“Good,” he smiled once she finally made eye contact with him. “You are a free woman now. No one will


    tell you where to walk and you must be alert for any danger that may approach you.”


    Rose looked at me and I saw the tears in her eyes. This experience was terrifying her. She couldn’t


    wrap her mind around what Gunth was telling her. From her perspective it made no sense.


    “Next,” Gunth continued amicably, “we will greet one another. I am a free man and always have been,


    so I know the ce of my birth. I wilt tell you my name and my origin. It is expected you answer me the


    same way.”


    We stood and stared at the man as he introduced himself as Gunth from the T’scar Mountains. He


    went on to introduce his Brothers next. The family was strong and powerful, but obviously older than


    everyone else here. They all smiled at us in greeting.


    “Now you do it,” Gunth ordered.


    I took the challenge first and introduced myself.


    “I am Ciara from Eart-” I started to say and was interrupted.


    “Gunth wants your free name,” Thom interjected. “He doesn’t wish to know what the vers called


    you.”


    “I like my name,” I said softly. “It is a good name, Sir…”


    N?velDrama.Org (C) content.


    Gunth interrupted me to remind me I was not a ve.


    ninjanovel


    “Iam not Sir. You must use my name. You are no Longer controlled by owners and I will leave them


    here if I continue to see signs of their prior control. Now please introduce yourself as a free woman,”


    Gunth said in amanding tone.


    I flushed and was embarrassed. “Gunth, my name is Rachel,” I said very softly, “and I am from Earth.”


    Rose was stubborn, first she wouldn’t speak and when she did she refused to be called Ruth. Her


    cheeks flushed and she demanded to be allowed to stay with Basin. Tears streaked down her cheeks


    when Gunth told her no.


    “You will be retrained for your own good,“ Gunth told her.


    “We are used to retraining men that have been in thepounds. You will learn to be free just as those


    men have learned.”


    Rose looked livid as she red at Gunth. He couldn’t read her the way Basin and his Brothers could,


    but the anger was obvious.


    “You are to stay away from the vers,” Gunth dered.


    “We will send them back if we find them with you. Our camp is a free ce and you must Learn to be


    free. You cannot learn to be free under the rule of vers.”


    “I am free,” Rose spat out, “they told me I was free!”


    Gunth seemed to pity us. In fact, looking around, all the men here seemed to feel sorry for us.


    “Go with Thom,” he ordered us instead of continuing to argue, “I am sure you do not know how to start


    the fire that will keep you warm this night. Let him educate you both.”


    After his promation Gunth turned to instruct the other men what to do. We were obviously being


    dismissed. I turned to Thom and he gestured for us to follow.