Down on the street things were picking up with people dotted all along the sidewalks going about their business for the driev. Mez did her best to duck her head as she went around the building to the front door. The bell chimed once, then twice as the door opened and then closed behind her. This time however there was no head of dark hair behind the counter. She was met only by the plants and the slight dampness of the room. She remembered the door to the kitchen and she wove between tendrils of plants and reaching vines to the back of the room.


    The door swung open directly into the kitchen, it seemed. The floor was tiled and it smelled of fragrant herbs. There was a soft sizzling from the corner of the room and there at the stove was the man she''d come to see, stirring something that she could smell from where she stood. It hissed in the pan as he pushed it around. He looked up when she opened the door, smiling at her and beckoning her over.


    “Ah, I see you''ve found the bath.” He patted his own head, referring to Mez’s still-damp hair.


    “Yes, thank you.” She took a deep whiff of whatever was in the pan. “That smells amazing.” She added.


    “Lunch,” he said simply. “It’ll be ready soon. You two should come down.”


    “That sounds great,” she lied. Pretending to eat with an audience sounded awful, especially when the food smelled so good it turned her stomach. “I was hoping to run our clothes through the wash if possible. Is there any chance you have anything temporary we could wear?” she asked.


    “Oh yes, of course.” The man placed the large wooden spoon down on the stove and reached to lower the heat. He turned to the counter and lifted a large lid over to cover the pan, dampening the sound of sizzling and popping inside. “Come come.” The old man wasted no time in leading her back out of the kitchen and into the lobby. He wove between the plants with expert ease, leaving Mezalie in his wake trying to keep pace and not damage any leaves. She followed him out the front door and back around the building but instead of up the stairs he rounded the corner of the little building and to a door on the ground level. He produced a set of keys from his pocket..


    The door opened with a bit of a scrape and the smell of disuse and dust hit them like a wall as the air rushed past. There were boxes stacked high in the corner with little markings on them denoting what might be in them. There were no doubt [dustbugs] The man moved one to the side before opening the one beneath it and looking at her.


    “Use whatever you like. Most of this was left behind in a room at some point. Don’t have much use for any of it so if it fits you can keep it.” He shoved the box between them.


    “That’s very kind, thank you.” She didn’t mean to but the easy generosity caused tears to well up in her eyes. She tried to blink them back but one managed to escape and she quickly reached up to wipe it away. “K’div k’div.” She quickly apologized and put on a smile. The older man looked at her with a seriousness on his face she hadn’t seen from him up to this point.


    “You were pretty rough looking when you came in, no bags no nothing. I had to assume you fled during the upheaval out loren.” This caught her attention. It was the first time she’d really spoken to anyone besides LoVelly and it hadn’t even occurred to her that other people might have heard things.


    “What are they saying?” she asked. “Have you met others?” It came out in a rush, a tiny spark of hope igniting for just a moment. What if others managed to get away from the TVE? What if they made their way into cities like Temal? The man shook his head though and the spark dimmed.


    “Naw, you’re the first I’ve met but I’ve heard from others around town about it. I read in the papers that there was some kind of government upheaval. A coup or something…” He waved his hand between them. “K’div k’div. I’m sure you don’t want to talk about it. If you want, I’ve got a paper in the office you can look over but for now I’ll leave you to it.” He kindly excused himself and shuffled past her, closing the door behind him on his way out.


    Mez dropped down to reach in and sift through the clothes that were neatly packed away. The man wasn’t wrong, they were refugees from the loren coast, but not from political upheaval. Whatever had been done to her and her Pod was something much more sinister than that. Possibly, the thought came to her, it was Vasdaat Fensa; fen that defied the bounds of life as they knew it and whose consequences could be…unpredictable. She couldn’t imagine what would drive people to dabble in those practices again and what they thought they stood to gain.


    She knew- no everyone knew- what the use of vaasdat fensa had done. There had been soltzets upon soltzets of drought, of burning hail that burned what was left to the ground. Nothing grew, livestock died and people starved long after the wars were over.


