I must have fallen asleep before Quinn returned, for he was once more in the kitchen by the time I realized I was waking up. Rolburn still lay beside me, one hand resting on my chest. His quiet snores created a rhythm in the otherwise still room that I found comforting.

Cautiously, I tried moving again. Hopefully I was healed enough that we could leave this place and escape somewhere away from Players. If there was such a location. I lifted my arm and instantly a deep ache throbbed in my bones. The skin was still raw in places, too and as I grew more aware of it I noticed more pangs flaring up all over my body. I could sit up, as I found, but it cost me a groan that nearly woke my friend. Not yet. Not even close yet. The bitter realization burned behind my eyes almost worse than the pain in my body.

At least we had made it thus far without harm. I lay in the bed, staring at the ceiling, remembering that Player...Quinn...assuring me that he would not betray us. That he would save us should we be in trouble....Could he have spoken the truth? Rolburn seemed to think he had. Then again, my Piglin friend might not realize something was wrong if he was told the lake was made fire instead of water.

I turned my head, looking at Rolburn, who lay beside me all curled up, his hands half-closed and eye shut. I wanted to reach over and pat him, but the mere attempt had me clenching my teeth to keep from crying out. Was I worse than I'd been yesterday? I was sure I'd been able to at least move then, but maybe my body had grown stiff since then. I had no idea.

Lying still, I retreated into my mind to keep myself from boredom until Rolburn awoke. I could hear Quinn moving about the house, opening and shutting chests and doors, dragging something heavy about and muttering to himself. But I never made out his words, only his low tone made it to my ears.

Quinn. What would the Ender Dragon say if she could see him? If she knew I'd been saved by him? Or that I'd tried to kill him? I found myself trying to picture her, to remember her massive size, the warmth of her breath, the glittering purple of her scales and the deepness of her eyes. What would she say?

I had no answers to these inquiries, but I pursued them anyway, round and round in my head until I felt Rolburn stir beside me. He sat up, rubbing his face delicately. He sat still for a few minutes, saying nothing and staring at the far wall. I tried raising one hand to touch his back and at least it didn't hurt that terribly. "Rolburn?" The ache in my throat was still there, but less noticeable.

With a sniff and a sleepy noise, the Piglin turned back around to me and lay down on his stomach. "Morning, Trex."

Gritting my teeth so as to not make a sound, I carefully turned myself over on my side so I could pet him more comfortably. The bandages still brushed across what seemed like open skin. I closed my eyes and waited for the trembling and stinging to pass. "Rolburn, I want to ask you something." One of his ears flicked upwards in acknowledgement. I resumed. "While I was...during the past weeks, did Quinn do anything to you? Did anyone else come over?"

A little frown creased the Piglin's forehead. "You know the answer to that already, don't you? He already told you. See?" He sat up, holding out his hands to me. "No bacon."

The mere mention of that word in relation to my friend made my stomach sick. I reached out and took his hand. "No, I mean...Rolburn, I don't trust him. The Player. I don't trust his kind."

Rolburn humphed. "Then you don't trust me. I didn't call him a liar, did I?" He put his other hand on top of mine. "You're safe, Trex. You're safe and I'm safe and nothing bad's going to happen to us here."

I studied Rolburn's expression, the frank gaze of his still-brown eye. "I trust you." I told him. "I just know Players can lie. And I...I don't think he likes me very much, or has any reason to keep either of us alive beyond you having helped him. And honestly, Rolburn, that's not always enough of a reason." I hoped he was understanding my words. The longer we stayed here, the more memories came back to me: the first Player I ever saw, cutting down two of my people, stealing their eyes for her own devices, Rolburn the first time I met him, his body slowly succumbing to a decay he would never be free from, all because some Player had decided he was their toy to be discarded when they were through with him. I'd seen Players, fully armored, with weapons drawn, specifically target Endermen and slaughter them, picking their eyes out of the wet, bloody corpses. Even the simple-minded villagers were not spared, forced into shacks or mere squares of space, selling their wares and their souls for what pittance the Players would give in return. Never again. Not with us. Not with my friend.

