“AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!”

  Kolu could still remember that moment when he’d first laid eyes on a real heretic again. He was so angry, and his body felt like it had been pressed from all around in a way he couldn’t describe.

  All he knew was he had been the one to bring that heretic to its knees. And yet he didn’t know how. Father… had at times told stories of our house that we hadn’t always been the lowest of the top, that we had possessed might that could have brought foes to their knees, yet that it had been lost because of love.

  “awoh,” his was now small, nothing now, and he didn’t understand why.

  Why had it happened, or why couldn’t he again? Each time he had looked up at that monster that kept him bound, anger almost inflicted him with madness. But still, his howls were nothing.

  Why, why wouldn't it happen again? Did the gods only answer his prayer of vengeance once, or was it not only anger he felt? When looking at that monster, he could feel his tail go down, not much, but somewhat.

  And that feeling slowly grew as he was chained in a dark, hot place filled with fellow Aki all having their pride stripped, one traitor, and Sil heretics. Before long, his rage that had burned so brightly ebbed and became a dwindling light threatened by cold, as cries and screams echoed so loudly, blocking his ears did little.

  However, the silence was somehow worse, yet rarely disturbed, only in hushed conversations. One of them, he had heard about the master, a monster among monsters, one he, by the mercy of the gods, never saw or smelled.

  When Kenneth finally came and said he’d take him with him, he felt happy and sad, everything all at once, and he reached out and grabbed hold of him, terrified of being let go of.

  Yet he could not have seen how much Kenneth had changed in that short time. Healing the heretics, under force, was… one thing, but the more he watched in that hot underground, he seemed…

  ‘Why do you enjoy this? They are heretics.’ The question was one he asked, repeating in his head, but he couldn’t muster the courage to say out loud, as hate began to grow.

  He would barely talk; he wanted him to hurt like it did for him when he saw him heal, so when Kenneth told him he would leave, he simply asked, “Will you leave like father?”

  Kolu knew it would hurt him; that was why he asked it… right?

  The silence when he was gone was so strong and loud. It wasn’t all of the heretics watching him, only one at a time, but each one was so ugly. He wanted to make them uglier, cut them with his claws. They itched as he walked up to the one watching him, his tail rising, but he couldn’t do it. Each time one of them would take notice of him or reach out. He… ran away like a coward, not a warrior, not a true royal.

  When Kenneth came back wet, he was happy to see him. He had missed him. But later, when he thought he was asleep, Kolu saw and heard him healing the heretics, all of them as they enjoyed it. He felt like growling and biting, but what good would that do?

  He could only watch, bearing through the heat and anger. Kenneth was there, he did pay attention, and he did play games, but what good were they?

  He still spent most of his time listening to conversations; he could only guess what they were about and wait for when Kenneth was done, though even so, at one time, something different happened when he was tired and annoyed, he was taken to that big building into a room.

  There were so many drawings, so many he’d never seen before, that had him unable to look away. He even forgot about the heat as he looked at the pictures of Sil. He knew how they looked, but to see so close and even below it was so interesting.

  Truthfully, he’d almost forgotten how much he wanted to be around heretics and wanted to see more of them, and it was this heretic, Nokoovo, who must feel the same.

  Drawing after drawing, he watched until he found some that stood out. One’s drawn worse than many others, with bloated shapes, of a children coming out of eggs, crying, and another one with a crying child being taken, and a third of the child following two bigger heretics, with their backs turned, and one final one with that child and… and a boy…

  It looked like him and Nokstella, but it was old, very old, and still it had him affixed, wondering differently about it for a moment as he remembered not only the bad times but also the fun times.

  He didn’t like them and kept watching the other drawings, happy enough to see them. He was happy, right? His tail was wagging; he could feel it, so why was he also a little sad?

  He stayed there thinking for a moment, but it was only a moment as they moved on, as they always did.

