"Ho!" Martu yelled, finally returning after what was about two weeks.

The three of us girls were all in the shelter taking a break from whatever and were reading. Perrinu and I put down our books and headed outside to greet him. Helnion didn't even look up.

Bug immediately came to join us as we exited. Thankfully, I had taught him to not get too close to me and so he kept a decent distance.

"I see you have made some progress since I left," Martu looked from the mostly finished inner wall to Bug.

"Yes, we have Martu," Perrinu said. "But what of you? I hope your time away was safe."

Martu smiled politely at Perrinu. "As safe as Korron can be Lady Perrinu."

"Lady?" Perrinu said and blushed.

"I have sworn to serve you. A lesser title would be unbefitting of you, Lady Salis and Lady Helnion," Martu then added a bow for emphasis.

"I- I am just a common girl. You waste such a title on me." She was blushing and the look on her face showed that she didn’t entirely hate the idea. "I can understand Helnion because of her upbringing but me…"

Martu stood up and smiled at her. "Your humility and kindness are much more noble traits than what most nobles I have met have."

Perrinu blushed again.

Martu turned to Bug. "And who might this be?"

"Oh yes," Perrinu said, still a bit flustered, "this is Ernon. He heard me talk at one of the black pools and came to find us himself."

"Oh…" Martu said and gave Bug a long look. "Has he given you any problems?"

Perrinu glanced at me. "He has not done one thing to me or Helnion."

Martu noticed Perrinu's glance at me and the omission of my name.

"What did you do to him, Lady Salis?" He gave me a wry smile.

"I don't like the idea of him being too close while they sleep," I replied.

"I can understand that," Martu said and looked back to Bug, "It also explains the angry looks he keeps giving you."

Martu walked to a nearby rock and sat down.

"What of your efforts to find others?" Perrinu asked him.

"It went well. While I did not find everyone I had hoped to find, everyone I found agreed to help and should hopefully arrive sometime with others that you can try to help, Lady."

Perrinu still blushed at his use of Lady but did not bring it up again, "That is good news!"

Martu turned back to me, "For now, I want to get to your training Lady Salis."

"Can Helnion join too?" I asked. "I've been working on her since you left."

Martu nodded. "I see no problem." He looked around. "I take it she is inside your house of rocks?"

"Yes," Perrinu replied. "She is looking at her book of plants again and only Salis can tear her away from it."

Martu smiled thoughtfully. "A book of plants? I wonder if she would let me borrow it when she finishes. To even see a picture of a plant would be refreshing."

Perrinu giggled.

Martu looked a bit confused.

"She is quite possessive of it. I tried taking it from her once and she would not come near me until I convinced her I would not try to do it again." Perrinu said.

Martu laughed.

He grew more serious and looked between Perrinu and me. "You girls are the best thing that has happened to this place. No matter what happens I am glad to have met you and I will do my best to see you leave Korron safely."

"I hope I can be a help to you as well," Perrinu gave him a warm smile.

"Now we wait," He then turned to me, "And maybe do a little training on the side."

And finally, things began to move forward. While Perrinu continued to work with Bug, Martu started instructing Helnion and me in hand to hand and, since he didn't have a weapon and wouldn't take one, coached us in sword technique. I was unfortunately on my own with my poleaxe.

From the day Martu returned our uneventful days ended.

Perrinu had continued working with Bug but had soon had new patients come in courtesy of Martu's friends.

I spent most of my time training with Martu and had found out how far I had to go before I could ever beat him, even with having the advantage of a sword. I was even more hopeless with hand to hand and often found myself lying in the black sand.

Helnion trained with us for a while but would often disappear after about an hour or collapse where she stood. She had also continued working on the rock wall and had started on a second after she had finished the first.

Weeks had gone by and we had much more to do throughout our days so the days went by faster.

Helnion had made the most visible progress and had stopped dropping her sword so often and it was now only an occasional occurrence. She had also stopped getting blisters and could keep up with me much longer during our jogs.

Her walls had come along nicely as well. The inner wall, which contained our shelter, had become off-limits to all the new men, except for Martu or his friends which made occasional appearances. Perrinu was even planning on building an amphitheater inside the inner wall where we could hold meetings or even plays.

Perrinu was doing all she could and turned out to be very good with the men and they soon began to tell her everything and cooperate with her. This still did not satisfy her. She could not get any of them to leave Korron. This surprised me. She had convinced two of them to forgive themselves and, while their reasons for coming here were different, they could make up for it in their next lives.

I didn't think they could make up for it in their next lives since they wouldn't remember anything. I then realized that that might be what was keeping them here. They wanted to believe that they could make up for it but deep down they thought it wasn't possible.

Thinking this, I told Perrinu, who then asked them.

They said that wasn't why. They believed that, despite losing all of their memories of this happening that their soul would remember. They then said that while they wanted to leave badly that they couldn't leave while Perrinu was still here. They wanted to stay and make sure she left safely before they did.

Months had gone by now.

I had long since stopped caring about counting the days away and focused on my training or making sure nothing was going on in or around the camp with my frequent patrols. I had even begun venturing far away from our rock encampment to get away from the now large crowd of men that had congregated.

