bargain with our captors that we would not speak
of what was done to us. It is over and finished and it was not beyond
reason. We are free now, and in your care. Let it rest.We are willing
to
let it be forgotten. We are ready to take whatever punishment you decree. It will be far better for us and our daughters
than what our captors had in mind."
76 "What was it," asked The Hawk, "they intended to do with you?"
77 "They were taking us to Epon. They were going to sell us to houses
of pleasure." The woman began to weep and cover her face. "They were
going to make us," she whispered, "Epon whores!"
78 The Hawk thought for a moment that his people had a sense of
justice, but then he thought better of it. "All your mate owned, "
announced The Hawk, "is gone. Your house was burned, anything he had an
interest in was destroyed. You have nothing left. I will buy the land
your property stood on. In exchange for it I have an estate where my
Lady and I used to live. It is a nice farm, with good neighbors. There
you may live out your days in peace.
79 You need not tell anyone who you are, you are simply friends of
mine, who I have given a property on which to live. The men in the area
are good. You will find decent mates for your daughters and
companionship for yourselves, but I never want to hear that you have
ever spoken of the ideas your mate taught again! Live out your days in
peace. Forget this sickness!'
80 The woman took The Hawk's hands and kissed them. "Both the leader of
our Land," she wept, "and the man we obey! Never again will we call any
person inferior."