Note: Underlined parts are Kathula tail sign language.

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"We're not in the mood for your company," Daero growled. "Go acquaint yourself with Kalis."

"I've sent my soldiers on that errand. I have a proposition." The Saboteur poked his head all the way through. "One you would like to hear."

"I bet it's a lie," Pinti grumbled. He probably felt like he had the upperpaw because they were locked up in his territory.

Daero held up his paw. "Before that, a question."

The Saboteur grumbled. "Make it quick."

"Why did you let her live? Let her be the only Makiista?"

Why would you ask that? He just did it to play with my life. Pinti scowled and trailed her gaze to Daero's tail. It flicked back and forth in steady rhythm giving her a strange urge to pounce on it. To distract herself, she crossed her arms and looked at the Saboteur.

"Aesthetics," he answered after a pause. "She's my victim. There is a way I want her to die. You would understand as you are a Sorcerer."

Daero narrowed his eyes and scoffed. "Edglings follow aesthetic ethics? Really? I feel like that's not it. Really, why did you let her live all this time when you could have killed her any time?"

A guttural growl sent shivers up her spine. "I said, aesthetics. Will you continue to mess with me or let me talk?" Impatience tainted her Saboteur's voice. "I didn't come sneaking in here for you to play with me."

"Hm, I see. Very well. Go on," Daero said with amusement in his voice and a smirk on his lips. But Pinti didn't know why he was smiling about it. The Saboteur would kill her when he wanted to. That was all it was. Edglings were simple creatures in that regard.

What does Daero expect? She grimaced. Some deep, hidden, emotional reason? Highly doubt it.

The Saboteur sighed. "Our King died a year ago. Without a ruler, we suffer mentally. Insomnia, hallucinations, disease, we die in the hundreds without one to give us orders. Even I, one who is high-ranked, suffered greatly which is why Saboteur practices toward Kathula dwindled the years you lived in the First Ring."

That was why Edglings mostly left us alone? Not because we had finally evaded them? Pinti recalled that first year in Bairenshire City. The first few months she and the other survivors lived in fear of Edgling ambush, but hardly any came. If they did, it was just a fright and not a death. It was their second year in the First Ring that Edglings began to attack more.

"We need a King to give us order," the Saboteur pressed his lips in a tight line, "Desperately. We were getting weak. That was when Orvineau came to us. He said he knew where the scepter was hidden, and he told us that it was all foreseen that we would one day rule the world with his guidance. He told us a Kathula was needed to reveal the location of the scepter. We were to keep an eye on you and Kalis, and three others with strong Lunality potential. We couldn't force you. You had to come on your own accord. That is how it works."

Edglings die without someone to order them around? Pinti found that to be the strangest thing. She wanted freedom, but Edglings had to be bound to a dictator to live. She had heard once that Edglings needed rules to survive, but she didn't understand until now.

"You can still regain Lunality by going to the Dark North. It's beyond the tunnel. You know the way." He glanced at her.

"Hold up." Daero said, shaking his head. "I don't get it. You killed her loved ones, but you want to help her? Maybe it's still for your agenda, but you know we can go against you."

"True. You can," he said, ignoring Daero's question. "I'll return later to get you out or not. Make your decision. Take a chance or die here. Your choice," he said and disappeared. Then the door latched shut and locked with a click.

"Do you buy that?" Daero sat next to her, leaning against the wall with his legs stretched out. "Dark North for Lunality? And what's this about a tunnel you know?"

"He just showed this place to me in a dream." Pinti shrugged. "I have to doubt. Edglings promised to not kill Kathula and then they did. That's the worst betrayal."

She hung her head when memories resurfaced. "I can still remember it all," she whispered. The voices were coming back again. The screaming and shouting, yowling and shrieking, guttural sounds and bones crunching.

"There was blood everywhere," she heard herself saying with a shudder in her voice. "I couldn't understand. Edglings never killed. I didn't know what was happening. Makiista needed me."

Her voice cracked and the emotions were overflowing in her chest. "I saw dead Kathula. I saw Tendri on the ground with Mother. I saw Father. He took me to hide. Kirlan was snatched away. He was right there!" Pinti reached her paw out, imagining that moment. Kirlan's paw outstretched, but she couldn't reach him. Her father held her back.

"I could have told Father we needed to help our clan. I turned away." Tears touched her eyes. She wrapped her tail around herself.

The memory of the night filled her head. Vivid red, burning houses and blue Kathula yowling in pain as Edglings killed them or ate them alive.

Don't feel. Don't cry. Don't feel. She refused to cry. She was not some pitiful creature that kept crying over the loss of her family. She was not some hopeless, wasted Kathula with no Lunality. There was still hope of her getting her magick back. There was. What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she stay hopeful? Why did it always have to pass?

