“Feelier?” Janine asked as Daniel led the reporters to the main road.

  “Yes, Mom.” Marswered, proudly throwing g his shoulder. “I’ll never myself again.”

  “Just try it, and I’ll kick your ass.” They stood side by side for a while, enjoying the night’s air and the surrounding ess. When they went back to the crawler, Janied her son on her shoulders. “Marco, you are not weak or useless. You are simply weaker than me and ’t do everything on your own. And that is okay. I, too, don’t know half of what Ignaows. Nor I crack vulgar jokes like Bogdan , and frankly, I don’t regret it. There are tons of Normies who are weaker than you. Do you believe they should feel bad about us proteg them? Do you sider them worthless?”

  “No,” Marco replied quietly, hugging her neck.

  “You are not a loser. A loser is someone who ries to do anything out of fear of failure. You are trying your best. Just because you ’t bee as strong as Anissa or me does not devalue you as a person. I trusted Colt with my back, even though he was weaker than me. And he never failed, alroteg those close to him with a well-pced shot.” Janine blinked away the memories. “You will grow stronger in time. But strength alone won’t bring you calm. Stop fixating on what you ’t do. Socialize, party, find a mate, stand by your rades, learn, hone your skills, and live happily. Then you will truly bury your fears. And… The offer still stands if you want to… you know, live a normal life.”

  “No,” Marco replied quietly. “I want to serve and protect the people.”

  “The poli the Core Lands serve and protect. Or so I heard,” Janine remarked. “And the regurs are full of brave women ahey sacrificed their lives to protect Just Peachy and its people. Do you think less of them?

  “No. But they are not like us. They wait for the bad guys to e while we go into the wild nds, overthrow the oppressors, and hunt down the bastards who have harmed our people. We prevent future tragedies, and this is who I want to be,” the boy whispered.

  “Then I shall speak no more of it, Marco.” Janine dropped the subject. “You are a male of the tribe.”

  A droplet of water hit her temple, and she looked up, fag the p water from the clouds above. Janine opened her jaws wide, ign being viewed as silly, and stuck out her toasting the pleasantly water, free of radiation and toxins.

  “What’s this, Mom?” Marco asked, standing on her shoulders. “Why is the sky g? Is one of the terraf facilities nearby damaged or something?”

  “I believe it’s called rain, Marco.” Janine smiled, raising her paw.

  It boggled the mind and defied imagination. Onothing but sand, rocks, ruins, and corpses covered this pce. Cruel sandstorms reigned supreme, fearlessly fighting to topple emptied cities and reduce everything to dust and ash. Yet life returned—water from the skies; animals, pnts and is poputed the once-desions; and humans too were here! Their sacrifices were not in vain. Her sons and daughters… They gave their lives for the right cause; Janine was sure of it.

  “Marco.”

  “Yes?”

  “Ighe punishment. Use both eyes. Watd remember.”

  The rain was cold, and the mother raced in full haste to the crawler, carrying Marco atop her shoulders and joining her ughter to his as they sought to reach the cover. Janine briefly begged the Spirits to leave some deserts in the world to e. Normies might like it, but Wolfkin preferred the heat.

  ****

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Cordelia asked him.

  Marco gave her a sideways gnce, and she tapped his jacket. The two cubs sat beh a on’s barrel, shielding themselves from the rain. The rain drummed over the steel, but puddles and streaks of water flowed down from the crawler’s edge without soaking them.

  Cordelia wore a lightweight, not fully zipped underarmor that left her paws a exposed to the night air. The silver and gold amulet of her house was visible through the opening in the chest of her suit. After she helped him take off his “crutch,” he was forced to take a shower. Cordi also wao force him to take a bath, but Marever trusted a body of liquid that could pletely submerge him. He dressed himself in double jackets, two sets of thick pants, heavy boots, and gloves, and pulled a hoodie over his head. Open pizza boxes purchased from the cooks separated them, and the two daheir legs over the edge, unbothered by a ck of guardrails, enjoying the wonders of the Core Lands.

  “Course I am!” Marco tossed a knife in the air and caught it, sending the on into a spin. He moved the still spinning bde between his palms, increasing the speed until he could see only a blur, then suddenly hid it in the sleeve of his jacket and raised his arms.

  Yenni gave him his first knife: a hooked bde fashioned from a dead ioid warrior’s leg. His big sister taught him to resped not be afraid of the impeccably sharp edge, and ter Ignacy, Anissa, and Bogdan gifted him a full set of brand-new daggers for his birthday.

  ons were cool. She cold ons, le rifles and pistols, explosives, wires, gases... They helped e the handicap he was born with, and unlike his useless legs, they moved exactly as he wahem to and never failed him.

