“You knew my mother?”

It had been days since the meeting with the council, and Tala was preparing for her first journey beyond the wall since then. Her hands paused in the middle of tightening the cords that fastened her hide jacket around her.

“She had the same fire in her eyes that you do,” replied Rial.

He had prepared little, taking only clean water and a pack full of rations. He had refused any weapon, tapping the sword at his side in response.

It certainly was a beautiful weapon, in far better condition than any the city could offer, but for Tala no sword could compare to a crossbow or, better yet, a rifle. She had spent many a night debating the merits of both with others on her watch, comparing the accuracy of the bolt to the power of the bullet. The rifle usually won it for her; though inaccurate and slow to reload, that didn’t matter when your attacker was up close and personal. It was the first attack that won a fight.

And if it didn't, she always had her knives.

Rial had spotted her packing them carefully away in their carrying cloth, and his exclamation of recognition had led to this conversation.

“I did not know her well,” said Tala, hands dropping to her sides. “She died while I was a child.”

“You resemble her in many ways, though I didn’t fully realise it until Trian told me.”

“Trian knew my mother before the city?”

Tala’s mother had spoken little of the time before her birth. What little she knew of her family history stemmed from her father’s side, a bloodline that had been settled in the area for generations before the collapse. She even had a few distant relatives remaining, though she had little time and felt little for them.

“He did. She was also from our village.”

The surprise ran through Tala in a jolt.

“What? Trian never told me…”

“They made it here long after I parted from them, and Trian and Rei decided to stay here. The others I knew continued on.”

“Why wouldn’t she tell me this? Why wouldn’t Trian tell me?”

“Would it make a difference?”

Tala blinked, at a loss for what to say.

“Rei chose not to tell you for her own reasons. Whatever they were, it was not Trian’s place to go against them.”

Tala felt anger rise in her chest. Why was he always like this? He spoke as if everything was so obvious, as if the answers were delineated by clear boundaries of black and white instead of the shades of grey the world swam through.

“Anyway, I can’t ask her now. She's gone, like everything else,” she said, trying to dismiss the pain. “She had a horse, you know. Don't know where she got it. Damn fool things are extinct now, of course. Nothing that weak survives in this world"

"I imagine the special grasses they need for sustenance were difficult to maintain," said Rial, standing and twitching the curtains aside to look at something outside.

"Right. Well, that and the fact that there were times when 'sustenance' was tight for everyone. Are they here?" Tala snapped, changing the subject.

Rial nodded, slinging his pack over his shoulder.

They met with Rakthi and Hurstrom in the street outside, both beweaponed and decked out in their bralla-skin jackets. To her surprise Karal was waiting there too. She had more than half expected him not to turn up.

"There's a lot needs to be done out there," Karal said in answer to her unspoken question.

To her further surprise Trian was also there, stood a little further out into the street in an ill-fitting bralla-skin jacket with a sword and crossbow hanging at his waist. She opened her mouth to speak but Rial got there first.

"You know you cannot come," said Rial firmly to his friend.

Damn you, Tala thought. If he finally wants to pull his weight, I won't let you stop him.

Trian simply stared.

"How advanced is it?" asked Rial.

"Pretty far," said Trian, eyes downcast.

"What the hell are you talking about?" barked Tala, before something in their expressions caught her tongue.

Trian whispered something as he stared at the floor. Tala knew enough that she did not need to ask again.

"Where?" asked Rial.

"It's spread to more places than I'd like to say, if I'm honest."

Trian gave a wry smile whilst looking up at his friend.

"I'll hang in there until you're back, at least."

Tala looked at the man she now knew was dying. She could see it in his eyes, in the sad smile on his face, in the gauntness of his body and the sallow features of his face. She could see it now, but how had Rial spotted it and she hadn't?

Karal was rapping his club against a wall a few steps away. He, at least, was unaffected by the scene. To him, Trian was just one more slowly dying person amongst many. It should have been the same to Tala, but...

Rial stepped forward and hugged his friend, patting him on the back then taking him by the shoulders and staring straight at him.

"Thank you again, my friend. And you are right; you will hang in there."

Rial turned in the direction that would lead them, eventually, to the gates and beyond the city walls.

"The gami watch over you, Trian," he said.

Tala snapped back to reality, forcing herself to be all business once more.

"We go. Now," she said. "There is much to be done."

She strode off, leading the way.