Rolburn patted my hand and sighed. "He's nice." He murmured and got off the bed. I wasn't sure if he was talking about Quinn or me, but either way the conversation had ended unsatisfactorily. I eased myself back and stared once more at the ceiling. Rolburn trotted about the room a few moments more, then he reappeared at my side. "I'm cold. I'm going to my corner."

"Alright." And before I could say another word, he'd nodded and turned away. Just how warm did Quinn make that place in his basement...? I didn't like the idea of Rolburn and I being separated, but that was how it was going to have to be, so long as I was bedridden.

"No. Endfire, no." I decided I was just going to have to ignore the pain as best I could. Pulling myself into a sitting position proved a slow process. Every joint ached like I'd been punched. Finally putting my feet on the floor was a relief and at first I just sat there, waiting for my nerves to calm down. Eventually the silence around me became noticable and it occured to me, I hadn't heard Quinn moving about in a little while. In fact, I heard nothing. A little ball of panic tightened in my chest. What was he up to?

I pushed off the bed with more force than I'd meant to and felt my jaws clamp together as my wrists and fingers burst out in pain. My legs also nearly gave beneath me. Staggered, I put one hand to the wall and held myself up there. Rolburn. Come on. Get to him. And find that Player. Carefully I began moving towards the door, testing each step with fearful delicacy. My feet flared with every movement and my whole body was soon protesting and aching deep down to my very bones, but I didn't want to hear it. All I wanted to matter, all I'd decided would matter, was that I needed to stay near my friend.

I emerged from that room into something that looked like a hall. Another room lay only a few feet away. It must be the kitchen. I'd been there before. Where was that basement ladder again...? I grabbed for the memory in my head, knowing it was there somewhere. Main area. Beside the front door. Without thinking, I teleported there.

It was a mistake.

Zipping through the air at speeds no Elytra, Phantom or even Player could equal was agonizing to my torn flesh. Something seemed to burst and break all under my skin and I landed with a tormented scream that seemed to shudder through the house. I collapsed to the floor, crying as my raw body hit the ground. My mind swam, dizzy and shaking with pain. I couldn't see. Again.

My senses returned to me very slowly. One of the first things I noticed was a slight pressure on my hand and something under my head and neck. Rolburn had found me. I could feel the bones in one of his hands, the one cradling my head.

The next thing was sound, and that gave me cause for alarm. For while I could hear Rolburn's voice, trying to soothe me and ask why I was trying to walk, I could also hear another voice. An unfamiliar one. No, more than one. My eyes snapped open and I struggled to sit up again.

"Trex, stop, you'll just tear yourself up again!" Rolburn lay one hand on my chest, trying to keep me still. It worked, a little. But I was still frantically looking around the room. And then my eyes lit on the windows by the front door.

Quinn stood there, his back to us, blocking most of the window. But it wasn't him who was talking. It was another Player. Two more, if I heard them correctly. I hissed between my teeth. He said we'd be safe here!

<Hey, man, it was just a joke, okay? He didn't mean it.>

I heard Quinn speak next. <Yeah, well as long as that's it.> He sounded defensive, his words grumbling through the walls. <This is my home, you can't just march in whenever.>

The third voice spoke up now, higher than the others' but still definitely a man's. <Dude, what's going on lately? You been so off, man.>

Quinn shifted in place. <I'm fine. A lot going on is all.> He seemed to be waiting for them to leave.

"Come on, Trex." Rolburn was pulling on my arm, trying to get me to stand up. I winced and tried to follow his lead slowly.

<Hey, man, if you ever need to talk, you know where we're at, okay?> That was the second voice. I limped away from the window, wondering what was going on.

Rolburn silently opened the trapdoor leading down to the basement. He went first, sliding down the rungs to the rocky floor below. I had to be much more careful, lowering myself delicately down the hole and closing the trapdoor over me. I hated this. Going down even further into Quinn's home. But if Players regularly visited him here, we didn't have much of a choice until I could move freely again.

