[Fen POV]

Doluk was boring. Though she couldn’t talk as good with him as she could with Varali, Fen could still have something like a conversation with a creature as intelligent as Doluk with the soul magic she was developing, something the [System] called “Soul Sympathy”. Even though she’d asked a couple of times, the explanations that it was giving just didn’t make any sense. Anyways, Doluk should have been able to talk with her, but he either chose not to, or was somehow unable to answer her. She wouldn’t be surprised if that High Lord bastard had something to do with it. He was just… bad.

When she’d been an orphan, Fen had long learned how to listen to and trust in her instincts. They got her out of plenty of scrapes, and she now knew who those powerful, evil intentioned people were. This “High Lord”’s every action reeked of sneaky, dastardly, villainous intentions. Fen was sure that he had long since done and continued to do things that made it so Doluk couldn’t interact with the world as he should have been able to. Skyr, she was sure, was born an insufferable ass, but Doluk was just an innocent boy. Though she couldn’t be sure, Fen was pretty sure that Doluk was still a child by his people’s reckoning, since she’d heard of ufudoluks before, and they were truly massive, large enough for multiple buildings to be constructed on their backs. This poor kid, though, could barely have a tent set up on his back without space beginning to run out.

Hey, Doluk, why’re we stopping? Fen asked as they shuddered to a stop. She hadn’t expected an answer, so she wasn’t surprised when her response was silence as the ground below Doluk’s feet stopped propelling them onward, and the humans all jumped down. Every time she saw that, Fen felt the small envy in her heart surge. When she’d been human, she’d always been much too sickly to jump down 20 feet without a second thought. She quickly tossed that envy out, though, since now that she was a Scaled Deer and had this new [Blessed Body] [Skill], she was even stronger than she should have been as a couple-month old fawn. Not strong enough to jump that far down yet, but she was sure that once she was an adult like her parents had been, she’d be able to jump dozens of feet with every bound!

Since Doluk wasn’t giving any answer, Fen turned to her friend Varali. What’s going on? Why’re we stopping? Did we find those bastards? If we did, I’m ready to kill em! Just let me get there, and I’ll get my pound of flesh! Though she was trying to be a bit silly to make Varali laugh or sigh or just react in some way, the only response she got was her proffered arms and a clenched jaw. Fen hopped up into Varali’s arms before the human jumped down and wind suddenly gusted around them before Varali grunted and fell as her feet hit the ground.

“Kiddo, you’re lucky I was here to help you, or else you’d have broken an ankle at least.” Tariel’s voice came right as his Windcalling faded from around Fen and her companion. “Just ask for help, cause you’ll hurt yourself and make us all slow down if you don’t. None of us soldiers would turn you down.” Fen noted that he consciously spoke about everyone other than that creep, and she agreed with the handsome man’s statement.

Tariel Nahr was a tall, striking man, his black hair kept cropped short. His well-tailored green uniform showed that he refused to neglect his physical training, and his darkly tanned skin showed the laugh lines at the corners of his eyes. His longbow was never out of his reach, and Fen had seen the contents of his three quivers of different arrows, the heads varying from an armor piercing ammunition that he called a ‘bodkin’ point to a heavy three-pronged broadhead. Though he was obviously a talented dealer of death and a hunter besides, Fen liked him. His laugh came easily and he was quick to support each of his companions. Plus, he hated the High Lord, and that was just the perfect flag on top.

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“I was fine–” Varali cut herself off. “No, thank you. I didn’t realize just how far we had come until I paid a bit more attention. We’re–” her voice caught, and Fen felt through the Soulbond as well as through her magic that Varali was fighting and failing to keep her emotions under control. Tariel waited patiently as Varali blinked away a couple tears and sparks began to flicker into life around the young woman. Fen leaned against Varali’s knees, and she consciously leaned down and scratched at Fen’s ear just the way she liked. Finally, Varali began to speak again, her voice hoarse with suppressed emotion, “We’re not too far from my home village. I think this is where my parents…” She trailed off, unable to force herself to continue, but Tariel obviously understood and waved a hand to stop her from forcing herself to speak.

“I’ll let the others know. Would you like to stay here?”

“No!” Her response was vehement, the words obviously harsh and raw in her throat. Fen tried to send feelings of consolation through their connection, but Varali held her grief close and Fen understood the feeling. They walked forward, into the clearing where Varali’s friends and family had been slaughtered.

Bones long since picked clean by scavengers and bleached by the suns were beginning to be reclaimed by the jungle, with moss and vines beginning to creep up and over the vestiges of the battle. Two stone walls had begun to collapse after having been erected under the influence of magic then left to topple under their weight on the wet, soft ground. Keelish and human remains alike filled the clearing, spread so thickly that a human needed to walk with care so as not to snap brittle bones with each step.

“I didn’t know… that so many had been left behind.” Varali’s voice cut through the nearly reverent silence that had fallen over the soldiers as they’d witnessed the results of the attempted hunt. “I thought that my parents’ bodies weren’t the only ones… I… why did everyone leave these here? Why…” Varali’s voice trailed off, and Tariel stepped closer, his voice soft.

“If a body is desecrated, it is often left where they fell so that their spirits may curse those whose profane actions so disrespected the fallen.” His voice remained soft and understanding as he continued, “It is also upsetting to the families of the fallen to see their brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters in that state.”

Fen saw in her mind Varali’s mother’s body, the head smashed to paste and laid on their family’s table. She couldn’t suppress the shudder of disgust, and Varali tensed beside her. After a couple minutes of silence, that stupid High Lord stepped close, his voice clear and arrogant.

“Do you require me to drop you off at your home, or can you make your way there without us babying you?”

Varali tensed, and Fen almost bleated her anger at the idiot, but Varali was first to speak. “No, I need to accompany you. I need to see them be slaughtered. I need to be there. Please.” Not for the first time since they’d arrived, Varali’s voice broke as she begged. “Don’t leave me here. I need to finally strike back. Please. Please.”

Lierthan’s “All right” was all the answer she needed to hear.