A pulse ran through the assembled mob of mindless clamoring jaws, as they witnessed the first of their number fall to the ground, between them. Their attitude notwithstanding, every individual continued their assault; and every hop was met with a decisive thrust of the pitchfork downward through the eye socket, jugular, or chest.

Within seconds, their numbers had been reduced to singular digits; and a pool of foul-smelling red fluids were intermingling with the pungent hemolymph of their supposed feast.

It didn't take long for the nippers to realize that they were going to be next on the executioner's pike. They stopped jumping, and paced around, instead; looking for any undiscovered angle that might bring their target down.

Finding none, a member decided he'd had enough of establishing his authority, and had gotten nothing from the effort but a series of shallow cuts from his own brethren—as well as a path to certain death—so, he sauntered off, to lick his wounds somewhere out of sight. A couple others flattened their ears dejectedly, and followed close behind.

Soon, even the most stubborn individuals had stopped yipping at the strange ape in the sky, and scattered off into the underbrush to be with the rest of their group.

Rilah swung the fork widely, and the blood splattering its length sloughed off, onto the moist forest floor. "...And don't come back!" she hollered after them.

I stepped out from the shadows, once everything was clear; stricken speechless by the violence she had just displayed, followed by Janny, and Fimbs, in close company.

Rilah broke the silence, yet again; huffing, and sweating from atop her slender perch. "Well? What do you think? Did that satisfy your stupid curiosity?! Guess no more, Zoel! You were never going to match my skill! Ever! If you're going to hate me, do it!"

I winced my face up, and choked out the words of my reply. "I would never—"

"Never what?!" She belted, leaping out of the air, and landing before me without so much as a tremble of the earth. "You'll never give me sideways glances, or mutter under your breath, or train extra hard so that you can put me in my place? I'm young, Zoel; I'm not blind. You treat me like I'm some floating fortress you need to conquer, and you forget-"

She choked on her words, as they were coming out, with the edge of a sob creeping in from the pit of her stomach. "You forget that I'm a girl. Who wants to be seen! And nobody else's eyes matter but yours, and when I see them, all the time, so full up with hatred, it just breaks me apart!"

"But I don't even hate you!" I said, not entirely sure that it was true. "I mean, we bicker here and there, sure, but you're so important to me... I don't even know what to do with myself!"

"Well, if you can't bring yourself to hate me—the one who caused all these feelings of shame and doubt in the first place!—then you're definitely not allowed to hate yourself."

"What do you—" I started, but held my tongue, as her words truly sunk in. The loathing, and grumbling, and scowling at the blue; wishing I was this, or that, or anything else but myself—better, of course, because who would think it strange for a boy to want to be better than he is?—except continually dissatisfied with the person I am.

Rilah pressed on, looking me square in the eyes, and telling me exactly what I didn't want to hear. "You're always hurting yourself to prove something that nobody else even doubts. We love you, all of us! Isn't that right?" Janny and Fimbs nodded their heads, as she gestured her open palms to them in turn. "See?! And you didn't have to do a single thing to make them believe that. You're good enough, as you are. Even if there's already someone better!"

I shook my head, and backed away. "No. No, you're all just coddling me. I need to push myself to improve! I can be great. I have to be!"

"Why? Why is it so important to you, that I'm your equal?"

"No, it's just—" A long pause followed.

"Just what?" she snapped, after I had trailed off. "We all want to know what your problem is, Zoel. We're waiting to go home after a very long day, and you're putting that on hold for this!"

Janius put his hand on my shoulder, in a show of support. He muttered, "You can tell us, man. Let it all out."

I threw up a hand, in an expression of surrender. "Fine. You want to know my shameful thought? I'll tell you."

Rilah nodded, and kneeled down, respectfully; to prove how seriously she was taking this coming admission. "I want to feel respected. I want people to look up to me, and see how capable I am. I want you—" I looked Rilah in the eyes, and I almost felt sick to my stomach for admitting this out loud. "I! Want you to celebrate me. It's not virtuous, it's not valiant, and there's no secret spin that makes me a better person for wanting it. I can't stand being looked down on, by anyone. Especially those I care about."

She gestured to the same slaughterhouse that I had walked them into. "Who in their right mind is looking down on you?! Look around, Zoel! Look at what you did, and see it for yourself! I didn't cut down a spider seven times my size! I've never done that! You're so blinded by self-loathing, that you can't even see that nobody would ever look down on you, but yourself! It's all made up!"

A warmth built slowly in the depths of my stomach, that chased away that cold, dark dread I eagerly refined. I started smiling, a little bit, trying to scowl and regain my previous anger, but I found it wasn't there. The smile kept returning to my face, unbidden, no matter what I tried.

I chuckled, against my own selfish inclinations. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Zoel! You don't know what you're talking about!" She smiled back, knowing that she had one. "Look at yourself! Aren't you happy to believe that I believe in you?! Isn't this easier?"

I continued chuckling and giggling, as the warm glow radiated from the center to all of my limbs; filling my cheeks and ears to the point that I felt like an acid spitting viper had drenched my features, unawares. I laughed, "Hahahahaha, sorry. It's just— Hard to believe that it would really be so simple! I thought that I would have to go to the ends of the earth to have someone see me, for me."

"That's okay," Janny said, and Rilah confirmed, "That's fine," before I continued.

"Is it though? Can I really accept all this, so easily? I feel like I haven't earned anything at all, yet!"

Rilah climbed to her feet, and dusted herself off. "Zoel, you have nothing to prove to me. I've always thought you were great." She turned back to the large shell, and pointed at its gaping wounds. "This, it just confirmed what we already assumed. You have great talent. Maybe I could do the same thing, maybe not, but you actually did it. I can claim a hundred crazy things in my life, but you can claim this one."

She clapped a hand on my other shoulder, and I noticed with lucid clarity that the pain was almost entirely gone. "My greatness doesn't diminish yours. We can both do great, together." She said, then she wrapped me in a firm embrace that sent the furnace in my stomach into overdrive; setting my whole body aflame, in a way that was completely overwhelming. The flames of the bonfire that she lit was so intense, that I had never experienced such heat, and passion, in all of my young life.

I hugged her back, and made her whoop as I swept her up, off her feet. Giggling, and kicking her legs, her warm voice burned any doubts in my mind away, about my direction moving forward.

Janny couldn't contain himself, so it was inevitable when he joined our small moment with arms outstretched; wrapping us up in a stronger grasp.

Fimbs, startled to be suddenly excluded from this communal endeavor, quickly scrambled over, and put her arms around our waists as well.

The bonfire exploded into an inferno, as tears of bright joy ran, unbidden, from my face. Rilah said something muffled, so I let her down, just a sec to hear her better. "Whuh? What was that?" I asked.

"I said, I can't diving breathe, you crybaby."

The three of us laughed, releasing her onto her delicate haunches. The noises spiraled on for long enough that she started to snicker at her own joke, herself.

I sighed. "Well! Anyone ready for a harvest?"

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