"It's hardly a secret." He shrugged. It hadn't been for a long time. Maybe in the beginning when they'd had to burn the bodies to hide what they were, but now everyone knew. Whether that was a hazard of living so closely together or somehar had leaked their secret was still a mystery.

"I am Wraeththu. Humanity's successor since they burned the world." And were no longer worthy of it, according to the predominant way of thinking. Very few hara he could think of enjoyed their human counterparts and many even forgot their human pasts. There would be fewer of those now, though, as more and more harlings were born, never having been human in the first place.

"There's nothing wrong in feeling, despite what the Gelaming say. It might hurt, but at least it isn't ice. Feeling may even be the greatest strength one might have." There was power in it that could be harvested. Raw, fierce, and unrestrained, sometimes, but power nonetheless.