76 Chapter 73: Family Sin

Gula POV

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I was coming home as I trudged through the swamp in the late day. The fading sun played over the shimmering water of the swamplands as flies and mosquitoes plied their trade on all flesh unfortunate enough to fall within their domain. But I just ignored their stings as I trudged out of the water and up onto dry land as I came within shouting distance of my home.

There were days that were harsh and bloody, days that were boring, but I can't remember any days like this one. We lost one of ours killing a dozen-plus mages and taking out a fort, a godlike achievement compared to the dozens we'd regularly sustain just to take out a few mages, if even that. But as great as that achievement was, it couldn't quell the deep unease within me.

My anger had since cooled off and was now reduced to a simpering annoyance that I couldn't blame on anyone. A kind of raw grievance at the unfairness of my birth, both due to my grandmother and my species, had always been there. But that pain could be hidden in jokes and glib remarks, unlike these new doubts in the very foundation of my being. With his true status revealed, the mage had aggravated an old wound I had hoped would at least be painlessly dealt with.

These thoughts preoccupied me as I came up to my house. Coming through the doorway I was getting ready to call for mother when I saw her sitting in the middle of the main room with three other orcs.

Mother was off to the left talking with the other three. One was on the floor directly in front of mother having what looked like a good talk. While mother wore her typical white shirt and brown dress, the orc she was talking to was dressed in war gear. The late 30's orc had thick lips with red eyes peering out over a considerable nose. With a strong jaw and short-cropped black hair, she gave off a sense of physical strength that complimented the big war hammer on her back. That, combined with her well-maintained leather armor covering her whole body, said she was Mor, the general over all the orcs forces and the one person most responsible for keeping things together in these dark times.

Behind Mor was her two bodyguards, dressed in darker leather armor each carrying a rather wicked looking sword at their hips. One had a long black ponytail, with a sharp chin and cheekbones who was watching the conversation with her golden irises searching for any hostile movement from my mother as she leaned against the back wall. The other had short red hair and a squash face with rather long pointed ears who stood by the door with an easy-going attitude as her red eyes looked around indifferently.

"Ah, here she is." My mother said, motioning for me to come over.

I walked over and sat down next to mom as the three orcs looked at me with an intense interest.

"So, you're the one who sent out that report to HQ." Mor said in a deep yet neutral voice.

"Yes, Ma'am" I responded respectfully. The fact she deigned to visit us in person and talked to mother amicably meant a lot to me, which only made the lies I was coming up with much harder to say.

"I'm sure not getting an immediate response to your report was grating but the people who handle such things were overwhelmed. You see, the humans, for no apparent reason, suddenly started flooding the forest with troops. And not the pitiful excuse for soldiers we had been fighting. Real soldiers in heavy metal armor who often had two or even three mages with their groups. After that the humans started burning the whole forest down, section by section but starting along the roads.

That upset several operations we already had going but it seemed odd. They were kind of sloppy about it and the scouts reported what seemed like panic among the soldiers coming in. They've also been flooding in with such numbers that we've had a good time attacking the swarms of caravans they have been sending to feed the large camps. It's a huge expenditure of resources and blood, this new charge. So much so that, while they are pushing us back, it's costing them far more than could possibly be justified considering the ongoing success of their previous strategy.

Then something odd came in. One of the scouts reported that the under-ground fort had been destroyed."

I had managed to keep a straight face for all of her description, but apparently I suck at keeping it down when it comes to the fort because while the two guards got puckered lips looking at me in disapproval, my mother and Mor got an indulgent grin as they appraised me.

"Child, could you be a little less self-satisfied." My mother lightheartedly chided.

"It's fine. She has much to be satisfied about." Mor said before she continued.

"Suffice it to say, I wanted to beat you to death when I got the report so late. But when I looked at the date, I wanted to beat the secretary who finally got around to properly doing her job. But more than anything, I wanted to hear about the 'Pandegos' you mentioned." As she said that word, the guards eye went wide and the red haired one even had her mouth open.

"Even as much as I want to hear that, I was quite mystified to see that you hadn't responded to any of the inquiries we sent your way. Which was even more odd when I decided to visit you personally and found that the orc who took out a fort hadn't bothered to wait for any correspondence before leaving the very next day." She said with a raised eyebrow.

Looking over to my right I saw a small pile of crunched papers under the left side window, all stacked on top of each other. Coming up with a quick yet unverifiable story, I decided to lead with the events of this morning.

