Kate stood in a small, dark room, staring at a pile of clothing. Sanhith had led her in here, handed her the clothes and then left, closing the door behind him. His intention was clear; she was to change. And it was reasonable enough -- the blue jeans and t-shirt she wore just made her stick out even more here. But she didn't know what would happen to her clothes when she took them off, and she didn't want to give up her sneakers. Everyone seemed to either go barefoot here or wear thin sandals; her feet weren't going to enjoy that. That wasn't the real problem, though. The real problem was that she didn't want to take off her clothes, not even for a moment. Not with a strange man standing outside the room, with a building, a city, a country full of strangers waiting outside.......She picked up the clothes, shook them out. Long, loose trousers in dark blue; a matching tunic. So, she was to be a soldier? There had been a few women among the soldiers, their long hair braided and pinned up. Kate wondered if they had always had women soldiers -- or if they had just started running out of men. How long had this war been going on?