As Puck looked upon the completely still form of Thalea, he did not know what to feel. It was less than an hour ago that he had met Thalea for the first time and it was mostly himself that had talked the entire time.

But even still, Puck thought he could understand Thalea and her final feelings better than perhaps any other Gremlin. Wasn’t it exactly this fate, a life such as this, that Puck would have lived without change? Wasn’t it exactly this which he was now trying to leave behind with all he had?

Perhaps Puck did not know Thalea all that well, but even then, as he looked upon her dead body, he felt an empathy he couldn’t remember feeling for any other Gremlin before. There had been some Gremlins he would nearly have considered friends before Holden and his gang had threatened them away. There also had been some girls that Puck liked, but they all, in the end, had felt so distant, as if they lived in completely different worlds where one simply didn’t understand the other.

This old hag though, Puck had understood her, and she had understood him. Carefully walking forward, Puck took her ice-cold arms and carefully crossed them together over her chest. Then he smoothed out her ears and carefully closed her eyes. Taking a few seconds to commemorate, Puck simply stood there next to the bed in the slowly dispersing smoke and silently told Thalea that he wouldn’t make the same mistakes she did.

Thinking a little bit about whether he could do something else for the now dead woman, Puck in the end decided against it. He couldn’t spend too much time in the village. He needed to get going. Walking to the spot where he had hidden Zephyrian some months ago, Puck carefully pushed aside a dirty and rough picture of a mushroom on the wall and pushed his arm into a narrow gap in the ice behind it.

It wasn’t easy, and as such it was no wonder that the old Gremlin hadn’t been able to get Zephyrian out herself. Only after having buried his arm up to the shoulder did Puck reach Zephyrian’s hilt and manage to pull him out with a great amount of effort. The moment Puck grasped the hilt of the old sword, he felt like a small shock hit his system. But only moments later, the annoying voice of Zephyrian made him forget the strange occurrence.

The sword first must have thought the old Gremlin was trying to get him out again, and as such was cursing “the old hag” as Zephyrian called her. It didn’t take long, though, for Zephyrian to correct his mistake as he exchanged “old hag” with words like “bastard” and “stupid mushroom lover.” Not wanting to be outdone, Puck started cursing back and even threatened to put Zephyrian back into the hole.

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It was that threat that made Zephyrian immediately shut up, and Puck realized how hard it must have been to be stuck in that small crevice for months on end. Puck already suspected Zephyrian had another measure of time than the Gremlins and would be less affected, but still... Not wanting to be unfair, Puck apologized.

After that, there was a little silence before they both started to talk again at once. It took nearly another full half hour, where Puck sat against a wall as far away from the dead body as possible, where Puck told Zephyrian what happened and Zephyrian lamented Puck’s idiocy and its own meager luck to have ended up in the hands of someone like Puck.

But even as they blamed each other and cursed together, Puck truly felt something he hadn’t been clear on before having lost Zephyrian for a few months. They each had missed the other one in at least some way, and even though perhaps they were not yet friends, they were on the right path to become ones.

Deciding that curring some favor and showing Zephyrian his empathie was more important than anther few minutes of time, Puck took some time to polish the sword.

Afterthat, one full hour after having entered his old home, Puck was ready to go. Having taken so long, Puck was certain Holden and his gang had already been alerted to his presence. It was time to see if Puck could escape his enemies for one last time. After that, he swore, he would only come back to humiliate and defeat them.

Puck wasn’t sure what would be the best course of action. Should he try to sneak to one of the exits without getting noticed? No, they likely were already waiting at each entrance, and subterfuge would do him no good. Puck’s most important advantage was that even while the Gremlins had no real laws, open violence against one of them wasn’t tolerated. Because of that, the others would need to search him out either in one of the tunnels just outside the village or in one hidden corner or another.

Deciding the former was more likely, Puck would try and make his way to one of the ways out as fast as possible. There were only so many who would take part in an ambush against him, and there wouldn’t be more than two or three guarding each exit. If he went as fast as he could, the Gremlins from the other tunnels wouldn’t be able to catch up in time.

Thinking a little bit more, Puck also prepared a plan B. In case something like last time happend, he wanted to have some cards up his sleeve. Making his last preparations, Puck wrapped up Zephyrian in specially prepared leather and then fastened him to his back with a strap he had crafted only days before his crippling.

Finally feeling the fear and anxiety truly creep up again, Puck wouldn’t and couldn’t delay any longer. It was time. With one last bow to Thalea and a last look around his old home, Puck pushed open the door and started jogging in a way that hopefully would at the same time be fast enough and save enough air for later.