Humanity

Despite falling asleep so much earlier than me, Yuemith only woke up when I did. "You really do spend most of your time sleeping, don't you?" I mused. It was hard to imagine a being that was powerful enough to kill the Hero's party being the kind of slothful creature that slept centuries away, but I supposed I didn’t have much experience with being immortal. Perhaps it grew boring after a few centuries. As we headed downstairs to eat breakfast, I tried asking. "What was it like, being immortal, when you were younger? Was it better?"

Yuemith shot me a narrow-eyed look. "What are you talking about?" he eventually asked when he apparently couldn't find whatever he was looking for in my features.

"Immortality. You said it made time flow differently for you, and that's why you sleep so much. I'm curious whether it was always that way or not. Is it something that hits immediately just because you're immortal, or is it something that creeps up on you after you've accumulated too many years?"

Yuemith sighed, looking like he regretted asking for clarification. It was another look I got a lot, so I ignored it. "I can't say. Do humans tend to have the ability to recall their earliest years?"

"Oh. I hadn't considered that." I would have to find a younger immortal to answer my question. "How old are you then?"

"I recall humanity's last two rises and falls, though the memories are faded. Beyond that... I know records state that humanity has gone through seven such cycles, and I suppose I've likely existed in some manner for all of them." He took a bite of the thin rice gruel available for breakfast, wrinkling his nose at the bland flavor, then added, "My kind doesn't reproduce. We instead die and are reborn in a fresh body. We retain the strongest memories of our previous form, but the memories quickly run together. This specific form has lasted me a little under three centuries, so I should still have another several hundred years left in me."

So his usual lifespan was about a millennium? That was interesting, but something else caught my attention. "What do you mean 'rise and fall of humanity?'"

He cocked his head to the side, studying me curiously. "You're serious," he concluded. "Have humans forgotten everything already?"

I had no idea what he was talking about and told him so.

"What do you know about the lands outside your realm?" he asked.

"That they're home to dark beasts and the Demon Lord," I replied immediately. "We know nothing else about the terrain, size, climate, peoples, or whether they even exist in the first place. Some legends say there are entire landmasses besides this one and bodies of water so vast they take months to sail across, but we have no means of verifying whether there is any truth to these legends."

Yuemith looked both dismayed and incredulous, an interesting combination. With a heavy sigh, he said, "I had no idea the memories of your race were so short. Listen, mage."

It occurred to me suddenly that he never called me by my name. Did he even remember it? I wouldn't be particularly bothered if he didn't, but it seemed like a curious thing not to know the name of the person you'd been sleeping beside.

"Humans have ruled the world seven times thus far. Each time, they've outgrown the world's resources, using up Tera's ability to provide faster than the resources could be replenished. Each time, they’ve brought the world to the brink of destruction. And each time, the Demon Lord has eliminated all but the tiniest kernels of human civilization. The Demon Lord has faith that there will one day be a cycle of human beings capable of acting rationally and limiting their growth to prevent their previous mistakes, but she has finally agreed to our requests that you be limited in your ability to ruin the rest of the world in this pursuit. If you are capable of lasting a few more millennia in this bounded area without destroying yourselves, you may be allowed access to the rest of the world once more."

I stared at him, appalled. This was far worse than I'd expected. I'd thought our kind was stupid for insisting on population growth, even as they complained about the size of our territories. I'd pointed out, many times, that we didn't know for certain that there even was a world outside of the dead lines, only to be brushed off with the certainty that there would be plenty of room for humanity once we defeated the Demon Lord and the wardens. I'd found it stupid that they believed this based on nothing more than legends and a desire for it to be true.

However, learning that this was merely an expression of the apparently terminal idiocy of our entire species that was apparently so ubiquitous that we'd destroyed ourselves with it seven times already? I let my head drop onto the table between us with a bang. "Is there a way to become a dark beast?" I wondered in a dull mumble.

"Not that I'm aware of," Yuemith said wryly. "Why?"

