When she fell, he did too. She was the gravity that pulled him down. He leaned forward so that his knee hit the ground next to her and he put his other arm around her. He could feel the bones that her thin muscle wrapped, and the way they shivered under the immense weight of the things he had no words to say. "I'm sorry," was all he had. "I tried. I did everything I could! I couldn't." He coughed the words with feverish disregard. He vomited them from his lungs and gut. They rushed out of him like blood. "I'm sorry. I couldn't bring them home."
He could hear mingling in the camp. He didn't listen. Those coming home from Cartenau, like him, bearing news of death like he did. Those very same people, who had gone to fight, being told that those they'd tried to protect weren't here waiting for them. They exchanged the news of death, taking turns handing off terror and despair, and each new hand and breath magnified it. It was a hideous process. K'ile didn't listen.
He squeezed K'piru as though she might slip away into the sand. She might have died. What would he have done, if he had returned and she was dead? Or dying? What would he have done?
Someone howled in the tent nearby. Someone who smelled familiar writhed inside their charred flesh, and their breath rattled and seized.
What would K'ile Tia done if he had come all the way home just to watch K'piru die, slowly, in grief and pain? He shook his head viciously. She was alive. k'piru was alive.
He could hear mingling in the camp. He didn't listen. Those coming home from Cartenau, like him, bearing news of death like he did. Those very same people, who had gone to fight, being told that those they'd tried to protect weren't here waiting for them. They exchanged the news of death, taking turns handing off terror and despair, and each new hand and breath magnified it. It was a hideous process. K'ile didn't listen.
He squeezed K'piru as though she might slip away into the sand. She might have died. What would he have done, if he had returned and she was dead? Or dying? What would he have done?
Someone howled in the tent nearby. Someone who smelled familiar writhed inside their charred flesh, and their breath rattled and seized.
What would K'ile Tia done if he had come all the way home just to watch K'piru die, slowly, in grief and pain? He shook his head viciously. She was alive. k'piru was alive.
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