Amongst The Stars

Chapter 1: Secrets

Before he could respond, their teacher beat him to it. "Keith is a Halfling, like you Regris. And that was very rude. You apologize to Keith right now."

A halfheartedly mumbled 'sorry' drifted over and he found himself smiling. He placed his hand on Regris' shoulder, nearly falling out of his chair in the process, and smiled at the older boy. "It's ok." And instantly everything was better. Regris was smiling again and he even moved his tail around in an excited way, almost like the wag a puppy would make but not quite the same.

Class was boring. They had to learn how to properly pronounce words that he'd thought he already knew. Keith was exhausted by the end. Their lesson had only been 2 hours long, or as he was learning – 2 vargas, but it had been awful. The hardest part had been sitting still for the whole thing. Every time he moved, his teacher would scold him, and every time he drifted off into his imagination she would slam her hand down on his desk. Regris had jumped the first time it happened which had made Keith laugh, and that had only gotten him in more trouble, but otherwise it was scary; she was scary. Her name was Drezlia and she was scary!

She wasn't like Mr. Kolivan scary, more like actual scary. Mr. Kolivan seemed scary but he was nice. Whereas Ms. Drezlia was just scary, she was mean and she was bossy and she was SCARY. Keith didn't like her and when Tok came back at the end of their lesson to bring him and Regris to their rooms, he may have cried a little. Luckily neither of them noticed.

After dropping off Regris they headed for Keith's room. He expected Tok to do the same thing he did for Regris: bring him to the door and wait till it closed behind him, then leave. But instead Tok came inside. He sat Keith down on the bed and asked if everything was ok, and if he enjoyed his first lesson. Keith couldn't hold it in any longer. What had started as a few wet streaks falling onto Tok's shoulder, now dissolved into a full onslaught of tears streaming down his face. His whole body gave a shudder and he took in a gasping breath as more tears flowed. Tok scooped him in closer with his tail, pulling him up against his massive body and wrapping his giant arms tightly around him.

"It's ok Kit. I know how hard it is to be separated from your parents like this, especially your mom. You are only 3 deca-phoebs after all, still just a kitling!" He sat there for a while waiting for Keith to calm down. Once the tears slowed into only a few sniffles, he spoke again. "If you don't want to go back to class you don't have to, you can wait 2 more deca-phoebs and go back when you're Regris' age." Keith thought about it. It wouldn't make much difference if he went now or later, either way he would still have Ms. Drezlia as a teacher. If he went later then he wouldn't have Regris to play with, so he decided now was as good a time as any.

"S'ok. I'm ok." He sniffled into Tok's chest.

"Are you sure Kit?"

Keith nodded against him. "I miss my Mommy and - and Ms. Drezlia is scary." He felt the responding laughter vibrate his whole body before Tok spoke again.

"She's not so bad. You'll get used to her, Kit. Drezy is just a little – intense. She expects big things and she doesn't like to be disappointed."

"Drezy?" He asked, confused as to whether or not Tok knew who his teacher was.

"OH right, um, don't call her that, ok? It's just a fun name I have for her because she's my friend."

"Ms. Drezlia is your friend? But she's so mean and – and scary, Tok!!"

"I can be mean and scary too!" In an exaggerated attempt to prove his point, Tok puffed up his chest and scrunched up his face to glare menacingly down at Kieth. The effect of which made him look cartoonish, reducing the tiny kitling into a fit of laughter. "I am allowed to call Ms. Drezlia 'Drezy' just like I am ok with you calling me 'Tok', understand?"