Carpentry in this world is much slower without Eorzean skills. There are many details to worry about. There are more parts to put together. There is more measuring and cutting.

The maple boards we make are of a general size for assembly in Eorzean crafting, but to make the wall panels Husband envisions we need boards of a specific size. Husband bought a "tape measure" from Amazon and spent much time measuring the shed as it is, then laid out boards side by side and measured them too, marking them with a pen. The sides of the shed are not square, so some boards needed to be marked at an angle.

After all the boards were marked, we used the saws we had made to cut along the lines. Husband got some empty beer kegs from Sam and put them side by side to make a sort of table, which helped with sawing. We had also made iron rivets which we used to fasten some boards across other boards to hold the panels together.

Most of the work was simple and "zen-like", which gave me time to think. And after the gathering trip what I was mostly thinking about was death.

I have faced bandits and sea reavers and Garlean soldiers in Eorzea, and I have killed them. After a while they were replaced by people who looked exactly like the ones I killed. I never truly thought about who they were or where they came from, whether they had names or families, much less whether their replacements did. These people without identity were what Husband called NPCs, and, like the various beasts or voidsent in the wilderness, "monsters".

Then there were people with names and families, but who still did not seem to have the freedom of Husband and me. They would stay where they were. They would say particular things. If talked to more than once they would say those things again. Husband called these NPCs too, but not monsters.

I saw some of those people die. In some cases, like my sensei, I was who killed them. They did not return in time, but Husband said he saw them too as part of the "story". When one of us but not the other could see a person, he called it "phasing". I had heard from experts on the aether that when we die we return to the aetheric stream to be made into something new, and that it was Hydaelyn's blessing that allows us to return to our home point, like how the Ascians return to their Space Between.

So why is it different in Earth? Is it simply because it is a different world? Are there rules to worlds that are so different between them? And what creates these rules?

Does Husband create them?

He has been so careful with some of the things he has said. He has said he does not want to think of things as impossible, that he does not want me to think of things as impossible. He wants me to be able to do things so that he can observe it and do them too. So he says things like, "I am not aware this exists," or "I have not seen that happen." So he can observe when I make them happen and follow the pattern.

Yet he did not say, "I am not aware of NPCs." He said, "There are no NPCs."

He did not say, "I have not seen Earth people respawn." He said, "Earth people do not respawn."

I have observed this pattern.

I think either he somehow knows Earth people respawning is impossible...or he does not want it to be possible, and thinks telling me it is impossible will make it so.

I spent the day with him sawing and riveting. In that time I could not think of why he would not want people to respawn. Would it not be good for loved ones to stay? For people to not die accidentally?

I still did not have an answer when I came to the library to type, so I googled instead. "Death" brought me writings about religion and philosophy and ads for funeral homes. "Dying" got me information on medicine and references to "aging", which was more medicine, more religion, more philosophy and "hospice care".

"Killing" came closer to answering my question. I found reports of people shooting people in temples, reports of people bombing people in airships, reports of people stabbing people in marketplaces, reports of people poisoning people in restaurants and train stations. Earth people seem to kill each other often and easily.

If a killer easily recovered from dying, there might be no end to his killing. If the killed easily recovered, the killer might not see killing them as wrong. The killer might even think of it as a game.

A game. Like Eorzea. Where people play Final Fantasy Fourteen to kill things.

This might be Husband's reason. Taking away dying as a thing to fear could mean taking away killing as a thing to avoid. This world could become a battleground, even moreso than it seems to be.

But I waited on typing before talking with him, which I did in bed after our diner work. "Husband."

"Yes, my love."

"What are the rules about killing?"

He was quiet for a while, playing with my hair as he stared at the ceiling. I waited.

"I am not aware of there being rules in the universe. Most religions have laws, coming from a god or a god's representative, and societies tend to make laws about things they don't want to happen. Most don't want killing to happen, though there's often exceptions regarding people outside their particular group. Of course, laws don't really prevent action...they just provide a basis for punishing people who break them.

"That being said, there's professions like doctor or police officer or soldier where killing is part of the job. That being said, some of those professionals aren't good at their job, or take advantage of it, and people die for bad reasons. Generally it's all about intent."

"Did you say doctors kill?"

"They have to make decisions about life and death. Sometimes they have more than one person to save but can't save all of them and have to decide who they'll try to save. Sometimes there's someone who...how do I put this...whose body is alive but who might never wake up; a doctor may be asked to decide whether people should wait for the person to wake up or just let him die."

I considered that. It seemed like a lot of power for any person to have. "I do not think I want to ever need a doctor."

He chuckled. "With our healing skills we might never need one. Anyway, does any of that help?"

"I am not certain. When should we kill? When can we kill?"

"Well...there's lots of philosophy and morality and legal stuff online...Best I can give you is my opinion."

"Please give me your opinion."

"Okay. I feel everyone has a right to live, and if someone takes away someone else's right to live he forfeits his own. Especially since, if he's killed once, it means he's willing to kill, and therefore might kill again. So taking down a killer both punishes the killer and improves society by removing him."

"What about killing us? If we cannot die, if we respawn at our home point, should someone trying to kill us die?"

"Doesn't matter. It gets back to intent. If he's willing to try to kill us, he may be willing to try to kill someone else later. We wouldn't be defending ourselves as much as defending people in the future."

It was a rather simple opinion. He spoke of intent; I think I understood his. It was something to start with. Still..."What if I am not certain?"

"Well, how about this...you ask me if we should make some gil. That work for you?"

"It works for me."

I do not know if I will ever need to kill someone in this world. I do not know whether or why someone would try to kill us. But Husband's opinion gave me a principle to think about. It let me sleep last night.