Korrin lay awake in her tent of leaves and sticks through the night.

Not long ago she was complaining about sleeping out in the woods or on dirty streets while following Silent- Ah, uhm, Ta’K- around all of Noctra… but at least she had slept some then. Of course, then she had also thought she was in the company of her twin brother Jorrick, who in reality, was a few years younger than her. And dead. The depressing sanity that came with her newfound lucidity kept sleep far out of reach. Korrin was sure the bedding wouldn’t have changed that a bit; be it feathered pillows or pointed sticks and blades of massive grass.

Heria started snoring halfway through the night and Korrin was glad for it. Her friend needed it. They all did honestly, though she figured Heria would need it a little more than the others after tearing such a large chasm in Noctra’s face while fighting Senfe. Mezir had split an entire cliff in half but there was a distinct feeling in the air that events like that may not be uncommon for the man. He hadn’t even glanced back at the debris. Lesser men would have bragged about it to dawn’s first light and beyond; Mezir never said a word about it.

Korrin refused to close her eyes at any point in the night for fear of finding more truths about herself than she could handle. She was already facing the fact that the one man she’d trusted with her life had slaughtered her entire family. Worse, even, was that White had somehow planted a different reality in place of the truth. A reality Korrin’s mind had accepted without question. Thousands of times she’d lifted her eyepatch to stare at a haunting void in her face but suddenly she knew, she could feel, the left eye was there. It had always been. Jorrick, on the other hand, never existed and Korrin held onto years' worth of memories learning, eating, fighting, struggling viciously with Jorrick by her side. His company became less and less pleasing as time went on but they were siblings, some distancing was to be expected; it was natural. Except it wasn’t natural, evidently. On the contrary more and more of Korrin’s life had turned out to be exceedingly unnatural. And not at all for any reasons she would ever have guessed.

She reflected on her time at White’s estate searching for all the signs she surely missed before. Knowing what she did now, Korrin felt like an absolute idiot for never noticing something beforehand.

We were tutored in private. Korin and Jorrick never saw one of their tutors for longer than a month at a time. We were trained in private. White handled all of their combat training himself. Our missions were always as a team. Always. She had often wondered why White sent Jorrick along on some of their more delicate missions. He’d been effectively useless if there wasn’t someone to fight. Entirely useless because he wasn’t there. He was never there… Every time Lord White had sent Jorrick out to kill some poor noble Lord or Lady for their slights against him, it had been Korrin who held the blade. She remembered each assassination. Jorrick had been silent, precise, clean; in and out without so much as a sound or disturbance. They all took a matter of minutes.

Korrin remembered each and every tortured merchant or Indentured who swore for hours on end that they just didn’t know anything about the Nomads, the Dwellers, or whoever else White was looking for at the time. Jorrick put them all down without hesitation and fed them to the seas like sick livestock. Korrin had watched from afar, she’d thought, disgusted at how much her brother seemed to be enjoying himself.

But it was Korrin. It had all been her. It wasn’t even hard for her brain to place Korrin in place of Jorrick- she instantly saw things from her own perspective when she thought about it because it had always been her. The tally of bodies under her alone was staggering, adding the number of people ‘Jorrick’ had murdered in cold blood… the thought was damn near unbearable. She’d always told herself she was doing work for Lord White, for the better of Blancana, of all Noctra, because she believed White’s lies.

But.. didn’t some part of me know? Didn’t some part of me… like it?

Korrin sighed heavily with relief when dawn broke through the Wilder’s lush canopy and hit her dry, tired eyes. With the morning there came things to get done, others to worry about. Distractions that she desperately needed to keep her mind off of herself. Ta’K was sitting at a dwindling fire when she rolled out of her tent, a newly packed bowl of some sour-smelling herb smoking from his pipe. The sizable pile of ash at his feet told Korrin he’d been there for a while.

Guess I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep.

Korrin wondered if Ta’K’s conscience was as guilty as her own but for obvious reasons, she couldn’t read the man. When he realized she was getting up, stretching tall as she did every morning, Ta’K gave her a quick nod of his head and turned around, facing towards the clearing. Korrin had been confused by his actions at first but upon looking down she realized her own thin garments had done little to hide how cold she was in the dawn’s cool breeze. She blushed and cleared her throat.

“Uhm. Thank you, Ta’K.”

He held up his left forearm and waved it back and forth. Nothing to thank me for. His voice resounded in her head as if it were her own. It was jarring but not entirely uncomfortable.

Korrin threw on multiple layers of thin black cloth cut into triangular sections. At any given time the garb allowed for her to effectively disappear into any shaded area if she kept herself moving fluidly enough. Just then, however, she realized how much like odor and death it all smelled. A pungent reminder of what she had been doing as Korrin and Jorrick for the past year.

“Uh… Ta’K. I… I need to tell you something. I know that I’ve been under m- Lord White’s influence for some time now, evidently, my entire life. I don’t know who I really am or what I really feel… but… the past year I was…”

Spying on you from afar like some forlorn lover? Don’t worry about it.

It was her voice again but not her own thoughts. Pretty damn near close to what she was going to say though. Korrin blanched at the thought that his “mind speak” might go both ways.

