Everglow: The Trials Of Agaron

30 - Negotiations

Tonner folded his beefy arms in anger. His eyes were focused directly at Spatch's and he had a wicked snarl on his beak. 

"You are a star complaining about the heat Spatch. You should listen to your own advice."

"Are you two done?" Quin interjected. "Because I don't want to be here any longer than I need to. Look, Mr Tonner. We are really desperate right now, we've got nowhere to go and we need help. Can you spare us a few minutes at least? If need-be, I can pay."

Tonner and Spatch both looked over to the frustrated carcan who was standing with one hand on her hip. 

Looking over at Ko, Tonner saw just how frightened she really was. She was clinging to the human's arm; who also looked scared out of his mind, and her jaw was trembling. He felt something deep inside him soften when looking at her. She looked so much smaller than everyone else and he almost felt guilty for refusing to help. 

He looked back at Spatch who was now staring at him with a pleading look in his eyes. One that just made him want to punch the stupid veranah in the face even more. But something was holding him back. The name Beck just kept playing on his head on repeat and he couldn't help but feel bad for the young girl, despite him not knowing what was wrong with her in the first place.

"Please. Five minutes?" Fischer asked as he held Ko's arm. 

He let out a deep sigh. Five minutes wasn't that long. And besides, he was getting paid. 

"Fine. Five minutes. On one condition," He shifted his eyes to meet Spatch's. "I don't ever wanna see your face again. Got it?"

The veranah replied with a slow nod. It was good enough for him.

"What do you want?"

Spatch glanced over at Ko and Fischer. He racked his brains and tried to come up with a way to explain everything that had happened without sounding like a complete lunatic. 

"Well, our friend here. . . actually do you want to explain it? You know more than I do."

"Why don't we introduce ourselves first?" Quin asked.

"Oh right, yea. That would help. Tonner this is Quin, Fischer and Ko. I met them a few weeks ago."

An unmoving Tonner continued to stare at Spatch with squinted eyes. 

"Well Ko here has been suffering from some rather odd. . . symptoms, I guess would be the best way to put it. Nightmares, voices in her head, horrible feelings. Is that right?" Quin asked.

Ko sheepishly nodded.

"I'm not a doctor. Why would you come to me with this?" Tonner asked.

"Because we didn't have much of a choice. You see when I found them, they were in the middle of dead space on a deserted planet. Told me they were looking for something called the 'lantern.' That Ko here kept having these voices in her head that told her to go find it-" Spatch was cut off by an increasingly aggravated Tonner.

"Spatch I swear to the angels if you came here to discuss fairly tales, so help me I will throw you in a black hole."

"I thought is was bullshit too ok. Just listen. It sounded like fantasy to me as well. But eventually. . . we found it." He looked over at Ko and nodded his head. She held out the lantern in front of her for Tonner to inspect. His expression was like concrete, not moving at all. 

"You expect me to believe this little trinket here means something? Spatch get the fuck out of this room right now-"

Without hesitation Ko activated the lantern and just like before, a whole galaxy of holographic particles lit up the air around them. Tonner blinked in surprise and took a step back to regain his composure. His eyes were suddenly filled with confusion, the ocean of light surrounding them unlike anything he had ever seen before.