Sawyer said, painfully, "Did they—?"
"Yes," said Arrin. "We caught them—but none too soon. Our fleet out there will mop up any Ei ships that survived."
He added, with slow weariness, "We've won a battle—not a war. The Ei are many. But this outpost world is safe. And we'll press them back and back—"
Sawyer looked at Price. Price said, "Don't be so damned proud. Go ahead and say it."
Sawyer said to Arrin, "Seems like we were wrong about some things. About you Vurna. We're hoping things'll be different between us, now."
"They can be," Arrin said.
"They will be, if you want it."
The old Chief of the Missouris asked, "Now it's all cleared up, just who was the traitor among us? Was it Oakes?"
For the first time, a little smile touched Arrin's face. "Do you really want to know, now it's over?"
Sawyer grunted. "Guess not." He looked around the other chiefs, and then stuck his gnarled hand out in the oldest gesture of Earth, and Arrin took it.