    She hadn’t told LoVelly of her suspicion yet, but she would. She had meant it when she said she was going to trust him.


    She pulled something bright and colorful from the stack but was disappointed when the dress, it turned out to be, was definitely too small for her. She found a thick, well-worn longsleeved darven blouse near the bottom of the stack that would fit though. It was soft enough that she didn’t mind that it was a parchment colored beige, it laced in the front so she could adjust the fit but most of all it would be warm. She was thrilled to find a pair of faded overalls with wide billowy legs in the next stack she dug through. They were a loose fit and long enough that they looked promising.


    She wasn’t sure what kinds of things LoVelly would want. She didn’t really know much about him she realized not for the first time, despite having been glued to each other for several driev. She knew that he knew a lot about her, somehow, but he didn’t seem to know much about himself. But then he surprised them both with things like speaking semi-fluent Lelistik and that he couldn’t read. She froze mid-motion.


    LoVelly couldn’t read.


    She’d left him a note and disappeared with no other indication if she was coming back or not. She realized her mistake and quickly tore through the rest for some casual items that looked like they’d fit LoVelly. She grabbed a long sleeved shirt that seemed like it would be warm and two pairs of linen type pants, one drawstring and one that buttoned, unsure which would fit better. She gathered up all the clothes she’d picked and worked bundling them all up as best she could to carry them. She tapped the door closed with her foot and checked that it locked behind her before she started up to the second floor.


    The door to their room was closed and when she tried the handle it was still locked as well. She knocked a few times, a little too frantically at first before she calmed herself and knocked just twice more and waited. She was overjoyed when she heard movement within the room and finally, finally LoVelly pulled open the door looking rather sleep rumpled.


    “Hey,” he yawned, stepping back to let her in. “What’cha got?” he asked as she went to the bed and dumped her armful onto it. He followed her over with shuffled steps and rubbed at his eyes. He’d still been asleep it looked like and she was so relieved.


    “Clothes!” She announced, covering her nerves with excitement. “I’m going to wash what we have but the innkeep said we could keep these if we want them.” She explained, holding up a green pair of pants she’d brought for him. LoVelly looked at them sleepily before finally reaching out to take them, holding them up to his hips and seeming satisfied with the potential fit.


    “That’s great.” He yawned once more before shaking himself out quickly. “Sorry, the nap really got me. I still feel groggy.”


    “No, no it’s okay. I feel bad I woke you, actually. I panicked because I’d left you a note but you can’t-”


    “-can’t read.” They said in unison, LoVelly nodding along, seeing where she was going.


    “Yeah. And I was worried.” She finished. “I thought you might have thought I’d taken off or something.” She sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled the blouse over to herself. She made quick work of slipping the dirty shirt off and pulling the soft, clean fabric over her head. It smelled a bit old, dusty maybe, but it was already infinitely better, the softness of the fiber oh so welcome against her skin. She heard the telltale rustling of fabric that LoVelly was doing the same; a soft sound as something was dropped on the bed, the sound of kicking pants off one’s feet.


    “And here I was, just sleeping the whole time.” He laughed behind her. She pulled the overalls up over her hips, wiggling her feet through the elastic bands at the ankles.


    “Exactly. I worried for nothing!” She laid back, across the bed, and her head came down next to LoVelly’s thigh- newly covered in green linen. She turned to look up at his face. “There’s a washroom down at the end of the hall. You may have to pay respects to the mien who clearly owns it though.”


    “Despite nothing to back it up, I feel confident in saying I’ve never met a mien who didn’t like me.” LoVelly mirrored Mez and laid back across the bed, tucking one arm under his head, elbow coming to rest on her thigh. “Are you feeling better? It doesn’t seem like you got any sleep.” His weight against her side was comforting and the only strange extra feelings she got was that of contentedness and a soothing calm. She felt…okay, in the moment.


