The refugee camp had cleared an open space, where thousands of people crowded together, talking noisily.
Bryn and Lushen moved through the crowd with their soldiers, keeping order.
Olivier stood on a hastily built platform.
His voice was hoarse from shouting for so long. "As previously arranged!"
"Anyone with a trade, go to the designated area for Crossroads Town!"
"Anyone who used to be a fisherman, join the line for Riverbend Town!"
The crowd seemed to part at an unseen hand, then gathered into new groups.
The refugee families headed for Crossroads Town and Riverbend Town received the tools Suleiman had promised to divide equally among them, taken from House Legg's lands.
They gripped the cold tools tightly in their rough hands. They would pay no head tax or any other taxes. Light shone in every eye, as if they could already see the rooftops of their new homes.
Then there were the 170 refugee families assigned to charcoal production and the 67 families assigned to rabbit farming.
They were just as excited, even though they had received no land and knew nothing about charcoal making or raising rabbits.
But they had heard astonishing news: Lord Suleiman would pay each family a monthly wage. It might not be as much as they could earn by farming their own land, but the best part was that they would pay no taxes. The wages would be entirely theirs.
It was time to part. The soldiers began shouting orders, and farewells broke out throughout the crowd.
Villagers separated from their fellow townsfolk embraced tightly, promising to write to one another once they had settled into their new homes.
One group after another set out in different directions, a fresh influx of people carrying the farm tools and equipment Suleiman had divided among them,