The fire had mostly burnt itself out while she was still hacking away at the cocoon with her useless, damaged fingers, sooty tears streaking down her face.

Noonin, staring wide-eyed at the charred wreck, was hugging Fia closely as they made their way over. It wasn't too large a bunker, really. Just a big metal box with a small kitchen, a few simple sleeping bunks, some storage lockers, and a basic bathroom that sometimes had clean water. 

Now it was all warped metal and ash, with a foul biological smell hovering over it like the angry ghost of a garbage pit.

Noonin dusted off a metal crate as best he could. "Sit here and don't move, okay?"

Fia nodded, perching herself and looking around quietly, her small face quite pale, and her wings drawn up around her like a blanket.

Noonin made his way through the rubble to Dasha. He gently took the shard of glass out of her hand, setting it aside, and lightly holding her. She'd gotten a decent portion of the cocoon cut off. Cleared away Krell's head and torso, even as the webbing clung tightly to the rest of him.

At least they would have a body for the funeral. 

"It's not fair." Dasha sobbed. She couldn't take much more of this. No- 

She couldn't take any more of this.

"He shouldn't have- It shouldn't have gotten in here at all! Sorrows curse them and their corner cutting, budget skimping, miserable- Sorrows, Krell-"

She was too choked to say any more. Noonin held her and they cried together. 

At the end of it all, there was nothing else to do but that. Then, life would move on, and they would have to run to catch up with it, like it or not.

The next few hours were a blur. With evening fast approaching, they needed to secure themselves somehow, even when their only shelter was rendered more useless than flowers during a snowstorm. 

"Anything salvageable?" Dasha asked, as they picked through the ashes.

Noonin shook his head, as he tipped over yet another locker, only to find the door welded shut by the immense heat of the fire. Frustrated, he let the metal box hit the floor with a clang. 

Fia jumped up, startled, before scrambling backwards into a hollow formed by the collapsed rubble. 

"Sorry, sassana." Noonin apologized. It was an archaic Mora term of endearment.

Dasha pulled herself away from even more ashes (this pile had either been something edible or someone's clothes, she wasn't sure yet) to coax the girl out of hiding. 

"Fia, you can't hide in there. It's not safe, this place is falling apart."

Fia hugged her knees and shook her head. Dasha couldn't blame her. 

"Come on sweetling." She murmured, as she gently reached her arms inside. Fia let Dasha slide her out and pick her up again, burying her face in the older Avar's shoulder. 

Dasha glanced over at Noonin, who was staring at a locker that he'd finally managed to pry open. He shook his head. There was nothing left. The bunker was unstable. The supplies were dust. The tools were totalled. Their few personal belongings- Gone.

Their friend-

His arm-

Her wings-

That stupid red shirt with the fancy frills that she had spent so long saving up for because she had wanted to have something new to wear at Noonin's wedding.

Yeah. She could focus on the shirt. Get reasonably angry about the shirt. Not break down again over a shirt. After all, it was only just a shirt.

It had been a nice shirt. She'd miss it.

"Let's go home." Dasha said, dazed haziness thick in her dulled tone.

Noonin opened his mouth to protest. He closed it again. They had as good a chance going as staying. The past few days alone had seen a massive increase in monster sightings.

"Let's." He quietly nodded. 

Slowly, they made their way back up. It was evening now, the green sky stained like glass and blood, vibrant rosy hues trickling through it, as bright pinpricks of starlight pierced through the fabric of the heavens. The new moon hung like a sickle about to fall, reaping the pieces of the broken old moon as it swept across the sky. 

"Wait a while." Dasha whispered, dark eyes gazing up to the heavens.

Noonin shook his head. "You still believing in omens?' 

Dasha shrugged, adjusting Fia in her arms. "Nah, but after the day we've had? Couldn't hurt any, right?"

"Well, what do the old signs say about the sky tonight then?"

