‘Deserts are harsh.’
This would be the unanimous assent of most people considering the desert. To them, calling the desert ‘harsh’ was an understatement just as criminal as ‘the Universe is big’ was. Even the mightiest were brought low and the strongest reduced to dust in the dry, water-killing environment of deserts.
Most of such assessments would be correct. No matter how strong, anyone can only consume a fraction of their power in the desert, lest they run out of ways to replenish. Some regions hundreds of bounds around were so dry, drilling into them unearthed only good rocks, not water.
Unknown to most people, this depiction of the desert was also incorrect. These sweeping views overlooked the spots of color in the dreariness. It was common knowledge that there was more water within the planet than at its surface. So, air was naturally dryer than land. It was given, then, that in many deserts, along with sand, rocks and bare earth, there were also rivers, oases, plants, trees, birds, animals and even regions bustling with life.
Vrrox’ta was one such region which a conventional view of the desert would have overlooked. Nestled between long lines of dunes, Vrrox’ta was a long oasis that measured nearly two whole farsteps long. Grasses, bushes and a plethora of trees stood as sentinels around the oasis, and animals, including human beings, milled about the region minding their own business. Only, there were no kip’trres trees around Vrrox’ta, much to Jyevodirr’s disappointment.
After the group had arrived at the oasis yesterday, the caravan leader had disappeared after dropping off the few supplies they had. There was no easy way to find him with all the camels milling about the region, so the three youths did not bother to go and find him either. Kargos and Naxa being around them was all the connection they needed to the place.
Night had soon arrived, and the dinner was merry. A few drunk brawls happened as well, but none went too over the top with displays of power. Kargos and Naxa had many friends, who they introduced to the group. It was a delightful night.
Morning had arrived as quickly as night had, and the whole group met around the tuvudhan that the outsiders had been provided. They had a lazy breakfast, after which they decided to sit outside for a while before going to the mines.
“So, where do we need to go from here?” Jyevodirr asked, washing his face with pleasant water from the oasis.
“Not far,” Kargos replied, chewing lazily on some dried date palm fruits. “These immediate dunes are never distributed, but the ones that you can reach with half an hour of walking are the sources of sand that we Arroxatha supply.”
“What can you even do with sand?” R’vag question accompanied his bewilderment.
“You’ll see,” Kargos replied smugly.
Both Rraos and Jyevodirr had wanted to tell what could be done with sand, but they decided not to ruin Kargos’ fun. Jyevodirr changed the topic, while Rraos busied himself looking around the surrounding instead.
Rraos had only known that there was an oasis here which supported the large gathering of workers. He had seen the number of people working on paper, had understood how money was being distributed across the desert, but the sheer scale of it could never be faithfully compressed within the pages of reports arriving regularly at the Arroxath estate desks. To call this a settlement, a Togazi, was to undermine just how large this region was, and just how intimately connected to the wildlife its people were.
“But really,” Jyevodirr’s excitement poured out with his words, “I haven't seen such a way of living since we had left our village. The animals come and go, the mothers with children stay, they help us as we help them – all of this is just so familiar! What really astonished me, though, is that people here leave with flocks too! How does that work?”
“Well, young man, you seem to be well connected with the world around you,” Naxa praised Jyevodirr. “But unlike your villages in Gajy’th, the people of Nidaxath family here go with the herd too. It is an obligation, you know. They help you; you help them. If you do not, why would they come to you peacefully?”
Jyevodirr wanted to understand, but his experience growing up in a different cast of coexistence held him back from fully being able to feel the way the desert people did. Their beliefs did not explain why the goats and cattle stay with humans in their village.
“Don’t you people eat meat?” Jyevodirr asked.
“Of course we do!” Naxa laughed. Kargos chuckled with her.
“See, what you need to understand is that specific people are related to specific beasts. The caravan leader and his circle are associated with the camel caravan we had travelled with. They would never eat camels, but they would certainly eat a kan’thla or two if those beasts attacked their caravans.”
“What's a kan’thla?” Jyevodirr asked, never having heard of this beast.
“Something like the wild dogs you have. But kan’thlaza are much bigger. Their packs are small. No more than ten to fifteen each.” Naxa replied.
Kargos carried the matter onwards.
“And – see those animals there? Those are called dhanuva. They’re faster than a storm, I tell you. There are even people who run with them, you see? Though now those people have dwindled a lot nowadays.”