But there was a part of her that was just tired. Tired of surviving. Tired of fighting. Tired of trying. And all this trying led her here—an Edgling dungeon. She closed her eyes shut tight.

Don't cry. Don't feel. She chanted in her head, but her grip on strength was faltering. One string holding her together snapped. The rest followed, unraveling her. Pinti was coming apart.

Daero pulled her into his lap. "It's okay, Pinti. You can cry."

At those words, her barrier collapsed, her strings broke, and Pinti let herself go. Hot tears burst out and she yowled until her throat hurt. Tears soaked her fur and Daero's lap. In her mind she saw Tendri and Kirlan next to her on the forest floor, looking up at the sky after a fit of giggles. It was the last day they had together.

'I quite like rain,' Kirlan had said.

'Rain or me?' Pinti had signed.

She'd forgotten that. Her lips trembled as she smiled. A brief laugh turned to a cough. Gritting her teeth, she whined, crying more. Her tightened chest burned with pain of losing them and losing that day, or any other days that might have followed if the Massacre never happened.

As her tears left her, her mind numbed. The memory faded. She saw her mother groaning when Tendri, fresh out of a bath, went outside to get all muddied up again. It was right after that it happened. One memory to the next, she saw her father, crushed under thick beams.

'Be brave, my Poocha,' he had said. She missed that nickname. No one ever called her that since.

"I miss my family." The words caught in her throat. "I miss them."

"I'm sorry," Daero said, rubbing her back up and down. "I'm sorry."

After a while, she felt a little better, but the sense of loss was still there like a dark hole that was unwilling to be filled. The two of them just sat there looking up at the black ceiling slightly illuminated in a strange blueish glow.

"What is it you love?" Daero broke the silence.

"Love?" She blinked at him, not knowing what to say at first. "What I love," She paused to sniffle, "is my family and—"

"I don't mean the past." He cleared his throat. "I know you still love your family and clan, of course. What I meant was, what do you love now?"

"Now?" It was hard to think about what she loved now when all she could do was think of the past.

"Keibeck?" He said and she looked at him. A smirk played across his lips. "You love that, don't you?"

Thereanbold's warm smile popped into her mind and she nodded. "But you don't."

Daero grimaced. "Not at all! You and Deel with your sweet tooth."

"What else?" He prompted her.

She rubbed her eyes and washed her face. Between licks she tried to think of more things she loved. "Well," She licked her paw, tasting her tears, "I know Huamanoa hate it, but I like camel meat."

Daero stuck out his tongue in disgust. "It's so bitter! Even Deel agrees, but he's got a child's tongue, I suppose."

"I like Valerian root." She gave a faint smile, knowing he didn't have the Kathula senses and found it disgusting.

"Yuck," He chuckled, "but have you tried catmint?"

"That drug for cats? Heizak," she scoffed but not convincing enough for him.

He chuckled at her and signed, I knew it.

Just once, she signed back. "That's all." She pursed her lips. "If I had a choice, Valerian root is better."

Catmint again if you had the chance though, right? he signed and laughed. Scowling, Pinti flicked her tail in his face, making him sneeze.

"You silly!" she huffed. Though he was right. "So, what would you say then?"

"I love this world."

She scowled at him at his vague answer when she had given him details. "More specific."

"Well, I love the different races, the magick, the portals, the way it all works. And," He smiled at her, "I love all the citizens I meet."

Pinti smirked. "Not everyone! Except, Orvineau and Xohr and Emphrelius den and Lai-ikolo and—"

"Okay, okay!" He laughed. "I love most of the citizens I meet. Happy now?"

A playfulness that had long been absent, spurred in her and she reached over to tickle his ribs. He squirmed and made a funny growling trill.

He fluffed his tail in her face, making her sneeze. "I didn't know you were so playful, you silly." He chuckled. Pinti returned the grin. The weight on her shoulders lifted a bit.

"Anyway," Daero cleared his throat, "we protect what we love, Pinti." He took her paws and gazed into her eyes. "From the moment we met you, the fire in your eyes was unmistakable, but—"

"Fire?" She gave a dry laugh at his strange metaphor.

His pawpads became hot and he licked his shoulder. "Oh, come on. I'm being serious!" He sighed and a hint of smile played on his lips. "As I was saying, don't kill for the past if you can protect the future."

"I don't understand." She tried to take her paws away, but he held on. "I need to get revenge on Edglings for what they did—"

"I don't think destruction of Edglings will work. Every other race is also after Kathula. You'd be wanting to get revenge on them all and that's just not healthy. You have to let go to move forward."

