Salem strained to listen to Myitt and Terenia for as long as he could, but they were soon out of earshot in the woods. He started when a Hork-Bajir dropped from the trees. He hadn't noticed it before. He had to remember to stop thinking in two dimensions on a planet with them around. That was the second time one had snuck up on him. He sighed and turned to say something to Mar, but then Mar addressed the Hork-Bajir as Ossanlin. Salem did a double-take.
Morphing, he reminded himself. Got to remember the morphing. Anyone here could be an Andalite.
He listened to Mar's apparent good nature at the pain and suffering with growing unease. Wasn't this the type of being so many cultures had stories about? The darkness, the creeping beings that kept watch over so many races and wreaked havoc and destruction? And now he was thinking about dealing with it? It might be smart to find out a bit more before going through with it. He wondered where Myitt had gone. She seemed to know a fair amount about how Mar worked. He wondered if she'd speak with him.
Ossanlin spoke a phrase in a language Salem had never heard; not enough for the translator chip in his head to pick up on it. He switched to thought-speech, however. Salem listened to Ossanlin, the confused feelings growing inside him. On one hand, he hated to see a War-Prince second-guessing himself like this, and he knew the Andalite was being too hard on himself. On the other hand, the honor and the ideals that he was describing were the same ideals that Salem had learned to reject over the years.
"Andalite," he said, his voice cracking a bit from the time he'd been standing there silent. "War-Prince. I don't know what happened out here tonight, but no one can know the future. No mortal, anyway," he added, with a sidelong glance at Mar. "Everyone will make mistakes. Even you. Even me. The pain doesn't go away. You just push it down. Striving for anything more'll leave you disappointed. The idea is always to use what you have and grow from it. Use the regret, Andalite, and grow from it. Don't fight it."
He turned to Mar. "I'll find you later," he said. Without another word, he turned on his heel and strode into the forest in the direction Myitt and Terenia had gone, hoping to find Myitt.
***
Al looked around again. With a slight shrug, he began to walk away from the bar, towards his ship. He caught sight of Tora walking towards the bar and cracked a smile.
"Crazy place, eh?" he said with a wave and a gesture towards the door. "Bit rougher than I'm used to, but nice. At least no one's going to die this time. Death always ruins my mood. I like the au natural look, by the way," he said, pointing at her feet. "I might do the same." His imaged flickered, and his outfit changed to match Tora's. "I'm Al."
He turned to watch as Fred's ship landed in the shipyard, and seemed about to say something to him as he walked through the door, but the... thing was apparently in a hurry. He shrugged at Tora.