[Veltzeh]: 39.The Heritage of Humankind.Tales from Kyerrion.33

Krezagon, Riyhneon, Leitsel, Sorifel and the femehan gecod they had saved reached the place where they had left their gear. Taikehel was there waiting for them, shivering in the rain. Krezagon and Riyhneon were teary-eyed and Taikehel knew well enough what had happened. The soldiers did not speak at all. Krezagon took apart Pouttel's backpack and gave some of the things to the other soldiers. Freppet's backpack ey gave to the gecod, but decided to take the tent off and carried it emself because the gecod did not exactly look very strong and ey apparently had an only somewhat healed broken leg. Taikehel did not pay any kind of attention to the gecod. The soldiers tied up their wounds superficially and left.

They walked across a large rocky plain in the pouring rain. Fortunately the temperature was warmer than usual and there was a chance they might not even get ill, small though it was. Eventually the rocky plain ended and they entered a thick mixed forest. No one said a word and they only stopped walking when it was too dark to see. They huddled under a large tree until Taikehel remembered that Krezagon had a little lamp. Ey suggested that Krezagon should use it and find a cave for them to sleep and dry in. Krezagon did so, but ordered everyone to follow em and pick up whatever dead wood they could find on the ground.

After hours of searching, they found a cave that was properly sheltered and large enough for all of them. Fortunately nothing lived in it. Krezagon decided that they did not have enough wood and left to look for more. An hour went by. When Krezagon had come back, ey started making a fire using the lamp and the kindling ey had. The soldiers' things were strategically packed so that the waterproof blanket each of them had protected the equipment that would be needed dry most. The rain had soaked everything else and even small parts of the protected things. Eventually the fire lighted up and they all started drying off themselves. Riyhneon, Krezagon, Sorifel and the gecod stripped all of their clothing and Krezagon hung them and everything else that was wet on ropes which ey attached around the cave wherever ey could.

At one point, while both Taikehel and Krezagon were up and walking, Taikehel embraced Krezagon and cuddled with em for a while. Then ey asked, slowly even for mind-speech: "Krezagon... that dark figure that looks like a gecod... is ey... real? Can you all honestly see em?"

Krezagon had no idea what Taikehel was asking, so absurd was the question to em.

After Taikehel figured that Krezagon was not about to reply, ey continued: "I can't sense anything from em. Until we started gathering wood, I was sure ey was a hallucination, something my mind had cooked up because of fear. Or because of the... jinhaliares... But now I'm not sure."

"Ey... doesn't speak... but I touched em." Krezagon thought of when ey had grabbed the gecod by the wrist.

Taikehel was quiet for a while. "Eir spirit is... is... non-existent! Ey is dead! How can ey be real?"

"All of my senses are telling me ey is."

"The one sense I trust most says ey is not."

Krezagon shivered against Taikehel and let go. There was nothing ey could do if Taikehel could not sense the gecod's spirit.

Some time after that Taikehel suggested that they go to sleep, and the soldiers set up the tents. After a few inconvenient moments, they had paired off into them. Sorifel and Leitsel had both went into the three-person tent, Riyhneon had followed Taikehel very closely and Krezagon had stared at the gecod, wondering who ey would be sleeping with. Once only ey and the gecod were left, ey gave up staring after a while and said quietly: "Will you sleep with me?"

The gecod kept looking at Krezagon and said nothing.

Krezagon turned at the tent, opened its door and indicated that the gecod should go in first. It took a few seconds, but the gecod did go in and did also wipe eir feet after Krezagon asked em to do so. Krezagon then did the same, lay down and did not fall asleep easily.





Krezagon woke up due to nightmares twice. The first time, sun was about to rise, and the second time it had risen already. Ey still fell asleep the third time, and after the third nightmare, ey could not sleep again. Ey looked at the gecod, who was awake. Ey said nothing and instead rolled slowly around for a while before getting up. The gecod followed em.

They were the first ones up. It was not yet noon and the sun was shining, though it looked like it would rain again later. Krezagon dug out some rations and shared them with the gecod. Ey asked the gecod's name, but got no answer. Soon after the others got up as well. Taikehel and Riyhneon were a little slow; they seemed to have gotten ill.

After Krezagon, Leitsel, Sorifel and the gecod had left on a search for more firewood before it would rain again and Taikehel and Riyhneon huddled together, they started talking.

"Riyhneon, you know... you seem ...upset. I mean, obviously, but you're not upset just because... because of the obvious. You're upset because of Krezagon... and you didn't want to sleep with em last night. Do you want to tell me...?"