The sound of R’vag’s laughter was sudden, surprising the rest of the small group of people. To R’vag, what the desert dwellers had outlined seemed needlessly complicated, if quite interesting.
But the procuring of meat? That sounded so impractical!
“That's so crazy!” R’vag remarked. “Back in our village, we eat from our flock, you know? The goats and the cattle choose who gets eaten. Sometimes it’s the sickly. Sometimes it’s the old. We respect their wishes, as they do ours. But they feed us as well as we feed them. There's no eating only outsiders.”
Kargos went pale. This wasn’t a fact he had known.
“That sounds terrible. Isn't that like eating one of your own?”
The comparison Kargos made was so obtuse, it made R’vag’s temper flare up.
“What are you even talking about? We choose who among us has to go and put our lives in the line as well! Just as pick who dies for us, we pick who dies for them! Who do you think protects them from wild dogs? And then, do you think we are not eaten by the dogs? And the plants we grow, the ones that we and the herd feed off – don’t you think those plants eat those of us who have gone back to the soil? So what are you talking about? This is the circle of life we are talking about!
Our system is definitely better than yours, where you will only kill and eat others! That's no better than killing people just because they are outsiders!”
Tempers between the two rose rapidly. Kargos’ answer this time was sharp and incisive.
“Is that so? Then why don't you eat your friends too? Be a bit more inclusive, you know? Or you could eat your parents! Where do you fucking draw the line?”
R’vag was upon Kargos in a flash. Kargos fell, but R’vag did not get the chance to pin Kargos down. He was angry and his attack had been sloppy.
Kargos and R’vag then gathered as much strength as fast as they could, assisted fully by Mayyux, and would have delivered devastating blows to each other had Jyevodirr not intervened.
“Separate.”
Jyevodirr’s command flung the two rage blinded people apart. Naxa barely caught Kargos and tumbled to the ground together with him, but R’vag did not fall. He had landed by his backpack by accident, so he reached for a thick arrow. Before he could leap back into action, Jyevodirr stood before him with a stern demeanor.
“Stop it R’vag. This won’t help us.” Jyevodirr’s words were urgent. His gaze was speeding along the area, where people were paying them more attention for the wrong reasons.
“And you want to stop me for your own sake? Just because fighting here is not good for your ambition?” R’vag snarled, his voice thundering away and drawing more eyes upon them.
Anger flared up within Jyevodirr, but he smoothed it down.
“No, not for that,” Jyevodirr curtly said. “I’m saying this because you were wrong to criticize too. Not understanding each other is how all fights start.
I don't want you to do something you would regret. You know I’m speaking from my own life, right?”
R’vag did not lower his arrow, but Jyevodirr could see that his words had at least managed to clash with R’vag’s fury. It was enough to stop R’vag from going for the kill.
Without wasting a second after that, Jyevodirr turned to Kargos. He had intended to speak, but Rraos was already helping the couple up.
“Apologize to R’vag,” Rraos demanded quietly. “While you both were in the wrong, you, Qai Kargos, crossed the line. Did you even stop to think what you were talking about? You didn't know that his parents were eaten by wild dogs, right? So what you said was damned wrong. It’s wrong enough to warrant force.”
Jyevodirr could see that the couple was angry as well, but Rraos had managed something. Whether it was due to shame, understanding, or Rraos’ position, it managed to keep the couple at bay.
“Apologize.” Naxa coerced Kargos bitterly, though she was still glaring at R’vag and Jyevodirr hatefully.
Kargos walked forward, trembling in anger. He stepped far away, then bent down only as far as his pride allowed him.
“I apologize to you, Qai R’vag, for having said such barbaric things about you and your parents.” he barely pushed the words out of him.
R’vag spat on the ground in response.
The apology still stabilized him enough to see everyone’s eyes on him, judging and calculating. R’vag also caught Jyevodirr’s concerned look, so he managed to take a deep breath and rethink his response. At last, he forcefully pushed himself to set the arrow back in his quiver. He then walked forward the rest of the distance, still shaking with anger, then compelled himself to bow before Kargos.
“I am also in the wrong. I shouldn't have made fun of your traditions. I’m also sorry that I attacked you without warning.”
Somewhere, some empty brained person whistled, and then some people clapped elsewhere. All the people in the group glared at the direction from where the noise originated, when in another direction another group of people burst out laughing. Whether those people laughed at the traveler’s group or not, it still got under their skin – except for Rraos, who was grateful for the disturbance. Irritation replaced rage within R’vag and Kargos, and the two at the center of the commotion fell silent, standing in avoidance of each other.
