Everyone around him laughed. Nya laughed, too. In a few more days, the school would be finished. Nya and Dep and Akeer would all go to school, along with the other children. Next year there would be a marketplace where the villagers could sell and buy vegetables and chickens and other goods. There was even talk of a clinic somebody – a medical clinic, so they wouldn't have to walk so far to get help, as they had to when Akeer was ill. It was the well that was bringing the village these good things. But the well was not for their use alone. People would come from miles around to fetch the good clean water. Nya knew from listening to the grownups that the crew leader had made many arrangements concerning the well. No one was ever to be refused water. Some of the villagers would be responsible for maintaining the well. They would be busy with this new work, so the entire village was to help them with their crops and cattle. Other villagers, including Nya's uncle, would resolve any disputes that arose. The well would change their lives in many ways. I will never again have to walk to the pond for water, Nya thought. She wandered around a little, sipping at her cool, fresh drink. Then she caught sight of the crew leader. He was standing by himself, leaning against one of the trucks and watching her uncle work the pump. Dep saw her looking at the man. "That man, the boss of the workers," Dep said, "You know he is Dinka?" Nya looked at Dep in astonishment.

The Dinka and the Nuer did not look very different physically. You had to look at the scar patterns on people's faces to tell the tribes apart – Dinka scar patterns were different from those of the Nuer. But the crew leader had no scars on his face. Nya had heard some of the teenage boys talking about that - wondering why he had no scars when clearly he was a grown man. The reader's assistant was Nuer. So were most of the crew – they all had Nuer scars.

Nya hadn't thought about it much, but she realized now she had always assumed that the leader was Nuer, too. The Dinka and the Nuer were enemies – had been for hundreds of years. "Why would a Dinka bring water to us?" she wondered aloud. "I heard Uncle and Father talking about him," Dep said. "He has drilled many wells for his own people. This year he decided to drill for the Nuer as well." Dep had not really answered Nya's question. He probably doesn't know the answer, she thought. But now Nya felt there was something she had to do.

She walked over to where the man was standing. He didn't notice her at first, so she waited quietly. Then he saw her. "Hello," he said. Shyness flooded through Nya. For a moment, she didn't think she would be able to speak. She looked down at the ground, then at the stream of water still flowing from the pump mouth. And she found her voice. "Thank you," she said, and looked up at him bravely. "Thank you for bringing the water," The man smiled. "What is your name?" he asked. "I am Nya" "I am happy to meet you, Nya," he said, "My name is Salva."