Matthew Albright sat on a wide fallen log that served as a bench for anyone sitting at the campfire in the midst of Bill's trunks and experienced a sensation utterly unique through all the years in which he had been a parent and husband. His wife and children were all in total agreement on a decision with him.

They had been talking with each other for almost a half an hour now, comparing notes and telling their own sides of the story about how they had all reached the same conclusion. Also eating the delicious stew his wife had prepared. It was like something out of a fairy tale.Or maybe Tolkien. All of them finding their own way and all of them somehow arriving at the same destination.

Of course, there was still some yelling taking place.

"Wait, it comes every thirty years?" Isabel squawked, staring at Olivia.

"It's a friggin' cycle," Olivia threw up her hands in disgust. "I thought this world was one of those cool 'test your mettle and be rewarded' Isekai things. Instead, if Pennat is right, all it is is a freaking meat grinder!"

"And for four hundred years it was turned off," Lucas said, glaring at the fire like it had insulted him. "But the second we show up here, hey, it's the all-monster hoedown."

"Y'all know what a hoedown is?" Dinah asked in surprise.

"We watched a lot of Muppets," Olivia said deadpan. "But I don't think it's coincidence baby brother. I think it's causation. We're here because the world is waking up. And it sucked us in to start the whole cycle over again."

"That means there will be others," Isabel said, staring into the dancing flames without seeing them. "Other Sojourners. And anyone want to put bets on whether or not this world will try and get them to 'raise the flag' too?"

"No," Allie said with a single headshake. "I do not. I think it likely that that is exactly what is happening even as we speak. And as we have all noticed, this world seems to be quite skilled at forcing us into situations where we must fight to survive and grow stronger. How long until it manufactures ways to bring us into conflict with whoever else has been kidnapped and forced to this world?"

"I have no way of answering that," said Toraline, once again leaning up against the log next to Matt's leg. "My tribe was not the only Tutorial Tribe in existence, but I have no way of knowing how… thorough the pogrom against my people was. If there are others out there, they will have sought out the Sojourners as soon as they became aware of them and would be guiding them as best they can in the same manner I… attempted… to do with you all."

"Which means," Matt said, using his voice for the first time in almost twenty minutes, "that I was wrong."

Heads turned, eyes stared, and his children goggled.

"Woah," Isabel said, placing a hand over her heart. "Someone fetch me my heart pills."

"Dad actually admitted he was wrong," Lucas said, peering up into Billy's branches. "According to Revelations, there should be some burning hail coming soon."

"This is not the man I married," Allie said with an impish smile. "What have you done with mi corazone?"

"Okay, fun as this is," Olivia said, holding up a hand, "can we focus please?"

Luc peered at his sister. "Since when are you the 'all business' one?"

"Since I found out that if we don't stop screwing around then everything we know and love probably dies in the next three to five decades," Liv shot back with a scowl.

"And that," Matt interrupted any further bickering, "is what I was wrong about.

There are moments in life when all the time in the universe narrows down to a single eternal pinprick. Matt had been privileged enough to have experienced several of those moments over his lifetime. Standing at the altar watching the woman he loved walking down the aisle about to become his wife. The births of each of his children. And, more recently, the half-second between feeling the strength of the land flow up into him and charging across to save Alejandra from certain death from a mantis' claw.

They are pivotal moments, moments when the brain sharpens and clarity surges, and one realizes that the next thing to happen in the universe is going to have lasting consequences.

"I thought," Matt said into that quiet moment of perfect clarity, "that we could live here, build a life here, without becoming embroiled in… Well, in what Toraline was talking about when she first came to us. The wars of conquest, the raising of a banner, the 'unifying the world'..." Matt blew out his breath in a sigh. "I thought we could just stay safe and tucked away in this little corner of the world, and let all that stuff pass us by."

"Except now we know that it won't," Olivia said, sounding as serious as Matt felt.

"Even if we stay here, and do nothing, something is going to find us," Isabel agreed, equally grim.

"An' even if it don't find us," Dinah said, staring into the fire, "it's gonna find whoever we leave behind."

"We're raising a flag, aren't we," Lucas said, looking right at Matt.

Matt reached over and found his wife's hand already reaching for his. He looked over at her and met her steady gaze, and when her hand squeezed around his that was all he needed.

