“And then I stopped carrying him as I did with you and gave him to Fenik,” Kenneth finished.

  “That sound like a fun ending to it all,” Nya said in a tone that sounded like she was only half listening.

  “Are you okay, Nya?” Kenneth asked a little worried something might be wrong.

  “It… it’s nothing. I just have a lot to think about,” Nya responded dismissively.

  “Please tell me if something is wrong. I might be able to help,” Kenneth insisted. “I noticed you seemed a little off halfway through my retelling.”

  “It was just your story that reminded me of my grandfather,” Nya sighed as she lowered her head, ears, and tail.

  “How so?” Kenneth asked, confused.

  “A long time ago, my grandfather was the only survivor of the fiercest battles he was ever a part of,” Nya started. “He, as well as other accomplished fighters, were out searching for our hunters who had gone missing.”

  “They found them rather soon in their search or what was left of them,” she said as her voice became colder.

  “My grandfather had seen countless battles killed countless heretics and seen more of his subordinates die than any other I know, so when I tell you, the sight shocked him to his very core. Believe me. It was horrific.”

  “My grandfather never told me much, but what he did tell me was enough to make my blood run cold,” Nya said as her eyes became unfocused and glassy.

  “Bodies twisted and mangled, forced to bend in unnatural angles. One’s stomach was cut open, and they hung from a tree, their own organs used as rope, as well as missing feet and hands.”

  “Another had been skinned and had their eyes ripped out,” Nya said somberly. “He never told us much more than that, but I knew something more had happened. And the thing that still plagues me to this day is.”

  “What was so disgusting and bone-chillingly terrifying he would tell us about the two first but not everyone else.”

  “That sounds---"

  “Then it happened,” Nya interrupted. “While everyone was in shock over the sight, my grandfather heard something fall, and when he and everyone else looked to where the sound came from, all they saw was one of the guards lying on the ground, the headless body still twitching.”

  “Worst of all, the head was floating in the air, blood still leaking from her neck.”

  Kenneth felt as if his heart was suddenly trying to exit his throat once he heard that as Nya uninterruptedly continued.

  “Everyone knew they were in danger and had drawn their weapons just as the head came flying with such force it knocked my grandfather to the ground.”

  Nya then sighed as she crossed her arms. “All my grandfather told me after that. Was that it was chaos.”

  “People getting their weapons knocked out of their hands without ever seeing who was there and blood and guts spilling everywhere.”

  “My grandfather fought as hard as he could, but they never saw their enemy or even managed to wound one. And so, knowing the fight was unwinnable, he ordered a retreat.”

  “That day, my grandfather was the only one to return wounded and near death. The healer at the time passed out three times before my grandfather was back on his feet.”

  She then fell silent and closed her eyes.

  Kenneth watched for a time, unsure of what to do. He felt the urge to ask for more information, but in the end, he didn’t. He only joined her in silence.

  It went on for some time, but she eventually opened her eyes again and uncrossed her arms before she spoke. “Thank you for making it back and telling me this story. I always knew he wasn’t mad.”

  “But to think that it was those brutish heretics who shamed my grandfather and killed my mate,” Nya growled, her words filled with a primal rage Kenneth had never seen before, even in their first meeting.

  That time her actions had been more out of desperation than pure malice. “Umm, Nya, are you---”

  Nya then turned her gaze toward Kenneth, her primary anger shocking Kenneth a little. However, it quickly receded, and she returned to her more calm self.

  “I didn’t mean to frighten you,” Nya said as she lowered her gaze once more.

  “It was just shocking seeing you like that,” Kenneth reassured her. “It's the first time I’ve ever seen you like that. So angry.”

  “I suppose it takes a lot to make me angry these days when you’ve lost everything,” Nya chuckled in a sad tone of voice. “So, what rumors have you heard about the mad coward Cyrus?”

  “I believe you mistake me with someone who actually talks with the people in this outpost without them insulting me or being scared of me,” Kenneth replied in an emotionless tone.

  “So you haven’t heard about him?” Nya asked in a slightly lighter tone than before. “I always know when people hear my name, they think of my grandfather, and I know they mock him and me.”

  “Was your grandfather called mad because he believed the Noks were ghosts?” Kenneth asked.

  “Yes, if you are telling the truth, then my grandfather wasn’t as mad as they called him,” Nya sighed somberly.

  “What do you mean, as mad?” Kenneth asked.

  “I… I don’t want to talk about it,” Nya somberly responded.

  “I understand. Sometimes it’s not easy to talk about the people you love,” Kenneth said understandingly. “I remember when I was younger and the times we visited my grandfather and his wife.”

  Nya then slowly looked up and watched as Kenneth continued. “He always looked so frail and weak, so I was always scared I would hurt him if I hugged too hard.”

  “I never completely lost that fear as the years passed by, and I became more scared the stronger I got. But at the end of the day, I never hurt him or his wife.”

