Chapter 109

What you need to understand is the possibility of intellectual discovery! Yes, for a Veushten to enter New Nievtra is for that same person to run many risks, but we never saw the keelish as anything more than beasts. With the establishment of a civilization, we can see how their minds work! We always thought that all that ruling over the keelish took was strength of fist, but their unity as a people rivals or even surpasses our own, and that cohesion cannot stem entirely from fear. What is it that drives the keelish to unify under a single banner so completely? Why is it that any "wild" pack of keelish that is found immediately surrenders to the Zaaktif? Where does their unity stem from? And, how can we exploit it?

-excerpt from a Red Abbey scholar's request for an expedition to New Nievtra.

I stepped between the argumentative female and Sybil, leveled a strong gaze at the other female, and turned to Sybil. "What is happening?"

"Those of Criit's–"

"We're leaving this stupid hunt! You think you always win? Go alone!" Criit's Beta interrupted Sybil and, without thinking about who she was screaming at, got up in my face. Immediately there was a pure, unadulterated fury that burned within me. This Nievtala forgotten fool, this defeated failure, thought that she could talk to me like that? I turned the full force of [Dominance], [Adversary], and [Debilitating Diatribe] on her and the two keelish flanking her as I spoke, my tone level and icy.

"Your betters are speaking. Silence until I ask for your drivel." The force of my voice and presence knocked her back, and the female, fully cowed, crouched to a submissive bow as I turned back to Sybil. "What happened?"

"Criit's pack was the first to be set on by the wolfstags. Of the ten members of his pack, three remain. Fria, Criit's Beta, has made her opinion known that she believes she and her pack should retreat." I consciously kept myself from reacting to that news. Seven of ten dead. And they didn't break and flee, but held their ground. Though I knew that was the better option in their position, logic doesn't always win in battle. 

I flared my frills in acknowledgement and leaned in close. "Help me." I whispered, and without any additional instruction or suggestion, I could see that Sybil understood. Then, stepping back, I turned to Fria. "Fria." She dared to look up at me, then looked away again. With a conscious thought, I stopped regarding her as an enemy, and [Adversary] stopped working on her, and I leached any magic from my voice as I spoke as warmly and kindly as I could. "I am sorry for your loss. Criit, as we all can see, was brave and wanted the best for you." Fria nodded as I continued, "I do too.

"I don't want you or any of those left from your pack to suffer. With only three of you left, you do not have many choices. The only real decision you can make is to join yourselves to another pack, whether that is sooner or later." Paying close attention, I thought I could feel the subtle manipulations of Sybil's magic flowing from behind me to Fria and the other two keelish near her. They watched me as I continued, "The other packs, if you enter them, will not think of you as anything more than the remains of a weak, defeated pack. You would need to struggle to prove yourselves, and every step of the way, the others would think of you as a burden, as fragile. 

"I see that you are not fragile. You are strong, and brave, and unbroken." I subtly shifted the influence of [Dominance], feeling that the words I spoke took on a more authoritative and trusted tone. "You did not break under the attack of more than four times your number, and stood strong to the last. There are no keelish that I would rather have on my side during a hunt than keelish like you. I can trust that you will stand against the strong and the many. Will you stand alongside me? Will you accompany me to greater heights?" I looked to all three that crouched in front of me and extended my hands. 

The first to respond was a male, by reaching out and grasping my hand. I pulled him up and nodded my head to him, which he mirrored. I felt the descent of the sacred feeling as he spoke, "Forged in the blood of our foes, and tempered in the blood of our sacrifice, I follow." Not for me, then. I tamped down the feeling of disappointment, that I wouldn't finish my third [Quest] right now, but I was interrupted by the other, a female I didn't know, reaching out to my hand.

"Forged in the blood of our foes, and tempered in the blood of our sacrifice, I follow." She too stepped behind me, supportive. I looked at Fria. She hung her head, shivering. I'd never seen a keelish do so, and after a moment, I realized she was, effectively, crying. There were no tears shed in her mourning, not like a human, but her whole body was wracked with the emotion. After waiting patiently for I didn't know how long, Fria looked up, her eyes meeting mine. In the light rain, it looked as if tears streamed down her face as the drops continued to fall.

"Forged in the blood of our foes, and tempered in the blood of Criit's sacrifice, I follow." Fria refused my hands, instead raising herself up to stand and bowing to me before going to Criit's body. Watching the depth of her feeling and loss, I felt for the briefest moment a hint of guilt. Not because I had done anything I wouldn't repeat in the same situation, but because I could, to a certain extent, at least, understand the pain of loss. My father, at a young age I could barely remember, or, more recently, Oncli. 

I turned and left Fria to her grief. Sybil accompanied me, while the other two keelish went to assist Fria in tending to their dead. As we approached Khaa's pack, she looked up at me. Her face bore two deep gouges from a bite from a wolfstag, and her troop was down to only five, from their initial seventeen. Twelve dead from her pack. 

"How will Shalla react to so many dead?" I asked as Khaa simply watched my face blankly. 

Khaa flicked her tail. "She does not care what happens to us, much like you do not." Her response took me aback.

"Why would you say that I do not care? I wish for your survival and success!"

"Only so long as our survival serves you. If we become a bother or a problem, we will be discarded. That is why we serve Shalla. We can always be of service to her." Khaa's words, though correct, still didn't make sense to me. What did she mean, they could always be of service to Shalla?

My thoughts were interrupted by Foire jumping from a nearby tree and landing nearby. Immediately, I looked to him, wondering what news he carried for us now.