Koyl led us down a few streets, crossing about six blocks of distance, before we arrived at a three-story stone building that he quickly led us inside of. During the journey, I noticed that the streets of Awrehrehzha were less densely packed than the crowd outside the city would suggest. There’s still at least an hour of daylight left, I thought, I guess Koyl is probably going to explain, hopefully it’s not another Owsahlk situation. As soon as we were inside, Koyl locked the door behind us, then pulled aside a sheet that separated the entry area from the rest of the building.

“I’m back,” Koyl announced, walking in ahead of us. The bottom floor of the building looked like some kind of office, but there were also a few barrels stacked against the back wall and some metal tools strewn across a second table that didn’t have any paperwork on it.

“Already?” a male voice replied from upstairs, and footfalls soon followed, descending to the floor we were on. The man who came to face us looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite place him. Maybe someone from the Zae’ey’yaob mansion? I wondered. Outside of a very square jawline and a shaved head, he did look very average for a Luwahriy, so it was possible I was just misremembering. “Who are they?” the man asked.

“They’re who we’re preparing for,” Koyl replied, turning around. “At least, apparently. You really are Vaozey, right? This isn’t some kind of joke, is it?”

“I still have the burns everywhere but my face and hands to prove it,” Vaozey replied. “I can show you, if you’d like, the offer from Owsahlk still stands.” Her tone was sarcastic, but there was a slight waver near the end.

“Ah, yeah, I’ll pass on that,” Koyl said. I recalled how Vaozey told me that she knew Koyl wouldn’t take her up on her advances, and noticed the subtle hints of negative emotion in Koyl’s expression. Disgust, but also pity, I thought, it’s just like she said.

“I thought she was supposed to have scars,” the man commented.

“I have a few,” Vaozey replied, turning her face to show another one of the knife marks to the man. “What, am I not crazy enough for you?”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” the man replied, making a placating gesture.

“This is Shuwao,” Koyl said, gesturing to the man. “He works for me, mostly as security, but also in an advisory role.

“Really stepping into the family business, are you?” Vaozey asked.

“I work for your father,” Shuwao said to Koyl. “He just lent me to you.”

“Man, can you just let me have this?” Koyl asked in an exasperated tone.

“You didn’t even get the shells you were supposed to be getting, did you?” Shuwao asked. “Yeah, I know you didn’t, it would’ve taken you at least another half hour if you walked all the way there and back. So yeah ‘boss’, I work for your father, or else I’d probably quit.”

“Shells?” I asked, trying to break up the unproductive conversation.

“Let’s go upstairs,” Koyl sighed. “Shuwao, if you could get them in my place, I’d appreciate it. These two shouldn’t be out walking around, considering how things have been lately. Also if you could grab some food on the way back, that would be great.”

“Sure thing boss,” Shuwao sighed in response. “Would you like me to tuck you in tonight?”

“Gods, do you ever shut up?” Koyl groaned, making Shuwao chuckle to himself. The man crossed the room, pushed aside the curtain, and left the three of us alone. Once he was gone, Koyl walked over to the stairs to the second floor, then beckoned us to follow him when he saw that both Vaozey and I were still standing in place.

The second floor was a dining area with a few tables strewn about and a stove along one of the walls. With a deep sigh, Koyl slumped down into one of the chairs, resting his head on his right hand and mumbling to himself.

“Hard day?” Vaozey asked.

“More than a day,” Koyl replied. “Take a seat if you want one.”

“Sure,” Vaozey grunted, sitting across from him. I took the chair between them, waiting for Koyl to continue.

“Okay, so you two nearly just got yourselves into a heap of trouble,” Koyl said. “I cannot believe how lucky I was to find you, seriously.”

“They let us in without issue,” I said. “It’s possible they don’t have our descriptions, or they’re out of date.”

“No, not like that,” Koyl said. “In the last… I guess it’s been about ten days, the nobles in the city have been going absolutely nuts over something, but I have no idea what it is. However, anyone who looks even remotely suspicious has been getting a lot of unwarranted attention from the guards, especially after dark, and you two look about as suspicious as possible for this area. I hesitate to ask, but do you know what could be pissing them off?”

“Could be anything,” Vaozey replied. “They tried to kill us out in the woods, so there’s that. If it’s been ten days though, that means it started before they tried, if only by a bit. Wait, how long were we in that chasm?”

“A little bit less than three days,” I replied.

“A chasm?” Koyl interjected, raising an eyebrow. “Ah, damn. Do you know about the ants? Please tell me you know about the ants, at least.”

“What do you know about the ants?” Vaozey asked, and Koyl suddenly got much more serious.

“You’re wearing repellent, right?” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Okay,” Koyl exhaled in relief. “You really spooked me for a second there. Those damned things are everywhere around here, I think they might even be listening in on conversations.”

