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@calidris
I hope you don’t mind, but I did change some of the ending you wrote.  The Shrike is scared, but he’s also very observant and clever.  He isn’t as soft and helpless as he seems lol.  He’s seen too much to be easily fazed.

Don’t worry, I barely even noticed it! The Shrike is really interesting so far! I can’t help liking him, he seems very sharp and more soft-hearted than most villains.

Chantara

“You’re a liar,” the stranger said, spitting the accusation at Kongar.

Kongar just rolled his eyes and threw up his hands.

“I was kidding. Someone’s missing a sense of humor,” he said, with a laugh.

I couldn’t believe he was joking around, performing that entire elaborate thing with the knives, mere minutes after he’d mercilessly crushed my wounded shoulder and threatened to kill me. I never understood Kongar and I never would.

“You do know what a joke is, don’t you?” he asked the stranger, teasingly.

I snorted. My shoulder was aching and my temper was up.

“You don’t know anything else. You should have become a performer instead,” I said, meaning it as an insult.

Kongar’s smile flickered, and a deep, unspeakable sadness overshadowed him for the flash of a moment before he securely covered it with another tight laugh.

“Ever heard of anyone whose life turned out the way they wanted?” He asked, grinning. That wouldn’t fool me.

I knew nothing about Kongar’s childhood or past. Apparently, he’d just showed up at the Siya at fourteen and asked to join.

Kongar had a beautiful singing voice, I’d heard it once or twice, and a real love of making people laugh. What had gone so wrong to turn him into this? What had gone so wrong to turn me into this?

“It isn’t fair, you know. It shouldn’t be like this,” I said, quietly. We shouldn’t be like this.

“Bless you, silly goose. What else should it be like?” Kongar asked, lightly.

I sighed and shrugged, wincing as the injury in my shoulder throbbed.

“Speaking of geese,” Kongar said, shutting off that topic once and for all. “Our lovely friend has given us one chance less, so that’s very helpful. Let’s see what we can do with the last one.”