Chapter 2: A Question of Morality

Past the training courses was the entrance to the main part of Native Lakes, though the guards were farther out to make sure that the village would have ample warning if there was any danger.

At the very end of the training fields was black grass to the left, right, and straight ahead. My class and I went straight and quickly came to the waterfalls. Even before I saw them I could hear the water and laughter coming from them.

To my right and left were waterfalls where Drethiveal that Avealed into water animals could rest. It was usual for Dreth to live in environments that the creatures they Avealed into could survive. But that wasn't always the case, hence the waterfalls were here.

"Ralph," A woman said, a Narwhal horn where her nose should be. "We have the weapons. Can you wait one moment, sir, we were expecting you a little later."

Quickly the woman, and a few others, climbed the waterfalls to get to the weapon storage.

I saw my students' impatience but this had to be done. It was safer if weapons were limited. Inside Native Lakes those that could Aveal into predators were given no extra weapons. Those who hadn't learned to Aveal, or didn't Aveal something that could fight, were given daggers.

We were smart about weapons, not stupid or ignorant.

On top of the left waterfalls, both were split by black grass, a woman had Avealed partially as to have Manta ray wings. She spread them wide and glided down to land in front of me, three more Drethiveal walked to get to my group, and handed me my bow and arrows.

"You can control the density of your wings," I said as I adjusted my quiver on my back. "Don't think many can do that."

"Nope," She said with a smile.

"And she plans to waste her talents." A man replied. "She wants to go off with one of the traveling bards instead of serving on an Atlas."

I merely nodded and continued on with my students. I didn't need to waste any time by getting distracted by an argument. While focusing on where I was going, I listened to my students talking about the underwater cities that the man had mentioned. Others talked about how they would Aveal as well as the woman one day.

Following the black grass, I went right to leave Native Lakes. I could lead my group of students out of Native Lakes the other way, but I didn't want to bother the guards in their own special barracks. It wouldn't be very polite to do that.

Going right we soon got to the two active guards. They were on a little path not indicated by black grass. Behind them was a dead end where they could sleep or go to the bathroom in private.

"Ordo and Caballus," I said with a bow and made sure my students did the same. "Is the day calm?"

"Yes, young man." Tolk replied with a smile.

Tolk Ordo was the more impressive of the two. He had Avealed himself so that it looked like he was a centaur. His weapon of choice was a bow and arrow. The rumor was that he chose that so he would better resemble a centaur. I heard he was very light hearted when not on duty.

"For once it's calm." Nadia replied, avoiding the stares now directed at her.

Nadia Caballus was the worst at Avealing and the personal student of Tolk. She always made any change seem like it was from a horror story. She was, as usual, Avealed partially into a horse to show she could perform the act. While her mane should've been behind her head, for some reason it appeared as odd bruises on her arms.

I looked angrily at my students who looked away from Nadia.

"Nadia Caballus is a guard of Native Lakes and deserves the respect awarded her by her position." I told them even as Nadia started to tell me to stop.

"It is true," Tolk said, seeming to be happy to see someone defending his dark skinned student. "I would not have kept her on as a personal student of mine if she was anything less than worthy."

I didn't like when others made fun of Nadia or tried to lessen the importance of what she did. She isn't legendary as a guard, but she is more than helpful in protecting my home. She deserves respect for all her knowledge and effort she has spent guarding Native Lakes. She doesn't deserve being referred to as an Unborn just because she can't Aveal like most.

"Thank you for your aid, Caballus." Giondal told Nadia and then I headed out with my students again.

It was a short trek to being outside the farthest reaches of Native Lakes. Out to where we would be on our own and onto contested land. Land that other villages could claim if they so chose to expand their territory.

I called a halt when we approached the tall black tree. It had been planted as a sign that a village was nearby as there was always a yellow ribbon tied to it. The ribbon indicated civilization.

"Giondal," I told my student and he turned to look at me. "Thank you for complimenting Nadia."

"I couldn't do any differently." He replied. "Some Drethiveal abandon their own to join the Descendents. Caballus couldn't join as she can't Aveal, but she could be a spy."

I shivered at the mention of the rogue group of Dreth. The group went against both the Council of Ant and the Snow Leopards. Their whole message was that the Council had lied to us and that they alone knew the truth about Fang.

Worst of all, they Avealed into wolves, the emissaries of Fang.

The whole group was cursed and I couldn't wait for the day that they would burn.

"That is kind of you," I told him. "As I promised, you pick the path."

"I...um...want to go to the Glory of the Sun." Giondal finally replied. "Or at least in that general direction."

I nodded and looked at another of my students who also held a bow and arrow. I focused and soon wings sprouted from my back and spread wide. I flapped a few times until I was satisfied with the transformation. I then focused on the tail feathers so that I could actually guide myself through the air. Finally, my feet transformed into talons.

