Aziz was impressed with Georges’ efforts on the council. By the end of the day when Aziz became an interim councilor, Georges had sent him five messages: one colony wide, two for the entire council, one for the two interim councilors, and one specifically to him. Georges had scheduled council meetings every afternoon for the next several days at least. Georges told Aziz that he was the first farmer on the council, which somewhat surprised him, and Georges wanted to make sure that the schedule was workable for him. Especially since he knew the death of Rania had robbed him of someone to help with his chores.

  He thanked Georges for the concern and assured him that until he had his own livestock, he had more schedule flexibility than the established farmers in the colony. There would be planting and harvest days when he absolutely had to work all day, but other than that, he had some flexibility.

  Having dealt with the messages, he looked over at Marianne, who had just gotten the kids to bed. “Are you okay tonight? You look, I don’t know, defeated.”

  “That was a lot today and it brought back a lot of bad memories. This would’ve been a typical day in the peace brigade.” She laughed for a minute. “I guess giant tentacled monsters would have seemed a bit more extreme than they did today. But I mean the adrenaline, the fear, the hyper focus. I lived like that every day, and most nights, for two years. I can’t go back to that.”

  Aziz just shook his head.

  “We never got a resolution like today. She really wanted the beast to kill both of us. That fucking bitch! I thought I was just being paranoid. What the hell are they going to do with her?”

  “Georges wants us to figure out a procedure for a trial for her. We start by designing an election process for the government tomorrow. The day after we start defining how she should be tried. The plateau charter apparently does not adequately cover the council president trying to sell out the colony to an alien species.”

  “We don’t have a death penalty, do we?”

  “I don’t know. I need to read the whole charter sometime tonight or tomorrow.”

  “I can’t believe you’re on the council now. This all seems surreal to me. I think I need to go to bed now. Have fun reading the charter.”

  “Actually, I want to read about French election law first, so I’m prepared for the discussion tomorrow. I can think about how it all applies while I work the fields tomorrow. But before you go, can I ask you a question?”

  She nodded.

  “Why did you kiss me at the meeting?”

  “Because I wanted to and it felt right and I wanted to give you luck for being on the council. And probably more, but I’m too tired to start that conversation tonight.”

  “Well, thank you for it. Can I have a good night kiss before you go to bed?”

  “Of course.” She stood up and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. He wanted to hold her and kiss her more passionately. And maybe go further, but he knew now was not the time.

  He watched her walk away towards their shared room. “I’ll be quiet when I come in so I won’t disturb you.”

  “Thank you. Don’t forget you need sleep, too.”

  ++++++

  Aziz was already tired when he mounted Pascal for the ride into town for his first normal council meeting. He had worked non-stop from before sun-rise to help Marianne and then do the necessary work on his own farm before coming here. But he had also gotten less sleep than usual, as he immersed himself in the history of French election law as well as reading the colony’s charter. He tried to do everything he could to prepare for this, but still felt wholly unprepared and completely overwhelmed by the task in front of him.

  “Welcome and thank you all for agreeing to serve our community,” Georges said to the four councilors, to start the meeting back in the usual council chambers. This was not a private meeting, but no citizens had chosen to come.

  “The primary agenda for today’s meeting is to develop a rough plan for how we transition from a foundation chosen council to one elected by the colonists. The goal I’m setting for us is to devise a fair and open process that we can implement quickly enough to hold elections in 27 days. It’s an aggressive schedule, especially given the other problems we have to tackle in that same four weeks. Do any of you have comments or questions to start the discussion?”

  Aziz raised his hand. He was surprised to be the only one to do so.

  “Aziz, thank you. And we should probably each introduce ourselves. Why don’t you start Aziz, then say your piece then the rest of us can follow.”

  “I’m Aziz Gharbi. I arrived in the second wave with my wife Rania, who died from the sleeping sickness a few months ago. We were hosted by Marianne Laurent. She and her two children now live in my house, as her house was destroyed in the first attack.”

  “And if you don’t know,” Georges adds, “Aziz is our first farmer on the council. Everyone else has been a towns person. But, I’m sorry to interrupt. What did you want to say, Aziz?”