    “It’s hungry.” She told him instead. “I’ve been refusing so far but I can feel it, waiting.” She stared up at the ceiling, at the boards that spanned across it. “I’m not sure what to do,” she admitted. They were silent for a tes, both thinking about the dilemma before Mez blurted, “Oh. The old man that runs this place told me something. He thought we were refugees from the loren side of the country. He said there was some political thing going on- a coup or something.” She held one hand up to illustrate her conversation, flipping or waving it this way and that as she spoke. “He said it’s in the papers.”


    “Isn''t that where you said it happened? You think it''s connected?” He asked.


    “I think so,” she nodded. “It''s got to be. I don''t know what they''re doing but it''s bad. I think they''re using Vasdaat Fensa.” As soon as the words left her mouth she felt LoVelly tense at her side. He pushed himself up onto his elbows.


    “Vasdaat…fensa…” LoVelly tried, something in the words triggering an echo in his mind. “That sounds really familiar. I know about that.” He said, squeezing his eyes closed and trying to recall.


    “You should. Everyone should!” She swung her arms up in the air, grasping at nothing. “Everyone likes to forget that the Great Wars were not that long ago. The world is still recovering. I know, I''ve seen a lot of it.” She brought her hands down to rest on her chest, lacing her fingers together tightly. “Our Anana''s taught us about the world early after the second war…they told us how bad it was. When you pull something through the Faul the cost of that kind of fen…It''s enormous. They sucked all the life out of the planet to bring a monster through and I''m terrified they''re trying to do it again. I''m terrified they''ve done it.” Mez blinked away the blurriness in her vision and let the tears slip away silently. She didn''t look at LoVelly or anything really, she just breathed deeply and tried to relax the death grip she had her hands in. She felt the bed dip as LoVelly got up and turned around and came to lay shoulder to shoulder with her. He also kept his gaze firmly on the ceiling.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    “You think that''s what that thing is?” He asked.


    “You’ve seen it, you should be able to tell me. But it lives in my head and I''m telling you that it''s not right, whatever it is. The way it thinks, the way it feels when it’s rifling through my mind… It’s horrible. But I''ve thought about it and what else could they have been trying to do?”


    “You said something about a political problem, what about that?”


    “Even then, everyone likes Solahrans. We bring festivals and trade seasonal goods and stuff. Everyone loves that. I just can''t see why anyone would murder a whole pod.”


    “Aren''t most Solahrans sola fentra?” He asked, raising a hand in the air, pointer finger out.


    “Mostly, yes.” She nodded. He raised his other hand up and brought his pointer fingers together.


    “Someone I talked to when I was being held said they were specifically targeting sola fentra.” He let his hands fall and turned to look at Mez.


    “Oh,” she said after a moment. “That…Okay. I guess that could make sense then. If they’re after fire then a Pod does make sense but why fire?” She turned to look at him but all he could do was shrug slightly, as much as the space between them allowed.


    They simply didn’t have enough information.


    “Did you hear anything else while you were there?” She asked.


    “Not really…Just that they were taking people one at a time and nobody knows what’s happening to them. Some of the people I was there with had been there for a luel.” Suddenly his eyes widened. “Oh. That guy you punched! The one that helped us escape.” He looked at her excitedly and she winced, remembering it quite clearly. She’d been panicked and had swung before asking questions.


    “Yeah, I think I probably broke his nose.”


    “He told me something! He told me to look for uh…friends…” He was struggling to recall what the man had said. They’d all been in such a hurry and there was so much commotion it was hard to pick out the details.


    “He told us to make friends?” She asked, confused.


    “No…Friends of dodson…dolton?” He let out a frustrated huff. “Ugh, I can’t remember now but he told us to find friends of someone and that they could help us.” He smacked his palm over his forehead a few times trying to knock something loose in his mind, wishing he could just remember.


    “Well, if it comes to you, we can try and look into that but it’ll be difficult to find someone’s friends when we don’t know whose friends.” She huffed a tiny laugh out her nose at him. He placed both hands over his face and groaned.


    “I hate this brain. Why can’t I remember anything?” he whined, muffled into his hands. Mezalie shifted and rolled onto her side, facing LoVelly. She watched him breathe, in and out, deep calming breaths.


