Hoplite immediately grabbed his helmet at hearing Michael’s blood curdling screams, slipping it back on and grabbing up the massive bulging canvas sack next to him before darting toward the medical tent. Hoplite’s terrifying speed blurred his form as he passed into the tent, his heavy boots leaving deep imprints in the grass behind him. What was happening in there? The boy sounded as if his skin were being peeled from his very bones, it was no wonder why Hoplite took off the instant it began.

With how fast Hoplite ran she was surprised that the heavy sack he carried didn’t get torn from the weight of the countless things he had secured from Michael’s shuttle. A whole heap of new guns, rations, and ‘ammo’ lay within, packed neatly in the bag as to conserve space. Gali had given it away freely when Hoplite requested a sack to use for packing up the contents of the pod. A fine work of craftsmanship, the tightly-threaded brown canvas holding well against the great weight placed within it. Hoplite had been guarding it tightly, keeping it alongside him and away from the curious fiendwallers who had wanted to see the ‘fire-sticks’ for themselves. There had been a brief argument between Hoplite and those who desired to claim the shuttle’s contents…

A very brief argument. Those men still shook in their boots whenever they saw Hoplite.

Lance herself shot up from the ground, unsure of how to proceed. She had some interest in Michael herself, he was a human from another world like Hoplite after all… but would he panic at the sight of an elf? Surely other, less human appearing races have gone into the tent by now, but Lance did not know if Michael had seen them yet. What if that was why he was shrieking? Perhaps he had caught sight of the Rattaga working in the tent? She’d not want to exacerbate Michael’s terror with her presence if that were the case. He was from the same society as Hoplite… but there was a chance that Michael would react less… reserved, upon meeting those of a different species.

Hoplite had seemingly been baffled by the different races that inhabited Ahkoolis, often referring to them as ‘mutants’. It was a word that seemed to bear some negative connotations, at least that’s what Lance believed. After all, Hoplite referred to fiends as being mutants, meaning that Hoplite’s society may lump such creatures, sapient or not, together as a whole. She remained standing where she was for a moment longer, looking down at the half-eaten lunch she and Hoplite had been sharing. The man had eaten half of an entire ham and still hadn’t been done with it until Michael’s scream had drawn him away.

She shooed away a few flies that came to hover close to their food, drawing the corners of the blanket overtop the meal with a sigh. Lance absolutely could not stand the thought of eating food that had been assaulted by bugs. If even one accursed fly landed on her sandwich, she would genocide fifty of them in recompense. Just another curse of the summer time to go along with the nearly unbearable heat.

The hot sun hung high over the valley, its brutal heat beating down upon the hapless mortals below. Hoplite hadn’t wanted to find anywhere shady to eat, oh no, of course not. It wasn’t a problem for him in that suit, it apparently kept him nice and cool. Not that his comfort would have played a part in his decision to sit out here anyway. The man could have been boiling alive in that oversized frying-pan he called armor and not bat a single eye.

Hoplite had asked why she didn’t just want to eat in the tent, and Lance had stared in bafflement at the man, eat in the infirmary? Where surgeons were operating on open wounds and the smell of festering wounds wafted freely about? It would taint the taste of the meal. Besides, she seriously doubted that the surgeons would approve of such a thing.m

She had considered ditching him to find a shady place to eat… But Lance hadn’t wanted to dine alone. That, and she had relished the chance to try and pick Hoplite’s brain further. Really it was her damn curiosity alone that had her broiling beneath the sun to get the stony-faced oaf to speak. Hoplite however, had been quite content to simply sit and eat, barely responding to her questions or grunting in what could have been denial or affirmation at the things she asked.

Lance shook her head, staring at the medical tent as she continued to consider her next course of action. The gray canvas tent was nearly indistinguishable from the row of tents it was a part of, with the only notable difference being that the tent flaps, unlike the rest of the tent, were a shade of white. Hoplite had dashed through the back entrance of the medical tent, its white flaps still billowing from his passage.

It was nice to see such concern for another person from Hoplite… Was Michael perhaps a friend of his? Not likely, knowing Hoplite, his concern for Michael was completely professional. She found herself wondering if Hoplite even had any friends. Likely not, given his near-lifeless way of speaking and serious demeanor.

Shouting erupted from the tent, taking Lance from her thoughts as Hoplite’s voice drowned out dozens of others. He basically barked over the other voices, ordering them harshly to back away. Lance took a deep breath and readied herself for potential problems. She’d likely need to go in and defuse things before they escalated any further…

She took a single step forward right as Hoplite burst out of the tent, Michael weeping in his arms as the sunlight touched his pale flesh. Lance averted her eyes upon noticing that the young man was completely naked, babbling incoherently and reaching out toward the sun. The split in Michael’s scalp that she had seen before was completely gone, with not even a scar remaining in its place.

Twindil’s doing no doubt. The half-elf had claimed to use the power of Afina to seal Michael’s wounds and purge his body of infection. Hoplite had asked Twindil earlier how it was possible that she could do such a thing, getting frustrated when the paladin simply replied with ‘My faith in Afina’. What else had he expected? No matter, right now she needed to figure out what was going on.

Lance then put her fists on her hips “What are you doing!?” She shouted.

Michael, while looking significantly healthier than he had the day before, was still in no condition to be man-handled, much less brought out into the open wearing no clothing! Michael however, didn’t seem as if he cared, reaching for the sun while thanking Hoplite between heavy sobs. Hoplite didn’t reply, merely standing there in the light while doctors in aprons that may have once been white emerged from the tent, complaining after him.