Riyhneon looked down for a moment before replying. "I... Krezagon killed Freppet. Ey shouldn't have, and ey didn't need to! Freppet lost eir arms, but... people have survived and lived with worse injuries. Freppet was obviously crazed, but if I just could've... taken care of em, ey could've..."

"...Ey just killed em?"

"Yeah! ...Well, I mean... Freppet was saying over and over that ey wanted to die and Krezagon asked it too but... Freppet was so crazed, ey had no idea what ey was saying." Riyhneon shivered from sickness, anger and grief. "It was wrong... wasn't it?" Ey wanted Taikehel's approval, not confirmation for eir doubts.

"I can't say, I wasn't there. I wasn't taught what is wrong or right in a case like that."

"Hmh... but, what do you think? Did Freppet and Pouttel make it to the spirit plane?"

"I don't have an opinion, sorry. I'll rather be objective. I don't know what happened to them... the spiritual transition is a difficult process to follow even if I had been right next to them with no enemies breathing down my neck. But it's okay, you can just find it out yourself one day."

Riyhneon shook and tried to not cry. Crying had taken too much of eir energy already. Taikehel tried to comfort the gewacod.

The others managed to gather a fairly good load of firewood, wet though it was. It started raining not too long after they had returned. The ill femehans were fairly passive and Krezagon was too deep in eir mind to be very active, but Leitsel wanted to talk and mostly just forget what had happened. Sorifel was grim, somber and seemed mentally hostile. The gecod did not speak or do anything. Leitsel tried to talk to em, asking a whole lot of questions, relevant and inane. Eventually ey got very fed up with not getting any answers. Sorifel had listened as well and agreed that the gecod was weird for not answering.

"Are you mute or what?" asked Leitsel. "Nod or something!" A silent moment went by and the gecod just stared at em. "Gods! Do you not speak Femen? That's not possible! You're gasted ugly! Were you born that way or are you just playing a prosht?" This far Leitsel had not touched the gecod, but now the urge grew and ey shoved em lightly. "Say SOMETHING!"

Now something flipped in Sorifel's mind and ey got up, grabbed the gecod by the shirt and picked em up. "Aioii, gecod! Answer us, you prosht! Are you one of those gzoozzing rebels?!"

Krezagon came from behind the gecod and grabbed Sorifel's hands. "Let go of em, Sorifel!" It took a couple of seconds for Sorifel to obey. "What is the matter with you?!"

"What is the matter with EM?! How can you just let em share our stuff when you have no idea who ey even is!"

"Ey's a soldier like us, and those gzoozzing jinhaliares were holding em prisoner with no reason! Should we just abandon em or what?"

"Why doesn't ey speak?! Or even nod, or anything!"

"I don't know!"

"A normal person would have responded something!"

Krezagon was quiet for a while until ey came up with something to say back. "Did you ever notice how quiet Riyhneon was after that homehan attack? Who knows what those jinhaliares have done to em! And I remember when we got Tegafel back from the homehans, it was after so much work that I got em to talk normally again!" Riyhneon whimpered and Krezagon knew ey should not have mentioned the homehan attack.

Sorifel promptly took advantage of it. "You suck! Trying to defend that nutwit by making Riyhneon cry? What is it with you now?!"

"I didn't mean i—"

"SURE! If ey..." Sorifel pointed at the gecod. "If EY stays, I'm not goi—"

"You'll what?! Now shut up, Sorifel! If it bothers you that ey doesn't reply, don't talk to em! Leave em alone! And you too!" Krezagon shouted at Leitsel. "You're not being rational! If you're upset about what happened, talk about it with me or Taikehel and don't try to keep the fight going! You proshts! I should punish you!"

Both Leitsel and Sorifel almost laughed at such a threat from an ancod's mouth, but they remembered quickly enough how good a fighter Krezagon was. After that, it was also hard to forget that this particular ancod was their superior officer.

Krezagon fumed for a moment, but as both Leitsel and Sorifel were silenced, ey also cooled down. "You two better stop bothering em. I don't know why ey doesn't reply and forcing em like that will not help it one little bit. Leave em alone." Having said that, Krezagon took the gecod a bit further from the others and stayed with em.

Leitsel and Sorifel sat close to Taikehel and Riyhneon.

"Ey's really suspicious, right? Any sane person would've replied!" went Leitsel.

