The method of instruction was unlike I’d experienced on Earth. I sat in a circle with my family and we talked. It was my job to teach them about animals in the forest. I had ess to a pad so I could show them pictures of the things I talked about. I made up stories about the animals to keep the boy’s attention. They were expected to answer questions after I was done.
I had to puff with a little pride when several men settled their boys behind mine. My imaginative stories captured the attention of my audience. The lessons were interesting and they picked up the facts quickly. It felt good to be someone the other men trusted their young with.
Rose was doing something simr with her young boys. Edas and his family were learning their colors today. Rose used her pad to help the boys learn the colors of the things in the forest. While she was at it she also taught them the names of things. The young ones picked it up with ease.
I felt a little guilty as the morning wore on. My men were out looking for dangerous aliens and I was sitting safely inside. It seemed grossly unfair to me, until I concentrated on Damien and his Brothers.
My men had been raised to be Warriors, but they were never really allowed to fight. Now they soared through the forest hunting invaders with their cousins. This was exciting. The Great Harmonious Spirit linked them to the other fighters in the camp and they battled as one being. It was exhrating.
The aliens were systematically removed from the area around our camp. As each section was cleaned the men moved on to the next area. By nightfall the men would have a massive area cleared of invaders. Frankly, they were having a great time.
Time came for the midday meal and the young boys were all ravenous. The food was delivered here and set up on a series of tables along one wall. Whoever was Keeping the children was responsible for fixing their tes. Rose took the initiative to look at her boys’ marks before preparing their tes.
“No rupe for them,” she announced peering down at one little boy. There was a human ve in his line one generation back.
He looked up at her and frowned. His Brothers liked rupe. They had given it to him the day prior and the day before that. The family had been forbidden it in thepound. He and his Brothers thought it was a treat that they could have it here.
Rose looked horrified. She’d seen what rupe had done to me. Humans, and those with human ancestors, couldn’t eat rupe because we didn’t absorb the nutrients from it. In thepounds, families like mine, with a human ancestor, never touched that food. Families would share and it was dangerous to risk them sharing rupe. The fact these boys had been given it was awful. One of them may have had no nutrients for days.
The men Keeping these children must have been too busy to have noticed this detail.
“How sick would he have been if they’d been left with those men?!” Rose said to me in English. She seemed very offended that her boys had not been cared for correctly.
Rose’s attention turned back to Edas’s family when she spoke next.
“Rupe isn’t good for you,” she said firmly and nced at the table of food. “I’ll bring you something better to eat.”
Edas’ family wasn’t sure, but they knew Rose was Keeping them. When she returned with their meals she also brought chilled green stalks, I was sure she’d win them over. The boys each got to try one and they really liked those. These were much better than rupe. They all ate the healthy meal Rose picked out and then chewed on the stalks happily.
Our afternoon was slightly different from the morning. Healers showed up and removed the stitches from my little boys. Mycah’s family wasn’t nearly as calm as when they were ced. It took a good deal of effort to get the boys still enough for the men to do the job. Luckily, the Healers cleared the children to join in the physical activity thatmonly urred this time of day. That was a relief
It waste afternoon when we all had a jolting surprise. Damien and his Brothers watched as one of the women’s ships drew close to our camp. The men outside didn’t run and held their positions, waiting to see what would happen. Still, I knew there must be some apprehension. Mycah’s little family was grabbed by The Great Harmonious Spirit, as were many families in the hall we were in. Nothing was left to chance as this strange event yed out.
Whoever was steering therge vessel did a good job. The warship came to rest slowly in a small clearing along the mountainside, just outside our main entrance. The engines to the metal beast shut off and it sat unmoving at our very doorway.
I was inside, with the mostly quiet children, but I saw what Damien and his Brothers saw. My focus was riveted on the drama they were watching. None of us knew what to expect.N?velDrama.Org owns ? this.
It was like a scene from a movie as a piece of the ship lowered to the ground and a ramp was formed. From the size of the ramp I imagined you could have run two transports inside the ship side by side. Something big and dangerous coulde down that ramp and I personally felt fear, although the men were as calm as ever. They were always calm and organized when The Great Harmonious Spirit had them.
Many moments passed and there was movement at the top of the ramp. A Paterian woman walked down the ramp with tworge bags slung over her shoulders. It took me a moment to recognize Dinah, Nu-reeh’s Sister.
I gasped loudly and so did Rose. My eyes met hers and we both wondered what was going on. My feelings intensified when Nu-reeh strolled down the ramp behind Dinah. Much like the other woman she carried two enormous sacks. Tosu came downst, limping heavily, but carrying a load simr to her Sisters’.
The men evaluated Tosu’s wounds from a distance and I felt their concern. She had a bloody mark still oozing from her upper stomach. From her gait and the strange look of one leg it was either broken or just badly damaged. One wing hung oddly and the men could see where something had tried to tear it off. Our friend would not survive with these wounds much longer unless they were tended.