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Xero put his hand on my shoulder as he peered over my head “Yep We are”

“So—into the woods, then?”

He shook his head “Not without the others We’re already split in too ht now is lose each other”

We sat with our backs to a giant tree and looked out over the swamp

“It’s so much more… alive than it looked fros out there I still can’t figure out what those are though” I pointed at the ivory fingers pushing out of the swamp

“They’re probably giant ribs,” Xero said matter-of-factly

“Like… the ribs of giants?” I asked, feeling stupid for rephrasing but not quite sure I was understanding

“Yeah There aren’t a whole lot of giants here anys Well, lesser-lesser beings Everything is lesser in Gavriel’s opinion He’s real into himself”

I laughed, then juh came back at me from the treetops

“Realupward “TheyG

reat for fra people”

I gave him a sideways look and he blinked at me innocently

“Have you ever done that?” I asked

“Not recently,” he dodged with a slight grin “It’s a rough world in here Vicious ani to devour you The erous ones used to be human”

“I guess we all do e have to do to survive”