“They can’t understand speech,” I said. Koyl didn’t reply for a few seconds, then furrowed his brow and grunted, looking curious.

“I’m assuming you have a reason for being so confident?” he prompted.

“I’d tell you to sit down if you weren’t already, because this is going to sound seytoydh insane,” Vaozey chuckled ominously.

What started as an explanation of the ants being intelligent eventually turned into a full-length recounting of what Vaozey and I had been up to since we left Kahvahrniydah, while Koyl listened and occasionally asked questions. Partway through the explanation he walked down down to the first floor and came back with a pen and paper in order to make a list of names, which he said was “for later use”. Around the time we were explaining the events in Muhryehv, Shuwao returned with a leather bag of ingredients, then left again to go get the “shells” that Koyl had asked him to fetch. Koyl, surprisingly, began using the ingredients to cook some basic meals at the stove while the recounting of the story continued.

The meals finished up just before Vaozey finished explaining what happened in Kuhtehsh, with Koyl sliding two platters of roasted meat and vegetables in front of Vaozey and me while taking a third platter of just vegetables for himself, also fetching some knives and forks from a nearby cabinet. Since Vaozey and I were both hungry, we paused the story for a minute to eat.

“Didn’t know you could cook,” Vaozey mumbled with a mouth full of food, holding a chunk of meat in her hand.

“I learned when I was younger, but I only took it up again recently,” Koyl replied, looking much more refined in his manners as he actually used his fork to cut his food into small pieces. “For a half-noble you certainly have shitty manners.”

“So you looked me up, rich boy?” Vaozey prodded.

“I was pretty sure just from your family name, but yes,” Koyl replied. I noticed that his eyes kept drifting to the cooked meat on Vaozey’s plate, and following it as she stuffed it into her mouth.

“Have you managed to gather any information on the noypeyyoyjh?” I asked.

“Yeah, what’ve you been up to then?” Vaozey added. Koyl hesitated, freezing for an instant, then put down his fork and knife beside his still-half-full platter.

“Does it matter?” he asked.

“You look like shit, so maybe,” Vaozey replied. Again, Koyl froze for just a moment, then he exhaled.

“I want to go with you,” he said. “To assault the noypeyyoyjh, I mean. I’ve made up my mind.”

“I was under the impression that you didn’t want to fight,” I said.

“That was then, this is now,” he replied.

“Will you be capable?” I asked. “I can tell that you’re still suffering from the effects of the mental shock you experienced from-”

“Yes, I’ll be fine,” Koyl interrupted. Vaozey, who was still chewing a mouth of food, narrowed her eyes and curled her lips in. Then, without warning, she slapped her left hand down on the table, making Koyl jump. “Come on,” Koyl complained. “Are you really just trying to startle me to prove I can’t help you in a fight?”

“Watch this, rich boy,” Vaozey said, putting her knife to her index finger. With a single chop, she cut it off, splitting a bit of blood on the table and making Koyl’s eyes go wide. Then, with her right hand, she picked up the finger and dangled it in front of him, bringing it closer to his face and dripping blood into his plate.

“Stop it!” Koyl protested.

“What, it’s just a bit of blood,” Vaozey said, smiling.

“What kind of zaeternaaf cuts their own seytoydh finger off at the dinner table!?” Koyl exclaimed, growing very emotional in an instant and slapping Vaozey’s hand away. Apparently satisfied, Vaozey brought her finger back to the stump, cut it again with the knife, and healed it back into place.

“See, good as new,” she said, demonstrating that the finger could move. That’s at least twice as fast as I can manage to rejoin my tendons, I realized.

“That’s not the point!” Koyl seethed.

“No, it is the point,” Vaozey retorted, her mischievous tone abruptly gone. “You’re way too battle-shy to help out, you can’t even bring yourself to eat some… what is this, deer?”

“Gods, do you have any tact?” Koyl sighed.

“Vaozey has a point,” I said. “You are still not fit to be in a fight, you would likely get yourself killed.”

“I’ll be fine in a fight,” Koyl insisted. “I just wasn’t ready to watch someone dangle a severed finger over my food, alright?” There was silence in the room as nobody quite knew what to say, and Koyl tried not to make eye contact with either of us.

“What happened?” Vaozey asked.

“Nothing that concerns you,” Koyl spat. Again there was silence, and Vaozey’s eyes narrowed.

“Who did they kill?” she asked. “I know that look pretty well by now, someone who you actually gave a shit about was killed, right? Who was it?” Koyl winced, his jaw tightening and eyes closing, and he took a few deep breaths. “Your father?” Vaozey guessed. “No, it can’t be him, maybe a brother?”

“No,” Koyl replied.

