Different from when I’d killed the Earthspeaker in the throes of battle just minutes before, I didn’t have the thrill of battle or the detachment of [Combatant’s Bloodlust] as I killed Farrah. I’d known her name, I’d spoken with her, and though I called it a warrior’s death, the “opportunity” I’d offered Farrah had never been anything more than a different way to say that I was going to execute her. I stood by my decision, and recognized that her death was necessary and the only true option available to me without directly harming myself and my interests.

Even so, there was a hint of… not regret, but melancholy at what I found myself doing. I didn’t lie to myself–there were many other humans who threatened me and my people. Even if they were able to speak with me, they had some command about the “Great Purge” and they were obligated to slay every keelish. Unless I could somehow countermand that, there could be no peace, and there would be continuous battle to protect ourselves from extinction, so long as we remained within the bounds of the “Holy State of the Veratocracy”. Though a part of me wished to stage some epic final battle, that would only lead to our deaths. I decided to plan something more specific after returning to the den, but instead let the feelings of loss settle over me.

I… I had held out some hope, some unspoken, unrealistic hope of seeing my mother again. Even if from the opposite side of a battlefield, I wanted to see her. I would lead my swarm in a retreat from that battle, and as I led my people away, I would cry out to her that I was her son, and convince her of what Viilor had done to me. She would guide me to where he was, and though we were so different now, maybe we could at least be allies, if not a family again. Instead, she was so long gone.

What had Viilor told her about me? That I’d been foolish in my hunt? That I’d simply been unlucky? Had she cursed herself for allowing me to lead that hunt, for determining that I was finally competent enough to do so? Had she hated herself for what Viilor had done to me?

I cursed Viilor for doing that to her, for killing me, and for his death, that I wasn’t even able to take any sort of revenge on him for it. Foire had begun to more quietly mourn Treel’s death, and I again joined him in his mourning, though for something and someone that the rest would never know. I let our grief continue unabated and uninterrupted by anything but the lightly misting rain for a short time before turning to Foire. He didn’t immediately notice my attention, but after waiting for another moment, he saw my focus on him and cocked his head in askance.

“Treel mentioned eggs. Do you know anything about them?”

Foire flicked his tail in uncertainty. “I never saw her lay.” I turned to Vefir after, who looked at me.

“Can you tell if she’s gravid?” Initially, Vefir looked confused, unsure as to what I could be asking, and I continued, “Before laying, females carry the eggs inside. Can you feel if there are viable eggs inside her without having to cut her open?”

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After taking a second to understand, Vefir stepped over Treel’s body. In the misting rains, it had quickly cooled and I couldn’t tell what he was doing. As he began to channel some of his magic to try to understand the possibility of her being gravid, I looked at the bodies of the humans and terrorbird. I wasn’t sure what to do with them, as I had no intention of eating human or letting my pack either. Long term, we couldn’t be seen as creatures that considered people food, or else we would be hunted even more vigorously than if we were merely a large swarm of keelish. Beyond that, the idea of eating human flesh was more than a little distasteful to me.

However, I didn’t want the humans hunting us to think that we were intelligent, so I couldn’t leave the bodies here, or else that would stir confusion as to why we hadn’t eaten them. Leaving the bodies here would give the surviving humans information that I wanted to keep hidden from them for now, so we could…

I was roused from my thoughts by Vefir suddenly crying out in surprise. I whirled to look at him, and he looked up at me. “There’s something alive inside her. Still living, but not strong.”

“Show me where.” I turned to Treel’s body, and though the thought that had crossed my mind before I’d first asked Vefir to look, I did not relish what I was about to do. Vefir pointed, and I took one finger from my left hand, held it strong, and began to cut into the flesh of Treel’s body right where her legs joined with her hips.

What I was doing was quite similar to something that I had done as a Wavespeaker in assisting with complicated and dangerous deliveries as a human, cutting into the mother to help free the baby before she and it both died. With my Wavespeaking, I could then help the mother’s body heal and allow her and the infant to pass through the most dangerous parts of birth. I couldn’t say why, but doing it to a dead body of a friend felt so much worse than doing it with a knife to a woman in the throes of agonizing childbirth. Regardless, I was able to find where the eggs had been growing, and before long I drew six slightly squished, mostly developed eggs from inside of Treel’s body.

Foire stepped forward to look at the eggs, before whirling to Vefir with a curious, begging look. Vefir’s response was honest, “I don’t know if any of them will be viable. I’ve never seen an egg other than the ones that the little ones just hatched from, and they were nearly ready to hatch when we first saw them, much less not having been laid yet.” Foire’s face began to fall as Vefir continued, his voice weak and his demeanor defeated, “I can try. I will try to get them to grow.”

I laid a hand on Foire’s shoulder. “I will too. Maybe I can help as well.” As Foire nodded his thanks to Vefir and myself, I continued to ask Foire, “Do you want us to leave her here? Or take her to where we’re going to leave the other bodies?”

Foire thought for a moment, then spoke softly, his voice hoarse and thready. “Leave her with those who killed her.” His voice caught on “killed her”. “Tempered in the sacrifice of her life… I… will be.” His voice trailed off as he spoke, and I stepped into the pained silence with a command.

“Vefir and Foire, you take the eggs back home. We’ll take the bodies to the wolfstag den and drop them there. Maybe that will distract the humans for a while.”