Draft #247 - Temper
My anger slips from me sometimes, especially when it is on the behalf of my loved ones. I get angrier and angrier the more helpless I feel. And lately... Lately I feel as though I have no use to anyone.
Spirits... Spirits. I must put my faith into others in order to get anything done.
And all I can do is wait. That is perhaps the worst of it all.
***
Spies. They were a wealth of information if you had one you could trust. Unfortunately, most people who do spying as a living are only after a paycheck, regardless of any ounce of loyalty they may feel.
There were countless options available to him, especially as Vokkra. He could hire a private investigator, both Vokkran or human. He could even get a third-party Arnoxi to assist. Anyone willing, for the right price at least, he could get.
It always ran the risk of hiring someone who would spill his secrets to the Outkasts, and considering how despicable those horrid beings were, Rulshkka wouldn't put it past them to torture the information out of any spy he may hire, should they catch wind of who they were.
Which is why he needed someone very good at spying.
Instead of trying to find one and foster goodwill between them, Rulshkka just opted for blackmail.
Sneaking out of the manor had been a bit difficult, but after telling Thruul what he planned to do, his beloved managed to throw his security detail off his scent. He walked to his destination, no matter how slow, because any good transport driver would sell out his location in a heartbeat. At least it was in the middle of the night - hardly anyone was around to notice him. And those he passed barely gave him a second glance, considering he had wrapped him up rather well.
Rulshkka tapped at the door before him, trying desperately to get his simmering rage under control.
Oh, but how he hated the Outkasts worse than her.
"O Vokkra," Fho greeted him nervously, clutching the door hard enough to make gouges with her claws. "To what... do I owe the pleasure?"
"There is no pleasure," Rulshkka replied snippily. There was a growl to his voice as there always was when he had to speak with those from Kohgrash's past. "I have come for a reason, and you shall grant me it. Let me in."
Fho tried to reason her way out of letting him inside, but when she went to shut the door, and Rulshkka tore the handle from its place in the frame, she relented.
"I can't imagine this is a," she paused, looking at him with a blank expression, "friendly visit? No news on my appeal?"
"Is your release from prison not good enough?" Rulshkka sneered. "You want more? After what you did to my Kohgrash?"
Her eye twitched. "If you've come to challenge me... I thought you'd have liked it to be a public affair. Though, there's no Kohgrash to stop you, here in the middle of the night."
"I would twist your head from your shoulders in a heartbeat," Rulshkka said quietly. Fho went still for a moment before walking toward her kitchen. Rulshkka idly followed, dragging his tail across the floor purposefully. "But I'm not here for that. I have a proposition for you."
Fho's hands were steady when she flicked on the stove. He supposed that she'd have nerves of steel after putting up with Krrkh of all Vokkrus. "Would you like some tea, O Vokkra?"
"I'll take a pass on what are surely your most delightful culinary skills," Rulshkka said sarcastically. He took a seat on a dining room chair. "You know what has happened to Kohgrash."
"Yes," she said slowly, eyes flicking to him every so often. "A terrible tragedy."
Rulshkka bared his teeth threateningly. "I'm sure you're losing sleep over it. Regardless, the Outkast responsible for his circumstance gave me some information. Not enough, however."
Fho settled across from him with a hot cup of tea clutched between her claws. "You want me to find out more?" she guessed, voice pitching upward with incredulity.
"Yes," Rulshkka simply said, a bit impressed with her conclusions. "You are, in short, expendable. I care not for you, and if you die at the hands of the Outkasts... well, you were always a rogue, weren't you?"
Fho looked unimpressed. "Whyever would I wish to do that for you, O Vokkra? My freedom may be limited, but I'm only on probation, now. I get to see the sky once more. Playing spy for you doesn't seem to be very enticing for me."
"I will let you go," he said. Fho's expression flickered with surprise. He continued, "If you do this, I will wipe your record clean. Everything. It will be spotless."
"Why?" her voice dropped to a whisper. Rulshkka ignored her.
"But you are never to return here. Nor to the humans' planet. If you step claw onto either of our soils after this is through, I will know. You can go anywhere else. I'll even fund you a ship. I want you away from me and my Kohgrash."
He's thought about this intensely. He wanted every trace of the Ring demolished, and he would have, had Kohgrash not spoken to the Spirits on Lilac's behalf. He loved Kohgrash, but Spirits, had he made everything that much more difficult. Slapping every possible charge he could on Fho had been the next best thing. No one would find out that he had bribed the prison guards to make her stay as miserable as possible. It certainly helped him sleep at night.
Still, he had held Kohgrash after his nightmares, made only worse by the Buffet. The way he had stood out in the cold after Fho had shown her face when he held court. Rulshkka was incensed, but he had refrained from doing anything else at Kohgrash's request. Simply fumed and plotted.
And now, he had a use for someone he no longer needed. He would send Fho to the Outkasts, she would tell him information, and if he perhaps leaked that there was a spy in their ranks... well, it wouldn't be Rulshkka's fault that Fho got caught.
Even if Kohgrash would probably shout his ears off. Maybe he'd let her live for a while longer... he would like the satisfaction of killing her himself. Hmm.
He tired of waiting for her to process his offer. He stood abruptly, startling her. "Contact me when you have decided. I expect an answer at the end of the week," he said shortly, swiping his business contact information to her own device.