“Have you been-”

Reading your mind? No, no, no Korrin. That would be extremely invasive, I would never! Ta’K’s forearms moved around wildly as he swatted the accusation away, his framework hands held his pipe to his mouth all the while.

“Oh Cret’s bollocks. That would have been a dismal revelation.” She’d unabashedly done her fair share ogling the man in his tight wrappings when she thought he couldn’t see her.

I would never! On an entirely unrelated note…. Her own non-voice echoed throughout Korrin’s head as Ta’K turned towards her and leaned in, “... I don’t think you smell that bad.”

Korrin laughed so hard that she started to cry.

“You- you bastard!” She fell to the ground laughing, holding her guts.

Something she couldn’t remember ever doing as Korrin or Jorrick.

***

Heria crawled out of her tent to the sound of Korrin tearing her guts in two with a bout of voracious laughter. It was the most sincere sound Heria had ever heard the woman make. She rubbed the back of her fur-covered, leathery hand on her eyes trying to dispel the sleep that still clung to them.

“What in the name of all the Legends did I miss?” Mezir appeared to be returning from the clearing.

Did no one else sleep last night? Heria felt more than a little embarrassed that she may have been the only one to sleep. I hope I didn’t snore too loud. Ever since her forced ‘metamorphoses’ at the hands of Lord White she always had an issue with sleeping too loudly for others' content. It was the main reason Mez- Ragoth… supposedly, the main reason Ragoth had moved Heria out of the barracks and into her own private room. “Too many complaints.” He’d said. Heria figured it was all bullshit. Like everything else he said. She knew it wasn’t his fault. She was still pissed.

“Your bet is as good as mine, uh..” Heria craned her neck upwards and shot Mezir an inquisitive look,” Sir?”

“Hm… I don't know about ‘Sir’. Feels a bit… stuffy. How about we stick to Mezir, for now.” He smiled at Heria and she saw his eyes shining, focused directly on her without an ounce of pity or disgust.

How does he do that? “Sounds good, Mezir.”

Korrin was still on the ground catching her breath, wiping tears that were likely part joy, part despair, and part insanity, but she held up a finger high in the air. Everyone waited for her to pull herself together. Heria couldn’t stop smiling at her beautiful friend. I’ve never seen such a big smile on her face before. Ironic, isn’t it? The things that make us happy. When they make us happy. Always so… unexpected.

“This bandaged fu- Ahm, excuse me- Ta’K” she pointed to the wrapped man smoking his pipe who bowed towards her,” no problem.” No problem? Who is she talking to? “Anyway, Ta’K here can not only speak to us in our minds but evidently can read them as well. Just to forewarn you if you have any… nasty thoughts about him. Or yourself.” Korrin blushed with a smirk and dusted off her black bottoms.

Mezir burst into his own fit of laughter loud enough that the trees passed it about for what sounded like miles before it finally died out. It did wonders for Heria’s spirit. Kept her mind in the present, off of Rago-

“Ah! Mindspeak… yes, it can be quite the invasive thing...” Mezir gave Ta’K a whimsical eyebrow, a high contrast to the low sagging bags beneath his eyes, “... in the wrong hands, of course. I do believe we should all be safe with Ta’K. Despite recent actions, I do believe he is still a rather peaceful bo- Uhm, young man. Trustworthy.”

“Korrin laughed and nodded her head in agreement. “Yes, I do not think we have much to fear from this one.”

“Wait.” Heria realized then that she hadn’t had any communication with Ta’K outside of the memories and feelings they’d all shared the night before, which she wasn’t sure she’d quite recovered from. “ What in all the hells does he sound like?”

“Hmmm... “ Mezir thought for a moment before he looked at Ta’K, “Say something.” A short pause before his face lit up,” Ah! He sounds like he did as a child in my mind, I suppose because that is the one time I ever heard him speak.” Mezir came and sat by their dying fire. “Seems so long ago now, yeah?”

Ta’K nodded slowly and took a fierce drag off of his pipe.

“I heard him like he was me, but… different?” Korrin came beside Heria and squatted.

Ta’K looked to Heria. I am sorry for what was done to you. Even I cannot understand such pain. It sounded just like Ragoth. Her shock must have been evident for he held his framework hands out, shaking them, I’m sorry, I’m sorry Heria. I thought his voice might… this time it was Helena’s soft tone.

“No. No, it was very kind. Just… surprising. Let's stick with that one for now though, okay?” Hearing her old voice was somehow comforting to Heria.

After a few more brief moments of levity, tension fell over them all with an awkward silence that made Heria sweat.

“So, I guess now is as good a time as any. Who's ready to hear the plan?”

Heria, Korrin, and Ta’K nodded together. Eyes on Mezir. Heria wasn’t even sure Lili-Bon was still asleep but the young woman laid on the ground, face down, taking deep breaths in and out. She felt bad for her. Longed to comfort the sweet Lili-Bon she had known for so long. Lili-Bon who confided in her without any reservations.

Lili-Bon who stabbed Mezir and foiled Ragoth’s plans to escape. Lili-Bon who caused Ragoth’s capture. Lili-Bon the traitous-

“Son of a bitch. You’re all looking at me? I thought maybe you all would have some suggestions. I mean, my last rebellion did end with a terrible failure.”

Mezir had a good point.