July 2023 ver.
A gaggle of children ran past laughing loudly. Devin slicked her ears and craned her head after them. The kids fumbled to a stop then whispered to each other. One pointed. Off the group went again. Her hands came to the straps of her bag and she looked to Rowan. He was studying the surroundings in wonder, not noticing the youths. It was the evening and it seemed like every person that lived in the town of Arechus had to be on the streets. Maybe they should call it a city. It simply wasn’t a sister city.
“It was definitely not like this the last time I was here.” The mage informed them. There were silver banners and lanterns strung up everywhere as well as concessions. Food. Games. Performances. The lights must have been lit with magic since they glowed silver as well. All the people here had feathers in their hair. All sorts of different ways ranging from only two poking out of hair buns to full headdresses. Some had the feathers laid flat and others upright. All of which were a strange style to see on humans in modern day. They took it slow to gawk. “Let’s try to stay close together.” She agreed with their elder. It’d be a nightmare if they were separated.
She quickly noticed that trinkets fashioning gryphon shapes or insignias were the primary merchandise being peddled. A couple of the vendors even had fake beaks on them to imitate the creature. Those insignias kept appearing on the larger banners as well. This wasn’t the only thing catching her eye. More and more she was noticing people stealing glances at them. More whispering and pointing like those kids. The girl fidgeted as she went to speak to her party about it.
Devin stopped and placed a hand on Avery, “Hold on.”
As soon as he was able to look directly at her he realized too, “Wait, where’s Rowan?” Their leader had reclaimed his position of walking in the center until right this second.
“I have no fucking clue.” Devin snorted, “Didn’t he just say to stay together?” They investigated the immediate vicinity. She pivoted to see he was frozen mid-step a few yards behind, leaning to see something. They had to stretch to see.
The brunette blushed. Three human women dancing. They were wearing something that made it look like they had cat tails with full feather headdresses accompanied by those weird, fake, hooked beaks. The only thing covering their bodies were large fans of fluffy feathers that were moved about in a teasing manner and undergarments that didn’t actually cover their rears at all. The choreography was complex, but definitely not what was being admired by a decent portion of the crowd.
Her stare slid to Rowan. Then it went to her equally unimpressed brother. The siblings each took an arm to drag him along.
The man whined, “But! P-pretty girls…” Their cousin hung his head in woe as he was swept out of range of the view.
“We kind of need you to pay attention.” The longer they were here the more people were looking at them. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but everyone is staring at us. Are outsiders not welcome for this event?” They weren’t going to be living a repeat of the elf village, were they?
Pointing this out drew him back around, “Hm? I didn’t hear anything about no outsiders.”
“WELCOME!” Her tail puffed as a wiry, fake beaked man jumped out to assault them with the word. This one had fake wings buckled to his arms. Which he splayed out, blocking their current route. “Have you come to bless our sacred event!?” He was also severely lacking in clothing, barely more than the dancers. At least they weren’t sexist here…
“Uhhh…?” The three stared, pressed together, like slack jawed idiots.
The stranger was expectant of an answer thus continued to pester, “You’re actual emerans, are you not?”
Avery stammered, “Y-yes?” That was technically correct.
He rejoiced, “Then surely you must be here to bless the event with your presence!?” The Arechutian bounced to Avery’s side and put a feathery arm around the teen. Incidentally around Rowan too. He lead them down the street. “Please, please! You must stay as Honored Guests!”
“Honored guests?” The siblings echoed.
Meanwhile Rowan voiced bewilderment, “Do what now?”
“We simply adore those of feline descent! As the closest in relation to gryphons, the cat and the falcon are sacred to us!” This explanation was making her more unsettled. “This way is the Arechutian Estate, you absolutely must share accommodations with the Sacred Vessels for the duration of your stay! You will stay to bless the ceremony as Honored Guests won’t you?” This was happening way too fast. What even was happening!?
Devin’s mouth finally opened, “Hell n-”
“Yes, of course!” Her brother’s cheery tone usurped hers. Both her and their cousin gaped at him now.
“Sir, could you excuse us for a minute?” The brawler latched onto her boys by their collars to haul them into a huddle. “Avery, what the shit are you doing?”
“What?” Quite a serious expression was scrawled over him, “We have no idea what the ceremony is about and we want to find out, right? So… this sounds like we’ll be in the thick of it in no time.”
