And

speechifying again as soon as he left. His booming voice penetrated back into the chamber from one of the adjoining rooms.

"To human force and human skill the field:
Dark show'rs of javelins fly from foes to foes;
Now here, now there, the tide of combat flows—"

"Does that silly chatter really do any good?" Tiana wondered.
The commodore smiled. "Oh, yes, lass. A great deal, in fact. Not so much the words—never much liked Homer myself, the truth be told—but just the fact that he's spouting them so surely. Terror is the great enemy, in a battle. The first duty of a commander is to slay the monster, which is what your fine young captain is about. And doing splendidly well at it."
Tiana shook her head dubiously. "I'd think—"
She fell silent. Another officer had come into the chamber. This one, with a pace that could be better described as that of the tides.
She met his eyes across the room. Quite pale in color, those eyes had been earlier, when she'd seen them in the sunlight. Now, lit only by the lamps in the chamber, they seemed very dark.
The darkness was the truer color. Asgá siti, that man was. More so than even Major Ridge, she thought.
An American girl might have been repelled by that knowledge. Tiana, Cherokee, was not. In the end, nations lived and died by such men.
So she met his gaze calmly and levelly. It was he who looked away.
Ha! He was attracted to her! That was...
Interesting.
Barney's eyes had now moved to the new arrival, as well.
"Lieutenant Driscol," he said. "What a great pleasure to see you here."
Commodore Barney knew very