I gently knocked on the hard object on Ben's chest, "I have never seen bullet proof armor before."

The huge man was amused, "We just picked it up yesterday in the raid and I hadn't seen any in person until then either."

Diane snorted in amusement, "Indeed Ben, but now you need to learn to fight while wearing it."

The blue-eyed man grinned at Diane, "I somehow suspect that is an order and not a request."

She chuckled, "Then you would be correct. You should round up the other caravan guards who also picked up such armor and meet me in the arena after supper."

"Will do."

I watched Ben walk off in wonder. I had never seen such a big man. He towered over everyone here and was solid muscle. I should have been cowering in fear and shyness, yet a single glimpse of his blue eyes had me bold enough to even touch that heavy chest armor.

A thought occurred to me and I examined it. My Heartfire altered my behavior if Diane was down from donating blood, so it wouldn't be too far of a stretch to assume that Heartfire also made me trust others with the blue Heartfire eyes. It made sense and explained why I was suddenly so much braver around those with blue eyes.

I looked up at Diane, "We are leaving in two days, right?"

Diane nodded, "Yes."

I wondered what it would be like to return to Wainwright after all of this time. I really looked forward to seeing Trish, Nathan, Rick, Donovan and Ace again. Roland had already decided that they were going to camp outside of the Fort's rather spacious fence and rely on our own fence. It would also help those who were fired to sneak away unnoticed at night for their run.

Their eyes now glowed and most had difficulty dimming their eyes. I had finally managed to dim my eyes a bit, but some of the glow still remained. It was still progress though, and I was doing better than some were. Glowing eyes were bound to make the residents of Wainwright Fort uneasy.

Most of the people with us had been fired and bright blue eyes were visible wherever you looked. Roland had slowed the trucks down and most were running alongside the trucks to wear off excess energy before we made camp. It would have been an odd sight to anyone else, dozens of people running alongside trucks with ease.

I knew that Diane had told a few trusted people in her letters that we had found a way to transmit the Heartfire virus, but I doubted that they would be expecting a large group of traders to appear when most sported the same startling blue eyes she did. The nickname Blue eyed traders seemed to have spread to most towns we visited.

We got closer to the Fort and those running climbed on the trailers as the trucks slowed down. Roland also didn't want someone to try to steal the trucks so he was trying to make it look like we were running entirely off of solar with our slower speed. The fewer people who knew exactly how powerful our steam engines were, the better it was for us.

   Wainwright Fort came into view. I didn't see any differences at all and we had been gone over a year. The trucks were heading over to park beside the treehouses. We would simply attach the two ends of our fence to their gate so people could enter our camp safely.

They must have been watching for our appearance since we had barely started unloading the fence when a group of people started approaching. I recognized the Base Commander and Commanders. A group of Guards with blue badges also accompanied them.

The Base Commander spotted me as I carried some rope to another trader and he stopped dead in his tracks before looking around. It didn't take him long to spot Diane. She grinned and waved before heading towards him. I headed towards Diane, this was one man who had never tried to separate us during our time here, and I counted him among the ones that I could probably trust. Even if my shyness tormented me.

The Base Commander held out his hand to Diane, "Glad to see you again."

Diane shook his hand as she grinned at him, she didn't have any bad memories of this man either, "Good to see you still in charge and this place still standing."

The Base Commander glanced at Roland who had walked beside him and spoke in a joking tone, "So were you planning on returning Diane to us?"

Roland chuckled, "No way we are letting her go. She is far too valuable. I will admit that she is a handful to try and keep up to though."

Roland had been one of the very few leaders other than the Base Commander and a few Group Leaders who truly valued Diane. The Base Commander started laughing while others chuckled. The Guard Group Leader was suppressing his laughter while trying to remain professional, but he would remember the bruises he received in the past sparring sessions.

The Base Commander shook his head in amusement before settling down to business, "We have more than enough food and supplies to share. Please join us for lunch and supper. I will have a couple of people by the fence to guide you wherever you would like to go. We have large shower setups that can accommodate most of your group at once, please feel free to use as much hot water as you like.

"The rules here are pretty standard for most places and I am sure your group won't cause any issues. I am sure that quite a few individuals will come out to trade and various Group Leaders will come out later to arrange for larger trades for things under their jurisdiction such as livestock or machinery. If you want to discuss any trades with me, I am more than happy to spend all day at your disposal."

Roland thanked him and they wandered off to a small circle of chairs that someone had set up for them away from the trailers, it was inside of the fence, but far enough to give them some privacy. It didn't take long for us to get the camp made and have small items set up on tables. Most stuff that Roland was planning on trading for livestock was left inside of the trailers.

We had mostly finished setting stuff up when Roland and the Commanders returned. Roland spoke up, "The Base Commander has generously invited us to lunch. He will leave some of his Guards here to ensure that nothing happens while we are gone."

All of the traders started following the two leaders as they amiably spoke of news from other towns that the other might not have heard. Most of it was old news to the traders since we went so many places so often.