"I'm sorry for that. The Pandego's insisted that we take out the mine fort today and-"

"What?!"

"Did you do it?"

"Silence!" Mor called as the guards had finally found their tongues and quickly lost them under the general's harsh gaze.

"Is the fort down?" Mor asked with a serious gaze.

"Yes" I said, not able to keep the pride out of my voice even as the turmoil surrounding the event still weighed heavily on me.

"Guza." Mor said in a quick tone.

The black-haired guard quickly went out of the house and used a whistle from her pocket to call for a hawk.

"Start from this morning, please." Mor said, a hint of eagerness cracking the exterior of the veteran.

"We headed towards the underground fort in the morning but were assailed by a group of a good dozen mages along the way. Fortunately, the pandegos saved us by attacking the mages formation from behind and then we moved to the fort proper. The bandits didn't show great spine when their sanctuaries no longer protected them and had abandoned the fort. Our job made so much easier, the pandegos used large vines to crumble the mine's entrance. That also collapsed an extension under the entrance but no one was hurt. Afterward, we agreed to meet up at the crypt base at mid-day to come up with a new plan." I finished.

Bringing the dwarves and those odd exploding boxes into it would have been messy, so I said the plant demons just used vines to seep into the wooden frame of the shaft and brough it down that way. The red-haired guard and my mother seemed like they wanted to cry for joy but Mor's face lost some color at the battle with the mages and never seemed to get it back. It was when I had finished that she started speaking again.

"They killed a good dozen mages almost single handedly?" She asked in near disbelief.

"Yes, the mages were tired and foolish so the Pandegos outmatched them easily. I want to say two of them were there for the battle, while another tended to some other business." I said. Mor just bit her lower lip as she drummed her fingers on the floor.

"How many are there total?" She asked.

"Just three from what I can tell." I responded honestly.

Even mom and the red head were looking a bit worried at the thought of them doing so much with so few numbers, but Mor seemed to lose herself in analysis and calmly took in the facts as she asked me more about them.

"What are their abilities?" Mor asked.

"They have wooden arms with a pair that can extend blades out of them. An odd blow dart gun on the arm that has a range well beyond any long bow. They can use earth magic and while they have vines and bones about their bodies, the sheer speed they can reach is unreal."

"How unreal are we talking?" Mor asked.

"Crypt base to the mine fort in one, maybe two hours unreal." I said, giving my best approximation based on how fast I had seen the mages move through the treetops when we hit the underground base and how quick I had seen the quad mage move at the Crypt base. Who knows, I may be underestimating their speed.

Mor put an elbow on the brown cloth pants of her right leg and held her face in her palm as she breathed heavily for a moment before turning back to me with scrunched eyebrows.

"H… How is that even possible?" She finally asked after collecting herself.

"They move in the treetops. Not among the trees like the mages but on the very top, if what I've seen is how they regularly travel." I responded.

Mor hit the floor as the black-haired guard came back in, making the guard sharply take in the scene before the red head took her aside and whispered in her ear.

"All right then, how did you meet them?" She asked.

"We were walking through the forest on the way to scout out the human's movements after the fall of the Crypt base. But as we came upon one of the groups of humans who were cutting down some of the trees for their fortifications, the pandegos moved in and slaughtered the lot of them before we could even react. None of the Frojan knew what they were and the answer that came to me was so absurd that I didn't bother saying it until one of them dropped down behind us and began talking.

He, I think it's a he anyway, said the human's destruction of the forest had been tolerated for a long time but their patience had met its end." I said, being careful to not step give away unneeded information. "Their main goal is to take out the Viper base, but they showed some willingness to coordinate with us to make that happen. After explaining that taking out the Viper base wasn't going to happen with the other forts intact, we met up at the underground base which they destroyed."

"When will you meet them again?" Mor asked, the tinge of excitement in her voice couldn't be suppressed.

"We agreed to meet at the destroyed Crypt base around mid-day to help keep informed on the current situation." I responded honestly.

Mor nodded before getting up and dusting herself off.

"I'm sending my two guards to accompany you in the morning and have the local overseer meet up with your group. I believe you worked with Atub before. She was the commander who took out the Crypt base. Sending them along won't anger those things, will it?" Mor asked.