"Yes," he said, looking away from Alejandra and meeting his kids gazes one at a time. "We are."

"Wait," Isabel blinked. "That's why you're talking to us all at once. Because you're bringing us in to this, aren't you."

"This is a decision we all need to make, and more importantly one we all need to shape," Matt said. "Because it's going to shape the rest of our lives. Your mother and I… Well, we'll have final say. But I want to hear from each of you as well, because this affects all of us. So," Matt drew in another breath. "Let's hear your opinions."

"I'm not going to be a conqueror," Lucas said immediately. "Killing bugs and monsters is one thing, but I'm not gonna kill people unless they make me."

"Hard same," Olivia said. "Not after Toraline. Not after the Starlight Tribe. I thought it would be cool to be an Isekai conqueror, but…"

"But we ain't gonna do anything to make us into the monsters those folk became," Dinah said, finishing her friend's sentence.

"I want to make sure it doesn't happen again," Isabel said, glaring at the fire. "The people of this world… They suck. They really suck. They fell into lock-step behind Caesar while he pulled a Fantasy Hitler on their enemies. And then they went scorched earth on the Tutorial Tribe when Caesar died. How many other genocides are in the past of this world? How many other entire people groups have been wiped out just because people suck?"

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"To be fair," Alejandra put in, "our world had plenty of people who sucked too."

"Yeah, but there were people who would help them," Isabel shot back angrily. "Oh I know, I know, nations don't go to war unless it's in their interest, and plenty of stuff happened on earth that people just let happen… But…" Isabel trailed off and rammed her fist into her hand. "But that doesn't mean we have to be like that. If there were people who sucked in our world, there were heroes too. I want to be that. I want to show this stupid world that there are other options, other choices, than just sucking or following people who suck."

"That," Lucas pointed at his sister. "I want that too. Not the hero part, I don't care about being a hero, but everyone we've met has been put through heck and back. If we're gonna raise a flag, I want it to be a flag that people come to for safety."

"Well I want to be a hero," Olivia said, folding her arms and jutting her chin out. "Not the kind that conquers, obviously, but just sitting around telling people to come on around here and we'll keep you safe… That doesn't mean squat unless we actually can keep them safe. And that means we're gonna have to fight, and gain power, and show people that we mean business. And for that, we need to be heroes."

"We're going to have to work for that one," Dinah said. "It's pretty much baked into the DNA of the folk around here that Sojourners equal Bastards."

"Language," Matt and Alejandra said in the same instant.

"Sure sure, sorry. Don't make it any less true, though. Anyone we meet here, they're either gonna run from us, attack us, or try to use us. How do we raise a heroic flag with that as our rallying cry?"

"Um."

The family looked around in surprise at the soft, tentative voice that suddenly intruded on their circle. Seeker Tempest stood as far away as possible while still remaining in earshot, looking both embarrassed and intrigued.

"You had something to add, Seeker Tempest?" Matt asked. He'd learned earlier that shortening the full name was seen as disrespect to the elves, so he put away his natural tendency to give nicknames for the moment.

"You are… trying to show to my world that you are not like the other Sojourners?"

"Among other things, yes," Alejandra said, gesturing for the girl to come closer. "Please, join us. You have something to add?"

"I… Yes," the elf came over and settled down on the other side from Toraline, eyeing the sword with an expression Matt couldn't parse. "All Sojourners raise a flag. And, at least on this island, they will automatically see you as heirs of Caesar. That is what you fear, right?"

"In a nutshell, yes," Matt said, and the rest of the family nodded along.

"Then… It seems to me that the simplest method of reaching your goal… Is to make your enmity to Caesar known to any you might meet even before you meet them. You gained my… Trust… After you slew the Sentinels and proved yourselves enemies to my ancient enemy. The Sentinels you slew surely cannot be the only ones active on the island. Hunting down and destroying the last vestiges of Gaius Caesar's power, and doing so as conspicuously as possible… Would that not provide the proof you seek to bear?"

Matt raised his eyebrows. "Go out sentinel hunting? Now that's an idea…"

"It'd give us practice doing the hero thing, that's for sure," Isabel said thoughtfully.

