Chapter 436

The keepers didn’t notice the injury when they moved the girls. Things had been too frantic and confused. The freemen didn’t know enough about humans to recognize it, because she refused to speak to them. Vesa had just been holding her arm and suffering as they traveled.

The rest of the day was an awful mess. Taking Vesa to our healers resulted in her having a full blown panic attack. They fixed her arm, but her reaction sent the other girls into a tizzy. Just as we got them calmed down, Reed and Hassar came and took their slave bands.

The removal of the horrid slave bands was a disaster. The bands had ensured protection in a dangerous and uncertain world. All the women displayed some level of terror when they were removed. They screamed, begged, and cried; several even tried to run from us. I was sorely tempted to ask Hassar for calming cream for the women, but I knew that would not be acceptable. All we could do was offer them support as we tried to reassure them.