"No, I don't think so." I said, making sure not to let my anger seep through my face or tone. Commanders lead a large group of squads. Overseers lead groups of commanders and that commander got promoted off my hard work. The thought was a bitter one but there was no way I could explain why I was angry at her promotion unless I wanted to blow up all the lies I just told to the general herself.

Giving a light bow, Mor left with her guards. But before I could say anything, mom came up to me with a big hug.

"You see? Working with that mage was the best thing you could've done. You might just have that fucking thing off your neck in no time." She said happily as she crushed my head against her substantial chest.

"We'll see mom. Nothing is guaranteed yet." I said as I embraced her back.

"Come on, let's see what we can scrounge up for dinner." She said pulling out the hug.

The rest of the day passed in fishing and trap checking in its usual way. Come morning my routine did change since I would have to leave mid-morning if I wanted to get to the Crypt base on time. Our trip was going to be some water travel with the Frojan and then walking on land.

Speaking of which, the two came back just as I finished putting on the choker. Waiting outside the door, they gave off a sense of disdain as all my kin did. A brisk nod and we were off. But as we travelled, I sensed a bit of fear in them as we trundled through the swamp lands to meet up with my Frojan pack. Coming up to Baloo who was resting on the bank of a small patch of dirt in the flowing rivers, I waved him and the other Frojan lazing about.

"Ah Baloo, ready to meet up with the pandegos?" I said verbally as I used a spirit connection to quickly feed him the story I gave Mor. He stretched lazily as I'm sure he gave the story to the other Frojan.

The dark green Frogman got up and lazily dusted off his blue robe.

"Aye. Come on lads! Let's go meet our saviors." He called as the other Frogmen stirred out of their morning rest. Since we couldn't use the tunnels, we had to use some of the Frojans spells to move us through the water that maintained a bubble around our heads as they pushed us forward. It was a lot quicker than trudging through the slime and muck on foot but still not nearly as fast as using the underwater travel system in the endless tunnels.

When we got to the mainland and started walking through the forest, the guards started talking even as their disdain for their present company was obvious in their insistence on maintaining a good distance from us.

"You weren't telling the whole truth yesterday." The black-haired orc with a ponytail said as she moved around a tree behind me.

Suppressing the urge to gulp, I merely looked over my shoulder with a raised eyebrow.

But it was the red head who responded as she worked through a thicket of bushes further ahead.

"You said they fought the mages. But we read over the report from the scout verifying your story. The remains of those mages were crushed and sliced to chunks. That was as much of a fight as a rabbit getting its head crushed under Mor's hammer." She said, as she finally got to the other side of the bushes.

"What does it matter?" I said, silently chiding myself for using the same stupid statement that mage had used. As I pushed through the brambles, I heard the black-haired guard scoff behind me.

"We're all on the same side, but some negotiations still need to take place. Trying to hold out against the wishes of a would-be ally is a lot more difficult when they can smear you over the forest floor with no difficulty." She scolded. I silently nodded as I made it past the bushes.

Coming in through the forest, we all stopped a bit away from the ruins of the Crypt base for a breather and to relieve ourselves. As I went behind a tree to do my business, I felt an electric sensation. Wondering what Baloo wanted to talk about, I almost immediately responded when a feminine voice resounded through the link.

"Hello, what is this new company?" I heard in my mind.

Ah, her.

"Guards. They've come to negotiate for us orcs and will bring along the local overseer. She was the commander who lead the raid on the pile of rubble. But I need to tell you guys the story of how we met that I had to come up with on the spot" I said through the spirit connection. It was a struggle to not look up and search for her but I couldn't risk the guards looking at me and waste this opportunity to get our story straight, so I kept walking until I was behind a large tree. Tilting my head up, I saw the Kelton mage in a vine suit with a new black mask of molded wood who was standing on a branch directly above me.

"Thanks for saving me yesterday." I said through the spirit connection.

She gave a light bow before continuing.

"We're all in this together. So, what is our story?" She said lightheartedly.

'There's a whole lot of this 'We' stuff going around now that people need something from me.' I thought bitterly to myself before giving her the lie we needed to use. A lie she was satisfied with when I finished explaining.

"Good, good. Well that explains the small group of orcs we spotted earlier. I'll tell E… I'll tell him." She said awkwardly before jumping off towards the ruins. Left with some privacy, I finished my business and met back up with the rest of the group.