I tested each part of the Aveal until I was satisfied. Luckily I was so used to this that it didn't take long at all. Maybe a minute at most.

My student that could also Aveal a bird was taking a little longer. Unlike me, he could only Aveal owl wings. No tail feathers or talons, at least not yet. He could direct himself through the air, but it was much harder.

"Take your time, focus." I told him. "Avealing is all about concentration and dedication. You need to put Avealing at the center of your mind like you do Fang."

He nodded and soon two great owl wings came from his back. Everyone bowed at his successful Avealing as we couldn't celebrate like we did in Native Lakes. We couldn't clap and cheer at him completing his task.

"Be careful," I told my students. "Anything could come at us. Whether the usual trials of Gaia, the Descendents, or a village wishing to expand its territory."

After a minute more of preparations, I pushed off with my talons and flapped my wings. It took a solid three minutes to find a thermal that would lift me high enough to see the landscape and low enough to help.

Flying was so freeing, it was the reason I thanked Fang every night before I went to sleep. Well, flying and Frank. Frank...looking down below at the students I thought about our own children in the, hopefully, near future.

As I watched them avoid a poisonous snake, I thought about how lucky I was to be born a Dreth and not a Rethi. As a Rethi my husband and I would be called perverted merely because we were two men who loved each other. Ancient history books pointed to the country Flower Land used to be a part of as having same-sex marriages be a debated topic.

Sure there were still some Dreth that were homophobic, but not in the numbers as the time before Fang.

"Ralph!" The Owl said and I snapped myself out of my thoughts.

I merely nodded at my student and focused on the here and now. While I would've loved to have time to think what I wanted, Gaia was a harsh mistress and a lapse of judgment now could mean someone's death.

My bow and arrow were nearly medieval but for the metal tips. The arrows could slice through one of the rare ships that the Council of Ant used to go to anywhere on Gaia. But if I had been a warrior, or out on a long scouting run, I would have something much more modern.

The Owl also had the same weapon while those below us had weapons ranging from small firearms to swords.

None of us had modern fighting weapons, but all were good enough to fight against the usual chaos of Gaia.

My eyes went from my students to the surroundings. The vegetation tended to hide things from predators to traps from rival clans. A few weeks ago two of my students paid the ultimate price for not looking out.

A gaze of raccoons ended up attacking them when they decided to try and hum while on a scouting class. Only one had gotten back and was kept alive only so long to say his good-byes to his family. The other...a few days ago I had found her while on a scouting mission.

I had then said my prayers to Fang before reporting the sighting of her body. It was now Gaia's duty to spread her body to where the planet wanted.

But today...today things were silent. Or, at least, there wasn't the activity that should be happening.

The Owl looked at me confused and I returned the gaze. Never in my twenty-five years of living had I ever seen the place so silent.

Looking down we watched as the rest made their way to the Glory of the Sun. I breathed a small sigh of relief when its reflective exterior was close by. Many had wanted the glass to be replaced by crystal, but any attempts had been shot down.

It would require help from the Snow Leopards who had never been supportive of the change.

I signaled to the Owl to keep watch from the sky as I dove down and landed at the entrance, waiting for my students to arrive.

I stood by the wooden door, a picture of Fang on it, as they arrived quickly.

"Giondal," I said. "What did you notice about Gaia today?"

"It was easy to get here." He said after a moment. "There weren't many dangers but it was difficult to remind myself today that there is always danger. Was it a test from Fang?"

"Everything odd that happens isn't because of Fang, he merely oversees. He doesn't get involved for the most part. There is usually a sign with anything he shows."

"What if he wants to remind me to be vigilant when I move? What if he worries about me?"

"If he had wanted to prepare you, he would've made it much harder to get here."

While I had reprimanded Giondal for thinking that Fang had sent us a sign, that was the easiest explanation. Long before the time of Fang, Rethi had created myths and legends to explain why things happened. It was the simple thing to do.

The rest of my students looked highly nervous as I had remained silent.

"All we can do now is look around." I told them. "The Glory of the Sun is where travelers can worship Fang. Once a week a priest comes to give a sermon and once every two months a crew cleans this church up. After we pr-"

"Ralph!" The Owl shouted. "Up here!"

I looked at all of my students and then my wings took me up to where the Owl was. I looked to where he was pointing and saw smoke. It was coming close to where a Rethi highway had once been, a short distance from one of the current rest stops.

A part of me, the part that yearned for a fight, wanted to go to it in hopes of a worthy opponent. The part of me that was more reserved wanted to go there to make sure that the fire wouldn't spread and wasn't the cause of the silence.

I signaled for the Owl to wait and then flew down to where I had been.

Everyone was looking at me with nervous glances.

