Melissa looked over the crowd one more time.  There were still a few stragglers arriving, but for the most part she suspected everyone was gathered in the square below her.  There were less than she remembered from the last time she'd addressed them in this way... but then, she knew very well that the clan had suffered losses in the last few days.<br/><br/>She straightened, and she held her hands up and outward, making sure everyone knew she was about to speak.  The excited chatter from below her balcony died down quickly, and the humans stood looking up at her expectantly.  She took a deep breath... she<span style="font-style: italic">so</span>didn't want to do this.  But she had to... she had no choice.<br/><br/>"My friends," she began.  Her voice quavered; she cleared her throat and tried again.  "My friends.  Once again, the mindkiller swarms have passed.  Once again, they robbed ous of our minds, of our very<span style="font-style: italic">humanity</span>, for several days."  She paused.  She seemed to recall using this exact same speech on another occasion... the last time the swarms had passed, when she'd been one of the few people away from the village at the time.  However... from this point on, the speech would change.  "Except this time, something is different.  Normally we lose ourselves for an entire week.  This time, it only lasted three days.  Normally, after our sanity returns, we have no memories whatsoever.  This time, many of us<span style="font-style: italic">still remember things.</span>"  She paused for a moment before continuing.  "How many of you remember things?  Lift your hands.  How many of you remember anything, anything at all, from before the swarm's passage?"<br/><br/>Hands went up immediately, eagerly.  Those humans that remembered things knew it wasn't normal, and knew what this meant.  The mindkiller swarms were weakening... soon, very soon, humanity would finally begin to claw its way back up and out of the hell it had created for itself.<br/><br/>She looked over the crowd and her hopes soared.  More,<span style="font-style: italic">more</span>than half her people had raised their hands!  Even if some were only raising them at<span style="font-style: italic">imagined</span>memories, that meant at least half her people had resisted the mindkillers this time.  "Yes," she whispered, then repeated, loudly, "YES!  Finally.  You know what this means!  It means we are finally recovering... we will finally be free to grow once more!"<br/><br/>Cheers rose from the crowd.  They were happy, so very happy... but there was fear in them, also... fear that it was just a fluke, that it had just been one weaker swarm.  Fear that this was false hope... she couldn't blame them.  Such could indeed be the case... but she wanted to believe.  Still... it didn't matter if they were finally recovering their memories... it wouldn't matter, at least, if they ended up all dying off eaten by the beasts and plants or of starvation.  They couldn't let their guard down now... and she told them so.<br/><br/>"But, we mustn't let down our guard.  We may have memories, but we still destroyed our supplies.  We still need to eat... we still need the herbs and potions our Shamans produce to heal our wounds, cure our diseases, and help our births."  She looked over the crowd, her eyes picking out their shamans here and there... all of them nodding and smiling.  As though they all remembered their pasts... they<span style="font-style: italic">were</span>smarter than the average, after all.<br/><br/>As her gaze swept the crowd, it met the eyes of several men, but most of them stared back at her looking kind-of happy but rather lost.  Her mood fell somewhat... apparently the mindkillers had still been able to erase the weaker minds of the males...<br/><br/>Then her gaze met the eyes of another male, but these eyes held recognition in them.  Her green eyes widened and her small mouth fell open in a soft "oh" of surprise.  The Cad, as he called himself... Cad.  The Master Breeder... a title they gave to only the most productive males in their tribe... the males that never seemed to run out of seed.  And this one... he was special even by that standard.  Not only did he always seem to have seed, and always seem in complete control of his manhood, but he always -- or almost -- made sure the woman he was servicing had a great deal of pleasure.  Most males just<span style="font-style: italic">took</span>their women, and if the women were<span style="font-style: italic">lucky</span>it wouldn't<span style="font-style: italic">hurt</span>...<br/><br/>Melissa found herself smiling, remembering a few images from what she was pretty sure had been their last time together.  She remembered him saying something about fire... something that had made her laugh.  She frowned, however, suddenly aware that she couldn't remember the details.  He had another name... didn't he?  Damn, she couldn't remember...<br/><br/>She shook her head and tore her eyes away.  There would be time to talk to him later.  For now... "my friends, the day is still young... and we have a lot to do.  Those of you that remember how to hunt, prepare to go hunting; those of you that remember how to forage, go to the Shamans and let them lead you.  Those that don't remember anything... try to repair what was damaged... the crops, the walls, the Frogly enclosure..." she frowned.  "If we have any of our gardeners still alive, head to the plant section... and try to get the plants back under control.  There may be a few people that can still be rescued... we'll need some Retrievers there, but also with the hunts and forages."  She hesitated again.  "Men... men, unless you actually remember something, just sit still and... and wait."<br/><br/>She grimaced.  She doubted the men would want to sit around doing nothing, even though it was the best choice.  They would instinctively want to hunt... and their odds of feeding the beasts would be very high.  Still... her eyes turned to Cad again.  At least one man remembered...