“He needs bed rest you oaf!” An older human shouted “Put down my patient at once!”

“Negative. He needs light.” Hoplite replied.

“He is not a plant!” The older human yelled back “Now if you please, bring him back inside!”

“Shut up nerd!” Michael cried angrily through clenched teeth.

The doctor sputtered “H-how dare you, I’m trying to help you young man! You need to be in that bed!”

Michael shook his head quickly, seeming to cling onto Hoplite even tighter than before. People were beginning to come out from the alleys between the rows of tents, likely to see what the commotion was all about. Before Lance could get much closer, however, the curious fiendwallers began packing around Hoplite, leaving a small gap of space around the back-entrance of the medical tent. She slowly began inching her way through the crowd, whispering apologies as she began pushing people out of her path. Several of these people were furious at Lance for a moment before they took notice of her garb and ears… then they became silent, eyes going wide. Most of these had likely never seen a watcher this close up before. Lance hoped that they wouldn’t make too much of a fuss about it, she’d been in the camp a while, word of mouth should have reached every ear about her presence by now.

Mostly though, the people in the crowd whispered and pointed at Hoplite, saying things like ‘The hero of the Wall’ in awed tones or ‘Why is he holding a naked man?’

If Hoplite cared about his new title of ‘Hero of the Wall’ he did not show it, and he didn’t react to the growing crowd either. Michael, after a moment of sobbing, took a deep breath, and looked to the doctor.

“You get a light goin’ in there, a real bright one, and I’ll go back inside.” Michael said in a shaky tone “It’s too dark in there alright?”

The doctor stared at the man for another few seconds before sighing and nodding his head in acquiescence, waving his hand at a nearby assistant and ordering her to bring a few torches. Michael breathed a sigh of relief before he stared at the doctor, his brow furrowed in confusion.

“Why,” Michael sniffed, wiping tears from his eyes “Wouldja you use a torch? You mean like a flashlight, right?”

The doctor stared back at Michael, visibly perplexed.

“I am not sure as to… what that is.” The doctor replied.

Now Michael stared, all previous terror seemingly dissipating to be replaced with apparent confusion.

“Y’all out of batteries or something?” He asked “Or are ya thinkin’ glowglobes? Oh hey wait a second… uh, sir my junk is showing can we get-”

“I’ll brief you on the current situation, marine.” Hoplite said, cutting him off “What is your rank?”

Michael coughed, and sniffed again “Private sir. I serve the Octopus and Lord Jyn loyally.” He finished in a formal tone.

“Hoplite thirty-seven, I serve the Octopus and Lord Jyn loyally.” Hoplite replied in just as formal a tone.

“Thirty-seven!?” Michael shouted in an awed tone, his expression changing to an almost… childlike giddiness “That’s right! Aw man, I was so scared in there I wasn’t thinkin’!”

Lord Jyn? The Octopus? So was this Lord Jyn the ruler of Hoplite’s homeland? He must be, what kind of man was he like? Or was it a woman? No, humans called high ranking women ‘Lady’, and they had both said lord. The onlookers exchanged confused frowns as they began asking one another about both the Octopus and this Lord Jyn. Lance hadn’t heard of Lord Jyn before this encounter either, but unlike the fiendwallers, Lance knew that was because of the fact that Jyn was an Outworlder ruler. No one here could possibly know who Lord Jyn was, except for Hoplite and Michael. She at least knew that the Octopus was the symbol for this ‘Terna’, based on the blood red insignia she'd seen on both Hoplite’s and Michael’s shuttles.

It wasn’t too long before the assistant returned with the requested torches, lighting two of them and handing one to the doctor, who took it with an annoyed expression. They all re-entered the tent then, leaving Lance and the gathered crowd behind.

Was Hoplite particularly famous where he was from to elicit that reaction from Michael? And what was this… thirty-seven deal? Was he the thirty-seventh Hoplite? She remembered back when they had first met, he hadn’t said ‘My name is Hoplite’ he had said… ‘I am a Hoplite.’ Was that not his real name? Were there more men like him running around somewhere? She was almost to the edge of the crowd when a man suddenly spoke out in an angry tone, breaking her train of thought.

“That’s the one. That Starfallen… he’s the one what broke the wall.”

Lance then turned her attention to the speaker. He was a tall fellow, like most of the people who lived in the Fiendwall. A curled brown mustache topped his lip, the color matching his simple clothing. He looked no different than any human townsman she had seen before save that mustache, which was popular among the fiendwaller men.

“You don’t know if he’s a Starfallen.” A woman in a long brown skirt chided, slapping his arm “He’s probably just some poor fellow that got trapped in the rubble.”

The man sneered “Naw, he do be the Starfallen what broke the wall. Me brother’s workin’ the other side of the breach, he saw the Hero pull him out of the star.”

Many other whispers began, briefly discussing Michael’s potential origins before talks turned to what should be done about him.

The previous man spoke again “I’ll hang that fellow. Me sister and nephew were in that section before the star collided.”

“Me daughter had been there as well.” An older gentleman said with a glare at the tent “I don’t know why they wanted to crash into our wall, but he do be doomed for it, mark me!”

“We do not know if he did it on purpose!” A man argued “Who can control where a star do land?”

“It no matter.” A middle-aged woman snarled “He be dead for killing me son!”

Lance shrunk back until she was once again behind the crowd, circling around it to reach the front of the tent. Hoplite had to know that there was likely going to be trouble here soon… She just wished she could tell him how soon.