  “I’m sorry if this is obvious to everyone else, but why is the council so much smaller than French law required of municipal councils? If we were under past French law, I think we’d have 29 members.”

  “No, that’s a very good question and there is only one answer. Francois Bernard thought the smaller council would be more efficient and agile. But we should re-examine that decision. My personal expectation is that a smaller council is indeed more efficient and agile. The larger council can be more representative of the community. I don’t know we can redesign our system of government in less than four weeks, but that's probably a good task to set the new council to.”

  Georges looked impressed that Aziz had asked the question.

  Aziz raised his hand again. Georges looked at him, saying, “Before Aziz asks his next insightful question, why doesn’t everyone else introduce themselves. As I think you all know, my name is Georges Clements, my wife is Maria and we have two daughters, age 4 and 2. When not working here, I manage the inventory of goods to be distributed back to the community. Let’s just go down the row, starting with you Michelle.”

  Aziz listened as everyone introduced themselves. Belle, the other new arrival and an electrician, was the only one who didn’t work for the colony government. Aziz sees how they had an easier time balancing their council work with their real job. Belle was also the only other one without children. Aziz was the only one not currently married.

  When Jean Martin had finished introducing himself as an accountant for the colonial accounts, Georges said, “You had something else to say, Aziz.”

  Aziz cleared his throat and said, “Are all five seats being elected or are only the three interim spots being chosen in this election?”

  “That’s another very good question, Aziz. One I think we should discuss as a group. I’ll take my position to try to frame the question, but any of you can argue for a different framing. We could view this election as filling the vacant positions, or as electing the first democratically chosen council. Depending on which you choose, the answer is obvious. But the two give completely different answers. Which are we doing? Or does someone want to pose a different question?”

  “This may seem self-serving, but I think we’re filling the vacant positions. Let the new government decisions to be made with all five full members after the election. I suspect we’re all facing election within a year or so anyway,” Michelle opined.

  Belle added, “Like you said yesterday, Georges, a mixture of new blood and experience is probably the right call currently. I say keep the two sitting councilors and vote on the three openings.”

  “Anyone else?” Georges asked. He waited for any further comments, before he continued, “Let’s just do a show of hands for electing only three.” All five councilors raised their hands. “Okay, we’ve made our first significant decision today.”

  They continued to discuss the nominating process and one round of elections versus two. Aziz was glad for his reading last night, because he understood both systems of two rounds that have been used in France. By the time they had all the t’s crossed and the i’s dotted and a full announcement penned and approved, their ninety minute time was up.

  As they were all preparing to leave, Georges said, “Aziz, can I talk to you for a minute?”

  Aziz looked at him with some trepidation, but nodded.

  Georges laughed. “I’m not going to bite your head off. I just wanted to say how impressed I was by you today. You clearly did your homework last night. And you thought well on your feet in the discussions. I really didn’t know you or Belle very well at all until today. Your courage in standing up to Renee in the earlier hearings had impressed the hell out of me. But I was afraid you might be more like Marianne. She has my undying respect and gratitude, but it was good self recognition by her to say being a council member is not a good path for her. I’m so glad Eleanor nominated you. Thank you.”

  “Thank you, both for saying that and for everything you have done to protect Marianne and me from some past attempts by the council. We’re both forever in your debt.”

  “Don’t thank me. It was the right thing to do for the colony. And I think today you proved me right in that decision. If Renee hadn’t already proven that yesterday.”

  ++++++

  Marianne thought Aziz looked happy as he cooked dinner for them while she got the kids ready. Being ready included having Pierre run around enough that he could sit through dinner. When Aziz had finished cooking and everyone had sat down, she finally asked him, “You’re in a good mood tonight. Was a meeting about election policy that invigorating?”

  Aziz chuckled and said, “The meeting actually was good. I enjoyed talking about it. But I think I’m in a good mood from what Georges said. He had obviously appreciated the questions I was asking during the meeting. Afterwards, he pulled me aside and told me he was impressed with me. And that he was glad Eleanor had nominated me.”

  Marianne smiled before saying, “That was nice of him to say. And it must have been good to hear. I know you were nervous about not being up to the job.”

  “I was, and I still am a little bit, but I definitely feel better.”

