Anger and anguish, shock and despair pervaded the meadow throughout the night. Even the most stoic of Dahrians broke down at some point.

Early in the morning, Connie jerked awake from a disturbing dream of being lost in the passage and feeling it closing in on her. She was shaken and shivering, having fallen asleep on the ground under the cot of one of the wounded, the heavy dew seeping into her clothes. It took a few seconds before she grasped where she was and then it all washed over her, the staggering massacre. Crawling out from under the cot, Connie was relieved to find the woman lying on it breathing evenly.

The dream had distressed her, but it triggered the glimmer of an idea. She needed to find Eneko. Connie scanned the meadow. Located Eneko and Milo at the edge, digging graves. As she got near, he looked up and walked toward her. His tall frame was haggard and hunched over, "This meadow is now a graveyard. You've been with the wounded? How bad are they?"

"Many will recover, I think. But this," she gestured across the meadow, "what will happen next? I'm so frightened." She looked up at him. "I have an idea about something, and you can tell me if it might work."

He listened, first wearily, then after a moment of pondering, sighed, "It's not a sure thing." He looked at her intently. "But. It might work. And we should try it. But after everything you've been through, I'll be the one to go."

"Eneko, don't be ridiculous. I can easily live with this. You can't. I won't agree to anything else."

Zatch had come to find Milo and talk about what they could do next. As he spoke to her, Milo kept glancing at Connie and Eneko's intense discussion.

Zatch raged, "Stop looking at them! No parlay is going to help us now. Listen to me."

"I am," she said as Connie and Eneko walked over. "But let's hear what they have to say."

Eneko said, "Connie's come up with something. Closing the passage. With two signalers...one..."

"That it? Two signalers, standing at the passage?" Zatch broke in dismissively. "Small difference." He gestured angrily at the bodies around them. His voiced cracking as he spoke, "We can't allow them to have died for nothing. We have to fight. How? I don't know yet. But getting two of you inside would be difficult and not accomplish anything. Come, Milo."

"Wait. Hear me, Zatch. Yes, it will be hard." Eneko paused. "And it means one of the signalers will end up stuck on Earthside."

Milo furrowed her brow, "Oh. I see. One on each side. The signalers facing each other. How would the passage react to that cross signaling?"

Zatch nodded slowly, "It would amplify the signalers' powers and both sides of the passage would begin knitting together at the same time. Maybe. But still chancy to execute. Who goes Earthside?"

"Me. Of course," Connie tried to sound convincing, "It's the only thing that makes sense. I have a life on Earthside I can go back to."

Zatch continued, "If you even make it that far." He looked at Eneko, "I take it you're the one who'd be signaling on the Dahrian side. You do both realize this will likely not end well for you."

No one spoke for several minutes as no one could think of anything to refute Zatch's words.

Eneko said, "If we don't try, how many more will die trying to stop this madness with a swarm?"

More silence.

Connie said, "I think our best hope for success is to keep the plan secret from the rest of the swarm. I worry that Rennish might have spies. Eneko will say he wants to parlay, and I will play the snivelling Earthsider who wants to go back home and get away from this."

Zatch pointed at her, "You, my almost friend, are right to think like that. Just us."

"And Peter and Pria," Connie said.

Peter was distraught when he heard of the plan and immediately offered, "I'll go back with you, Connie."

"No way. Absolutely not, Peter. It's far too risky. And you're happy here. You're meant to be here. And, anyway, I can't do this and also deal with having to look after you inside the passage. It wouldn't work."

Eneko said, "She's right. It'll be hard enough for her to do what she needs to do on her own. But there's one thing I need to do before we go to Rennish. Peter, you know where Olan's hidden echo station is. How quickly could you and someone go there and back on a fast scooter?"

Peter shrugged, "If someone else is driving and I'm navigating, maybe a tick there and tick back so leaving now, back by midday. Why?"

"I need you to take me. Before we go ahead with this, there's some information I have to get. From Arden..." He faltered.

Pria spoke gently, "Oh Eneko. Do you have to? Can't it wait? I don't think that's a good idea. You know if you tell him what you're doing, he'll do everything to convince you not to go ahead. And you'll have a horrible argument that won't end well. I can drive the scooter. Let me speak to him. I can do this better than you. You know that. Just tell me what information you need me to get."

They all looked expectantly at Eneko who blew out a protracted sigh. "I know you're right, Pria." He turned to Connie, "Our father is a...complicated man."

"I've gathered that."

Eneko took Pria aside and began speaking rapidly in their dialect explaining that the information Arden would give her was only to come to him. She must never repeat it to anyone else, ever. Arden might initially balk at telling her, but he would understand why it was necessary.

While they were talking, Peter spoke to Connie, "This is so sudden. After everything you've been through to have it end up like this. Surely there're other alternatives. I can't think about being here without you." His voice broke.

"Peter, if you had the power to save Dahria from being colonized by Earthside, you would jump up and do it in a nanosecond. I can live happily on Earthside. It would be horrible for Eneko or any other Dahrian. There's no other option."

Peter took Connie's hand. "My dear friend. I know I'll see you again when we get back from the echo station, but I don't know how long we'll have. I want you to know I love you so much for everything you've done for me. I'll miss you and think of you every day."

"I'll be fine. Ang and Nicole are next door. I have Sonya and her family. There are many good people on Earthside, and I'll do a better job of seeking them out than I have in the past. You've made me braver than I ever thought I could be."

"And with better posture." He kidded her. "Even neater hair. But that's not on me. Must be Dahria. Keep it up."

"What are you talking about?" Connie touched her hair which she'd kept fixing like Harnell had shown her. She didn't realize she'd finally begun following her grandmother's advice to 'stand tall.'

Before Pria and Peter left for the echo station, he gave Connie a folded piece of paper with the name and address of his lawyer on the front. "Take this to him when you get back." The inside of the paper was covered in Chinese characters.

Pria beckoned, and she and Peter disappeared into the forest.

Zatch, Pria, and Milo began spreading the word through the swarm that Eneko, who was known to Rennish, was putting himself forward to try starting a parlay with her and the takeover group in the enclosure to discuss some kind of armistice. They told no one about the plans to try to seal the passage.

It was not difficult to convince the swarm to pause from any further engagement with weapons and see what outcomes might be possible from a parlay. If nothing else, it would give them time to bury the dead, heal the wounded, and prepare for another attack. Though no one was eager for that. A sad resignation enveloped the meadow. There was little talk among the Dahrians as they moved through their grim tasks.

While waiting for Pria and Peter to return, Eneko coached Connie on closing passages. He explained how he thought the process would work with two signalers knitting together the passage on either side.

She said, "I'm guessing this has never been done."

"As far as I know, no."

"Were there ever Earthside signalers?"

"Long, long ago, it's thought. But they disappeared."

"Probably burned as witches. Though we don't do that so much anymore. Okay, let's go over all this again."

"You remember feeling a point in the passage where the waves inside change direction?"

"I do. You're thinking that's where I should turn around and start signaling against you."

"Yes, I think so."

"How about we both yell 'Arden" when we feel that?"

Eneko laughed and nodded his head, "Yeah, that works for me. Are you ready with what you're going to say to Rennish?"

"I'm counting on their conviction that I'm basically a wimp. That I'm in over my head. Any leverage I had as a signaler is gone. Now I'm just a lowly pawn. And I'll play on that. You know pawns?"

"I do," he smiled, "and I know that a well-placed pawn can lead to checkmate."