At the moment I sat on the tallest rock on the inner wall that separated what Perrinu's followers, called the Inner Sanctum, from the rest of the camp. It was the place we allowed no men, not even Martu came here anymore unless asked to help with something because of the respect for Perrinu. They also wanted to give a place where we could be away from men.

I was happy either way.

For now, I was watching eviscerated men shamble about. Fights had been common at first and I had somehow come to be a keeper of the peace. It had been an annoying job at first but now there were a lot fewer fights thanks to them not liking walking back here from a black pool after I shot them.

Another thing united the men and get them to work together. It was their devotion to Perrinu.

"Salis," Perrinu said, coming out of the shelter, having just woken up.

I jumped down and jogged to her, "Hmm?”

"I was thinking," she rubbed her eyes, "is there something you can do to make these men want to leave? It makes me happy to know that they want to protect me so much, but it would make me happier to see them move on. No matter what I say, they will not change their minds. They also put this idea into any new men that come."

"You should ask Helnion or Martu," I said, "You know how much they hate me."

"Maybe if you did not shoot them so much they would not hate you."

I had no desire to make these men like me, "I only shoot them when they deserve it."

"I wish you would find a better way."

"Like I said, ask Helnion or Martu."

"I have asked Martu, but it did not seem to make a difference and you know how Helnion is."

It was true. I had seen Martu try talking to them, and while they respected him, none listened to him and Helnion was only a curiosity to any that even took notice of her. I had never seen Helnion try to talk to any of them once; she didn't even get near them often and even then she only did when I did.

"You should also stop eating your food in front of them," Perrinu said, interrupting my thoughts. "I think that is the biggest reason they hate you."

"Right, morning meal should be here," I said and entered the shelter.

"Can you at least eat inside?" Perrinu called after me.

There was no way I would stop my practice of eating in front of the men. Seeing their looks as I ate was one thing I looked forward to every day.

More days passed and Perrinu's frustrations grew.

"I am tired of this," she said to me, joining me on the rock wall.

"You too?" I said.

Perrinu sighed, "I think I am not going to work with any of the more active men anymore. Nothing I tell them makes a difference."

I looked at the men that had gathered below us when Perrinu had appeared, "If they want to stay in this place, let them." She sounded slightly angry.

"So what are you going to do?" I asked her.

"The Lost Causes," she glanced to an area to our right..

I looked from the growing crowd below us and looked to the same place. It was filled with those men that had lost the will to do pretty much anything and simply lay there. Most wouldn't even flinch when moved or even attacked.

These were the Lost Causes. Until now Perrinu had only occasionally worked with them, never to any result, and had usually laid there until they died of starvation and would then have to be carried back from whichever black pool they had reappeared from.

"I do not know if I will still be able to do anything, but I think if we keep them away from the others I might get through to them."

I looked at Perrinu. She was now looking down at the rock and looked extremely frustrated. For a moment I wanted to help her, "I guess you could bring them inside one at a time at least until you can get them to move again."

"That is a good idea, Salis. I will go ask Martu if he will go get one right now." Perrinu nearly gave me a hug but instead began climbing down from the wall.

Perrinu tried everything she could over the next week. Nothing worked. Sometimes she even came to tears when she looked at them and knew that there was almost nothing she could do for them. I got to the point where I wanted to help her, but I didn't know what to do either.

Then the breakthrough came.

"Something strange happened to me last night," Perrinu said to me at morning meal.

"I told you it wasn't a good idea to leave one of them so close to you, even if there is a wall separating you," I replied.

Perrinu looked to her sleeping area and through the small hole where one of the Lost Causes had been placed so she could talk to him until she fell asleep, "I dreamed about him. I saw his life. How he lived and died."

"Didn't you have dreams about your life when we first came here?" I thought back to the first few days we had been here.

Perrinu nodded, "Yes, this dream was like those."

"Maybe you can ask him if your dream was true," I said.

Perrinu's eyes lit up.

"I mean, if you now know his name and what happened to him you might get his attention." I continued.

Perrinu stood up excitedly, "This dream. Do you think it will work with others?"

"You can always find out tonight," I was happy that it wasn't me that had to do it.

Perrinu nodded at me and smiled, "I will go talk to him."

Perrinu left the shelter and sat next to the man. She called out to him by name and began talking about the things she had seen and asked him questions about him, his family, and his life. She then consoled him.

Her efforts paid off much more quickly than I would have ever expected and the man soon began to respond to her. At first he would just look at her, but eventually he began talking back. They talked for hours.

She always talked to them for as long as they wanted.

I admired Perrinu. I wished that I had met her earlier in my life. If I had I thought I might have turned out as a better person and wouldn't have hated the world so much. Sadly, the world would have to be filled with people like her to be a truly good place. It would probably also drive me insane.

I never told her what I thought. Deep down the thought of me becoming like someone that was not me now scared me. I didn't want to change but as I looked back over the last while I could tell that she had rubbed off on me a little.

I decided that I would at least try to make myself more sociable. This was not an environment that I wanted to make friends in, but if I could do it here, I could do it almost anywhere.

I also decided to no longer kill men when I went on my patrols. Instead, I would tell one of Perrinu's followers and they would go greet him.

I figured it would also be a good idea to treat Helnion more like a friend than a follower. Instead of telling her what to do, I would now ask.