    “Maybe we could try a doctor?” She offered. “We may not be able to ask a healer but…maybe a doctor could help?” LoVelly peeled one hand and then the other away from his face and huffed.


    “I guess it couldn’t hurt to try?” he agreed.


    “We can ask the innkeeper for a recommendation and I can take a look at that paper he mentioned. I want to get caught up on what’s happening.” LoVelly nodded along with her words. It sounded like a solid plan and they didn’t exactly have other plans.


    “Yeah…okay. That sounds good. Anything at this point.” He pushed himself up to sit, intent on grabbing his boots and putting them back on but Mez reached up and placed a hand on his chest, pushing him back. He looked back down at her, confused.


    “Not right now. You deserve to try and get some more sleep and maybe I can try again too.” She told him. He nodded absently and as if the mere mention of sleep was that strong he yawned again.


    “I think I should bathe first. I think it would make me feel better.” He turned to look down at her. “I’ll be right back?”


    “Sure sure.” She waved a hand, dismissing him. When he got up she took the opportunity to move so she was laying on the bed the correct way and her legs weren’t just dangling over the edge anymore. LoVelly took a moment to gather their dirty clothes together into a single little pile.


    “I’ll see about washing these real quick before I do.” He headed for the door but didn’t bother with his boots.


    “Are you sure? I can do it while you shower?” she offered.


    “No, it''s okay. I’ve got it.” She wasn’t even sure where the laundry was yet but he was already turning the handle and walking out the door. “Promise I won’t be too long.” And then the door was closed and he was gone.


    Truth be told she wasn’t excited about being alone again but she told herself it wouldn’t be long. There wasn’t anything else for it except to close her eyes and do her best to get some rest, whatever she could. She spent several dib tossing and turning; too hot with a blanket but too cold without it. She finally settled on her side with one leg out and a pillow held mashed over her head to block out the meager light that came in from the street below. She huffed into the sheets as she settled. She was tired but she felt so restless it seemed impossible that she would get any sleep.


    She lay there for a while, just listening to the sounds of the building, the way the boards creaked when someone on the floor above them walked around, the faint scattered chatter from the street. There were pipes that ran through the walls and she heard the swish of water running deep within them. Normally these kinds of things would put her right to sleep just like the gentle hum and sway of the TVE would but now it felt like every single noise was a siren blaring, her body still on high alert.


    Despite the noise she much preferred it to the quiet lurking of the creature in the back of her mind. It was still there and it was quick to remind her of that. The moment she lost her focus she began to slip, to start sinking into the burbling pit of darkness that lived permanently in her mind now. She rolled onto her back with a groan, mashing the pillow into her face with her hands.


    She couldn’t sleep. Not if she wanted to keep the monster inside. She could still vaguely feel the thoughts of hunger and discontent floating in the ether of her brain soup.


    It was fine. Everything was fine.


    She wasn’t going to let it eat anyone else.


    She would just stay awake if she had to. It wasn’t like she needed to sleep if she was dead, she just needed moments here and there to rest and collect herself. She pulled the pillow from over her face and tossed it to the side and sighed at the ceiling, tangled in the blanket and more frustrated than when she began.


    LoVelly hadn’t even been gone that long yet.


    At a loss for what else to do she flailed her arms and kicked her legs into the bed. She thrashed about trying to rid herself of the anxious feeling weighing on her. If she was going to throw a fit at least nobody else had to see it. It did feel better, afterwards. The fluttering feeling of anxiety seemed to ease up just the slightest bit.


    She sat up and pushed the blanket off herself, detangling it from around her legs. Looking around the room, there was nothing- nothing to do, nothing to see. It was just a room in an inn and she was alone in it. LoVelly had even taken their clothes to be washed and they didn’t have a backpack anymore so it truly was just empty- all they had were the clothes they wore.


    With a huff she got out of bed and to her feet. If she wasn’t going to sleep she could at least do something. It would keep her mind off the gnawing hunger she was starting to feel more and more. She paced back and forth in the room, from the bed to the desk to the door and back, not quite sure what she was accomplishing but it was better than lying in bed.


