Don was speechless. He couldn't do much more than gape at the strange man. His shaggy black hair and darker complexion set him apart from the centurions. His clear humanity set him apart from the apes. Where had he come from and why was he tied up? Don helped the man to his feet.

"Are you okay?" Don asked as he brushed stray leaves out of the man's hair and untangled him from the loose bindings.

"I, I have kids." He repeated "Don't eat me. Please let me go"

"I'm not planning on eating anyone. Calm down and tell me what's happening. What are you doing out here all alone?"

He looked around nervously and sniffed a couple of times before responding.

"I am not alone. We came here because we must protect our trees. If we do not, those vermin will eat everything and there will be no food left for us." He spoke slowly, deliberately, as if every word was heavy with importance.

The nervous man was idly fussing with a brown strip of fabric from his baggy trousers. It took Don a few seconds of staring before he could put his finger on why the fabric seemed so odd. The man had a fuzzy prehensile tail! He worked it between his fingers in what was clearly an unconscious way to relieve stress.

"What are you?" Don asked, not taking his eyes off the tail.

"Me? I'm Pados" he said nervously before casting his eyes towards the ground and adding "I'm no one special..."

"I asked what you are. Not who you are" Don prompted the nervous thing.

"I'm a father, a husband, and a protector when I need to be." Pados looked confused as he laid out every pillar of his identity, hoping one of them would answer the demon's question.

"You're not a human though, are you?"

Sudden understanding filled Pados' eyes.

"Oh no, certainly not. I am a Vanara, one of the forest people." He said with enough pride to temporarily swell his chest. Then Pados remembered something which caused his shoulders to slump.

"Though you could say my people are refugees now, it is very hard keeping the children fed in this strange place. Please let me go. They need me."

Don stared at Pados in a deadpan for several seconds.

"You're kidding," Don said flatly. Pados grew suddenly indignant.

"I would not dirty my tongue with falsehoods." He practically oozed with sanctimonious pride.

"Is that so?" Don asked thoughtfully.

What followed was a very fruitful one-sided interrogation.

"...So. You were forced out of your ancestral homelands by a strange new enemy... and came out here to take refuge?" Don summarized. Pados nodded sadly.

"Yes, Yes. Isn't it just the worst thing you've ever heard?"

"No, not quite." He sighed "Kat, can you come down here?"

The scout dropped out of the trees to land on Don's shoulder and glare at Pados. The Vanara jumped back at the sudden appearance.

"Kat, this is Pados. Pados, Kat. This is one of the kids I've been trying to take care of. They're in a similar situation."

Pados looked confused, then concerned.

"Umm, I don't know how long you've been out here all alone but those are vermin, not children..."

"No, they, well fine. They're not exactly human but neither are you!"

"What has it been saying?" Asked Kat. Don filled him in on their conversation so far, leaving out the last exchange. Kat gave Don some questions to ask but Pados wouldn't answer anything until Don proved his sanity by getting Kat to follow a few basic commands. Stuff like go over there, raise your right paw, hop on one foot. Kat didn't have much patience for the game but he played along for long enough to settle Pados' doubts.

A troubled expression clouded his face.

"This is serious," He said more to himself than Don before raising his head and addressing the Demon directly. "Aloka will have the truth. Come, release the rest of my people and we can speak with her."

Pados knelt beside one of the tangles of vines imprisoning the apes.

"Hold on," Don warned, "Those are dangerous."

"Pah," Pados scoffed "Vanara are not dangerous. We are beaten. This is true. The fighting is over so we are safe again."

When Pados helped another Vanara out of the bindings, Don finally understood.

"Wait!" Don shouted, startling the Vanara out of their hug. "You are those giant apes?"

Pados turned away from the Vanara he had freed.

"We are the Vanara. This is true."

"And is it true that you have been attacking the ColoColo and their refuge? You killed their parents and stole their home didn't you?"

"This is true." Said Pados impassively before turning to indicate the Vanara hiding slightly behind him.

"This is Kilana, my wife. Is she not the most beautiful Vanara?"

"Hold it!" Don was having trouble maintaining his control of the conversation.

"You admit to stealing their home and killing their parents and then you just want to have a friendly chat?"

"Yes, Aloka will have the truth and reveal the way. This is Kilana, my wife." Pados replied bluntly and with just a tinge of irritation.

Don wasn't sure what to do. He still didn't want to just execute the... monsters. Do they even qualify as monsters when they are almost entirely human? So far Pados had been blunt but he had also been calm and reasonable. Don didn't get the sense that Pados was trying to trick him. He still couldn't just let him untie all the other Vanara. It would be bad if they all attacked at once. He decided to play along and see where that got him.