Once that silence settled between them, Jyevodirr walked up to Naxa, who was still giving him a cross look. To her surprise, he bowed down before her.
“I’m sorry for the attack. I can't say I’m sorry for R’vag’s actions, as I don't think it was his fault for reacting the way he did, but I hope you can understand that as well.” Jyevodirr then stood straight. “Please don't think too ill of us and continue guiding us. I’m sorry for all this.”
Jyevodirr’s actions didn't completely make her feel better, but it helped Naxa steady herself. She exhaled a long, shaky breath, then silently held out her arm to Jyevodirr.
Jyevodirr nodded and clasped her hand tightly.
The group had managed to survive.
In a short while, the group again was seated together in the mattress they had been occupying.
“Thank you, Rraos.” Jyevodirr said quietly. R’vag nodded at Rraos as well. Rraos exhaled a long sigh.
“It’s alright.” he acknowledged. “Just try not to pick a fight anywhere and everywhere.”
R’vag and Jyevodirr nodded.
Rraos decided to then direct his attention to the desert couple.
“Are you two feeling better now?”
The two nodded as well, though they were a lot stiffer in their movements than R’vag and Jyevodirr.
“They don't know our culture as much as we don't know theirs.” Rraos sighed again. “We would best be open minded when we are learning about each other’s cultures.”
Now he addressed his closer companions.
“Jyevodirr, R’vag – you don't know how we Moyeganeni feel about our herds. They are our family – especially if you are a Nidaxath. It is a different bond from what you are used to.”
He then went back to sermonizing to their guides.
“And Kargos, Naxa – they have their own ways of showing affection, their own understanding with their herds and folks. You cannot deny an understanding that is at the root of our interactions with the world around us. It governs the way we live with the world living around us. Had they been wrong, they would not have continued to thrive for so long.”
“I know, Qaiz'rra Rraos,” Naxa quickly responded. “That’s not why I was angry at all! In fact, I would have asked Kargos to apologize too, had Qai R’vag not attacked right at that moment.
I was only angry because of Qai R’vag's attempt to kill Kargos, and all the things that followed.”
“Let's just let go of what happened. There's no use of repeating things that made us angry, yeah?” Jyevodirr calmly interjected.
Everyone agreed with Jyevodirr, though some were more reluctant than others.
Feeling it was time to go and have a look at the mines, Rraos fished out a watch from his pocket and flipped open its lid. He made a show of looking at the time.
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“We should get moving now. We can get back here and laze around later. I want to have a proper look at the mines as soon as possible.”
The group quickly dislodged themselves from the comfort of the cool carpet and dispersed to gather their luggage.
Each had a little bag of their own that had been initially packed within their larger backpacks. Now the bags were being filled with multiple pouches of water, a little glass bottle of desert salt, some dried date palm fruits, unsalted dry xuyathi legumes, some eft’pla, and packages of gayakya. Cooking utensils would be found at the sites, so no one bothered with them.
Rraos packed a lighter bag, though, where he only had some salted xuyathi, much fewer date palm fruits and a few pouches of water. He wanted to travel light, so the rest of his burden’s share was distributed amongst the rest of the team.
As the group of five were leaving, Jyevodirr noticed something strange in the surroundings. His view through the world of God was appearing slightly distorted, and what was usually always meaning to go berserk within him was now uneasy.
In the entirety of his life, he had never experienced this before. He hadn't even known that this ‘heat’ within him could do something other than make him violently strong.
This eerie feeling had been present for some time since they were having their row, but he had not been able to pay it much mind. Even when they were talking after that, he was more focused on keeping everyone together, so the feeling had escaped his notice.
Now that he was setting out on a walk again, he became keenly aware of the minute disturbances he had ignored before.
Jyevodirr hung back behind the group to examine the source of this distortion, and he followed with his eyes to where the little disturbance seemed to concentrate. By an Acacia tree further away than the mass of tuvudhana, a tiny little boy who could not have been more than ten years old was watching him. Jyevodirr knew the child was watching him specifically because the boy’s gaze connected with Jyevodirr perfectly. The little boy was frowning.
“Who is that kid?” Jyevodirr asked Kargos, pointing at the distant child.
“I don't know. I can't see him well. He’s so far away, no?” Kargos replied with a frown. It was a very strange question for him. Why would Jyevodirr want to know about someone they could barely even see?
Jyevodirr glanced back once again at the kid, and their gaze connected again. The heat in him had become a cold instead.
