"I will sleep here, of course," Melody told her Captain when sometime later he asked her the same question Kengetar had been thinking. "I will be safe, Kapiten. They are just children." 

"How old were you when you took your first life, m'lady?" Broon asked, his tone respectful. She didn't answer. He said, "I'll post guards in the tent to ensure--" 

"You will not," Melody cut in. She smiled to her Captain: "I will be fine."

Broon left with several end-of-day orders, and Melody made her way about her tent, reassuring the children and the women watching over them that all would be well. Some returned her kindness; others did not, their faces showing their fear, hatred, or both. 

Eventually, with torches extinguished and only candles lighting its interior, the tent fell into near silence as its occupants fell asleep. Melody had given up her own bed to several children orphaned by the morning's attack. She herself laid down in a corner with Haanya and one of the Healers; she rested her head on a pile of clothes and -- having distributed all of the bedding -- wrapped herself in her cloak, which was insufficient against the cold that would deepen through the night.

Melody's last memory of the evening was hearing a soothing lullaby being sung by one of the Sedent females. Hours later, she awoke with a start to Haanya shaking her at the shoulder. In the low light, Melody eventually focused her eyes on the issue: a Sedent woman pointing a knife at her chest. 

The woman growled in her Tribe's dialect, and while she didn't understand all the words, Melody understood that she was being blamed for the death of the woman's mother in yesterday's attack. Melody slowly rose to a sitting position.

"Please ... before you kill me ... will you let me give my cloak to one of the children?" Melody asked softly. "I do not want it to be soiled with my blood as they sleep in it ... for warmth."

The knife wielding woman looked confused. Melody pulled the cloak from where she'd been using it as a blanket and handed it to a second Sedent. Melody continued, "My mother, too, was murdered. I want revenge on the woman responsible for my mother's death ... just as you want revenge on the woman responsible for your mother's death ... revenge on [i]me[/i]."

Melody was fully sitting up now; the blade's tip had made physical contact with the flesh of one of her breasts. "I will not stop you from getting your revenge ... here, now." Melody glanced toward Haanya, then the healer, directing, "[i]No[/i] one will try to stop you, and no one will harm you for doing this. It is justice. Do you know this word...?"

A Sedent woman who was watching the drama unfold translated, "[i]drejtësia[/i]."

"Yes, [i]drejtësia[/i]," Melody repeated. "You may have your justice now, here. Or ... You can let me live long enough for me to get my [i]own[/i] revenge [i]first[/i]. And then ... you may kill me without any harm coming to you or your people." 

The knife-wielding woman glanced downward to find a slow rivulet of blood running from the point of the knife down the Yalla Lady's bosom. She pulled the knife back, and after a moment, she turned it, offering the hand end to Melody; the Yallan moved slowly to take control of the weapon, then handed it to the second Sedent, who hid it in her own bedding.

Haanya pressed a cloth to the wound on her Lady's bosom as Melody herself was telling the Sedent, "You will have your justice, and no one will harm you for taking it ... [i]if[/i] you will allow me to get mine, too. I promise."

The [i]former[/i] would-be-assassin broke down in tears and sobbed. Melody took her into her arms, and after a long moment they laid down together; the second Sedent covered them both with Melody's cloak, and after some time had passed, the tent returned to its calm as if nothing untoward had occurred.

Somewhere in the near darkness, a southern lullaby was again being sung softly...

[b]Morning:[/b]

Outside her tent, Melody found Kengetar and told him to pick those who would be [i]feigning[/i] enslavement for our mission. She could see the confusion in his eyes and clarified: only those willing to volunteer to [i]pretend[/i] to be captured would be going to the Capital, while the rest of the tribe would remain here. She explained that most of the captured stock animals -- the ones not killed, roasted, and eaten last night by the hungry Clan Yallans, obviously -- were being returned to the Tribe; she also tossed Kengetar a small purse of mostly silver, telling him with a solemn tone, "It cannot make up for what happened here yesterday, but ... nothing ever will.

"I want to be moving within the hour," Melody told Broon. She looked to Kengetar, asking, "Are you ready?"