After a moment, Riyhneon mumbled: "I guess. I wasn't that quiet... but ey could've been through a lot... but ey could've replied something..."

A moment passed while Leitsel waited for Taikehel to reply, but Taikehel said nothing. "Taikehel?"

"I watched em while you tried to talk to em. Usually I sense a person's mind and some emotions... I watched em, and I got nothing, even when you shouted and were so angry that I almost got enough energy to shrug off this illness! Eir spirit doesn't exist! Ey is dead! I'm still not sure if ey isn't just a hallucination!" That certainly silenced the others and they thought about it for a long while.

Krezagon, then again, spoke to the gecod: "I'm... sorry about that. I'm sure you can understand that they're upset but... they shouldn't have done that. I apologize. You don't have to reply or speak if you don't want to." Having said that, Krezagon sat right next to em and leaned very slightly on em. The gecod stared at em and then at the wall of the cave, but eventually closed eir eyes and returned the lean.





The night came and the femehans went to sleep again. Krezagon slept with the gecod again. Eir sleeping rhythm had been disturbed by last night's running and the nightmares, and after a choppy night of sleep, ey realized that ey had not seen the gecod asleep once. Ey figured that the gecod probably had nightmares much worse than eirs, but since the gecod could still get up and do things during the day, it was not unbearably horrible. Krezagon was worried about em, though.

Taikehel and Riyhneon were completely out of it because of their illnesses and did not do anything except drink and eat a few scarce pieces of food. The raining continued and the weather turned colder. It looked like it might start raining sleet if it got any colder.

Krezagon slept a little better the next night. Ey was exhausted and did not have nightmares. Again, ey did not see the gecod asleep. Ey asked whether the gecod could sleep, but got no reply. The others did not warm up toward em. Taikehel and Riyhneon got a little better, but were not yet healthy. The weather turned better—the raining stopped, but the cold lingered.

The next night, Krezagon tried to stay awake to see how much the gecod slept, but fell asleep. Ey did wake up twice, only to see that the gecod was not sleeping. Ey asked again shortly about it, but gave up quickly.

Taikehel and Riyhneon had gotten better, and now Krezagon started worrying about the jinhaliares following them. Ey planned to leave tomorrow, if both Taikehel and Riyhneon felt better. The gecod's leg also worried em. Ey examined it after not getting a reply to eir question about whether ey could examine it or not. After deducing that ey just did not know enough about how the bones were set, ey called Leitsel to look at it.

Leitsel was not very cooperative. "I'd rather not."

"...Leitsel, just do your duty before I get any more smart-assed." Krezagon stared at the nigecod, who seemed frustrated and vaguely furious. "Do, soldier!" Leitsel rolled eir head around quickly but sat down and started poking around the gecod's leg. Ey did not look at the gecod's face once, while the gecod stared at em rather intensely.

After a rather long while, Leitsel said: "I don't know. What I can tell, this leg has been broken and wasn't set properly. There's no way to fix it anymore."

"No way?"

"Well... I guess some surgeon could cut the leg open, saw the bone as well as ey can and set it better. But that's... just no." Ey looked at the gecod for the first time now and was very disturbed that the gecod's expression was just like it had been before. "Agh! Ey is dead, you know that? Ey doesn't react to anything! It creeps me out to see em move and feel that ey's warm!"

Krezagon stared angrily at Leitsel, but decided to not say anything. Ey thought that doing nothing would disturb Leitsel most. The gecod did not seem to care about Leitsel's words. In fact, ey had probably not really even noticed Leitsel speaking.

Again, during the night, Krezagon tried to stay awake to watch the gecod and failed.





In the morning, they packed their gear and left northeast toward the mountains. The area was quite hilly, but they did not get out of the forest yet. Very few edible things grew in the forest and their main source of food was animals that did not know to fear them.

They did not travel very far in order to not exert Riyhneon and Taikehel too much; Krezagon did not want them to get worse by exhausting their bodies. At night, Krezagon tried once again to observe the gecod, and this time ey managed to see em falling asleep.

Nearly an hour went by while nothing happened. Then Krezagon noticed that the gecod's expression had become very strained at some point, and eir breathing rhythm had increased. Soon after that, ey started moving about very little and tensing eir muscles. Krezagon was unsure of what ey should do. Then the gecod suddenly and restrainedly thrashed a bit and gasped, opening eir horror-struck eyes. Krezagon was fairly badly startled, but soon touched the gecod's shoulder and held it for a moment. The gecod looked at em and eir horror abated somewhat.

