Only a few short days after the campaign sent out invitations to the press and placed ads for the event, a work crew arrived in the Marketplace to put together a large black stage. They unfurled golden banners behind it, with red letters that read:

ADDER "17 - A MAN FOR THE CITY WE BELIEVE IN

Loudspeakers pumped out several chart-topping pop songs from Stars End, before the event's organizer finally took the stage. He was middle-aged, dark-haired, with coal black eyes and a knowing smile that rarely left his face. He tugged on his lapels, adjusted his collar, and turned to wave as he took to the podium at the center of the stage.

"Good morning, people of RhyDin! There are very many of you who do not know me yet' so I'd like to take this chance to introduce myself."

"My name is Samuel Adder. I am a businessman who has invested in a number of very talented people, many of them here in RhyDin and Stars End. I invest in them because I believe in them. I believe in a lot of wonderful people" and, in spending time with them, nurturing their talents and watching them grow, I started to believe in something else. I started to believe in this city, and all of you."

"It started small, as most things do. I saw people from distant places and times learning each other's trades, working together, becoming friends, raising families together, building together" coming together in the hundreds and thousands to celebrate the love between two people or the changing of seasons, and to fight back and help each other back to their feet when tragedy strikes."

"And, sometime in the last few years" I realized something. That this city is something very special, a miracle in its own right, and I had to be a part of it."

"Now, maybe not that many of you have heard RhyDin called a miracle before, and it's a radical thing to say about this place, but from what I've seen, this place deserves radical love. Because I've seen other campaigns and movements come and go here, and I've seen more than one talk about what about this city needs to be cleaned up. What needs to be changed. What needs to be removed. From all of this — out of all of you!" he thundered, spreading his arms wide.

"Here we are in the very center of the vastness of the Multiverse, with a city equally vast in its diversity and limitless potential! Here we are, in our infinite variety, banding together to do all of the things any metropolis needs to live and thrive! And to me, that is a miracle."

After a pause, he thinned his lips, nodded, put up his hands. "I know that miracles, that calling anything a miracle, can be controversial. Believe me, I know — my father is a very religious man. He has a lot of deeply held beliefs, and" I think it's important to enumerate just a few of them. He believes that people come in two types: worthy' and unworthy. He believes that desire is wrong, that the things that we yearn for, with our minds and bodies and souls, are best kept out of reach. And he believes that the righteous should punish those deemed to be wicked!"

"People of RhyDin, I cannot stress this enough?" He looked down at his notes, shuffled them, and shook his head once. Chuckled at something remembered, and gave the assembled a clear-eyed look. "I am not my father."

"I believe we are more than the zealots who wasted so much of the past year trying to divide us. And I believe we are more than those who tried to control the fate of this city from the shadows."

"I believe that we are one extraordinary group of people, mortal and immortal alike, whatever our background, whatever our talents. I believe that, together, we can complete great works — dare to give into our desires, and come together to build extraordinary things. I believe that we should not fear one another, and come together to celebrate all that we have and, as we tragically only do so few times each year, revel together," he added with a sharp-angled grin. "I believe that we deserve safety, that we should be enabled and empowered to desire, to build, and to celebrate! I believe that we deserve a leader who is present in our lives. And I believe that I am that leader."

"As your governor, I will fight to maintain and improve the institutions that bring us together and entertain us — our many great fighting and sports arenas, theaters, clubs, casinos — all the places that comprise the passionate, beating heart of RhyDin."

"I will be a champion of our opportunities to come together in celebration, committing the connections I forge in this city and community resources to the parties and festivals that, at their best, are the envy of the Multiverse."

"I will commit our city's security apparatus to the task of public safety, keeping our many Watch leaders appraised of vital information and pressing them to decisive action. Without security, without safety, nothing else is possible."

"And I will be a presence in your lives. In times of triumph and tragedy alike, you will always hear my voice and know that I am acting on everything I perceive."

"Once again, my name is Samuel Adder. If you'll have me, I will be your next Governor of RhyDin. And from the bottom of my heart' I thank you for your time.?

Outside of the Rhydin Courthouse and Town Hall, a group of photographers and reporters were on hand for an announcement.

Ladies, gentlemen, and others, my name is Colleen MacLeod-Fenner and I'm here to announce my candidacy for Governor of Rhydin. Rhydin and its neighboring lands have been the home of three generations of my family for some time.

I won't make promises to have many grand parties or not to have meetings. However, much can be accomplished at those social gatherings.

Over the years, I have worked with many of Rhydin's business owners to give citizens in need a hand up rather than a hand out. If I am elected Governor, I hope that I can, once again, count on their support when the need arises.

Two districts in the city, Old Market and Old Temple, do not lack for emergency services. One of my goals is to work with The Watch and the city's first responders to build new facilities or give the current ones a major overhaul. There are several health care facilities in the city. Not all of them have enough funding for needed equipment, staff, medicines, and building repairs.

I have a laundry list of ideas such as making improvements in the educational system. There is a saying, "It is better to have something and not need it than to need something and not have it." We cannot force people to make use of public facilities or take help that is offered. However, we can make things available to be used.

Each and every citizen, young and old, has a right to be heard and an obligation to make their voices heard. That said, I'll have hours posted on the bulletin board of conference room in the Rhydin Observatory Complex. I hope to see you there.

Colleen went into the courthouse to file some papers.