Severance didn't know how long he'd sat with his face buried in Vast's fur. It wasn't until someone softly said, "Hey," that he finally lifted his head.

To his shock, the sun had dipped below the horizon already, casting them in twilight. It made it hard to see who it was that had abruptly sat beside him. All he knew was that the voice was hoarse, barely louder than a whisper.

It sounded as rough as he felt.

"Hey," he finally whispered back.

It didn't feel quite right speaking loudly in this place. Like Maun said, the Memorial Ground was a place of silent reflection. And knowing that it held a record of the thousands who'd died for the clan made it even more eerie.

The person shifted beside him, letting out a heavy sigh. Vast lifted his head, tugging at Severance's arms but not quite pulling free, and considered the newcomer seriously. Then with a soft hmph, he lowered his head and closed his eyes.

"Everyone's left."

Oh. That voice. Severance held himself very still, suddenly wary. Of all people, why did it have to be Dhin?

He gazed out at the valley, unable to bring himself to look at him. True to Dhin's words, the valley was empty. Somehow, without him even realizing it, the entire clan had left. Well, almost the entire clan.

Dhin was still here.

He dropped his eyes to the mass of silver fur beside him. And there was Vast. He gently scratched behind one of the animal's ears. The tip of Vast's tail thumped lightly on the ground in response.

"You know, it's kind of funny," Dhin said. "The most terrifying predator of the North chooses to attach itself to a healer."

"Hmm," Severance managed. Dhin wasn't wrong, it was sort of funny, in another universe maybe, but he couldn't even crack a smile.

Just sitting here, next to Dhin of all people, was the most torturous thing he'd done. It was even worse than hanging out with Carly and her friends, because what they did to him couldn't even compare to the internal anguish currently lashing at his heart. When would Dhin start yelling and accusing and spitting rage and hatred at the one who'd murdered his father?

It was coming. Severance knew that. It had to come, and the waiting was agony. Maybe that was why Dhin was acting like this. To twist the knife before he yanked it free.

The wind picked up, becoming a gentle cool breeze that rustled through the grasses. It blew some of Severance's hair in his face. He shook his head, trying to dislodge it from his eyes. He wondered if it was longer because he didn't remember having this problem before. Maybe he'd see if Chaaya could trim it for him later.

He focused on this because he needed something to think about, something that had nothing to do with the person sitting beside him, that didn't make his insides wrench at the merest thought. He clung to it, desperately refusing to let his thoughts drift from his stupid hair.

"When I was 14," Dhin began, and despite himself, Severance found himself listening, "I watched my mother and sister die. They were cut down in our house while I hid behind the door, too scared to even try helping them."

Dhin delivered those words with a matter-of-fact calm, and it somehow made it all the more horrifying. Severance turned to stare, more than a little stunned by such a revelation.

He knew something had happened (obviously) to Dhin's mother, but he hadn't imagined it to be something so awful.

"There wasn't anything I could have done," Dhin went on. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "There were four warriors to one of me. If I had left my hiding place, I would have died there with them."

Silently, Severance dragged his fingers through silver fur. He didn't understand why Dhin was telling him this. Was it to cruelly remind him that he had stolen the last of Dhin's family from him?

"They set the house on fire when they were..." Dhin paused to take a shaky breath. "When they were done, I barely escaped with my life."

That pause said an awful lot, and Severance stilled, the weight in his chest growing even heavier. He wanted to say something reassuring, something comforting, but he didn't know the right words. Anything he might say would sound utterly meaningless, especially coming from him.

He could only keep his silence. It made him feel useless.

"I blamed myself for their deaths. I thought it was my fault. That somehow, I could have saved them if I hadn't hid and watched like a terrified little boy. It ate at me for months. In the end, Pa had to beat some sense into me." Dhin's lips twitched. His eyes shone with new tears.

Severance watched, unable to look away from what he knew was another man's trauma. It hit a little too close to home. In more ways than one. He pressed his lips together, deeply uncomfortable.

"People die, Sev," Dhin said hoarsely. The sad acceptance in his gaze might as well have been a knife thrust into the chest. "They die and there's nothing we can do about it. It's not your fault. So stop sitting there like a kicked dog. You can't change what's happened and the only thing you can do is get up and push on."

Severance couldn't bear it any longer. Dhin didn't get it. Get up and push on? What kind of crazy nonsense was that? How could he get up when he'd made enough mistakes to drown in? And how could he 'push on' when there was nothing left push with?

