Realization

“You didn’t have to do that!”

“It was the decent thing to do,” replied Beth. “My life is not more valuable than yours, or anybody else’s. Anybody else’s. That includes tomthumbs.”

“But if that’s true… maybe I deserved what was coming to me!” cried Rose.

“I don’t believe in ‘an eye for an eye’. Not for things this horrible. The cycle has to end somewhere,” replied Beth. “People can change, or nothing ever gets better.”

Rose sobbed for a while longer, until she calmed down a bit. “You’re right,” she said. “I’m done eating neeras and tomthumbs. I can’t live like that anymore. Not when I was saved from being eaten by the very same person who hates me for eating them.”

“I don’t hate you, Rose. I just said I didn’t like you to make a point.” Beth put a hand on her shoulder. “And I don’t hate Crisis either. You were only doing what you were taught growing up. I just need you to change that. And I believe you will. That takes strength, to admit you were wrong and change. You’re a strong person, Rose.”

“I don’t feel strong. My life is gone. I couldn’t do anything about it. I couldn’t save my daughter. I couldn’t even save myself. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now.”

“Maybe you can come with me and Crisis, if we can convince her to bring you along. We ought to be able to find some place for you to stay. Maybe you can join another neko tribe…”

“Maybe… I dunno. Right now I just feel so… lost.”

“That’s completely understandable. What’s important is that even though you lost a whole lot, almost everything, you’re still alive, and in some ways you’ve grown as a person.”

“I guess so.”

Beth pulled Rose into a hug, and she began sobbing again as they embraced. Beth saw the early light of dawn coming through the window. Rose took a breath. “I guess I forgot to even say thanks. Thank you for saving me. Even though I had done horrible things, even though I had given up.”

“It’s alright, Rose. Despite all that, I truly believe you are worth saving.”

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“Crisis! Are you alright?” Milly had to run to catch up to her as she left.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Don’t listen to her! You know who you are, Crisis! You’re a predator! Don’t let some human take your nature from you. You can be polite about it, if she wants, but there’s no reason to stop. If she can’t handle it, drop her off in Safe Harbor. That’s how it was with Isham. That way you can go back to the way things were!”

“It’s not that simple!” Crisis cried. “She made good points! She explained why that horrible wizard ate us, why that human jumped, and I think I might do the same thing, in their shoes! And I think she’s right: If I had met her here, I probably would have eaten her. I DID eat her! How many people have I eaten who were just as undeserving as her? I was about to eat someone she really cared about, just to prove that I could. I wouldn’t listen to her when she told me not to. That’s not how friends treat each other!”

“But, Crisis, you can’t buy into this! Nobody is a better hunter than you! It’s in your blood! You’re not some human, and you never did kill any of your friends! Why are you stressing so much about these hypothetical situations?”

“I know I’m a hunter! I know it’s my nature! Part of me just wants to ignore all this and go back to the way it was like you say! But Beth hates it every time I eat humans or nekos, and I think I can understand why! I would have thought the same thing back when I was human! So that’s why I just don’t know what to do. I miss Léa. She never made me feel this way. Do you know where she is?”

Milly fell silent for a while before responding. “Oh. Crisis. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you before now. I know you cared about that human, I just… didn’t know her all that well. She… must have slipped my mind.”

Crisis froze. “What… what happened to her? Where is she?”

Milly looked down at the ground. “...We don’t know. She disappeared around the same time that you did.”

Crisis’ face fell, but then brightened a bit. “You don’t know she’s dead then! She could be alive somewhere!”

Milly made a pained face. “Crisis… you know as well as I do… she’s a human, she disappeared, she’s all on her own here in Felarya. She’s not even a fighter. Her chances, after several years? Very slim. Almost nonexistent.”

“But we don’t know!”

“And we’ll probably never know what really happened. I’m sorry, Crisis. In all likelihood, she’s now nothing more than a faint memory in the mind of some predator.”

Crisis’ face darkened. “And if I talked to that predator? If I asked them why they took my friend from this world? What would they say? Would they say the same things you just did?”

Milly put her hands up. “Crisis! I would never eat your friends!”

“I know you wouldn’t. But someone just like you, who didn't happen to know me, know my friends, very well might.”

“Again with the hypotheticals!”

“You said it yourself. In all likelihood, this is what actually happened.”

Crisis began slithering off into the forest. “Please don’t follow me, Milly. I need time to think.”

“Wait! Crisis!” yelled Milly, but she was gone. Milly knew she couldn’t have caught up to her if she’d tried.