We came up along the same path we used in the raid that made this place the ruin it is today. The hill was the only thing that looked untouched as the grass was now back with a vengeance, having already recovered from the fire, but now even vines moved up and along the bits of stone that was the sprawling mess of the walls corpse. Further beyond lay a few burnt out husks with the odd scorched pillar standing out among the greenery that was now consuming the remains of the buildings like a meal for the hungry plants. Aside from a few bits of bones, all the bodies had been totally consumed or dragged off elsewhere by natures various scavengers. The only thing my senses could pick up was the soft breeze gently flowing over the remains of this dead menace as the refreshing smell of verdant new plant life wafted in the breeze.

It would be quite beautiful if not for the orc who stood beside the two burnt out bunkers, looking over her achievement with great pride as her face, square jawed and with pronounced cheek bones that had her tusks just below them, beamed with pride. She had a large axe on her back, that and her long black hair told made it clear she was the commander looking over her kill with pride. As she clearly wallowed in her memories of this greatest of prizes, her three guards noticed us and moved to intercept. A quick exchange between them and the two guards I came with ended with us all being let through. But it was Atub, the overseer, who talked first.

"Ah, so we're all here. Good, good. I was told I was needed to help negotiate with some new helpers?" She said hopefully.

"Hello, New Ones." A voice with the distinct wobble of the 'pandegos' called out. It was far away but still close enough that we could tell which general direction it came from. Off to the left on one of the larger trees stood the quad mage with his deer skull covered in smooth black wood that stuck out over a menacing mix of vines and bones. He stood still and the other orcs clearly had no idea where to look for him since they probably couldn't make out his shape from this distance unless they knew what to look for. It took me a moment to realize that he was probably waiting for us to spot him so he could show off his incredible jump. I sighed under my breath before preparing a dramatic inhale of excitement.

I suddenly pointed to him and said in an exhilarated tone "There! There it is!"

Suddenly they all looked to where I was pointing and within a minute, they all went wide eyed as a few clutched their weapons grip. His condition finally satisfied, the mage prepared a jump and took off from the thick branch with a loud whoosh going through the air as he flew clear across the expanse of grass and enlarged from a far-off figure to a more person sized object. In spite of myself, I had to admit it was an intimidating sight as the mass of vines and bones below a black deer skull came into full view when he came down the arch of his jump with a whoosh of air.

The others skittered back when he landed a dozen feet from us.

"Others?" His wobbling voice asked as two wooden arms underneath his grass covered hands moved out of the folds of vines and grass.

"Yes." I said stepping slightly forward. The others calmed a bit as they saw me move forward but still kept their hands on their weapons.

"Good, much needed." He said as he withdrew the wooden hands.

"H-Hello. My name is Atub and I-I'm here to negotiate on behalf of the orc people." Atub said as she remained behind her guards.

"Humans die in vile stone blasphemy, what is to negotiatie?" He asked in a cool tone.

Atub was visibly sweating now as she licked her lips.

"Well, just… why now? After all this time?" She asked.

The mage started pacing back and forth at the question, which caused some of the guards to flinch.

"Tolerable, many things. Stone buildings bad, but humans is humans, as orcs is orcs. But now water under fort tells of something vile. The soil of mother speaks of foul rituals in bigger blasphemy. Dew of the morning whispers of some practice that cannot be tolerated and humans in 'fort' thing must be dragged out and questioned by us." He said as he irritably moved in a wide oval in front of our group.

Atub raised an eyebrow as she asked another question.

"The Viper gangs main base?" She asked.

The deer skull turned to me, which I nodded back to.

"Yesssss, if one is stone block with pit of spikes flowing around. Get inside and take alpha humans by us as soon as possible." He said with an eager tone that carried through the odd warble.

"O-Ok but we can't do it soon since the humans have summoned an army to burn down the forest along all the paths between their forts." She said.

"Position, numbers, abilities." He demanded.

"At least ten thousand that will eventually be separated into several large bands, with a lot more along the way. They are using large barrels of tar and other chemicals to burn sections of the forest that would have been too wet to burn without those tools. These new soldiers aren't the leather wearing losers we've been fighting either. They're strong soldiers in metal armor with mages in fine crafted armors designed to show off their abilities. The mages and commanders all have crafts, with even some being used by the regular soldiers. Aside from that they seem to have what you'd expect from their set up." Atub finished.

"Hit them. Hit them we will with you. But in ex-sss-change you help with stone blasphemy. We get top humans and you get pile of stone." He said as he stopped pacing and stepped forward.

