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The next morning no one showed up for the training, which, considering the amount of alcohol drunk, didn't surprise him, but it annoyed him. They needed to get ready, not rest. Jacoby was already up, still working on the hover. He indicated the empty training area and shooting range with a nod and gave him a look that said 'what did you expect?'

Alex expected more dedication.

With no one to train, he took out his knives and cleaned them, made sure the vibro-blades' had power, repaired the sheaths that had been damaged in the battle. He also replaced the gun he'd dropped with one from the shooting range.

Noon came and went, and only then they four of the older fighters arrive. Alex could see the town was up and about.

"Where's everyone else?" he asked the ash and copper furred Samalian.

"Cleaning," she replied.

"They can let the others do that," Alex grumbled. "They need to train."

"Why? Won."

"We won a battle, they're going to be back."

She looked at him, ears in the negative.

"Why do you think they aren't going to be back?"

"We won."

"How is that--" he stopped. Neither of them was fluent enough to carry on a strategic discussion.

"Why are you here then?"

She smiled, a full showing of the teeth. "Like fighting. Not cleaning."

Alex studied them. If getting out of cleaning duty was the only reason they were here, what did it say of the others? "You four get to it. I'm going to see if I can convince more to come train." He headed for the town.

The pyre was still smoldering, but the ashes had been pushed together, making space for everyone to clear the space. Alex tried to convince the fighters to come train, but they weren't interested. As far as they were concerned, the fighting was done. The fact that the enemy had fled indicated they wouldn't come back.

Even Sartas, who had experience with the corporations, felt the same. And if she wasn't worried, Alex wouldn't be able to convince anyone else. If he could talk to the elders, he might be able to impress on them they weren't safe, but he'd have to go through Sartas for the translation.

There were only two other Samalians he could have an in-depth conversation with at this point, Rig'Irik, who he wasn't getting close to, and the priestess, Hea'Las. He'd noticed some of the older folks defer to her, so if he could convince her, maybe she could convince them.

He saw Tristan, hard at work on his wall, and forced himself not to go to him, entering the House instead.

There was no one there other than Hea'Las today. She looked in his direction and smiled. "Alex, it is good of you to visit this humble House."

"I need to talk with you. I need you to convince them this isn't over, they can't simply go back to their lives, then need to continue training."

"It is won, Alex. You and Jacoby have kept us safe."

"No, it isn't won, they're going to be back."

"Why? To be killed? Those who fled will tell their leader we are strong, and they will look for easier prey."

Alex sighed. "That isn't how the corporation thinks. They won't just--"

She grasped his arm. "Alex, there is good in resting. You have accomplished what you were here to do. You protected us. Now you must rest."

"No, you're not getting it. Now's the time to get ready for the next attack, because it's going to be a--"

"Alex, be calm." She squeezed his arm.

He wrenched it out and put some distance between them. She was smiling at him. She wasn't taking this any more seriously than Sartas or the others.

"Some of the mercs, the marauders, escaped. They're going to tell their boss the kind of resistance they encountered here."

"And their leaders will know there is nothing to be gained in attacking us anymore."

This was in the same vein as what Sartas had said. Somehow they thought that an accurate description of the enemy led to a stop in the attack.

"You've been attacked before, right? By other Samalians, I mean."

"Yes, it has not happened in a long time, but when a year is bad, we need to get our food somehow."

"So you raid other towns, or they raid you."

An affirmative from her.

"How do you decide which town?"

"The warriors will decide that, not I."

"But you know what they look for, right?"

"They pick the town that they can defeat, and that has enough food for us to survive on."

"And how do they know which town that is?"

"When the year is bad, they send people to judge of that of the towns."

"So you gather intelligence and use that to make the decision. What if the only town with enough food is bigger than you, better defended?"

Her ears told him no before she opened her mouth. "We have nothing to gain by attacking such a town, all that will come of it is death. We will get more by attacking less defended ones."

"Okay, so, you weight the odds and will only initiate a fight when they are in your favor."

"That is correct. That is how you win a battle."

Alex sighed. "That isn't how humans think, well, not corporations anyway. They're going to attack again, and again."

"Why? They know we can defeat them."

