Krasna straightened. "This Earthman is El-ve-don!" she shouted.
For a moment there was incredulous silence.
"You lie, Sasso-creature!" screamed one of the bloated, dying men.
"Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!" The chant roared deafeningly from the low ceiling and the old leader made no attempt to stop it.
Krasna raised her arms high in a plea for silence. She got silence, sudden and complete, but in an unexpected way. For as she raised her arms the cloak fell open and the tattered and bloodstained clothing beneath hid little. There was a startled gasp from the crowd, then a hum of shocked comment.
But it was not her semi-nudity that caused the sensation. Her condition, the heaviness of her body, were obvious.
She saw that her secret had been disclosed.
"This man is El-ve-don!" Her voice was firm and defiant now, pitched to cut through the noise. "Though he has refused to save our world, which only he can do, Varda must have another chance."
Eldon was held in outraged motionlessness as an angry mutter spread.
"Forest People!" Krasna lifted her voice. "The Earthman is the father of my child—although he himself did not know it until now!"