Jyevodirr shivered and turned his attention back to the dunes before him. This situation was strange, but he couldn't do anything about it. Dropping the matter was the best he could do.
The walk from the oasis to the first of the many unit mines was a meager half an hour over two dunes and dry, grassy land in between. Jyevodirr could not think about anything other than the little boy’s cold eyes. What could cause such a young child to look that way? Was something causing him harm or grief? What shook Jyevodirr more, though he did not want to admit it, was the fact that the little child had looked at him, and only him, with those cold, contemptuous eyes.
The cruel eyes of the little child vanished from Jyevodirr's mind when he reached the mine with everyone. The mine was signified by the dunes in the area having little portions of them carved away. A mass of people was using Mayyux systematically around the dunes to funnel sand away into large, open roofed wagons drawn by camels and horses.
The whole operation was much larger than Jyevodirr and R’vag had imagined. Even Rraos was somewhat surprised. These units as he knew them were supposed to be really, really small. If a unit was this big, how big exactly was this operation? How big was the whole business?
All his life, Rraos had only boasted of the Arroxath family business’s size. This was his first time witnessing it at its roots firsthand.
The outsiders were led deeper into the pits by Naxa and Kargos, having covered their eyes with goggles and the rest of the face with long strips of cloth. Rraos took charge once inside and talked with the person responsible for the unit’s operation. Their conversation was nothing out of the ordinary. They only talked business.
“How many wagons?”
“Around thirty.”
“How much sand?”
“Around 600 tanks.”
“Are the regulations being followed?”
“Of course.”
“Where have the wagons gone?”
“To An’doxa, the city of the Vrr’yag’xath.”
The group stood by the mine for a long time after that. Silently, they watched the sand being funneled, workers getting tired, workers at rest swapping in to work, and the tempo of the work itself rising and falling with the strength of the workers. At any point of time, no more than two third of the workers worked at the mines.
When Jyevodirr asked why there were so many people resting rather than working, Kargos spoke up.
“This is heavy labor,” he said, “so people get tired. We build our strength doing these kinds of work, but that doesn't mean we can work indefinitely. For that reason, we pace ourselves. We divide our work. And we also rest half as much as we work. But we always work enough.”
“Moreover,” this input was from Rraos, who knew the bigger picture of the business, “there are a lot of systems in place at all of the mines. This system is for people to work hard without overworking. Another system for the same reason is the shift system, where people need to be present only for a set amount of time. Each person stays at work for nine hours, and they work for six hours in total.”
“Wait,” R’vag frowned, “that means people get a bucketload of free time? But we were taught that mining was much more difficult?”
Rraos laughed. He had used to think the same as R’vag did. But walking in the desert taught him something. He wanted to correct R’vag, but he saw the flash in Naxa and Kargos’ eyes. He left the matter to them, while keeping his eyes peeled for a disaster.
“It is difficult, Qai R’vag,” Naxa responded. “You constantly need to use Mayyux to move the sand. You also need to use it to keep the water in your body from escaping. Then, on top of that, you need to have a strong enough body to endure the change of temperatures throughout the day. Now is the best mining season, so conditions are really good. In the next mining season, the heat might be enough to kill.
Maybe you don't feel much of an effort in all of this, but you and Jyevodirr are not the norm. You are the exception.”
R’vag’s frown got deeper. He did not know how to respond to that. He did not even understand why this was bothering him. Was it because he wanted to be as free as these people? Because he was jealous of the ease with which they lived? That couldn't be right, as he truly wanted to be strong. Then it must be bothering him because he thought people should be stronger.
“So, what other measures are in place here? Oh – and also in other mines?” Jyevodirr, who had been restraining himself patiently while R’vag was being answered, now continued questioning Rraos.
Rraos hummed. Then, he began the task of abridging the procedures verbally to Jyevodirr.
“So, one of the first things that is necessary is to warn and move the local life when a place is chosen as a mine,” Rraos began. “You should know that there are insects, reptiles and small beasts everywhere. And of course there’s grass, but grass will always be cleared out before mining – both for their sake and for ours.
The next protocol in place –”
“Wait, what does qagax’nith mean?” Jyevodirr interrupted.
Rraos’ lips pulled themselves to a thin line.
“Procedure means something like a rule,” Rraos said. Then he let out a long, deep breath before he continued. “So, as I was saying, the next rule is that any unit cannot be mined for more than two consecutive years. Oh – and consecutive means one after the other.