  “Why did you suddenly start to talk about your own grandfather?” Nya asked in a calm voice.

  “I don’t know,” Kenneth answered. “You just talked about yours, and it made it hard not to think about all the good times with mine. I’m sorry if it bothers you.”

  “No. In truth, I’ve talked more about my family than yours,” Nya softly responded. “All that I know about you is that you have children and probably a mate.”

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  At the mention of that, Kenneth fell silent, and the memories of all he had left behind began to resurface once more.

  “Are you okay,” Nya asked, a little concerned.

  “It's okay; I was just reminded of…” Kenneth said before trailing off.

  “I… I see,” Nya said in an understanding tone. “We don’t need to talk more about all that.”

  “No, I think it would be good,” Kenneth said as he felt his heart pumping. “Sometimes I feel like I’m sinking. Becoming a different person little by little. It might be good to remember the good old times before all of this.”

  “If you want, we can talk more about families then,” Nya responded.

  “I would like that,” Kenneth responded before he started once more.

  “I still remember the time when I was so little and used to sleep in my parent's bed with me in the middle,” Kenneth said as a small smile began to appear. “In those times, I felt safe. As if none of the monsters could ever get me.”

  “Monsters?” Nya questioned.

  “They used to read me stories, but one scared me for so long I would always imagine that it would crawl out from under the bed and drag me away,” Kenneth explained. “It was only a child's imagination, but at the time, it seemed like all that mattered.”

  Kenneth then shook his head and got back on track.

  “One thing I loved about my father is that he would never let me win or make things too easy for me,” Kenneth chuckled. “Whenever we played games, he would never let me win. If I wanted it, I had to earn it.”

  “He often made me work hard when I was young. Helping to build and other such stuff. It was hard work, but I became stronger because of it.”

  “Was your father a builder?” Nya questioned, confused, head-tilt.

  ‘How cute,’ Kenneth thought before answering. “Builder is a bit of a broad term for what he was. Personally, I would call him a workaholic, but you could call him a builder.”

  “But how could you become a healer then?” Nya asked. “If your father was a lowly builder, then how could you become a healer? Or at least the kind of healer you are.”

  “Well, he and my mother supported my decision, but I do understand your confusion,” Kenneth responded. “I suppose in these lands, the son has to become what the father is. Or am I wrong?”

  “No, the child is often born into the profession of their parent,” Nya explained.

  “We had that as well a century or two ago, but at least in the time I was born, the child was rarely expected to follow in the parent's footsteps. Thought that’s not to say some children could do everything,” Kenneth explained.

  “Your home sounds like dreams I once had,” Nya quietly chuckled. “What about your mother?”

  “Well, she…” Kenneth said, finding it a little hard to speak. “She was a kind but determined person. I remember when I couldn’t spell certain words; she would just force me to spell the word over and over again until I could do it without thinking.”

  “Unfortunately, she was a bit obsessive. Like my father, she would just work a lot. Cleaning and taking care of many, if not all, of the animals,” Kenneth said as he got a thousand-yard stare. “I would a times offer to help, but it wasn’t always she would say yes.”

  Kenneth then chuckled, remembering all the good times before he whispered, “I do still miss them.”

  “I’m kind of jealous, to be honest,” Nya somberly chuckled. “My parents never did anything like that. I can’t even remember the last time I felt their warmth.”

  “Do you miss them?” Kenneth calmly asked in a quiet voice.

  “I should, but I don’t,” Nya somberly answered. “They were never like yours. Never so loving. Never so kind.”

  “You told me yours might as well tell you a little about mine,” Nya sighed.

  “No, don’t--” Kenneth tried to say before Nya cut him off.

  “For the first ten years of my life, they were never there when I grew up; I thought I was doing the same thing they are to my children, so I understand why they did it.”

  “I heard stories of our family name and was filled with glee and excitement for when I would finally meet them; however, as you said, the imagination of a child does not matter,” Nya sighed as Kenneth watched her teeth slowly showing themselves.

  “Their only goal was to make me into a leader to succeed them once my grandfather and both of them died.”

  “They forced me to train day and night until I could do everything they asked of me, and when I couldn’t, they would withhold food.”

  “The starvation made me desperate and forced me to overcome every obstacle. I would have become who they wanted me to be if it wasn’t for Ulric,” Nya said, her chest filling with a warmth she hadn’t felt for some time.

  Kenneth just watched intently, too, enthralled to say or do anything.

  “He would, at times, sneak me some of his food, and because of that, I wasn’t so desperate to survive as I had been before.”

  He was my first… friend at the outpost and the only reason I didn't become the way my parents wanted me to be.”

  “Nya, I’m not sure I was meant to hear that,” Kenneth said, almost speechless. “Your past sounds worse than mine could ever be.”

  She just sat there silently for some time, not moving.

