I carefully ran up to the forest below Noel. She wouldn’t be looking down, but I’d rather not be caught so quickly. She’d definitely see my coming, eventually, but I had to try to press my advantage. The thought of shooting magic at her from here briefly crossed my mind, but I hesitated. She was so far up, there was no guarantee I’d be able to hit. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to hit her, either. If I made her fall from this height, she would almost certainly die. I brushed aside my conflicted feelings, and prepared to rush up the steep incline with balance magic.

As I stepped onto my first foothold, I was already calculating how we were likely to meet. This incline opened up to picturesque meadows. Low-lying clouds drifted onto the meadows when we crossed them the first time. The grass was exuberantly green, the view was breathtaking, and the whole place looked like it had been plucked straight out of a fairy tale.

Noel must have heard me as I got closer, because she looked down, before climbing at a ferocious pace. I was glad she wasn’t chucking large chunks of earth at me. Maybe time had cooled her off a little after all. I was convinced, if I could just get close enough to talk some sense into her, that I could fix things somehow. What did it mean to ‘fix’ a gruesome murder and threats of genocide? I wasn’t sure. But I stretched my body and balance magic to their limits to try to reach her.

She disappeared above the lip of the mountainside. I was hot on her heels and leapt over the side, mere moments after her. She had turned towards the edge, with a fireball hovering in front of her outstretched palm. She could’ve shot me down as I came over the edge, but she didn’t. That was a good sign.

“Noel, listen,” I said, as I stood my ground, “we don’t have to fight. You’ve had some time to cool off. You might have realized anger and violence won’t bring your—our—family back. Let go off that spell, and we can sit down at a safe distance and talk things out.”

Noel was breathing heavily. She’d rushed up the mountainside when she saw me coming. Her eyes darted from side to side. What was she looking for? Did she think I was planning something funny? I might’ve done that if I was trying to take down a monster or an immortal’s ikon, but I wasn’t trying to take down my friend. A little sincerity would go a long way, I figured.

Noel didn’t back down but she also didn’t press forward. She had me backed up against a scary precipice, so she probably didn’t want me finding a better defensive position. She also didn’t seem to want to blast me off the cliff, so we were stuck at an impasse.

Guess I had to keep speaking. “The people who killed our Jora tribe are dead, Noel. Those people died so long ago nobody even remembers their names.”

Noel let out an angry sigh, the kind of sigh that blows a shaky breath between your teeth. “You don’t understand. It doesn’t matter if those people are dead, their tribes are still here!” Her fireball was getting bigger. “And mine aren’t!”

Okay, this wasn’t working. Maybe getting her to focus on something else was the right way of going about it for now. “Don’t you think you have your priorities wrong right now?”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

I said: “The remains of our tribe were up on that mountain, weren’t they? Shouldn’t we go give them a proper burial or something? Aren’t there rituals to be performed for their souls or some sort of ceremony to accept them as ancestors. You’re the oldest living Jora. You’re the elder of our tribe! Shouldn’t you act appropriately?”

Noel hesitated. The fireball grew weaker. She looked lost in thought. I probably could’ve gotten closer, or at least made my way away from the edge, but I stayed put. Noel was clearly on an emotional edge. I couldn’t risk tipping her over.

“I can’t believe it,” whispered Noel.

Oh, a breakthrough! I let a hopeful smile break onto my face.

“I thought you’d grown closer to them because they were human, like you were before you came to this world,” said Noel. “But now I realize, you just don’t know. About anything.” Her face contorted into a confused look. “Accept them as ancestors? The oldest becomes the elder? Rituals for souls? You weren’t with us for a long time, but I can’t believe you never knew anything about our tribe.”

“We were busy fighting monsters and inventing magic, remember,” I said, quickly heading off her dangerous words. “Don’t sweat the details. Focus on the main thing. We’ll reckon with the past, of course we will, but we should also deal with the present by helping the dead tribesmen rest in peace.”

