The early days went smoothly, much to Jake's surprise. They unfroze the members of her staff that Volgelson selected as being indispensable to their efforts, as well as twenty soldiers for security. There were the usual problems about the fact of the millennia having passed by while they were asleep, but after being introduced to their guests one by one, they soon believed. Some became despondent, lethargic, and emotionally fragile in the face of such news. Others attacked their duties with the fervor of men wanting to lose themselves in work.

Serena proved the biggest help. In her guise as "The Lady", she walked amongst the soldiers and spoke to them about past and present. Her power calmed the excited and soothed the hurt to such a degree that cheer and laughter rang out again through the halls of the city.

A couple of the soldiers volunteered that they were the son and daughter of farm folks (though of different parentage and states). They were immediately reassigned to Rachel's farming group and tasked with the herculean task of preparing the tools and layout of the farms needed to survive.

Jake, Volgelson, Brian and Asbiorn set about the task of identifying the people that needed to be awakened first. They would study the piles of belongings that people had managed to save and evaluate their likely occupation based on what articles were there. Many were easily distinguishable; a lawyer often saved his briefcase with his papers and a card placed prominently on the bag, a doctor his or her medical bag and such supplies as they could carry, a laborer his safety vest and hard hat. Many were indistinguishable however; the people only having time to rescue the most precious of objects such as a favorite toy or blanket of the child, a photo album perhaps, or an electronic reader.

Jake wandered down a row of people and felt a flicker of recognition when he came across a man and woman linked together by their hands. He looked a little closer at their faces and realized that they were the pair of librarians he met the day they had fought in the city.

He felt a compelled to awaken them, but resisted. Their occupation wasn't directly necessary for the colony's survival. They would have to wait just a little longer before they emerged.

Soon, my friends. Very soon. He promised their silent, staring eyes.

Continuing along the row, he found a group of very familiar faces and jerked to a stop.

So, they didn't get out of the city in time, he thought. He hadn't had opportunity to really study them the last time they''d met, being distracted in the business of politics. He thought he could correct that oversight now.

The little girl stood between her parents, looking like a serene china doll. Her eyes were closed, but he remembered their jade stare quite vividly, and her high-pitched girl's voice as she spoke to him in English. Long black hair hung loose just below her shoulders, though the last time he had seen it she'd had it put up in a bun held by the ornate pins of her people. He placed her age at somewhere around ten or eleven.

Her parents were an interesting contrast. Like her daughter, the mother was very slim and pretty, with long black hair and soft lips, the upturned eyes and very small nose that seemed to be a family trait. The father, on the other hand, was tall, swart, showing the stress of the finer life in a penthouse than down on the street. His high forehead spoke of a man that used his mind rather than his fists to win fights.

Jake didn't think of releasing them, as they obviously wouldn't have the skill set needed for working the land and bringing a life out of the dry, dusty soil of the desert. He spared them one more glance, wondering what their reaction would be when everyone was freed.

At last, in one quiet corner, he found a last group that he knew, oh so very well. Nancy clung to Sara, their hands gripped tight as they looked upwards, their faces--Sara's pale and fair, Nancy's darker and worn with care--filled with commingled fear, uncertainty, hope and joy. Beside them, stood a little girl that Jake recognized solely through the description of his sister, standing with her parents in a large sculpture.

Memories of past failures and triumphs threatened to overwhelm him, but Jake knew he must push past it. The hopes of everyone depended on him being level-headed.

There were several days of going through candidates for release, in addition to performing a solid tally of the civilians and soldiers, and the equipment.

When they finished, Volgelson announced that they had nearly four hundred soldiers, and nearly two thousand civilians that had made the journey to the mountains.

Volgelson ran a grim hand through her hair. "I started the mission with almost six thousand men." She said distractedly, as she looked down at the piece of paper in front of her, "Fully equipped marines, a couple of Special Operations Groups, and my personal battalion of Army soldiers. Now..." she trailed off.