At last I stood at the bottom, Rolburn was there waiting to receive me. He looked excited. "Now you can see the thing!" And he darted away down a small staircase to the left. The same one I'd gone down the first time I'd visited this basement, only I'd teleported down it, appearing in the room beyond. So. That was where Quinn had made our "corners"? Well, there was no harm in looking. Rolburn was going there anyway.

I followed the Piglin down the steps, supporting myself by gripping the wall as I made my way forward. I had to hold my breath occasionally as pain stabbed through me. When I reached the end of the steps, I sat down, chest heaving as I collected myself. The same long, rock-walled and floored room as I had seen last time lay before me, only bigger and more symmetrical. And to my right, there stood Rolburn, his hooves tapping happily on blackstone, magma blocks scattered around him and a lava pool bubbling in the background. He flapped his arms and grinned.

"Your thing's there!" He pointed to the other side of the room. There, a mossy carpet with a few blossoming bushes lined the floor and three grass-lined dirt blocks were scattered randomly about. A small oak, with lanterns hanging from the branches, also stood nearby. And in front of the corner stood a sign: <Corner of Enderman Percy>

It was a modified version of the mossy area I'd seen before when I'd come here looking for materials to take. I remembered being struck by the sign, confused at the name on it. Now...now I wasn't sure what to feel. Neither anger, resentment, interest or apathy served to describe the heaviness in my chest. My eyes lingered on the flowers ornamenting a bush. Why had he made all this? Why had he kept it, after my attempt at murder?

Overhead, I heard the front door open and close. My whole body stiffened as I stared up towards the trapdoor. But, as it opened and I saw Quinn's boots coming down the ladder, a strange unease came over me like a hood. I looked away.

"I guess you heard that." Quinn stated as he got to the bottom of the ladder. "Some friends got..." He hesitated. "I don't know the word. They came to check on me."

Rolburn, who was glowing where he sat on magma, spoke up. "Aw, they have peaceful hearts? Pretty gold little hearts. Pretty, pretty..." He hummed and tapped on the magma.

Quinn didn't move from his place at the ladder. I wasn't looking at him still, but I hadn't heard him move. "Some of them have peaceful hearts, yeah. I didn't let them inside."

Words surfaced to my mind without my bidding. Thank you. But I couldn't speak them. I didn't want to speak them. I didn't owe this man anything and I didn't want to act as if I did. Instead I remained where I was, staring at that sign by the moss.

Rolburn stuck his hand in the lava. "I wish you could feel this, Trex." He commented. "No sun compares...not when once you could touch it."

I looked over at him. Rolburn accepted Quinn so easily. Why? Was it because he couldn't understand the complexities of lies anymore? Or could he understand more than he communicated and it was me who was missing something? With a sigh, I pulled myself to my feet. Moss was going to be softer than the stone staircase, anyway.

======

Warm...how long has it been since I was warm? No sunlight compares to this. No brightness above me is like this thick heat. I missed this.

Trex likes grass. He said it's like peace. His peace is green and soft and fuzzy. His peace can be moved and picked up. Put somewhere else and given. So can mine, but mine shines in the sun. Mine is warm and can be worn with pride. And it's never taken. Do not take my peace from me. I give it to you, out of my own living hands. You don't take it from me.

Players take things. Lots of things. But Quinn's nice. He gave us corners. And food. He threw safety over Trex's screaming flesh in the storm. He's a nice person. So why does he shake every time he's close to Trex? Hm.

Shaking trees. Shaking wind. Shaking snow. Everything moves. This warmth moves. I move. Moved? Do I still move? I can't remember anymore. There used to be a time when I could see. More than I do now. What happened before that? I remember...

I'm warm now. Trex is here. Always here. He's safe. Quinn is safe. He keeps the others away. We'll be alright. We'll be alright. He kept his peace on his arm.

I don't want to go. Trex will want to go. He's scared. Quinn's scared. I know why. Trex's hands make his eyes widen and his voice stumble over its words. Trex's eyes make his own scamper to the other wall. Trex's voice makes his body jerk away. And he makes Trex scared. All Trex sees are blood-covered hands and eyes burning with fire. Keys to his home. I still don't want to go. No sun out there compares to this. I'm finally warm. I just want to be warm.

Being warm means I'm still alive.