“So… how is this even possible?” Mntui asked halfheartedly still trying to gather her thoughts.

“What do you mean, sister?” Neeas asked focusing on Mntui with one of his eyes.

“How can someone become an ill-omen?” the mangy looking man narrowed his eyes.

“The way I heard it one has to curse on the spirits right in the moment when the clouds darken the full moon and…”

A spiteful chuckle interrupted the flow of their conversation coming from the other end of the room.

“You want to say something?” Neeas turned towards the owner of the sound gritting his teeth.

Ghashek’s unimpressed expression turned into a malicious grin. He looked straight at Mntui as if he was deliberately ignoring the one who spoke to him in the first place.

“You are the last one to arrive, little tiger. So let me give you an advice. Don’t believe everything that air headed buffoon tells you. He likes to gossip. But if he doesn’t know something he just makes up a lie without a second thought.”

“What? That’s not true!” Neeas objected in a high pitched voice.

“See? Always denying even the obvious…” with that said Ghashek turned away from them. With graceful moves he laid back down on his bunk. He closed his eyes as if he didn’t even bothered with the outside world anymore.

Truth be told, at this moment Mntui didn’t have enough information to decide which one of them was honest in what they were saying. Or if any of them were in the matter of fact. She just wanted to know more. Wanted to feel at least a bit more in control of what was happening with her. Alas, her thirst for knowledge was halted by an other kind. Her stance got bent for a moment and she covered her face with one hand in dizziness.

“Hey, are you alright?” Neeas jumped away in worry that somehow he was the cause of Mntui’s sudden disoriented state.

“It’s the hunger” the statement came in a calm voice from the direction of the rug. “Isn’t it?”

Mntui’s eyes met with an uneven pair of blue and brown and she nodded.

“We came… from a long way I think” she sad faintly.

“And what? You didn’t even stopped for a snack or something?” joked Neeas as if he could believe a situation like that to happen.

“No…” for a few moments Mntui got lost in her own thoughts. Trying to remember how she got here, it was all blurry yet the memories pulled her in like a hurricane sweeping everything in its path.

“Well, that sucks. Or not.” Neeas grinned on his own unintended pun like it was the best joke of the year.

“How bad is it?” Re’am asked. His voice was smooth as a mirror of a pond as always yet he showed genuine concern.

“The journey here… drained me. So much, I thought I’m going to die…” she tried to describe it as well as she could. This state of being was so strange, so alien to Mntui she was unsure of the words, of how she should describe it.

At the thought Neeas laughed. As far as he knew they were better, stronger and faster than any mortal even in their newborn state. Such thing as dying of hunger seemed ridiculous to him.

“The suffering of a fellow Shadow is entertaining to you?” Re’am looked at the hyena with sharp eyes in disbelief. An expression like this was not suiting his otherwise calm manner and kind features.

“No? Of course not! Yet it’s amusing that you think things like that still affects us. My sire told me what Shadows, what we are capable of. We are technically the will of the spirits born in a human shape!” Neeas objected enthusiastically.

“Well it seems our sires each told the story in a different perspective. In the way we needed to hear. But what were you thinking then? That crippling feeling, which is the thirst, is just there for what?”

“Our powers needs to be recharged somehow!”

“If we are so perfect, why is that?”

One of Neeas’ eyes opened wild. The unspoken question was written all over his face.

“Believe me the spirits has nothing to do with this. But I thought it was obvious for all of us” Mntui took the chance to speak before the loudest of them could come up with something again. Her eyes met Re’am’s for a moment. And it was clear he understood what was she talking about. Still Mntui couldn’t help but feel bittersweet. As at least their sire told them something about what is to come.

Neeas shrugged. While Mntui aimed to reach one of the still empty bunks before the mangy man could cling to her as before. And in that she was fortunate as the hyena took the opportunity to blabber on once more.

“Well, if you are lucky a rat or something wonders in to catch. But the little pests seems to know to avoid a cavern full of predators. Probably more so if those predators are us.”