Rowan switched to supporting him, raising a finger, “That’s actually a really good point.”
Her eye twitched, “You’re joking. That’s crazy! They could be waiting to cut off our tails to glue them to one of those dancer women.” She threw a gesture to the road behind them for emphasis.
They paused to contemplate the suggestion. Avery spoke first, “I’m not really getting the sense that’s what they want. Sacred usually means ‘do not kill’.”
The girl dropped the scathing facts, “Cutting off our tails wouldn’t kill us, it’d just maim us for life.” Her brother gulped at the thought.
Rowan slipped into his usual subconscious mannerisms, “I mean, I really doubt they’d be able to out fight us if that is the plan. I also feel I would have heard something about it if they actually do that. Or an allied group of clans would have wiped the town out for doing it by now. Let’s just see where this goes?” She scowled at them, but exited the huddle with a cross of the arms.
The fledgling scholar returned to the mock falcon man, “We’re ready, please continue!”
He lead them along with glee, “Excellent! The town will be so excited to have you. We’ve never had an emeran guest actually agree to stay at the Estate!” Every single person they passed watched them go. Her eyes slid to the guy’s back, ‘Yeah, probably because you’re super weird and overbearing.’
She kept a lid on her sass since she still wasn’t sure of the motivations here. If a good chunk of emerans were like Disan and Cecil, she could easily imagine how negatively they’d respond to this kind of greeting. Broken beaks sprung to mind.
The buildings ended and they strolled onto a cobbled parade ground. More concessions ringed the edges. Some show was happening on the left and some game on the right. There wasn’t a fountain in the middle of the flat expanse of diamond patterned stone as was standard. Instead it was a slightly raised platform of sorts that for some reason no one was utilizing. Only about three steps higher than the rest of the grounds. Even though their destination was directly through the center of it, as their guide came to the platform, he also went around instead of climbing up to cut through.
Speaking of their destination, also contributing to the huge swath of openness in the center of the otherwise densely packed clusters of stone structures, was what she presumed to be the Arechutian Estate. A square looking manor from this angle. It was two stories all around, but the towers at the corners on either side appeared to be three. The wall encompassing it on all sides was pathetically short by comparison. The faux falcon lead them to a front gate comprised of two wide wrought iron sets of vertical bars. Gryphon insignias mirrored each other on them.
A guard stood on either side as well. They held spears, but weren’t intimidating in the slightest. Their protective gear was the cheap kind a private garrison would have except for their helmets. Surprise, surprise, they were crafted to look like falcons. They really weren’t kidding around with the animal being revered.
Their guide presented them to the guards, “Our emeran visitors have agreed to stay as Honored Guests and bless the ceremony with their presence!” He slid off to the side, bowing with wing extended their direction.
“You’re… actually staying?”
“Really? You honor us!”
She could still see their gigantic smiles with the way their helmets were crafted. Why was everyone so incredibly delighted by their presence? The guards opened the gate.
“Please do enter!” Was this really all it took for them to let people onto the estate?
“Thank you so much for coming!” Apparently so.
Devin glanced at her kin nervously. They were at least a little shaken too. Nevertheless, they all went to enter.
“Not you.” Her ear twisted at the sound of boots fumbling. She was already past the threshold. Avery had almost walked headlong into an arm. Rowan was recovering from being shoved by his chest.
At the correction of his stumble, he pointed at himself, “I can’t come in?” She didn’t want to be in here alone!
The guards went to block Rowan off with their spears, “Only the emerans.” The one nodded to her brother that he could go on ahead.
The mage argued, “B-but I’m part emeran too!”
“Right,” she swore she could hear the guy rolling his eyes.
Their youngest member squeaked, “No really! He is! He’s our cousin!”
“Then where’s his tail?”
The young man stopped his silly pointing, arm returning to his side, “…I don’t… have one.”
“So you’re not an emeran.” Rowan’s displeasure was nearly tangible in the air around him.
He made eye contact with his blood prior to asking the guard, “Could we have a minute to talk then?”
The guards shrugged. The three went to form a second huddle of the day.
Their elder declared, “You two should head in.”
“What!?” Devin was the one yelping now.
He expanded, “This could be the best way to learn what this event is all about. You’re both going to get the royal treatment while also not having to spend a single copper.”
“But,” Avery’s ears drooped, “What about you?”
“Don’t sweat it. I’ll be fine. I’ll get in some other way.” An upturn of the corner of his mouth, “Enjoy fe-lying around.”