  “Rania would be so proud of you right now.”

  That made Aziz beam.

  When Marianne had gotten the kids bathed and into bed after, she came back out to find Aziz sitting at the table, tears in his eyes. It looked like he had finished the clean up except wiping down the table and had stalled at that step. “Are you okay, Aziz? You were so happy when I left.”

  “I was thinking about what you said about Rania. You’re right, she would have been proud of me being on the council. It makes me sad that she couldn’t see this. Now, I just remember how much I miss her.”

  “Do you need a hug?”

  Aziz nodded and stood up.

  Marianne came over and held him tightly. The hug seemed to release some of his restraint, the tears went from the corners of his eyes to pouring down his cheeks in waves. Finally, he pulled his head back, brought an arm from around Marianne to wipe his face. “Thank you. I needed this. You’re so good to me.”

  His head stayed back and she stared back into his eyes, still holding onto each other with one arm. She could see the range of emotions in his eyes. Not just his sorrow for Rania. But his feelings for her. And she felt them for him, too. She could no longer deny it.

  “I love you, Marianne.”

  “I love you, too.”

  They kissed. Not the friendly, supportive good night kisses they’d been exchanging. They kissed like lovers, passionately, aggressively attacking each other’s mouths. This was the release of all the desires that had built up over the last few months, with only the one teasing release that morning a week ago.

  Their hands started to caress each other’s bodies through their clothes. As the caresses became more serious, more intimate, Marianne broke the kiss and the embrace as she stepped back from him. He looked at her with surprise and disappointment. But she smiled, grabbed his hand, and led him into the bedroom.

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  Standing beside the bed, she gave him a quick kiss before unbuttoning his shirt and sliding it off him. She kissed his chest and then his nipples as he started to moan. His breathing was becoming ragged when she stepped back.

  He reached forward to unbutton the few buttons at the top of her chemise before trying to pull it over her head. He struggled to get it off, until she laughed and pulled it off herself. “Hopefully, you’ll get better at that.”

  Her bare breasts were now exposed to him for the first time. She never wore a bra, her moderately sized orbs were firm and needed little support, even as she reached thirty. He leaned over and sucked on each nipple briefly, before pulling back with a surprised look in his eyes.

  She laughed again. “Remember, I’m still nursing Genevieve. There's milk in there.”

  Aziz sheepishly said, “I think I will avoid that for now. And maybe we better take our own pants off, since I struggled with your shirt so much.”

  Marianne chuckled one more time as she pulled down her pants, then said, “Well hurry up about it, I have needs right now.”

  Aziz quickly got rid of his pants and climbed into bed. As Marianne climbed in, he said, “I think I owe you something from last week.”

  He nudged her over to lay flat, then crawled down to start kissing up the inside of her thighs. She sighed as he got close to his goal.

  Unlike her oral efforts last week, Aziz did not stop before bringing her to a conclusion. This was the most powerful orgasm Marianne had been blessed with in at least a year and a half. To be honest, she’s not sure she could remember a more powerful release ever with Andre.

  She waited only a moment after she calmed down to sit up and push him over onto his back. She was repeating their position from the one encounter last week. She didn’t mind; it’s easily her favorite position. At some point, she and Aziz should have a discussion about what each likes and dislikes. But she knew what she wanted right now.

  She had hoped to have the actual act last longer this time, but Aziz had not had her release. He held on valiantly, but eventually succumbed to his sensations. He pumped her full of his seed. She reached her second climax a few minutes later, with him still impaling her.

  She leaned down and kissed Aziz. She felt so much in love with him right now. She could feel his love for her as well. He reached his arms up to pull her close to him, squeezing her against him. They kissed again.

  ++++++

  Marianne laid her head on Aziz’s chest with his arm around her. He was enjoying the feeling, which felt so right. He was afraid if he said anything, the moment would vanish. But he spoke anyway, “Is this for real now?”

  “I hope so. I want it to be.”

  “Like, I should put away the air mattress now?”

  “And I owe Pierre a conversation.”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you, Aziz.”