"The battle was beyond brutal, general." Jake said quietly. "You weren't able to anticipate what you would be facing, and when the time came your men fought against things they never prepared for and didn't believe. I am sorry for their loss, but they've been gone more than three millennia. We can''t linger on the dead." He advised as gently as he could. "We must concentrate on the living."

Volgelson nodded. "It's hard." She admitted. "It may have been three million years outside the crystals, but to me, it still seems so fresh."

Jake kept silent, what could he say? The general would have to come to grips with her grief on her own, and he hoped it would be soon.

They were in one of the smaller dining halls on the lower levels. Volgelson had turned it into her command center, and around them the quiet murmur of voices continued as her people tried to sort through the numerous piles of papers stacked in front of them. Jake hoped they would go easy on the stacks of sheets they had left, as it would be all they possessed for quite some time.

"So, do we have a list of those that we are going to set free?" Jake asked quietly.

"I think so." Volgelson nodded wearily. "We have to increase our original group to about a hundred and fifty, but we should have sufficient workers to be able to start the tasks we need. The biggest hurdle is the canals. How much time do we have until the water comes down the river?"

Jake thought. "We've already pressed into the second week they've been gone, and they are supposed to reach the mountains by the fourth week, scale them in the fifth week and find water, then start the return journey home."

"So we have little time left in which to get started." Volgelson grunted.

"Right. Rachel's irrigation plan takes on a higher importance than ever. We have to be mindful of our food supplies right now, we can--just----barely feed a hundred people by hunting and foraging, but any more than that and we risk going hungry."" Jake agreed.

"Well, we'd best get started right away." Volgelson nodded.

"Right. Show me the first ten or fifteen people, and someone find Serena. These people are going to be scared and jumpy. We'll need her to calm things down." Jake suggested.




Serena came down to the main storeroom, along with Shyla and Asbiorn and a dozen members of Volgelson's staff that were going to process the refugees. Of to one side they'd set up a small table manned by three soldiers to get names and occupations while nearby a privacy curtain was held by four soldiers to allow people a chance to dress before being seen.

Next to the small station Serena stood in human form, clad in a dress the color of a clear sky, her pale skin shining as a star in the dim light provided by the crystal lamps. Her worried eyes were the only sign of her nervousness as she stood serenely; ready to ease their shock and keep the peace.

Jake walked to the first people, an older man and his wife whose selection came in no small part from a picture album, the cover of which showed them surrounded by a dozen people in front of a large farmhouse. The soldiers surrounded them, raising the curtain up high while Jake first unfroze their small bundle of belongings then the people.

He stepped back and everyone waited politely while their came the sound of yawning, the murmur of quiet whisperings and the rustle of cloth being donned.

In moments the two stepped out, he dressed in the rough garb of a laborer or farmer while she had on a demure dress that clung to her body, the pattern of violets barely visible on the black fabric.  

They stared bemusedly around them until they saw Jake towering above the soldiers in the dark. The wife gripped her husband's arm in a moment of fright but quickly let go and both of them walked up to him.

"Thank you." His voice was firm and his eyes steady as he looked up.

"Yes, thank you very much." His wife echoed her voice soft with a trace of a southern accent.

"It was my pleasure." Jake offered lamely. "But do not offer more until you gain a fuller understanding of the situation. You are desperately needed now. You are farmers, correct?"

"I had a farm." The man corrected sadly. "Lost it in the depression though...had to come to town and try to find whatever job I could to get by. Lots of fellers hit hard in that damn crisis."

Jake wasn't sure exactly what to say to that. He knew a lot of people had suffered because of economic collapse and the terrible standards of the bankers and financial institutions of the time. But he did know that their skills would prove utterly invaluable in the years ahead, and he said as much.

"Sounds like you've got quite a problem." The man spoke slowly, frowning as he looked around again, taking in the bare handful of people looking at them.

"You can say that." Jake said dryly. In as few words as he could, he explained what had happened and the loss of their old world to the demons.

When he finished, the woman was weeping and the man looked grim.

