"It's--I don't think I fully understand what it is. What just happened. But, uh, I think I'm going to have to come with you, to show your chief."

"I think it... chose you. I didn't know it could think, like that. But it chose you, and that means you're good. Destined for greatness, maybe."

"I had better be. It looks like it's going to take some greatness to stop all the killing."

"If you can do that, it'll be the most important thing anyone's done in a century," Seelah says.

Lann starts leading them toward the village of the Iron Arrow tribe.

While he does so, Wenduag falls to the back of the group and gestures for Lucy to join her.

Sure, okay.

"You shouldn't show the chief the sword," she says quietly. She looks calm and collected, but her fingers are twitching.

“What? Why not?”

"Lann wants the tribes to all come to the surface. But we shouldn't be bringing up the weak, the vulnerable. We'll spend resources protecting them that we can't afford. Maybe once the demon attack is over, we can whip them into shape – but right now, it'd be foolish. Lann and the chief trust their omens too much."

"Can't we just say that the omen doesn't say to do that?"

Snort. "You can try. Once Lann has an idea in his head..."

"What about the chief?"

"He trusts Lann. Do you think I haven't thought about this? It's a miserable trap."

"I see." 

She moves over towards Lann. "Hey, Lann, Wenduag says you want to bring your entire group up, including the vulnerable parts, and that that's a bad idea." 

Lann frowns deeply. "It's dangerous, but... you have to understand, living in the caves is dangerous too. It's been bad hunting for the last hundred gongs, and in the coming lean season we're going to be rationing sharp enough to lose some of the weaker tribe members already. I don't know anyone who'd rather die starving than fighting the demons. This fight is what we were born for. And we have a sign – you fell into our world and found the Light of Heaven like it was waiting for you. I can't let the tribes suffer down here when the time is perfect for us to rise."

"Okay, but...am I missing something, or wouldn't it be safer for the, uh, stronger people, to go up first, and make sure there's a good place for everyone, and then bring up everyone else? I could totally be missing something, I've never personally lived in a cave."

"They'd be leaving the rest of their tribe defenseless... but it's possible we could pick a couple of warriors from each tribe, instead of stripping one completely? They might not work together as well, but it'd be less to ask of them. And it'd delay the exodus, but – it'd start it, not just leave it in the same limbo as ever."

"It's just that I'm a little worried about overinterpreting the omen--it's not like Lariel left behind specific instructions."

"He didn't, but... I have to believe that he'd want us to go by now. We've already been down here too long."

He shakes his head. "Anyway, you convinced me. I won't try for a mass exodus until we've had scouts up to get the lay of the land."

"Wonderful!" She really has no idea why Wenduag thought it would be necessary to lie about anything. 

Well, she could ask Wenduag directl – no, wait, she's vanished.

"--Hey, where'd Wenduag go?"

"Scuttled off into the shadows in a huff when you decided to communicate like an adult instead of doing whatever she wanted," Lann says brightly. "I thought it polite not to mention it."

"She thought I should lie about the sword, to your chief, in front of four different witnesses who knew better. Five counting you."