The huts had withstood the rain, but not the snow, so they had gone back to the caves. It had not been so long, really, since they had lived in caves, and Quizlivan could remember hearing stories from his grandmother about what life had been like before people had figured out how to build huts.
It was much warmer, with the stone walls surrounding them on three sides, especially if one went deep enough, and the natural defenses held up much better under the weight of the snow, which had eventually crushed the huts. The cold hadn’t destroyed all the trees yet, so they did have a fire, though not much else, and it was here that the strange man with the eyes like the void between the stars sat.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” the man said as he stared into the fire, “None of this… should have happened. I did this. I did all of this.”
“Did you find anything?” Tototl asked as she piled more wood onto the fire.
“Nothing,” Kifat lamented, “There’s nothing left. The plants are dead and the animals are gone. We’re going to starve.”
“We’re not going to starve!” Ahnah growled, “They had to go somewhere! If we could find one dragon we could make it through the winter!”
“This winter will never end!” Kifat shook, “Don’t you see that? There’s nothing left! Our stores are gone! We’re going to starve! There’s nothing left to forage! We’re dead! We’re all dead and you won’t accept it!”
“Quizlivan?” Tototl asked Xaxac, “You’re the best tracker. Is there really nothing left?”
“I can’t find anything,” Xaxac told her, because it was true, “But… there’s got to be something. The whole world can’t be dead.”
He looked around the cave, at the stone walls flickering in the firelight and the people gathered there. They were huddled, against the cold, against the world, and he was not used to seeing people so thin, so haggard, was not used to seeing so many sleeping because they did not have the energy to remain awake.
He was hungry himself, and he felt spots coming into his eyes, but he caught himself before he swayed, held out his arms to steady himself, then rubbed away the spots.
“We all came back this time,” he said, “Nobody died this time. That has to mean something.”
“I’m sorry,” the strange man in the black cape said again, “God I… I wanted to save us… that’s all I…” He turned, and his black eyes stared at Xaxac, as if trying to see into his soul, “You’re hungry? You’re… primates, right?”
“We’re human,” Xaxac said, because he did not know what a primate was.
“Fruits… grains… nuts…” The man said as if speaking to himself, and threw back his cape to open a small bag he kept on his hip; it looked as if it was made of some sort of skin, but skins that had been worked in a way that Quizlivan was unfamiliar with. He dug around in it for a few minutes, then pulled out a strange fruit Xaxac had never seen before, but it had been so long since he had eaten he could smell the sugary sweetness of it.
“Here,” the man said and held it out, offering it to him.
Xaxac was starving. He had never felt the kind of hunger he felt right now, could barely process it. His world narrowed to the thing the man held and he reached out to take it. It was rounded as if it had a core, similar to an apple, so he grabbed it on either side of the dip, where the stem was, and broke it in half, then held out one half to whoever would take it. Ahnah took it, and together, they bit into the first thing they had tasted in days.
The man smiled at them, as if this was the first thing that had ever made him happy in his life, then reached back into the bag and began to pull things from it, more fruits of all different kinds, more than could possibly fit inside the bag.
“Xaxac!” Xac turned to the mouth of the cave, to see who was speaking to him, but he was no longer in a cave, he was standing outside again, as the waves lapped at the frozen shore, and the elf with the blue skin and hair the color of seafoam stood before him, with the cup at his feet.
Xaxac wasn’t hungry anymore.
“He was right,” Lapus said.
“Who?” Xac asked.
“Morgani,” Lapus explained, “Morgani Magnus was right. We were wrong.”
Stolen novel; please report.
“Rise and shine, Xaxac,” Lee said as he shook Xac, blinking, into the real world. He had spoken quietly, and Xaxac stared past him, at the sixty tiles on the ceiling, then turned slowly to look at the picture Alex had painted for him, of the demon Morgani Magnus, which he kept on his nightstand. He thought, not for the first time, that he should put it in a drawer or something, out of sight, unless Alex was visiting. He sat up and was shocked to see that Agalon was still sleeping peacefully on his side of the bed.
Lee must have taken in the confusion on his face because he said, “I want to get you shaved and presentable before I get him up. He had a rough trip. We all did. It’d do us all a world a good if you’d work your magic on him.”
“Did somethin happen last night?” Xac whispered as he stood, straightened out the clothes he had fallen asleep in, and moved to the watercloset to go through his morning routine.
“Everybody’s just wore out,” Lee explained, “Goin to the Capital takes it outta everybody.”