"I guessed something of the sort." He admitted. "You were obviously leading up to it. But what can we do?"

"Show the people how to work off the land." Jake advised, "How to live in harmony with the earth. I know it won't be easy, but we will aid you however we can. There are...further complications that will be explained to you in time, but the important thing is to be able to feed our people and continue to bring them out of hibernation. We have a plan to do that, but little expertise on this matter. You do. That makes you very important, not just because you are one of the few humans left, but because of the skills you represent, the hope that you provide that tomorrow can be better, that we will survive.""

"That's a lot to live up to." The man said quietly.

"It is, but I believe that you can do it." Jake fixed them with his eye, feeling sure of his choice now. The two farmers looked up at him with a mixture of awe and fright.

"Forgive my lack of manners, but I'm afraid I don't know your names." Jake said softly. "I am Jake."

"I'm Bill, and this is Martha." The man gestured to his wife, who smiled hesitantly up at him. "We're the Thorgoods."

"Bill, Martha, you are needed." Jake spoke solemnly. He could feel the great import of the moment and while he had not thought of any words to say beforehand, the words came to his tongue easily. "Our past is gone, it can never be recovered. We must look to our future and work to accomplishing our goal--the survival of our race."

He paused a moment to sweep the chamber with his gaze; everyone straightened to listen.

"Every one of us has skills and talents that are needed here. You, Bill and Martha Thorgood," he said, his eyes coming to rest on the two humans that looked up with something akin to awe. "--know how to grow food off the land, what is needed, and how to work in harmony with the world around you. You've seen first-hand what happens when we forget the lessons of our ancestors and poison our world, let that be your guide to understanding as we shoulder the responsibility to our children and theirs to maintain and enhance the world they shall live in. And so I ask you now, are you ready, will you aid us?"  

With every word they seemed to grow taller somehow. When Jake finished speaking, neither hesitated.

"We will!"

"Then go see the officers at the table, they will direct you on your next steps. Then seek out Rachel the Centaur, she has a map of the land surrounding the mountain and our current understandings. Look them over, offer what advice you feel is needed to ensure our success."

The two hurried off with a firm, eager step. Jake watched them go, and then turned his attention to the next people selected.

For hours he worked, unceasing in his effort and patient as Jove. Everything settled into a pattern; the initial freeing, then a few moments of disorientation and dressing, then explanations and a short urge to help, followed by the slightly dazed person hurrying off to the table full of vigor and determination.

It was very late when they finally stopped, a hundred people having been freed and brought up to speed. Add that total to the fifty soldiers brought out first, and that brought their total human population to near a hundred and sixty-seven people in total, far more than they'd originally wanted but Volgelson argued that the extra hands would be needed for the hunting, farming and labor needed. The soldiers stretched and picked up their things from the table and strode wearily out of the room, heading for the dining halls to get something to eat before going to the palaces below for slumber.

Jake followed them out the door, but did not head to the dining hall; it would be too crowded he figured, and he could not think to eat in front of his hungry guests, knowing the meager meal that they would find. Game in the desert was scarce, and though he could cover vast territories with his wing, he had gotten so large that it took a lot of food simply to feed him, let alone his allies.

His private fear--that they had gone too far too soon with their numbers--had been allayed by Volgelson's assurances that, in addition to their security duties, her men would aid in the hunting necessary to sustain them.

Thinking of food made him hungry again, so he decided he might as well slip out for a late hunt and see about getting a deer. He should be able to snag something to soothe his hunger and then get some sleep. Tomorrow would start their effort at digging an irrigation channel, hopefully before Tom and Stacey managed to find water.




#

The dawn came clear and bright in the frigid air of the desert. Jake departed for a search of the country surround to find anyone who might be in the vicinity. A broad sweep showed nothing for many miles in any direction, so Jake felt safe in giving the all clear.

From the mountain cave there poured their people in a short, but violent flood, to see the world outside for the first time in three millennia. Men and women alike gawked at the barren desert, so different from the rich forest they remembered, or the wreck thereof during the Exodus.

