Blood poured from the large man's chest and slowly began to seep into the soil as So'kein withdrew her Saber from his limp body. She had been quick to collect up her weapons. Then when she took a moment to look around, it was suddenly all over. Bodies lay all around them. Their group had suffered wounds from the men, she knew, even the first solider she had confronted managed to slash his blade across her arm to leave a fairly deep cut. Yet, despite the wounds she and her companions had taken, overall, it had been a massacre. Those men should have never drawn their swords. She turned, as the others went on to find Maria, So'kein knew she would be of better use to them all if she retrieved her chest of medicines first.

When she arrived back at the edge of the clearing where she had left Rin in charge of the chest, a drop of rain fell upon her nose. Then, the clouds began to weep heavily as the heavens poured. She looked on at the scene. From this high up she could see the group off in the distance. She could see the camp, and all of the bodies. "Rest your souls now, for you fought bravely, and we--not you--are the damned." For a brief moment as the rain fell from the sky, a beam of sunlight fought through the dense clouds, and shined down upon the lost souls, as their blood mixed with rain and soil. 

She gasped at it and quickly shoved Rin off of the chest to rummage through it a moment. The little fox huffed and then yawned. Though he was a bit agitated, he was used to his master throwing him around by now. So'kein quickly shut the chest and turned to rush back down to the camp. "Rin, bring that to me!" She called behind herself. 

The heavy rainclouds fought to choke out the last bit of light. But before it did, she dropped to her knees. Right in the midst of it all, she knelt down to collect a jar full of the blood, rain and earth, which had been touched by the sunlight. "Let it not be in vein." Softly she prayed an old elven prayer of rest for the dead, which her grandmother had taught her a long time ago. Then she stood and turned to join the others. Rin struggled along behind her, dragging the chest by one of its handles until she picked it up from him. "Thank you dear." She mumbled to the fox as her eyes fell upon the scene.

Maria sobbed, and held dearly onto the dead body of a woman whom So'kein did not recognize. By the similarity of their features and the way the woman mourned, she knew it must me someone of blood relation. It was, in honest truth, a moment which made Maria look very weak, compared to her usual hard-hearted nature. Yet, because it was the only time she had ever seemed to show any weakness, it was also a moment which made her beautifully human. It was a raw moment. A silent moment. And So'kein could feel the weight of it, which she was fairly certain had touched them all. 

The Blood. The Sweat. The Soil. The Rain. The Tears. This was the battle. This was their lives.