Fudge, EUe's death was very, very bad. Extremely bad! The Brrk'zk had spoken about him with devotion so deep, you'd have thought the he'd been talking about a beloved patriarch, not an alien being. The Treefathers had truly been right to point us in EUe's direction. The twEfE leader might very well have been capable of brokering a ceasefire between the wyrms and the Vyx.

Unfortunately, now, we'd never know.

This put me between a rock and a hard place. I couldn't do nothing. The Darkness would destroy us all—&alon, the wyrms, our spirits, and the whole Vyx fleet. But the choices available to me were just plain dismal.

I could sell my soul to &alon and forcibly infect and assimilate the Vyxit, "saving" them and letting &alon get us the heck out of my doomed world, not that I'd be able to live with myself if I did so.

I could look for a way to sabotage the Lodestars, at least long enough to give &alon the chance to take us away. But there was no guarantee that was even possible.

I could try to get the Sword—Suisei's copy, anyhow—and hope that enough of Azon's power was left in it to get us out of this mess. But, like with the sabotage plan, there was no guarantee it would work. If anything, things might take a horrific turn if the Darkness got its hands on the Sword, or if &alon did, or if the Vyx(it) did.

Really, it would most likely be Game Over if anyone other than myself or immediate circle of friends and allies got their hands on the Sword.

But now, there was a fourth option: the Krr't. On the one hand, the Imprisoned Ones sounded like exactly the sort of folks it might help to talk to: wise, ancient, all-powerful, deeply knowledgeable about the Vyx(it) and the Archives. On the other hand, I'd have to be a moron to ignore the extremely strong "ancient evil sealed in a can" vibes I got from their portrayal in D'zd legend. Getting involved with the Krr't was almost certainly going to be a case of the proverbial "deal with a Norm"—both figuratively and literally.

Fudgeroni.

I didn't know which was harder to believe: that we had a lead, or that our lead would probably cackle maniacally while monologuing about their villainous schemes.

"Uh… wouldn't it be safer to just throw away the key to the bad guys' prison?" Lark asked.

"The Krr't are part of the Vyx," Brrk'zk Szr't't answered, "just as the key is a part of the prison. Even if we could destroy them, it would only cause more harm. Thus, they must stay imprisoned."

"Thank you for the information," I said.

"The Vyx didn't already tell you?" Dk'brr asked.

I shook my head. "Unfortunately, no."

"Zhn'nt," Dk'brr said, glancing at me, "you seem out of sorts. Are you alright?"

I shook my head again. "Also no."

"What's the matter?" T'zz asked.

I pressed my claws onto the dining pit's ceramic rim. "The situation outside is dire. As we speak, the Vyxit are at war with the Blight."

"Is that why the Vyx sent you?" Rzt'zk asked.

Considering how much the D'zd had told us, it was only fair that I give them something in return, and, since it was their misconception that we were Messengers, I decided to give them something true.

As the saying goes, truth is good for the soul.

"Soon," I said. "I just have one more question for you. Well, actually, I still have quite a few questions, but this is the most important one: why are the Vvz'zsh fighting you? Is it just about the land?"

This time, I was the one who drew stares.

Brrk'zk Szr't't looked at me with what I hoped was sympathy, flower narrowing at first, then slowly widening.

"Your species aren't the most tactful conversationalists, are you?" ze said.

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Not knowing how to sigh in this body, I just made a small poof of downward-aimed light. "No, just me—mostly." I glanced at Lark. "And Lark."

I spent a moment in thought.

"And Ni—"

—But then Nina gave me an antenna-extruding glare that made me give up on ever completing that particular sentence.

"I see no reason to keep the obvious a secret," the Brrk'zk said.

One of the D'zd overhead pumped all four of zyr arms upward (well, downward). "The Vvz'zsh are devils! They corrupt everything they touch!"

"Really?" Nina asked.

"Let me shine this: if the conflict was only about the land, there might still be a chance for peace," the Brrk'zk replied. "Sadly, it isn't."

Ze seemed to be getting ready for another story.

"Here we go again…" T'zz muttered.

"In the beginning," Brrk'zk Szr't't explained, "there was Charge." Ze looked us in the flowers. "All came from Charge, and to Charge, we all return. The primordial energy flows through every living thing. It is more than just sustenance, it's the very essence of our souls, and when we die, the forests consume our bodies, returning our Charge to the world, to be used by all that lives." The Brrk'zk pulsed with wordless anger. "The Vvz'zsh profane it."

"Is that what soulbreaking is about?" I asked.

