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‘Sounds about right, I guess,’ said Garovel. ‘Ask him if any of them ever leave this settlement.’

“Do any of the Hun’Sho ever leave this place?” said Hector.

“No, they do not,” said Carver. “They are generally quite fearful of venturing outside the Vault. As am I, of course, but that is mainly because of the feldeath and the golem. And all those worms, too, I suppose. And the possibility of earthquakes and falling rocks. And the notion that my lamp might die on me, stranding me in the darkness with basically no hope of making it back here safely.”

“...And the Hun’Sho aren’t afraid of those things?”

“Not all of those things, no. And certainly not as much as me. Because, well, they are somewhat immortal.”

That was news to Hector. “Excuse me? What does that mean?”

“They do not age.”

“...Huh.” Hector glanced at Garovel, who gave an affirming nod.

Carver raised an eyebrow. “You seem far less surprised than I was when I first found that out. In fact, I am still not quite sure that I believe it. It is true that I have not seen any Hun’Sho show signs of aging, but I have only been here for five years, and perhaps that is simply not long enough.”

Hector supposed he didn’t have much room to be too shocked by that particular revelation, given his own status as a servant.

It still felt really weird when he thought about it like that. Immortality.

Better to just not think about it that way then, he decided.

‘Ask him how the hell he ended up in this place to begin with.’

‘Didn’t he say he was part of an exploration team or something?’

‘Yeah, but ask for details.’

“...So, uh. How did you end up down here all by yourself, again?”

“I was part of an expedition that went horribly awry, essentially. Not so unlike you and your friends, actually. Diego described some of the details of your misfortune for me. What charisma, that guy. I have to admit, I’m envious of him. I really hope I can be friends with him. He was so nice, even after I made a fool of myself and started acting like a blustering idiot. If I had those kinds of social skills, why, my whole life would have gone so much more smoothly. Maybe I could have even convinced Janice Greenwood to go out on a date with me back when we were--”

Hector kind of stopped listening. ‘Garovel, this guy is all over the place...’

‘Can you blame him? Think about it. Sure, he said all that stuff earlier about scholarly work and studying the Hun’Sho, but you have to remember, he’s also been stuck in a hole of molten death with a bunch of fiery weirdos for the past five years.’

Not an inaccurate summation, Hector supposed.

‘Honestly, I feel bad for the guy,’ said Garovel. ‘And I’d find it suspicious if he didn’t seem at least a little crazy by now.’