Skullfucker Mike stared at him. Behind him, Topaz slid down to the ground and buried her head in her knees. Murmurs swept the crowd. And then Sasha spoke up.

“Your friend saved my life.”

Mike looked over and seemed to notice her for the first time.

“And who are you?” His voice was not unfriendly. It wasn’t exactly warm, either.

“My name is Sasha,” she said, her voice clearly on the edge of a sob. She looked from Mike, to Tule, to Topaz, to the crowd, and then back to Manny. He saw panic in her eyes, barely held in check by a cage of steely resolve.

“I…made a mistake. I left my home for the Kingdom. I thought it was the right thing to do. I met Marigold while I was there and she helped me see how wrong I’d been.” She pointed to Roland. “I tried to help him free your people. We all tried. But they were ready for us. They shot him,” she gestured to Roland, “…they shot him a lot. They had us all dead to rights. And then Marigold, I don’t know how, but she got a gun. She shot two of them. And then they shot her. She died saving us.”

The silence that followed was louder than any artillery barrage Manny had ever sat through. Finally, Skullfucker Mike nodded at her. There were tears in his eyes and, Manny soon realized, tears on every face in the crowd. Some people fell to their knees. Others embraced and held their friends. One voice, hoarse and heavy with pain, howled out in anguish. It was met by another voice, and then another and then another as Fuckian after Fuckian tilted their head back and roared their grief out to the empty blue of the Texas sky.

Rolling Fuck preferred to mourn through activity. The wailing and gnashing of teeth over Marigold didn’t stop the city’s medics from taking Rick and Tule to whatever building served as their equivalent of a clinic. Topaz stayed behind with the gathering crowd of mourners while Skullfucker Mike gathered up Manny, Sasha, and Roland.

“There’ll be time to process later,” he’d said as much to himself as to them. “There’s a war council soon, and they’ll be wanting to debrief you.”

“Fine,” Roland said, “but I’m stopping at the bar first. I need some opium and some goddamn tequila.”

Manny expected Skullfucker Mike to be angered by that, given the circumstances. But the other chromed man just nodded and said, “I could use a drink or nine myself.”

They headed for the lift underneath the Main Roller. Manny started to prepare himself for the meeting with this “war council,” whatever that term meant in a place like this. Whatever happens, it’s bound to be weird. They reached the lift. Skullfucker Mike opened the door and gestured for everyone to enter.