  Disgusted, he was forced to be around the heretics, the monsters, and couldn’t… wouldn’t do anything as he saw them gorge themselves like filthy beasts. Truly fitting.

  He hated being around them, but bore with it, staying close to Kenneth and keeping himself in control, but even he had a hard time when Nokstella was mentioned, that little heretic, that monster. The only monster he stood a chance against.

  Little by little, all of it began to wear on Kolu. He was always angry, always afraid, always worried, but as he awoke to shouting and the blue Split tail heretic coming in carrying Kenneth, he froze.

  ‘Had he fallen, had he… no, no, Kenneth can’t be hurt, he… beat a royal,’ truly, the idea of Kenneth dying had never once crossed Kolu’s mind. He had thought him invincible, able to get through any danger unhurt, but as he saw him slumped over, and loudly breathing, like… father…

  His eyes moistened, and what anger he’d felt turned to sadness and worry, as he stayed by his side, never once leaving.

  ‘Kenneth, is like everyone,’ that was the conclusion he reached. While he’d never said it, Kolu had believed in some manner Kenneth was a fantastical creature, like from the stories, but now he saw he wasn’t. He saw that he… might become like his father too.

  That worry was what replaced his anger now, as he stayed even closer to Kenneth, talking more to him. He wouldn’t want the same to happen; he wanted to be with him. For that reason, he didn’t mind staying awake to be certain he was safe.

  He especially loved getting the chance to bathe, and chose to trust Kenneth when teaching him how to swim, doing something he had thought impossible. For the first time in a long time, he felt happy, for a moment.

  But as he came face to face with her, that same anger came back. She was one of them, a heretic, a monster. One of the ones that killed his father.

  She looked at him, and he could feel his tail raise and claws come out.

  Kolu looked to Kenneth. He wasn’t a heretic; he was kind, and that’s why he knew he would stop him from getting revenge. He couldn’t show it. Not all of it. He had to bite his time and…”

  Nokstella walked closer.

  Kolu focused his gaze on her, and with each step she drew closer, his claws came more out, and his fangs began to show. He spread his arms ready to strike and then…

  She hugged him.

  ‘What…? Why…?’ Kulo wondered in confusion. he’d been ready to attack, but she was hugging him, rubbing against his fur.

  “Miss you,” she said to him, understanding every word.

  ‘Attack, attack,’ he told himself, yet he couldn’t bring himself to.

  Looking at her now from above, being this close to her, all he could remember wasn't his father dying or cruel heretics, but only a little girl he’d wanted to see closer, one who cowered in fear of Sleecies outside.

  And like that time, he felt a feeling guide him, one that let him hug her back and say. “Sorry.”

  With a heavy sigh, he felt himself give up as he leaned back and fell onto the floor, Nokstella holding onto his dangling body for a moment before falling on top of him.

  With her big eyes, she looked at him as he let out another sigh. She got off him and sat beside him. “You sleep?”

  “No, I not sleep,” he replied for a moment, speaking as simply as her, before sitting up and for a moment looking her in her eyes.

  The claw marks on her snout were gone. No sign of it. Kolu looked down and tugged his knees against his chest, sitting in silence.

  But then he felt something tickle his ear, and he flexed it, then it was the other ear, and then he knew what it was that had tickled them both as Nokstella’s finger came into his sight and stopped at the end of his snout, almost touching his black nose.

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  He let her gaze and she asked, “You obay?”

  ‘Okay…?’ The word echoed as he remembered Kenneth using it along with other strange words, but even so, he knew the meaning. She was asking if he was well, if he’d gotten over seeing his father getting killed. He didn’t feel the same toward her as before, but… “no…”

  “Game?” She asked, happily jumping a little while sitting.

  He looked at her for a moment, his head resting on his knees, but on the right, he reached out with his claw and drew lines on the stone, so they could play Tic-Tac-Toe.

  As they played, Kolu could hear Kenneth and the other woman talking.

