Chapter 59: I Knew of Good News (Kaval)

Everything’s sore. My back, my legs, by the Gods, every muscle in my fucking face hurts. But I’ll give the Dog cunts some praise; the beatings have slowed to an utter halt. The shits even have the kindness to give me a fucking blanket. Truly, the Gods answered my prayers in getting me something useful at last.
If only I could be in the same facility as the other prisoners. Granted, it will mean I might become their lunch, but I will at least have to talk to someone equal to my status.
But I’m in luck. Bell walks into my tent, smiling while she carries a bowl of porridge into my tent. It even has a spoon. A bloody fucking spoon! Surely, this has to be my luckiest day ever during this blasted war.
‘How are you feeling?’ She asks.
The number of times she asks me that question is agonising by this point. There are only so many times someone can roll their eyes before they fall out of someone’s head. She means well, the Dog always does. Awkward las is a bit too shy or lacks the capabilities to start a conversation.
‘Fine, I am doing fine.’ I lie after grabbing the bowl of food. ‘So, why are you here this time?’
‘Well, I have good news?’
‘Your ex is dead?’
Bell arches her brow. ‘What? No! I wished them well. I don’t want them hurt.’
‘Luckily, I don’t have that problem. A cunt stays a cunt no matter if they are in your life or not.’
‘Do you have to be this crass?’
I shrug after taking a bite out of my meal. In truth, I can be a lot nicer in my depictions of others. However, I think she can cut me some slack as I am the one bruised up and stuck in a cage. A prisoner in my own home, such is the fucking pity, really.
‘Well.’ Bell grumbles. ‘The good news is Marak is willing to organise peace talks with your people.’
‘What!’ I choke on my food. I drop my porridge as I cough out the food stuck at the back of my throat. Bell then rushes behind me and pats my back to calm my own fit of surprise.
He wants peace? All of this war, all of this destruction and death, and he wants peace? What happened? What went wrong? How did this all come to this? I can’t tell if I should be surprised, thankful, or relieved that this is even happening. This isn’t one of Bell’s pranks or tricks, as she is hopeless when it comes to lying, and she is never the sort of person to make this sort of joke.
‘I thought you’d be happier with the news.’ She says in a worried tone.
‘I never expect it to actually happen!’ I admit to my surprise. ‘Why is your king willing to have those peace talks?’
‘Maybe he is tired of the war. We all are, come to think of it.’
‘What about me? Am I going to be set free to do my own thing?’
Bell shakes her head. ‘No, well… not yet. I think he is going to take you and the other prisoners to the meeting point to free you there as some sort of gesture.’
How kind. So I will be handed over to my superiors, and they will get to decide what to do with me. It has been months since the fort fell, but the Empire will not forget that defeat during the early days of the invasion. Maybe I will get pardoned. Perhaps I might even make an argument that I got Marak to think about peace. Only time will tell. I need time to myself to think about the news. It is a lot to take in.
She grabs my bowl and prepares to leave. While she is socially inept, Bell is smart enough to recognise when our conversations have come to their natural end or that I demand some alone time. However, I have to ask her a question.
‘When this is all over. What will you do?’
Bell smiles for a brief moment before it fades away. ‘There are a lot of people to bury and put to rest. They need flowers.’
‘Other than that, Bell. What do you want to do?’
She pauses. She didn’t consider the possibility of what she wants other than what her people’s spiritual or cultural needs are, so she can give their dead some sort of respect.
After a while, she finally speaks up in a murmur. ‘I want to go home.’
‘Home?’
‘The place of my birth. I want to go back there.’
Strange, why would a Dog go to a place of her enslavement? Perhaps the species secretly yearn for a familiar order and structure we provided for them.
I clear my voice, not wanting to sound rude as I ask. ‘What will you do there?’
‘I want to preserve it.’
My lips form a smile as I let out a soft chuckle. ‘Fond memories of that place?’
‘There is nothing to be fond of about that place.’ Her expression darkens at my remark. ‘But I can’t let it be destroyed. That is what some people want. To collapse all the mines and burn every plantation. Some will find satisfaction in doing it, but I won’t.
‘Will that be a good thing? To destroy what is clearly horrible and replace it with something better.’
‘I don’t think you will understand.’
I scoff. Does she really think I won’t understand what the Dogs want? ‘Enlighten me.’
‘Okay, I’ll tell you.’ Bell sits down in front of me before placing the bowl to her side. ‘I want the world to remember.’
‘Remember?’
She nods, ‘yes, remember. I want the world to remember how we suffered, how we endured. I want our slavery, our war, to be understood so it doesn’t repeat ever again. None of this should’ve happened, and I will do everything in my power to prevent another war like this from becoming a reality.’
‘It only happened because your people took up arms.’
Bell stares at me. She isn’t angry or upset. Instead, she looks sad. Like how someone will be sad for others. ‘If our roles were reversed, your people would fight for your freedom as well.’
‘Then why preserve it?’ I reply, ignoring her point. ‘It is an ill omen to carry the sins of the past.’
‘It is only an ill omen because the past hurts. None of us is proud of what we have done or what happened. In time, people look back and see the horror as a mistake even if it brought my people freedom.’
‘Is that what you want?’ I ask Bell, my tone softer than it should be. ‘You can’t win over hearts and minds with this sort of dream. It is best to let it die and burn down when given a chance.’
She nods before standing up and preparing to leave. ‘If we don’t remember what caused us to fight each other. If the future doesn’t understand what happened. How will we expect them to do better? There is nothing comfortable about this, even though I don't want to necessarily confront my people’s enslavement. Yet, I believe it is what we all need to do. Sometimes, we have to look at our own mirror to see that ugly reflection.’