Teige's goat-like muzzle curled into a wry smile. "I donno what else I expected you to say, t'be blunt," he admitted, scratching his neck. There was a beat as Hawk stared up into the rain.

"Only," he started, quietly enough that Teige had to cup one large ear towards him to hear. Hawk linked his fingers together in his lap and continued, "I dunno what I'm gonna do if I get there an' find out I made it all up."

"What?" Teige said blankly.

"Wull, I mean--I see shit all the time, don't I?" Hawk was not looking at him, staring instead at the ground, his mouth held in a forced kind of smile. "Like that--that death bird--that ain't real, right? That's my brain wired up wrong." The smile faltered and went out. "I hope that's it," he added quietly, clasping his hands together.

The words seemed to spill out of him then--Teige merely looked on, at his shoulders hunched in the rain and the water running off his face. "But if--if I really did see the Order take Liya, why din't I do anything? What's wrong with me? If it was real, I woulda fought 'em, right? They'd've had to put me in the ground, 'fore I'd stop fightin'. So I must've dreamed it, right? Feels real enough when I dream about it now."