Bane reminded me to close my mouth with a slight nudge. I was staring unabashedly at Mia… E’rsan. She seemed so different and in such a short time.


    “The clothing you have…?” I stammered staring at the gown and the swirling pattern of gold thread all over it.


    “I made it with found items,” she said simply and her attention wandered to a group of men passing us. She offered them what sounded like another blessing and raised her hand with her fingers twisted in a strange gesture.


    I thought back to the transport with the scared women and the room I’d been in just this morning. E’rsan had been in none of those ces.


    “Have you been here this whole time?” I asked.


    “I was taken to another camp,” E’rsan said waving her fingers as though casting a spell and murmuring a greeting to another group. “I wish to travel this world before I leave it. I must leave my blessing, so this world is not cursed by the ill thoughts I have had.”


    I wasn’t sure what a high priestess of Yallen could do with ill thoughts, but she must think they were powerful. E’rsan’srge oval eyes told me the sincerity of her words. She really believed she could hurt us.


    “How did you get here?” Damien asked, clearly confused. The next closest camp was a three day transport ride away.


    E’rsan turned to look at the lead Brother with a subtle grin. A momentter we were looking at the space she’d been in; it was empty. E’rsan was down the hall, almost out of sight, a momentter she was back in front of us. She moved like the wind.


    “very kept all of us from our true potential…” Kein said in awe.


    E’rsan did not join us for the meal, she flitted about the camp and I heard she leftter, traveling to the next camp as the second moon rose.


    Life in the camp got stranger and stranger over the next several day cycles. Women, ving women, appeared regrly. Some would bring gifts, some just demanded entrance; the camp didn’t deny any of them. One group tried to grab some men doing patrols. The pathetic attempt was stopped quickly and the women reprimanded by Hassar. Considering the hold those women had prior, theirck of power now was shocking.


    The formerly feared vers were treated like they were a nuisance. Damien confidently informed me they were no danger to the men. The aliens were our main concern and the members of the camp worked hard to remove them from what we considered “our” territory. The ving women were at this point nearly ignored, which I continued to find odd.


    The main concern most all Paterians had revolved around the ore. Now that we were living openly, the men’s opinions could be advertised. Kana had been right about how the free men viewed the sale of the ore. They’d had to stifle their objections to stay hidden. We weren’t hiding now, though.


    The free men were vocal and persistent. Women from the camps seemed to share this mindset. It didn’t look like the sales would continue and that infuriated the ving women.


    Many of the ving women had based their life’s sess on how much they earned from sale of the ore. Not that the proceeds had any worth or use, it was just a measure of how good a miner you were. The idea of stopping the sale was a big change for the women.


    There were debates and talks amongst the various camps. Meetings that took ce all over the indicated the same thing. Free Paterians didn’t like the idea of selling the ore off the. That ore represented Paterian flesh and blood, or it had at some point. Selling it to aliens was offensive and had to stop.


    I knew what it would mean and so did everyone else. We’d defeated the aliens that hade. All we were doing now was cleaning up the stragglers. If the ore stopped moving, the aliens woulde back and in greater numbers. Any group that used the portals regrly would suffer the loss of Paterian ore. Our battle was far from over if this decision became wide and enforced.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org - ?.


    Still, there was a more pressing threat at hand, in my opinion.


    The ving women continued to appear and it was obvious they were evaluating the camp’s defenses. I wasn’t stupid and I saw the looks they tried to so hard to conceal. Of course, some of the women relented and began to change their thinking, but not all of them. Many seemed to be waiting to take their men back.


    Rose and I fretted about it, but the men were unconcerned. That didn’t stop us from talking to one another about it at length and repeatedly. The two of us even talked to other women about it. None of us made any headway.


    “The ving women are going to try to take men,” Rose said to me one day as we watched our boys runps inside. “I know they are. You’ve seen the way they look at the men…”


    Both our families found our concern unfathomable. They had linked up with The Spirit enough times that they shared the collective opinion. The ving women would change their ways and join The Spirit. That was the epted dogma.


    “Tosu agrees with us,” I told her quietly keeping my eyes on my young family.


    I’d been to see Tosu on many asions. We sat and talked as she rested in the infirmary. Her wing was healing very slowly and her leg had started to heal wrong. Those issues were keeping her in the sick area.


    She would have preferred to be outside, but appreciated the help the camp offered her.


    “I have cousins to talk to,” she would tell me gesturing to Asper on the warm b beside her.


    Asper never spoke to me and only watched my interactions with Tosu. She usuallyy there and stared at the ceiling when I came to visit. It seemed she was paying attention to everything. I was sure she was building to her final decision.