Damien took my left hand and slid the cool metal over my finger. The ring fit perfectly. It was etched with Damien’s family symbol and each man’s number.


    I kissed each of them again in thanks. This was a very sweet gesture. In the middle of a war they’d been thinking of me.


    The little ones watched us but they appeared slightly shell shocked.


    “Have they slept and eaten?” I asked Damien. “They don’t look…”


    I let the sentiment hang, but the men understood. The little boys were stressed and they did not appear well. Life in thepound was based on pattern and repetition. Being trapped in the middle of a war and then transported a world away was too much, too quickly.


    Damien took control and picked up his bag. The rest of the men did the same and the boys copied the men. Each boy had a small satchel of things. From what my family knew I understood it was a few things they’d grabbed before they were rescued from thepound.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    “We will take our things back to our room,” Damien said briskly. “We have responsibilities today. There are Child Keepers we can leave them with until our job ispleted. The little ones stay with us when we are not working. They are ours to protect.”


    I looked longingly at Jonathan and wanted to be the one to take care of him, but that wasn’t a good idea. The boys were not sure of me and needed to be left somewhere they felt safe. The family mind settled and I knew we would slowly remind Jonathan, but it wouldn’t happen this instant. At this moment he’d be better off with Child Keepers and the other children.


    A low sound like a horn cut through the air and everyone turned toward the center of the room. Men carried what were obviously the wrapped remains of our fallen men and women into the camp. We all stood still as the procession moved into the main area.


    I watched the bodies pass and noted how different they all looked. The wrappings had obviously been hastily scavenged and were a variety of colors and fabrics. On the outside of each one was a family name and number.


    It surprised me to see a family I knew carrying a body with their family symbol. The four men walked quietly with the remains of their Brother held proudly above them. Their grief was obvious, but I was shocked that they’d survived the loss.


    “It is The Great Spirit,” Damien murmured very softly. “We are not alone when we have our friends and cousins. They are part of us and keep us strong. We are not alone on this world.”


    Men could survive losing family, they just had to have the protection of The Great Harmonious Spirit. I watched closely and noted many men carrying their deceased Brothers. They were not dying like I would have expected. The men in the camp were made much more powerful by The Spirit.


    I saw Gunth’s five family members being carried in. The wrapped bodies were held proudly aloft. There was a charge that went through all of us as our fallen leaders went by. A sob caught in my throat and I started to tear. Gunth’s family had been made up of great men and I would miss them.


    My family was surprised at my reaction. Gunth was not dead in the simplistic way I thought of it. Gunth was part of The Great Harmonious Spirit now.


    Gunth and his family had spent their lives dedicated to the ways of The Great Harmonious Spirit. They’d taught countless men the meaning and importance of it. Once their bodies were consecrated back into the pool of Paterian fire they would finally be a physical part of it. Gunth had lost nothing and neither had we. His whole family was alive and well in all of us who followed The Spirit.


    The men looked serene as they watched their fallenrades go by. These men and women were not lost to us. They were merely in the ce where there was no pain or fighting, only peace.


    It was the Paterian equivalent of heaven and I had to smile. The concept brought closure to the beings here. I couldn’t imagine how isted the men must have felt on thepound when they were denied that. The Great Harmonious Spirit certainly gave them a sense ofpleteness.


    The stream of bodies continued, many of therge women toted on transports, and I wondered where they were going.


    “The thing the women dip their wings into, theva,” Kein said softly. “We are delivered back to our.”


    Theva took the Paterians back to their source. As the bodies sunk into the strange substance it got hotter. Women had studied theva or Paterian fire and knew the bodies literally melted deep beneath the surface of the. After a time the body was no longer separate from the fire.


    The idea of burial beneath the dirt was quite foreign here. At thepound dead men had just disappeared, but this is what had always happened. All Paterians were always delivered back to their the same way.


    I was saddened that Gunth got no headstone or remembrance. Damien quirked a brow at my memories. A que on the wall wouldn’t be a bad thing. He would ask the Administrators to consider that.


    We stood for a very long time watching the dead pass by. Even the boys stood stoically watching the procession. Everyone seemed to understand the respect that was due those that had given their lives for the rest of us.


    Once thest body was gone I saw Thom striding toward us. He looked purposeful and his eyes were on me.


    “Ciara,” he called once he was close, “you have done a great deal for the Healers, but your skills are needed elsewhere.”


    I was stunned by his mannerism, he was acting quite official.


    Damien wasn’t surprised. Thom and his family wanted Administrative duties. He was probably “filling in” to prove his family a suitable recement for Gunth and his Brothers. I nodded in understanding and agreed politely to do whatever would help the camp. Thom had been good to me and I wanted him to seed.


    “The men brought back many former ves,” Thom said lowering his voice. “They are scared and they do not understand. We need you and Rose to help us with them.”


    I wanted to stay with my family and get to know my little boy again, but I understood Thom’s urgency. The former ves were probably terrified and confused. At least Rose and I had some knowledge about what was going on when we were freed. These poor women would bepletely lost.


    “We’ll see you at the evening meal,” Damien promised as I turned to him, a nod and a smile to all my family and I was gone.


    The transport area was busy as I followed Thom through it after we picked up Rose. Men from the camp greeted Rose and me, but the other men just stared. Our mannerisms weren’t that of ves anymore and we wore swords just like they did. Many murmured as they noted the guns we also carried. The men had seen the destruction those weapons could do. The new weapons gave Rose and me immense power. It must have been confusing.