“Was Jimmy mad at me?” Xac asked. He had a vague recollection that they may have gotten into a fight, and he remembered that he had started a fight with Lee as well, once when he had been drunk. Maybe that’s why people didn’t lay drunk all the time. It did seem to create isolation, did seem to piss people off. Xac couldn’t afford to do that. He was already so alone.
“He’s just mad in general,” Lee assured him as Xaxac cleaned his teeth, and followed behind him as he went to the basin to refill it and wash his face, but it seemed Lee had already refilled it so he just scrubbed down and sat at the dressing table amongst the various tools of the trade Lee would use to shave him.
“Is everybody back?” Xac asked, “It was real lonesome here with everybody gone… I mean, I know I never see mama or Alley noways but I like to know they’re there.”
“Hush,” Lee said as he spread the cream he had whipped over his face, “Hold real still or you’ll get cut. This is a doozy… that comes in fast on you, don’t it boy?”
Xac stared at him instead of answering and Lee chucked.
“Good boy,” he said.
Xaxac stayed quiet and looked into the mirror as Lee tilted his face, scraping the hair from it in smooth, even strokes. He thought it odd that Lee was doing the shaving instead of forcing Xac to do it himself, because he could, he normally did. But he appreciated it, because the hangover was pounding behind his eyeballs and making his hands shake, and it would have made the process more difficult, almost impossible. But Lee was an expert; he moved quickly and efficiently, as he did with everything, and in less than a quarter of an hour he was drying the razor and Xaxac was wiping down, then moisturizing his face.
Xac collected all the various bowls and instruments and took them to the water closet to wash and dry them as Lee gently shook Agalon awake.
“Good morning, master,” he proclaimed, “I reckon you had you a good sleep?”
“Can you run and bring me my calendar?” Agalon asked, “I don’t… don’t even know what day it is… I gotta… Lord Thesis above he was in a bad way, wouldn’t he?”
“Who, master?” Lee asked, and Xac heard his voice shake as he set the bowls upside down on the counter on a towel.
“Lorry,” Agalon said as if it was obvious, “I didn’t know the boy was that bad.”
“A lotta young folks go a little hogwild when their parents are outta town,” Lee said, “He’s probably alright. Might be his last big hurrah before he has to leave.”
“Good morning, master!” Xac declared as he ran for the bed and threw his arms around Agalon.
“There’s my little Honey Bunny!” Agalon decreed and pulled him into his lap, “Don’t you look cute! This outfit’s adorable!”
“It’s stretchy!” Xac said and tugged the shirt away from his body, “And it’s so comfy! It moves when I do! I love it! Alex had one like it and he was so cute!”
“Your calendar, sir,” Lee said, and handed Agalon a book he had retrieved from the sitting room.
“God almighty,” Agalon said after he had opened it and stared at the squiggles in one particular square that seemed to interest him, “My team ain’t gonna be worth havin. I ain’t… I ain’t been trainin like I should, but all this… god lord I can’t miss another day out there but I can’t ignore my son and him leavin tomorrow.”
“Lorry’s leavin tomorrow?” Xac asked. He had always thought he would be overjoyed to have Lorsan out of the house, but he had been so kind to him while Agalon was away that now he thought he would miss him.
“Yeah, fall semester is startin up,” Agalon said, “I’m hopin he’ll come home for the mask festival but… he didn’t last year. I really wish he would. I’m havin a ball. Maybe I won’t even have it…”
He sighed, “They got that carnival in the capital. It ain’t that far. I mean, it ain’t that far from here. I guess it would be pretty far for some folks to travel… I can’t let the whole district down, can I? I guess we have to do it. Maybe he’ll come back home.”
“It’s a good ways off, sir,” Lee said.
“Alright much as I hate it, I’ve got to at least go check in with the fighters. The season starts this week and my bunch ain’t gonna be worth havin. Get off my lap, Honey Bunny, I gotta get ready. Go get your face on.” His actions betrayed his words, because he did not stop playing with Xac’s hair and instead continued, “This is gettin so long… I didn’t realize it was gonna grow out instead’a down. Lee, once you get done with me see if you can’t pull it back. It’s so cute. So soft… lord, Xac, thank god I got somethin like you to come home to.”
Xaxac giggled and snuggled into his chest.
“You do gotta get up, though,” Agalon said as if the concept broke his heart, “We got a lot to do today.”
“Yes master,” Xaxac sighed, stood, and walked to his nightstand to pick up the glass of wine Lee had brought up with his breakfast, and thought of how nice it was to have his mama back in the kitchen. He liked being able to trust his food.