“We are the Expatriates' Order, we don't hide!”

“We are the Expatriates' Order, we don't hide!” is Alastair’s defiant reply to a call for everyone to conceal themselves as Balthasar’s men approach. The line makes the group’s name a claim about how its members will act, then complicates that claim by giving Mabel a different instruction: she may hide, because Alastair recognizes her as a soldier.

The Declaration and Its Context

A voice from the back suggests that the attackers may have come because the group stole something in Tzara, but doubts that a bag could explain their arrival. When a boy screams for everyone to hide, Alastair rejects the command and urges the others to get their guns. His declaration is not detached description: it accompanies an immediate call to resist the approaching force.

Alastair then points to Mabel across the room, narrows his eyes, smiles, and tells her that she can hide, calling her “Soldier.” The exception sets her apart from the others without denying her place in the group’s military identity. The passage establishes what he says, but does not explain why he exempts her.

Words and Actions

The declaration’s absolute wording presents refusal to hide as a shared principle of the Expatriates' Order. The ensuing tactics add a sharp distinction between defiance and literal exposure: the group decides to shoot at the soldiers as they climb the mountain, while archers wait concealed among rocks and on a roof. The phrase therefore asserts that the group will not retreat from the fight, even as its members use concealment to attack.

Mabel does not remain apart. Seeing the others facing Balthasar’s men, she judges that she cannot simply stand by and asks the person responsible for the arsenal whether she can use one of the guns. The scene thus places Alastair’s permission beside her own decision to act: his words mark her as a soldier, but her request makes her participation concrete.