"Because you may as well wipe us out. We're too stupid to learn."

Yuemith made a sound that almost made me think he was attempting to hold back laughter. After a moment, he said, "It is not for you to decide that. I will evaluate your species and determine your worth regardless of your opinion."

I found myself torn between amazement at his (and the Demon Lord's) leniency while also struggling not to explain to him what I knew about humanity that said he would definitely decide against us. I didn't want to waste time showing him around when the conclusion was foregone.

"Besides which, your ability to learn from your mistakes has nothing to do with whether I allow you to live," Yuemith added. "I've no delusions about that, and we've generally resigned ourselves to your status as the Demon Lord's favored experiment."

I lifted my head and frowned at him. Calling us a favored experiment didn't seem like it outweighed our apparent tendency to ruin the world for everyone. "It makes no sense," I sighed rather than point that out. "We could arrange our society such that a stable population could be maintained, but because our rules were created around a growing population, we've simply decided that we need to expand instead. Yes, changing society's setup would be a chore and a half, but it could be done, and then we wouldn't need to expand! Why do people act like they've got some inalienable right to grow their population and territories? It's just..." I trailed off, unable to find a word that perfectly encapsulated all my frustrations toward my own species. "I don't understand," I repeated.

"You do seem to be an unusual member of your species," Yuemith agreed.

I took another few minutes to quietly despair over the state of humanity, then I shook myself and finished eating. "Very well, in any event, let's find you some clothing. We'll need to stop by an enchanter's first."

As always, Yuemith followed me without complaint. Honestly, he seemed like a rather passive sort of creature. I wasn't sure that I'd put such a person in charge of deciding whether an entire species got to live, because I'd be worried he would just do whatever felt easiest at the time. Then again, I wasn't much different, so it wasn't like I had room to talk. Had he not appeared on my doorstep, I'd have happily whiled away another several months in my cottage, alone.

The enchanter we visited was one I often worked with, and his eyes lit up the moment we stepped into his store. "Miss Ciel!" he exclaimed. Before I could even nod my head in greeting, he'd already hurried to the back of his shop, no doubt searching for inventory he'd like me to enchant.

"Why is it called an enchanter's if he needs you to enchant his wares?" Yuemith asked while examining a portable heating element for camping.

I didn't have to reply because the enchanter returned just then. "I can perform basic enchantments, which is more than your average person can manage," he said with a laugh, "but I can't do anything on the level of Ciel's enchantments."

Yuemith hummed and looked over at the array of items the man had brought back with him.

"Do you have any preferences?" I asked. He'd brought me several knives, some brushes and combs, a stack of notebooks, and many other odds and ends.

"Whatever you want to try," the merchant said. I wondered whether I was meant to know his name. Yuemith and I weren’t so different at all.

With permission granted, I dragged over a stool and set to engraving tiny circles into each item. I made the knives sharper and incapable of harming the wielder. I made the brushes and combs more flexible while also less likely to break. To one of them, I added a gentle heating spell. I added protection to the notebooks, ensuring they wouldn't get damaged or dirty as easily. To a vial of ink, I added a small water spell to keep the interior humid enough to prevent the ink from drying out without damaging it. It was fun, using my magic to impart tiny changes to improve items. It was one of my favorite pastimes. I liked this particular shop because the owner generally let me play around with enchantments.

I left two knives aside, and when I'd finished with the rest, I picked up the first and closed my eyes, concentrating. I imagined the ‘circles’ Yuemith had shown me for a simple wind spell, the analogous spell to the one I'd used to imbue sharpness in other knives. Since dark beasts don't use tools the way humans do, I didn't have any example of one of their ‘circles’ that would serve the same purpose as the circles I used to tell the wind spell to restrict itself to the knife, nor was I likely to figure it out any time soon. Instead, I wanted to see if a circle could be combined with one of the dark beasts’ ‘circles.’