Jake flew down to the riverbank where the bend came closest to the mountain. Rachel and Brian led most of the volunteers en masse towards him.

"This looks good Jake." Rachel commented when she drew near. "This spot will let us bring the water very close to where we need it.""

"Let us hope so." Jake announced. "There will be people following the river source back up when it finally flows along its ancient bed."""

Rachel frowned. "We were going to divert all of it." She reminded him.

"Correct, but I realized the flaw in the plan only last night." He told her. "That no matter how many smaller canals, lakes and ponds we make to hold the water, and no matter how great the reservoir is in the mountain, eventually the flow of water will fill all of them and continue to come down from the mountains, needing an outlet as it makes its way to the sea. The only outlet, therefore, is the riverbank. It won't have a great flow, I think, but it will have some flow."

Rachel froze, looking stricken. "Damn, I should have thought of that." She swore softly, very unusual for her.

"It is a minor worry for now." Jake assured her. "There is such a volume to fill that it will take quite a bit of time to fill up completely. But that can only happen if we work quickly on this main trunk and get it to the mountain and the pipes leading down to the lakes."

"Okay, let's get started." She said.

They divided the labor into work parties, one to lay out guidelines and the others to work on trying to get the actual canal dug using only shovels and pickaxes and Jake's mighty paws.

Jake set to work with a will, his armored and taloned hands making short work of the banks of the river and the earth beyond. Such was their size and power; he found the earth parting from him like water.

Interesting. While obviously not tireless, I can easily keep pace with some of the larger steam shovels of my own era. He thought. I wonder if it has anything to do with my size, for while I haven't measured myself I am still able to guess a bit and I would definitely dwarf the dragon I used to be!

Still, despite the obvious growth, he found himself surprised that he hadn't grown more. He could only conjecture that his hibernative sleep had slowed his growth rates, along with his other bodily functions, to a bare crawl. He wondered briefly if he would resume growing now that he was fully awake, and when he would stop growing, if he ever did.

The channel, according to the plans drawn up by Rachel and Brian, ran about eight miles to the mountain, in a twisting fashion to appear natural in origin. The bed stood about twelve feet deep and almost thirty wide in places, while the narrowest it got was twenty feet. It had rough-hewn edges from his talons, with loose sand spilling from the top into the bed. These were caught by the shovels of the workers and placed into buckets to be hauled up by other laborers on ropes and taken further away. The huge amounts of earth on the side of the embankments would take months to clear and smooth fully, though there were a few people already working to level out the earth nearest the river. No one knew how far the forest would stretch, but Rachel didn't want to take any chances.  

The actual labor was so automatic that he could afford to turn his brain in the pondering of other matters, such as the lack of visitations from Nacomi. He thought her parents might have had something to do with that, not wanting their daughter to be romantically engaged to a dragon and all, but he didn't know how to go about seeing her again. They had talked, and often at night she snuck out of their rooms to come see him, but those visits were becoming far too few.

He tried to think of a way to win her parents over to his side, but he had to be called back to reality far sooner than he expected.

A fight had broken out amongst some of the workers, and Jake paused to see what was happening.

Soldiers were already trying to intervene between the three combatants, the two men grappling fiercely with one another while a third rained blows on their backs trying to break them apart. He was quickly taken down, but the other two barely seemed to notice the efforts against them.

A paw slammed both to the ground, pinning them under its massive strength. They looked up into the red glare of Jake's fiery stare. Sweat beaded both men's lips as they looked fearfully up at him.

"What is going on here?" Jake asked softly, but his words were heard by all. Everything had fallen silent as work stopped and people watched. A flash of white revealed Serena hurrying over in unicorn form.

"He's a fucking Ticker." One of the men snarled.

"And he's a shit-faced 42nd street crack-head." The other man chimed in on his heels.

Jake immediately realized a flaw in his planning. The people they had saved no doubt included some of the less savory elements of society, as evidenced here. This was an annoyance they did not need now, and he had to nip this problem in the bud.

