Niro heard their soft voices speak to one another. They joked and laughed together, making sure nobody was being left out.
All their glee warmed Niro's heart, she wanted to protect these Variants at all costs. While she cut the apples and oranges, her mind tried plotting ways to peacefully counter Infinus.
Each designed crafted turned out to be a strong 'maybe.' Such as the one about inviting some of the Infinus elites over and sharing a couple of days with them.
Slowly introducing some of Volatile's elites to Infinus. With the end goal of making friendships that would deter one another from fighting.
Deep down, she wanted this to work. Niro knew Valiant's top warriors were charming to newcomers, especially some of the Ferals.
But once again, Niro understood this was a risky plan. So she kept thinking about it, while she put all the fruits on a tin plate.
She walked a few short steps to the icebox, where she pulled out a piece of meat. It was a fine cut, half of the left ribs. Four were still encased in the meat.
Her hand reached for another, larger tin plate. Then she placed it beside the sink. Niro opened the tap and squeezed the handle, which would start a small flame to warm up the glacial water.
"Ms. Niro," the icicle walked up to her. "Is it true? Do Thawed really have the ability to summon an infinite supply of water?"
Niro unfroze the ribs, turning it all over so the warm water touched everything. "Some Oracles claim this water came from another reality. Yes, it's weird to think about it. An existence full of just water."
"Anyway, bring the fruits to the group. I'll bring the ribs," Niro requested.
So the icicle did. Together, they brought the snacks over to the patient kids. Niro handed the cub his snack, then she sat down beside them.
"Ms. Niro," the baby looked up at her. "Can you tell us how did you turn out to be peaceful?"
That question, Niro heard it several times. Each answer was the same, it was all because she lost a relative and learned peace from peace talkers. But that wasn't truly the case.
"Well," Niro relaxed her shoulders. She took a deep breath in and leaned her back against the wall. When she did, she realized Arexx was in the other room, listening. "I think I owe it to everyone inside. The truth of why I am like this."
-A hundred years ago-
Niro walked down a worn out path along the edge of Olavin-Faa. She carried a heavy wooden crate full of Glyker meat, it was a fresh kill by a friend of hers.
While she walked through the overgrown grass, she noticed there were distant cries and bellows. As if somebody was trying to muffle out a struggle.
Out of curiosity, Niro followed the sounds. She wanted to know what exactly was struggling away from sight.
After walking through chest high, brown grass, Niro discovered the source. It was a Yonie weeping and panicking, trying to push a Feral off his Yomie.
The Feral wrapped her jaws around the Yomie's mouth to suffocate her. Niro's eyes widened, she looked at how frightened the Yonie was. Tears flowed down his cheeks like raindrops.
During the struggle, Niro watched in terror as the Yomie slowly lost the fight against death. Her arms fell flat on the leveled grass, and her eyes turned into a hazy grey.
When she was showing no more resistance, the Feral growled as she turned her attention to the Yonie. Niro saw the terror bleeding out the Yonie's face, she wanted to protect him.
So she did. Niro ran out of the grass, ready to risk herself in order for the Yonie to at least return home. She prayed to the Nine beneath her breath to give this Yonie said idea.
The Feral yelped as Niro's shoulder clashed against her back, sending her into the green barrier. Adrenaline set in, Niro was too deep in her own instincts to control her body.
Upon seeing the predator in a weak position, Niro collapsed on her. Pinning the Feral down as she sat right on her chest, then screamed utter fury as she brought down the wooden crate repeatedly on the Feral's face.
For several minutes, she continued. Tears of her own flowed out, matching the Yonie's cries. Niro brought it down one last time, then she stopped.
She gasped, trying to get a grip on what she just did. Niro heard the Yonie crying profusely over his Yomie.
That's when chirps caught their attention. Niro looked back the way she came from, that's where a small Feral cub chirped in order to wake up his mom. But she wouldn't wake up.
Niro's face turned to horror, she didn't know what to think of it. Was she in the wrong for protecting the Yonie? Or was the Feral in the wrong for attacking the Yomie? But was she really wrong if she wanted to feed her cub?
Questions clouded Niro's mind, she stumbled off the body. Eyes were widened and breathing was shaky. At the time, the best Niro could think of doing was giving up her dinner to the cub.
The Yonie buried himself in the dead grasp of his partner as Niro walked by. She watched the cub flinch away from her and the bloody crate.
But she did not want him to be afraid, so she kneeled before the cub. "I - I am so... sorry, li - little one..." Niro's voice was just as unsteady as her breathing. "P - please, take this. I - it's the least I can of - offer you."
Despite what Niro just done, the cub approached the crate, then looked inside. He frowned while picking up the meat.
He carried it in his arms, carefully making his way over to the corpse of his mother. Then he placed it by her side, hoping the smell of Glyker meat would bring her badly beaten body back to life.
Of course, it did not work.
-Back to present day-
"... Since then, I've thought about that Yonie and cub. I hope the Yonie rested peacefully by his partner's side, and the Feral found a place within his pack," Niro concluded.
Arexx, who was now in the same room as them, kept his eyes on Niro. "That was... traumatic. I can imagine you couldn't live with yourself after that, right?"
Niro looked out the window towards the setting sun. "Mostly, yeah. Until I came across the peace talkers in the Vusqur forge. They made me feel at ease once again."
While Niro looked up at the pink sky, so did a Variant back in Imbushko. Ether stared at the incoming Sky Beasts, each of which carried warriors who killed with no purpose.
Something he was not too proud of.