"Is... is it like this every night? You only sleep for an hour and then...?" Krezagon turned eir eyes down and wondered what ey expected, since the gecod did not speak. Ey moved eir fingers on the shoulder a bit. After some considerable time, ey withdrew eir hand and went: "I wish you could sleep. I do not wish ill on you." Ey settled down next to the gecod like before and kept looking at em. The gecod also kept eir very weary eyes on Krezagon.

Much to the ancod's surprise, the gecod said: "Yes. I haven't slept more than an hour per night for ...months." Eir voice was quite typical, though fairly monotonic.

After ey got over the shock of the gecod actually having spoken, Krezagon replied: "I would like to help you sleep in any way I can." The gecod looked at em for a moment after that, but then turned eir eyes away.

A short moment passed before ey said: "I won't sleep today anymore."

Once Krezagon figured that ey did not have anything to answer, ey just lightly touched the gecod's shoulder for a while and fell asleep.





The next day went similarly; they traveled a relatively short distance and settled to sleep before the night. Krezagon thought the whole day about how ey could possibly help the gecod to sleep. Ey did not even think it weird that the gecod did not speak to the others though ey had just proven that ey could in fact speak. Krezagon asked if Taikehel could help with it, but the far-walker's response was a vehement no. Taikehel seemed to be rather horrified of the gecod. Krezagon thought ey understood Taikehel's difficulties, but could not really grasp the issue—to em, the gecod was just as alive as any of the others.

When the night came, Krezagon stayed up again and saw the gecod falling asleep. Again, approximately an hour passed before Krezagon noticed that nightmares had invaded the gecod's mind again. Ey did not have much of a plan to help, but ey figured ey would need to start with something. Maybe eventually Taikehel could get used to the gecod and then be persuaded to help. For now, Krezagon did what ey could.

Ey moved closer to the gecod, putting eir arm over the slightly shaking body and then held eir hand. Ey bent over the gecod, looked at em for a short moment and whispered: "I promise I'll try to keep you safe. There is no one else here now. Your nightmares aren't real, and even far-walkers can't get to you... If you aren't afraid of far-walkers, what else is there? No one here will harm you." Krezagon mumbled something more about promising to protect and care for the gecod before getting into a more comfortable position. Ey thought that the gecod had calmed down a bit. A few mumbles after that, ey fell asleep as well.

Krezagon woke up in the morning and discovered that the gecod's arm was on eir chest and the gecod was still asleep. The ancod smiled widely and kept on lying there. Ey fell asleep again. The gecod was awake when ey next woke up. They looked at each other for a moment.

"Did you sleep better?" asked Krezagon.

"Yes." Krezagon smiled. "I remember that you talked to me."

"I did." Krezagon kept on smiling for a while, but started stretching then. "Will you speak to the others as well?"

"No."

"Why?" The gecod did not reply anymore.

They got up and found the others sitting around, waiting. Krezagon wondered why they had not woken em up, since ey had apparently slept quite late.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" asked Krezagon from Taikehel.

"No one of us wanted to come that close to your tent," replied Taikehel and smiled. Krezagon did not think any deeper from that and ordered the others to pack and continue on their undefined way.





Once they had again settled for the night and were drifting into sleep in their tents, the gecod spoke to Krezagon again: "You said that even far-walkers can't get to me. It's hard to know, but maybe you're right."

Krezagon did not understand what the gecod meant, so ey just smiled slightly. "Well, I'm just glad you could sleep."

A moment passed before the gecod spoke again. "My name is Tarkavinel Airahankio." Tarkavinel had expected Krezagon to recognize the name, but the ancod did not.

"I'm glad you told me." Krezagon smiled and took Tarkavinel's hand. "I'll try to make sure that you sleep well tonight too." Krezagon stayed up an hour after Tarkavinel had fallen asleep and did not see any signs of em having nightmares. Ey then slept soundly as well.

They walked silently during the day. They got out of the forest and noticed that they were heading to the mountains. Krezagon corrected their route more toward northeast and hoped that jinhaliares would not like to follow them into cold mountains.

In the evening, in Krezagon's tent, Tarkavinel said: "Do you know of any way in which you can prove me that you're real?"

Krezagon stared emptily at the back of the tent for a while, thinking. Then ey fell asleep. Tarkavinel did not actually wait for an answer either.

In the morning, Krezagon petted the not-burned half of Tarkavinel's hair until the gecod woke up, and said: "I guess I could surprise you, but I don't know how." Tarkavinel was admittedly a little surprised, but did not show it.

