Allologue 10.1

*Fourth Wheel of MeYuzan, After Calamity 916*

“You have done well training him, Tsanii.” Kitano could hear Enooto say to his master. “A bit too well, don’t you think?”

He heard his master reply, “Keeper, I do not think he can be *too* prepared to-”

“Do *not* play dumb with *me*, Tsanii,” Enooto cut her off. Kitano winced at the harsh tone, a conditioned response to having it directed at him so many times. “You have been teaching him things in opposition to our doctrine, denying the reason for our existence, and defying the very *will* of the Devoured. I demand to know *why*.”

Kitano’s ears strained against the silence that followed. It was unlikely he would be discovered in this hiding space, though he was growing too large to fit inside the space between the rafters where they overhung the wall, soon he would be unable to practically spy on the Keeper’s business.

“…If the world is deserving of destruction, then it will teach him that lesson itself.” His master said carefully, measuredly. “That *is* doctrine, is it not? I see no reason to compound his burdens with needless grief.”

“You forget your place,” Enooto said. “It is by the Devoured’s grace that we experience hardship, that we are able to understand the world without being forced to *experience* it. To be forced to mingle with the tainted masses. To remain pure. We could decide this village is a utopia, take care of our own and make sure everyone was merely *happy*,” The keeper spat this word as if it were distasteful on her tongue. “But to do so would be devoid of meaning, and no doubt we would fall into the helpless squalor of the outside world. We must fulfill our purpose, and to know our purpose is to know suffering.”

“As you say, Keeper.” His master’s voice was quavering, with fear or rage, Kitano did not know. With him, his master had always maintained an even temper, and even her scolding was calm and measured. Somehow, the bite of her words tempered with disappointment were worse than Enooto’s tempered with fury. He shuddered.

“You seek to undermine me.”

“No, Keeper, I-”

“*Silence*,” Enooto snapped, “I’ve heard enough. You do this not out of malice but out of misguided *hope*. You are too kind.” Enooto’s words confused Kitano, but he listened nonetheless. The Keeper was their leader, but his master was his master. “I will not slay you. You will go and know the suffering of the world yourself. You are *banished.*”

“No!” His master shouted, “I cannot leave-“

“*You have no choice*,” Enooto hissed. “If you wish to return, you may do so on your knees, after your mind is broken and despair has taken you. You will go tonight.”

“Yes, Keeper,” his master said. Her tone defeated. “If you will excuse me, I have to prepare for my journey.” Kitano heard the sound of footsteps on the Keeper’s wooden floor as his master fled, but Enooto’s voice arrested her departure.

“Tsanii. Goodbye.”

“…Goodbye, Enooto.”

Kitano dropped down from behind the rafters into the snow behind Enooto’s home, and dashed off as quickly as he could manage while still keeping his footsteps light. It was little use, however, as he rounded the corner, he slammed full force into his master’s chest, sending him sprawling back into the snow.

“Enooto will flay you alive if she catches you snooping, Kitano,” She said while standing over him. She had crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow in disapproval, but he could see the smile that pulled at the corner of her lips.

“You are the only one who can catch *me*,” Kitano said.

“Would it be that it was so,” She replied. She let the smile win over her features and bent down to offer him a hand. “I take it you heard all of that?”

He hesitated, thought about lying, but almost immediately discarded the thought. “Yes, Master.” He accepted the hand and she pulled him effortlessly to his feet. He brushed the dirt and snow from his tunic. “I’m sorry.”

“Do not mourn me, you have to focus on Kiono, now,” She said, clasping his shoulders with both hands. “You must keep her safe, from everyone.” ­*From Enooto*, the words unspoken he heard clearly in his mind.

“I… don’t know if I can,” He said. “She says things. They seem to make sense, but. I keep hurting her, Master.”

His master frowned, studying his face. “You’re confused, and I’ve made things more confusing for you. I should have tried harder, been less… subtle.” She released him and looked out over the forest below the precipice upon which Enooto’s dwelling stood. “I may have failed you before we ever started. You and the Chosen.”

It was difficult to get his master to say exactly what she meant, but he understood well enough. She was leaving, and she felt that she would be unable to keep them safe from Enooto. But Enooto was the clan Keeper. She knew the lore. She knew the rituals. She knew what the Devoured expected from them. It was her role to keep the clan safe and to guide them. Protection from Enooto seemed at once an absurd and practical desire.

She taught that the world was a harsh and hateful place, that people naturally wished to subjugate one another and inflict harm on each other for the slightest personal gain- or even simply for pleasure. His master had said the opposite- people simply struggled, and that true evil was rare- rare but insidious when it took root. His master had taught him how to fight, as she was supposed to, but she also taught him mercy and compassion- as best she could, in as small a lesson as she dared, but had managed to foster those flickering flames within him against the oppressive cold of Enooto’s instruction.

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, burying his face into her shoulder. She had frozen at the sudden embrace- Kitano had never done anything like it before, and he was not entirely certain why he did now. “I don’t know what I can do,” He said quietly. “I need your help.”

She relaxed and returned the embrace. When had she become so small? Her arms only just reached around his torso. She had always seemed to loom over him, though now he stood half a head taller than her. “I will not leave you, Kitano, not truly,” She said, “Not if you remember all that I have taught you, do you understand.”

He nodded in affirmation, but he wasn’t sure. He felt like he should cry, but could not find the tears within him. He felt like he should feel grief, but it merely felt empty. He let her go. She looked at him for a moment, a sad expression on her face, before turning and leaving. He watched as she disappeared inside her hut, presumably to comply with her banishment, leaving him and Kiono behind.

Kiono. She bore the brunt of Enooto’s instruction. Her cruelty, Tsanii had called it. Her eyes were growing colder with each passing day, he could see it. He had also participated in her instruction, though part of him protested. Part of him wanted to scream that it was wrong. She was just a *child.* That part had grown smaller over the years, and would have died long ago but for Tsanii. He thought with her departure, it would be silenced for good.

Kiono had Concludion, anyways.

When Kitano fell in behind his master as she departed the village under the cover of darkness, past the first watch when only the sliver of Meyrin looked down upon them, she stopped only briefly and stared hard at him for a moment before nodding and continuing down the path so rarely walked by those from the village, and only once by those from without.