The door to the Entertainment room began to rustle. Both Janus and Itzel turned their heads behind them as best as they could to see who would enter until the raised guns of their BRUTE watchers persuaded them to face forward again. The door opened up with Sheila's voice coming through. 

"Let me introduce you to two of our other guests!" There was the sound of footsteps until Sheila appeared between them. "Meet Janus and Itzel," she said with the same large and friendly smile that she had when she first met them. 

The man with the mask looked between the two. The way he moved his body gave off and aura of confusion. "These two are guests? Or... captives?"

"Oh, Bodahn. You're always playing semantics!" Sheila replied with a giggle accompanied with a soft jab to Bodahn’s arm.

"Semantics?"

"You don't know what 'semantics' mean?” Sheila gave the masked a perplexed look. “As in you're busy focusing on definitions than the subject at hand."

"I know what semantics mean. But..." Bodahn looked at the BRUTE beside him that was focused on keeping Janus seated by pointing his gun at the captive. He then turned to look at Itzel. Her fists were clenched and her face reddened. She stared back at him with pure hatred and rage in her eyes as she took in heavy breaths. "These are people, Sheila," he said softly.

"I know. But they came along with today's target. What else were we supposed to do with them?"

"I-I dunno. Something other than this though!" Bodahn stammered.

"We can't just let them go! Then they'll tell everyone about our little event. Do you know how much trouble all of us would get in if that happened? Neo-Sapia are illegal game now, Bodahn!"

"Then why did you pick one of the few Neo-Sapia that could actually make friends?" Bodahn slapped his hands against his forehead. "It's one thing to hunt down ones developed in a lab or taken out of Confinement. But if this target is hanging out with actual people—"

Sheila stomped her foot. "Do you know how rare of a specimen Gurk is? When was the last time you saw a reptilian Neo-Sapia, huh?"

"I haven't."

"Exactly! This is my first Hunt and I want it to be memorable! And that means going after game that no one has ever hunted before!"

"But at this cost?" Bodahn's pointer finger shifted between Itzel and Janus. "Now real people are getting involved!"

Itzel lunged forward in her chair, making it jump forward. Still filled with rage, she looked at the masked man with contempt. "Gurk is a real person you—" Both of the BRUTEs turned to face her with their weapons raised.

"Hey, I'm on your side here, all right?"

"Oh really?" Sheila's lips pursed as she placed her arms across her chest while giving Bodahn a mean looking scowl. "After all that our family has done for you... you want to side with some Labrissoners?"

"It's more complicated than that, Sheila."

"Is it then?" Sheila pointed to Itzel with an open palm. "What have these two done for you, then?"

"It's not about what they have done for me. It's about... ethics."

"An Outskirter talking about ethics? That's ironic. I bet you don't say anything about all the wildlife that your people take out on a daily basis down by Sano Mosado! You kill those desert animals in droves."

"Yeah. For food!"

"You know as well as I do that not everyone in your sect kills Mosadoan buffalo for dinner. I've been to your encampment once before, remember?" She then tapped the temple of her forehead. "When we first met you showed me what a good shot you were by blasting that running buffalo from the top of a plateau!"

Bodahn sighed before scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, yeah. I remember that. But—"

"No buts!" Sheila stood on the tips of her toes and placed a finger in front of where Bodahn's mouth would be. "Now, do you remember what I told you was the number one rule of nature?"

"Oh no. Not this spiel again."

"It's the most important Father has ever taught me. It's that the strong always win."

"I remember it quite well. Pretty sure your pa has said it at least once every time he gets the prize kill."

"It's an important code to live by. That's why! In nature, do you think animals ever apologize for killing their prey? No, they don't. Because that's the way the world is designed. It's one of the core fundamentals of science. Strength overcomes weakness. Whether it be size, physical prowess or even access to resources, those with the hunger and capability to succeed always will."

"That's not a bad philosophy." Bodahn replied as he nodded his head. 

Sheila's anger laxed a bit. "Thank you."

"If you're a wild animal, that is. But this is civilization! We've got laws and rules to abide by."

"Like not hunting Neo-Sapia, right? Don't act so high and mighty when you've been joining in the past few hunts ever since you became old enough to do so. If you were as effective of a hunter as Father or your 'Pa,' maybe you'd have a few trophies to display in your room." Sheila crossed her arms and turned her head away from Bodahn and tilted her head towards the ceiling. "Just admit it. You probably think that loud brunette is cute! And you don't want to see her disappear."

"You..." Bodahn angled his head just enough to the side to get a glimpse of Itzel. She was still enraged, but she seemed intent on listening to the conversation. "Are missing the point entirely. Blasting a few buffalo is one thing. So is hunting Neo-Sapia. But 'disappearing' innocent people?"

"It happens all the time all over Tersaia! Labrisson itself has dozens of disappearances that go unsolved every day! Is it all right if some criminals do it instead?"

"It's not all right. Period."

"Ugh." Sheila stomped her foot once more before making her way back towards the exit of the room. "Getting through to you is so hard sometimes. I can't believe you're more worried about a couple of... Exterminators than my birthday! Even if we did let them go, they'd probably get eaten by an Ogre the minute they step back into their city! Father said that they would be going through the bowels of a Sand Carver if it weren't for him!" She marched straight on, opening the entrance with hand. 

"Where you going Sheila?" Bodahn called out from the other side of the room.

"Back to practice with Father! At least he understands how important this day is to me!" The young woman's voice was close to crying. She slammed the door behind her, making the miniature replicas of various creature on the shelf next to it fall off.

Bodahn stared at the door in silence, his hands resting on his hip as he shook his head.

"Uh... thanks for..." Janus began, squinting his eye at the BRUTE in front of him to see how it reacted. It remained motionless while keeping its weapon lowered. "Thanks for standing up for us."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm from a poor place too. So I know what it's like to have people think lowly of you. Nothing worse than being an Outskirter in the middle of 'civilized' Tersaia."

"If our situation wasn't so dire, I'd ask you some questions," Janus replied softly. 

"Don't worry. I'm going to see if I can convince the Granis to at least try to consider a different route to go from here," Bodahn said.

"And what if they don't? And what about Gurk?" Itzel blurted out. "We can't just let him get gunned down!"

Bodahn shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I'm just the son of a close friend. Not like I've got much of a say in what the Grani family does." He then began walking towards the front of the room.

"Hey!" Itzel shouted, turning her head back as much as she could towards the leaving man. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to try to talk to Sheila again!" Bodahn paused, turning around to face the two captives. “If I don’t come back, then that means that I wasn’t able to convince them.” He then left, letting the door shut behind him as well.