Just before they got out of the tent, Tarkavinel said: "If there's a way to fix my leg, I'd like to try that."

Krezagon stared at em for a moment. "...Really? But, Leitsel said that it would need to be... be cut open and s-saw—" Ey did not finish saying that.

"I don't mind."

Krezagon shivered and did not reply.





The next morning, Krezagon asked if ey could tell Tarkavinel's name to the others, and the gecod allowed it. They went outside and found everyone except for Taikehel having breakfast.

"Good morning. Ey told me eir name a while ago, and I'll tell it to you too. Ey's Tarkavinel."

The others were a little surprised, but then Leitsel went: "Ey speaks?"

"Yeah. Very little. I ask that you still don't push em to do it, okay?"

"...Yeah, fine."

Taikehel was the most surprised to hear that the gecod had spoken, and did not really even believe it. Ey seemed so upset about it that Krezagon was quite sure that the far-walker had not even confirmed it from eir mind.

They traveled further into the mountain areas that day. The southern parts of the Watery Mountains were not very difficult to travel, especially compared to the Forest Mountains they had walked around in summer. The altitude did not very so steeply and the vegetation was thinner. They barely found any game while traveling—this wasteland could most likely not support a group any larger. Krezagon was glad of that, because it meant that they would not run into other people in here. Ey explained it to the others, and while the other soldiers were fairly indifferent about it, Taikehel was depressed and kept asking if they could please head for inhabited areas. Of course, they were doing just that, but all settlements were far away.

In the evening, Tarkavinel told Krezagon: "I'm glad we are alone here."

Krezagon smiled a little. "Alone, we have to deal with only ourselves. Taikehel has trouble handling it because ey has never had to be competent, and the others are too young to truly appreciate it, but they're starting to learn." Tarkavinel glared into Krezagon's eyes, and the ancod thought that eir line of sight finally cleared and sharpened.





Tomorrow, they continued their way once again. At some point, Tarkavinel stopped for a moment and turned eir good ear toward the thin forest. Ey then said, audibly: "I hear a river."

The others stopped immediately and stared at the gecod.

"What?" said Taikehel.

Krezagon walked toward Tarkavinel. "Where?" Tarkavinel pointed into the forest. Krezagon turned toward the others and smiled. "Would you like to take a bath?" Taikehel was too depressed to smile or reply, but Krezagon sensed through their mental link that the far-walker desperately wanted everyone to clean up. The smell of blood was probably driving em insane. The other soldiers seemed to welcome the idea as well. "Let's go then!"

The river was rapid at the place where they found it, so they traveled a bit upstream until they found a good spot for swimming. The water was still relatively warm after the summer. They washed all their clothes, tents and blankets and while the others hung them to dry, Krezagon and Taikehel left for a while to have sex with each other.

"I've been thinking I'm becoming crazy!" said Taikehel after they were done. "The others just burden me with their worries of the dead ones and are so depressed... I haven't found a single feeling of joy around our minds for a long time. You're just holed up with that thing that looks like a gecod. Has ey still not said anything?"

Krezagon nearly snickered, but figured that ey should at least try to be subtle with the far-walker. "Ey spoke to me days ago and I told you yesterday that ey had told me eir name. Today, it was ey who heard the river. Ey said it aloud. Didn't you hear that?" Taikehel was quiet. "Do you remember what eir name was?"

"No..."

"It was Tarkavinel." Taikehel raised one eyebrow. Ey recognized the name but did not make the necessary connection. Ey did not speak of it to Krezagon. "We are the only ones here. Being alone is hard for a far-walker, isn't it? Would it help you if you knew how to survive just by yourself?"

"I don't know."

"Would you like to try?" Taikehel did not reply. "I'd like you to learn everything I know about surviving. You can do that, right? You can search my mind and copy the knowledge into yours?"

"...Yes, but it's not as good as learning it the hard way."

"Well, do it anyway and then I'll also teach it to you the 'hard' way. It would be easier then, right? Could you do that?"

"I could. Maybe it will be less depressing than having to deal with your little soldiers."

"Uh, I'm sorry if it's been that bad..."

