541 The Council Head (8)

Every member on the table agreed to his proposition. "Yes, we should vote," all agreed. 

Niiya looked clearly upset but he didn't have a choice. "Okay," he replied. 

On his cue the staff members of the Council distributed small leaflets of paper around the table. "You are supposed to write a cross or tick with the tip of your fingers," they instructed. "The 'Yes' is in favor."

A stroke became red or green according to what the member traced on the paper. 

When the voting was done and the staff collected the papers and magically the entire 'Yes' and 'Nays' piled in two neat columns. The 'Nays' stack was four times higher than that of 'Yes'.