Gil con­sciously stands more than a stone’s throw away as the natives assem­ble their morn­ing prayer cir­cle. As Kiddu rests against his shoul­der, dressed now in a full blue robe, he gazes at the blue and tan fig­ures in the dusty dawn light.

Kiddu
Sav­ages! All of them! Stu­pid, back­wards sav­ages! Hon­estly, Gil, these peo­ple got what they deserved in Libri.
Gil
Hm.

Even from a dis­tance, he sees that a few of the native men are glar­ing at him. So does one of the women—probably one of the half-witnesses to their sup­posed crime. He won­ders if they’re neglect­ing their prayer.

Gil
Remem­ber what you said back in the old prison?
Kiddu
What did I say?
Gil
You said it’s not their fault that they act like sav­ages.
Kiddu
What­ever.

The prayer cir­cle begins to break up. Gil can’t help but flinch as he sees robed fig­ures walk­ing towards him, wor­ried they’ll take pot­shots with hid­den stones. But it’s only Jaruna and Ayan, break­ing away from the rest of the camp to accom­pany them on the day’s march.

Gil
How’s your head?

She grunts, and spits towards the dis­tant prayer cir­cle.

Kiddu
By the way—truce? For real this time.

He takes her hand and shakes it firmly.

Gil
For real. We need to be more care­ful from now on.

Jaruna just fin­ishes tying his tur­ban as he reaches them.

Jaruna
Your secret is out.
Gil
What was I sup­posed to do? They were going to kill us! They wouldn’t even lis­ten to any­thing we said.
Ayan
Chief Dron­aja said he would speak to the men as we march. I shall talk to the women. Gil, Kiddu—please under­stand, this was not meant to hap­pen.
Gil
It’s okay, Ayan.
Kiddu
And you know what would be even more okay? If you guys drag out that Mosheh ass­hole and let me kick him in the—
Gil
Kiddu! Remem­ber: Har­rappa.
Kiddu
I mean—what I meant to say is, I respect the ways of the Aka­jaz Tribe and I will try to avoid being stoned to death in the future.
Jaruna
Azkazraj Tribe.
Kiddu
That’s what I meant to say!

Back • Next