Five months passed.

They had chosen to take action against those who brought the blue leaves down from the mountains. Yes, there had been protests, and occasionally more than that, but the towns and villages around the city were eventually convinced that whatever positives they thought they might receive from the vivinder, the city's representatives could guarantee negatives.

Eventually the traders just stopped coming. Even with their vacant stares and indifference to practically everything they were not foolish enough to walk into somewhere their companions simply disappeared.

They didn’t disappear, of course. They were brought back to the city, traded like any one of the many goods that kept the expeditions moving back and forth between the settlements.

Tala could see that something had changed in the city’s populace. There was a new bloodlust in the air, a willingness and even an eagerness to see brutal violence dealt to outsiders. The vivinder had hardly made its presence felt in the city but the stories had, and it was as if all the frustration, all the hate and fear and futile rage of life within the walls had found an outlet. They didn’t merely hang the traders anymore but taunted them, dragging the punishment out and allowing the ever-growing crowds to heckle and push and spit at the condemned, who stood impassively under the torrent, unflinching at the rocks that pelted them from afar.

Tala had stopped going after she had seen a little boy, no more than a few suns old, lunge out of the crowd to bite down hard on the leg of one of the prisoners. The man kicked feebly at his attacker to no effect, and when the boy finally released his grip his teeth were stained with the blood that ran down his cheeks, eyes feral and wild. The only reaction this got was a loud cheer from the crowd.

She asked to be removed from such duties after that.

Tonight Tala was pacing the wall alone. Ruen was somewhere here also, but she had been careful to stay clear of the man as much as possible. His attitude had if anything become more pathetic, more resigned to the inevitability of their doom. Tala had spoken with Maril about it, but been told in no uncertain terms that whoever offered to man the walls would be welcomed. Numbers were not on their side; there were not many who could tolerate the long nights staring over the wastes.

Tonight the weather clawed at the skin with icy claws, herald of the winter long coming. Even the beasts of the wastes were rarer these days, seeking shelter from the increasingly dark days.

“You can feel it, can’t you?”

The voice made Tala whirl around in surprise. Framed in the lantern light not more than a few steps away stood Rial.

“How did you get up here?” she asked, voice a mixture of shock and anger.

He was leaning against a merlon, back to the slick black mortar so that he looked out over the city below. At this time of night only a few faint torches shone through closed windows, even fewer burning along the streets outside. There was, however, enough starlight filtering through the clouds to make out the collapsed roofs and tumbled down walls that marked the ever-growing uninhabited areas of the city.

“We had a chance, you know?” he said, not taking his eyes off of the scene below. “It didn’t have to end up like this; we could have found a way.”

Tala wondered at the pain in his voice as she examined him carefully.

Rial was wearing a strange combination of clothing she had never seen before. A dark blue linen jacket hung down past his waist, wide sleeves hanging loose from the shoulders to cover his arms to the wrists. Beneath was a long robe that appeared cut from a single piece of cloth, wrapped around his body from neck to feet. Everything was held together by a simple red sash around his waist to which his sword was tied, grip projecting out within easy reach. He carried nothing save a small pack hanging loosely from his shoulder, containing something with an alien shape she could not identify.

He looked far more haggard than she had ever seen. Even in the paltry light of the lanterns it was clear that he was hurt, one cheek swollen and cracked and a livid cut drawn from ear to throat. The bleeding had stopped but she thought the wound could not be more than a few days old.

“You shouldn’t be here,” she said, looking around as she did so.

“I shouldn’t be anywhere, it seems,” said Rial with a sigh.

Tala watched as he seemed to sink in on himself.

“No, I mean it. You shouldn’t be here. If anyone realises you…” she said as he raised a hand to interrupt.

“I know what will happen. It’s happened before…”

Rial’s hand rose unconsciously to the bruise on his cheek as he spoke.

“And it will again.”

Tala watched as the man gathered himself together and the gloom that had descended on him for a moment dissipated. He shook his head and gave a wry smile, looking up at her.

“Will you come with me?” he asked. “It’s all coming to a head far faster than we thought. The vivinder, the water, the wasting; it’s all led to an exponential degradation of emergent collective intelligence. We saw the pebble fall and didn’t realise how quickly it would become a landslide.”

“Come with you?” Tala replied, focusing on the one part she fully understood. “Come with you where?”

“To safety. I have a… sanctuary, you’d call it. It will protect us from what is to come.”

Tala narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

“Us?”

“There are others,” said Rial, once more looking down at the city below. “As many as I could find. But there isn’t much time left, and I can’t save them all.”

“From what? What is coming?”

When Rial spoke next it was in deep, mournful tones that melted into the darkness.

“F Vortex point. Functional extinction.”

Tala let out a loud bark of scornful laughter.

This fool. So he was one of the lost now, was he? The words he used were different to the ones she was used to hearing, but obviously reflected the views of those worthless wastes of water and food. She let the rage cover her hurt and disappointment.

“Leave. Now.” She said, reaching for her rifle.

“Please,” said Rial, hands held up in supplication, “Listen to me. I can stop this. If we just…”

But whatever he had been going to say he didn’t finish it.

Karal rose out of the shadows like an avenging gami, a long leather strap held stretched between both hands. The belt came down around Rial’s throat at the same time as a knee came up and drove itself into his back, drawing out a choked-off cry of pain from Rial. Karal did not wait but slammed his temple into Rial’s, knocking him to the ground, out cold.