“It’s fine,” one of the aunts told him. “They’re older clothes—my husband’s gotten fat, and they don’t fit him anymore.”
Rina looked at her. “Have you told Uncle that you’re giving away his old clothes?”
The aunt shrugged. “He’ll get over it.”
Zekull showed up just as they were getting ready to leave.
“Thank you for destroying the Old Ones’ hideout,” Vipin said. “There’s no telling what deadly toys they were holding on to.”
“I could tell,” Zekull said firmly. “But I won’t. And Stetemo Hive thanks you for destroying two Avazatas. You fought our war for us.”
“I don’t understand,” Rina said.
“They designed us, and some other types of mortals, like the trollfolk, to make war on other Zatas more easily. Those wars all but wiped the Zatas out, and they destroyed most of the Gnoshas’ Hives
