Human Emotions

"Well that looks like it went well." Inga hummed as he watched Kaeruko storm into her yurta and immediately throw what he could only assume was snow at the wall. She looked as if she wanted to kill him once he spoke to her. "I am just stating the obvious. I understand that this is an emotional time for you, however you don't have time to be moping around because a single human is mad at you. Goddess knows that if I got that upset over something so small, nothing would ever get done."

"I thought you wanted the full human experience? Well here it is!" She yelled, going over to the tea pot to make herself tea so that she would hopefully calm down. 

"I can tell that this is a side of humanity that would be fun to watch from afar, but not so fun to experience first hand. What would you like me to do?" He asked, after a small pause. He realized that perhaps making fun of her would only make this worse. That wouldn't really be productive, and they did have a lot that they had to get done. He couldn't do much if she was in an absolute rage over some stupid conversation. After he asked that Kumako and Sitria walked in, and immediately Kumako looked scared. They walked over to Inga and gently leaned close to him. 

"What happened…?" They asked in a whisper, only to earn a sharp glare from Kaeruko. 

"You could have simply asked me directly instead of asking that stupid imp of a spirit!" Kaeru yelled, gornaing as she turned her head. 

"Woah! No need to get angry at me. I haven't done anything." Inga whined, however Kumako quickly put a hand over his mouth. 

"Kaerune, what happened? I don't think I have ever seen you this angry. Did the conversation with Kaminoko really go that badly?" They asked, cautiously walking towards her as Sitria took a seat next to Inga. 

"What do you think? She was furious. She could barely even look at me.. And the sad thing is that as much as I want to say she is wrong, she isn't entirely wrong. I am not wrong either, of course but.. I get where she was coming from." Kaeru took a shaky breath before she turned and wrapped her arms around her sibling. "I think she feels like we are abandoning her.." She cried a little, shaking her head. Kumako took a breath as well, wrapping their arms tightly around her. 

"Kaeru… I am sorry that it went so bad." They said softly, gently running a hand over her head. "I am sure that in time she will calm down. This isn't easy for any of us… She will come to understand that we aren't leaving her because we don't want her or need her." Kumako found themself glancing down at the ground past their sister's shoulder. "We will come back. And once we do I am sure it will all feel so silly then. Besides, if anyone of us is strong enough to take charge of the village here, it is her. I don't think Renatsu likes us running things anyways." They were trying to be encouraging, although their worlds felt almost hollow to them. They were not sure that they believed that. In truth, there was no guarantee that they would be able to come back. Even if they did, there was no guarantee that the tribe would have survived that long. As long as they were able to defeat chaos, which was a nearly impossible task, there would be some hope that things could return back to normal. 

"If you are trying to convince yourselves that once you return things will be normal, I suggest that you give up on that notion." Sitria spoke then, cleaning her paw from the snow. The great white bear sat up like a human, her eyes piercing them both. "What we are trying to do was enough to nearly kill me, let alone humans who have little experience aside from a few fights here and there. Sure, you will gain experience. However you must realize that when you come back, you will not be the same. We are dealing with forces that are so beyond what most humans are capable of even comprehending. Do not lie to yourselves about what this journey will do to all of us." 

"Sitria!" Kumako nearly yelled, however they caught themself. "Even if that is the case, I want to believe that we came back home in one piece. I want to believe that we are going to be able to defeat chaos and finally come back home. Just because you failed the first time, doesn't mean that we are going to fail. And even if we do change, and even if when we come back we are entirely different people, who cares? At least we will be back at home! At least we will have a chance to live a normal life. Right now, humanity has no chances to live another day. We all are going to die at the hands of chaos at this rate, so who cares at a hypothetical change? Humans change all the time. I would hope after a long journey filled with hardships and danger that we would not be the same when we come back. That would just seem sad." 

The room grew quiet once more. Sitria scrunched up her nose at the comment before she seemingly relented. 

"I understand. I just wanted you to be aware of what is really at stake here." She paused. "I also know that this is, in many ways, my fault. So thank you for going through all of this. I have forgotten how frail human emotions are… as well as how difficult this type of thing can be for even a spirit. Forgive me. I also know this may not help but in regards to Kaminoko, she will be fine. She is simply emotional because deep down she wants to come and help everyone. Of course that simply isn't possible at the current moment, but she truly wants to feel like she is actively doing something to better the world. We had a rather long chat about this not too long ago. I am teaching her all I can about how to take care of the Hourou as well as any chaos that may come this way. It will be hard but I am more than certain that she will be able to survive this and prosper." Sitria smiled a toothy grin. "I am not so heartless that I would not try to at least give her some security." 

"Well that is good to know." Kumako sighed. "Kaeru, it'll be okay. We can do this. After all, we are going together. Nothing in this world will be able to break us apart."