The first knife began vibrating, and I'd barely erected a shield around it when it exploded.

"...Miss Ciel?" the shop's owner asked, sounding shaken.

"Take it off what you owe me," I said. There was a reason I hadn't complained about the number of items he'd given me to enchant. I knew I'd probably end up destroying these two knives, and I needed to be sure I would still be able to afford Yuemith's clothes.

Speaking of whom, Yuemith didn't appear amused. His eyelids were lowered, and his lips were pressed tightly together. He clearly recognized what I'd been attempting and didn't approve. Still, he didn't verbally object, so I took that as permission to try once more. This time, I constructed the circle first, forcing my magic into the knife in a thin stream until it formed the shape I wanted. Then, I placed my finger in the center of the inert circle and began adding the ‘circle.’ The metal under my finger began heating up. I had only just finished when the temperature soared so suddenly that I ended up dropping the blade. It made a high-pitched whine before shattering.

I frowned at it and sighed. I'd have to keep thinking.

The shop owner also sighed, but he willingly accepted my explanation of what the other tools would do. It wasn't like he'd be out money over this. Enchanted tools were worth far more than normal tools, and the ones I enchanted were worth far more than the ones he enchanted. "I wish you'd be more careful," he complained while I collected my payment.

"It was only two knives," I said absently.

"I meant you! I can replace a broken knife or two, but I can't replace a person, Miss Ciel."

That caught me out. I paused, blinking owlishly at him, then nodded slightly. "That would be quite difficult," I agreed, wondering if anyone had tried to magically recreate a person before. Maybe I'd visit the capital sometime this year. Yuemith would probably prefer to see the country's center, and I'd need the University's library to see what research had already been done on the topic. "If it's possible, I will happily let you know," I decided. "I haven't studied it yet, though, I'm afraid."

"What?"

Yuemith and I left before the shop owner could say anything else, so I supposed I'd likely never find out what he took issue with in my statement.

"Are you always so reckless?" Yuemith asked me peevishly.

I cocked my head to the side. "I don't think I behaved in a particularly reckless manner," I said. "I ensured none of the other merchandise was damaged, didn't I?" If I'd missed something, that would explain the merchant's frustration.

"You might have injured yourself," Yuemith pointed out.

"But I didn't."

Yuemith didn't seem to have anything to say to that, so I led him to the central market, where many stalls were set up selling various street foods. I picked out some relatively filling skewers of meat, offered two to Yuemith, and then quickly devoured my own. Yuemith was just as quick at eating, which I generally appreciated. Most people ate so slowly that I'd end up forgetting I was meant to be with them by the time they'd finished, and I'd gotten yelled at for wandering off more times than I could count. I'd tried to point out that I wouldn't have had time to forget that I was supposed to be with them if they'd just eat faster, but my common sense never seemed to make any sense to your average person. Clearly, I was the odd one, I knew, but I didn't understand how others could manage to just sit and stare at another person eating for so long without their mind wandering off. And once my mind had wandered off, was it any wonder if my body followed suit?

Yuemith finished his two skewers almost as quickly as I'd finished my one, so we went to get him clothes.

"Oh my gosh, Miss Ciel, who's this?" the woman in the shop squealed.

I didn't like her. She was loud, nosy, and generally dull-witted, but she was very good at assessing the quality of clothing. The clothes she and her assistants produced were heads and shoulders above the clothes in other, similarly-priced shops, so I tolerated her. "This is Mithra. She lost her memory and was wandering around the mountain, so I've brought her to Terth, but she doesn't fit in my clothes very well."

"I should think not!" The woman huffed loudly and somehow, without grabbing Yuemith, managed to herd him to a side room for measuring. I followed, vaguely amused by the irritation on Yuemith's face. The woman didn't appear to care about Yuemith's feelings. "Shoulders are similar, waist is... Ah, and then hips are.... Oh, but this will be difficult to do that way... For this figure, it'd be better to use...." She mumbled to herself incessantly, jotting down measurements on a sheet of paper and sketching out simple lines. Several minutes passed, and I lost interest and started browsing the show.