"There are no gangs anymore." He let a growl echo in his throat, showing what he thought of such associations. A shudder ran through some people in the crowd and here and there a man tried to lower his sleeve a bit or oh-so-casually clapped a hand over his arm. Jake ignored them. """We have one goal, and one purpose here. If you cannot let go of the past and work together, then you are a hindrance and not a help. I will tolerate only one choice. Do I make myself clear?" he lifted the front of his mouth to expose his long canines momentarily.

The two men nodded vigorously and Jake released them. Both men sprang to their feet and submitted meekly to the instructions of the soldiers surrounding them.

"Return them to work as soon as they receive their punishment." Jake advised. "We have no time for idlers or prisoners.""

His statement hung on the air, chilling the blood of all who heard his proclamation. As one everyone jumped back to what they were doing before, the earth flying from the shovels as they moved at a frenzied pace.

Serena walked amongst the frightened workers, calming and soothing their nerves and steadying their hands. Here and there she would flash back into human form to speak softly with a whimpering woman or trembling man, and the sobs quieted and shakes disappeared as they listened. In between she flashed a glare at him and he knew he would hear about it later, but he also believed that he had made the right choice; they couldn't afford any distraction or enmity that would tear them apart. The old world had to be let go.  

Jake wasn't quite sure how to feel about their reactions. On the one hand, he did want to impose discipline and order for without it everyone would be susceptible to chaos and despair, leaving the work entirely undone to the ruin of all. On the other hand, terrifying people was utterly alien to him. He didn't want to be viewed as a monster or as someone scary.

Ah, but they would get that way even without such demonstrations. You are fearsome enough in appearance that they would be afraid of you even if you were as gentle as a butterfly. A voice whispered inside his head.

Shut up, he told it firmly, though he suspected it was right. Dragons were looked upon as creatures to fear and respect, not as friendly companions.

A stutter came to his ears and he looked over to see a woman falling to the ground with a surprised shriek as the earth she was standing on fell away. She slid down the entire length of the embankment and landed unmoving at the base.

Serena raced to her, her horn already glowing, arriving before even her nearest neighbors could to help. She touched the tip of her horn to the obvious wounds to heal them, and then moved it up to the top of her forehead. She gave a twitch and a moan, and then looked up to see Serena standing over her. Jake nearly chuckled at the comic look on her face as her eyes bulged and her mouth dropped.

Serena stepped away and the woman got to her feet unaided. She felt her limbs in amazement, bowing very low before scrambling back to the top and her worksite.

#

Late in the afternoon, as Jake made steady, rapid progress along the project, he noticed Nacomi working nearby with a shovel in her hands, moving mounds of loose dirt to workers who lifted the dwarf-buckets slung across their shoulders away from the tops of the banks. Jake's efforts moved so much dirt that it had proven hazardous to have anyone in the channel with him as he dug, slinging tons of earth out of his way as he moved slowly forward. Consequently there were few people actually in the bottom of the channel with him, which had the pleasant side-effect of having Nacomi at a comfortable speaking height.

They worked in silence for a few minutes before Jake murmured quietly, "You've been avoiding me these last couple of weeks."

Her shovel stuttered.

"Not by choice." She said equally quietly. A couple of people moved a discreet distance away, giving them privacy.

"I understand." Jake assured her. "I wondered if your parents would like the look of me or not."

"I don't think it's the dragon aspect." She said quickly. "But more along the usual lines of 'he's a boy, and he's sniffing around my daughter. He isn't good enough for her.'"

Jake chuckled. "That's been happening since fatherhood and motherhood began, I think."

Nacomi nodded. "So yeah, they've been interrogating me and Sam relentlessly about you while we've been working. And on that note, a lot of our work has been keeping us apart as well, so there's another reason."

"Not by my choice." Jake muttered. "But of necessity. I can't think of just myself, as much as I would like to. There's simply too much riding on this. It has to work."

"It will work." Nacomi soothed.

Jake arched an eyebrow. "Now who's the optimist?" he teased. "Watch out, you might get spattered there, you need to move farther forward."