"Hello Kilana, my name is Donovan." Pados smiled and nodded in approval. Kilana dipped, bending her knees and neck in a sort of curtsey. She wore similar baggy tan pants to Pados' but she also had a vibrant green wrap around her chest. She didn't have a tail like Pados. That didn't stop her from nervously fidgeting with her partner's though.

"You are a good fighter, Donovan." She said in response "I am thankful that you will not be eating us. This is true."

Don rubbed the back of his neck. He really couldn't kill them now. He knew that these were the monsters that had caused so much pain and turmoil for the ColoColo but their every action seemed centered around civility and manners.

"I would rather not fight," Don said. Then he added "This is true." for good measure

"Mmm, this is a good truth," Kilana replied. "Talking is better than fighting. Aloka reminds us of this truth often."

"Then why did you attack the ColoColo and drive them from their homes?"

Kilana looked away in shame, unwilling to lie but unwilling to share that particular truth either.

"We are a cursed people," Pados said for her. "When our families are threatened by outsiders, we are possessed by violent spirits. They transform us and give us the strength to defend our families, but we lose control of our actions when this happens. Only Aloka will have the truth you seek. She will provide a way."

Don was suspicious. All the reiteration that they were telling the truth had him suspicious that he might be walking into a trap. He weighed his options.

On the one hand, he could kill the Vanara here and have that many fewer to drive out of the ColoColo's ancestral home. He would be justified in removing the invaders but it would definitely leave a bad taste in his mouth. While they were guilty by their own admission, they were also victims in their own right.

On the other hand, while Pados and Kilana didn't seem to feel remorse for their actions, they were acting in a thoroughly nonviolent manner at the moment. If there was an agreement that could be reached, some concession now that he could translate for or simply speak on behalf of the ColoColo, He had to at least try, didn't he?

Don wished he could ask Cel but she still wouldn't respawn for another 10 hours. He would have asked Kat or the other ColoColo but he knew that they wouldn't be able to see past their training that the Vanara was nothing more than 'bad things'. Don was the closest thing to an impartial party he was going to get so the decision fell to him.

"Okay, let's go see this Aloka and have ourselves a little chat." He said, breaking the expectant silence.

When Pados and Kilana moved to untie the rest of the Vanara, Don stopped them.

"No, just us four. The rest of my tribe will stay here with our prisoners until we meed with Aloka, hear her truth, and come to some agreement."

That caused Kat and the ColoColo scattered through the canopy to start hissing and spitting. They did not like the idea of negotiating with the "bad things". Especially now that they had the upper hand. Don reasoned that now was the best time to negotiate. They couldn't be dismissed with over 20 Vanara prisoners and they could always fall back on genocide if they absolutely needed to.

The two Vanara led the way while Kat rode Don's shoulder, never taking his bulbous eyes off of the strange folk. They whispered to each other and poked and tickled and giggled and generally did everything that could make Don uncomfortable.

Now that they had agreed to go and meet with Aloka, the tension had evaporated from the Vanara. They happily led the ColoColo's representatives into their home while ignoring the fact that they represented a group of enemy combatants intent on taking that home back.

After hours of climbing ever steeper hills, they came to a stone cliff. The Vanara turned left and walked along it until they came to a fissure that went deep into the rock. They walked in and beckoned Don to follow when he hesitated. It was dark in the crevice but that meant Don could see better than normal with his dark vision. With his recent levels, the skill reached a full 30 meters into the darkness. He couldn't see anything but a zig-zagging path winding its way down into the earth.

Don took a moment to gather his courage and followed the Vanara inside. It took a full 10 minutes of walking before they came to what looked like a dead end. His [dark-vision] revealed an open and brightly light space on the other side of the obstruction though.

"Can you help us? We usually have a lot more Vanara to help with this part." Pados asked, waving towards the boulders blocking their way. There was no way around it. Don shrugged and started helping to push aside the large rocks blocking the exit of the tunnel. After they tumbled away, he stood in shock.

A great basin opened up before him. High cliffs encircled the entire space. The odd anemic shrub or withered tree clung to fissures high up in the otherwise sheer cliffs. It must have been kilometers to the other side. There were a few scattered hills but everything sloped down towards the steaming blue-green lake at the center of the basin. The ground was mostly covered in loose grey scree but some low vegetation sprouted around the edge of the lake.

His guides only stopped long enough to block up the entrance again before walking down towards the lake.