“He fought kindt of dirty last night,” said Bodo.

“No, I don’t consider what he did dirty,” I said. “It was an anything-goes fight. We both knew that.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t bring any weapons. He did,” said Peter.

Coli blew a snort of air out. “She is a weapon.”

I nodded at the unexpected words of respect coming from the person I had considered the least likely to ever give any.

She sniffed and looked away.

“It doesn’t matter now,” said Kowi. “It’s over, and everyone knows you won. You hold all the cards here, so I just wanted to let you know what I think and what I’d like to see happen.”

I held up my hand, shaking my head. “Save it. We’ll all talk about at the meeting.”

“But don’t you want to hear what he has to say now?” asked Peter.

“Yes. But I don’t want what he thinks to taint my opinions over in his favor. I want this to be fair for everyone, not just the Miccosukee. If the Creek think I’m playing favorites, they’re going to get bitter. And you guys can’t afford to have bitter comrades watching your backs.”

Kowi nodded once and stood. “Fair enough. We’ll see you at the ceremonial hut around four, then.”

Coli followed him out, looking back once at me and hesitating as if she were going to say something, but then leaving quietly a second later.

“I’d like to go take a shower,” said Peter, “but no way in heck am I going alone this time.”

“I’ll go with you,” I said. “I have to wash the fight club grime off me anyway.”

“You do know we’re not showering together, right?” asked Peter, eyeing me suspiciously.

“Are you trying to make me vomit my lunch?”

Peter shrugged, getting up to find his clothes. “I just wanted to be sure. No need to be so prickly about it.”

Bodo kept me company while Peter showered on the other side of the curtain, and then escorted Peter back to the hut while I took mine.

I was almost ready to walk back when I heard a rustling in the bushes next to the enclosure. I froze in place, not sure if it was an animal or human, but it was definitely not the wind.

“Who’s there?” I called out.

“It’s me. Trip.” His voice was hoarse.

I stepped out from behind the screen to greet him. He was standing at the edge of the trees. He looked like crap.

“Wow. Sorry about your face.”

He had a bruise on the corner of his eye, a swollen cheek just under it, and a big purple bruise on his neck. He gave me a lopsided grin. “Yeah. I guess I kind of deserved it.”

“I won’t hold it against you.”

“Good. Listen … I’m sorry to interrupt your shower, but I just wanted to talk to you for a second about the meeting tonight.”

“If you’re here to plead your case, I’ll tell you the same thing I told Kowi.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

“Save it. I’m not playing favorites. We’ll all get it out in the open tonight with everyone around.”

Trip just stared at me and nodded for a couple seconds before he said, “You’re smart. I misjudged you. On many levels.”

“Thanks. I think.”

“I guess I’ll see you later.”

“See ya.”

He stepped back and soon disappeared into the trees.

I made my way back to the huts, deep in thought about tonight’s festivities. I was going to need Peter’s and Bodo’s help to pull this off. They’d seen as much or more than I had out there. We had one shot to convince these guys that their tribes were in danger. Someone had to paint a picture of their possible future that would burn itself into their skulls.

***

People filtered into the area near the ceremonial lodge a half hour before the actual meeting. We’d gone with Buster since we had nothing else to do, Peter having organized and re-organized our living space three times already.

“I feel better when my life has order and structure,” he’d said.

As we walked up to the meeting place, I saw the truth of his words - at least the truth they held for him. He actually looked happy and not scared for the first time … maybe even hopeful. It made me feel like we were definitely doing the right thing. Buster took off in search of lizards or something more interesting than a bunch of feet that could step on him.

Coli came walking up to me and handed me something folded up, soft, and dark blue in color.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a shirt.”

“Why are you giving it to me?”

She shrugged. “I thought you might like to wear something other than that awful t-shirt you have on.”

I laughed. “Wow. Okay … so who should I thank for this?”

“Whoever you want,” she said, starting to walk away.

I reached out to stop her. “Who made it?”

“I did,” she said, before returning to the trees.

“She’s got issues,” said Bodo. “But I think she likes you anyway.”

I unfolded the shirt, which wasn’t the shape of a regular shirt, and saw that it was made of some kind of cotton cloth that had designs woven into it, mostly patterns of small diamonds together in rows. There were several colors in these small shapes, but the dominant color was the bright, but deep, blue.

“It matchess your eyess,” said Bodo.

The shirt was more like a cape that fit over my shoulders and hung down to my waist. I was going to keep my regular shirt on underneath. I looked at other girls coming into the area and noticed that they were all dressed up in clothing that had the same general look as this one. Most of them were wearing full skirts that matched, too.

“Oh well. Might as well join the party,” I said, putting it on over my head. I felt like a caped crusader.

“It’s cute,” said Peter. “Bright colors suit you, I think.”