  ++++++

  Marianne noticed him rejoining them doing their early morning chores in the barn. He had tear streaks down his cheeks. She wasn’t concerned, he went to talk to Rania at her grave every morning. And she understood that he had important things to tell her this morning. She nodded to him. He nodded back. Nothing more needed to be said on the matter.

  But there was a discussion that was urgent. She asked him, “Can you take Genevieve with you to check on the tomatoes? The big man and I need to have a conversation.”

  He offered Genevieve a hand, but she wanted to be carried. He scooped her up and she rode on his hip, chattering away at him. Marianne was happy how well those two had bonded.

  She now looked at her son, who was still feeding the goats, one piece of hay at a time. “Pierre, do you remember asking me if Aziz would be your new Poppa?”

  “Of course, Momma. Is he?”

  “Would you like him to be? It’s a big step and I want you to be happy, too.”

  “Oh he’s fun sometimes. When he’s around, he keeps Genevieve from bothering me as much. I like that. Are you happy?”

  “Aziz makes me very happy. And I think I make him happy as well. I’m glad you like him.”

  “Are you and Aziz going to fight like you and Poppa did?”

  She chuckled at the brutal honesty of a three year old. “I didn’t know you remembered us having fights. Probably sometimes. You know I get angry. I still need to work on that. Even when our bodies are all grown up, adults still need to grow and learn to be better people. But I don’t think we will fight like I used to with your Poppa. He was more like me. Aziz is different, much gentler.”

  “Yeah, he never yells at me like you do.”

  “I’m sure one of us will make him yell one day, but, you’re right, I’ve never heard him yell yet.”

  “Why are you crying, Momma? I thought he made you happy.”

  “He does and I’m very happy right now, even if I’m crying. I miss your Poppa. And I’m very angry at the person who helped the monsters. But I love you so much and I’m so happy that you like Aziz. I think all four of us will be together a long time.”

  “Someone was helping the monsters?”

  “A very bad woman. We only found out two days ago. Aziz’s meeting this afternoon is to decide how she should be punished. He’s helping run the whole colony now.”

  “Why did she help the monsters?”

  “We don’t know. I think that’s one of the things they want to find out. But we have a new gun, much bigger than my rifle and the monsters seem to be afraid of it, so we hope they won’t come back.”

  “I hope they come back so you can shoot them all. I hate them.”

  “I do too. But you can’t always just shoot the things you hate. Sometimes, we have to learn to live with them. Before Aziz and Rania came, I thought I hated them. Isn’t it a good thing I didn’t shoot them?”

  “But you love Aziz, don’t you?”

  “I do now, but I thought I hated him. And many other people I shouldn’t have. It’s easy to hate people you don’t understand, especially when you think they caused your problems. But you might be wrong. I guess I’m realizing you need to try to understand other people.”

  They both sat quietly. Marianne picked up Pierre and held him.

  Finally, Pierre said, “If Aziz is going to be my new Poppa, can I have a brother?”

  Marianne smiled and said, “We’ll see.”

  The barn door opened and Genevieve came bursting in. “tomoes ready pick tomowow!” she shouted in an excited voice as Aziz walked in the door behind her. “Can I show Pierre the tomoes?”

  “They’re to-mat-oes,” Marianne said, “Yes, you may. But no touching them. By either of you.”

  Aziz holds the door back open while the two little ones go running out.

  “How did your talk go?” Aziz asked.

  “Very well. And I think I learned something from him today. Or he made me realize it about myself. But he says you can be his Poppa if you give him a brother. I said we’ll see about that.”

  Aziz chuckled and said, “Seems fair. We’ll have to work on that some more tonight.”

  “And every night after that. Do we want to make this official and get married?”

  “It’s the right thing to do, I think.”

  Marianne nodded and said, “We should probably go check on them. They will start trying to pick them now if we don’t stop them.”

  ++++++

  Marianne was already preparing supper when Aziz gets back from the afternoon’s council meeting. He picked up Genevieve onto his hip, hearing the “Pick up! Pick up!” the instant he walked in the door. He gave Marianne a quick kiss and sat down at the table, where he could chat with her while she worked on their meal.

  “Georges wants me to be on the committee for dealing with the German colony. He asked me to ask you if you will do it, too.”

