The Everburning City

Act 1, Part 6, Chapter 7

Gwendolyn

It was strange to see this part of Barleybarrel so empty.

For every moment Gwen had seen it; from when they first arrived through Gloam covered tracks, to every point during their battles when she returned to look, the grounds around and south of the town's train station had been teeming with people. Thousands, both hopeful and terrified, but always alive and noisy. Seeing the same place — now so silent there was nothing in the air but the quiet, monotone drone of the pilot lights — left the impression that this might very well be the end of days.

Which might not be wrong, if the coming days go poorly.

The only defiance to the impression of the end times was the steady rhythm of a few shovels at work. Three soldiers, all wearing white scarves, were digging a hole just a few dozen feet away from Vincent's tunnel. More soldiers waited nearby, most standing solemn and quiet, though there was a small group in the peripheries who were talking in hushed voices.

Valen marched ahead, and true to everything she expected of him, the first thing he did was pick up a shovel, and spot out one of the soldiers already digging. Surprisingly, the soldier he spotted out was Roderick.

Gwen pulled a bottle of water out of her kit and handed it to him. "Almost didn't recognize you."

"Really? You've known me for about eight months now," Roderick said.

"Eight months didn't change you as much as the last couple of days have," Gwen admitted. "In some ways, you've done a hell of a lot more living since the Golem came than you did until now. You've held up through horrors that broke older adults."

"Older adults? That sounds like you're halfway to a compliment."

"Let me get the rest of the way there. Roderick, you're starting to look like that scarf belongs to you. Remember when Valen was still a corporal? His sergeant ran, deserted his post, and tried to bring his whole squad with him. You walked into the Gloam to rescue people. You're part of a story Barleybarrel will tell for a long, long time."

"When does it start feeling like I did enough?" Roderick asked, as he wiped at his eyes. Dust, Roderick would claim; tears he would never admit to.

"Pretty sure it doesn't. We are the walls, remember? We wear and crack so everything behind us stays safe. People might heal better than stone, but break pieces off of us and they don't grow back. That's just as true for the wounds we can't see."

Roderick nodded. "Does it start to hurt less?"

Gwen wanted to both grin and cringe. Abyss only knows what expression her face took. "Hurt less? This is what winning a battle feels like. It's the second saddest thing there is. Only losing one feels worse."

"Blackened shit at the bottom of the abyss," Roderick cursed, as he finished his water. He hefted his shovel again, and turned to take over for one of the other soldiers still at work.

Gwen watched Roderick get back to work for a moment or two, before she saw something that drew her towards the lieutenants. The four of them were still speaking as if conspiring together, but there was a fifth person in the group.

Cameron.

"Absolutely not, Private Aster. I'm not willing to detach either of you for a side project, unless it's critical to the defence of the City. Special Talent Hearthsward is part of the Company, and will remain so until I am forced to give him up. If it is your opinion, and that of Corporal O'Fallow, that Vincent is still sound of mind, I have no reason and even less interest in having him or you detached so you can get a full hearing at the Bureu's headquarters."