"Zilu..." Mark said in a soft tone. "Can we talk for a second?"

Zilu’s ears moved slightly at hearing him.

"...Y-yes," she said quietly.

With that, both of them walked to one of the corners of the camp, away from where the others were working.

They stopped beside one of the giant trees whose roots formed a sort of natural nook that separated them from the rest.

Mark leaned against the root and was about to speak, but Zilu was faster.

"Have you always been able to do that?" Zilu asked quickly.

The question came straight, without hesitation, in a voice that trembled slightly but didn’t waver for a second.

Mark just looked at her in silence.

"Have you always been able to bring the dead back to life?" Zilu continued, looking at him steadily with her golden eyes that seemed to be on the verge of tears. "From the beginning?"

"Zilu—"

"Why didn’t you tell me before?" Zilu’s voice rose slightly. "If you can do that, why didn’t you... why didn’t you bring my sister back?"

The last part came out broken, the words stumbling over each other in her throat.

"That’s exactly why I wanted to talk to you," he said, letting out a heavy sigh.

She looked at him with a slight frown.

"Things aren’t as convenient as one might imagine, Zilu," Mark said. "What I do isn’t resurrection."

"But that head..."

"That was reanimation," Mark explained. "I can make a dead body move again, speak, answer questions, but the body is still dead."

Mark paused.

"Your sister’s body..." he said, lowering his voice slightly. "It was in one of the cages that were destroyed during the fight."

Hearing that, Zilu pressed her lips together.

"And her body was so damaged that even if I reanimated her... it would be even worse than letting her rest in peace."

"Worse?"

"Imagine waking up unable to see, unable to move, unable to feel anything but pain," Mark said, looking directly at her. "That’s what would have happened if I had reanimated her..."

The silence that followed was long.

Zilu stood in front of him with her fists clenched at her sides and her head lowered.

Her ears were drooping, and then the tears started to fall.

Not with loud sobs like the previous times, silently.

The tears simply ran down her cheeks one after another while she clenched her teeth trying to hold them back.

"Even so..." Zilu said with a broken voice. "Even so you could have tried something..." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"Zilu..."

"Anything..." she continued, her voice trembling.

"I’m sorry..." he said finally. "I’m truly sorry for not being able to do more for her."

Zilu stayed quiet, tears streaming down her face and her shoulders shaking slightly with each breath.

"You don’t have to apologize..." she murmured after a while, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand without much success. "It’s my fault for being so selfish..."

"You’re not selfish."

"Yes I am..."

"You’re not, Zilu," Mark repeated, moving closer and placing a hand on her face to wipe her tears with his thumb. "Wanting to get back someone you loved isn’t selfishness."

She looked up, her wet, reddened eyes meeting Mark’s.

Then Zilu moved slowly toward him, until her face was centimeters from Mark’s.

Both looked at each other in complete silence for a moment before they closed the remaining distance and melted into a slow, soft kiss.

Mark felt the salty taste of Zilu’s tears on his lips throughout the kiss, mixing with the warmth of her mouth.

When they separated, both had their breathing slightly quickened.

Zilu’s cheeks were completely red and her rabbit ears were upright.

"...We should probably go back to the others," Mark said in a slightly hoarse voice.

"Y-you’re right," she said clumsily, wiping her remaining tears with both hands. "Y-yes, we should... we should go back."

She wiped her face one more time and tried to put on an expression that wouldn’t give away what had just happened, without fully succeeding.

And with that both of them walked back in silence to where the others were.

When they finally arrived, Mark stopped in surprise at how fast the others had worked, a considerable section of the camp had been cleared of rubble and bodies.

The ground was clear, the remains of the structures had been piled to one side, and in the center of the cleaned area they had set up a large campfire with two tents made from materials recovered from the destroyed camp.

But something caught Mark’s attention, so he walked over to Ely, who was finishing securing one of the ropes on the larger tent.

"Ely."

"Yes, Master?"

"Why is one of the tents bigger than the other?" Mark asked, pointing at both.

Ely turned toward him with a radiant smile.

"The small one is for Zilu," she explained in an enthusiastic tone. "And the big one is for you, Master."

"There was no need to make one bigger than the other," Mark said, frowning slightly. "I don’t take up much space."

"It’s in case you’d like one of us to keep you company tonight, Master," Aria chimed in with a smile.

"Exactly," Alice added, approaching from the other side. "If the tent were small we wouldn’t fit, my lord."

"We wouldn’t fit?" Mark repeated.

"It’s just for comfort," Alice said, looking slightly away.

Zilu, who was standing a couple of meters behind Mark, heard the entire conversation, and her face, which barely a minute ago had recovered some composure, went completely red.

"I-I think I’ll go to sleep," Zilu said in a voice that was far too high-pitched, taking a step toward the small tent. "I-I’m very tired, yes, very tired, good night."

And without waiting for a response she slipped into the small tent and closed the entrance behind her.

Mark watched her disappear and then turned toward the three still waiting for his answer.

"So, Master?" Aria asked, pressing her hands together. "Who will be the chosen one for tonight?"

"May I volunteer, my lord?" Alice added, raising her hand slightly.

"If anyone is volunteering it should be me!" Ely protested, crossing her arms.

Mark looked at the three of them, who were already surrounding him.

"Tonight I’m going to rest," Mark said, raising a hand. "Tomorrow I want us to leave early so we can finish crossing the Great Forest, so I need to sleep well."

And hearing that, pouts appeared simultaneously on all three faces.

Aria puffed out her cheeks, Ely put on a clearly exaggerated expression of sadness, and Alice, who was normally the most composed, joined them with the most convincing puppy-dog eyes.

But seeing that Mark wasn’t giving in, they quickly relented.

"...Alright, Master," Aria said finally in a defeated tone.

"Understood..." Ely followed, letting her arms fall to her sides.

"As you command, my lord," Alice continued with a stiffness that betrayed her disappointment.

"Good night everyone," Mark said, turning toward the large tent.

But before going in he paused for a moment and looked toward where Rose was sitting with her legs crossed.

Mark saw how she was watching the whole scene with a wide smile and eyes bright with amusement.

"Good night to you too, Rose."

"Good night, Master," Rose replied, waving a hand without erasing the smile. "Sleep well, you deserve it after tonight’s performance."

With that said he entered the large tent and closed the entrance behind him.

The inside was spacious, too spacious for a single person, with enough room for at least three people to sleep comfortably, which explained the others’ enthusiasm when building it.

Mark lay down on the padded surface they had improvised with fabric recovered from the camp and stared at the tent ceiling.

"...What the hell happened in that place?" Mark thought before closing his eyes.