Masa quietly sat at the edge of the clearing, trying not to look in the direction of the dead bird. It was unprofessional of him to act this way, he knew, but being at the murder scene filled him with anger. He didn't trust himself to act sensibly in front of those hunters, especially the one he had considered a possible friend. His clenched jaw and fists were starting to cramp up, but he couldn't release them no matter what. The moment he let go, the tears would come.

He stared at nothing, at the tree in the distance, at the fallen leaves on the ground, the clouds in the sky, but peace of mind refused to come to him. He tried forcing his mind to think happier thoughts, to be distracted by the sensations around him, like the rough bark of the tree he leaned against or the rustle of leaves moving in the breeze. It distracted him for a moment, but Crystie's relieved laughter broke the spell. Daryl sounded like he was boasting about how he landed the killing blow and Masa clapped his hands over his ears.

It was childish of him, but he couldn't help it at this point. Thoughts were whirling in his mind, random arguments both for and against the act of hunting. It all coalesced into the single question "Why?"

But he had no answer for it. He eventually became tired of it all and just let his mind go blank. Think of nothing and there would be no pain, no sorrow. Nothing.

He didn't know how long he sat there, but eventually someone approached him with hesitant footsteps. It was probably Rynn. Normally he would be mortified that he had behaved so childishly in front of her, let alone her parents, but at this moment he didn't really care.

She squatted beside him and offered him something. It was probably one of the party's ill-gained spoils in gratitude for her helping to heal their members. Without looking, he turned away and said, "I don't want it. You can keep it."

"Hmm. Sure, but I'm not sure if I can do a good job. I'll need to google for information first and there's no Internet here," she said. "Then again, you probably have all the necessary knowledge, so you should just do it instead."

What was she blabbering about, he wondered in annoyance. What was there to do about it? She could just sell it to the guild, right? Why did she need to google it?

"Of course, I won't turn down the chance to raise a cute baby bird, but it's the incubating part I'm not sure of," she continued.

Masa finally turned to stare at her, then at the large egg she held towards him. "Wha–how?" was all he managed to say.

She gave him a brilliant smile and said, "Jakk said that they owed us for coming to their aid, so they gave me this egg."

Who was Jakk? Masa wanted to ask, but he held it down and asked a more important question instead. "And you're giving it to me?"

Rynn shrugged and said, "Only if you want it, of course. I was hoping it would at least make you feel better."

"Of course I want it!" Masa said, grabbing both of her hands holding the egg with his own. "Thank you, thank…” He broke off and quickly shut his eyes, looking down.

"Masa, are you…”

Rynn slowly lowered her hands and placed the egg on the ground. Then she knelt beside him and her hands moved to the back of his head, pulling him to lean onto her shoulder. His tears burst out like a river released from a dam, his arms curling around her waist to grasp any comfort he could from her embrace. She softly stroked his hair, letting him cry himself out.

"It's ok, Masa, it's ok, I understand," she kept repeating in a low voice, occasionally handing him a piece of tissue to blow his nose.

Once Masa had calmed down enough, his face turned hot and he let go of Rynn as fast as he could. "Um, sorry, and thanks," he said quickly, not daring to look her in the eye. "Thanks for the egg too."

"You're welcome," she said in a tone that he knew meant she was smiling. "Er, I know it's a bit hard to ask this of you right now, but would you like to join us in cremating the bird?"

Masa was silent for a while as he wrapped the egg in a warm cloth Rynn conjured and carefully placed it in his backpack. It was dark red with gold speckles and about the size of an emu egg, or maybe a cassowary's. Finally, he sighed and nodded. "I suppose it's only polite to see off the dead," he said.

He followed her to where the rest of the people stood in a circle. "Hey, mate, I'm sorry you had to see this," said Daryl with a worried look. "I didn't know you loved birds so much."

"I'm fine now," Masa said, lying through his teeth. "You were just fulfilling a quest, so it couldn't be helped." He then turned to Rynn and asked, "What do I have to do?"

"Er, just set fire to the whole thing, I suppose," she said, turning to a man with a bow slung around him for confirmation.

The archer nodded, also holding out his hand towards the carcass. "On three. One, two, three—“

The fire that shot out in front of Masa's outstretched palm was larger than anything he had produced before. He saw it as the personification of his anger and luxuriated in the heat as it immolated the mutilated carcass of the bird and the firewood below it. The others took several steps back, shielding their faces as they gaped at him, but he ignored all of them. Only Rynn stayed beside him, her hand reaching out to grasp his free hand tightly.

He kept the fire burning until only ashes remained, then he collapsed on one knee, breathing hard.