"Hey, I'm just glad I haven't increased their depression. They handle death better than I handle their depression, even though they're obviously horrified of dying because they can't know that the spirit plane really exists." They were quiet for a moment. Then Taikehel held Krezagon's face and said: "Think about surviving now..." Krezagon did and felt how Taikehel came into eir mind. Ey then went through everything ey thought might be worth knowing and let Taikehel ask all kinds of questions. Taikehel was terribly uninterested in the actual subject, but as the plant book that the medic Fronel had given Tegafel to read had done, learning about surviving in the wild took Taikehel's mind mostly off of the frustrating and, to em, irrational depression of death.

Of course, they were done in less than an hour, and after that Taikehel said ey would rather process the information and try to put it in the right place in eir mind. Krezagon went back to the others. Tarkavinel was staring intently at the water and the rest were trying to play a game. Krezagon decided that ey would play the game as well and check Tarkavinel's condition later.

Now Krezagon finally noticed that Riyhneon was actually actively avoiding em and tried to not smile to em even though they had fun playing the game. They stopped playing around and Krezagon decided to talk to Riyhneon later. Ey went to Tarkavinel who was still staring at the water. Krezagon sat next to em. "Did you wash your body already?"

"...No."

"Let's do that, then. Do you want to stay here or go over there?" Tarkavinel got up and walked further from the others. They went a bit further and then into the water. "Do you mind if I touch you?"

"No." Krezagon went ahead, finding dirty spots and explaining how to rub them clean.

After they had finished cleaning Tarkavinel's hair, they sat in the water and Krezagon kept touching Tarkavinel's shoulder lightly and looking at eir face. Tarkavinel looked forward and seemed to not be thinking about anything. Krezagon looked lower and eventually spotted a small, only barely bleeding scratch partly under Tarkavinel's left breast.

"You have a wound under your breast..." Tarkavinel turned eir head and eyes a bit more toward Krezagon and then lifted eir left arm and used eir right hand to lift eir breast. The wound was not very special and would not need any special attention, but the underside of the breast was in worse condition. "Ugh. The underside is inflamed. You should clean that better..." Tarkavinel lifted eir other breast as well and checked that it was similarly inflamed. "I'll go find some plants that'll help it heal."

Krezagon found the plant leaves and they then tied up Tarkavinel's chest so that the leaves would be pressed against the inflamed skin and fasten the healing.

They waited around until evening before their things were dry again. They walked a kilometer or so from the river before setting up their tents for the night. Krezagon chose to speak to Riyhneon then. Ey walked to the gewacod and touched eir shoulder.

Riyhneon turned eir head and went: "Uh... you."

"I... Is something bothering you?"

"I suppose so."

"Can I help with it somehow?"

Riyhneon was quiet for a while. "Why did you have to kill Freppet?"

Krezagon felt a little speechless. Ey had not wanted to think about that at all. "I... um, ey asked me to. You heard..."

"I know. But I mean... people have lived with worse injuries. Ey was obviously just crazed. If we'd have taken care of em, ey would've seen that eir life wasn't over right then..."

"But... what could've ey done?"

"I don't know, but we should've given em that chance."

"Ey was a soldier, you know that... We need all our body parts."

"Ey could still walk. Ey could have carried stuff."

"What kind of life could ey have had after that?" Riyhneon did not reply. "I don't think ey was that crazed. I'm fairly sure letting em die was for the best. But... I... I'm sorry I had to do it."

Tears dropped from Riyhneon's eyes. "You acted too gzoozzing cold."

Thinking about the death and Riyhneon's grief made Krezagon weepy as well. "Maybe I'm too used to dying and all that bad treatment. But you know that... And it was Leitsel and Sorifel who didn't cry after we left that place."

"They hid it better."

They were quiet again. Krezagon held Riyhneon's shoulders lightly. "I am sorry... but please don't get stuck on that one thing. Ey did ask to die, and we're soldiers. We tend to die in battle or in the aftermath."

Riyhneon sniffed. "I know... but..." Krezagon hugged the young gewacod and sobbed. They cried for a while.

Krezagon brushed Riyhneon's face with eir fingers. "Will you not hold this against me?"

"...I won't. We can't know if you were right... I hope Freppet really spoke true. It was eir call."

Taikehel wanted to sleep with Krezagon that night. Riyhneon, though ey did not particularly like Tarkavinel, had no attitude problem about em not speaking or reacting like a normal person was expected to. Ey understood well enough that seeing and experiencing horrors could drive people worse than insane.





The next day, Riyhneon wanted to sleep with Krezagon. Again, Tarkavinel did not mind the arrangement, but Taikehel, Leitsel and Sorifel rather slept all together in the three-person tent. Krezagon thought it was silly, but it did not bother em.