"Do you mind if I try enchanting a scarf?" I called.

"Don't you dare," the woman called back.

I scowled. She never let me play with her wares, either. I'd brought her a proof of concept once, but she'd just said that she didn't sell enchanted clothing, and I should take that sort of thing to a higher-end shop. Never mind that a higher-end shop wouldn't offer me their wares to enchant in the first place. I was still a commoner, even if I'd attended the University and graduated.

Finally, Yuemith was released. The shop owner bustled about the shop, grabbing items and shoving them into Yuemith's hands. "You can wear these for the next two days," she said. "After that, come here, and I'll have a few more outfits ready for you. Now, your turn, Miss Ciel. You've been eating poorly again, haven't you?"

"Huh? My clothes still fit fine!" I backed away from her, but I still needed to pay her, so I couldn't just leave. "I'm only here for Mithra's clothes."

"Both of you or no deal," the woman said firmly. "I'm not so strapped for business that I need yours, so you can either let me take proper care of you, or you can leave without anything."

I gritted my teeth and followed her to get measured. Yuemith snorted and watched the process, apparently finding it more amusing when he wasn't the one being accosted.

"As I thought. You've lost weight. Miss Ciel, you are aware that people are meant to gain weight as they age, aren't you?"

I looked away from her. "I eat when I'm hungry," I muttered. I did. Really. It was just that my body often didn't let me know it was hungry until it'd been that way for a while. And while I sometimes had the presence of mind to eat on a schedule so that I wouldn't reach the point of realizing I was hungry when I was already starving, it was easy to get caught up in my work and forget the time. Perhaps the woman understood this about me, because she just sniffed and kept going.

At last, both Yuemith and I had fresh clothes. I paid, and they were about as much as I'd expected. I'd noticed that the prices of skewers were slightly more than they'd been last time I'd been in Terth, and I'd adjusted my expectations accordingly and correctly. She let us change in her shop, and we returned to the inn. As we walked, I stole glances at Yuemith. He was wearing a much more fashionable dress now. It managed to make the minute chest Lisa had to work with look like it existed, at least, and I thought Lisa would be well-pleased to know her body was being properly adorned. She'd always had a strange fascination with breasts. I could remember her coming up and touching mine on more than one occasion. I never understood why, but I assumed it was some sort of harassment for being more well-endowed than her. I looked down at my own bust, which was fuller than necessary. It was a shame that life couldn't be so convenient as to give busts to those who'd appreciate them.

"Why did she give you pants?" Yuemith asked. His fingers picked awkwardly at the skirt of his dress. "I know enough about humans to know that women wear these flowy garments, and men wear pants."

I gestured to the people around us. "Apparently, it's become fashionable for women to wear pants, too." I didn't mind. I often cut my dresses short to avoid them catching in the forest, so it'd be interesting to see how pants compared. "She stuck you with a dress because, with your flat chest, people might mistake you for a man otherwise."

He hummed thoughtfully. "I don't understand why that matters."

"It'd be a scandal if you attempted a relationship with someone of the same sex, so others need to be able to tell which you are easily."

"What's scandalous about it?" Yuemith asked. "Obviously, you can't procreate that way, but surely you aren't so starved for population that that matters."

I grimaced. We were in a less-populated street now, so I doubted anyone would overhear us, but it was an awkward topic, even for me. "We aren't... but society is set up to expect a growing population. Nobles, of course, want to pass on their bloodlines... though, while I say of course, I don't really understand why. It's never been proven that there's anything inherently special about their blood, and it seems to me that people who understand the point of mixing in different bloodlines in dog breeding and the like should understand that the same likely applies to humans… but here we are." I wrinkled my nose, remembering having that argument with a teacher in University, and the way he'd decimated my grades for a full year in retaliation. People didn't enjoy being compared to dogs, even if that hadn't been the point of my argument. "And then for commoners, children are the ones who'll care for them when they're older. They're the ones who will take over the family business. They're the ones who will help work the fields or the ones who will sell the goods being made or whatnot."

