“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.


    Starting one of the smokeless fires wasn’t difficult, but Rose and I still struggled slightly. Neither of us had ever done this before. After it was burning we were each given something to eat.


    “Hannah instructed us on what you could eat. The food we eat while out here would not be suitable for you,” he said. “This meat is easy to prepare and it can travel with us. It is filling for us and also for you. It is a good food for you to bring on a long trip like this one.”


    The lesson continued as Thom told us what we were eating. He told us how the small animal we were enjoying was trapped and prepared. I remembered reading about them. The gapu reminded me of a squirrel when I’d learned about them.


    Thom watched Rose and me closely. If our eyes drifted to where our families were he would scold us. He didn’t want us watching the vers. We were two independent beings.


    We were introduced to many men in the camp after dinner. The men all greeted us politely and weed us. Many congratted us on our freedom. I noted privately that our men did not receive the same reception.


    Fuji joined us after a while. She seemed shell shocked and sat dully next to us refusing to speak. From her point of view, this situation seemed impossible. I wished she would listen to me as I told her we would be fine.


    Pallets were furnished us by Thom. Rose, Fuji, and I would sleep next to our fire. We weren’t required to take a watch tonight. Later when we were trained and ready, Thom told us, we may help take watch. It just depended on whether that was something we would be good at.


    Iy on my side on the pallet and stared at the poorly lit beach in front of us. The t ck water did not soothe me. My mind was awash with uncertainty and questions. This alien ce was unnerving.


    Everything had been so different since we’d been picked up at the Keepers. Even the transports, which I had be so ustomed to, were different. It wasforting to concentrate on the transport. It meant I could focus on something other than my family, who I wasn’t even allowed to look at.


    The transports wererger and thicker, but the differences didn’t end there. They appeared to be armed. Things that resembled sleek metal cannons were mounted at all four corners. From where Iy they appeared to be about the height of a Paterian man’s chest.


    I finally fell asleep wondering if that’s really what they were.


    My dder felt ready to burst when it woke me up in the middle of the night. I realized I’d not gone since we were freed. I sat up looked around. I wasn’t sure where to go.


    I noticed a man many body lengths away from me. He was standing and looking out over the ckke. His posture told me he was probably on some sort of guard duty.


    As I stood the man turned to look at me for a moment. He shed a friendly smile before turning to stare back over theke.


    “Excuse me, Sir,” I whispereding up beside him.


    “I am Tryne rescued from the Barnaspound,” he said softly. “It is a pleasure to meet you. When we meet those we do not know from the camp we call them cousin.”


    “Rachel from Earth,” I responded, remembering my lesson. “I need to make waste, Tryne. Where would I do that?”


    “Bucket on the other side of the camp,” he pointed. “My Brother is over there and will show it to you.”


    I walked quietly as I could across the beach and used thetrine there. The smell of waste was thick here. Most of the men were set up to sleep away from this area.


    Only three families were near thetrines. Evan’s bright eyes met mine and I gave him a fleeting smile. He returned it and pointed me back to my pallet.


    I settled next to Rose and shut my eyes as the tears fell. What had I gotten us into?


    The next morning I woke to the flurry of the men getting ready.


    “It is still long before the time the sun rises,” Thom said as I stood and stretched, “but we do not wish to stay still in these caves for long. Other creatures would make a meal of us if they found us. The longer we stay, the more at risk we are. Were we to camp long we would have to fortify the area.”


    There was no day or night here. The caves were lit by our small fires and nothing else. If he said it was early, I believed him. It certainly felt very early.


    Thom showed Rose, Fuji and me how to tie our pallets up. We were given some of the same thing we atest night. He also helped us get our fire put out and the pit cleaned up. The men believed thend remembered them. If they treated it well, it would wee them back. If they treated it poorly, they would suffer on it next time.


    “It is the Great Harmonious Spirit,” Thom exined. “All things on this world are part of the Spirit. We live on the world and only take from it what we need, as all creatures do. By respecting the rights of others, we reinforce our own rights.”


    I’d heard religious people get very pushy, but Thom wasn’t. He just seemed to want to educate us.


    “I’ve never heard of this,” I said, as Thom directed Rose, Fuji, and me to a transport.


    “The Great Harmonious Spirit is not taught in thepounds,” he said as he and his Brothers loaded things up. “How could they tell the men of a Great Harmonious Spirit when they know only suffering at the hands of the women? They do not know peace, only beatings, division, and forced coupling. Once we free men, we always teach them this fundamental concept.”N?velDrama.Org holds this content.