  “Where… no, I mean, why did you bring her here?”

  “Oka bokli una. Onw ume lok belin ni rob hue oka yent lib eíe onay oib. Lo e kilb woto, yoholok ben okma ebbel oke oka cokbalin, unna hok nab mo oau loma, oka nika mli okani e lim trboka lih.”

  “I thought I had to be trusted. And FYI, you do know that’s called child abduction, then again, I’ve seen how you get children, so I can say I’m so surprised.”

  “E nibil oua, wan oke’s lobo oka.”

  “…I’m happy to hear that, but what about your mother? I doubt she’ll stand for this.”

  “Onekan onbka onone rabe onep une okan oun, oka’d on keraken oua oknoli oua nokak ine. Oka’d ik okauj, oka unek planokli una okani.”

  “Reasons, huh… How many laws are there? Don’t want to get exiled like some others, for saying or doing the wrong thing. I highly doubt it won’t happen given my luck.”

  “AK ine unae unble ohkile oshe e lebi unkie uttetnti ohkani.”

  “Elitism at work with a side of barberrism, but that aside, what are these rules?”

  “Bokko helob, out mend oofla, ona’t trobm oh oua ib oha unkun, oug’t nobaliba onh onkoku.”

  “So let them hatch on their own, let them choose on their own, don’t influence the choice, and don't dishonor this choice. But hasn’t your mother already broken that law when removing her from? And what does that last one even mean?”

  “Ob noklib e nonob ewlb in trobal ug froblab ounit.”

  “…I see. Good… to know I haven’t broken any rules then. And as for the third, I wouldn’t have imagined the rules were up for interpretation, but oh well. So, how did the caretaker react to you taking her?”

  With a decisive choice, Nokstella got three in a row, winning, with Kolu drawing a line connecting all. He didn’t care much about losing, but still drew up another game.

  “A okokn’l huon, A unno oka groba onkanilily tro sobnolik.”

  “Well, that's great, and not worrisome for her at all,” Kenneth said, getting up and walking over to them. “Sorry to interrupt the game, but we have to go down. I’m sure the one who’s been taking care of you, Nokstella, must be worried sick.”

  “NO,” she hissed, huffing, crossing her arms, and turning her head. “Women, men, bad. Never let go. Stop when want find Papa. Say me wrong, say kind lady, not kind.”

  ‘She’s been trying to get to him all this time,’ Kolu thought. ‘Maybe she should have been here instead of me.’

  “Come now, Nokstella, I’m sure they are worried about you; they at least should know,” Kenneth calmly argued.

  However, she leaped over to him and clung on tightly like… the child she was, “NO! I no want leave Papa!”

  “Come now, Nokstella,” Kenneth said sweetly, comforting her like… a father. “No one will take you, didn’t you hear? It would mean they break the third law, and they can’t.”

  She looked up, “Really.”

  “Don’t be scared, no one will take you.”

  She looked at Kenneth and darkened, rubbing up against his chest, with her mouth open.

  ‘Kids are so easy to make happy,’ Kolu thought while they left.

  With Nokstella here, Kenneth again carried her. No, she refused to be taken anywhere any other way, hugging Kenneth.

  It was annoying to watch and listen to. Kolu had always walked close to Kenneth, scared of the heretics trying anything if he was too far away, but now he walked closer, taking his hand.

  Kenneth looked at him and squeezed back, holding his hand tightly.

  It was so annoying that he had to grab his tail and keep it still. That was all before they entered the hot below. It was unbearable, and he already wanted his bucket with water.

  At least the streets down here weren't as littered with heretics as they always were, and no one came up talking to Kenneth. Anyone around actually avoided them.

  ‘They really don’t like one of their own,’ Kolu thought, glancing at Nokoovo.

  It wasn’t much of this strange place Kolu had seen, not that he cared much for it, but he did turn his head at a giant bath with some heretics swimming so effortlessly. ‘Could I swim like that?’

