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Falco swallowed hard. He hadn't expected it so soon. He had hoped for some time to grow used to the idea of casting away his pride, and at the moment his pride was still heavily upon him. But he would not, could not, reject Sondo's friendship. He took a deep breath.
"I'm awful sorry for the way I acted earlier," he said, very hurriedly. "I shouldn't have disagreed with you in the first place, but if I really had to disagree, I ought to have done it in a way that was more respectful to your position as leader. As it was, I not only disagreed with you myself, but did my best to make the others think the same way as I. Thank goodness they all had the good sense to either stay with you or abandon me later.
"I'd like to say, Sondo, that you've just proved what a good leader you are. If you'd been such a bad leader as I've been implying throughout this whole trip, you wouldn't have taken everything as graciously as you did. You gave in to us when you saw you were out-voted. If you were a bad leader you would have insisted on having your own way, against majorities and even against common sense. You've done a wonderful job, and I'm sorry for making things so hard on you."
He drew another deep breath, and smiled rather shakily. "There! That was rather hard to say, but I'm glad I did." He reached over and grasped Sondo's hand in his own, shaking it heartily. "Friends."
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