Kumo held Wane on the beach. Her brother seemed to drift in and out of lucidity, his focus sent inward. She wasn't sure if it was a side effect of half his soul being beyond the grave or just an adjustment period after his long trauma.

She gently rubbed the fur on his head, trying to comfort him. Gi was a short distance away, talking to Tiria, Chum, and Poe.

The rest of Kumo's otters still surrounded her and she could still hear the whispers among them. All of them were asking the same question that she was.

Was Gi a god?

Kumo would have given her life for Gi, no questions asked, before he'd returned but now? Her oath of fealty hadn't been bluster. He'd done the impossible by returning to life and then bringing Wane back as well.

Two of her family resurrected and that sense of divinity...

Kumo didn't know if he was a god or not, but if he wasn't, then he definitely had one paw outside the realm of mortality.

Wane gasped in her arms. "I'm back. I can still feel him." His eyes darted around in a panic and then landed on hers. "Am I alive? Is this real?"

"It is. You're going to be all right."

He nodded and then stared off into space again. Maybe this was all that could be managed, but Kumo had hope for the first time in a long time.

Her days were no longer filled with running from a demon that hunted her or murdering humans in their beds. Wane was back and she had to hope on the road to recovery.

And... her peak had returned. The path to the heavens was open and it was Gi who seemed to hold his hand out to her, ready to guide her.

"We are both going to be all right."

****

Alice and all her people had left Wavecrest behind, marching towards the broken village that she now saw herself in. Goblins and other monsters littered the small village, but Tala had insisted on pairing her people with one of their Templar or Priests.

Just as she'd been paired with Samba.

The enormous otter loomed behind her as she surveyed the village, but he rarely spoke after Mark's death - at least to her. She knew guilt still ate at him, but Alice's reassurances never seemed to help.

Alice herself wasn't much better. The only way she knew how to deal with grief was to throw herself into work. She'd seen the lost nature of her people and had forced her way to their head.

For their benefit or her own, it was hard to say.

"People come," Samba said. He now only spoke in the Monster tongue at her request.

She followed his gaze to the east and she could see another group of monsters approaching. It was hard to see at this distance, but she suspected it was the rest of Samba's clan.

Goblin runners were heading to get Nori, the leader of this sad encampment. The miniature dragons and kobolds that had flown in two days ago were also making their way towards the approaching group.

Alice hoisted her axe onto her shoulder. "Let's go make an appearance."

The two of them followed the small army of monsters that left to go see the approach of Samba's clan. The braver of her people were dotted among those gathering, each of them standing beside the otter who'd been paired with them.

Alice stopped at the impromptu welcoming party that had been made, but she stood out front with the other leaders - Nori and the head dragon.

"What are they called?" Alice whispered to Samba.

"Fighting Drakes. They were the leaders of our old city."

"And now they follow Gi?"

Samba shrugged, not eager to speak. Alice's heart ached for the times when Samba and Mark would sit around their table, talking and laughing. The stoic otter behind her seemed like a different person altogether.

Though, she knew that Samba wasn't the only one that had changed. Maybe time would bring that laughter back, but without Mark she just couldn't see it.

He was her light.

At the head of the procession was Gi, the otter clad in a shining breastplate over pristine white robes. His expression was peaceful, and despite the tragedy of the night, she couldn't help but remember the kindness in his voice.

She could practically feel Samba tense behind her. Alice wasn't sure how she felt about Gi, but Samba certainly hadn't forgiven him.

That being said, Alice would love to take an axe to Tiria's head though. The murderer walked just behind Gi as though she belonged anywhere other than a grave. Her eyes caught Alice's and she guiltily looked away.

That just made her hate her even more.

Alice might have kept feeding those thoughts except a dangerous foreboding crashed into her being. Her heart immediately started pounding in her chest and her palms were slick with sweat.

She adopted a fighting stance, her axe held at the ready. Where was the danger?

As the feeling loomed ever closer, she eventually honed in on an otter near the front.

Her eyes had a dark cast to them and she wore a brown robe that seemed to have been made from discarded sacks and dyed a dark color to blend in.

The otter had one arm supporting another who was dressed similarly but seemed to be sick or frail in some way. The disparity between the murderous aura and the helping otter tweaked a memory.

She took a step back, trying to force herself to relax. Samba who had gotten into a fighting stance upon seeing her agitation was now confused to see her attempt to relax.

"What's wrong?"

