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‘Not a fan of Arkos, huh?’ said Garovel.

‘He built some cool shit,’ said Voreese. ‘And I never met him, but I always got the impression that he thought he was a lot smarter than he really was.’

“I feel like we’re drifting from the subject of Sai-hee,” said Diego, again with his eyes closed.

‘Oh yeah,’ said Voreese. She looked back at Lorios. ‘I guess I can kinda see your point about this Eric Olmos being only MOSTLY stupid. She did have the kind of reputation you described. And also, I forgot to mention: it definitely seems incredibly unreasonable on Sai-hee’s part to hold a grudge against ALL of you guys, just because of the actions of one dumbass who broke her heart. You sure there’s not more to this story that you’ve neglected to mention?’

‘Oh, the story is not done,’ said Axiolis. ‘Eric Olmos was simply the lightning bolt that struck the forest, so to speak.’

‘Ah, okay. So some serious blood was eventually spilled, then?’

‘Yes,’ said Axiolis. ‘When Sai-hee confronted Eric, matters escalated beyond anyone’s control, and in a single night, her forces slaughtered every male member of House Olmos.’

‘What the fuck?’ said Garovel.

‘Holy shit,’ said Voreese. ‘I never heard about that. Even the young boys, too?’

‘Yes,’ said Axiolis. ‘And it did not end there, either. Several other Houses were caught up in the mayhem, some of which were from Sair. The Sebolts, Zabats, Blackburns, and Merlos all suffered severe losses that day.’

‘Goddamn,’ said Voreese. ‘What’d you do next?’

‘We gathered our forces and responded in kind,’ said Axiolis. ‘We killed one of her “generals”--or whatever she calls them. A woman named Ariana. She had been present during the initial attack and was responsible for at least thirty of the fatalities, five of whom had been mere boys. It was Rayen Merlo and Melchor Blackburn who ended her life, working in tandem. I witnessed that myself. It was quite the battle.’

‘I can’t imagine Sai-hee was too pleased about that,’ said Garovel.

‘No, but she seemed to at least acknowledge that Ariana had wronged us and that our battle was justified,’ said Axiolis. ‘We were able to negotiate a fragile peace, but the Intarians didn’t maintain it. They harassed her forces periodically, which cost many more lives even after the Jungle Wars ended. I think that was when those of us from Sair began to feel a greater degree of separation from our Intarian brethren than ever before.’

‘You blamed them for fucking everything up so hard,’ said Voreese.

Axiolis made no response.

‘Not saying you were wrong,’ said Voreese. ‘They sound like a bunch of fuck-ups.’

‘...Regardless,’ Axiolis went on, ‘our collective relationship with Sai-hee has remained bad ever since then. Melchor Blackburn has a particular hatred for her--or if not her, then her people, at the very least. House Blackburn suffered the worst from those battles, in addition to clashing with Abolish around that time as well. I believe Darktide went on a veritable crusade sometime thereafter. A largely successful crusade, from what I have heard.’