“Your mother then,” Vaozey said, and Koyl didn’t say anything to refute her. “So you want to kill some Rehvites to avenge her?” Wasn’t she safe when I left? I tried to recall. If that’s the case, how did she die?

“No!” Koyl snapped again, eyes looking bloodshot. “I just- seyt, I’m glad Shuwao isn’t here right now. It’s hard enough to get that guy to respect me.”

“Look, rich boy, this is going to sound pretty stupid coming from me, but you need a bit more than just willingness if you want to actually fight,” Vaozey said.

“You’re right, it does sound stupid coming from someone like you,” Koyl hissed.

“Do you at least have equipment?” I asked. “How long have you been in the city? What resources did your father allocate to you?”

“What do you think those ‘shells’ are?” Koyl asked back. “I’ve been working on getting my hands on some of that explosive the Rehvites used in your room in Kahvahrniydah, as well as some metal shells to hold it.”

“Like this?” Vaozey asked, reaching down into the backpack beside her and pulling out the cracked but not broken jar of black powder. Koyl’s eyes went wide when he realized what it was, and he almost snatched it off the table before stopping and gently moving it over to him so he could examine it.

“Where did you get this?” he asked.

“The assassin in Muhryehv,” I said. “I’m pretty sure I mentioned it.”

“This isn’t much, but it’s still more than I’ve been able to find in almost a month here,” Koyl said, rubbing some of the powder between his fingers. “You’re telling me this survived a fall into a chasm?”

“Somehow,” I shrugged.

“The gods must really be on our side,” Koyl mused, signs of tension from the prior topic all but vanishing. “This looks like enough for at least two or three explosives if we spread it the right way.”

“We could make five with that,” I corrected.

“How do you figure?” Koyl asked. “They wouldn’t be powerful enough to do much if this was divided five ways.”

“Shrapnel,” I said. “Even the Rehvites don’t seem to understand how to make an explosive dangerous. The blast wave won’t do much to someone with healing magic, but if you construct the outer shell in such a way as to create consistent shrapnel, or stuff the bomb with shrapnel, you can inflict much more damage with a weaker blast.”

“You sound like you’ve made that kind of thing before,” Koyl intuited.

“I have,” I confirmed. “What other equipment have you been gathering?”

“I’ve got three suits of armor, chain mail with plates overtop,” Koyl said, prompting a whistle from Vaozey.

“I guess I shouldn’t expect any less from a Zae’ey’yaob,” she remarked. “You could’ve probably hired a dozen cheap mercenaries for that amount of money.”

“And gotten them all killed immediately,” Koyl added. “If I wanted to hire mercenaries that would stand a chance we could’ve gotten two at best, and I challenge you to find even one in this area who would be suicidal enough to attack the Rehvites.”

“Other weapons?” I prompted.

“Crossbows, swords,” Koyl said. “I can get basically any standard weapon on short notice at this point. Do you have something in mind?”

“Not exactly, really what I need is information on the noypeyyoyjh site before I can make determinations,” I replied.

“Well, I have a bit, but you’ll find that details of the interior are hard to come by,” Koyl said. “Essentially, there’s a large circular wall around the site, and as far as I know there are three layers with people living inside each of them. The walls are guarded, no idea how many guards, and the only people who can get in and out are people who have been vetted by Zihzehshesk or are otherwise extremely high ranking in the Rehvite temple structure.”

“So we need to scout it out first,” I concluded.

“That’s just as risky as trying to assault it,” Koyl said. “I do know for sure that they’re using ants to monitor the exterior. If what you’ve told me is even half of what they’re capable of, there’s no way we’re going to approach it undetected.” Not surprising, I thought, but, also not insurmountable. The door swung open on the floor below us, and Shuwao stomped inside again. “Let me just finish this up and send him home,” Koyl sighed. “There’s still another thing we need to talk about before this goes anywhere.”

It took Koyl thirty minutes of talking with Shuwao before the latter left and the former came back up into the kitchen with a leather bag. Inside the bag were a number of hollow spheres with single holes in them, primitive bomb casings made out of wrought iron. I could probably put a crease pattern into one of these, I thought as I carefully tried bending them with force magic, I’m not sure how much it would do though. If only we could get more black powder…

“How close are you to sourcing other explosives?” I asked.

“Best guess is that I could have a few jars like you have in a week or so,” Koyl replied. “You’re not thinking of using some of these in tests or something, are you?”

“That’s exactly what I’m thinking,” I said. “These materials are a bit different than the ones I’m used to, so I’d want to make at least three test bombs to ensure I get the exterior structure and shrapnel right.”

“Where would you set them off?” Koyl asked. Actually, that’s a good question, I thought.

“We could go out of the city, right?” I suggested.