"I am only authorized to give you this information. Our leader, Mor, is the one who can decide terms." She said as she back up a bit.

The 'Pandego' hmphed irritably but nodded in satisfaction.

"Fine, pack meet up will decide term-zz. Meet up tomorrow at…" He looked at me,

"I don't know where Mor sets up her planning meetings." I said honestly.

He looked back to Atub, who sweated for a moment before giving an answer.

"I can't give you the location but meet back here tomorrow and I'll have an answer as to whether or not I can take you." She said nervously.

He nodded in satisfaction. Turning around, he did a quick sprint towards the trees before doing another huge leap and landing on the side of a huge oak. From there he did another leap off into the distance as he became invisible amongst the treetops.

"Shit." One of the Atubs' guards said before a collective release of air came out of the whole group. Though it came from me and the Frojan more so in gratitude that we managed to fool the others.

"You've been working with that thing for days now?" The red headed guard asked me.

"Yes" I said, not quite lying.

But it was Atub who got people moving.

"All right girls. Same time tomorrow." She said as she whistled for the rest of the group to get moving.

We all moved out but as we came up to the abandoned road, Mor's two guards simply left down the road without a word, presumably to go tell Mor of this new ally. Atub headed in the opposite direction towards her own command tent. Having no one else to look after, we headed back towards a local pond that would get us all back home far quicker than when we came here.

While we walked a path going down a creek towards to pond in question, a rustling of leaves from above drew everyone's gaze to the left as the mid-day sun hung overhead. The mage with the deer skull helmet was standing in front of a tree.

"So, how was it?" He asked as he came forward.

"Is it safe?" I asked him back.

"Yes. The two guards walked on further down the road and the other group left the area several good minutes ago with none of their number straying. A few scouts 'hid' amongst the trees a few minutes before you lot came and left a bit afterwards. But they met back up with the two orcs who travelled with you. Don't worry, my friends are out there keeping an eye out while we talk" He said.

I took a light breath of relief before continuing.

"Yes, they bought it like a fish on a hook." I said confidently.

Oddly, he seemed to hesitate for a moment before talking again.

"We need to work together on this is we are to both succeed. I am, of course, unfamiliar with orc customs. If I have offended you, or your people, or if my status as a scion has engendered some new element to consider, I would like to know." He with a surprising amount of humility.

I raised an eyebrow at the tone.

"I'm surprised some one given to theatrical performances could show such a humble attitude." I said dryly.

His tone lightened as he looked around the forest briefly before continuing.

"If they saw me land out of nowhere, they could have assumed that I was hiding in the ruins or merely snuck up on them. However, when they saw me on the tree their minds would think how I would get down, after comprehending my form. Probably involving dropping to the floor or doing a light glide of some kind then walking up. Letting them see my ability from the start to its finish made them fully aware of my power and helped give me the upper hand. Was it not effective?" He asked coyly.

"Yeah, it was. But maybe you just like putting on a show." I begrudgingly acknowledged before kneecapping the admission.

���Just because something is enjoyable does not mean it is inefficient." He said in a neutral tone as I got the sense of a smug smile creeping in underneath that mask. I hid a grin at his antics with my most murderous scowl. He looked at me for a moment before continuing in a more serious tone.

"And few things are as efficient as good teamwork. If I have offended you in some way, I would right this wrong between us." He said in a civil tone.

A long sigh is all I gave him at first before I motioned for the Frojan to leave. They all understood and promptly shuffled off with a look of sympathy in Baloo's amber eyes as he passed me by. After they all left, I stood there for a moment until the sound of Frojan half-hops drifted out of ear shot. Like removing a splinter, this was best done quickly to limit the pain.

"The offense was not done by you but my grandmother, and honestly the anger was more at myself than you" I said, taking a deep breath before letting it out. I couldn't look at him, so I kept my gaze at my feet.

"Our purpose as orcs is to reproduce off of humans. Human men since the death of the boys. The grand prize for my entire species is a male mage. That is our one driving goal, our purpose. And as such, there is one crime even a species of living malice and rape such as ours finds unforgivable amongst all others and that was the crime my grandmother committed.

