Not much escapes this blistering heat in the west. Its not bad from up here though, drifting through the skies with that wind to our faces. We're about to pass the western shore and say farewell to the place we all called home, or what's left of it. I wonder if the motherland is a beautiful as the stories say. Used to be a beautiful place till our ancestors keep polluting it, rotting it almost to the core reckon that's why they left. My gran always told me it wasn't dead though just healin, i figure its a garden in paradise now. I could see we hadn't learned from our past mistakes in Caelondia, smog and discourse. First signs were the west, though that place was already unbearably hot. Never really made sense to me, probably one of the gods cookin under the surface.

Most folks tended to take the wall south to cooler areas, if you were brave enough to ride the wall that is. Kid finds it calming, surprising is you know the kid. Most times he's wound tighter than a scumbag bursting at the seams. Maybe he's finally found some peace for himself in this new world. I suppose that may be the reason he did it, the evacuation that is. Tough choice he had, go back or carry on, but he just went and done it like he knew all along what was going to happen. Most men would probably be driven insane by now, guilt plaguing their dreams of what ifs. Nah not the kid, he seems even stronger now since then. Suppose its caus of this little family we have going on here, though its still not the same without little pecker. Those critters follow that kid everywhere these days, he can't get a moments rest without bumping into them but he doesn't mind, even likes their annoying little affections for him. Only other person they truly respond to besides the kid is Zia but shes their momma.

I ask myself if I could go through with it to after what we been through, knowing that all we had after the calamity would be forgoten. I see why he did what he did, kid had nothing before the calamity now he has a place to belong. Reckon that's whats drawing them to each other. They don't think I see it but I just shake my head with a smile and let them enjoy their secret, though with those two keepin a secret is more like puttin a billboard on the ripplin wall. No I think deep down the kid really did it for her. Two souls without a purpose just drifting in the world, then their world breaks and through those cracks they fall and glimpse each other. Just shows that there is more good that can come out of the calamity and those two are proof.

Suppose I should just give in and tell him everything about my story. I'm just a close guarded old fool but I reckon I should get some closure with my life like the kid, only problem is when we're done and good he's gonna see me differently that's for certain. I've done so much damage with my life to others and the bastion ain't the start. I've got demons that the gods would shun. Used to have my shell, thing survived the Ura-Caelondian war and the calamity but once the kid asked me about that barrette those cracks just splintered out. Kids gonna hate me I know that, but it ain't fair for him not to know everything and by the gods he's earned it. Just a little bit longer I think, yea just a little longer. I want to let this feeling of peace last just a bit longer.

...Cause nothing will be the same again.