"It seems Giondal's farewell excursion will be getting a little more exciting." I told them. "Remember to pay attention to everything as I can't promise you your safety. There is a fire that may spread and might also be the cause for all the silence."

A few students seemed excited while others seemed nervous.

All nodded.

I flew up again and signaled for the Owl to go back down. I could cover things from the skies and I wanted to make sure that I would only have to focus on one group of students at a time.

Too slowly, or too quickly, we made our way past the nearest rest stop and headed to the old Rethi highway. Where once there had been a road, now there was only a large hill. Sometimes it was a training ground, a war zone, or a place no village stayed.

Right now it was the latter and there was...

"Hummit!" I yelled and saw some of my students mouth the same things.

Giondal looked up at me and so I quickly signaled for him to split the group into two teams. One, lead by him, would go towards the ship while the others would stay a little bit behind so they could provide backup.

I flew quickly toward the strange ship and landed, my bow ready to unleash an arrow. There was no doubt in my mind that it was a Rethi ship. The sense every Drethiveal had when another was close by, was absent from the ship.

Smoke came out of the wreckage and it seemed that there would be no fire as only smoke was coming out of the ship. There was no danger unless some Rethi were alive.

"Arg." I hissed as I picked one of my talons from some goo.

It was jelly-like in nature and had a horrible smell to it. Adding to the odd smell were the burning Rethi, a smell I had never smelled before and one that had not been written about before. There were also a few strange feathers.

I picked one up and noticed two things. First off was the strange bluish color, a color that I don't think had been seen on Gaia before. The second thing was something I felt, as though a long lost ancestor was close by.

Was I feeling Fang? Was he close by now?

"Ralph, look out!" A student shouted and I looked around for danger.

"Don't shoot!" I replied as an injured Rethi blindly crawled towards me and another's moan could be heard.

I felt bile come up through my throat as I saw the monsters still alive. They should be dead if they had dared land on Gaia.

As I tried to keep myself focused, I looked at the logo on the ship. It was a simple drawing of an eye with the word 'Whisper' on it. The Rethi called their army Whisper, or a division of it? Was that supposed to sound threatening?

"What do we do?" Giondal asked.

Focusing on the Whisper logo allowed me to calm my mind. All the anger and hate was pushed to the side so that I could feel empathy. That sense of someone I knew wasn't coming from the two remaining Rethi, but that feeling was still in the air nonetheless.

Maybe that feeling was why I would help them. I prayed that my actions wouldn't curse me or Native Lakes.

"We help them." I told my students, trying to distance myself from the shocked look on their faces. "If we question them we can find out the battle plans of the Rethi. Then we can go to New Venice and tell the Snow Leopards what we have found."

My students grumbled but they obeyed. We patched the two Rethi up so that they would make it to Native Lakes.

I would never admit it to Frank, but I enjoyed each and every time the Rethi moaned. I wanted to hurt them more but I would not change my mind. Not now. Not with my students watching.

When we approached the Glory of the Sun, we all stopped as we heard Drethiveal footsteps. Those not helping to carry a Rethi held their weapons in preparation. Was this a village that wanted ill for Native Lakes? Were the footsteps from Dreth that were merely peaceful bards or traders? Were the footsteps from Descendents or Dreth who took no home or side?

"Buteo Ralph," Donta Nevin said.

Her hair, like usual, was long and brown. She was a natural blonde, but Avealed into a Grizzly bear to change her hair. It was a unique texture and it always seemed like she was extremely vain about it.

"Scouting lesson?" Hawn Falco, her husband, asked.

Both were warriors and I didn't like them. Well, Donta more than Hawn. She seemed to live and breathe violence and I wouldn't be surprised if, sometime in the future, she was in a village that fought more than Native Lakes.

"Those things aren't from Gaia." A warrior from Donta and Hawn's training group said.

I held back a groan as I should've remembered that the warriors were training today. A short distance away was a piece of land that had been agreed to be a training ground for all villages of Noco, of which Native Lake was in.

"They're Rethi," One of my students blurted. "We investigated a fire and found them."

"Are you as dense as an Unborn?" Donta hissed and the student blushed deeply. "Why did you think bringing the greatest enemies of Gaia home? Do you want us to die?"

"Donta, I'm sure the scout had his reasons." Hawn replied, but I could tell he was also holding back an angry retort.

"We don't know what the Rethi are planning, if we question them then we would be better protected from future attacks." I told them.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as I tried to keep calm. I would defend my decision even as I wondered why I had made it.

"Okay, let's get them back quickly." Hawn finally said.

"Maybe the Rethi had it right." Donta said, her teeth Avealing to Grizzly bear size and her mouth Avealing to fit them. "Maybe you fags will be the doom of us all."

I cringed at the Rethi word and Donta's intent. Frank and I were both men, maybe that would be enough to set the Rethi off. If the legends of old were true.

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