"Because they want this place, this town. If they hadn't been serious about it, they wouldn't have kept attacking. They would have moved on to another town after the first few times we stopped the attacks."

"But they know we will defeat them."

Alex shook his head. "They don't know that."

"The survivors will tell them."

"Hea'Las, the only thing those mercs are going to say is that they need more people, that the next attack has to be so much bigger, that nothing will be able to stop them."

"You will stop them, it is why you came."

"You know that's not why. And what if I'm gone by then?" he hoped Tristan would be done before the next attack, because they way they'd been progressing, he didn't think there would be anything left of this town. Of this area.

"If not you, we will be protected in some other way. I have faith."

"Faith isn't going to protect you. There is no power that can stop an orbital strike."

"I do not know what that is."

"Never mind. My point is that if all you have going for you is a belief that this thing is going to protect you, then you're all going to be dead."

She looked at the glowing half sphere on the center of the space. "You do not believe the source can keep us safe?" She didn't look offended, but amused.

"It's a thing, half a sphere with a light source underneath. It isn't some sort of spiritual power."

She canted her head. "Why did you come here?"

"You know why."

"You came here, because you believe a promise made over the Defender is forcing your lover to act in a manner contrary to who is he. You came here because you found a story about how bringing it back to his House would grant him a boon. Would grant him a cure."

"Yes, so?"

She smiled at him. "How do you believe in one, the Defender being capable of helping your lover, and not in the other? The Source protecting us?"

"It isn't the same." He searched for the words to express how he felt. "I don't have a choice. There's nothing else I can do. It isn't like I can get Tristan to sit down in front of a psychologist and talk about his problems, and he's definitely not going to let a machine poke in his head."

"So you believe that--"

"I don't believe in any of this! Don't you get it? I don't believe in it, I just don't have any other choice."

She placed her hands on his shoulder. "Then I believe for you, Alex. I believe that he will be granted his boon. You will get your lover back."

Alex chuckled wryly. "You don't get that either. If he gets better, I'm not getting a lover out of it. That isn't what this is about."

She canted her head. "I have seen how he looks at you."

"You mean the hate? The anger?"

"No. Not that."

"Then what you saw wasn't real. It's whatever is wrong with him right now. His emotions are out of control. That's what needs to be fixed. When he's in control again, then he'll be able to do what he needs." And this would finally be over.

"Alex, you do not have to fear what is coming. The source will look after you as it looks after us."

"I'm not Samalian, unless you missed that."

"The source does not care what you look like. It is the Source of all, not just us."

"So what, you believe it controls everything? That thing is behind the corporation attacking you? Trying to kill you?"

"No. The source doesn't control things in the way you mean. It is the start, it set things in motion, and then they go where they go. We are not slaves to some being who wants something of us. The Source simply is."

"But you think it's going to protect you. How can you think that if it doesn't want anything?"

"I believe it, because I believe that it is good. But I also believe it because it has already protected me and my people."

"How has that--" he frowned, then laughed, "You can't seriously think that thing brought us here. I'm only here so Tristan will get better."

"You came here, because you believed in a story you read, and happened to be in possession of the Defender, which your lover found in a market, on a planet far from here, and gave to you to show how he felt."

"That was an act."

"Possibly, but you have kept the Defender with you, even after you knew he had lied to you, you kept the reminder of what had been done, until you needed it."

"For one thing, I didn't keep it with me all that time. It was in our home for most of that, on a shelve."

"Waiting for you to need him."

"You're twisting things. Making them fit your belief system."

She smiled. "And you are twisting them, so they will not. There is nothing wrong with having faith."

"Look, with all due respect, I didn't come here for a theological discussion. I came here to convince you to talk to the town. You have to convince them to take up the training again. You need to explain to them the corporations don't think like you do. They see a strong resistance as more reasons to crush it."

She looked at his face, searched it. "I will do so, because you believe what will happen. I do not know that they will listen to me, but I will explain as best as I can. But you must think on what I said. You should have faith."

Alex nodded. He didn't have to think about anything. He did have faith. He had faith in Tristan. He had faith that eventually he'd be better. Now he just had to have faith that it would be soon enough that they could leave this place before all that was left of it was a crater.