30

The ridge felt thinner, quieter now that half the group was unconscious. Kamo pushed off the pine and joined Ren, and the two remained on that edge for nearly 20 minutes before any notable responsibility took their attention. Ren was unusually quiet, He must've taken the hint Kamo thought. They did a round of the perimeter, watching downward toward the fence line marking the end of the Inner Circle. Patrols were normally run across that line as going passed it, (where Ketsuen's hidden base was) would be against the law. A lantern had worked itself loose near the edge—its bracket dangling. Kamo fixed it by habit, thumb twisting the old screw tight, eyes scanning the trees far below. He considered taking it back to the top of the perimeter, the light worried him—too much attention could mean trouble from the city's patrols. And if they ever were to notice them, many complications would ensue. The majority of the shift would continue smoothly, it was mostly an annoying formality, less necessary of a job as itd been made out to be.

When they returned to the groups posts, Ren leaned against the rock, arms crossed, watching the dance of mist through the yellow glow. He let the silence hang until Kamo locked the lantern in place.

"So, are you always this grumpy, or was it something I did?"

Kamo's hands stilled for a moment on the lantern's top. He glanced over. "You didn't do anything."

"That didn't look like 'nothing.' We've both been on the losing side before—I'm just trying to solve for X here."

Kamo shrugged, voice flat. "I don't have a 'solution' for you."

Ren frowned. "There's always a variable, y'know. You've got your pride—pretty hard to miss. If something's wrong with how I fight, say that."

"You misunderstand. Your fighting is fine."

"Then what's your deal? Honestly, from my angle, if we hadn't been sparring, you looked about ready to put a blade in me. That stare wasn't exactly 'fine.' Felt personal."

"I was choosing whether to speak."

Kamo was quickly getting annoyed by the confrontation. But considering they would be out her for another hour at minimum, he felt it would be best to get it over with, in mind of Fure's preferences.

Ren's reply was quick. "But you didn't."

"Silence is better than saying something unnecessary."

Ren snorted, folding his arms. "Fine. Then tell me what words you were saving."

"That you were childish. Even soft. You treated it as sport, as if outcomes don't have implications. That your casualness left openings I should have exploited."

"But you couldn't exploit them."

Kamo rolled his neck in the direction of Ren, meeting his eyes for the first time all day.

"Exactly. So at least one statement would've been false. Silence was logical."

A few seconds passed. Wind moved through the low brush, the roots creeping closer to the edge of the outpost—thicker now, and abnormally so curling into cracks in the stone. 

"Isn't that a little sloppy? A loss doesn't bury the mistake—it only highlights it. Calling your silence 'strategy' just sounds like fancy avoidance."

Kamo's jaw worked, he scoffed almost like he'd felt insulted by the idea. "Hnh– Avoidance of what? I can only assume embarrassment. But none of you hold enough weight in my mind for me to be embarrassed. Why would I care for the opinions of people who I can't depend on?"

Ren's eyes narrowed, voice more curious. "So this whole pretentious act is really just about reliability?"

Kamo hesitated, then spoke more measured, as if forcing himself to be honest. "It isn't about trust either. Not really even– I just—" He cut himself off those few times, recalibrating and trying to say this as directly as possible without sounding petty or harsh.

As far as Kamo knew, he didn't have a specific articulable reason, he had to think for a second

 "Listen, the weak can't choose their circumstances, hardly their choices. Nor can they take what it is they want. A weak man must weasel around, sneak, lie and cheat their way into their desires. The strong carry clarity. That makes them predictable. Trustworthy."

Ren's voice was steady, almost gentle. "And that makes me—?"

"Strong, sure. I wouldn't call you weak, but that strength seems to be all you have. Which creates a lack of clarity. The childish mindset of treating everything like a game makes you even harder to read. Just as unreliable if we use that terminology."

Ren shook his head, almost laughing. "See, that's where you lose me. By your logic, if I'm strong enough to reliably beat you, how does that make me the unreliable one?"

"Strength is typically a product of clarity. Not the creator. As you've stated, you're fighting because it's enjoyable. Enjoyment distorts clarity. A man shouldn't be loyal to his own dopamine."

"No way. Enjoyment's what keeps you consistent. People who only care about winning? They're the ones you can read like a kid's book. You're mixing up desperation with reliability."

Kamo paused, taking that in. "Well yeah, desperation is predictable. Enjoyment is volatile."

They both watched the ground as a few roots twisted further out of the brush, thickening where the mist collected. Ren scratched his jaw, thinking.

"Maybe what bothers you is that your world demands simplicity. Allies. Enemies. Strength. Weakness. You think complexity is a threat because it means you might read someone wrong."

Kamo's answer was even, he'd slowly come down from the previous defensiveness. "Complexity isn't the threat. But why would I entertain unnecessary confusion? Confusion only increases general risk."

Ren looked out at the slope. "Everything has risk. Isn't that why we train? To adapt to unknowns? Predictability is an illusion anyway."

"True, I can only expect unpredictability. I distrust incompetence disguised as unpredictability."

"But you still mistrust strength if you don't understand why it fights?"

Ren was making valid points, not saying anything too challenging but enough that made Kamo feel the need to pick his words carefully.

"Less so. Strength creates clearer paths. I may not like the path you choose, but at least it's stable ground."

"Not sure if that's a compliment or just a diagnosis." Ren gave a half-smile in comparison to Kamo's facial expression, which was all but endearing. 

"It doesn't need to be either."

Ren leaned back, tone lighter. "Fair enough. Still, a little uncertainty never hurt anyone. Might even keep your edge sharp."

Kamo nodded once, barely a concession. "I'll keep that in mind."

Ren left it alone there. His face showed a confidence that said he felt that he understood Kamo a lot more. The 2 hours had passed, so he woke Sora.

She blinked, saw the creeping weeds at the ridge's edge, and scowled. "Someone gonna cut those weeds?" Her annoyance was plain.

Kamo stepped forward to deal with them, but Sora put a hand out to stop him. "Those are worse than poison ivy. You have to burn them before they burn you." She kept her eyes on the slow, unnatural growth, every word cautious.

Ren crouched, palm pressed to the tile. Frost spread from his hand, crawling across the stone and snaring the roots in a web of ice. "Didn't even notice these were a problem. That should hold them." He didn't wait for thanks, just trudged off to his mat and collapsed, asleep almost immediately.

The roots stayed frozen for five minutes—enough time for Ren to drift off—but then the ice cracked, the growth pulling tight, shrinking back but ready to surge again.

Sora stayed standing, arms folded, watching the patch. "I can't get them while they're small.and my accuracy is more sporadic, so can you?" She'd been seemingly watching the weeds exclusively. "With your shadows or whatever."

Kamo shook his head. "My powers don't work that way. Mostly movement or distraction"

She looked dissatisfied. "Then I'll wake Ren up again in a bit."

The idea grated at Kamo. He didn't want to owe Ren for basic maintenance or need rescue from a teammate—especially not him.

"Let me try something," he said.

He thought back to earlier—his meditation had been fruitless, his consciousness unable to ascend, that being the reason he originally fell asleep. In that sleep, he'd had a dream: Hikari forming from the ground, made of shadow, not so different from the personlike illusions Kamo could sometimes create. In the dream, it was all sculpting.

So he tried just that.