  “Huh,” she said, “Why us?”

  “He said he’d liked working with me on the council, so he wants me to be the other council representative with him. He said, after your letter, he wanted either you or Eleanor to do it, but a peace plan from you will be an easier sell to the citizenry. And he has another role he wants to use Eleanor in.”

  “Who else is he putting on this committee? And what are we supposed to do? And what the hell is he foisting onto Eleanor.”

  “His proposed committee is you, me, Georges, Danielle Allard, and someone I don’t know. Um, Albert Poirier.”

  “Oh, I know Albert. He’s okay. That’s actually a good group to get something done.”

  “He wants us to go visit the valley someday within the next week and work out some more detailed arrangements between the plateau and the valley. And be upfront about the tensions and weapons that Earth tried to send here. I think he’s right that we’d both benefit from a good relationship.”

  “And a war between us would be disastrous for both sides. Okay, I’m on board. But what is he doing to poor El?”

  “Today’s meeting was officially what to do about Renee. We think the only punishment we have is exiling her, but that has its own problems, between the German colony and the creatures themselves. And we need to know lots of things from her. Georges is proposing that we hold a public hearing/trial. There are no lawyers on the planet, so we have to make do. The idea is have this be a trial with the members of the council being the jury, and Georges as the judge, including the power to ask questions of her himself. He wants Eleanor to serve as prosecutor.”

  Marianne laughed. “Is the prosecutor allowed to go up and snap her neck? I think that might get Eleanor’s buy-in.”

  “No, but he wants someone that everyone will trust is not secretly trying to help Renee. You’re too much the victim in this story to be prosecutor. Apparently there are people who don’t trust that Renee’s not working a scheme to get back in power. It was a good thing Jacques did by resigning from the council.”

  Dinner was good and Marianne got a bit of a break. Genevieve wanted to eat the whole meal sitting in Aziz’s lap and Pierre wanted Aziz to play a game with him after dinner. He got them both in bed, while she cleaned up from dinner and relaxed for a while.

  When the kids were settled, he came out and collapsed in a chair at the table where Marianne was sitting. “You better not be too tired to work on a brother for Pierre,” she said.

  He laughed and said, “Slave, slave, slave. Always working for other people’s demands. Never anything just for poor Aziz.”

  “Oh, I think we can find something in it for you,” Marianne said with a smirk.

  “We probably want to give them a few minutes to make sure they really are settled.”

  ++++++

  Marianne and Patrice sat next to each other in seats along the front of the crowd. The seats had been reserved for potential witnesses, should they be needed.

  “We’re gathered here for a solemn and historic event,” Georges announced to the crowd already gathered in the room. “Because there is no precedent and the colony charter did not consider any situation like this, the council deliberated to find a process that we thought protected the defendant’s rights and is transparent to the entire community.”

  Murmurs ran through the crowd.

  “To that regard, I will recap the process we have chosen. I will serve as judge, with the authority to ask questions of the defendant and any witnesses as I see appropriate. The four remaining members of the council will serve as the jury. Conviction will require a simple majority, meaning at least three of the members must vote for conviction to convict her. We have no trained lawyers on the planet, so finding a prosecutor was challenging. Our solution, who I think will do an outstanding job and will clearly represent the interests of the colony and the injured parties in this situation, is Eleanor Marceau.”

  The murmurs got much louder. Marianne could see many heads nodding. The crowd feels satisfied with that choice. They were after blood and they trusted Eleanor to get it.

  “We need to keep these proceedings orderly, so I ask everyone to behave and give Eleanor and me the leeway to try Renee fairly. If the audience cannot behave, we will be forced to move this into the council chambers and limit attendance. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.”

  More murmuring, but no heckling.

  “Sergeant-at-arms, would you please escort the defendant in and seat her at the designated seat. I ask you to stand next to her for the duration of the trial.”

  The sergeant-at-arms left, returning in a few minutes with Renee walking in front of him. She did a quick double take as she noticed Aziz sitting in Jacques seat on the council. She took a deep breath and sat in her assigned seat, looking emotionless. The sergeant-at-arms remained standing behind her.