"That doesn't seem like it requires a growing population," Yuemith said after thinking about it for a long while. "A stable one should work just fine as well."

"Ah, well, and people like sex, but they don't like the work it takes to avoid getting pregnant," I admitted.

Yuemith stared at me. "What?"

Oh. As a member of a species that didn't reproduce sexually, I supposed that'd be an especially strange thing to hear. I tried to think of how to explain it to him. "You do know what sex is, right?"

"It is the means of reproduction for most species."

I considered that, then decided that was enough of an understanding. He didn't need to know the explicit mechanics of it. "Well, humans - especially men - typically find it physically pleasurable. I've heard women do, too, but I wouldn't know, personally. In any event, like drugs and alcohol, it's a thing that most people enjoy, and so they do it. However, to avoid pregnancy, either the man must avoid ejaculating in the woman or the woman must carefully track her menstrual cycle and only engage in sex on certain days. Both require a certain amount of effort and forethought, and most humans are terrible at those."

"Can you not just kill extra children?" Yuemith asked. He didn't sound entirely serious, but I could guess this was something that occasionally happened with dark beasts.

I shook my head, rolling my eyes. "That would be murder. Some women get abortions - killing the fetus before it's old enough to survive outside their body - but doing so will get you in trouble with the church if anyone finds out, so it's very risky." That was my understanding of it all, anyway. I'd never gotten pregnant before, so I hadn't performed much research on the subject.

"You speak of it like it has nothing to do with you," Yuemith observed. "Do you not have a partner then? No obligation to have children?"

I hesitated, biting at my lip. "It's just... not something I understand." I rushed to continue. "I have done proper research and all, mind you. I've read every study on the subject and listened to all manner of gossip and even read most of the trash they call romance novels... but... I just don't get it." It was the only time I'd encountered something I was simply incapable of understanding, and it gnawed at me whenever I thought about it.

"Have you attempted simply performing the act?"

I looked away, scowling. I felt it was obvious why I hadn't attempted having sex with anyone - I could barely stand people in everyday interactions. How on Tera was I meant to bear having one of them inside me? I shuddered just thinking about it. Shame I wasn't born an immortal creature like Yuemith. The idea of never worrying about such things greatly appealed.

Apparently, it wasn't obvious to Yuemith. "I find it odd that someone who willingly submits herself to dangerous situations in the pursuit of understanding a different form of magic would avoid an avenue of research out of mere difficulty." Or maybe it was obvious, and he simply didn't agree that I was justified in having forgone that research.

I scowled at him. "I just don't want to. Surely you have things you find that you wouldn't be willing to do."

Yuemith hummed thoughtfully and dropped the subject. "What else do you intend to do with the day? It is approaching your usual dinner hour."

I glanced up at the sky, surprised to realize he was correct. "Do you know how to read a clock?" I asked.

"A what?"

I nodded to myself and changed course back toward the central market. "We'll eat at one of the restaurants, and I'll teach you. I don't doubt that you have your own means of telling time, but it might be useful for you to understand what humans mean by specific hours."

While we ate, I pointed to the clock faces on some of the tallest buildings. There were several clocks, enough to ensure that people throughout the city could locate and check one as needed. Yuemith followed my explanation easily, which was good. I remembered some of the other children in the orphanage being utterly impossible to teach, and I wasn't sure how I'd have dealt with it if he were similarly frustrating.

"Do you keep a clock with you?" Yuemith asked as I finished the explanation.

I shook my head. "No. I can, if necessary, cast a spell that will tell me the time, and I can create relatively accurate clocks on my own, if I feel the need, but I don't generally see any point in having one out in the middle of nowhere. I don't perform many spells that are time-sensitive, and it's usually a concept that's used for things like coordinating with others."