  It was a question he had begun to ask. One that he never thought he would. So many times, stories were always told of the monsters under the water that you couldn’t see, but he was always interested in seeing if he could.

  It wasn’t long before they arrived near the end of the wall, where a larger, pointed stone building was. It stood mostly on its own lonesome, and there was a big heretic standing out in front.

  However, the moment the big one noticed them, it rushed over, “Oknok onv nuo?”

  The heretic woman reached for Nokstella, and the quick approach was unnerving, making Kolu’s claws come out as Kenneth stepped back. “Wow, there! No need for that.”

  She calmed slightly and stepped back while looking at Nokoovo, “A om unban oka nobalok oen kono, kon mo utp non noka, nij waane ob foboun.”

  “I understand why you want her to come with you, and I’m thankful that you’ve looked after her all this time, but I just came by to let you know there’s no need for a search,” Kenneth explained. “She's right here, and she doesn’t want to leave.”

  The heretic woman stepped in an arc around closer to Kenneth, avoiding Nokoovo as she pricked his chest, “B ohu’t yeta ib unak ko! Sob hoklilkolnk, uno hob konobi tra oblikanika! Ono lok fro jo, u’kk troe nou!”

  With that big body, the heretic probably always got its way with smaller creatures, as it looked intent on not letting Kenneth go.

  It was worrisome, but Nokoovo seemed ready to intervene, walking right up to the heretic unfazed as she got between it and Kenneth.“Oflebb uhe nata ob el tokaknok tob gokok tok, hel’d ujki fold niki.”

  The heretic woman recoiled for a moment, then put up her arms, looking like she would fight. “B tro’b ohli yeb ij’s onla, onk’s fobola hoka.”

  Nokoovo paused, then she opened her mouth and walked up to the woman, “ikab okab tob foba woabe.”

  “Woah, woah, woah, no need for that,” Kenneth quickly interjected, putting down Nokstella and letting go of his hand as he got between them, trying to calm them down.

  Nokstella tried to stay close to Kenneth as he stepped back and forth, but that way, she’d get hurt, so he took her hand, walked a bit away, and told her, “Don’t be dumb.”

  She suddenly stopped, and as he looked back to see what was going on, she had a strange expression, then she tightly closed her hand around his and dragged him over to the big building.

  “What are you doing?” Kolu protested as he found her grip incredibly firm.

  “Show them,” she replied.

  Kolu looked back at Kenneth, but he hadn’t noticed anything; he was still focused on the fight that was about to happen. So reluctantly, he was forced to go with her.

  Inside the building, there were many rooms, most leading to the side and down, with only one going up, though he had barely enough time to look before Nokstella dragged him to the side with a room filled with shouting, and as he entered, heretics.

  ‘Did she want to show me off?’ Kolu wondered as one by one all of the heretics' kids looked at him and Nokstella, crowding around them. They were all different sizes, all different colors, but two things were the same between them: their eyes and open mouths.

  Kolu’s tail felt limp as he stepped back, but she still held his hand and stepped forward, pulling him along, “Yoba ok Kolu, uoa ib toba b unko ooh ifbaly.”

  She spoke in her heretic tongue. He didn’t know she could; he only thought she spoke the slave tongue, an improper, yet more refined and dignified, tongue a heretic might learn.

  “E heretic!”

  “E Weakie!”

  “E oomal uub!”

  “A’bo ohjue hoko uoa poplep!”

  “Ob kooks e yettfe okoa uoa robola Nokulf roro.”

  There was so much noise. Kolu didn’t know if they were talking or all hissing. He wanted to leave. He didn’t like it, all those eyes everywhere. They would probably tear him apart.

  But then Nokstella pulled a Kolu and looked him in the eyes. Unlike him, she didn’t look worried. Easy for her to be. But even so, even reluctantly so, he decided to trust her and stepped closer.

