Why?

The walk back to Bleakhall was a blur. Bakar was vaguely aware of stopping at least once to vomit bile into clump of bushes near the forest path - there was nothing left in his stomach - but he could not have told you how long they were walking or where they were going.

He wasn't really there. His mind was replaying the scene, over and over. The musket thundered in the small room. The sulphurous smell of gunpowder as the mother crumpled backward, clutching the pile of crimson rags in her arms. The leather-soled boot on her face. The anguished wail of a man who had now lost his family twice.

It was late evening before he spoke to anyone at all.

"Why?" he said finally to Kahonstionekha when the two of them were alone. He had found the Elf outside the manor house, musket slung over his back, eyes towards the forest.

It was all he could think to say.

Kahonstionekha had been thinking... Processing today's events and wondering if they would intrude on his rest, but he'd heard Bakar approach. He heard the question as well, but if the youth didn't know what he wanted to ask, Kahonstionekha certainly couldn't answer. He have an inquiring look, hoping Bakar would take the time to organize his thoughts, if he could. He'd clearly been quite rattled by the day's events.

Bakar stared at the elf's profile for a long while, as though the question were self explanatory. Finally he shook his head. For once words didn't come easy to the young man.

"We... We don't know what they were. We don't know they were evil. She was so scared. You... we killed them."

Kahonstionekha sighed, his look retuning to all too common resignation.

"What did you see in the slave quarters this morning?"

Bakar's lips tightened.

"That doesn't change anything. We don't know why they killed them. They should have been brought back here. What we did wasn't justice, and it certainly wasn't the will of The Two."

Kahonstionekha shrugged. Bakar would learn if they continued to encounter these sorts of evil, but he wasn't interested in debating or defending his actions.

"There are not always reasons that we are meant to understand. If you believe your gods to be just, then let them worry about my actions."

"Our actions," Bakar said, "A good man who does nothing is as culpable to the gods as a man who does evil. We're a team, or we're supposed to be. Please... just tell me that what we did today was necessary."

Kahonstionekha turned to look Bakar in the eye. "It was necessary."

He shook his head again. "If nothing else, I could not let it continue to poison your bodies." Or steal their eyes and lives, most likely. He remembered how Bakar had looked after the first attack, when there outside... Like his body was already dead.

Bakar nodded slowly, seeming unsure but mollified somewhat.

"I'm sorry," he said eventually, "I don't mean to judge you. That's not my place. And I don't think you're an evil man, regardless."

He moved up next to Kahon and looked out at the treeline of the forest.

"Maybe I'm not cut out for this."

"These things take a toll on your spirit. It's for you to decide if you are willing to pay that price."

Bakar nodded.

"It would seem so. But now that I know that these things are out there... how can I be a good man and do nothing?"

He looked down and sighed.

"Anyway. I'm sorry to have bothered you. We should all get some rest."