  “As a leader, I could never talk to anyone once my family died. That was over twenty summers ago. But I could always talk to Fashik,” Nya somberly told Kenneth. “He was always stronger than I could ever be.”

  “I suppose that was the reason why I fell in love with him,” Nya said as her eyes became unfocused, and she stopped talking.

  “Nya, do you--?” Kenneth was about to ask before he shut himself up and joined in her silence.

  ‘I shouldn’t pry, not now.’ Kenneth thought as he felt his heart beat slowly, becoming cold.

  Both of them just sat there in silence for a long time. Kenneth was unsure why Nya had talked so much about herself.

  ‘We bearly know one another, and she just told me some major-level friendship stuff,’ Kenneth wondered, asking himself. Why him?

  ‘Why not Ulric? She said they were friends,’ Kenneth tried to reason. ‘But then again, didn’t she once say he wasn’t the man she once knew.’

  ‘Perhaps something happened between them? Something that made them stop being friends and left me as the only one she could talk to,’ Kenneth thought as he began to feel strange all over his body, like something was wrong.

  “Is something wrong?” Nya suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

  Kenneth only managed to look up, feeling his heart suddenly beat a bit faster.

  “Wrong…” Kenneth blurted out. “Why do you think anything is wrong?”

  “You think I’m a pathetic vixen, don’t you?” Nya somberly sighed.

  “I would never think that,” Kenneth quickly responded, not knowing what vixen meant but knowing it probably wasn’t good.

  “Here I am, sitting with the closest thing I had to a midwife, talking about things a woman like me shouldn’t,” Nya sighed as she rested her body on the table and mumbled something Kenneth only half heard. “It was easier when I could get drunk a few times every passing summer.”

  “Nya, listen to me…” Kenneth said as he felt the next words he was about to say getting stuck and unable to come out as quickly as they should.

  “I know how you feel… and I understand that sometimes you just need someone to listen to you.”

  “How could you understand?” Nya asked her, still lying on the table.

  Kenneth paused for a moment, the word stinging him with memories of the past. Things he wished he had done differently and how so many things he wanted to do were now impossible.

  “You are right. I don’t understand,” Kenneth sighed. “Because I was never as strong as you are.”

  Nya then lifted her head a little off the table and looked at him, mildly confused, as she repeated the one word she heard. “Strong?”

  “I… I often wanted to talk to people about my problems, but I never could. Not like you did with me,” Kenneth said calmly in a sad tone. “But I wasn’t strong enough to do that. I just kept quiet for so long while the things I just wanted to say kept getting heavier and heavier.”

  “We both know you are stronger them me,” Nya somberly chuckled. “You’ve proven that time and time again.”

  “Perhaps physically, but emotionally I’m as fragile as brittle glass,” Kenneth sighed, lowering his gaze as he felt unable to look her in the eyes. “More times than I would like to admit, I’ve lost control over my emotions and….”

  “And I was close to doing things I never thought I was even cable of doing.”

  “You surprise me once more,” Nya said. “I never thought such a thing would be possible after all I’ve seen you do. I guess we are not too dissimilar then.”

  Both of them were then silent for a moment.

  “I never thought I’d live to say those words to anyone, not Aki,” Nya chuckled.

  “Well, sometimes life is strange,” Kenneth chuckled.

  “It can be on a rare occasion,” Nya said just as she stopped chucking.

  “Nya, if you ever need to talk to me again, you should know that you are still my patient, and anything you say, I have sworn an oath not to tell anyone,” Kenneth said, hoping it would help her.

  “Really?” Nya somewhat questioned.

  “Anything you say to me, I promise to take to the grave but in truth, not because of my oath, but because we are friends,” Kenneth said, finally feeling able to look her in his eyes.

  Nya then sat up, her tail swinging from side to side, “I-I-I-I appreciate it.”

  “Just one thing we might need to find a way to communicate silently,” Kenneth proposed. “You know that walls can have ears.”

  “Ohh, one of them,” Nya said in annoyance as she stood up and walked into the bedroom.

  Kenneth sat there confused for a moment before she came back out with her knife and a bucket.

  Kenneth looked at her confused as she sat down, placed the bucket on the table, and started to cut at the metal square ring thing.

  “Umm… what are you doing?” Kenneth asked.

  “I assume you know of someone who can hear more than most,” Nya responded as she began cutting harder, while Kenneth only nodded.

  “Well, I had one of those. I’m my outpost as well,” Nya said. “My mother, as you know, wasn’t someone I loved very much, but she did tell me of a way to make people like them stop listening.

  “By cutting metal with metal?” Kenneth said, a bit skeptical.

  “I don’t know how; all I know is its works,” Nya said nonchalantly. “I doubt whoever is listening to us will do so for much longer, if ever again.”

  Kenneth, with a shitfaced grin, chuckled after hearing this, and gleefully he said. “If you get tired, I can take over.”