"And it would remove some of the more dangerous beasts from this island," Alejandra said, nodding. "A good idea. Thank you, Seeker Tempest. But we will need more than just a flag," she added, looking back at Matt. "We will need to declare ourselves a power. We will need to become a country."

"Well that's easy at least," Dinah said.

Everyone blinked at that.

"It is?" Olivia asked, goggling at her friend.

"Well sure," Dinah said, raising an eyebrow. "We're all Americans here, we're just gonna do the same thing the founding fathers did, ain't we? 'In order to form a more perfect union', kinda thing? 'Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness?' And 'course, the right to bear arms. That one's gotta be in there."

Alejandra laughed, a deep warm throaty laugh, and shook her head. "From the mouths of babes… Si, I think it is a good idea. But I think it is a different set of words we should think on, one which I learned by heart when mi mama and I came to this country."

"Give me you tired," Matt said quietly, smiling. "Your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free."

"Close," Alejandra said. "But the poem starts before that, and goes on a little farther. The first few lines just describe the statue, but in the middle… Well, in the middle is where it gets good." her eyes went unfocused for a second, and then she began to speak softly, almost musically.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp' cries she with silent lips. 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, the tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.'"

There was no sound in the camp for a long moment after the words had vanished into the wind. Then, from above, Billy's voice sighed out.

"That is beautiful. I would want to live in a country that had that on its gates."

"So we're really doing this?" asked Lucas. "We're just… What, kickstarting America on Fantasy Jackass Island?"

"I've heard of worse ideas," Isabel said. "Bring together everyone here under one banner, offer them safety when the wars come… Except you know that they'll have to fight too, right? We're basically going to be raising walls and then asking other people to defend them."

"No," Olivia said, looking up suddenly. "No, we're not. We're giving them something to defend. Because we're not going to be ruling them, are we. That's not how America works. Or at least, that's not how it's supposed to work."

"Exactly," Matt said, grinning. "We give them a seat at the table. We don't come as conquerors, and we don't come demanding fealty. We offer."

"The Arts!" Isabel snapped her fingers. "That's the selling point! 'Join with us, and we will give you access to the power you need to defend yourselves and your nation.' Because," she looked at Toraline, "We can do that, can't we? As Sojourners, we can decide who gets access to the Arts, just like Gaius did, right?"

"That… Was how it was with Gaius, and the Sojourners before him. But, with the System in declide…"

"But it's not, is it?" Dinah said. "I mean, the old one is, but you said we're making a new one! So we should be able to bring others into it, right? We just gotta figure out how to get that done!"

"And the more people we can get to join," Luc said, starting to grin, "the more attractive it'll look. I bet we could get the Starlight Tribe to join up right now, they practically begged us to do it already."

"And… I believe that the Elders of my Community would also be willing… Well… To at least speak of it," Seeker Tempest said quietly, looking unsure. "Well, they would be much more willing to talk if you destroy the sentinels on the island, or perhaps donate some of your Tech to them…"

"Excuse me," Billy said. "I must interrupt. Several dozen… No, more… A whole lot more beings have just entered one of the hexes we have claimed. My eyestalks are tracking them now. They appear to be similar to the fairies of the Starlight Tribe, and they are moving very fast towards us."

"What?" Matt stood and grabbed Toraline. "Are they attacking?"

"I am not… No, I do not believe so. They have women and children with them." the tree paused for a moment. "And… Wounded. Several of them have moved ahead of the main body. They will be upon our main camp shortly."

"Shorter than that, even," said a gravelly voice from around Matt's ankle.

Matt jerked backwards and stared down at the flat-cap wearing little orboid man that had apparently tunneled up right next to his right foot.

"Peatey!" Olivia cried out, shooting to her feet. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"Needed to talk to the Chief," the little earth sprite said, sounding grim. "He's here, right? Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to breach the peace or whatever, but he said he was coming to make nice with you and… Well, I sure hope you guys have. Because our village just got hit by like forty Sentinels, and even with the boys we left behind to slow them down, the're gonna be here in about a day. So, are we pals now or what?"

Matt stared at the fairy, then over at Allie, then the others who looked just as shocked as he felt.

"Well," he said after a second. "I guess we'd better call Chief Clennais over here then, hadn't we."

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