"Yes," ze replied. "By extending their souls into the bodies of other living things, the Vvz'zsh can gain control of them and use those bodies as if they were their own."

Minced oaths shot out all around us.

"Soul breaking is vile and unnatural," the Brrk'zk continued, "so it's no surprise that using it degrades the Vvz'zsh, both physically and spiritually. It corrupts Charge, upsetting the balance of the world." Ze stared off into the distance. "Even now, the Deathlands are spreading."

"Deathlands?" Lark said. "That sounds bad." She twitched her arms and abdomen. "Is it bad?"

"No," T'zz said, with an alien scoff, "they're called the Deathlands because they're a wonderful place to be."

Brrk'zk Szr't't glared at the D'zd before turning back to us and continuing. "The Fossil Wind comes from the North, and it turns the land dead and barren. In the Deathlands, cold glass grows inside living things, which slowly break them apart from within. The seas turn to rock, and the air eats your skin."

"How can this happen?" Nina asked, aghast.

"The Vvz'zsh, of course," T'zz said. "That is what happens when you twist the Worldword for your own gain. Their dark rites broke the balance Their evil festers, infecting the soul of the world, and the Fossil Wind is the result. It spreads the Deathlands further and further with each passing day."

"But, like… it won't come here, right?" Lark asked.

The Brrk'zk pressed zyr hands together. "If the Vvz'zsh are not stopped, yes, one day, even T'kznd will fall. The Fossil Wind and the Deathlands are the wages of war and hate. Only an end to the fighting will stop it."

"What about Chant?" I asked. "Can't you heal the broken balance?"

"If only it were so easy," ze replied.

"Angel's breath…" I muttered.

"What are you going to do with the Vvz'zsh that Dk'brr brought?" Nina asked.

Brrk'zk Szr't't turned to one of the windows.

I swear, even with the casement shut, I could still feel the cold.

"Tchk'tk will have taken zym to the tower for interrogation."

"For a subordinate, Tchk'tk didn't seem too pleased with your leadership," I said.

"Tchk'tk is from the south," Dk'brr said. "Southlanders like zym come up North all the time. For all the peril it holds, here in the North, a person can make their fortune. We're at the edge of civilization. Prices are low and land is ripe for the taking. Anything is possible."

"I have no doubt Tchk'tk will head for the capital once my term as Brrk'zk of T'zknd is finished, to use zyr service as an entry pass to join the upper crust of Dominion society."

In other words, Tchk'tk was your run-of-the-mill social climber.

"It's been like that since the beginning," the Brrk'zk said. "The peoples of the South have migrated to the Northlands, bringing civilization with us, step by step."

After I finally finished my meal, I emptied my bowl's contents into the dining pit and then turned to face our hosts.

"Alright," I said, "you asked what we came here for. Well, I'll tell you: we're looking for somebody."

Brrk'zk Szr't't flicked zyr stinger-tail, intrigued. "Oh?"

I proceeded to describe Suisei in detail, including his human body, if by some chance he'd happened to have kept it upon entry. Considering my near-death experience with this ammonia world back in Lantor, for Suisei's sake, I hoped he'd become a D'zd like us.

Unfortunately, it proved to be a dead end.

"No," Brrk'zk Szr't't said, "I'm afraid I haven't seen anything about… what did you call zym again?"

"Suisei. Suisei Horosha."

"How do you even pronounce that?" Dk'brr asked.

"Zz'zz Rr'z, maybe?" Rzt'zk suggested.

"It helps if you have a mouth, teeth, and a tongue," I said.

"That's the hole you put dead things in to feed on them, right?" the Brrk'zk asked.

I sighed light. "Yed, the mouth is the food hole."

"With all that biomass, your kind must have the bodies of giants!" Dk'brr said, excitedly.

Like zyr father—was that even the right word?—Dk'brr seemed quite intrigued by my species' alien biology. Meanwhile, other eavesdroppers kept their distance, dismayed or disgusted.

"Unfortunately, no," I said. "We only use a little bit of it. The rest gets passed out of our bodies."

"What?" our hosts asked, in unison.

T'zz got up and staggered away from the dining pit. "I… I think I'm going to be sick."

"If it makes you feel better, we also think it's gross," Lark said.

But the robed Chanter did not respond.

There was a pause.

"So… you really haven't seen or heard of anyone else like us?" I asked.

"Trust me," Dk'brr said, "if anyone even remotely like you appeared, it would only be a matter of time before the whole Dominion knew about it. News travels quickly."

"Well…" I sighed again. "Thank you for your assistance," I said.

"It's been an honor," Brrk'zk Szr't't replied.

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