    Eat.


    The voice brushed against her consciousness, startling her. She bristled at the command, stopping mid pace.


    No.


    She implored back at the thing that she did not want to eat anything. The memory of the vomit in the sand and the stench rose up, making her gag a little. She closed her eyes taking a deep breath and tried not to think of vomit. What was pushed through her mind instead was a vague sense of something smooth and cold, something metallic. She recoiled against the feeling as it trickled and slithered icy through her veins, making her shiver and her hair stand on end.


    The creepings of desire trickled in. It was different from the hunger because it was hers. While the hunger was all consuming she recognized that it was not her own. Now though she desired the heat, searched for the warmth that used to run through her veins. She wanted to feel the heat of Sol on her skin as it baked into the soil beneath her feet. She could feel the thing rifling through those thoughts and leaving little pieces of itself, cold and alien, in its wake.


    Suddenly a heat burst forth from somewhere in her center and radiated down to her fingertips and toes. It replaced the cold feeling, melting the ice in her veins. It flowed through her quickly and immediately and she felt a relief that she hadn’t felt in what seemed like ages. She let herself be momentarily comforted as it enveloped her, seeping into the places the darkness had frozen over.


    And then it was gone, the heat retracting back inward in a snap. She was left feeling even colder than before in its absence and a shiver ran down her spine. Her hands automatically came up to wrap around herself to fend off the cold but it was no use, the cold was inside her.


    Eat


    The thought came again but it wasn''t as intrusive this time, not a demand but a request. It trickled in with the feeling of heat, little by little. It felt more like a bargain, a trade; if she fed the thing it promised more, and she absolutely wanted more.


    No.


    She stayed resolute on her decision however. She wasn’t going to let the thing eat if she could help it. She looked down at the floor, feeling sick at the thought of the blood already on her hands.


    A noise brought her out of her mind and she’d never been so happy to have been interrupted. The door swung open to reveal LoVelly, long wet hair wrapped up in a towel and wearing the clothes Mez had picked out for him. She expected the smell of soap and dampness that came with him but she didn’t expect the mien to come trailing in as well. When he turned to close the door the little creature stopped to rub itself against his leg and he stooped down to pet it once the door was closed. Their dirty clothes were nowhere to be seen so she gathered that he’d found the laundry. He looked at her, standing in the middle of the room with her arms wrapped around her middle and he paused.


    “Are you okay?” he asked. It seemed like he wanted to move towards her but he stopped midstep, unsure. Quickly she unwound herself trying to relax her posture.


    “Yeah!” She tried to cover the roughness in her voice with enthusiasm but she knew it was obvious. “Yeah...I’m okay.” she tried again, slower this time. Instead of addressing the awkwardness she crossed the room and knelt, reaching her hand out for the mien. Instantly the little creature saw the chance for more attention and slinked over to rub its tiny head into her palm. It was soft and it purred while it ran its entire body against her hand and then wrapped back around to brush up against her legs as well.


    “You can tell me, you know.” He said it softly, dropping down into a crouch across from her. She didn’t move to look at him but glanced up through her lashes and she didn’t so much as see the concern on his face as she felt it. She was hit with the strangest sensation that she wasn’t quite sure what LoVelly looked like. She was looking at him and it was as if she could see individual features of him but her mind couldn’t quite put the entire picture together. He had eyes, yes, but she wasn’t sure what color they were. When she looked into them she felt like she was looking at something abstract and it made her dizzy the harder she tried.


    She felt a grumble and a low sense of unease trickle out of the darkness in her mind and she realized again that there was something about LoVelly that upset the creature. When she looked away from him, back down at the mien who had flopped over to roll on her feet while she pet it, and in the peripheral of her vision she could somewhat see the blurriness that obscured LoVelly’s face. It was just like she’d seen back in the ruins. Perhaps it wasn’t a trick of her mind. She realized that she’d delayed to answer and had just stared at him intently, she should probably say something. She had a thousand things she wanted to ask but one in particular managed to make it to force its way out finally-


    “What are you?”