"I see." Yuemith turned his attention to the empty plates before us. "You were correct. This food is significantly different from yours. I am not certain I agree that it is better, but if the intensity of flavor is something humans prefer, I can see why you would think so."

I blinked, surprised, and looked around at the patrons still eating, considering the food. "Do dark beasts not enjoy strong flavors?" I asked. He nodded. It hadn't occurred to me that he might prefer the natural taste of the meat more. I ran through the different diners and restaurants I knew of. This was one of the better ones, but it was only one style of food. I tried to mentally filter the results with his complaints in mind. After several seconds, I had my answer. "I'll take you somewhere else then. This place sells Northern-style food, but you might like Western-style food more."

Yuemith tilted his head at me. "There are different types?"

"Yeah. Northern food focuses on intense flavors and storage life. Western food is more about preserving the flavors of the ingredients. Southern food is about blending things to make something brand new, and Eastern... well, it tends to just be a bit of everything. You don't find a little bit of everything like this in the other parts of the country. Even the central cities usually have a preference toward one or another. Terth is kind of weird in that way. It's because this is the direction the Hero's party always travels, and since the Hero's party always comes from all over, the cities in this direction have all built up around providing a little something for everyone in the Hero's party."

Yuemith wrinkled his nose. "Why is that? Why don't they go attack Fulsi or Suiren?"

Apparently, he understood the reluctance to go after Hiacine well enough. "Fulsi's a wind elemental, right? How do you go about killing that? Elementals rarely appear in human territory to begin with, and while we can harden and destroy an earth elemental, douse a fire elemental, or freeze a water elemental, we don't have any means of defeating wind elementals. Of course, we won't go trying to make Fulsi the first wind elemental humans ever defeat."

"I see. I hadn't realized that humans hadn't figured out the trick to them." He nodded and gestured for me to continue.

I'd kind of hoped he'd elaborate on the so-called 'trick,' but I guess it was a bit much to expect him to betray his own kind that way. He wasn't stupid, after all. "Well, Suiren's not so much a problem in that way, since we do know how to defeat water elementals, but.... well... She's just too big. No matter where humans have tried prodding, that entire ocean seems to be connected to her. If you freeze a water elemental and fail to get all of it, all you've managed to do is annoy it, right? Especially if it's near water, it can recover the lost parts. So, unless we find a way of freezing an entire ocean, what are we supposed to do? And, of course, while we have the word ocean, all we know is that that means a really big, salty lake, so we don't even know how big that body of water is, or how much of it might make her up, or anything. We can't get enough information about her to do anything."

Yuemith nodded slowly. "I can see how that would make things difficult." He narrowed his eyes and examined me. "That would be the conventional wisdom. What do you think? Would you prefer to attack me? Or, if your king gave the order for you to eliminate a warden, would you rather go after Fulsi or Suiren?"

"I'd go after Hyacine," I said immediately.

Yuemith's eyebrows rose. I was somewhat impressed by how well he mimicked a human. After only a day in the city, he'd grown far more adept. It made me realize that he was absorbing information at a terrifying rate. Perhaps it wouldn't be long before he was more human than I was. Despite the surprise, his tone, when he spoke, was amused. "Explain."

"Elementals are annoying to fight. I had the opportunity to take part in extinguishing a fire elemental once, and while I have my thoughts on how I could do it more efficiently, it's something I'd generally prefer to avoid. They're a part of nature, right? The land where an elemental dies is out of balance for decades after its death. They're important to the environment, somehow. That's why they're allowed to exist in both human territory and the Demon Lord's territory, right?"

Yuemith said nothing.

I smiled, taking it as agreement. It wasn't a popular opinion, but I was hardly the only human to have come to that conclusion, which is why no one made expeditions to locate elementals. We only dealt with them as they came in contact with large groups of humans and made a nuisance of themselves. "So, in general, defeating such powerful elementals seems like it would be a bad idea. In order to deal with those wardens, I would have to instead contain them or find a way of switching their allegiance. The former might be possible, but the latter would be impossible for me."