  “Let the record show that the defendant, Renee Desjardins, is now present for the trial. Before we go any further,” Georges said, “I need you to clarify your situation, Madame Desjardins. I understand you wish to waive access to counsel, instead representing yourself. Do you indeed wish to represent yourself? Please address your answer to me so that it can be recorded properly.”

  “Yes. I will represent myself. There is no one in the colony I would trust to represent me at this time.”

  “The prosecutor, Eleanor Marceau, will now read the charge, summarize the relevant findings to date and confirm her decision to proceed to a criminal trial against the defendant. Madame Prosecutor, if you will.”

  “The prosecutor has decided to charge Renee Desjardins with Treason against the Nouveau Gaul Plateau colony, abusing her position as president of the council to aid and abet the creatures from the cliff in their repeated attacks against the colony and its citizens. The most recent attack demonstrated that an effective state of war exists between the creatures and the colony. In front of almost a thousand witnesses in this very room, she admitted to being in contact with them, offering them the lives of three of our citizens, one of whom was in fact killed by the creatures. When we committed to using the plasma cannon against the creatures, she apparently warned them, providing the enemy with crucial tactical information during the heat of battle. She led activities in the council to suppress any opposition to the creatures and to protect them from harm, a plan that fortunately failed, leaving Aziz Gharbi and Marianne Laurent living, despite her efforts. The prosecutor finds no reasonable alternative to bringing the charge of treason against the defendant, citing sections 2 and 5 of Article 75 of French law, which shall govern in the colony whenever the colonial charter does not supersede that law.”

  “Does the defendant wish to confess to the charges?” Georges asked.

  Renee shakes her head.

  “Let the record show that the defendant indicated no. Does the defendant choose to dispute any of the facts presented by the prosecutor?”

  Again, Renee shakes her head.

  “Once again, let the record show that the defendant indicated no. For the colony’s behalf, I need to ask you one question. Did Guy, your husband, know about your communications with the creatures?”

  This time Renee speaks. “Guy moved out of the house before I was aware of the creatures. We have stayed on friendly terms, but I would no more have told him than I would have told you.”

  “For his sake, if nothing else, thank you for clarifying that.” Georges sighed and then frowned. “Renee, I’m sure you understand the situation. Can you describe why you chose to willingly cooperate with the creatures against the interests of the colony?”

  Renee looked at Georges, disgust in her eyes. She took a deep breath, then said, “I chose to balance the situation between two groups of sentient beings, trying to find a path of least harm. I failed in that attempt. I did not expect this most recent attack. I warned them only to reduce further damage to both sides.”

  Georges frowned. “Do you understand the consequences of your actions?”

  She nodded. “I ask for a judgement with no further trial.”

  Georges shook his head sadly. He turned to the four councilors serving as the panel. “Please discuss amongst yourselves until you are each comfortable with a verdict.”

  The four councilors discussed amongst themselves, but within a few minutes, they turned to face the room and Michelle addressed Georges. “The panel has reached a verdict.”

  “What is your verdict?”

  “We unanimously find the defendant, Renee Desjardins, guilty of treason.”

  There is a loud murmuring in the crowd again.

  Georges turned to Renee, but was also clearly speaking to the large crowd. “You are now convicted of treason. Under French law that would be a capital offense, but we do not allow the death penalty here. We also have no suitable long term imprisonment options. I will need to deliberate on an appropriate sentence for your crime. Sergeant-at-arms, please escort the prisoner back to her cell, awaiting that sentencing at some point in the future.”

  ++++++

  On the way out of the hearing, Eleanor caught up to Aziz and Marianne. She said, “I had an interesting conversation with Pierre on my way out today. He tells me you two are working on giving him a brother.”

  Aziz looked to Marianne for guidance. She just blushed, but finally said, “I might have said we’ll see.”

  “And just what is that young man seeing?”

  Aziz stepped up to say, “I’m in love with Marianne and she’s in love with me. And we are doing what comes naturally to a man and a woman in love. I think we’re actually being discreet around the children, though.”

  Eleanor climbed on her horse. Just before she rode off, she turned and said, “Why do I keep hearing all your secrets from other people? Don’t you like me anymore Mar? I guess I won’t tell you my secret then.” And she rode off.