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foibles and fallacies. She had pre-judged them as much as if she had judged them
all to be ignorant, evil savage demons deserving to be enslaved, as the soldiers
tended to believe.
Certainly the Dweln were being wrongfully persecuted, wrongfully
oppressed, no matter how well their captors treated them and whether or not most
of the Dweln seemed to accept it. But somehow, realizing the humanity of the
Dweln made Gwen aware of something else; the soldiers, the army, was made up
of individuals, humans who made mistakes, bad judgments, wrong choices. The
soldiers and the Dweln were the same, just with different expressions of
imperfection, just as in her mental ramblings about those of greater and lesser
awareness. Both the Dweln and the army were in need of rescue, of freedom. The
Dweln needed their home back, the freedom to pursue their own truth. The
soldiers needed their freedom back, and as with the Dweln, the freedom to seek
their own way, unblinded by greed, a false sense of purpose, or by the illusion of
having only one path to follow.
Gwen had to wonder again what basis she had for any moral superiority,
choosing one truth over another; was it her place to say that Elstän and her
 coming savior were invalid, false? What if individuals were merely different
versions of one another, some versions more aware than others were and all
seeking a certain balance? What if Gwen had a role to play and was stepping
outside of it in her awareness?
Did it matter? She had to do what she saw as right, regardless. She did
not feel she could live with herself otherwise. Besides, if it was all up to destiny
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anyway, then what was to be was to be; she could at least act as if acting by
choice, illusory free will or not.
Most importantly, she had to act, to stop being complacent and agonizing
over what needed to be done. Her feelings for Kris did not matter, nor did her
feelings for the friends that she had made in the army. She had to do what needed
to be done regardless, even if it meant leaving without Kris.
Now if only she could figure out what significance lay in what she had
eaten for dinner&
Gwen grew somewhat weary of waiting for a word from the front of the
line. She watched the brilliant blue sky full of sculpted, traveling clouds for a
time, enjoyed the relaxing look and sound of the wind passing through the tree
tops, the singing of the birds, then she looked down and across the faces of the
Dweln once more&
 Tryst! Gwen said to herself. It was Tryst, the Dweln girl who had led
Gwen and the others to the Valley!
Many of the Dweln had sat down by this point, whether out of continued
protest or merely because it was more comfortable Gwen could not say, but Tryst
remained standing, staring blankly, her eyes and expression unreadable. In the
brief time, however long it had been, that Gwen had been around her, Tryst had
seemed strong, filled with an inner conviction and fire. Now, she
seemed& empty, lifeless. It seemed she had lost weight; her cheeks were sunken
in and her eyes bore dark circles.
Gwen wanted to call out to her, or go and speak to her, but she knew that
such would be a great breach of protocol. Instead, she merely watched sadly,
wondering what had brought about such a change in the Dweln girl. Was it
merely a return to captivity, a loss of faith in the Hope she had sought in Kris?
As Gwen watched, Tryst almost seemed to sense that eyes were on her;
she turned and met Gwen s gaze squarely.
Gwen had thought the fire in Tryst had died, but meeting that gaze she
saw that it was alive and well, though it only smoldered for the moment. Gwen
felt a sense of hatred, betrayal, and blame, all palpably and intentionally
conveyed by Tryst s large, fiery, accusing eyes. Gwen grew uncomfortable under
that gaze and had to look away.
How must it look to Tryst to see Gwen wearing the armor of a soldier,
one of the oppressors of the Dweln? Yes, the time was definitely at hand. Gwen
had to do something, had to fight back.
The soldier ahead of Gwen approached, finally bringing word as to what
had caused the Dweln to stop moving. From what the squad leaders could glean
from the Dweln crew s Headman (the Dweln Headmen were taught the military
language), the clearing was considered a sacred place because several Dweln
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were buried there; the Dweln refused to clear it for the purpose of turning it into a
practice field where humans would not only walk atop the graves but would also
do violence to one another. The squad leaders were currently negotiating with the
Dweln to see if moving the graves would be acceptable, but the soldier
transmitting the message predicted that the Dweln would win this debate because
they knew that the soldiers orders were to keep them satisfied regarding such
matters.
As it happened, the soldier was correct. The squad leaders elected to
leave the sacred clearing alone and choose another location in the area for the
new practice field. The only victory on the part of the army was that the Dweln
would be required to clear an area of trees and the resulting stumps to make a
new clearing in a desirable location.
The work period was spent trooping through the forest north of the
clearing for the purpose of selecting a proper location to be cleared, but the work
could not begin right then as the proper tools for tree cutting were not in hand.
Once a location had been found, the squad leaders, apparently ready to write the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]