Noel killed her fireball and smacked her forehead with an open palm. “You say you want me to help my tribesmen rest in peace, but you stop me from avenging their deaths. You don’t know anything about our tribe’s customs, traditions, and beliefs, do you?”

I groaned. “Are you saying you have to avenge their deaths for them to rest in peace?”

“Of course,” she said, “it is one thing to be killed in a hunt or through disease and old age. It is another thing, entirely, to be killed by another person. Why do you think I was so horrified that Sharun had killed my father? It wasn’t just because I felt lied to and betrayed by someone very close to me, although that was definitely a big part of it.” She gave me an angry glare. “If Sharun had killed my father, that meant I would have to kill Sharun to avenge my father’s death! My father could never rest in peace, he couldn’t join the other ancestors as long as he had been killed by another elf and that murderer did not receive justice.”

I was stunned. I did not expect something like this. Worse still, I’d spent all this time with Noel, and never once asked her about her beliefs and traditions. I’d comforted her preconceptions from my modern human life. I never tried to talk to her from the same level, with the same worldview or preconceptions. The Immortal of Madness’ words kept ringing in my head. I came to this world, but learned from it, always sticking to my own world’s knowledge and beliefs. And now my hubris was coming back to bite me.

“And now, Sharun’s dead,” said Noel, “which means my father will never be at peace.” Her eyes were getting wet again. “But I know who killed uncle Sharun. I know who killed elder Starry and elder Vell. I know who killed my tribe, and I will make sure my family can rest in peace!”

“The people who killed them are dead,” I said, eschewing my earlier care with words now that it was obvious Noel wasn’t going to calm down and talk it out, “if Sharun’s death means your father can’t be avenged, shouldn’t the same thing apply to these human tribesmen, whose ancestors died ages ago?”

Noel shook her head. “No! You don’t understand! If only Sharun had died, I could have avenged my family through Sharun’s. But now, I’m the last real Jora! And, I can’t believe I have to explain this, but I can’t exactly avenge my family through suicide. That’s why my father will never be at peace. The rest of the Jora tribe, however, can be avenged through their family. Through the descendants who carry on their blood and legacy!”

My eyes widened. “That’s insane.”

“It’s the only way,” she said. “You said so yourself. We can deal with the past, later. For now, I need to deal with the present. Now you have a choice. Prove that you’re a real member of my tribe. Join me in avenging our tribesmen and helping them join the ancestors.” She prepared another fireball. “Or you can throw away the Jora name, and prove to me why I’m the last living Jora.”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“Know what?” she said.

“That we’re the last ones,” I said. “The last Jora tribesmen.”

She frowned. “You saw the bones too, didn’t you?”

“So? Did you stay behind and count them? How do you know that was everybody?” I said.

“You heard the old priest,” she said, “they killed everyone!”

“The old priest was making educated guesses based on the holes in his tribe’s stories! He didn’t know how many elves his ancestors killed. Heck, we don’t even know if his version of events was true or not. How do you know what really happened? How do you know if those are even your family’s bones?” I said.

Noel frowned. “I know, because it makes sense. They took our name, worship the God of Evil, and have a pile of elfin bones sitting on top of a mountain peak!”

I grit my teeth. I realized she couldn’t be reasoned with. She was closing herself off to all questions and reservations. At this point, she wanted to kill those humans, and wouldn’t hear anything else about it. I still tried, one more time, to say something, but she cut me off before I could begin.

“It sounds like you’ve decided to side with the humans again,” said Noel. “I was really hoping you only did so the first time because you’d gotten attached to Kelser. It never occurred to me that you just didn’t know the way things worked. I guess I really am the last living Jora.”

“No, I’m still here,” I said.

Noel looked me dead in the eyes. “Not for long.”

Crack. The ground beneath me gave way, crumbling over the edge. My eyes widened and I tried to rush forward, but my feet found no purchase. My heart jumped into my chest as I began to free fall.