"Stand there," Indra commanded as she moved to the raised stairs in front of the crowd. We must have been one of the last ones here, already it seemed as if the whole village was crowded around us. Indra stood in the front with three others; one other female and two men. Each were dressed in similar style leather armor and carrying vicious looking weapons. Each had their faces painted in black, though I mentally noted that only one of the four had a red tattoo - similar in style to the man I had just been pulled away from treating.

A grumbling to my left made me turn my gaze away from the four warriors watching over us. I watched as Rain and one other man, who I think had been a guard as well back on the Arc, was pushed in the center to join us. Rain caught his footing and took in his surroundings, looking shocked as he noticed Lucas and I there with him. He looked as if he was about to say something to us before Indra's voice from the front cut him off.

"This is your leader, yes?" she asked, looking directly at me. I blanked. I wasn't sure why she was calling on me, or even what to tell her. Did we even have a leader? Noticing my lack of response Rain spoke up.

"I am," he growled. "And I demand you release me and my people!"

I inhaled sharply and looked at Rain with wide eyes. He looked a little worse for wear, more bloody than the last time I remember seeing him, but he stood determined before them. I shook my head slightly, demanding anything from these people wasn't going to work. I wasn't even sure if there was anything that would convince them to help us, but if anything I was sure that this wasn't it. The look on the faces of the four standing on the steps confirmed that.

"We will not," the man next to Indra's right replied coldly.

I saw Rain tense up, clenching his fists. He started to respond but I beat cut him off.

"Then let us stay," I called out. My voice sounded almost weak compared to our captives. Taking in a deep breath I tried again, gathering my strength.

"If you won't let us go, then let us stay," I said sounding more resolved. The tribune, who I assumed now was the four standing before us, said nothing but I had their full attention now.

"What are you doing kid?" I heard Rain whisper harshly in my ear as he moved closer to me.

"Trying to save us…. I think," I whispered back. It was a reasonable request I thought, and if we could stop threatening to kill each other then it might actually work out.

"Why would we let you live amongst us?" the man from the tribune questioned back, the same one who had forbidden us to leave. His voice sounded almost mocking with his thick accent. That, or he was mocking us.

That's a good question I thought to myself as I tried to come up with a suitable answer.

"Because we are the best of the best of our people," said Lucas from next to me. He had been silent and still the whole time, I had actually forgotten he was there. I heard Rain groan, but Lucas just caught my eye before continuing.

"Each of us on our ship are the best at what we do. We are healers, farmers, engineers, teachers, blacksmiths, carpenters, and more. We can help you, we can help each other. Share our skills with your people in return you show us how to survive."

The tribune whispered amongst themselves for a moment, and the murmuring in the crowd around us picked up.

"If you are the best of your people," the woman from the tribune called down, "then why would you need our help?"

Again with the mocking tone. I sighed. It's evident they don't think very much of us. Lucas caught my eye again and looked at me pleadingly. Like I would know how to handle this situation any better.

"We don't." Rain called back.

No, no, no. Fighting them won't work.

"No, we do," I said quickly, not wanting them to dwell on Rain. "The majority of us are not warriors, we can not fight like you do. We have few weapons and little knowledge of this land, but our farmers can help make your harvests bigger, we have the knowledge to make your houses stronger and build better weapons. But we can't do it without your help, and you can't do it without ours."

That almost sounded convincing right? As they returned to talking amongst themselves, I found myself praying that the promise of more food and better weapons would be an enticing enough offer.

"How do we know that we can trust you?" the woman from before asked. I thought over her question before answering.

"Already we have healed three of your people: two warriors and your healer. They were dying but we healed them, where your medicine couldn't, ours could," I replied. The crowd around us got slightly louder, apparently news of their injured wasn't widespread.

"They were wounded because of you though," the man with the red tattoos growled.

Technically true, but it's not like we wanted to land in a camp of hostiles on purpose.

"That's true, but we didn't have to heal them. We could have let them die, but we didn't. We had no promise of safety yet all of your injured are now healed, can that not be the first show of goodwill?"

"Nyko, as a member of this tribune, spoke on her behalf before we left them," Indra voiced. "He has voted in their favor."

"And Jaxon?" asked the red tattooed man.

"He was just awaking when we left, he made no comment either way."

Who was Jaxon? He must be the one with the red tattoos as well, he was the last one to wake up before we left. I mentally made a note to remember his name for later, if there would be a later.

