Riverworld, Day 71, Evening

			      *  *  *  *

Benjamin paused a moment after his brief, angry words had been
exchanged with Matoaka and Shaw.  When Matoaka walked silently back
into the city, Benjamin looked curiously to Louis, then turned and
resumed his trek into the wilds, disheartened even farther.

			      *  *  *  *

"What's going on?" Robbie asked the Celts around him. "When do we 'cut
to the chase'?" Seeing that the battle had stopped, he walked toward
the forest, looking for Benjamin or Shaw. His grail and his spear
remained ready. As he walked, he could overhear Freud translating
Charles's words to the New Detroiters.

"You have chosen to not fight us," Charles noted. "Now you may choose
to return to your village, or stay here, and help us work the iron
from this land, and build a better future."

Turning away from the beach and back towards the trees and village,
Charles said, "My Friends, These people have put down their weapons
peacefully. I ask that you lower your weapons too, and greet them as
brothers and sisters.  if they so wish to join us, we must let peace
begin.  We must work to build a civilization that is less violent, and
founded on the rights of all of God's creations, to work together for
the betterment of all.

"Many of you do not worship my God, some worship no God. In this
strange land where we find ourselves, I offer tolerance, and ask for
the same.  Many customs are strange to us, but again tolerance."

Turning back to the New Detroiters, Charles continued, "If you choose
to leave, you may do so now, either by land or by water.  You are free
to go, and will not be punished or pursued.  If you choose to stay, we
have some basic rules, First, all must work in some way towards the
building of the town, and the working of the iron.  Second, you must
respect the life and property of the other villagers and strangers who
come to join us.  No stealing, no killing or maiming. Third, in time
of need, you must aid in the common defense of our village and the
mine.

"If you understand and accept these rules, follow me to the
grailstone.  Bring your weapons but carry them low. Do not raise
them. If you cannot accept them, or do not wish to, you are free to
leave at this time." 

Charles waited a brief moment and then turned and walked back toward
the village grailstone, a mixture of concentration, elation, and
trepidation on his face.

Jeanne, surprised and saddened by the turn of events, gathered up her
arrows and joined Charles.  "That was the quickest war I've ever
seen. Hopefully the peace will prove more lasting."

She looked over the remains of the invading army.  "I doubt my chapel
is large enough to give all these men a decent funeral, but perhaps we
might hold a memorial service. I will pray for them, and any who wish
to join me are welcome."

			      *  *  *  *

Robbie arrived at the forest at the same time as Ehrich. Together they
found Shaw and Louis. Inquiring about Matoaka and Benjamin, they
learned that the former had returned to her hut, and the latter had
left the village, heading into the hills. Louis seemed discouraged,
and Shaw morosely dropped his bow and walked back to his hut.

			      *  *  *  *

By the time the grailstone fired, the village was more organized. Few
of the Detroiters had left, and they sat apart from the others as the
ate, looking curiously and apprehensively at the Celts, the Japanese,
and the motley band of lazari who seemed to be the prime force behind
the village. For their part, the Celts did not seem pleased about the
peace, and hard glances passed between them and their almost-enemies.

After dinner, Jeanne held a prayer service for the slain in her
chapel, praying that their killers be cleansed of the sin of murder,
as it happened under the auspices of war. Some of the Detroiters
seemed very pleased with the Catholic ceremony; others wriggled
uncomfortably at the ceremony, but stayed quiet and attentive. Luria
and Freud did not attend.

When they emerged, they found Shaw waiting for them.  "None of this
matters you know," he said.

"People are supposed to stay dead when they die," he continued. "Things
aren't supposed to appear out of thin air, and people aren't supposed to
disappear into it." He swung his arms about him, agitated.

"But they do you know. Just ask Hypatia, or Cleopatra or Helga. This
sort of thing happens all the time nowadays."  Shaw spat out a cube of
dreamgum and popped a fresh piece into his mouth. His speech became
faster.

"People aren't supposed to have dreams that come true, but Shaka did,
and so do I. Why do you think this is?" He paced back and forth, arms
waving, and his voice got louder and more excited.  "All this
civilization, all these rules. They could stop it any time they want,
Poof, you're gone too, just like that. Nothing you can do to stop it!
They are probably watching this right now laughing!"

He turned toward Freud. "And *he's* one of them!" He charged Freud.

			      *  *  *  *

Benjamin ate dinner at one of the inland grailstones, north and east
of his former village. He found the usually enjoyable food
unpalatable.  "Early to Bed," he chuckled to himself, an attempt at
light-heartedness which found no purchase in the rough corners of his
mind. Hiding himself in a stand of bamboo, he slept.

It was a large book, a beautiful book, Benjamin thought. The cover was
leather, and the title was written in gold letters. He thought the
language might be Hebrew or Aramaic, perhaps, but it seemed to shift
in his vision so as to be difficult to see. He opened it eagerly, but
where he should have found text, he found only page after page of
pictures of faces. He recognized them all as people he had met in the
Rivervalley, and began to count them. It took him what seemed like
hours to discover that two faces were missing: his own, and that of
that little man, Luria.

He awoke with a start, but then returned to sleep and dreamt no more.

			      *  *  *  *

Matoaka lay on her litter at length trying to sleep, but she just
could not find rest; thoughts were racing through her mind.  Slowly,
she sat up feeling drowsy.  Putting the wooden bowl back in her bag,
she stumbled over the dream gum cubes she saved at every meal, took it
in her hand for a moment, and set it back in the bag.  She looked
around the hut as if searching for something.  She grabbed her bag,
flung it over her shoulder, did the same with the bow and arrows, and
walked outside the hut. The sounds of some kind of religious service
came to her from Jeanne's chapel.

Matoaka walked up to the river until she found a deserted place.  She
put down her bag and bow and undressed, tossing her new mundane towels
to the ground.  Carefully she slipped into a shallow corner of the
river to wash herself; the coolness of the water was gratifying and
released some of her tension.  Done, she opened her bag, pulled out a
towel she had fashioned to resemble one of her tribal earthly dresses
and donned it.  After preparing her mixture, she painted her head with
steady strokes while looking at herself in the river.

Matoaka walked back toward the village, but did not enter it; she
circled it looking for a small clearing while gathering wood.  After
starting a small fire, she spread a towel on the ground and kneeled on
it.  After placing a cube of dream gum in her mouth, she began
invoking Ketchi Manito incessantly chanting in Algonquian, raising her
arms to the stars and prostrating herself occasionally.

The stars, at first fixed, began to sway every so slightly, to the
left, to the right, up, down. They twinkled and became hazy, and
finally seemed to form themselves into the image of a bowl, her bowl,
but full of the light of hundreds of stars. At once, the bowl
shattered, and the stars flew loose, arranging themselves chaotically,
with no resemblance to the stars of Riverworld or the stars of
Earth. As Matoaka slipped into darkness, she heard a soft voice
murmuring to her in Algonquian. "This place is unbalanced, wrong. Find
what is wrong."

She awoke a few moments later. The fire had extinguished itself.
She heard shouting from the village, and quickly got up.

Matoaka emerged from the south of the village as Shaw, yelling,
knocked Freud to the ground.