24

"…Be allowed to continue as proposed."

The air sticks in your throat.

At once, the room around you erupts in a storm of clashing noises. From one side, there's applause—from another, there's a clamor of anxious and outraged voices.

And you, caught in the middle of it all, can barely seem to move. It's as if each sound is trying to knock you in a different direction, and as the chaos increases, the pressure grows until you can feel it digging into your skin—

"Everyone, please—please, can we have some quiet?"

In the way that only it can, Dina's voice pierces through the cacophony and bursts it like a balloon. In a second, silence falls—but you can sense there's no peace among the crowd. As quiet as they may be, there are still a hundred heads turning to one another in disbelief, and a hundred pairs of eyes wordlessly asking just what the hell is going on. Near the back of the hall, you catch sight of Rana standing with a group of her fellow protesters—and there's no mistaking the tears streaming down her stricken face as she stares helplessly at her aunt.

If you found yourself barely able to process Dina's words, seeing the way Rana looks up at the stage slams the truth home in a way you can't possibly misinterpret.

The developments are going through. After so long spent talking about it all over the town, it's finally going to happen.

They're going to do whatever they want with the forest.

The set of Dina's mouth then is hard as she casts her gaze over the uneasy crowd, but she seems to work hard to keep her voice level as she speaks out once again into the rustling hall:

"Thank you. I want to repeat what I just announced in case there is any uncertainty—we have decided that the developments will be going ahead."

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