Devin put hand to her face. They couldn’t get away from him fast enough. A hefty nod then her and Avery returned to the guards. One sentry lead them inside. They could hear the gate close, officially separating them from Rowan. Her hand twisted into her skirt.
It was only a few yards to the door of the actual manor. They walked across the same stone patterns that made the parade grounds. The estate itself was made of very large cuts of very white stone and it also had grandiose, gryphon decorated, double doors. Their new guide pushed it open with ease.
“Please,” he slid to the side to present the interior to them with a slight bow, “make yourselves at home.” They entered slowly, looking about as they went. It was an expansive room with what was probably expensive paintings on the walls. There was yet another set of double doors at the far wall. She also noted staircases tucked into the corners. She always forgot the truly rich could afford to have rooms committed to being empty entryways. “I believe the Sacred Vessels were settling in for dinner.” Another mention of them. “Perhaps you would wish to join?”
Her brother wasn’t nearly so timid anymore, “Food? Food is always good.”
“Great!” He promptly took them to the right. “While you eat we’ll have rooms prepared for you.” The interior doors were less extravagant. He stopped at the slab of wood and looked them up and down, “And maybe refresh the bath water for you to use alongside a change of clothes.”
Devin’s eyes narrowed at him. She kept staring the entire walk past and into what was an enormous dining hall. The room quickly distracted her from the guard’s rude comment. She’d never seen a table so big. A bellowing at the head of it drew her in.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Eat it, Eryth!” A thin, pale, dark-haired man had an equally thin, pale, dark-haired woman in a headlock. Humans. More young adults.
The woman threw herself this way and that in the other’s hold, “No!”
Both of their places were at the head of the table, side-by-side, “They’re good for you!” She was sitting, but he was standing. He was shoveling something on a spoon toward her mouth.
“I’D RATHER DIE!” Her hands pulled at his arm as she shifted her face as far away as she possibly could in her odd position. Whatever it was smeared on her cheek.
He lamented, “You’d rather leave me to face the ritual alone than eat your beans!?”
“TEN TIMES OVER! SO LET ME GO ALREADY, KYNE!” The spoon was dropped as the female snapped at the male. It clattered on the plate.
He did as asked and released her with a big spread of the arms, “WOW, I FEEL SO LOVED RIGHT NOW!”
She straightened herself and shook her head, “…big baby.” Her expression went straight, noticing them standing at the entrance to the room.
The man scoffed in disbelief, “I’m the big baby?” He briefly tipped his head at her odd change in demeanor then followed her gaze to find them.
The woman, who was presumably named Eryth, waved and offered a smooth, warm, “Hello.”
Then the one she assumed to be named Kyne also waved, though it was a smaller more sudden motion, “Hi! Sorry we weren’t expecting company.” His attention went back to his companion, “Oh hey, uh, Eryth you got a little.” He made a circling motion at his own cheek. She swiped up her napkin to wipe her face. Kyne sat down and the half-emerans were lead directly to them.
“Honored Guests, please, sit beside the Sacred Vessels. I will have the staff bring dishes for you immediately.” They kept going with the flow, shrugging their bags off to sit. Then it was just the honored and sacred in the room. She couldn’t keep herself from staring at them. Their hair was actually brown, but it was so dark it had looked black from afar. Both had it tied up in buns at the tops of their heads. Their eyes matched too. Brown. What had her captivated was that they weren’t just thin, they were gaunt, like they were malnourished. It was likely why they were pale as porcelain too. This close she could also see they were riddled with burn scars on opposite sides. Eryth’s spanned her right while Kyne’s were on the left. They were old and faded, but the quantity remained startling.
“Um,” Avery’s voice cracked as it did when he stressed it in the slightest, “H-hi. I’m Avery Chanoix and this is my sister, Devin Chanoix.”
The woman beamed, “Siblings, huh?”
The man got up again, “Sorry for reaching over the food, but,” he held a hand out to them, “Nice to meet you, I’m Kyne Lanter!” His tooth was crooked. They relayed through the handshaking.
When the woman’s turn came she also introduced herself, “And I’m Eryth Lanter. We’re siblings too!” She had an odd discoloration in her iris that Kyne didn’t.
