Snippet #1803203

Melanie and the children settled in for the night. Nathan sat up front with his rifle. The bonfire had illuminated a great deal of the town. He was looking over the buildings, his own thoughts echoing those of some of the other men around the fire. It would be easy to set up here, the buildings were there and while there was some repair needed it would be little work compared to setting up someplace with nothing. They could revamp the town and make it a place for travellers to stop at on their way to the new frontier. Nathan's mind whirled iwth possibilities.

Daiyu could not sleep. She tossed and turned in the back of the wagon. She was afraid of waking Melanie or the children. Quietly she sat up, grabbed her small pile of sewing and slipped out the back of the wagon. The bonfire made it easy to see the town but it cast odd shadows into the surrounding wilderness. Daiyu could see the reverend's wagon a short distance away. In the morning they would set about putting a new wheel on for it and if it was unfixable he had offers to join a fmily or two in their wagons.

Daiyu's eyes scanned the grass, the shadows of the buildings. She couldn't help but feel like there were eyes watching them. Clutching her sewing to her chest she hurriedly moved to the fire. Finding a seat with a few women who were also tackling some mending tasks by the firelight, Daiyu sat a little aways from them. She was safer with the women than in a random spot with the men but she was not truly welcomed or accepted. Daiyu sat on the ground, her legs crossed and began to finish up the last of the mending before she turned her attention back to the doll she was making for Helen.

Around her the people talked and the fire crackled. Daiyu's eyes lifted occassionally to the shadows. No one else seemed bothered by it. Perhaps she was simply imagining it. Daiyu sat, patiently sewing a small dress for the doll, for a long time. Eventually she was the only woman left sitting as the others had finally moved off to bed. She barely noticed as she sat by the firelight.