Role

Chapter 3

Bazz idly watches an insect scamper into a pile of leaves.


"Hello little one. I figured out how to harden my skin into a carapace like
yours! I like it. The shell separates me more completely from the world. When
I change, my body better matches how I feel - as if there were a barrier
through which I watch things happen to me."


"I still remember little of the world, but it feels emptier than I expect.
Every bit I see is therefore the more precious - I've even managed to find a
bit of joy in it! I was working with a young Arial to protect the remains of
the Forest of Nowhere, and I actually felt good. I found myself smiling - and
I wasn't even pretending!"


"I don't understand why there are those who seek destroy what they see and
burn the world down. I feel I need to understand though. Not to become like
them, but to more completely reject who and what they are."


"Anyway, thanks for listening to me blabber on. My usual companions expect me
to use a tongue, lips, and so on and it gets tiring."


With a playful snap of his mandibles, Bazz saunters off.