Wu Yue clearly saw the shift in the slaves' demeanor. She knew they had long grown numb from the endless, unpaid labor.
Like all slaves, they weren't allowed to have any personal belongings aside from their daily food rations.
For a time before winter, the tribe would allow them to go out and find their own food to get through the winter.
If the tribe's food supply was abundant, they might even be given a share.
This was precisely why many people from smaller tribes were willing to become slaves in a Great Tribe.
In the smaller tribes, the limitations of their territory meant they couldn't even find many wild vegetables.
Most of the time, once the wild vegetables in an area were foraged, they had no choice but to search for other sources of food.
When they heard Wu Yue wanted to give them taro, they knew a single one wouldn't be enough to fill their stomachs. But it would be the first time they were permitted—acknowledged, even—to own something that was truly theirs.