"Then why not try to kill me?" Yuemith's lips spread into a cold smile. "You think you could, don't you?"

I froze for a second. Then I took a deep breath, let it out, and shrugged slightly. "Having met you, yes, I have ideas on how I could manage it, but I also expect there are numerous abilities you haven't let me see, and I'm well aware that any one of those could force me to throw my ideas out the window."

"And?"

"And so I think the probability that I could defeat you is somewhere near sixty percent or so. I wouldn't attempt it unless the probability was one hundred percent."

Yuemith relaxed slightly, a tension I hadn't known was there flowing out of him. He laughed softly. "I suppose I should be grateful they haven't given you such an order. So you believe your chances against Hiacine would be higher, despite not having met him?"

I nodded. "I proposed a theory for fighting him and offered it to the University. They unanimously rejected my proposal and burnt it up in front of me." I tried not to sound too bitter about it. It'd been more than a decade ago, after all. "I've never encountered any information that suggests my proposal wouldn't have worked, though."

"And how's that? Would you simply douse him in water?"

"Of course not. You've seen the primary tactic, actually."

Yuemith's eyes widened. "Your cloak of flames?" he asked, correctly identifying the spell he'd seen me use.

"Exactly. Of the reports we have regarding Hiacine's powers, all of them revolve around heat and fire, but it is also generally confirmed that he isn't an elemental. And... there are legends that I find suspicious..." I smiled. Maybe Yuemith would kill me if I was right, but the pursuit of knowledge came before all else. "He's a human, isn't he?"

"He's lived far longer than any human," Yuemith said. His cold tone had returned.

"So? I still think he's a human."

Yuemith's lips pursed, and I felt the shadows climbing onto my legs under the table we sat at. They were freezing. "You shared this information?"

"I did, but very few read it. Only those in charge of guiding the Hero saw it, and they destroyed it while laughing."

"Why tell me then?"

"Because I want to know if I was right."

"What would you do with that information?"

I smiled and gave him a slow blink, trying to wordlessly reassure his instincts that told him I'd suddenly become a greater threat than expected. "I'd sit on it. Enjoy the knowledge that I was right."

For a long moment, Yuemith stared at me, evaluating. Then, slowly, the shadows receded, and he sighed heavily. "You are a strange human. Much as he was, though in a different way."

A broad smile spread across my face. "You knew him? What was he like? How long ago did he become a Warden? What became of the previous Warden?"

Despite my badgering, Yuemirth didn't answer. He just rolled his eyes and looked out the window at the clocks we'd begun this conversation studying. "It's nearly sunset. We should return to the inn."

I pouted, but he wasn't wrong, so I paid our bill. We headed back to the inn, where the proprietress asked me how my progress was coming on the seals. I'd entirely forgotten about them, but I had a fair amount of practice pretending I hadn't completely forgotten a task, so I easily answered her. "I’m ready whenever you are, but while I’m updating them, the inn will be undefended. Do you have a time that you would prefer for me to perform the upgrade?"

"Oh, my, already?" She pressed a finger to her chin, thinking. "I suppose the day after tomorrow would be best. There's meant to be a caravan coming with powerful adventurers guarding it, and I'm sure they'd be happy to offer their protection in return for a free night's stay. I believe they'll be arriving in the early afternoon, so perhaps that evening?"

I nodded. "I can manage that. I'll make sure to be ready when you give the word the evening after tomorrow, then."

"Thank you, Ciel," she said, beaming at me. "I appreciate it."

