When Rendall spoke of the Tribe's new population, his face beamed with pride. Seeing the Tribe flourishing was his greatest comfort.
Although his own power remained stuck at the late Alpha stage, he was content. Rendall had come to terms with it. He'd already decided that when he died, he would ask Orion to transform him into one of the Skeletal Knights.
"Have you truly decided, Elder?" Orion turned, looking at Rendall with a calm expression.
The older man didn't flinch. Instead, a look of peace settled on his face. He had mentioned his desire to become a Skeletal Knight to Orion before; Orion asking now was a way of giving him another chance to choose.
"I have thought it over, and this is the choice my heart can, and will, most readily accept."
Orion sighed, a complicated feeling churning within him.
Disappointment? Pity? Sadness? Perhaps a little of each.