So, after the mining is done, that location must be left alone for four consecutive years. Sometimes, we even need to abandon a unit for a much longer period of time because it isn't getting sand back fast enough. That is when you again consider other locations or face a shortage.”
“Shortage for what?” R’vag piped in.
“Civilization.” Kargos answered.
“Just let me finish this first!” Rraos’ voice rose in annoyance. “Listen – the next is our protocol for the rains. When it rains, we stop.
And then, there are also rules in place for how much sand we should collect, where we should collect it from, and more things like that which will determine the health of a place.”
Rraos half expected a question about what the health of a place was, but no one asked him that. Rraos had almost forgotten that R’vag and Jyevodirr were people living with the land. In these days, nearly half a month now, Rraos had spent so much time with them, they felt like an integral part of his life. They felt like old friends that Rraos never had.
How long had he spent with them? Fourteen days? That was less than a month ago. With each day having thirty-six hours, that totaled a meager five hundred and four hours. It was a paltry sum of time that wouldn't even fill his pockets, but it still managed to fill a corner of his heart.
Rraos watched Jyevodirr and R’vag chatter away with Kargos and Naxa. He was certainly the only Arroxath potential heir in a very long time to have lived so freely. To him it was both a gift and a curse. So he needed to look at it as a gift, at least for now.
“We are done here,” he declared, cutting in the middle of the rest of the group's conversation. “We should go.”
After that, the group wandered around the dunes depleting their water packs and visited a few more units. At each unit, Rraos talked with the person in charge. The same questions were asked. The same answers were repeated.
“How many wagons?”
“Around thirty.”
“How much sand?”
“Around 600 tanks.”
“Are the regulations being followed?”
“Of course.”
“Where have the wagons gone?”
“To An’doxa city.”
Rraos had even taken to talking with the workers without alerting them to who he was. The workers didn't suspect him to be anything more than a low-standing Arroxath supervisor from Orron, or just maybe, much more unlikely, the estate.
By midday, they had their lunch at the unit they were at during that time. They ate and rested with the workers in that mine for quite a while. By the time they left the mines, Jyevodirr and R’vag had even managed to make a few friends amidst the workers.
This time, Rraos tried to be friendly as well. While that wasn't an easy task, for the worst hurdle in this business was he himself with his old sensitivities, he found that it was much easier to fraternize with common people than he had expected.
When afternoon was nearly fading away, the group at last decided to finish their little trip and get back to the oasis. It was refreshing for them to finally be rid of the goggles and clothes hiding their heads and faces away from the outside world.
“Now, Kargos,” Jyevodirr complained, “You didn't tell us what will be done with all that sand!”
Kargos’ laugh was good natured and devoid of the anger and alienation from the morning.
“Oh yeah, I did forget that! Well, okay. See, the sand is taken to the craftsmen of the desert, the Vrr’yag'xath. Just as we are good with the raw materials from our Ad’xa and know how to work with them, where to find them and what quality they are when we see them, the Vrr’yag’xatha know how to shape them. It is even said that Vrr’yag’xatha and the Arroxatha are more closely related to each other than the other two families of Moyegan.”
“Okay, but what is done with the sand?” R’vag chirped in as well.
“Oh yeah. Wait.” Kargos fumbled around with his words, slightly embarrassed at having gone astray with his explanations. “So – you see, sand has many uses. Usually when we think of sand, we always think of glass. That is indeed the main work of sand. But then, sand from the west and the east Xap’yu are very different. The sand here is darker, as you may have noticed. They make a different kind of glass than those made from sands east of Xap’yu. These sands are usually also mixed with other materials to make the cementing material that we use for construction. And they’re also used with metalworking –”
“Wow!” R’vag interrupted Kargos’ speech of technical tidbits. “That's a lot of things to think about! I think you should give me some time to hold all that down first.”
Jyevodirr laughed at R’vag.
“You featherbrained goat! We already know about glass! It is one of the biggest industries of our empire, remember? What I wanted to know was –”
“If you remember it all, Qaiz’rra Genius, why did you have to ask about what they do with sand?” R’vag deftly pointed his finger back at Jyevodirr before the youth could finish insulting him.
“I was telling you exactly that, you brain-dead fool,” Jyevodirr threw back angrily. “I wanted to know why so much sand is being taken and what else is done with them. I know glass is the number one –”
“Excuses!” R’vag yelled and immediately ducked. He had seen the slap coming from a million years ago, so Jyevodirr didn't even hit a strand of his hair.
