Broken Chains

It was surprising how easy it was to get past Rablam. Even after he had recognized him, he hadn’t made a big scene and only asked a few rudimentary questions while looking a little suspicious but still in the end simply being bored.

In the past, the other Gremlins never had let go of an opportunity to look down on him and treat him as trash, and had he come back here in the open as a cripple, Rablam likely would have taken the opportunity to take out his frustration with his boring work on him. But it truly seemed like he had changed enough that at least Rablams subconscious thought it wasn’t worth the risk to try to attack him alone.

Telling Rablam truthfully about his new apprenticeship with Scarlet, Rablam seemed surprised, but unlike Puck before, Rablam seemed to know Scarlet even though she didn’t visit the village often. Likely a benefit of being a guard. It was still unclear though if Rablam believed Puck's story as he asked why he hadn’t been back even once.

In the end though it seemed like Rablam simply couldn’t be bothered any longer and simply let Puck go into the village.

Already thinking the meeting would go completely without animosity, Puck hadn’t been prepared for the small rock that hit him on the back of the head while he was already walking towards the village in the open cavern with his back towards Rablam. But as it seemed, the other Gremlin in the end couldn’t stop himself from giving Puck a bad taste in the mouth at least.

After Puck turned around while rubbing the back of his head, he saw Rablam standing there and sneering at him. Pointing his weapon at Puck again, Rablam shouted: "I may not care for what you do, but by stopping working on the farm, you stopped providing me and the others with our rightful food. Don’t think you will come out here again without giving us what we are owed.”

Not condescending to answer Rablam, Puck simply turned on his heel again and walked on towards the village while finally truly warming himself up again in cursing one of his old enemies. But even though he cursed, there was a smile on his lips. The meeting had gone as well as he could have hoped, and he was in the village again without a problem. Now he only needed to retrieve Zephyrian and get out of the village without getting caught.

Otherwise... a small shiver ran down Puck's spine as he remembered his last encounter with Holden and his gang in the fields.

Having avoided meeting the other Gremlins as much as possible without hiding or seeming suspicious, Puck had made his way through the village and now finally reached his old home. As he looked at the small cave-like building, hacked out of the eternal ice below directly, he felt neither remorse nor any heaviness of heart upon telling himself that this was the last time he would go into it. It truly was a wretched place, and anybody going to reside in it after Puck truly wasn’t someone to be envied.

Puck's own family had lived somewhere else when Puck still was young, but he didn’t even know exactly in which home, as Puck's parents had died while Puck still had been extremely young.

Slowly walking up to the front door made out of old rotten wood directly attached to the ice, Puck tried to make no sound, but even then, somebody must have seen him come through one of the small windows as a raspy voice came from inside the door. Puck jumped a little at the voice, having unconsciously still suspected the house to be empty as it had been his once. Of course, it had been unlikely from the start for it to remain empty as the Gremlins had no luxury to waste anything.

Not having understood what the voice had said the first time around, Puck simply answered that he had something to talk about, had no ill intentions, and asked if he could come in.

Expecting to have to come in without being allowed to, Puck was surprised as the raspy voice told him to come in without even asking first who he was. Being a little suspicious and careful, Puck slowly opened the creaking door and stared into his old home.

Even though Gremlins could see perfectly even in the dark, Puck wasn’t able to make anything out at first simply because a great gust of smoke hung in the air in the building and even left through the door after Puck opened it. Coughing into his elbow, he took a step back.

As a reaction, dry and high-pitched laughter came out of the building which gave Puck the creeps.

Taking his courage together and taking a deep breath, Puck lowered his head through the door and stepped in. Slowly adjusting to the smoke, Puck rubbed his burning eyes and breathed slowly but wasn’t actively dying from the air anymore. After adjusting to the environment, Puck finally heard the shallow and unsteady breathing out of a corner of the one-room ice apartment. It came from the place where Puck's bed had always stood, and as he looked there, he finally found the new owner of his old apartment.

He had wondered who it was, that would be forced to live in this wretched place instead of him, but as he looked at the sad figure in his old bed, he couldn’t help but wonder if she still was even alive. There, on the bed, a Gremlin more ancient than any other Puck had ever seen before lay.

She must have stayed in her old home nearly all the time, as Puck couldn’t remember seeing her a single time outside. That was no wonder too. Perhaps Puck truly didn’t know many old Gremlins as Gremlins in the village mostly died young, but even he could say that this Gremlin looked more than ancient. In fact, she already looked positively dead.