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cabin together.
    On their way to
the garden the two spied Wilhelm and Mislya. The duo hadn’t moved
from the spot where they had met. Eitel didn’t think his father
even saw them.
    “I wonder how
we are going to fit everyone inside tonight,” mused Eitel. “It’ll
be a bit of a squash, won’t it? You and Geraldine can have my room
if you like. I can sleep in the barn.”
    His eyes
brightened at the thought; Unda Dahlstrom preferred to keep her
family behind the stout farmhouse walls when darkness fell.
Sleeping in the barn would be an adventure and the first of many if
Eitel had any say, his mother’s wishes to the contrary.
    Jsei nodded.
Eitel was enthusiastic about the changes. Enthusiasm was, Jsei had
noted, infectious amongst humankind. He had few worries about the
future of the Dahlstrom family when they came to Vadath.
     
     
    * * * * *
     
     
    It was not only
Wilhelm and Mislya’s lives that changed that summer. Other humans
were meeting their vadeln-pair for the first time and some
life-bonds were more unexpected than others.
    Much of
Settlement, the haphazard township built when the colonists had
landed on the planet, had been destroyed during the battle and the
convict prisoners were helping to rebuild it. When the southern
prisoners had been questioned after the battle they had been asked
if they wished to be considered for an exchange with the women and
children captured by the south. Of the three hundred or so
prisoners a third had said yes. This group was held under high
security within Settlement and worked under strict guard whilst the
others had more freedom.
    Richard Moreno
set out for work the same day as usual. Wilhelm met Mislya. He and
the other members of his work-gang were building the sewerage
processing facility.
    An ex-member of
Colonel Duchesne’s regiment, now Lord Duchesne if the rumours were
true, he had liked his Colonel and had, like him, been sickened by
the cruelty and bloodlust shown by some during the battle. He had
watched, bile in his throat as Lieutenant Albert Borsley had set
fire to the older male prisoners. He still dreamt about it, waking
up in a cold sweat.
    When orders
came that the Larg were in retreat and they were to evacuate
Settlement, Richard had made a life-changing decision, better to
face the wrath of the colonists than to remain with such people. He
had hidden himself behind the wall of a smouldering outhouse and
waited impatiently for the opportunity to surrender. He had not
once regretted his choice.
    To his
surprise, he had been treated fairly by his captors, amazing
considering the circumstances. They had investigated his
antecedents and listened to his terrified explanations, two Lind
had been present at his interrogation, teeth bared and then classed
him as a Grade Two prisoner, suitable for re-education and a
possible commutation of sentence. Unlike those designated as Grade
One and therefore dangerous, he and others like him, had been
allocated to one of the lightly guarded work-gangs labouring
outside Settlement proper, helping to construct the infrastructure
that had been delayed due to the war.
    That morning
Richard and another four were finishing setting the roof beams in
place. They had only the lintel beams to go and were having a
well-earned rest when they became aware of a commotion not far from
where they sat.
    Richard looked
up and saw the construction engineer deep in conversation with
three yellow-striped Lind. The woman looked and sounded angry then
she shrugged her shoulders and walked, visitors in tow, towards
them.
    Richard
strained to hear what they were saying. “Which one of them is it?”
she asked, but the Lind did not answer.
    He scrambled to
his feet with the other four, wondering what was up. Ordinarily
they did not see many Lind, whose primary duty it was to patrol the
coasts as a guard against any Larg war parties or scouts, who might
feel inclined to attempt a suicidal revenge attack. The Larg were
not emotionally suited to