Our foreheads touched. A cold sweat ran down mine; his was warm and furry. But that was it; that was all that happened. We only touched.

“Close thy eyes and thinkest of thyself,” Rairok said, closing his enormous eyes.

‘Think of myself? What did that even mean?’ My mind kept wandering, and the beast I was resting my forehead against could sense it.

“If thou wantest to know the answer to thy question, thou should get thy thoughts under control, Korra Grey.”

Easier said than done.

“Like I said, thinkest about thyself.”

“What does that mean? My body - my mutations?”

I felt Rairok’s body shake as he chuckled. “Thy life, Korra Grey. About thy home, thy family, thy friends.”

“Are you going to read my mind?” That’s what it sounded like to me, and honestly, I was having second thoughts.

“No, the connection is not something that shallow,” Rairok retorted, the idea that what he was about to do I likened to that horrid magic not sitting well with him. “If we make the connection, thy mind will remain intact. What I will see is much deeper; I will see all of thee - and thou will probably seest all of me. It’s a sign of trust between our kin.”

‘Shit.’ I was speechless, hesitant.

Was I really ready for something like this, to reveal myself whole? Did I have the guts to see someone like that, even if he was a beast? Rairok’s trust in me threw me off. Either the connection wasn’t as intimate as he made it out to be, he was too gullible a beast, or he saw more in me than he was letting on.

Either way, the question was not why he trusted me, but whether I trusted him. And - I did. Not in the sense he was trying to convey. To me, he was not my family, my loved ones, or my friends in whose hands I would trust my life without fear. What I believed was that he didn’t mean to hurt me, and that had to be enough.

“Alright,” I said and took a breath, losing myself in thoughts of - myself, of my life here on Eleaden - and inevitably on Earth as well.

Rairok must have sensed the change in my focus. I tensed. I couldn’t help it. The unknown made me nervous. But this time, my mind was ready for whatever was to come. Or so I mistakenly thought.

When I felt Rairok reach out to me, I understood that he wasn’t lying. It wasn’t about the mind at all. It was about me, about both of us. More intimate than I could have imagined. He pressed against me and I pressed against him, our lives slowly becoming one. I was him and he was me.

His life slowly flashed before my eyes. His birth, growing up in a herd, a loving beast family, his growth, his first encounter with humans. The loss of some of his herd and the coming into his power. His first encounter with the tainted beasts, his defiance to submit to the same fate. The events leading up to his arrival here and his efforts to save the lost. I even felt his grief when he knew his strength wasn’t enough.

Eventually, those flashbacks came to an end, to the present day and his meeting with me. Even though I had [Spatial Domain] as one of my skills and could perceive myself outside of my body, I found it so strange to see myself through someone else’s eyes. There were so many little personal nuances, the things he focused on, the smells he associated with me. It was as if I was looking at a completely different person.

Rairok pulled away, and I gasped, catching myself not wanting to let him go. It felt like I was losing a piece of myself.

“Korra?” Stella dashed to me, her hand on my shoulder. “Are you all right?”

All I could do was nod. It lacked the confidence I would have liked, though.

“You’re crying, you know?”

I was aware of it. Yet for some reason, I couldn’t stop. “I know, Stella. I’m fine. It’s-it’s hard to describe.” The loss inside me - it felt real.

Looking from her to Rairok, I realized I wasn’t the only one with tears in my eyes. The mighty beast was crying as well. He was even trembling. 

“R-Rairok?” He didn’t answer me, his eyes staring into space.

“What happened, Korra?” Stella asked, confused by the sight of us.

What happened? I saw all of him, his whole life - I still couldn’t make sense of it. 

‘Shit!’ The realization hit me. If he saw what I saw, he knew everything there was to know about me, even that I was from Earth. But more importantly, he knew what this place was: just an echo of a long-forgotten past. 

“G-give me a moment, Korra’leigh Grey.” The way he stuttered and said my name, my full name, as it should be said, only confirmed that he had indeed seen everything. He had seen who I was and where I came from.

Even Stella understood as much and waited as anxiously as I did to see how he would take it all.

I have never seen a beast so sorrowful in my life. He was weeping so hard and even whined from time to time as he bobbed his head from side to side in a bizarre way. It took a few minutes of Stella and me watching him in silence for him to shake the tears from his eyes.

When Rairok looked at me again, a wave of energy erupted from him, washing over me and the surrounding cages. “We have made the connection. We shared our lives, Korra’leigh Grey.”

“We did.” There was no doubt about it. Rairok’s kin, Valeyris in the ancient language as I had learned they were called, or a Wily Deer in the current tongue, was one of the beast species Dungreen used to create me. It was no mere coincidence that I had the same eyes - the blood of his kin flowed through my veins. 