  “Left!” Cordelia smiled smugly, and Marco sighed, sheathing the k was impossible to fool her.

  “See? Fine! Why do you ask?” Marco swallowed a slice of pizza.

  “Try chewing first, dummy!” Cordelia ughed.

  “No time!”

  “Why?”

  “Cuz I want to eat a rger share!” He wasn’t lying. The crust of the pizza baked in the Core Lands was soft, smooth, and the spices and sauce made his head spin with pleasure, as did the meat and olives! He had asted anything like it!

  “You’re weird,” she accused him. “Layers of yers of clothing… Are you genuinely not sweating in there? If this is some manly act of defiahen I suggest dropping it at once. I am impressed.”

  “Nope, no act. Are you not freezing your ass out here?” Marco asked, dumbfounded, how Cordelia could ighe chilly wind and such a low temperature.

  He lied a little. The cold was annoying and unusual, but he had pulled on such rge pants to hide his swollen, bandaged knees, ashamed of being afraid that his friend would pity him or, worse, find him weak.

  “The weather is awesome!” Cordelia stretched herself and untied a ribbon to loosen her geous white hair, atuated by occasional darkly dyed strands. “I thought I was going to roast alive in this hell in the north. There wasn’t a night in the field when I didn’t wake up drenched i.”

  “Ah, so that is why you were so good at wrestling out of a hold, Icicle,” Marco teased.

  “I haven’t beeing all day, Dusty!” she argued.

  “Sure, sure.” He grinned. “It is cool if you like bitter cold. I am gd that you enjoy being here.”

  “Thanks, and it’s not bitter. You’ll get used to it, softie!” She tugged at his ear, aurhe favor. The two stopped fighting, grabbing the dangerously shaking pizzas before they could fly down. “You’ve grown. A little. How was it?” Cordelia’s crimson eyes fshed. “Taking a life? Was it scary?”

  “Not sure.” Marco scratched furiously at his temple, trying to find words. “It should be scary. I was scared when I saw those bugs. I fot half of everything I was taught about bat or what I learned from our spars, but then… It clicked. All I thought about was not my safety, not my fear, but for people who couldn’t protect themselves.” He looked down at his paws, moving his fingers, and wondered where the knowledge of how to strike had e from. “It was as if I had bee a mae, going through the motions.”

  “Experience! Sometimes I block a blow from an ining flurry of blows before I eve. I just somehow know it’s ing.” Cordelia snapped her fingers. “Thank the P you’re safe.”

  “ I tell you something super weird?” Marco asked, and Cordelia nodded. “Promise not to ugh!” The girl moved an imaginary key to her lips, locked the invisible lock, and tossed it away. “I did good tonight. I know it, and Ignad Yenny firmed it. But I still think Mom thinks I should go into exile.”

  Cordelia’s fingers formed a question mark, and Marodded, firming that she could speak. The girl made a show her jaws free from the invisible s, drawing a chuckle from Marco. They bumped into each other by ce, and their friendship grew out of a heated argument about who should apologize to whom. Cordi was from the Sunbde family, the most iial household in the Order, and she was a direct desdant of First’s grandchildren. However, Cordi’s sclera cked palest gold, and she expihat her mother had mixed her Wintersoage into the Sunbde line, resulting in a less pure bloodlihan other ss. She was the one who pulled him by the ear to introduce him to the initiates, after learning that he had no friends his age. When they sparred, she ate his punches with a fortitude worthy of a Wolfkin, not a dy.

  “You totally should get exiled,” Cordelia said, tossing aside the imaginary restraints. “I ask Grandmaster First. I’m sure he’d wele you.”

  “Will your household really accept a Wolfkin?” Marco asked.

  “Sure!” Cordelia rolled her eyes at the doubt in his eyes, jumped to her feet, and walked around the edge. Suddenly, her legs iwined, and the girl stumbled.

  Marcot about the pain in his knees or the tasty pizza in his paw. He leapt to his feet faster than ever, grabbed the girl’s wrist and arrested her fall before she could tumble down. A slice of pizza fell, spshing first against a lower deck, and then the wind and rai it onto the tread, turning the food to mush.

  “Aren’t you afraid of falling to your death?” Marapped into the calm and mischievous crimson eyes.

  “Why should I be afraid when my distant 'cousin' is ready to catch me?” A cheeky grin appeared on Cordi’s snout; her hair blowing in the wind, and then he saw she was holding on to the edge of the ptform with her toes. Cordi accepted Marco’s help to get ba the ded took him by the paw, raising it above her head: “See? Reliable! Of noble birth. Knows how to fight. A gentleman. What more could the grandmaster want?” She gracefully spun around, as if she and he were dancers at a ball, and the two sat down again. Cordelia began curling her fingers. “We have video games, soft beds, beauty parlors, TVs, smart teachers, treats, parties, fortable clothes, and cool swords!” The girl elbowed him. “Join the det side, Marco; izzas and equality.”

