Beyond Chaos

Tanika hugged her father, feeling those large arms around her, the man towering over her, covering her body in his shadow.

Had her father always been so large?

"I will return in a few decades, father!" Tanika declared once they were done with their greetings. "Even if the Shen, the Kings and Queens, even if the dragons gaze upon you, they will ask you for your blessings!"

"Return safely to me, you oxdaughter of mine!" Charek exclaimed, reaching up to his forehead, half covering his eyes so she could not see them glistening, while she had turned and made her way towards the carriage, the shield gleaming under the noonval sun.

'I was a little cringe yesterday, but this time…' Adam eyed up the sand giant. 'She hasn't seen me be that cringe, and I can't let her join Bael in bullying me for being so cringe all the time.'

Adam turned, catching Charek's eyes, the fathers nodding to one another, before the half elf returned to his carriage, only to realise…

"Oh," the half elf said. "There's no way we can carry you in one of our carriages…"

"A carriage?" Tanika replied, bemused. "I am a sand giant! I would not be caught dead within a carriage, not in Aswadasad!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"They don't want the Aswadians to see them taking the easy path," Dunes whispered.

"Yeah?"

"While the Shens have gathered them as allies, if the various tribes within Aswadasad become too weak to resist the royal family…"

"They think the Aswadians will invade?"

"Yes."

"Well, as long as they don't find oil under their sand," the half elf joked.

"…"

"That may have been the greatest joke I have ever made," Adam admitted, smiling to himself, slowly nodding his head with pride. "Killer joke, man, I swear."

"Why is it so funny?"

"The historical context behind the issue, what certain values are attributed to a particular region, then how they seemingly act in contradiction to it, then the international bodies, in which four of five nations are of a particular religious persuasion, and the last is a much different one, and how much almost all of them seem to be meddling in a particular region, and yet somehow that particular religion has meddled less often in their regional affairs-," Adam stopped, shaking his head, a sad smile upon his lips. "It's a looong story."

Dunes understood little of Adam's words, but slowly bowed his head, eyes narrowing.

"Okay, so, say, you know how Life's Rose, actually, I don't want to use them as an example," Adam began, rubbing his chin. "I'm always talking about how we should protect children and so on, and I talk about how Aldland is so terrible, and how they killed my kids, and so on, right?"

"Yes."

"Imagine that, but it turns out that I have killed way more children, I have caused greater destruction to Aldland than it has caused to me, and not only that, I was the one who had great influence in the region and put into effect all kinds of-," the half elf stopped, his cheeks turning red from embarrassment, and from riling himself up.

"Okay?" Dunes asked.

"You know, what? It doesn't even matter. It's, literally, lifetimes ago, and it's got nothing to do with me any more. I already criticize my country enough, but it's still probably one of the best places to live, and as much as it was a force for great evil, it has been a force for great good. I just, I think that I drank the… you won't get that reference either, but… I felt betrayed, you know? I heard about all this good. I heard about how amazing it was, and then I started studying a little bit about it, and how almost everything I learnt, wasn't so much a lie, but there was so much more evil that was hidden from me. It's like, I don't know, if the Gak family told me about how all these Aldishmen keep keeping them down, how the Aswadians forced my grandmother away, but then I find out actually, the Gak family have been committing acts of terror like nobodies business, and I had all this sympathy for them, I am trying to help them as they've helped me, and now it all feels like a lie."

Stolen story; please report.

"What would you do if you found out it was that way with the Gak?"

"I'd probably still help them, because at the end of the day, that's how it is. The Gak are my family, they've accepted me, and I'm loyal to them. If they're doing some extreme stuff, yeah, I might argue against them, I might even stop them from doing it, while trying to find alternative ways, but I know I have the same capacity as evil as anyone else."

"We have this conversation often, don't we?" Dunes joked, smiling.

"We have to, or we'll end up becoming evil, and hypocrites, which, in my opinion, is much worse."

Dunes held out a hand, shaking the half elf's forearm. "I will make sure you are unable to adopt such evil into your heart."

Adam smiled. "Thanks, Mo."

The others had readied themselves to leave while Adam ranted to Dunes in his whisperings, revealing so much about himself, but thankfully no one understood anything at all. Dunes gathered the half elf needed to get it all out of him before they continued their journey, since he had already thought to continue adventuring and killing the part of himself that had caused so much trouble, but had also stopped others from fearing his great might.

That much was obvious enough to Dunes, and to Jurot, who began to speak of his families tales to Amal, causing Adam and Dunes to glance towards him.

"Sayrot, he was known as the loudest of all Iyrmen, he took to his name eagerly," Jurot joked, his tone low and neutral as it always was, staring down at the girl who stared up at him, unable to draw her eyes away. "He slew one dragon, and wrestled another, and brought back much favour for the Iyr. He would be considered among the greatest of the Rot, alongside the Jarot of old, my grandfather, and many other of the Rot family. I, too, will be named among the greatest, my sister, Lanarot, she will too, and so will all the children. Murot is growing well, he is like you, but you are bigger, though you are younger."

Adam had finally understood what the others felt, for the others, it was scary to see Adam when he was not a cringe fool, and it was equally as scary to see the Iyrman speaking so openly with a child. However, he couldn't help but think his brother was so cute in trying to speak with the child, even though he was so terrible at it.

"Jurot, you need to speak softly with your tone to the child, and playfully now and again, you can't just speak to her like that," the half elf said, chuckling lightly as he pat his brother's arm gently.

"Amal," the Iyrman called, reaching out his arms. The girl hid within Anka's bosom, squirming, and as Jurot plucked her from the woman's arms, she made to cry, only to instantly fall asleep against Jurot's chest.

The half elf stared at his brother in shock. "Y-you! You can't do that! That's cheating!"

Meanwhile Kizwolima pulled away, her eyes glued to the Iyrman in shock, her mouth forming a tiny circle, her eyes full of fear from the Iyrman instantly silencing the child.

The group stopped at the first village, Tanika narrowing her eyes towards the group as they began to pass their scarf and spear to the Rais, the group being welcomed into the hilly village.

"Why are we stopping here?" the sand giant asked.

"We're heading from village to village, but we're taking it easy before we get to the Order," the half elf admitted, his tone low and grumbling.

'What is wrong with him?'

It had taken a short moment for Dunes to realise why the half elf was so sour that afternoon, almost smiling to himself at the thought. The group stayed the day and evening within the village, heading off the next morning to the next village, continuing along for days.

'Man, they weren't kidding about the sand giant meat,' the half elf thought, cutting the meat into thin slices, allowing it to melt on his tongue as they made their way from village to village, finding another joy in his life outside of bathing.

With each passing village, Adam noted how Dunes and Anka were being treated, welcomed so eagerly, with various villagers coming to visit them, from the elderly to the youth, each excited to meet those adorned in such fine vestments. Adam noted many carried blades at their side, while many from the other villages he had passed by wielded blades at their side.'

One evening, Dunes went for a walk, returning a Third Gate spell lighter. The next morning, with the mountain looming so close by, the Priest warned the others.

"The road ahead may be treacherous," Dunes said.

"Good," Bael replied, stretching his neck from side to side, only to notice Adam's glare.

"Come on, man."