Stone Circle the away mission

The further Tulimaq explains, the more hungry he grows, and Merrit knows that this name of a warrior is one he wants to bear. He could be a defender, a protector; he could be what Ezra is, and what his father should have been if he hadn't left... if his illness had lifted... if someone had been around to heal him...

"You're a warrior yourself, boy," and Merrit is shaken from his thoughts with a resounding no. No - he was a poet, a scholar - but he doesn't object. Instead, he feels a fire in his chest that only radiates outwards, a warmth that he recognizes, but has never quite felt this strongly before. This is different than what he feels when his mother or sisters praise him, different from when Ezra offers him a silent look, or a nudge to encourage him along. Those feelings are good - but this feeling is different, and he clings to the praise of this man with a hunger he didn't know he had, and a burning want to feel that fire again.

"I will be a warrior," he says, fixed in his resolve. He will learn to defend and protect his people, his family. Stark is gone, but Merrit - well, he is still here, and he will become everything his father will never be. "But... no one's called a warrior here," and his eyes shine as with a fever, intense and wanting. Instincts were not enough; he needs to learn. "Will you teach me more?"