"Thanks. And I've always been an optimist." She pointed out.

"Sometimes." Jake laughed.

"Of course, I was on the soccer and cheerleading teams after all!" she sniffed.

"All right, I guess I'll buy that." Jake nodded.

More dirt flew and landed in the piles along the river bank. Nacomi looked back and had a marked widening of her eyes.

"Are you trying to overdo things again, you dipstick?" she snapped, looking back at him. "You've gone more than a couple of miles already today!"

Jake looked back, startled. Already the figures nearest the river looked small and he realized she was right.

"Huh." He said in surprise, starting to feel the effort catching up to him. "I hadn't noticed while I was working, but I guess I had gone a fair distance." He glanced at the sun and listened to his dragon body a moment. "It's almost five now.""" He remarked. "We'll be quitting here soon, I think."

Almost as soon as he said it, a horn blew a mournful note that hung in the air. Everyone looked in surprise to see Brian on an outcropping close to the mountain blowing another call.

"Where did he get the horn?" Nacomi wondered.

"I'm not sure." Jake shook his head. "But I would wager he found it in the supplies somewhere. I grabbed many things in our wanderings, some from museums and private collections; perhaps that horn is one of those pieces."

"Perhaps." She said. She surprised him by changing the grip of her shovel and taking a light run off the embankment, landing between two of his neck spikes. He craned his head to look at her settling comfortably as she gripped the spike in front of her.

With a shake of his head and a playful snort, he fell into line behind the others making their weary way back to the mountain.

"Do you think we'll make the main channel in time?" she asked as they followed the crowds trudging tiredly towards the cave.

"Possibly." Jake told her. "If everything follows to plan, then we should. It all depends on how soon Tom can find water for the river. Theoretically, he could find a source anytime, but he would stand the best chance in the mountain sources."

Nacomi nodded thoughtfully. "And he'll reach the mountains when?"

Jake shrugged. "Mausi thought around six weeks when they left. Eight weeks total travel time, as they would probably take the river back here in three or four days. But the terrain could be rougher than she expected, there might be a storm that delays them, anything might happen that could make it harder for them."

"Perhaps Serena should check her pool for the answer." Nacomi suggested.

Jake gave the matter some thought, deciding that the idea had merit. He mentioned it to Serena while everyone sat at the dinner table.

"I've already thought of that, brother." She told him softly, her dress shimmering in the dim light of the hall. "So I took a look this morning before work." A frown crossed her face. "They've picked up another Brisson from somewhere, a young fox-girl dressed like Mausi. But they''re getting close to the mountain. I'd say they're probably still four days from reaching their goal. But I can sense fractures in the company...something is threatening to tear them apart, and I worry that their quest may fail if they split apart now."

Jake thought for a while. "Should we go after them?" he asked quietly.

Serena shook her head. "No. They are beyond our aid now, we must trust in Tom and Stacey to keep everyone together and on task, lest they fail."

"Tom will get the job done." Jake mused. "And Stacey is good with people. If anyone stands a chance of success, it would be them.""

He looked over at the worried faces of their families. They had one side of the feasting table to themselves, while other tables had been found and placed in the hall for the others.

"We should probably give word to their families and friends." Jake suggested. "To allay their fears and let them sleep in peace tonight.""

"That is not a bad suggestion, but I think I shall handle that situation." Serena grinned. "You are not over-quiet brother, even when you whisper. They may already have heard our words."

Her face turned grim. "Which reminds me, I wanted to speak with you on the gang members you dealt with earlier."

Jake nodded. "I suspected as much. I did what I thought was necessary, and to enforce the point that the old alliances and street gangs are gone, and old allegiances must mean nothing if we are to survive here and now." He defended.

"Peace, I know that. What I worry about are those that we saved on accident whose crimes are far worse than mere arguments and who belonged to which group." Serena said. "That woman I healed; the one that fell from the top of the cliff? She'd been horribly abused and used by gang members earlier in her life, having been married to one of their enforcers. She's healed in both body and mind now, but that doesn''t preclude the possibility that there are others hidden in the mountain, those that have suffered and have caused suffering in others. What are we going to do with them?"

