who we are and all that we're trying to be
The General watched as the boys filled with pride, the slightest of snorts ricocheting from his chest. There’d been times in the Basin when he’d watched the children of their wintry world roam too – considering the parts and roles they played in the future. Much like Kiada, with her flames, with her demolition, with her upheaval and boiling, brewing insurrection, they set the stage for what sorts of adults they’d become. They still had a zest for life. A keen, raw energy, not buried or burrowed down by the overwhelming cataclysms of life – though, perhaps not these youths. They’d already experienced the devastation of loss. Whether or not they understood it, or could overcome it, would remain to be seen. Ghosts haunted for however long they were permitted.
The inclinations of a small smile etched their way along the corners of his mouth, and he rose from his crouch, grabbing hold of his bucket once more. A brief swing of his head, a nod, was all the indication they might need, require, or receive, making his way down the routes and streets until they reached outskirts, where they could launch the mud further and further away from the busy town.
It takes dying to know
How to live as ghosts
