Queen Vana was troubled. And the new members of the Goth's tribe could see it. She tried to appear strong as usual, but she knew that they could tell something was not right. Bato began to question her about it one day. For a time, she denied that anything was wrong, and just brushed aside his questions. But then one day she admitted it.
"I am worried that our tribe may break up, Bato," she replied. "For long we have managed our provinces successfully, building up loyal villages and good farmland, and our enemies have not troubled us. But I sense that some of our best warriors are not satisfied with this. Some warriors are not content to be landlords or farmers. They were born to fight, to lead others in glorious battles, to conquer new lands. And I think some of our best warriors have reached the stage where they need once again to fight. They are not content to follow a queen who loves peace, for they seek glory on the battlefield. In Norse there is an old saying that after death nothing remains but the fame of a man. And so men seek fame, not as farmers and husbands and fathers, but as leaders of great conquering armies. So I think that soon, unless we put on our armour and and seek victories in foreign lands, we shall lose our warriors who are bored with farming. Before coming here, some of our tribe lived among the Svear tribe, and the same thing happened there. There was a dwindling of our warriors, to the point where it became impractical to keep the tribe together any more. My fear now is that the same may happen to the Goths. There are many other tribes larger and more powerful than us, and leaders of those tribes may attract our warriors. Or they may leave in order to create their own new tribes. I don't know how I can attract new warriors to join us, for I am not the kind of leader who wishes to start wars with other tribes just for the glory of victory. I have seen how wars ruin lives, and bring only grief to the families of those who are killed or injured in battle. I do not want to fabricate excuses for battles, and I am no lover of revenge. So I feel sad, because I think our tribe may dwindle and break up. And that makes me feel I am a poor leader. While I was able to defeat all our warriors in duels, I still had their respect, but now that I can teach them little else of fighting skills, I think they grow restless."