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"Her name was Wicked. Wicked Witch of the West. And east. She might have killed the other one." His eyes finally focused as Tsurai neared them, tilting his head to the side. "It is strange. He was her little b***h. I'm surprised he managed to make it all the way here without her dragging him by the ear."

He folded his arms over his chest, sighing, shaking his head back and forth.

He shrugged at first, unsure. "Talk to him. See what happened to his slave-mistress, and what he came for. For all of Isiah's barking I don't think he deserves the bum rap he got. Not completely."

It was Kaegan's nature to be forgiving. Not Isiahs. "And who knows. Any amount of things could have happened in the time he's been gone."

Kaegan looked to Connor and tilted his head slightly. "It makes no difference to me," he started, "But I think Beta might need you." Before turning back to Tsurai. "What happened to the wicked witch?"

He was planning on being extremely straightforward. It was always simpler that way, and from what he could remember, Tsurai was a simple thinker. The situation was all ready too complicated.

He smiled weakly at Tsurai's curiosity. The boy must have been nearing his twenties, but he still acted around.. oh, nine. Maybe ten.

"That doesn't matter right now, Tsurai. Or Jake. Whichever you'd prefer." He unfolded his arms and put his hands into his pockets. "Is that why you came back, then?" He was referring to Alex's death. There could be any amount of reasons why that would have made him leave. The grief could have been too much, or without Alex's protection, Tsurai's.. less than predictable attitude would have been dangerous. And so many more..

He wasn't sure if he wanted Tsurai to know if Isiah was still around. He assumed Tsurai would. But he wasn't sure how Tsurai would react to that- whether he would go and attempt to talk to him, or painfully ignore him. Either case would be difficult. Tsurai's mere presence was difficult.

He frowned a little. "Well. Things are different here. If you're not a denzien, you have to pull your weight. And that's hard to do considering the resources. If you think you're up to that, and you give me as much information about this last place you were staying as you can, you can stay."

He glanced back to see if he could spot either Isiah or Connor, but he couldn't. Isiah had holed himself up in his mud-brick hut in an attempt to ignore what was happening. He wasn't sure how to deal with it just yet.

He grunted, almost shuddering as Tsurai made a horrible reference to the great migration. "The great migration, Tsurai, was moving from a deathchoked barren tundra wasteland to somewhere with food and water. So long as we have food and water here, I don't plan on any 'great migration'. It would hardly be great if I did. There's not nearly enough of us." He glanced back a the small but tightly knit clan he had fostered before turning back toward Tsurai. "And if you're not going to be Denzien, don't make any historical references." He paused. "The only reason I want to know about this other settlement, Tsurai, is in the event that there's a hurricane or tornado or.. god knows what looming on the horizon. In that case, an underground city would be a good place to keep the women and children safe."

Kaegan was old school in that effect. There weren't any 'children' there. At least, nobody under fifteen. But it was important to him nevertheless.

He turned and had Tsurai follow him. He planned to have Tsurai bunk with the resident Khi- namely, Braeden, since they had had previous experience, and due to Braeden and Isiah's lack of.. friendly communication he was sure Braeden would keep Isiah from doing anything stupid.

"Don't assume, Tsurai, that because we fight we aren't peaceful. You don't have any grasp of our culture beyond what.. Alex told you, and she, quite frankly, didn't have any idea either. I would suggest that if you have anything negative to say about our culture you come to me, or keep it to yourself. Being hurt for ignorance would be pointless."

He knocked on the adobe brick of Braeden's domicile. Within there was the quiet snort of someone who just woke up. Braeden fumbled over and pushed the woven cloth door aside, frowning upon seeing Kaegan. His expression changed to that of surprise once he saw Tsurai. "You're alive!" He was nearly flabbergasted.

Kaegan rolled his eyes. "Yes. Would you mind keeping him until he can make his own arrangements?" This question was mostly formal. Braeden didn't have the power to say no.

Braeden nodded slowly. "Okay." He gave Tsurai a wierd look at seeing him so clean. He wondered how they did it.

He quirked a brow at Tsurai. "With him or out in the sun. He doesn't do anything but sleep. I hope." Braeden rolled his eyes. He hated being lorded over. But there wasn't much he could do about it. The years had treated Kaegan much more kindly- especially since Kaegan had n ever smoked or done the various drugs he had.

Kaegan promptly left. Braeden gave Tsurai another funny look. "Where you been?"