The rest of the way back was filled with a little friendly bickering and fun. When they were back atop the final dunes overlooking Vrrox’ta, they had almost forgotten what time it was.
As usual, Jyevodirr and R’vag rushed to the oasis first. When they reached its banks, they washed and drank from its waters.
Rraos walked down slowly, talking with Naxa and Kargos, who were much more comfortable with him by now, despite them still hailing him formally.
When the whole group reconvened by Vrrox’ta’s banks, they had a little fun playing with water and decided to go drinking and mingling with local crowds. The sun was setting, so the miners would be back from their shift soon. It was the perfect time for getting to know more people and forming closer bonds with them.
Everyone first went back to the assigned tuvudhan of the outsiders, then the three outsiders dropped off their luggage. Kargos and Naxa kept their luggage, which they decided to drop off at their own tuvudhan on the way to have fun.
R’vag wanted to go out first, but he was still somewhat reluctant to go alone with Naxa and Kargos. He wanted to make the most of his local connections, but he didn't feel as comfortable with the two guides as he did before. Kargos and Naxa didn't say anything either, but they insisted Rraos to go together with them and R’vag. They persuaded him that getting closer to locals would also be beneficial to him.
Rraos saw through their words, being a businessman and swindler himself, but he decided not to make a fuss. Besides, he truly could benefit from having connections as a common person with unknown origins.
Jyevodirr asked them to go ahead, assuring that he would join them later. He wanted to get some reading done. Rraos left him the tablet together with instructions to keep the device back with utmost care when Jyevodirr was done, and Jyevodirr happily paid attention to everything he was told.
All but Jyevodirr left soon, leaving the youth alone with Rraos’ tablet.
Tablets were complex devices with a metal body and a glass screen. The glass screen showed images somehow, the secrets to which Jyevodirr was determined to know someday, and the devices themselves could be operated with gestures using fingers on that glass screen.
Starting the device up was quite simple. There was something like an authorization pattern, where the entire hand was to be placed on the screen to start it up. They did not open for everyone, though anyone could shut it down by swiping down the whole screen with four fingers from the top to the bottom of the screen.
Once the device was opened, there were various images that showed what they were for. Mostly there were database-like books that could not be edited by anyone other than those authorized to do so. There were also maps, blank notebooks, tabular notebooks, a compass, and an advanced calculator which could handle extremely complicated calculations. Of these, Jyevodirr was only concerned with the books he had received from old man Dogan.
Opening a book titled ‘The Understanding of Basic Ad’xani Processes’, Jyevodirr relaxed. He was barely a paragraph into the book, when he heard movement outside. People milling about was not uncommon at all here, but this time Jyevodirr was instantly alert.
The footfalls were uncharacteristically soft, but the softness was not deliberate. The owner of the footfalls was not trying to hide. The owner was just tiny. But despite his tininess, he was accompanied by a faint distortion of the world around him.
Jyevodirr knew who it was. The little boy confirmed his suspicions by stepping in close. The world of God around the little boy moved to his command.
Jyevodirr gulped. This was a far more difficult situation than he had anticipated. There were no witnesses around them. The boy was also strong enough that any attack from him would require retaliation. All of these things were perfect to mire any person down with misunderstandings. Any person could be eliminated preemptively from the Kraturreni Om’na due to such misunderstandings.
Jyevodirr stood up from where he was sitting and wondered what he should do. He wanted to get out, but the kid was closer to the doorway.
Still, Jyevodirr calmly took the tablet and put it back just the way Rraos had instructed him to.
“Can we talk outside, little boy?” Jyevodirr asked, fervently hoping that the boy would agree. The boy only kept looking at him and said nothing.
When Jyevodirr was done, he silently walked past the little boy. The boy said nothing.
Jyevodirr only focused on putting one step in front of the other, hoping that no one would misunderstand anything. The boy still said nothing.
Jyevodirr walked closer and closer to the entrance, and the boy just stood, watching him walk out.
Feeling highly disturbed by this, and wondering if something was wrong with the boy, Jyevodirr turned back to look at the boy.
“Hey, come on out. You can tell me whatever you want to. Or ask me, if you’re curious.” Jyevodirr tried speaking kindly to the strange boy.
In the boy’s eyes, disgust pooled deeper than water at the oasis outside. When he finally spoke, his voice was high pitched and childlike. His anger was also childlike.
“Why did you get to live?” the little boy asked.
Should I change the cover?
