Taira may have no qualms against Fa’ars, but her mother certainly did.

When the trio returned the Vulpin back to her mother, she coldly stared at the Fa'ar kid, who had been comforting Taira throughout the journey through the desert. Taira herself wanted to know the Fa’ar more but was unable to due to his muteness. Her mother, seeing this, was going to protest when Taira returned to her and her, causing her to momentarily forget about the Fa'ar and was elated to see her daughter safe and sound. After the initial happiness died down, she returned to her cold stare towards the kid.

Jacques, who noticed this, walked into the Gusara matriarch’s view, and said, “Good thing we found her breathing. She was among the dead bodies of DeCroce’s previous victims.”

“And him? How about him?”

“Dust. Nothing left of him. I made sure of it myself.”

“Good.” The mother let out a sad sigh. “I don’t know what the other mothers would think, now that they know the fate of their daughters. In fact, I’m not sure if they ever know, or whether you have time to track them down. I…must admit that I almost gave up on Taira. But for once, I wanted to keep up hope. Guess I was right.”

“You and me both.”

There was a long, uncomfortable silence between the two before the mother said, “I’m…grateful for your help. I really do. But—”

“Don’t worry. We won’t demand anything from you,” said Jacques. “It’s our loss. At least it’s not yours. In any case, it will take a while before she grows back her fur. Winter around this part is brutal, even for me. Help her heal.”

“I will,” said the mother. She was going to say something she wanted to say before Jacques interrupted her, but when the Loup stared at her, she realized that he knew what she was going to say. She looked away and said, “Thank you. I’m—”

“Be safe,” said Jacques. He then turned around, facing his friends, and said, “Let’s go.”

The mother was left to contemplate as she saw how happy the Fa’ar accompanying the two was. He felt so different from the ones she met before. In fact, she never knew a Loup-Garou would subtly protect him.

Taira waved them goodbye, just before the mother asked her to come inside for a shower. She closed the door behind her as she looked at the trio. They never turned around.

Somehow, despite her reservations, she felt regret.

***

Jacques had known Taira’s mother's stance on the Fa’ar ever since they both discussed about Taira. The kid might’ve noticed it, too, so the Loup spared the hate by keeping things short and formal.

“You could’ve asked for some compensation,” said Raine when they reached the office. “Some travel money would do.”

“We’ll take another job,” said Jacques. “If there are any.”

Fortunately for them, there were no one to claim the bounty for the other criminals, so they decided to simply take another one after declaring that Armon DeCroce was dead, with Jacques going so far as to give his ashes to the sheriff, telling the fellow Loup to either believe him or not. As per the rules, the sheriff could not give the trio the bounty without seeing the bodies, but he believed the Loup, supported by the safe return of Taira Gusara to her family.

This time, the bounty was far more straightforward. The one they chose was a small-time bandit who frequented some of the towns in the area. His gang was no match for the three, though this time the Fa’ar kid was the one that claimed the most deaths by throwing a grenade right in the middle of their camp. The leader, their target, was not among them, which was something they hoped for. Thus, with little effort, they captured the target, got their bounties, and be on their way, off to find some better opportunities in places frequented by criminals.

Along the way, Jacques kept looking at the Fa’ar kid. His fearless actions and refusal to abandon him made him respect the young rat person. Before, he only saw him as an extra mouth to feed, insisted upon him by Raine, who was also the person with the idea of them as a team. He only took him in because of feeling guilty for almost subjecting him to a torture worse than death, and his reluctance to end his life when he knew this. Now, his opinion started to change. The Fa’ar might not represent most of his kind, who Jacques had always known to be full of deceit and lies.

Still, he wished he could hear the Fa’ar speak his mind. His muteness started to frustrate the Loup as he clearly did not understand what the mute Fa’ar was trying to tell with his erratic gestures. In dangerous situations where his voice would be their only way to survive, he would certainly be useless. Jacques would have to assume that he was still working alone since the Fa’ar might not be able to warn him, or when Raine was incapacitated.

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As for Raine, their job together was the first time they ever did things together. Once before, they targeted the same bounty, only to become involved in a rivalry that became a fight, during which Jacques learned about Raine’s counter sword and Raine learning about his gunslinger magic skills, both of which were considered rare and unusual, but nevertheless very useful in a world ravaged by magic. Then the Fa’ar kid, whose name they still did not know yet, was good with junks and scraps, and that’s a good skill to have, as junks and scraps were everywhere, providing the kid with an almost limitless amount of improvised weapons that proved deadly enough. For them, the kid was unusual. In fact, all of them were.

Too bad that skill would not make bullets. He could create improvised weapons if he wanted to, but not bullets. At least he wasn’t going to be entirely useless, especially not after he took care of more people than both Jacques and Raine ever did in their bounty hunting career. He wondered how he managed to find the parts to make grenades.

