Why should she be? Hadn't everything turned out as she had always known it would? Her sleeping warrior had come down from the mountain and freed her people. There had never been any doubt of it in her mind. Why should she be surprised at what was only natural? Casca was tired. Molvai turned over his own hut to him and Ireina, moving his family out to stay with one of his uncles. Casca didn't waste any time dropping off to sleep. The night had been long, and he was still weak. The fights had taken much from his slim reserves of strength, and he needed time to rebuild them. Ireina accepted the deference shown them both as no more than their due. She was the woman of the warrior, the one who had awakened him from his long sleep. She was his, and he was hers; of that there could be no doubt in anyone's mind. While he slept, the villagers cleaned up the mess once the ashes had cooled enough for them to go in and haul out the charred bodies of the raiders.