“Are… you twins? We’ve never met twins before. I-I thought twins were usually the same sex?” Them being opposites in that department had her wondering why they felt the need to dress the same. She couldn’t see below the table, but what she could see were the tops of some off-white, simplistic tunics. Boxy ones that were tied at the waist with short sleeves and a small section that could be drawn in at the top. They both had the collar strings in neat little bows.
Kyne shrugged, “Don’t know nothin’ about that. We’re not, that’s all we know.”
Eryth tossed in as well with the raise of a hand, “All we really need to know.” Both were also rather relaxed in their seats for looking half-staved in front of full plates. Were they waiting for their plates to come? She got an answer in a second as some apron-adorn female servants came in to set meals in front of them. “Finally! Now we can feast!” Devin shifted in her seat as not only did the twins tear in, so did her brother. She paced her bites.
Kyne paused his eating so he could ask, “So what brings you both to our big ol’ town? You’re not seriously here to stay for the ritual, are you?”
She asked without thinking, “I thought it was a ceremony?”
“Same thing or maybe it’s both? Doesn’t really matter,” was Kyne’s reply.
Avery explained their motives, “Actually, we are here for it. Our family… has a weird hobby. We like checking out anything that has magic involved.” Of course he didn’t elaborate fully. “Admittedly, when they asked us to stay here I just said yes because we were hoping that coming here would be the fastest way to learn about it.”
“We can help you with that! Wait. Are you gonna leave as soon as we tell you?” Her face grew heavy with concern. They’d just met and she was this attached to them already?
Kyne seemed to read her mind, “We don’t get to spend a lot of time with others. Especially anyone close to our age. The servants are always hiding out of sight whenever they can. The guards are all business.” He pointed at the door behind them where the food had come from. “I’m not even sure if there’s actually a kitchen in there or not since they won’t let us in.” Weird. He took his best snobby tone, “‘Unfit for Sacred Vessels such as yourselves’.”
Avery reassured them, “We’re here until the day of.”
“Great!” Eryth resumed with her worries appeased, “Although, I’m not sure I know where to start.” A finger settled on her chin a brief second. “A long time ago?” She took a moment to take a sip of her drink. “During some war, when Arechus was still small, it was attacked. Since it was small, we didn’t have the real army around to help and everyone would have been killed for sure.”
Kyne bounced out of his seat for the third time this evening already, “But then! This gryphon appeared and started plucking the enemy soldiers! Swallowing them whole! Scattering their forces!” Devin was pretty sure gryphons weren’t big enough to do that. “Thanks to it, the town was able to send the rest packing. Then it was gone as quick as it came!”
His sister yanked him back to his seat with another shake of her head in disapproval. Then she sprung out of her own, “And now every thirty-three years we honor the patron of Arechus with a two week long festival and the sacred ceremony!” She went quiet. Another shrug, “Well, mostly evening and weekend events. People still got to work to eat.” Eryth dropped into her seat.
That was quite a story told in a very short way. In a dramatic way too. The brawler was already getting the impression that Rowan would like them.
Of course the up-and-coming scholar had to question what was said, “Why such a big interval of time though? A story like that sounds like it’d be annual.” The two gave more shrugs.
Kyne stated, “No idea.”
“A-aren’t you curious?” Avery couldn’t believe they didn’t know.
“Sure,” Eryth laughed, “but what’re we gonna do? Pick up a history book?” She and Kyne were then both laughing.
Devin wasn’t getting why this was so funny and her own brother poked at the joke, “I-if you have one then why not?”
The twins blinked. They exchanged a glance before Eryth clued them in, “We can’t read.”
“Not a letter.” They couldn’t read at all? That soldier, Remi, had said he couldn’t read very well himself either. All three of them were older than her, not by much, but still. Devin frowned. Were they really that better off than other people?
Eryth folded arms atop the table to lean closer to the younger male, “Can you read?”
“Y-yeah? Pretty well, actually. At least, I think so?” They didn’t exactly have contests.
They were both alight in an instant with Eryth informing them, “There’s a library in the top of the south tower.”
Kyne added, “Do you think you’d be able to find something in it if you looked?”
They were surprised by their level of trust and Avery sputtered his response, “Would that be okay?” People didn’t typically like strangers digging for information in such private quarters.
The man swayed in his seat, “We can’t be completely sure.”
“But you have our permission and we’re sort of in charge.” his sister tacked on.
Devin was finally feeling relaxed enough to ask a few questions of her own that cropped up, “It’s only recently you’ve been living here?” They were too thin to have been here long eating full meals. “As the Sacred Vessels?”