What that meant for me, I had no idea.

“I h-have seen thee whole.”

“And I saw you,” I replied, hesitant to say more. He still seemed quite overwhelmed by what he had seen. “Are you - all right, Rairok?”

He yelped, amused, sort of. There was a lot of sadness in his voice, though. “I was prepared for thy disappointment, not for us to actually connect and become one with thee, let alone for what I learned.”

“I know it’s a lot to take in, and it may seem like a lie, but...”

“Lie? Did thou feel that I was capable of lying to thee at the moment of our connection?”

I thought back to when we were one - and there was no way he was lying. I don’t know why, but I was sure of it. “No, I didn’t.”

“Then thou knowest I don’t question what I’ve learned,” he said, his voice noticeably calmer, and paused. “I accept what I know now.”

“Just like that?” While I was glad for that - that we didn’t have to deal with the beast that was all messed up, in denial, or downright enraged - I still found it puzzling. For one thing, I certainly wouldn’t be able to just accept that everything I believed in wasn’t real, but just a fucking memory, including myself. 

“For thee, it was the first time, many winters to see, but I have shared my life many times, and thou are young, very young.” In other words, my life was short compared to his, and with his experience, he could glean much more of it than I could of his. 

“Whom would hast thought it would takest so long for another World Tree to grow?” Rairok mused, his eyes on me, a gleam of wonder in them. “A young Guardian. It’s so clear to me now what thou art that I can’t help but berate myself for not seeing it sooner. It is an honor to meet thee, Korra’leigh Grey.”

“No need to...”

“It is my honor, and nothing will change that,” he said affectionately and then, oddly enough, turned to Stella. “Is she here?”

The leader of Squad Four, who so far had more or less just listened, paused, no less confused than I was. “Who?”

“Traiana.”

“Y-you mean High Commander Ronnu?”

Rairok nodded, rolling his eyes in disbelief at the thought. “Yes. The one thou knowest and no one else. Whom would have ever thoughtest that she would be the one to become the cornerstone of Labyrinth? She wasn’t one of the candidates - something truly monumental must have happened to change that. And in just three days.”

‘Holy shit!’ He knew about the Labyrinths. That meant he wasn’t just some random beast wandering around. My guts were already tense when he talked about me being a Guardian, but now I couldn’t help but look around for those listening in the shadows. Surely there had to be someone, at least one.

Rairok stopped me with a low yowl. “No one will hear us. I made sure of that.”

Did he? When? How? Questions swarmed my mind before I caught on. The surge of energy I had felt earlier. His ability, something like a Silencer, and I found myself missing more and more. There were so many times I could really use such an ability - if only for the peace of mind it would bring to some of my conversations. So far, my only options were to learn the magic or buy the tool. But now, perhaps I could learn to tap into a dormant ability of mine.

“I’m sorry, b-but that Traiana is not here,” Stella said when it was clear no one was listening, interrupting my train of thought. “She judged that her presence might be too distracting for us. Though - I don’t think you’d be able to see her. At least that’s what she said,” she added promptly, not wanting to upset him.

It wasn’t necessary. From what I’ve seen, the Valeyris were very composed and patient beasts.

“I was merely curious, Stella Palemoon, friend of Korra’leigh Grey,” Rairok said unruffled, giving me a look that let us know he had gleaned that much. “As much as I wish I could meet her and ask her about the future, I’m content with what I’ve learned. That alone will take me a while to absorb.”

“I can’t even imagine what it must be like for you,” Stella said, and I nodded, agreeing with her wholeheartedly.

Rairok swayed in a gesture best described as a waving as off. “Thine concern is inspiring, but not necessary. Ye have enough of thine own to worry about. I’ll be fine.”

“But you were crying before,” I pointed out stupidly.

“So were you,” Stella said. “Is that normal with - this connection thing?”

“Korra’leigh Grey cried because I cried while we were still sharing our lives.”

“Oh.” So that was the reason for my tears. For once, I wasn’t the crybaby.

“I was - happy.” Rairok said, his eyes again focused somewhere far away.

“Happy?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

“Yes. I was happy to connect with thee and to find out that my kin live in such a distant time. That they live, not driven by their primal desires, but by their free will.”

I bit my lip, not sure if I should open my mouth. “I have never met your kin, Rairok.” For all I knew, the one whose blood coursed through my veins might be the last of his kind. No less frightening than the thought of them all in cages. “You Stella?”

She frowned at me as I drew Rairok’s attention to her. Admittedly, a somewhat cowardly move. “I h-have to say, neither do I. But I’ve only traveled around our Sahal Empire - they could be far beyond its borders.”

