>>5506655The sound of the voice is immediately familiar, but the strength of it is far cry greater than all you’ve heard from it before.
“Nento?” You peer under the concealing darkness of his hood to confirm his identity.
He pulls off his hood to reveal his scarred and weathered countenance, now partially covered in thick bandages and a crude wooden mask to conceal further wounds. “It me, madam.”
The poorly hidden changes to his face are seemingly only one of many reconstructions his body has underwent since you last spoke. Most notable is the vigor and fluidity with which he now carries his large frame.
It’s plainly obvious to whom he owes the blessing of his reformed body.
You sigh and slowly ready your staff in your hands. “It is and it isn’t you, right?” You lean past him to the two cloaked Devan still waiting upon the mound of snow. “And what of the rest of your kin?”
“It me, madam…” He repeats himself solemnly. “The others is gone like many Devan before. The humans in town, the humans from Sanctuary they kill Devan who no make deal. We had no weapons, too many sick, is easy to kill so many Devan… Now, there thirteen of us even with those from dock too, maybe less now…”
The Devan from the barracks and the docks were never able to reconcile their petty differences and unite. Thus, the Sanctuary was able to use them in their arson and kidnapping ploy to turn the residents of Impel against them. With your attention focused on rescuing your kin from the Maturation Pit, the fallout from the town’s ire was indiscriminate against the Devan and Sanctuary.
Too much ground to cover and too little time to save them all…
“What of Hraska and Lokas?” You press, trying to ascertain their fate in your absence.
“Dead, madam.” The Devan answers with a blank expression. “Sanctuary want Hraska dead for long time, and they get what the wanted. The boy, I no see who did it, but I see what left of him.”