  A couple stepped forward and walked up to Kolu.

  “They want to see,” she said, trying to explain.

  But see and feel were two different words, as all of them began to touch his fur. He tolerated his hands, he tolerated his feet, he even tolerated his tail and ears, but tugging on his whiskers was where he drew the line.

  His claws came out, and his fangs were bare.

  For a moment, he could see fear, but then he also saw Nokstella, who not for a moment looked worried. Naively, perhaps she truly trusted him still, even after what he’d done.

  Regardless, it left a bad taste in his mouth as he simply shook the hands from his body and stepped away.

  All of them continued to stare at him, a few still reaching with their hands, but then suddenly, from out of nowhere, a rock came flying, hitting him in the nose and drawing blood.

  ‘Heretic, ’ he thought, while letting out a growl.

  All immediately stepped back, most changing to a lighter color, all except a few, who made their way to the front. All of them were bigger than most, and the biggest, who stood as tall as Kolu, tossed a rock between her hands.

  ‘You!’ He thought while snarling and growling.

  The girl stepped closer, and Kolu bared his teeth, and then, Nokstella hit the girl.

  She wasn’t ready and caught off guard, landing on her back, with Nokstella jumping on top, hitting a flurry of strikes. Watching it, Kolu felt his claws retract, not from feeling calm, but more so from surprise.

  ‘Has she changed or is she still the same?’ He questioned as all the other gathered around the two fighting.

  Nokstella was still on top, but it only lasted for a moment as the girl pushed her off with ease and then got up.

  However, Nokstella wouldn’t stop punching with closed fists, yet they were little more than clawless slaps. And nothing in the face of one of the bigger girls' punches, which knocked Nokstella to the ground.

  “Brutes, but you won’t hurt her!” Kolu yelled as he dashed over to the girl. He wouldn’t leave a mark as he closed his hand and threw a punch of his own right at the tip of her snout.

  She tightened her face in pain, and while she was recovering, Kolu threw another, but before it landed, he was whisked off his feet and lifted up into the air, held by his tail painfully, by another heretic.

  This one looked like it had scars on its sagging, scaly face, and a dead white eye. “dok heretic fobal ufka?”

  “Ube lep to,” Nokstella said to the woman, jumping up and trying to reach him.

  “Let me go!” He snarled.

  “What is going on here!” Kenneth quickly said, rushing into the room.

  The woman turned around, still holding Kolu. “Kofaska heretic koke ab nou fousk.”

  “Listen, I’m sorry that happened…”

  “Papa! Kolu is not wrong! I fight after rock!” Nokstella quickly said.

  “Efka’s ubellie, laboofcha ikaike,” the woman said.

  “Oh, no, she spoke perfectly clearly, and said some rocks were thrown, and Kolu is bleeding, I see,” Kenneth said, his tone far more stern. “Now let him go, and we’ll call all of this a scuffle between children.”

  “Agn fhgrts,” the woman said, pointing to Nokstella.

  “No, she's coming with me,” Kenneth said firmly.

  The woman let out a hiss, “Ybera! Efftoba libuna iibila.”

  “Fine, let's discuss this with all of you,” he said with an angry tone.

  Soon thereafter, all of them walked into another room, one filled with heretics, all fully grown. All of them talked about Nokstella, or that was what he got from listening to Kenneth, but after a while, he didn’t focus and only sat in a corner.

  Nokstella sat down beside him and rested her head against his shoulder, or tried to; she wasn’t tall enough, and smacked it against his arm repeatedly.

  ‘How annoying,’ he thought, slumping down a little so she’d stop.

  Thank the gods she did, but then right after, he looked up and he glanced only to see her reaching for his snout.

  ‘You want to tug on my whiskers too,’ he thought, annoyed at her.

  But no, she simply and gently wiped away some of the blood from his wound, each time a new droplet formed, until it stopped flowing. ‘I guess it’s not so bad you are back.’