Guess Fa’ars have their own secrets, thought Jacques as he watched the kid. He noticed that he was building something from the scraps he gathered, but it was too early to tell. So, the Loup just leave the Fa’ar be and sat next to Raine by the fire. They had just turned in two bounties ever since DeCroce and found a chance to take a well-needed rest. Jacques never thought he would ever consider working alongside the cat-eared human after what happened on their first meeting. Then again, it was Raine’s idea. Jacques was not going to go with it, but after several successful hunts, he started to reconsider his earlier stance.

As the wolf man walked by Raine and sat beside him, the human gave him a bottle of beer. Jacques wondered where he got some but concluded that he might’ve bought some from the haven they took a job from. He took it and took a gulp. It was quite bitter.

“You know,” said Raine. “I never thought you and I can work so well together. I was expecting something more confrontational, like you don’t care if the target’s dead or not and I’m insistent on delivering them alive. Something like that.”

“I never thought I’d even consider a partnership,” said Jacques. “But here we are, drinking a beer under the night sky in the middle of nowhere.”

“With some noises from our Fa’ar friend,” added Raine. “How’s he?”

“Better than when I first met him,” said Jacques. “Though at this point, I’m not sure if he’ll ever be able to speak.”

“Guess we better learn some sign language and teach him how to sign,” said Raine with some jest.

“Or write. I don’t know how he managed to make those contraptions without writing down anything. Anyone who learned a bit of magic must’ve had some notes somewhere.”

“Nah. He’s a prodigy. They have it all written inside their heads. We just happen to strike gold with the kid.”

“We are, aren’t we?”

They took another gulp at the beer before sitting in silence in front of the campfire. It did not take long for Raine to start again.

“I’m…do you think this is going to last?”

“What?”

“This…bounty hunting business. Do you think it’s time to start considering something less risky? Maybe we can start a farm and make life easier. No more seeing dead bodies. No more verbal abuses or taunts. We may have the skills to survive, but for how long? Someday, we’d just be like those we hunted down.”

“And you think we have any other skills that isn’t combat-related? Farming isn’t as easy as it sounds, you know. I know you’re tired of it, but this is the world we lived in. It stayed around as ruins to remind us of what we can’t have.”

“Hey. A man can dream, right? But if you don’t like farming, maybe hunting for meat would suit you. I know you’d say, ‘the beasts out here are dangerous and contaminated’. Again, it’s a matter on whether you want to do it or not.” When Raine saw that Jacques looked disinterested, he said, “Jacques, come on. It’s much better than doing this until we die young. This wasteland’s not that bad, not like the Nuremnian ground zero.”

“That’s like comparing night and day. Can’t you compare it with something less extreme?"

“That’s the point. We’re far from Aether, and there are plenty of overgrown places. This place is not as lifeless as many within the havens claimed. We still have a chance. If we got ourselves a trouble, then we can rely on our skills. So, what do you say?”

“We still need to save up more than what we have right now,” said Jacques. “But…I guess it’s not a bad idea.”

“Right?”

Jacques could only smile at Raine’s optimism. He came out as annoying at times, but he was a well-intentioned man. It could be due to his privileged upbringing, but with none of the high society values that would certainly make him less than he was. There wasn’t a lot of haven-raised people out in the wasteland, after all.

Raine finished drinking his beer and, with a groan, said, “Gonna crash in. I’ll tell the kid to sleep, too.”

“Yeah,” said Jacques, as he stayed by the campfire, beginning his first watch. Soon, the clinking noises were gone. The kid decided to go to sleep, presumably by Raine’s suggestion.

The quiet, uneventful night near the ruins of an abandoned barn, accompanied by the noise of occasional cracks from the fire, gave Jacques a chance to contemplate on the future. Raine already had the right idea; there was no reason continuing to risk himself unless he had a death wish, or a reason. Jacques’s reason for going on, however, was mostly the latter. He was already aware that his life was already set when he earned his first kill. He, like many wastelanders that populated the still recovering world, had unfinished business.

It was a shame that he had to disguise it as a ‘wise’ choice. Armon DeCroce was always his target. He had struck that name off his list. It was merely a coincidence that DeCroce was causing trouble. The wiser of them would not even bother drawing attention to themselves.

But they had names, and those names were posted on wanted boards in many settlements. Jacques did not want Raine or the kid to notice, but the Loup knew they were smart enough to eventually realize it.

He really should refuse the partnership and leave. That would spare him from the questions. But would that be wise? His targets were not the kinds of people who would be considered ‘small-timers’. DeCroce was a serial kidnapper/killer that managed to start a cult. They only managed to stop him because the cult was small and DeCroce was desperate. The others might not be that easy to deal with. He began to realize how risky his business was when he struggled to deal with his previous targets.

With a sigh, Jacques accepted that it would be foolish to assume it would become easier. He needed the partnership, and he needed them to believe he made the best choice out of all the bounties posted on the wall. He would inevitably reveal his true goal, whether he was forced to do so or by his own volition.

Maybe by then, Jacques would already have made peace with himself.