Nowaru

"A complicated story," Mira shook her head. "You certainly shouldn't be near me, and if it were up to me, I wouldn't come within a hundred paces of you, but I don't know what you might do if I send you away now." "Smart one." "However, you're lucky. I see potential in you for great things, and I can help you realize it. Instead of settling down in some ditch after a long imprisonment, humiliation, and torture, you'll go with all of us on an exciting journey and do everything I say. I need reliable assistants I can count on. It'll be fun! We're opening a new frontier in the colonial history of civilization. Come to think of it, you could live somewhere, say, under a bridge or in a basement? I apologize if I offended you; I just don't know where desperate people sleep. And then you'll sail away with us, away from the Illian authorities, to help create our own land of freedom. Do you understand what I'm talking about? No? Well, in short, visit the square later; it will be clear there. So, what were we talking about? Oh yes. You know, I could say that I'm offering my home as temporary shelter, but the guards will surely check houses and apartments, and frankly, that makes it even easier for me. So, agree, Erian, or seek your fortune elsewhere." Mirabella stepped back onto the road. "And by the way, don't think I'm unarmed. You wouldn't be able to harm me anyway."