“That’s right!” Kyne confirmed.
“What does that mean exactly? The sacred part I get.” That was straight forward enough.
The male kept answering for now, “We’re very important to the ceremony. Vessel is just fancy speak for bodies.” She didn’t want to break it to them that she understood the concept of vessel already as well and that wasn’t the detail she was seeking.
Thankfully she wouldn’t have to as the other took up the mantle of continuing, “There’s going to be a big show of magic! At the end all that magic will be placed into us.”
“So we’re Sacred Vessels,” the first finished.
“Oh.” That sounded interesting, but why? How was that an homage to their patron?
Eryth moved them along, stretching out of her seat, “Anyway, since we’re all going to be living together until then, what do you like to do to wind down for bed?”
They were so busy talking, Devin hadn’t noticed that everyone else had finished eating. Each plate completely cleared. She quickly picked up hers to start scarfing. Coincidentally, she could avoid answering for a minute this way. She didn’t know how to reply. Her actions humored the twins greatly, but didn’t spare Avery from their expectations of supplying an answer.
“Uh,” he scratched at an ear, “Well, the guard kinda made it seem like he wanted us to go take a bath after.”
The brawler had to call out the aforementioned’s behavior, nearly slamming her plate to the table, “He acted straight up offended by our appearances.”
The twins shook with laughter, Eryth squeezed out, “I see!” A calming breath then she offered to them, “We can show you where it is. They probably already have it prepped from the ground up for you.” She went to yet another new door, on the interior wall, yawning.
Her brother apologized for her, “Sorry, we’re still not used to eating such big meals. Kinda surprising how sluggish it can make you feel when you’re not.” They formed a cluster behind Eryth, who threw the doors open.
Devin’s breath was taken at the sight. The exit opened onto a short veranda. Or portico? She wasn’t great with architecture. The point was that in the middle of this apparently u-shaped manor was a gorgeous, verdant courtyard of dark green grasses and swaths of flowers. At the center was a carefully constructed fish pond. Every single room of the place seemed to open into the space. The second floor was rich with balconies holding stone benches and more flowers.
“Are those moon vine!?” Avery leaped from the short wooded platform to the soil.
Eryth inhaled deeply to sigh into the cooling air, “It is! Pretty, aren’t they?” She trailed after the boy running off into the higher grasses around the pond forcing fireflies to flee in his efforts to get to the strikingly white flowers beginning to bloom. The brawler and Kyne stayed where they were.
A few guards were posted out here. One by the entrance to what had to be the foyer they entered initially and another with a bow was on one of the balconies.
“I… I need to get my journal!” She quickly slipped aside as her brother came zooming toward them to get his bag in the dining room. He returned to examine the moon vine carefully, selecting a specimen he deemed the best. Devin smiled. Avery looked like he was a big papa flower with his white hair milling among the flowers.
Eryth came to peer over his shoulder, “What are you doing?” Avery closed the book with the most delicate touch he could muster.
“I’m pressing it so it’ll keep some shape and color. Hold on.” He sat so he could open it to a different page without risk of losing whatever else he had shoved between those pages. “This one is foxglove!”
She bent further to look closer, “So many buds! Do… you have any poppy?”
“Mhmm!”
Devin’s ears lifted higher at an unexpected command from an unfamiliar voice, “Stop!” It wasn’t anyone in the immediate area. All of them sought the source. “I said stop right there!” On the left? They leaned in attempts to see around the south wing. It was the opposite of where her and Kyne were standing, but they still heard him before they saw anything.
“Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!” Was that? Their heads followed as Rowan sprinted into view, darting across, yelling, “Plan didn’t go well!” He disappeared beyond the white stone of the north wing. Two hawk helmeted guards clattered after him.
Eryth stood, visibly unsettled, “That’s never happened before.”
Kyne scratched at his arm, “They warned us people might try to break in, but I didn’t think it would actually happen.”
Devin placed her fingers to the outer corner of an eyebrow to rub around, “Sorry… That’s actually our cousin.” That idiot. Did he seriously just climb the wall thinking no one would notice? “They wouldn’t let him in with us. He’s harmless.”
They reacted in unison, “Oh.”
Even so, it must have upset them to see someone running across their shiny new-to-them courtyard. After showing her and Avery to the bath, through the door across from the dining room’s, the twins bid them goodnight. As well as eagerness to see them again in the morning.