“Thanks,” I said, smiling as I watched two other girls come up with shirts in their hands. One was for Peter and one for Bodo. “Let’s see ‘em, guys. You can play dress-up with us now, too.”

Bodo put his on without even looking at it. It was a vest with the same colors and patterns as mine. Peter’s was bright red, yellow, and green. It reminded me of a parrot.

Peter stroked the front of it and flattened it against his chest, smiling. “I like it.”

I couldn’t help but giggle. “It’s loud and proud, that’s for sure … shows off your inner Peter.”

“That just sounds so wrong,” he said shaking his head while looking down, still admiring his new duds. I could see him trying not to smile.

We stood off to the side in our new clothes and watched people filter in. Trip showed up with several boat loads of Creek, all of them decked out in finery too. I couldn’t help but be impressed with Trip’s outfit. He had colors, feathers, beads and all kinds of other things hanging off him that I couldn’t identify. I think there were even some animal quills or tails or something in a headdress he wore.

“Daaaamn,” said Peter, his mouth hanging open.

“Wow, dat’s some kinda hat he’s wearing. He looks like he has a mohawk.”

The fur or quills that made up his head piece did stand straight up and go down in a row, flowing down past his neck. I had to admit - it was pretty badass.

Kowi was the last to come in, with Coli walking just in front of him. They looked like an indian king and queen - or chief and princess, I wasn’t sure what the right terms were. They were an explosion of colors, feathers, fur, and beads. Their arms were still bare though, which was probably to make sure they didn’t suffocate in this heat. They had to be hot - I know I was with my simple cape. I guess even Native Americans have to get uncomfortably dressed up once in a while.

Kowi raised his hands up to get everyone’s attention. After a few seconds of jostling around and nudging, the crowd went quiet. It was divided in two groups - Creeks on one side, Miccosukees on the other.

“Thanks for coming, everyone; it’s been a long time. I suggest we eat before we begin our business.” He turned and gestured to some girls standing behind him holding trays of food. “In the interest of our mutual distrust of each other, we will begin the feast with one person from each tribe eating a sample of their own food, chosen at random by the other.”

Trip spoke up. “We agree to this.”

I looked at Bodo and Peter, a big question mark on my face. I leaned over towards Peter and whispered, “What the heck is he talking about?”

“I have no clue.”

We watched as a Miccosukee and a Creek walked up to one another, each carrying some food. The Miccosukee indian took a fork and speared a piece of the Creek food and gave it to the Creek indian to eat it. Then the Creek indian reached over and speared a piece of the Miccosukee dish and the Miccosukee indian ate it. They continued with this ritual until every dish of food - over thirty in all - had been tested by someone of the opposite tribe.

“What the hell?” I said quietly.

“Dey’re checking for poison,” said Bodo.

“Whaaaat?!” I whisper-yelled.

“I guess dey had a problem before with da food or something.”

“Wow,” said Peter. “That’s what I call distrust.”

“This is hopeless,” I said to no one in particular. I had no idea these people would be so vicious as to poison one another when inviting them over for dinner.

Paci came wandering over, his taste test done. “You like that? Kinda weird, huh?”

“You could say that,” I answered, trying to be neutral but my facial expression wasn’t very convincing.

“Yeah, it is. We know it. But better to be safe than sorry, you know? We can be pretty creative with our revenge.”

“I guess.”

Everyone was walking over to get wooden plates and forks. We joined the line and then helped ourselves to a small sample of food from every dish. It all looked simply-prepared but delicious to me. There were lots of vegetables, some fruit, and plenty of meat. I grabbed a hunk of heavy bread to add to my meal before finding a spot on the ground just inside the hut where I could eat it.

“So, we have to talk,” said Kowi, once everyone had food and was sitting down. “Bryn’s here to tell us about this problem we supposedly have.”

“Say what you have to say, Bryn,” said Trip, shoving a huge hunk of meat in his mouth.

I put my plate on the ground in front of me and stood up, adjusting my cape self-consciously. “What I have to say is that your plan to stay as separate tribes is a mistake.” I looked around at the faces staring up at me and I saw mostly open-minded expressions. A couple of the bigger guys looked doubtful, but I expected that - big guys often thought themselves invincible.

“We’ve come from north of here. All the way down from there to here we saw canners … cannibals. We got into altercations with two different groups of them, one in my house and one in an orange grove about a day’s ride north of here.”

“They came into your house?” asked a girl.

“Yes. They’re doing that all over.”

“We thought there was an unspoken rule that houses were off limits.”

“It used to be that way, but not anymore. All the empty houses have been raided until there’s nothing left to eat. All the grocery stores are empty and so are the warehouses. Most of the kids, at least in this state, don’t know how to grow or raise their own food. So they’re going after the easiest prey.”

“Other kids,” said Peter, standing up next to me.

I held his hand for support because he was shaking like a leaf on a tree, and I knew what he was going to tell them.