From the Vast

Chapter 24: Scars

Garret had a plan.

Despite the seriousness of the task ahead, he marched on with a smile, confident in his ability to discuss it all in the right way. His plan wasn't the most detailed out there, and if there was anyone who knew that sometimes not even familiarity trumped the impact someone's looks might have, it was him—

But he wouldn't let that get him down.

His role in keeping Anne safe wasn't as crucial as that of his wife or mom—at least, not yet—but he didn't take it any less seriously because of that. The human girl's future was uncertain, and if a closer chat with one of his coworkers would help her chances even a little, then that was all the motivation he needed to give it his all.

'Coworkers' as a term was... stretched, in this specific context.

Both of their roles around the village were very fluid. They weren't expanding fast enough for someone to have to constantly work on new construction, but his mix of raw strength and decent dexterity never had to look far for a problem he could help with. Putting new buildings up or expanding existing ones was his most common task, though, and the Meowstic he was heading towards was often busy carving decorations and furniture for said buildings.

They knew each other just enough to be relatively friendly, but not to have ever spilled their hearts to each other, which... they probably wouldn't be able to avoid this time.

Garret tightened his fur's grasp on his thin limbs as he pushed on, some of the winter cold piercing through regardless. No matter how hard he tried to keep his spirits up, this was going to be difficult, and doubts were never too far behind. Doubly so, with nobody having seen Max for the past couple of days. Thankfully, Hawthorne wasn't bringing any worries about her dad up, which meant that whatever reason he had for keeping himself in his burrow, it wasn't anything tragic.

The Grimmsnarl hoped so, at least.

Even without tragedy, his seclusion still had unnerving implications. The Meowstic was never the most courageous person out there, but he gave off the impression of being calm and composed, unlike what his present absence would've implied. Then again, considering what humans had done to him, it could just be the case of a fear intense enough to erode any composure.

It would make Garret's task here much more difficult if so—and even more necessary. He could do this; he could help his wife and the little girl out—

"Garret."

Hearing a buzzed-out rendition of his name made the fairy look to the side, ending up staring the Vespiquen in the eye. Hardly the person he expected to just chat him up, leaving him with a blank—yet still intimidating—expression.

"What is the human's status?"

"Plenty good, Liz! She was recovering mighty well last I saw her yesterday!"

This time, it was he who was the receiver of a blank stare, growing blanker still as the exhausted Vespiquen slouched slightly.

"I didn't mean personal status. Are they staying or not?"

A much drier, more matter-of-fact question that Garret had absolutely no answer for. He really, really wished he did, be it so that they could either start celebrating or figure out what to do to keep Anne safe, but ultimately it remained to be seen where the elders' whims would go.

"I—I don't know, Liz. It's still undecided."

A low, droning buzz, not letting the bee settle many of her calculations. Barring any personal like or dislike, she had to know whether they would end up with another mouth to feed or not, and the sooner she had an exact number to work off of, the sooner she could start redirecting the village's efforts around. 'I don't know' was perhaps the worst non-answer imaginable.