“This is madness,” said Brand.

  “Or something close to it anyway,” agreed Sean.

  “I don’t know. I kind of like it. It feels organic to me,” said Trill.

  “What’s organic?” asked Baxter.

  “You want to know what’s organic?” asked Wergen. “Horse crap. That’s organic.”

  “Also, chaos. Like this. Very organic,” said Brand.

  The five soldiers stood beside two wagons on top of a small hill. One of the wagons belonged to Rori’s clan, the other belonged to the soldiers. In the vicinity there were several other wagons from Rori’s clan, but that is where the recognizable order ended. Beyond that there was a veritable sea of Cunāe.

  Multicolored wagons dotted the landscape. No two of which were painted the same. Typically, the roof, doors, windows and wheels were painted one color and the rest of the wagon painted another. Of course, others took it a bit further. Some of the wagons were parked in groups of two or three, but most sat off by themselves.

  Wherever there weren’t wagons there were tents. The majority were small tents barely big enough for two people to sleep in. Since the Cunāe tended to prefer sleeping out under the stars, the tents were mainly used for storage. There were some larger, pavilion type tents but those were much less common.

  The tents, like the wagons, were also all different colors. It wasn’t just that any two tents sitting next to each other were different in color, even though they were, it was that each individual tent was several different colors. As the small ones were little more than a large piece of cloth stretched over a center line and staked down, they could easily have been made out of one piece of cloth. Instead, most Cunāe opted to stitch together several differently colored pieces. On the rare occasion that someone did use one piece, they made sure to patch it with many different colored swatches.

  As if that wasn’t visually chaotic enough, add to that the pennants and flags that were hung on everything. Every wagon had a minimum of three flags on it. Some had as many as eight. Each tent had at least one and many managed substantially more.

  Spotted in and around these were campfires. Even though the nights were not really cold, the wind coming off the lake could be quite cool. The fires also provided easy meeting places and, of course, they were also needed for cooking.

  There were paths of a sort in and amongst all of this, but they were not organized in any fashion, and they certainly were not straight. Finally, add to all of that lots and lots of people. People eating and drinking, people talking and singing, people cooking, people working on crafts, repairs and the like, people moving and people just standing around.

  The conclave stretched along the southern edge of Lake Loenz as far as you could see in both directions. It was also wide enough that if you stood by the lake, you couldn’t see the conclave’s southern edge.

  “I thought they were organized into clans?” asked Sean.

  “They are,” said Rori opening the door to the clan wagon and stepping out into the afternoon sun. “Over there is Clan Giselle. Over there is Clan Madreo and over there is Clan Orrich.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “By the flags. Clan Orrich’s flag is red on top and blue on the bottom with a white rose in the middle,” explained Rori pointing again. “It’s flying from the back of that wagon. You can’t miss it.”

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  “The problem isn’t that I might miss it. The problem is that I can see those same flags all over the place. Not just over there where you pointed,” said Sean. “The wagon next to the wagon you said was Clan Madreo, for example. Which, by the way, is in the opposite direction from where you said Clan Orrich was in the first place.”

  “Yes, but that flag is being flown to show that they are currently allied with Clan Orrich. Others of the flags are being flown to show people who have switched clans either away from or to the clan or possibly just wanting to switch but haven’t decided yet. They could also be asking for information about the clan or to talk to someone from the clan. And of course, they could be clan members who are currently camping in that location.”

  “How can you tell the difference?” asked Wergen.

  “In some cases, the other flags flown with them, but in other cases you can’t. If you actually want to know, you just go knock on their door and ask.”

  “So, clan Orrich is not actually over there,” said Sean pointing to the original wagon Rori had identified. It is actually spread out throughout the area.”

  “Oh sure. What would be the point of camping with your own clan? You get to see them all the time. At conclave, people like to camp near old friends and catch up. Or camp near strangers and make new friends. Then move to a new spot and repeat.”

  “How do you keep it straight?”

  “Why would you want to?”

  “What if we need some information from a clan or we need to find someone in a clan?” asked Wergen.

  “Then you go and ask. Every clan has a lead wagon. That first one I pointed out for Orrich is theirs. Alternately, just start asking people you run into. If the person you want is here, you’ll find them eventually.”

  “Chaos,” said Sean.

  “Actually, it’s kind of brilliant,” said Nolan coming out of the soldier’s wagon and standing in the doorway. “It makes getting up to shenanigans that much harder. Any clan that is keeping to itself will stick out like a sore thumb. Any clan that is plotting together will quickly get spotted. Everyone is having a good time. Anyone not having a good time is up to something.”

  “The military would never let it work like this,” said Sean.

  “This isn’t the military and right now acting and thinking like one will make you stick out from the crowd. Loosen up. Go mingle and meet people. The more you meet the less you look like a stranger and the more they will open up and talk,” said Nolan.

  “Bring booze and share it freely,” added Rori. “That will make you even more popular.”

  “How many clans are here now?” asked Trill.

  “At last count I think there were nineteen. But that was yesterday morning, and I think that was just a rough guess. Nobody is really trying to keep up anymore,” said Rori.

  “At least three more rolled in this morning,” added Baxter. “Who knew there were this many Cunāe in the world?”

  “This is nothing,” said Rori. “These are only a part of the clans in this part of the world. There are probably three times as many in just northwest Lorenthia. But I do agree there are a lot of people here. Who would have guessed this conclave would be so successful?”

  “So, everyone here is Cunāe?” asked Brand.

  “Officially? Yes. But in truth, no. Cunāe clan membership is easy to get, and some people just love a party. So, there are probably people here who were not in any clan a month ago. Some may be ex-Cunāe who rejoined their old clan just to catch up with old friends. You guys are not usually Cunāe either but are for the duration of the conclave. And of course there are the merchants.”

  “I wouldn’t think a Cunāe would be a merchant,” Brand said.

  “You’re right, for the most part they wouldn’t. They all claim to be Cunāe but some of them clearly are only Cunāe in name alone and if most of the others ever were Cunāe it wasn’t recently. But a conclave is a great place to make money, and everyone wants someplace to trade. So, everyone believes the fiction.”

  “Don’t the merchants need to worry about getting robbed? The Cunāe are not exactly known for their honesty,” said Wergen. “No offense intended.”

  “It’s okay, I get your point. No Cunāe would steal from another Cunāe. That’s another reason for the ruse.”

  “But the merchants still all camp together and I saw more than a few people standing around merchant wagons clearly acting as guards.”

  “No sense in not being prudent. Robbery is illegal in Lycea too, but it still happens. The only difference here is that if you get caught stealing from another Cunāe at a conclave you’ll end up wishing you were in a Lycean prison.”

  “So where are we heading next?” asked Baxter.

  “We’re not heading anywhere,” said Nolan. “Rori and I are heading over to meet up with Dade and Kedra. The rest of you are not. The point is to blend in and gather info. Right now, you all look like a squad of Lorenthian soldiers trying hard to not look like a squad of Lorenthian soldiers. Split up into small groups and do what Rori said. Go talk to people. Find out information. Oh yeah and keep your eyes open for people who aren’t having fun.”