Rairok looked at us, warmth in his large eyes. “Thine concern is heartwarming, but as I said, not necessary. I have lived through many more winters than the two of you put together. I have seen the harshness of life, and perhaps like everyone here, I am ready for its end; the end of thine kind and mine as we know it.”

“Are you saying everyone has given up?” That was not the feeling I got from the people I met here.

“No, Korra’leigh Grey. They are only willing to give their lives for the hope they believe in. The hope I know now, thanks to thee, is not an empty one. There is a future for both of our kinds, and strangely enough, for those born of the horrors of this war, too. Ye both call one of them thine squadmate, and ye both have learned from them, from the teachers they have become. Thine time has its challenges, yes, its horrors, but what I have seen has brought joy to my heart. And for that, I thank ye both.”

To see him kneel on his front legs and bow his head before me - before us - shocked me. I was speechless as I realized how selfish I had been. When I thought that I had considered the consequences of me sharing my life with him for Stella and me, as well as for him, my desire to find out who I was blinded me.

Humbled, I lowered my head, keeping my mouth shut. Whatever words came to mind seemed inappropriate, almost hollow.

It was Rairok’s rather joyful yowl that broke the uncomfortable silence that had fallen upon the Cages. Seriously, even the beasts in the surrounding cages didn’t dare make a sound. “Brighten up. You know better than anyone that the events unfolding here are not something you or I can change. So don’t dwell too much on things that are out of your - hands and think about yourself. You still have a place in the future; I don’t.”

I really wanted to say how sorry I was, but he made it more than clear that wasn’t what he wanted to hear. Instead, I listened to him and focused on myself, going back to my selfish request. “So I’m one of your kin?”

“The blood of my kin runs through thy veins, yes, but thou art not one of us. Thou art thyself.”

That made me raise an eyebrow. That was not what I had expected. He didn’t see me as his pup who needed to prove her worth, or as a chick who didn’t deserve to be in the herd. He saw me as me.

“A-and would you be willing to teach me the ways of the Valeyris?”

“Does thou want to be one?”

He knew I didn’t. “Sorry, no.” 

“Then who does thou want to be?”

He knew that as well - he’d already said it. “Myself. But I would like you to be my teacher.”

Rairok laughed and rolled his eyes. “I’ve never met someone who was taught by so many.”

Okay, I knew what he was getting at, but not so much what he meant. Was it a yes or a no? It was so annoying of him not to come right out with it, and he knew it, enjoying my blatant displeasure.

“I will help thee understand yourself better. I will be honored to do so, Korra’leigh Grey, Guardian of Idleaf, the World Tree about to see the light of day,” he said with a slight nod of his head and then looked at Stella. “Maybe even thou could learn a thing or two.”

“Me?” Stella gasped in surprise. “I’m not like her - you know half, Valeyris.”

“Perhaps not, but thou underestimate thyself. While the Guardians guard their trees, in many ways they need to be guarded themselves, friend of Korra’leigh Grey,” Rairok said in a way that made it sound like a title. “Not today, though.”

“You mean you won’t teach us today?” I asked.

“Tonight is not the night. Thou camest here to test thy will, and thou shall.”

Yeah, the reason I was locked in a cage in the first place, again. I honestly almost forgot that I was here to face the lure of the other side, the ‘darkness’. “Shit! The darkness.” I blurted out loud. The enigma that Stella and I had hoped he would provide the answer to.

“Ah, yes. Ye camest to ask about that, didn’t ye?” Rairok shifted his weight and looked around the cages. “It is sad that the knowledge of what we face here has been lost in your time, but it is understandable. The darkness, as you call it, is not so simple.”

Knowing that he knew what I knew, that Traiana refused to tell us, I decided to be frank. “And are you going to tell us what it is?”

His eyes swirled before focusing on me. “I see no reason.”

Disappointment, defeat, frustration, anger, rage, a plethora of emotions swirled within me. Why? Why didn’t anyone tell us? What was so bad about it?

Stella gripped my shoulder tighter as a growl escaped my throat. I was grateful for that. It helped me to calm my inner storm and to see the understanding in Rairok’s eyes. He gave no explanation, though.

But why was he looking at me the way he did? Was I mistaken? “Rairok?” 

“I just don’t see the need to tell thee when thou already know the answers to thy own questions, Korra’leigh Grey.”

Stella looked at me with raised eyebrows. “Do you?”

I looked at Rairok, no less puzzled. “I do?”

“Thou does,” he yelped in amusement. “Didn’t we share our lives? Didn’t thou see what I saw?”

The realization hit me. Despite what he said, I was about to get my first lesson in what it meant to be Valeyris, or Witty Deer, if you will.