The Skraelings remained lost in their reflections and choices, completely unaware of what happened in the world. They had the ability to turn themselves back into River Angels if they so chose, and they could do this freely now they found themselves masterless with the mysterious disappearance of the One.
Would they like to change? Did they want to take this opportunity?
They could become creatures of beauty and of astounding power. Fairy-like creatures of water. Consideration of water gave the Skraelings pause, particularly as attaining their River Angel form meant drowning themselves in its vileness, but for the moment they passed over it and thought only of the beauty and power of the River Angels as Isaiah had showed them.
“But of course,” Ozll said into the Skraelings’ reflection, “the River Angels were not just beauty and power, were they?”
The Skraelings considered this also, and took pause to resent Ozll a little, for he’d begun to sound as if he were their conscience, and that they did not like.
“They were quite murderous,” said the female, Graq. “They were vile, too. Isaiah showed us that. Do we want to be that?”
One of the nearby Skraelings opened his mouth to say “Yes!” then shut it again without speaking. A puzzled look came into his eyes.
“We don’t want to think of that,” said another Skraeling. “We want to be River Angels. They were beautiful and powerful and . . . we would have no lords other than ourselves!”
“But do we want to be lords like those?” Graq said, earning herself many resentful looks, although none spoke against her.
“These reflections are truly painful,” Ozll said, “and they make me want to curl up and cry.”
At that almost childish admission, all the Skraelings relaxed. He remained one of them, after all.
“If we return to the form of River Angels,” said Ozll, “then we would return to being beautiful and powerful, but infinitely murderous because of that. We were once murderous as River Angels, we remained murderous as Skraelings. Do we want to return to that? Do we want to remain that?”
His voice was genuinely bewildered and emotional, and all the Skraelings listening curled their toes and dropped their eyes.
“Would a touch of beauty and a bit more magic really change us that much?” Ozll said. “Wouldn’t we be just as foul as River Angels, if more beautifully so? Wouldn’t we really prefer to be something other than foul, and murderous?”
Now thoroughly discomforted, many of the Skraelings wondered if they might murder Ozll, just to shut him up.
“Can’t we just make a decision one way or the other?” one of them muttered.
“We need to make the right one,” Ozll said, and everyone sighed, a great gust of regret and self-loathing that whispered over the plains of the central Outlands.