She had an opportunity to catch a male water caster who had been near our swamps. The young fool had been there over some family dispute back when we didn't control the village. He took off in a carriage when he spotted the band my grandmother had been part of, who just so happened upon him through sheer luck, or for my purpose, misfortune. She was still ahead of him and could have thrown herself in front of the four horses of the carriage allowing her band to catch him. But she chose to keep her own life instead" I felt my hands clench in anger at the injustice of it all, but I pushed forward.

"For this unthinkable act of cowardice, she was tattooed with a black band around her neck as was my mother. Forever known as shamed. This stain will forever pass down to any who bear our blood. Mom says I had an older sibling who had been alive when this happened, but she hanged herself when she was thrown out of the officer position she had worked so hard for, something my grandmother was good enough to do as well. The only kindness I've known is that my branding is not tattooed but worn, as this neck collar shows I don't directly carry her craven blood. And despite the difficulties, mother still insisted on having me so it's not an official death sentence for my lineage." I said as I did something I never did before, which was idly finger this loathsome piece of black leather around my neck.

"But the mages all have poison pills. Stopping the carriage wouldn't have done anything." He said.

I looked up at him with tears in my eyes that weren't ready to fall.

"You think they gave a fuck?! We have one purpose in this dammed world and that bitch chose herself over her entire species. And I hated her for it. Every. Single. Day when I had to put this miserable thing on, I thought on what a horrid cunt she was. How she totally failed everyone around her." My lips quivered for a moment as I breathed in the air of the fresh, pristine forest like it was a poisonous fume.

"And then I met you. And despite my best efforts, despite all the bullshit I told myself about how much better I was than her, I did the same thing she did. I put myself above the good of my entire species because I wanted to live."

The mage stood perfectly still as I berated him for my failings.

"But that apparently wasn't enough of a failure on my part. You want to know why it fucking matters that you're a scion? Because all the kids we orcs could get out of you would be scions as well. Quad element scions.

You were the best way out of that Crypt and if I told them about you, they would kill me for failing to catch you, if not for failing at the Crypt, then later when we met up again. I have totally failed in all of my obligations and responsibilities and I thought I could take it because 'if I'm going to bear the label then I might as well live up to it'. But I am so much worse than what they said about me. The woman I spent years cursing and hating is still better than me because at least she didn't let a scion go. And I…I" Tears fell down my face in full at that point as I closed my eyes, futilely trying to keep them in.

After a moment I felt his arms around me to give me a hug. Furious, I shoved him away but somehow that became an embrace as I found myself crying into his right shoulder as my tears fell down over the vines of his suit.

'By the bastard, I'm so pathetic' I internally scolded myself as I made no effort to pull away. I let this numbing pain work its way through my body as I felt the comfort of leaning on him help soak some of the ache away.

It took a bit but eventually my tears dried, and I pulled back to just stand in front of him with no idea what to say. But he picked the conversation back up.

"You maybe bad at being an orc, but I'm bad at being a human. I've talked with an orc. I chose to save an orc and her allies over other humans, hell, other mages. I've continued to associate with orcs and Frojan despite the many, many potential consequences to the wider whole of society.

And I did it, and will continue to do it, because I too want to live.

Survival is not a crime, Gula. Wanting to live is not cowardice. Yes, we should do our part to better other peoples lives, but other people have no right to expect us to lay down and die for them. Maybe as a soldier you should. But, if I may be so bold, if doesn't seem like they are living up to the commitment they have to you" He said gently, expressing what my mother told me if only in meaning.

"But what are we, without them? Without our people?" I asked as I processed what he was talking about.

He stood still for a moment, the vine suit and the mid-day sun not giving any indication of any movements. After a moment, he finally gave his answer.

"We are part of a family. As long as we look out for our families and those close to us, the rest of society is of little importance when the time to decide what to die for comes." He said, in a calm tone.

I took a moment to think about who would fall into 'family'. My mother, and Lokan, were my main family. My Frojan friends fell more in-between family and friends. Was it really that simple? Just focus on the people I care for and everyone else can just wait for when I'm ready. It felt… selfish.

But was there was something worth considering in such a counter-intuitive thought? I didn't feel like I could just dismiss it out of hand.

"Given all that, I'd say we make a good team. Two people working around their common 'sin'. So, is there any issue between us?" He said in a more lighthearted tone at the end.

I shook my head.

"No, there's no problem between us. Thanks for… well just thanks." I said in an unsure tone before giving a light bow and turning around to head home, my thoughts feeling as heavy as any load I had carried before.