“Valu,” he/she shouted.
Valu paused and glanced over his shoulder, the muscles in his arms rigid, his grip white knuckled on the sonic stick’s grip. “The decision has already been made Wolern, we’re not welcome here.”
Wolern/Svana clasped Valu’s shoulder, spinning the younger man around to face him/her. “Don’t do this.”
The other man’s face, already set like steel, hardened further as he shook off Wolern/Svana’s hand. “You should be coming with us, you’re not one of them anymore.” He swung his arm, encompassing the gleaming city rising around them. “They’ll turn on you like they have on the rest of us, insist you take their ‘cure’ and then where will you be?”
“It won’t come to that.” He/she reached out again, clasping both of Valu’s shoulders in hands marked by the Other. “If you could just work with them, show a little patien-”
Valu jerked backwards, his face contorted in disgust. “Wake up and smell the ko’choo brother, they’re scared of us, scared of what they made us.” He shook his head. “You’ll be lucky if they let you live.”