[Engghaen] By The Dead We Met

[Ruby Majalenka]

Ruby sat on the cold stone floor right outside Li Mauta, trying to gather what semblance of calm and solitude she could piece together. Her stay in Syliras had been a life-changing experience for one that had breathed proper air since birth. While Syliras was notoriously known for being not exactly sanitary, still Ruby was surprised how she preferred the smell of burning bodies rather than the refuses of what was the Syliras population.

"Humans playing gods." she mumbled in undertone as she vented out the bad temper caused by the overcrowding. "That's what Syliras are. The Council of Nine. And yet people flock here for hopes of good life ? What do I care if they hear this and threw me out ? I'd be more than glad to comply. This is the pisshole of the hoperidden, literally and metaphorically !"

She looked south at the grim warehouses lining the route to the docks and wondered if she'd be thrown into the water instead of over the walls.

'But then again...' she thought.

"They have every right to do so. This was their land, and my stay here could be taken as grace. Was it even right for one to claim ownership over land by the way ? It was supposed to belong to the gods who created the world, but they're nowhere to be seen." A reference to the fact that no gods or goddesses openly wandered in Syliras.

"To hold on to what little they own of the world, while all is granted to whoever forsakes the comfort of civilization. Weren't human bodies created to run 40 miles a day and still have energy to kill preys afterwards ?" Her last statement, which was more of a belittlement, was double-edged : Order was never natural, at least outside the long-term self-balancing mechanism of nature, and enforcing one was worthy of merit, not to be compared to wilderness survival in terms of degree of difficulty in initiating and maintaining respective lifestyles. Put simple, it was a matter of individual taste and preference. A field to which Ruby dared not intrude in her thoughts out of her respect for tolerance.

Then again the Knights were racist, and worst, they held authority over her. There truly was one thing worse than having a racist company. It was having them watch over you. She truly hoped she'd not meet one today, especially in this foul mood.