"No," he whispered, and then again, louder. "No, that's wrong. It is my fault. All of you... why do you keep acting like it's not? I messed up. I killed him! And-"

"Stop it!" Dhin snapped.

"I Revived him. Don't you get it? If I hadn't done that, if I'd just taken one stupid second to think about it, he would have Revived at the House and he would have been fine! He died because of me!"

Dhin stared at him, face pale and eyes ever so dark. Anger and grief radiated from him so strongly that Severance could feel it.

Yes. That was right. That's how it should be.

"I killed him." Severance stared at his hands, which were buried in Vast's fur. The beast whined softly. "It's my-"

"I said, stop it."

The words froze on Severance's tongue. He lifted his head, stunned into silence.

Dhin bared his teeth, a savage, frightening grin despite the tears wetting his cheeks. "My Pa was killed by Traders. Not you. You can spend the rest of your life going over your mistakes or things you could have done better, but that's not going to change anything. So. Stop wasting your time with this."

Wasting my—?!

"That's—how can you say that? I could have saved him! But I messed up, and he's your freaking dad and you should be hating—!"

Pak!

Severance fell onto the ground, red bursting to life around the edges of his vision. It wasn't until Vast leapt up and started rumbling that he felt the faintest of aches on his face.

Dazed, he stared up at the sky. Warmth trickled down the side of his face. It came from his nose, he suspected.

Dhin's face appeared over him, blocking out the darkening sky.

"Get up."

Gingerly, Severance touched his nose. Yep, he'd been right. There was blood dribbling out of it. He gaze shifted upward.

"You punched me."

"I did. And I'm going to do it again if you don't get up, right now."

Vast backed up, pressing against Severance, his teeth bared to Dhin. The Veiled man glanced down at the beast, and one corner of his lips lifted.

"Don't tell me a baby furball has more courage than you."

Severance gritted his teeth. He sat up and gently pushed Vast back, before getting to his feet. The bloody nose barely made a dent into his health, yet he felt strangely unsteady.

"Good. Now follow me." Dhin walked out of the Memorial Grounds.

After a moment's hesitation, Severance followed, wondering why he was following. He could have just logged off or teleported to another town. Maybe if he spent some time elsewhere for a while, or even came back tomorrow, Dhin and the others will have moved on from this horrible situation.

Even as he thought about that, his feet continued to carry him after Dhin. And beside him was Vast, keeping close. Somehow, that was reassuring. Even if it was just an animal, at least he wasn't alone.

With dusk already upon them, the forest was nearly pitch black. Severance could barely make out the shapes of the tree trunks moving past them. It almost made him grateful that Dhin acted as a guide, showing him the nearly invisible path through the forest. Otherwise, Severance would probably have been introducing his face to a lot of trees and making a lot of new wooden friends.

A few minutes passed and he finally got the courage to ask, "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," Dhin answered. "Almost there."

It wasn't long before they reached a small clearing. It was much brighter here, and Severance could see that stumps dotted the ground; they hadn't been cleared after the trees were chopped down. When he glanced up, he saw a deeply purple sky freckled by twinkling stars.

"All right," Dhin said. He turned around to face Severance directly. "I want you to punch me."

Severance snapped his attention to Dhin. What?

"Come on." Dhin took a loose, ready stance, and gestured for Severance to go ahead. "Give it a try."

Had the man's brain been broken? If anything, it should have been the other way around. Hadn't Dhin been threatening to beat him up?

"It works better if you make a fist first," Dhin said helpfully.

"I don't want to punch you," Severance muttered. It was a stupid idea. He'd probably hurt himself more than Dhin. Besides, he was still trying to understand how they'd gone from moping in the Memorial Grounds to Dhin demanding a fight in a random clearing.

He glanced over to Vast. The beast had curled up by a stump and lazily watched. Whatever ire he'd previously shown towards Dhin had long since vanished.

Severance felt betrayed. Here he'd been really touched by how loyal Vast had been today, but now, the vastlhidan was showing his true colors. It really was hard to find a good pet these days.

"Too bad," whispered a voice in his ear. The world spun and the ground slammed into Severance's back. The breath exploded out of him. He stared wide-eyed at the dark sky overhead, too shocked to form a single thought.

Dhin stepped into his field of view, looking down with something that wasn't quite a smile on his face. Oh no, it was far too toothy for that.

"Get up, Sev. We're just getting started."