"Are the others like you, or like him?" the woman beside Indra asked, her gaze fixed on Rain.

I didn't even really know the others who I arrived with, but I could take a good guess on who they were more likely to accept in.

"Like myself," I responded. "Like I said, most of us are not fighters. We are builders and thinkers."

Rain stayed eerily quiet throughout the entire exchange.

Thinking over my answer, the woman only nodded, "Fine, than I vote in their favor as well. If Nyko trusts her, than I will as well."

"I do not. We have survived this long without them and nothing has changed, I vote to kill them," one of the men called.

"And I agree," the man with the red tattoos followed. "We can not trust them."

Two to two, I tallied. Not great odds. I guessed Lucas was feeling the same way as he fidgeted next to me.

"We have no reason to take you in. You have only fought and hurt us since you arrived from your home in the sky" Indra said. "But, you have also shown your worth. I vote in your favor, however, the moment you betray us or become a burden we will not hesitate to kill you."

I released the breath I was holding, today the odds were going to be in our favor it seemed.

"No!" Rain yelled. "We do not need you, we will not live like you savages!"

Running to the nearest person with a weapon, Rain ripped their spear from their hands.

"No, stop!" I yelled. But Lucas reacted quicker than I did. As Rain aimed his spear for Indra, who was the closest of the tribune, Lucas tackled him into the mud. The people around us were furious, their yells were deafening as they held their circle formation around us.

We were so close to making it out of here, so close.

Quickly warriors emerged from the crowd and pulled Lucas and Rain apart. Both were held in a kneeling position in the mud and I cringed as I caught the sight of blood running down Lucas' face.

"See! We offer peace and they attack!" one of the men from the tribune yelled out. "Kill them!"

"No! Please," I begged. "We are not all like him. You saw that when we healed your men, and again when Lucas tackled him so he couldn't hurt you."

My eyes caught Indra, but she did not look convinced.

"So we should look the other way?" she asked.

I shook my head.

"No. No of course not," I responded. "But you shouldn't hold us all responsible for what one man did."

"Punish him, not us," Lucas added as he spit blood out to the side.

"You would have us kill only him then?" asked the other woman from the tribune.

Kill? I didn't want them to kill anyone, not even Rain.

"We would have you punish him in whatever way you deem fit," Lucas answered, his tone hard. "Whatever way you would punish one of your own for this."

Rain was struggling against his guard and cursing. He definitely wasn't making this easier for himself. If he had just stayed put…

"Then it is agreed," said Indra as she motioned to one of the fighters standing behind Rain. Before anything else could be said the man holding Rain reached forward with his knife and slashed his throat. I bit back a yelp and I watched as Lucas turned his head away to avoid the blood that was now spurting his way. So much blood.

"Bring those two with us, and feed his body to the beetles," Indra commanded as she and the rest of the tribune turned away. The people in the crowd had quieted and already started heading away. Guess that was it.

I was in shock for the rest of the day. Even as Lucas and I sat with the tribune members in a bunker and decided how things would progress, I sat silently. Lucas handled most of the deliberations and sorted out living arrangements and job assignments. A few times I had received almost questioning stares from the others but I ignored them, all I could think of was Rain's blood.

Eventually everything had been sorted and we had been escorted back to the medical bunker. Lucas gently gripped my elbow as he guided me behind the warriors tasked with returning us. He kept whispering soft words in my ear but I couldn't make out what he was saying, I didn't even try.

Once back in our medical bunker he brought me a canteen of water and wrapped a blanket around my shoulders. I drank greedily, just now realizing how dry my throat was. Once I was finished I handed it back to Lucas who just pulled me to his chest.

"Cole it's going to be okay," he whispered. "You did good out there, you gave our people a chance. It's all going to be okay."

We didn't get Rain a chance. He was just as scared and confused as the rest of us, only he payed for it with his life. With his blood, so much blood. Looking down at Lucas' shirt it was the same blood that stained his light blue button up. I pushed away from him.

"I… I just…," my words stuttered out. Shaking my head I gave up trying to express how I felt in words and settled for telling him that I just wanted to go to bed instead. Not waiting for his response I moved past him towards the bunk I had slept on just hours earlier.

I ignored the stares from everyone in the room as I readjusted the blanket over my shoulders to cover my entire body. Laying my head down on my arm, I caught the eyes of the man - his name is Jaxon I reminded myself - in the cot next to mine. I glared at him before forcing myself to turn to face the other way - I have had enough of these people to last a lifetime.