"Of course. I appreciate your services as well." With that transaction done, I let Yuemith know what I'd be doing and headed out to continue planning the upgrades. This time, he followed me, watching my progress carefully. I wondered how much information he was absorbing that I didn't intend for him to take back with him. I didn't doubt that it was far more than anyone would be comfortable with letting the dark beasts have access to, but I didn't see any way around it. Besides that, though, I didn't think Yuemith would be sharing it. Everything he'd said so far suggested that he was fairly isolated as well. Maybe he didn't actively dislike being around other dark beasts the way I disliked being around other humans, but I got the feeling that he could understand my preference to simply have information for the sake of it.

When we returned to the inn room, to my surprise, Yuemith climbed into bed beside me. He lay behind me, one arm over my side, holding me close enough that, when he spoke, I couldn't escape his voice in my ear. It was vaguely uncomfortable. Each breath on my ear made my skin crawl, even as I otherwise enjoyed the warmth of being pressed against another living being. I gritted my teeth and squirmed, attempting to add some space between us, but he only tightened his grip, proving that he hadn't kept Lisa's physical strength at the low numbers she’d originally possessed. "Hiacine is from humanity's last cycle," Yuemith said, and my struggles ceased. "He was alive at the end, just before we wiped out most of humanity. He was allied with the previous Warden of the North, Hinan. Or, perhaps it would be better to say they were lovers."

I held still, fascinated.

"Both sides opposed their relationship, naturally. I argued with Hinan about it many times. But, in the end, he and Hiacine remained together until the day the Demon Lord ordered us to destroy humanity again. None of us can oppose Her. Hinan struck Hiacine, rendering him unconscious until the deed was done. When Hiacine realized what Hinan had done, he went to him, full of rage, and killed him. Then he went to the Demon Lord. He vowed to destroy Her, but She demanded that, if he lost, he would take on Hinan's immortality and place as Warden."

Yuemith's voice had gone deeper, closer to his true voice, and it made his words difficult to understand. I had to struggle to interpret them, but I didn't want to say anything in case he decided to stop speaking. "Their battle lasted for three days and nights, and at the end of it, Hiacine had lost. Of course, the Demon Lord could have wiped him out in an instant, but She wished to keep him alive, and Hiacine was unwilling to admit defeat for anything less than death. He was - is - terribly stubborn. She eventually convinced him of the futility of his resistance, and he has upheld his end of their agreement ever since."

Yuemith's arm tightened even further, painfully compressing my chest until I could hardly breathe. "You were correct that he would be the easiest to defeat. Beyond even the fact of his essential humanity, his motivation is not the same as mine. I am the one you should least wish to fight."

Finally, he released me, though he didn't move away. He simply moved his arm off of me.

I scooted myself down a bit. I didn't mind this position in general, so long as he avoided breathing on me. "So if I killed you, would the Demon Lord come and make me Warden of the East?" I asked.

"Possibly."

"Sounds annoying."

Yuemith laughed, voice still that grumbling growl instead of anything human. "Poor humanity. The champion they could have had wants nothing to do with power."

I couldn't refute his words. I was aware that it was selfish. But no one had ever been able to properly explain to me why humanity should have access to the rest of the world, and with his explanation of why we were confined, I had even less interest in obtaining it for us. I wouldn't mind exploring for my own sake, but if or when I decided to do that, I planned to go attempt to negotiate with the dark beasts or, if I could swing it, the Demon Lord herself. To the best of my knowledge, humanity had never tried simply asking. (I had proposed that as well, but that proposal had been met with even more laughter than the one saying that Hiacine might be a human.)

"Perhaps I'll keep you after this is done," Yuemith said suddenly.

I stiffened. "What?"

Icy tendrils curled around me where shadows lay, and I wondered vaguely how his physical body could be so warm when the rest of him was so cold. "I don't hate these interactions or your presence. I could see myself even coming to enjoy being near you. So perhaps, once I've made my decision, I might bring you back with me to my home."

"That would require asking my permission."

"Oh?"

"Yes."

He was quiet, and when he spoke again, his voice had returned to the human one he pretended to have. "I shall keep that in mind, then."

Like his statement that he would keep in mind my objections to his shadows invading my body, it didn't reassure me.