WE BECOME THOUGHTLESS

twenty-two | clan canale

Cole thanked the miracles that Emer had been right, that the village at the bottom of the mountain was real, just an arm's length away. That didn't stop him from worrying though. Didn't stop him from glancing over at Alistair and seeing not even a trace of emotion on the boy's face, as if the sharp lines of his nose, jaw and lips were carved from granite.

They stomped through the snow, and Cole could feel two eye-shaped holes burn the collar of his jacket as Alistair walked behind him. Emer sped down the path, kicking up snow, slipping in the dirt. He smiled.

"Do you know what this means for me?" Alistair said.

He glanced over his shoulder and waited for the other boy to catch up. Alistair didn't look up as he fell into step beside him; his attention was trained on the path ahead of them, and his gaze was hard and still. The only sign of anxiety was from his bloodless knuckles, fingers wrapped over the strap of his bag.

Cole breathed in. "What do you think it means?"

"Ah, avoiding a question with another question, very smart." He drawled, almost lazily. Cole was amazed by how easily Alistair was able to stamp down on his nerves and keep them from echoing into his voice. "But I asked you first. What will happen once we reach the village?"

"You will have to stay until your ankle is healed, but I will not let them harm you. I won't go back on our deal." Cole answered truthfully, and he was surprised by how much he meant it. Two weeks ago, he would've leapt at the chance to have the mindrenderer dead in his hands, devoured by the cold Welish earth. He would've turned his blade on him and cut him where he stood.

But he didn't want to do that anymore. Not after being rescued from that bear, not after having his relationship with the Chrysosian army revealed, and definitely not after getting to know the mindrenderer. Maybe it was the isolation of being trapped alone together in the cold depths of Weles' forests, but all remnants of Cole's initial mission suddenly felt very far away.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I believe you." Alistair muttered, breath going white in the cold air. "It's just – would you even be able to stop an entire village from harming me if it came to it? Would you even want to?"

And Cole didn't say anything to that, because he truly didn't know the answer.

His stomach was in knots by the time they descended the mountain. Two Canale warriors came over to greet them, situated in a private space shielded from the rest of the village. They must've seen them walking down the mountain. Cole felt his chest thud at the sight of other people, of two older men stomping through the snow towards him, like a pair of miracle-sent warriors with bronzed skin and ink-spill hair.

"Summers, you look tired." One of the warriors greeted, and Emer immediately sped forward to wrap her arms around the man's great shoulders.

Cole blinked, rubbed his eyes, and blinked again. Alistair glanced at him inquisitively, but all he could do was shrug. No, he hadn't known Emer would know anyone from Clan Canale, and he shuffled on his feet when Emer turned to introduce him. How much did he really know about Emer? Was it his obligation to ask?

Gods, he had been so alone for most of his childhood, he didn't even know how to navigate the incomprehensible behaviours of friendship. He supposed he had his own mother to thank for that.

"Erik, thank the miracles we found you. We weren't sure you would be here." She grinned crookedly, her voice falling back into the steady back-throat Welish language. They had been trying to speak Chrysosian the majority of the trip. "This is Cole Ursa. Cole, this is Erik Canale."

"Ursa?" Erik's black-eyed gaze darted to Cole's face. "So you're from Clan Ursa? I thought the Chrysosians had killed you lot after Niamh."

"They tried," Cole stepped forward and dipped his head in greeting, swallowing back his wince. He didn't like having Niamh's name brought up in conversation, especially not when in relation to his Clan's untimely demise. "I'm sorry if we're intruding, we've been travelling for days."