Jake pondered her words. Unbidden, the image of Nancy and Sara standing in Dragon Ice came to his mind, almost immediately superseded by an image of them cowering in the wreckage of a house, one unconscious the other nearly dead from a knife wound, lorded over by a thin, balding man with hook nose and an ugly leer. He remembered the rage he had felt then, and the horrors he had learned of after they'd rescued them.

"We will cleanse them." Jake whispered grimly. "If they can be redeemed, save them. If not, then we destroy them."

She raised an eyebrow at his vehemence. He glanced around, seeing people starting to look their way, aware that something important was being discussed. Jake glared at them and heads snapped back down to their plates.

A touch on his shoulder and calming magic brought his anger under control. Serena stepped back, satisfied while Jake looked down. Amusement bubbled forth and he chuckled, shaking the hall. Some people risked looking up then, but many kept their heads straight down on their food.

"We should talk to them." Serena suggested. "Explain what our ideas are and see if they are in agreement."

Jake nodded. "It should be more of their decision then ours anyway." He ruminated, his thoughts turning inward. "They are all humans, while we can no longer count ourselves as them. Perhaps that will make things easier down the road, perhaps not, but they are going to need to govern themselves rather than let us rule them, unless by choice."

Serena looked ready to argue, then deflated. "I...I should have known." She whispered, a small tear trickling down her cheek. "I'd still counted myself as human, but you are right, I'm not."

"We started life as human." Jake said gently, reaching down to tousle her hair slightly with his snout. "But we are far more than that now.""

"Well, I guess now is as good a time as any." Serena said.

Standing abruptly, she tapped her spoon against her goblet, making it ring loudly. The hall fell silent as people looked at them.

"Friends," Serena's voice filled the ears of everyone, leaving none unable to hear her. "We have discussed the problems that presented themselves this afternoon. It is our fault not to have anticipated that some of you would have had differing allegiances back in the old world; some of them amiable, others less so."

"Please understand, we do not wish you to forget your past entirely. Our history should be remembered and celebrated, but not at the cost of our future. The gangs and criminal families some of you belonged to were products of those times and places, but have no place in this reality. They are dangerous and will sow distrust and contention amongst us that will lead to our ruin.""

Her eyes swept the crowd, silent and hanging on to her every word. The diadem on her head flashed white fire in the light of the torches, matching the pale blue eyes that shone from her face with obvious command and love.

"We must set aside all of our differences if we are going to survive this world. Please, for the good of our people, the good of your children, the hope of us all, let go of your ties to the past and form a new family, one of all of us working to a great future.""

She fell silent and sat down, every inch a queen. No whisper of sound, rustle of cloth, or murmur of voice broke the stillness; everyone appeared to be considering her words.

The quiet lasted until after dinner, when people went to put their plates in the giant sink. There the three men from earlier stood in front of the sinks, diligently washing plates while watched over by one of Volgelson's soldiers, who sat in one corner cleaning his rifle, handgun at the ready if the three should attempt trouble. Jake didn''t think they would, but who could tell? He checked to make sure the fires for wash water were well lit in the kitchen and left them to the pots and pans.

Making his way to his couch, he lay on the piles of gold like Smaug from the Hobbit. Around him he could see only a couple of people sitting near the fires or wandering aimlessly.

Asbiorn stood up from his chair near the fire and made his way over, sitting companionably nearby. Jake nodded at him, reflecting on how they'd once been enemies and how close he'd come to killing him. He was very glad that it hadn''t ended that way, as he'd come to count Asbiorn as a friend.

"Did you mean what you said earlier?" the big man asked quietly.

"Yes." Jake answered truthfully. "I may not like it myself, but it is necessary."

Asbiorn nodded. He understood at least.

"I will wish you good-night then, and a wish that you won't be placed in such a position."

"Thank you." Jake said fervently.