The longer they'd searched, the more evident it became that their efforts in recovering survivors was in vain. The heat worsened the stench, Kazumi using her hat as a makeshift fan to waft cooler air onto her face.
As the group approached Etoah, Kazumi was the first to speak up.
"No."
The dreary atmosphere from the rest of the patrol was enough to discourage her from similarly asking. She instead searched around the party, trying to identify if there were any clues brought to attention before their arrival.
Mai clears her throat and clasps her hands together to break the silence.
"Well, ah... I think that we should cover the bodies with sheets and blankets. Pull them off beds and such." Those bodies with their open, dried up eyes and permanently frozen expressions of terror were obviously disconcerting to have to see everywhere you walked. "Until Etoah decides that there's no evidence to be found on them. Then we could start cleaning them up."
"Does we know if Maelstromclan had any specific traditions...? Burial, burning...that sort of thing?"
"Burning. Burial took too long and consumed too much space." Akihito said immediately. Much quicker than he should have. He glanced at Etoah, who was watching him.
"That's...Apollo told me that." He explained. The deputy nodded in acknowledgement, his eyes watching Aki for just a second longer before returning them to the patrol.
"We came to look for survivors and assess the situation. It's time to return and tell Insignious what we've found. It is his decision what to do with the bodies. Let's head back before it gets dark." Etoah said, giving the soldiers near him light pats on the back like a sheepdog encouraging his lambs to move forward. Akihito dropped his head and sunk into the group silently, frowning at the bloodied ground in concern.
Kazumi nodded along with Mai, supporting her idea of covering the Maelstromclan members. The sight was ghastly enough; even if they had to leave and come back with a new patrol group, it would at least save the others from the mental scar.
When it came to their traditions, however, she was about to speak up-- before Akihito beat her to it. His quick response caused Kazumi to raise an eyebrow, suspicious.
She assumed he had known Apollo, given that he spoke news of Yuuki, but the speedy answer was enough to hint that he knew more than he let on. She watched him as he sunk back into the group while they exhaustingly admitted defeat on their efforts. Their only salvation receiving the rights to return to their living friends and family in Tempestclan. Such bittersweet relief.
"I really think we should have covered them, at least."
Kazumi whispered within their small makeshift trio, keeping her head down but gazing over at Mai.
Nodding, Mai folds her arms, looking a little upset. The decision was already made by the second in command here, but with all the people walking out of the camp at once, she doubted it would be noticed if they were to hang back.
"I think it would be respectful to cover them up." She whispers. "Probably won't take more than a couple hours if we move quick."
"You both in?" She mutters to the other two women.
Almost immediately after they'd begun their journey back, Etoah looked over his shoulder to find Mai. He noticed the ladies huddled together and his ghostly eyes narrowed in frustration. "Girls." He said loudly at them, his voice much colder than usual. "What did I just say? Let's go. Now." The rest of the patrol continued on but he stood in place, making sure they listened.
Without need for thought, Kazumi nodded to Mai rather enthusiastically. She'd cosign in those shenanigans any day.
A shame Etoah caught them plotting, causing Kazumi to look over and away, feigning innocence. As she began to take off towards camp, she mumbled over to her besties.
Mai scrunches up her nose and frowns at the deputy, pointedly. Arms crossed now instead of folded. She knew the feeling of watchful eyes, ones that always made sure she did not stray too far whether on a patrol or in the midst of battle. No chaos, madness, drama, or confusion had a chance when Etoah made sure the tomfoolery was kept to a minimum.
Though, she felt this tomfoolery was warranted. And the right thing to do.
She salutes exaggeratedly, flashing her classic cheshire you caught me type grin, but her amusement didn't meet her eyes. "Ladies. We have a long walk."
As they walked past to meet the rest of the group, Mai bumped his shoulder with hers, hard and purposely, and kept walking with her pals.
"Hard to argue. Were we to pull that off, I find it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission."
Etoah stared hard with annoyance at the back of Mai's head as the girls walked ahead of him.
"I agree," Tadi was saying quietly, "I don't understand why we couldn't atleast cover them." She gave a quick glance over her shoulder at the brooding deputy before looking ahead again.
"Those children, I can't believe they had to see that." She continued, her voice heavy with pain for Bleu and Sera. "I've never seen anything like it."
Kazumi used her hat to hide her expression, silently snickering at the amount of sass inflicted against the Deputy. She didn't need to glance back at him to gauge how irritated he was; the hard stare practically radiated behind them.
Comical relief was swiftly cut off, then, by mentions of the twins and their ordeal. With her semi-smile dispersing entirely, she moved her hat back into place. Warrior continued to keep her voice low, only allowing for the trio hear.
"And yet they survived. They're the only ones who could detail the culprits-- but since they're so young, it'd be too harsh to ask them to speak up. This is so twisted."