"Mmm..." Dasha traced out patterns with her eyes. It was a combination of how the old moon's shards were arranged, and where the new moon's crescent was pointed. This pattern was called 'the garment', if she remembered Auntie Jorae correctly, and it only meant good things, unless it was torn, which only meant bad things.

Frankly, Dasha had no idea how to tell the difference when staring at crumbled space rocks that were moving at a distance of two hundred and fifty thousand miles away.

"...We're going to be fine. Maybe."

A sharp laugh escaped Noonin's throat, startling Fia.

"Really? Really? That's the best you could come up with?"

"Hey, moon reading is a strange and inexact science!" 

Dasha snorted, trying and failing to look offended. For a few fleeting seconds, she forgot herself, then reality hit her, and she sobered once more.

With death and ashes trailing behind them, and an uncertain future lit by a muddled omen and the starry skies ahead, the three travelers took the first few steps on their long and painful trek.

Fia buried her face in Dasha's shoulder. She was very young, after all, and was soon fast asleep, lightly cooing as she snored.

Dasha winced as the girl's chin dug into an injury, but she didn't have it in her heart to disturb her. She sighed, turning to Noonin.

"So. We want to talk about all the weird stuff now, or if we make it back home?"

Noonin flicked his tongue in and out, tasting the cold mountain breeze for any dangerous scents as it playful whipped his hair around.

"Is she asleep?"

"Out like a candle in the rain."

"Then let's talk about it."

"Okay."

What followed was silence for a good three minutes, as they both realized that neither of them could even begin to know how to talk about it.

"Home?"

"Sounds good to me!" Dasha eagerly agreed, as she glanced around for signs of any more monsters.

They lapsed into silence again, mostly focused on navigating back and keeping watch. The valley was a straight shot south from the bunker, but it was two days by vehicle and then another day of hiking when the terrain became really bad.

This time, they would be walking the whole way. It would take weeks, and they were still well into monster territory. They wouldn't begin to encounter even the traditional Avar nomads until they reached the lower altitudes of the mountains (Not that they would help, Dasha being a plague-wing and all). And the number of monsters seemed to have gone up lately, for whatever reason, so that was lovely. Were there any good things to think about right now?

At least they would be going downhill for most of the trip? 

Dasha sighed, rubbing her forehead, before adjusting her grip on a slumbering Fia, who was wrapped in her pale wings like a bug in a cocoon. 

Dasha felt a sting of pain in her own wings, and she wasn't sure if the cause was the plague curse, or all the rips and tears. She drooped slightly, numbness settling in her shoulders. What did she even have to go home for? 

That was a dangerous line of thinking. She had to see Noonin safely back to Youna. She owed Krell a proper funeral, even if they never got his body back. She needed to find Fia's family, or someone who would look after her.

"Noonin?" 

Her voice was small, and further muffled by the open air. It sounded so uncharacteristically defeated- But everything from these past few days could only pile on top of each other, adding to the crushing weight.

"What is it, sassana?" 

"Talk. Anything, about anything, just talk."

"Okay."

And he did.

He talked of home and his wife and his cousin's new vendor fixing things and how hopefully the weather would be good so that the plants would grow and maybe they'd get some of those tiny savory pies that were half-off when they started to grow stale and had he heard about how someone had stolen the neighbor's quilt, who stole a quilt? And on it went, every mundane or lighthearted subject he could think of that might bring Dasha some comfort passed through Noonin's lips in a steady stream of sounds that were buffeted about on the night wind. Then a heart-stopping scream sliced through the skies, shattering the calm.

Fia startled awake with a cry. 

Dasha quickly shushed the girl, patting her hair. She and Noonin looked around for the source of the noise.

"I don't see anything." She whispered.

"Me neither- Wait, what's that?"

Dasha followed his gaze. And then she saw it. A distant blot on the landscape. The absence of anything. The same supernatural darkness that she had seen down in the bunker, with the unknown monster. Even this far away, she could feel the creatures inside it. Scuttling. Hissing.

Drawing closer.

Dasha swallowed, holding Fia tightly.

"Noonin? We're in trouble."