“You’re lucky enough that you got in here without them checking your bags,” Koyl said.

“Yuwniht can climb the wall,” Vaozey said.

“I could,” I agreed. “There are guards on top though, do you have the schedules?”

“Before all that, we need to talk about something more important,” Koyl said, taking command of the conversation with his tone. With a gesture, he indicated for me to pass the bomb casing back to him, then removed the bag of them from the table.

“So, what is it?” Vaozey asked.

“Yuwniht, you’ve been practicing your accent,” Koyl said, and I realized that I was using my Uwrish accent and not my Gwahlaob one. For just a moment, I had the sensation that I was falling, and my stomach tightened.

“I have,” I replied.

“I was content to not press you too much on the details of your life when we were in Vehrehr,” Koyl continued. “Back then, it didn’t really matter much. Even afterward when we were on the mainland, I was curious, but I also knew it was none of my business. However, things are different now, so I’m going to need you to tell me a few things if you want the help I’ve been preparing for you.”

“I can’t tell you more than I have,” I responded reflexively.

“You’re not Gwahlaob, both of us know that,” Koyl continued as if I hadn’t said anything. “I’m going to assume that you’ve told Vaozey about why you’re going to the noypeyyoyjh, but in case you haven’t, let me reveal it. He told me he needs to ‘fix’ it.”

“Yeah,” Vaozey grumbled.

“The problem I have right now is this: I don’t know who you work for and I don’t know what their motivations are,” Koyl said, staring me dead in the eyes. “I know that you probably don’t mean either of us any harm, because you could’ve killed me a hundred times over if you wanted to, and I don’t think Vaozey would have survived the journey here if you wanted her dead, no offense.”

“Seyt you too, but yeah,” Vaozey snorted.

“But whoever you’re working for has their own goals and their own motivations, and those might not be any better for us or this country than the Rehvites are,” Koyl continued. “I talked to my father, I spent a lot of time in our library looking through history and geography books, I…” Koyl took a few breaths, as though the memory of reading was causing him stress. “You’re not from any country I’ve heard of. I don’t know if Vaozey knows anything about the world, but-”

“I spent half my youth indoors, reading books,” Vaozey interrupted, drawing Koyl’s attention. “Wherever he’s from, I’ve never heard of anything like it. Not the language either, but admittedly I’m not so great with those.”

“So you can see why I want to know,” Koyl said, looking back at me. “Please, you can trust me, I won’t reveal it to anyone, but I need to know.” The feeling of pressure in the room had been steadily increasing as Koyl had been speaking, and it spiked upwards once he finished. I knew it was just an illusion from my human parts trying to coerce me into tribal social interaction, but from inside my now-human body, it was as real as anything else. I didn’t even dare breathe as I mulled over the possible actions I could take in my head.

“I can’t tell you,” I said.

“Then I won’t help you,” Koyl frowned. “I’m sorry, but-”

“You don’t understand,” I interrupted. “I can’t tell you who I’m working for because I don’t know.” Speaking the words aloud felt strange, like I was doing something wrong, but what came after wasn’t any flash of pain or punishment. Instead, Vaozey and Koyl just stared, both with troubled expressions on their faces.

“Okay, what country are you working for?” Koyl asked.

“I don’t know,” I repeated.

“Where are you from, actually?” Vaozey asked. “What is the name of your homeland?”

“Aliança Sul-Americana,” I replied.

“I don’t know where that is,” Koyl said. “I’ve never heard of that before.”

“Me either,” Vaozey said. Of course you wouldn’t know, I thought, it’s not even on this planet, but I’m not going to explain that unless I absolutely have to.

“What did the person who asked you to do this look like?” Koyl asked.

“I didn’t see them,” I replied.

“Are you telling me that some person, who you never saw, just told you to do this and that’s why you’re doing it?” Vaozey demanded. “You don’t even look like you’re lying right now, are you serious?”

“It’s my mission,” I said.

“That doesn’t mean anything to us,” Koyl said. “Yuwniht, please, just explain it to us, how did you get this mihshahn? We deserve that much.” The pressure came back, worse than before, and I found myself compelled to look away for a moment. I can’t lie convincingly, I lack the information to, but I can’t tell them the truth either, so what can I say? I asked myself. Even if I censored parts of it, I knew life in Earth wouldn’t make any sense to Koyl and Vaozey. They were from a culture that hadn’t even discovered electricity in a formal sense, trying to explain anything about what I was would be impossible. But that’s not what Koyl asked for, I realized, he doesn’t really care about where I’m from, he just wants to know how I obtained the mission so he can try to work out what my operator’s motives are. Normally that would be forbidden to disclose, but in this case, considering the situation…

“Okay,” I sighed. “I’ll try to explain it in a way you can understand.”