The young woman gawked again once actually inside. Half the room was a stone bath! The sheer amount of water it took to fill had to be insane. The estate had to have several operational pumps to get it done in a timely manner. Especially if there was a second for the men. The scent of herbs swirled off of it too. There were also several itty-bitty lanterns lining everything. Although, maybe they were lit magically like the ones on the streets.
She noticed some white cloth sitting on a wooden bench bordering the near wall. Devin picked it up to drop out the folds. This explained why Eryth and Kyne were dressed the same. It was a boxy, off-white, short-sleeved tunic. It must have been left for her to change into. She removed her dress, but found herself examining it in her mitts before she was willing to set it down. Even if it did need washed, she still didn’t want to let it out of her sight. It hadn’t occurred to her until this moment how precious her efforts had made it to her.
There was no one else in here. As the twins said, the staff was always hidden. She shouted anyway, “Thank you, whoever, but I’d better get my dress back!”
The brawler slunk in. The outer wall of the room had a slanted section of roof that was hoisted open. The stars appeared through it one at a time. This place was beyond upscale. She clutched at herself, watching her reflection in the water with down-turned ears. She felt more homesick than ever. Her and Avery didn’t belong here.
x x x
The bedrooms were a little more reasonably sized. Still much bigger than their own at home, but at least it didn’t leave her head in a tizzy. However, the furnishings were still impressive. Each had a full sized bed, upholstered bedroom bench, armoire, vanity, bedside table, and a particularly thickly cushioned armchair.
She wasn’t in here but a moment when a light knock sounded, “Devin?” Avery was already looking for her? They’d only been apart maybe thirty minutes.
The young lady reopened the door to her brother’s face, “Something wrong?”
He was acting extra weird, “I-. Uh, well, no, but… sort of?” He slouched, “C-Could I come in?” She drifted away and sat down at the far end of the bench. She glanced at it for being more comfortable than any actual bed she’d slept on. What was the mattress going to be like?
Avery closed the door behind himself and joined her where she sat at a painfully slow pace. “This place is a lot.” He was too distracted by his own rambling, “Like, I can’t wrap my head around it a lot. Seriously, is this just how nobles live!? E-Even the Nore family in Marion?” The least influential family. “The Fitz in Sylvia?” The poorest family. “It’s crazy!” That was the truth if she’d ever heard it. Devin let herself lean against the foot of the bed as he kept going. The mattress was even plusher. “It’s-. It’s making me feel… I don’t really know how to put it into words. Inferior, I guess? I’m not sure I like being here, but…” He folded his legs into the seat with him.
She slid cheek into a hand, “But…?” The brawler kept prying when he merely chewed his lip. “That can’t be all you wanted to talk about. While I get what you mean and even agree, that’s not really late evening visit material, is it?” It was starting to irritate her a little that he wouldn’t spit it out. They had a long day. She wanted to sleep.
“Rowan.” Her ear flicked. “Him not being with us right now. I’m not sure I like being here, but I don’t… know about traveling with him any more either.” The teen fiddled with the top of his shoes, “Part of me wishes he was here, but another is actually relieved. I think-. I think the next time we’re in Marion, I’m going to go home and stay there.” Now she was the speechless one. He finally met her eye despite uncertainty, “Aren’t you going to say anything?”
Devin ended up shrugging, “What do you want me to say?” She dragged her gaze from him. “‘Don’t do that’? Or ‘I get it, Rowan’s not the same person anymore’? Because both answers are stupid.” She stood. “Why? Because he is the same.” She wandered a few steps. “He’s the exact same, down to his dumbass sense of humor. We can still depend on him the same way we always have. The only difference is we saw a new part of him. One that we didn’t want to know existed.” The young lady faced her kin again, “He’s still our cousin.” She scrounged for strength to continue, “As for telling you to not go home, well… Even if I understand why he did it, even if they killed people themselves every other week, I still don’t believe… it had to be the way he chose. But something did have to be done.”
He took some time before replying, “I think I already know that he’s not different. I just want to believe he is, because that makes it easier.” Avery’s posture grew increasingly depressed. “I don’t want to stop traveling, but the second I accept what he did as okay… is the second I have to accept how cruel the world really is. That sometimes it is kill or be killed. I can fight someone if I have to, but beyond that… I just don’t think I can handle it.”