the commons; Mlady Roxanne, the teacher, led a large group of loosely connected laborers; and the morteur, Chardo Will, who was Gaia’s second in command and Peter’s brother, led the largest clan of hardworking, quiet men who had never married.
    One after another, eighteen clan leaders nodded to confirm their loyalty, and then Will nodded toward Bill the nineteenth and final leader.
    â€œHow about it?” Will asked in his