  “Equality? Is that why you have to dress as a maid and serve refreshments to the sword saint?” Marco asked ily.

  “That’s to show resped learn the manners of a high society! To be able to and, you must first know how to obey! You never know when you’ll he knowledge of how to dishes, dis a high-quality wine from a cheap beverage, or how to keep your mouth shut duriiations…”

  “Excuses,” Marco stretched the word and dodged a smack.

  “Marco, I swear, if you make fun of my attire, I’ll bite you!” Cordelia pouted.

  “You look adorable and pretty in a long skirt. Dark and white suits you.” Marco blushed from embarrassment the moment the words left his mouth. In truth, he was jealous. A little. Cordi somehow mao be splendid no matter the outfit, and he felt dirty and clumsy in his tattered jackets and patched pants. “I am not lying!” he added hastily. “You are cute even in that funny dress of yours!”

  “It’s called a gown, silly.” Cordelia slipped a paw underh his arm. “Oh, Marco. You have seen nothing truly glorious yet! But we’ll fix that! As soon as Warlord Janine gives her permission, I will take you on a tour of Houstad! Ice cream, parks, game clubs, fast food, fishing, feng, boxing, ic shops… Swimming! You know how to swim, right? No? Don’t worry, you’ll learn right away!”

  “Cordi, please no, I’ll drown!” Marco begged desperately.

  “Silly, we, and the instructors, will be nearby. Nobody sends unprepared kids into danger alone.” Her crimson eyes briefly sparked, unnaturally bright, and then regaiheir usual color. “I’m going to introduce you and the initiates to all my friends! We’ll have so much fun!”

  “Sure, but…” he shrugged, looking down at the caterpilr track. Cordi kept her questioning gaze locked on him, and the boy admitted it in a hushed voice. “I don’t have any toke. I gave my st oo pay for my share of pizzas tonight. Had to move crates to earn them, and there’s no more work to be doo earn more.”

  “Don’t you get pocket tokens from your mother?”

  “We really don’t get anything like that. Sure, my family gives me treats, but the tribe expects the cubs to earn their own tokens to spend oertai.”

  “Then why did you insist on splitting the pizza fee?”

  “It wouldn’t be fair if you had to pay for them alone!”

  Cordelia froze; her eyes widened and her pupils dited. Then she narrowed her left eye, and a tick appeared in the er. Maragined her brain as a cogwheel and saw it grinding to a halt, jerking, twitg, uo turn. It frightened him and he was about to call someone when she sighed and said: “Braindead mule… Eh, it’s my fault; I should’ve thought of it when I heard your shamans were refusing payment. Still stupid, Cordi, still too stupid… Rex, will you?” She spped him on the back. “I’ll ask Mother and Miss Camelia for a credit card. What’s the point of being noble if you don’t unwind occasionally?”

  “I ’t let you or my mom be i …”

  “Not listening! We are going to buy you clothes, a game sole…”

  “I have a beret!”

  “And it is a very nice beret, Marco,” she agreed in a honeyed voice. “But a proper cap will let your lovely ears stand straight. Then a braerminal, boxing gloves, no offense, but yht hook hurts, and I prefer something softer to ect with my poor cheeks…”

  “Cordi, I am serious; I’ll never be able to repay…”

  “La--, I’m spoiling Marco, and that’s final!” Cordelia ughed and poio the horizon. “Look! The town’s outskirts!”

  Marco followed her finger and gasped. Ahead, on the slope of several hills, light sho came from buildings, cars oreets, mpposts, and w stores. Multicolored lights, yellow, red, and green, blended into a faint halo that formed a rainbow over a town, banishing the dark despite a te hour. He could see figures walking unafraid, dressed in casual clothes, untroubled by the threat of the sun.

  “It’s…” Uo find the words, he rose to his toes and pressed his fio his chest, feeling so small, so insignifit, a so happy. This was the Dynast’s will, the reason why the Wolf Tribe fought, and the ao every life lost. The restlory of the Old World, a shadow of the dawn of the united world, where no family would ever go hungry again. “… so amazing,” he finished his thought, uanding that he couldn’t do justice to the se. “Is Houstad the same?”

  “The same?” Cordelia stood beside him, pg a paw on his shoulder. “Houstad is a metropolis, Marco. If this boondock is what ts as amazing to you, then prepare to be awestruck, my friend.”