"There are old tales about monsters that have killed a lot of humans. It's said that you can feel their bloodlust from far away and for most that's the last thing you will ever sense. I thought they were just stories."

Samba looked over the monsters, clearly confused. "Do you feel... bloodlust?"

Alice nodded and gestured to the strange otter. "That one has spilled an enormous amount of blood."

Samba followed her gaze and then spat. "I'm not surprised," he growled.

That anger was a surprise. He rarely showed any emotion these days. She was just trying to decide how to probe for more information, but he surprisingly gave it without prompting.

"Kumo abandoned our clan. Left us as the humans stormed in to exterminate us and I had to guide our clan out on my own. She's a traitor as far as I'm concerned."

Part of Alice knew that Samba could be emotional and that his current state surely didn't help, but as she felt that murderous aura, it was hard to argue with his condemnation of her.

Nori approached Gi so both Alice and the Fighting Drake followed suit. When Gi noticed Alice approaching, he looked surprised to see her.

"I thought Tala was going to stay in Wavecrest." He spoke in the monster tongue, but his words drifted to her in Common.

"Your dragonfly told us that you were gathering people here. We weren't willing to wait out the fight to come."

Gi nodded. "I see. You've given more than you ever should have, and yet, you still give more. Thank you."

Two of the masked kobolds moved forward from the crowd and flanked Gi on each side. He turned to the two of them.

"What are you doing?"

They responded in the Monster tongue which did not translate, but it was a simple response that she understood. "We were told to guard you."

They stared at her as they said it. It annoyed her that they thought she was untrustworthy after that murderer Tiria had come into her home and-

Alice took a deep breath. She needed to be a leader - not a grieving widow.

Gi looked like he was considering arguing with the masked kobolds, but instead, turned to the Fighting Drake. "Versha, can you have someone fly north along the forest's ridge? I don't expect any demons out there, but I don't want to be surprised either. A day out should be good enough."

The Fighting Drake bowed. I will see it done, Returner.

Versha flew off to go see to his commands. Nori, the goblin chieftain, was the next to speak.

"I'm surprised you overtook me after I finished the Child Stage first."

"Nori," Gi said. "At the time, it felt like we were fighting over limited resources, but now, I really appreciate that you were there. I hope we can continue to work together in the future."

"Yeah, yeah, don't get fucking sappy on me. Tiria said you're building an army to kill demons and nobody kills demons without me." Alice didn't know all the words that Nori used, but that was her best guess.

She and Gi exchanged a few more words, but as Kumo stepped towards her, the bloodlust peaked. Alice, who'd been trying to act casual, pulled her axe between the two of them.

Alice's cultivation had taken leaps forward in just the short time since Mark's passing, but there was no way that she'd be a match for this monster in front of her.

"Samba," Kumo growled. To Alice's ears, it sounded like a threat. Would Gi interfere if things came to blows?

Samba spat again, but didn't respond.

"You're hanging around humans now? Anything other than your own clan I suppose."

"Don't act like you care about the clan now after you abandoned us," Samba said. The anger in his voice was thick and Alice decided that if things went to blows that she didn't want to be between the two.

She took a step to the side. Just as Gi looked over at them.

"We're all on the same side," Gi said. Samba's fur bristled, his words doing nothing to stem her friend's anger, but Kumo did back down.

"I just came over to tell you that Wane was healed - by our Progenitor. Not that you care."

Kumo turned back to her people with the ill looking Wane still looped over her arm. Samba didn't respond, but she suspected that Wane's health mattered more than he showed now.

Wane's death was one that he often laid at the feet of his Progenitor. Alice couldn't help but study Gi.

The monster before her seemed to radiate goodness. All of his words were thick with a sense of fate and divinity for lack of a better word.

If that appearance was true, why did Samba hate him so? How had his clan broken so much between Samba and Kumo?

As first the wife to a leader and now a leader in her own right, she understood that things were often more complicated than they appeared, but the dissonance left her confused.

If it wasn't for the presence of the demons, Alice would march her people straight back to Wavecrest, but they weren't strong enough on their own and whatever type of person Gi was, he truly seemed to be their only hope.

Gi sighed. "The Thousand Island Kingdom should arrive in two days. Things will only get more complicated then. Let's not forget who the real enemy is."

There were murmurs of assent at his proclamation, but Alice hadn't realized that there would be more humans in this volatile mix. Providing a better balance between humans and monsters was good, but her people were basically joined with Samba's clan at this point.

She'd need to be careful.

"Come on, Samba. Let's go talk to Tala."