The town was safe from the VC. For now. There were always dangers lurking. Irisa and Alak didn't celebrate with the others. They were still healing. Alak felt a hand on his shoulder and reached up. A silent moment of comfort and understanding. No words were needed. Their coloring could only contrast further if Irisa were Omec. But at the moment, they shared a comrade's bond of fighting the same battle. Of surviving the same battle. Of realizing what was lost because they didn't foresee just what needed to be done before it was done.
Neither shed a tear. Irisa had developed her skin again. She had killed, but not for some paranoid reason Nolan had. But for a real threat. For real vengeance. Past and Future. She knew he was there when the Need Want patrons were shot. And she knew it was a right choice to kill him when she saw the charred remains in the tunnel.
The fellow Irathiant that was scared but brave. The one Nolan had promised to protect with a slight nod of the head. She knew Nolan felt that weight, which on top of all the other deaths was merely an added pound. She began to realize one becomes numb because it's a breaking point. If you carry the remorse of all the death you've caused, you'd go insane. The pain was there. Dark. Deep. It was a true taint to the truly humane. Even in his killing due to paranoia, it was the endless cycle that starts when you kill.
She'd read stories of an old west where young aspiring gunmen were warned of this darkness that would consume their souls and their lives were they to ever kill. You'd kill someone, and they would be avenged, and it wasn't about you anymore. So many would die because you decided to kill. Stop the cycle.
But that was personal vendettas. This was a war. This was for Defiance. She had fought too hard to leave it now. Even if Yewl could find a way to let them separate without killing each other, she wouldn't leave now.
She wouldn't say Alak or even Bear was part of the reason. Alak was still simply a citizen of the town she fought to protect. They were bonded soldiers, as well, but if she were to stay for anyone, it would still be for only Nolan. And only a fragged piece of tech was doing that. But, she no longer feared Bear was in the wrong hands. She trusted Alak to be brave. To even sacrifice himself and or his son for the sake of the city.
She was in the back when she heard Alak tell his father he should have not blown up the arch even if it meant losing their son. Home was beginning to sink in. In this modge podge world, there was barely a liberated, but safe place. It was so rare to have both. And Defiance was hardly safe, even when under rule from a bureaucracy. And it was barely safe now, but for now, hopefully, for a good long time, there would be peace.