"Hey Hund, I need to talk to you for a second!" I called out over the crowd that followed me.

After not very long at all, Hund arrived up at the front, ever so slightly out of breath. "What is it?"

I grinned evilly. "I wanted to ask you how it was going with Ayula."

Hund was startled, but he knew he couldn't get away from me, so he accepted his fate. "I'd definitely call our relationship friendly. But there's still some sort of barrier between us."

"What kind of a barrier do you think?"

Hund paused. "I'm not sure how to put it..."

I stretched my arms. "I suppose that means it's time for a gross abuse of my abilities for your benefit."

Hund eyed me warily. "What does that mean?"

"Did I ever tell you what Insight does?"

After a little bit of convincing and reassuring, Hund walked over to Ayula and began an awkward and clumsy conversation.

When I use Insight, it doesn't actually automatically focus in on anything, it instead just brings me an assload of extra unparsed data for my brain.

At first it was hard to filter out all of the extra noise, but with a little practice, it began to become more natural.

Overuse can still cause nosebleeds though.

"So Ayula, how are you today?" Hund began.

"Oh, I'm well thank you... how are you today?"

"I'm alright, thank you for asking."

Both of them stood there alternating between bringing up nothing-burger conversation topics, stammering, and talking over each other before stopping because they thought the other was going to say something.

Oh barf.

Not all conversations were created equal I guess.

I watched the both of them try to start a conversation for a while before I got very tired of it.

I walked up to the both of them, slung my arms around their shoulders and forcibly started a deeper topic. "Hey my two good friends, how would you guys like to talk about some Fifska feudal kings?"

Ayula forced a smile. "Can we have that conversation with personal space involved?"

I let them both go. "But of course, madame."

"What spurred this on?" Hund asked, looking more uncomfortable than I was expecting, even despite the circumstances.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

"I thought a conversation about a historical event would be best had with a historian... and you were here too." I then gave a wink.

All of the color drained from Hund's face. "I have to go now." He then starting walking quickly off to the side of our marching path.

I listened over to where he was and I could hear him retching.

"Ayula stay here, I'm going to go see if he's okay."

"But-"

I put my hands up placatingly. "Don't worry, if anything major is wrong I'll have everyone stop and we'll take a break nearby."

Ayula nodded in resignation. "Alright."

I smiled sadly at her. "I'll be right back."

I casually jogged over to where Hund was and found him on all fours, vomiting on the ground.

"Yo, are you okay Hund?"

"I'm the furthest thing possible from okay... why did she have to be a historian?" He slumped back against the tree he was hiding behind. "I knew that they were exiled, but I didn't expect to meet one here of all places..."

I crouched next to him. "Hey, hey... Hund, why don't you slow down and tell me what's wrong?"

The only part of him that even acknowledged my existence at all were the two eyes that faced me right after I asked that. "Andrew, what do you know about 'The New Wave'?"

"I heard about the whole thing from Ayula, why?"

Hund heaved again, but held it back this time.

After a moment he spoke again, his entire jaw quivering. "Andrew, the reason I'm so good with medicine is because I was a medic for The New Wave during the war."

"But you saw the error of your ways and deserted right?"

He shook his head. "No, I was a soldier up until I was transported here..." He put his head between his hands. "Damn it, I exiled some of those historians Andrew!"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "I thought you said you were an exile."

Hund closed his eyes. "I lied Andrew! I lied to everyone, I was afraid that they'd reject me and force me into my almost certain doom. It's ironic that I exiled so many and yet I'm afraid of exile from those same individuals."

I stopped crouching and sat down on the ground next to him. "So, in that case, why are you actually here?"

Hund scooted away from his own vomit on the ground and drew his legs in to his chest. "I was born into a poor family, I had no opportunities or prospects... I was doomed to live and die in squalor... that was until she arrived. I met Fudryka in person. She was every bit as charming and amazing as they say she was. Being around her made you feel like you were unstoppable... when she told us that our living conditions weren't our fault, but the fault of some far-away government... it wasn't exactly a hard sell."

Hund took out a cloth badge from an inner shirt pocket. It seemed to show some sort of rank I didn't recognize.

He turned it over and over in his hand. "I enlisted immediately to help build a new future for my family and I. I was randomly selected to become a medic and was trained in how to keep a Fifska alive on the battlefield... everything was perfect, but then we stopped fighting soldiers, and started fighting militias."

Hund rubbed his thumb over a specific section of Fifska script printed on his badge. "The problem with a militia is that they can be anyone... anyone can hold a pulsar after all... so we were ordered to kill children and the unarmed, and we did it." He swallowed. "It was easy to justify all of the orders I received as not being my fault, because that's how the structure works right? The one giving the orders is the one punished, not the footsoldier who did what he was told... after all, what was the alternative? Take responsibility? Label yourself a murderer? No, of course not, it was all a stepping stone to a grand ideal after all, a few broken eggs are nothing to cry over as they say."

Hund started crying. "I left because I wanted to stop carrying out those orders! I left because I was coward and couldn't take it anymore!" He looked up at the canopy above us. "I fell in love with not only an exile, but a historian exile... what am I going to do?"

I said nothing for a solid minute as I waited for all of that you sink in, but eventually I did reply.

"Well, first of all, heavy."

Hund chuckled sadly. "Yeah."

"Secondly, you're not the only one from that side of the conflict... you should talk to Polyu."

Hund looked at me in incredulity. "Polyu? The rebellious one? That Polyu?"

"It's actually a fascinating story, I think you two would have some things to discuss."

"Can't you just tell me about it?" Hund asked tiredly.

I shook my head. "Nope, if you want to feel better, you'll have to fess up."

"But they might-"

I held up a hand. "I'm not going to leave you alone dummy, and I'm not going to let them hurt you for something I told you to do."

"I have mixed feelings about the way you worded that, but I'm glad to hear it all the same."

I stood and held out a hand. "So are you ready to go rejoin the group?"

Hund took my hand, and pulled himself to his feet. "I think I can manage that much... but telling that story again so soon might be a bit too much for now."

I looked at Hund's emotionally exhausted features.

"Yeah, it's probably about time for a break anyway."