"Let go?" She hissed at him for suggesting such a thing and tried to free her paws again, not wanting to touch him, but he was stubborn.

Fine then. Keep my paws, heizak. Twitching her whiskers, she said, "But I'll never forget it. Why shouldn't I get revenge on Edglings?"

"Letting go doesn't mean forgetting, Pinti," he said in a deep, stern voice that made her suck in her breath. "Would Makiista want you to forget them?"

"No." She lowered her gaze.

"Pinti, look at me." He shook her paws, and she met his gaze. "Think about it. Horrible, horrible things can happen in life. But if you keep dwelling on the past, looking for revenge, how can you put all your energy into creating a future? You don't have to shove it all away. You don't have to forget."

"But I don't want their memories to disappear." She bit her lip. Tears were coming to her eyes again and now they appeared in Daero's eyes, too. He sucked in his bottom lip and his paws trembled. He sniffled and for a moment she saw Deel's face over his. Deel was saying something through tears, but she couldn't hear him. Daero closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Deel faded away and when those eyes opened again, it was only Daero.

"Memories are always with us, Pinti," His voice shook, "But we can free ourselves from the past."

Tears touched his voice and Daero took a deep breath. "My past is stealing the life of another. Deel is only a soul. One day, he may disappear. I would have killed him. I beat myself up about my own existence. More so in the past, less so today, because we're okay with it now. We let go but we didn't forget."

"How did you let go?" she whispered.

"Visit home." He said in a soft voice.

"Home?"

Daero lifted his head. "Years after Deel left, we snuck back to see his clan. We said goodbye to the past together and when we returned to Ulk Pyne, we said hello to the future."

"Return to the Third Ring?" She had never thought it would be possible. The closest she had been was when she passed it on her way to the Forest Crup. And it was locked and would now forever be.

"You're thinking about the past again," He squeezed her paws, "Think about the future, Pinti. We will retrieve your Lunality. We will find the Scepter of Tamido and you will use it to protect the present and future of Kathula. As I said, revenge is about the past."

Revenge is about the past. She echoed his words in her head. That was true, she realized. Every time she thought about revenge, it was about what happened—the past. Edglings killed her family so she thought she should take revenge and destroy them. 

But what then? After that, would anything change? Daero was right. There were others that were still a threat to Kathula. Humans, Sorcerers, and maybe even Halfhumans! Kathula didn't need revenge. They needed protection.

"Then, you can visit your clan. Tell them what you have accomplished. Tell them about your journey," His eyes shone with hope, "and tell them about your new life outside the Third Ring. A new future."

And then what? She wondered. And then what, Pinti? What is the next task at paw? 

But this task was big. It was about securing a future. Why had she never thought about this before? She had only planned as far as getting her revenge. Of course, there was something after using the scepter and how she used the scepter would change that, too.

The thought struck her with a new energy. Her tail and whiskers quivered. It wasn't about revenge, the past, and all the horrible things that happened. The past was the past—just memories, some which were more painful than others. Using the scepter should be about protecting Kathula from harm. It was the future. That was more important. The 'and then what' was what she needed to think about for them.

"I never realized," She shook her head, "There's a future that needs my Lunality. Not a past."

"That's right," Daero squeezed her paws, "there's a future that awaits. And I'll be with you every step of the way."

"Thank you." She squeezed back. The next step was to get out of here and get her Lunality. But could she trust the Saboteur? Maybe not trust. What did Humans call this?

"A gamble," she said and Daero burst out in laughter making her lick her shoulder in embarrassment. "There's nothing wr—"

"I was trying to come up with that word just now!" He beamed, "We'll take the gamble then. Together?" He released her paws and held his arms open. She didn't even think about it and gave him a hug.

"Together," she said with a trill. "Foh Kattola."

As they hugged, relief swelled in her chest, and the shadow in her heart receded. A warmth glowed inside of her. It didn't fill the absence of her Lunality, but strength returned.

But what would going home be like? She let her mind wander as Daero patted her head, mumbling 'It'll be alright' in her ear. Pinti wanted to visit her father—his soul resting on clan grounds. How proud he would be to see her. And she would tell Makiista Clan that Kathula's future had been saved and decorate the entire clan in white clover flowers as a promise that Kathula will live on.

"Taking the gamble, huh?"

Pinti and Daero bristled, pushing the other away at the sarcastic voice of the Saboteur. A wolf-like head with antlers peered down from the opening above. A large black paw reached down through the opening.

"Time to go, Kathula," he whispered, his face void of emotions.

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Note: Gotta love Daero, huh? Such loyal support!

Pinti comes to the realization that all this time she was only thinking about the past and about revenge. Now her goal includes the future and about protection. Any thoughts on her realization?