The dawn over Ironpeak was a jagged and uncomfortable thing. It did not bring warmth it only illuminated the scorched mess Koa had left behind in her wake. The ridge smelled of ozone and burnt pine, a bitter reminder of their sister's lack of restraint.
Lokee was on her knees in the blackened dirt, her hands glowing with a soft and pulsing blue light as she worked over a mountain fox. The creature's fur was singed and its breathing was ragged, but beneath Lokee's palms, the ice water Yan forced the searing heat out of its lungs. Nearby, Hykee was doing the heavy lifting. He moved like a bandaged golem, his earth reinforced boots coming down with the weight of a falling mountain as he stomped out the stubborn embers Koa had left in the underbrush. Every thud of his feet sent a vibration through the ridge, a rhythmic and violent reminder of the force he carried.
"Hurry it up," Kaola called out from above. She was hovering just past the treeline, her wind Yan keeping her steady in the biting air. "The trail is getting louder. I hit a small settlement at the base of the ridge. Locals are already talking about a kid with black and white hair they are calling him the Bastard of Kalamity and saying he killed his father and the rest of his family. He is barely masking his Yen the crops are wilting in his footprint and the livestock are dying. He is poisoning everything in the path he walks, and we are losing time."
Hykee let out a sharp and jagged laugh that sounded like grinding stones. He didn't look up as he slammed his foot down on a flare of fire, the impact reopening a stitch on his thigh. He did not flinch he just watched the fresh blood bloom through the white bandages with a grin of pure and reckless eagerness.
"The Bastard of Kalamity!" Hykee barked, laughing harder as he wiped soot from his bandaged chin. "It's a little funny that they say things like that not knowing the other bastards are alive as well" they actually think kota killed father i'm just glad i have something to kill. I cannot wait to see if the kid actually fights back this time. I need something that actually hits hard."
Lokee stood up as the fox scurried away into the brush. She looked at her brother's blood stained bandages, then up at Kaola, her voice quiet but carrying a weight that cut through the wind. "We are hunting our own blood, Kaola is this what Mother wanted for us? To spend our lives as clean up crews and executioners? If we corner him, are we saving the land, or just handing Koma the kill he wants to fix his mistakes?"
"What mistakes Lokee? the mistake of killing father?" as Kaola's eyes narrowed, her jaw tightening in visible annoyance. The noise of her siblings' morality was starting to grate on her nerves. As she looked at Lokee, a brief and cold flicker of a memory surfaced, a moment from her childhood when she was barely seven. She remembered standing in the training courtyard for what felt like half the day, her fingers bleeding from the bowstring, refusing to eat or rest until every single arrow hit the exact center of the bullseye. Her mother had tried to call her inside, but Kaola had not even blinked. To her, a single inch of deviation was not just a mistake it was an insult to her existence. She had built her entire persona on being the Perfect Person, the one who never faltered and never missed.
"either you heal the animals and the townspeople then follow us or don't Lokee. I really do not care," Kaola snapped, her voice cold and clinical, shaking off the memory. "The drawback of being perfect is that I do not have room for your hesitation. We were told to find Kota and bring him back. That is what we do. If your conscience is suddenly too heavy for the mission, you can follow Koa's trail and go home. I do not care. But as long as you are on this ridge, you move. Perfectly." and Hykee you will not be laying a hand on Kota that isn't your job
Hykee just laughed again, punching his open palm and feeling the bandages tighten against his bruised knuckles. To him, why they were hunting didn't matter. He just wanted the collision.
Lokee did not flinch, but the doubt in her eyes did not fade. She looked south, toward the purple haze of the Yen sickness beginning to choke the valley. She knew the mission, but for the first time, she was not sure if the mission was right.