Some were chatting about the kinds of food they might find here. This was the largest settlement in this half of Canada that we knew of, so they were excited to see what kind of food graced this mess hall. We also knew that our numbers wouldn't put any pressure on such a large settlement if they tried to provide us with a meal.

Diane suddenly tensed as she turned to look up. I inhaled in shock as I saw someone leveling a heavy longbow at Diane from a second story window, although he hadn't drawn the bow yet. I hadn't even finished my surprised breath when someone practically blurred as moved in front of Diane.

I blinked in surprise as Ben stood in front of Diane with a small hand shield ready as he glared at the archer. My view was blocked as two other large guards suddenly shielded my small form simply by standing in front of me. More movement around me alerted me to the fact that the rest of the traders had also noticed and were not impressed with an assassination attempt of one of their own.

Those with bows drew them and aimed, although they held their fire for the moment. Several readied belt knives to be thrown. One of the trader women drop to her knees to level her own crossbow at the archer above us. The traders held their aim, waiting for him to make the first move.

The guy seemed suddenly very nervous as forty pairs of bright blue eyes bored into his. Many of them were glowing with the strong feelings of outrage, anger, fear, or protection. I could feel it too, deep down, my Heartfire considered this group as my family and friends, and it stirred in the desire to protect them.

One thought rolled through my mind. Heartfire protected and trusted Heartfire. It also made us more protective of those we called friends or family. I could see it now as my own Heartfire reacted to the potential murder attempt of the person I loved most.

I was glad that Ben was wearing that bullet proof vest under his shirt. From the glimpse of his eyes as he had moved and from the slight trembling in his hands, I knew that his Heartfire was running high enough in his blood to burn his muscles fiercely. The breakneck speed Ben used was only possible with Heartfire. I had never pushed myself so, and I knew he would be hurting badly in short order, if he wasn't already.

The Base Commander took in the unstable situation at a glance. He glared at the black cloaked offender, and likely recognized him. He shouted, "Drop your weapon and return to your room. Now! Do not come out until I send your Group Leader for you. You will not attack our guests."

The guy jumped and suddenly looked conflicted. He was obviously caught and I knew from the letters that the penalty for attempted unprovoked murder was exile. He hesitated, conflicted at being so close to completing his insane mission, but knowing that he likely would not survive the attempt. Especially with a mammoth of a man currently standing in front of her, not to mention that there were so many weapons focused on him.

His eyes darted between Diane and the Base Commander rapidly. My attention was caught by something moving in the shadow behind him. I squeaked in surprise as a baseball bat suddenly connected with the first guy's head. I winced, as much as I didn't like that man, that had to have hurt. The Guards with us jumped, obviously unable to see the man hidden in the shadows. I recognized him though.

The guy with the bow dropped out of sight to the floor, unconscious. Those with bright blue eyes watched as the second figure quickly exited the room. Three of the resident Guards were racing for the door to head upstairs. I knew that they would not catch the second person. He had skills that they lacked. The traders slowly relaxed and put their weapons away as the threat was taken care of.

Ben slowly straightened up with a wince as he twisted his arms lightly in an attempt to ease the pain in his muscles. He had to be in a fair bit of pain to move like that. This would be the first time any of the traders had ever felt the burning of the Heartfire that came with pushing their limits. A glance around showed me that a few others had been so worked up that they had also felt it slightly. The others hadn't actually used the heat like Ben had, so he had it the worst.

Roland turned to the Base Commander with a frown, "I hope that this is an isolated incident."

The Base Commander also looked unhappy, "Things like this are forbidden. Attempted murder is instant exile. He will be waking up outside of our fence with a note to leave the area."

Roland shrugged, still not entirely happy that we had been here less than an hour before trouble started rearing its head, "I hope that our presence does not lead to any others being exiled. As you noticed, we will hold our fire until someone else makes the first move. If he would have fired that bow we would have fired our own weapons."

The Base Commander nodded, "In such a self defense situation, I would not hold it against any of you."

The Base Commander had always been fair and his words showed it. We had started walking again. I could see some other people in windows watching with open mouths. They had simply come to see the traders who had arrived and had seen one of their own try to kill a trader who should have been treated like a guest.

From their expressions, they were starting to recognize Diane or myself. I sidled up to Diane, uneasy once more in the presence of the strangers that I had never really gotten to know during my time here. Diane patted Ben sympathetically on the shoulder. The poor man was having difficulty simply walking from the afterburn, but he was trying his best to hide it.

He looked down at Diane and whispered, "I assume this is the pain you were referring to when we push the limits?"

Diane nodded, "The first time is the worst. You will be fine in the morning, but it is going to be some long hours between now and then." He grunted in response, not happy about being in bad shape when we had barely arrived at our destination.

Others nearby were eavesdropping. A few others weren't moving as gracefully as normal, and I suspected that they also had muscle pain. At least their keen Heartfire hearing would let them know the cause of the pain in case any had not connected the dots yet.

The mess hall was empty of people, but the cooks must have heard the news of our arrival as the buffet tables were heaped with food. My eyes lit up at the sight of a few dishes I hoped the cooks with us might be able to replicate once we got back home.