While she felt terrible for how directly her thoughts went towards asking the kids— justice couldn't wait. Given, if the two even saw anything at all.
A moment to sit. To sit and just think. It sounded heavenly, but it wasn't an option right now. Insignious had spent the entire day deeply immersed in his people, doing all that he could to keep them settled and confident as they each awaited Etoah and his patrol's return. He'd answered a consistent flow of questions since he'd woken in the morning. He'd spent time sweating in the forge with the blacksmiths, training in the fields with apprentices, handing out afternoon meals, even gardening with Nahva. Everything he could do to keep everyone's brains working like usual- including his own. All the while, Bleu and Sera had followed him around. They insisted on it, and he did too. Sig felt as though his breathing had stopped the night before and hadn't continued since.
He was walking towards the church holding both children's hands when he heard the call.
"They're back! Insignious, they're back!"
In a moment of alarm, the leader scooped both children up in his arms and turned to look. "Alright! Let's go see!" He said quietly to the two, carrying them to the entrance. A crowd of Tempestclan folk bustled away from their duties and swarmed towards the returning group.
Etoah and his soldiers looked absolutely exhausted. While the patrol was inevitably consumed by the questioning clan, Etoah gave Mai a forceful poke on her shoulder as they began to be separated. "Don't go anywhere," The deputy told her "I need to talk to you after this."
Upon their return, Kazumi had removed her hat again in favor of fanning her face. Heat mixed with exhaustion became quite unbearable on their trek back, especially for how little she slept. At least the smell finally wavered.
"Woah, uh-"
Taken aback, she hadn't thought her clanmates would swarm her the moment she got back, but she didn't blame them. Kazumi spoke loudly, to bring attention to herself so the rest of the patrol could hopefully relax. Yet, her clanmates deserved to know the truth, so she stepped up to answer the questions as they came. Well, she answered the ones she'd have wanted to know. With so many of them, she could hardly make out what they pestered the patrol about.
"It's like they said, the attack was serious. We didn't find any survivors. Uhh, the animals, too. Everything out there..."
As soon as Kazumi had mentioned 'no survivors', the voices of the crowd heightened in alarm.
"No survivors! What does that mean for us?" "Who could have done this...!" "What are we going to do? Insignious, what are we going to do?!"
Some of the people were shouting. Some of them had simply begun to weep. Those that hadn't yet joined the swarm were now on their way.
"Everyone, stop!" Insignious spoke over them loudly, his voice sharp. "Stop this! Respect your fellow clanmates and give them some DAMN SPACE!" At that, the crowd began to withdraw from them- though still staying close and still pestering with questions. Etoah exhaled roughly, as if he'd been holding his breath since they'd arrived, and gave his leader a grateful expression.
After a small quiet moment where everyone seemed to be catching their breath, the deputy and Insignious quickly made their way through the small village to the courtyard where the clan usually gathered for evening meals. There was a raised stone platform to the side of the clearing, used for performances. With just a few steps Etoah was on the stage. Insignious stayed below with the following crowd and the children still in his arms.
"Tell us what you found."
The deputy waited a few minutes, allowing everyone to gather, sit, stand, or peer out their windows. His expression, though calm, was full of sorrow.
"My family..." Etoah started, looking down at the many faces. Seeing everyone so alive was overwhelming, and he actually smiled as love for them filled his spirit. Yes, my family.
"After what we have seen today, I cannot tell you what it means to be here with all of you now...It is true. Everyone in Maelstromclan, everyone we could find, is dead. All the animals are as well. Killed by black arrows. More arrows than I've seen in my entire life. They seemed to have died about eight to ten days ago. " He glanced at his leader, who's expression had hardened in grief.
"The arrows," He continued, using his hands to illustrate and emphasize, "They were inside the houses. Up the stairs. In the crawlspaces. You could hardly walk upon the ground there were so many." Etoah spoke in a tone not to enstill fear, but to educate on the severity of the threat.
A rush of relief ran over the warrior as she silenced with the crowd. She only spoke up because she felt obligated to, but clearly she wasn’t in the right mindset to speak. As others backed off, she shifted back over to Tadi, knowing exactly where the clan was headed to follow. She mumbled over to her, a complaint she hadn’t felt she could say outside of campgrounds.
“Girl, I am exhausted.”
As it wasn’t only about to get worse.
Once they reached their short destination, Kazumi opted to sit down. She’d have fallen asleep right there with her head in her hands— and certainly almost nodded off during the short period of silence which Etoah waited. Seated, she rested her eyes until he started his speech, which even the furthest of back rows could probably hear.
Lifting her head up, she glanced over at what she could barely still see of the leader, but noticed the two twins instead. All she could see was the two locking hands with each other behind Insignious’ back. They might have ran into Tempestclan sobbing, but the two were strong to listen to the retelling of their trauma, only days prior. Neither of them let go of the other.