"Of- of course, Your Majesty," she said quickly, standing up and following him toward the door. "Thank you..."
"Don't thank me," he hissed, looking over his shoulder. The slightest edges of fear crept into her face. "I am not doing this for you. It is for my Kohgrash lying almost dead in his room. I want revenge."
Her face shuttered into something determined. "I understand that," she confessed quietly. Rulshkka did not care for what she meant exactly, so with nary a goodbye, he left. He didn't hear the door click shut behind him until he rounded the block.
Thruul greeted him with a smile and a tilt of his head. Rulshkka merely shrugged. Fho would take the offer, he was certain of it. But how soon she would reply was anyone's guess.
He spent the night with Kohgrash's small hand in his own, feeling the slight fingers twitch every so often. His eyes were unmoving behind his lids, unlike the rapid flicker they usually did while he slept. While he dreamed. Rulshkka hoped that, whatever he was dreaming about now, it was pleasant.
He got a reply in the morning. It simply read:
> I'll do it.
Rulshkka's smile was reminiscent of a shark's.
***
Fho went to the new Outkast establishment that Thruul, Rulshkka, and Kohgrash visited. He gave her instructions to work her way into the fold by playing up her displeasure about his leadership. It'd be easy for someone like her, he had told her dryly. She hadn't responded to that quip.
He didn't care how she did it, just that she made it work. And lo and behold, she actually did.
While Rulshkka had been expecting success - he hadn't picked her for no reason, after all - he hadn't really been hoping for it. Her failure meant he could kill her for breaking her probation. Either way, this endeavor would benefit him.
He sporadically got updates throughout the next few weeks, sprinkled between long nights at Kohgrash's side and challenging Vokkrus for the slightest insults. Thruul worried for him, but Rulshkka brushed him aside, brushed everyone aside. The only thing that could fix how he felt was Kohgrash waking up, and despite having twitched his fingers a few more times, he remained in a deep sleep.
Thruul often tried to theorized what was happening, that Vi'mrakka had been a conduit, confirmed by the hazy recollection Rulshkka gave about hearing Them speak. He told Rulshkka that the Spirits were healing Kohgrash. That there was simply no other conclusion to draw. The Spirits were sleeping, and so was Kohgrash.
And often, in the quiet of the night, Rulshkka would whisper back when he was strong enough to utter it, "What if they are not successful?"
Thruul had much more faith than him. "They will be."
The chiming of his phone broke him out of his thoughts, and for a brief, painful second, he hoped that it would be a text from Kohgrash, complaining about something superficial or commenting about what someone told him on his way home from the store or how Vi'mrakka had done something cute yet again. The notification was an email, and it made him frown until he read the subject line. It was the code he told Fho they'd be using.
SUBJ: Diary
I write for myself most days, but sometimes I wish there were others I could bounce my thoughts off of. Even just a couple of a Clorklxats would work.
There was more written, much more, in order to make it look like an actual diary entry Fho had written. Rulshkka merely skimmed the rest. Their code word Clorklxats signaled that everything was fine but Fho was unable to get away from the Outkasts long enough to send her actual observations. It happened occasionally, and while Rulshkka sometimes grew frustrated with the lack of information coming his way, he understood.
Besides, there was nothing to be done about it.
Another chime pinged. The notification was from Thruul. A smile started creeping onto his face before he opened it. Its contents made his heart stutter.
> Get home now. He's waking up!
Rulshkka barely remembered how he got back to the house. At some point he recalled leaving the Council meeting, but was that before or after he needed to threaten some idiot into shutting up about his absence? Had he told Rukka the news or had she looked at the phone in his claws? Had Brahk been waiting for him or had he sprinted the first few blocks home before getting picked up?
There was a stitch in his side when he finally made it up the stairs and into his office, but he made it. Kohgrash slept on, but the light in his chest had dimmed considerably, and he could see skin stretching across where the gaping wound had been. He was curled up on his side, as if he were sleeping normally.
"He woke up?" his voice was tremulous. Thruul, sitting beside Kohgrash with Vi'mrakka on his lap, reached out and clasped his claws. "Truly?"
Thruul smiled brightly at him. It lifted something in his chest. "Yes. Well, he groaned and turned on his side, and that was it, but it's something."
Something. Something. Rulshkka would take something.
And a few days later, when Kohgrash still hadn't moved and Rulshkka needed to attend to his duties of running his planet - Spirits, there were so many little things he's ignored over the years and they were coming back to bite him, like the permits he needed to sign for those forsaken park benches; who cared about park benches? - he snuck away to the Sanctum to see if he could commune with the Spirits.
Their presence was definitely heightened, more heavy than they had been, he immediately noted when he stepped into the Mirror.
But that was before they noted his presence.
vokkra, the words boomed with a pleasant buzz in his skull. It was intense enough to drive him to his knees, but he somehow resisted the urge to clutch at his head. He fisted his hands on his thighs instead. how lovefearfondnessguiltlove
It took him some time to figure out their meaning, let alone how to breathe again, but when he did, he managed to gasp, "He sleeps."
and vikka? The Spirits didn't seem to want to wait for an answer this time since Rulshkka felt the familiar-yet-uncomfortable sensation of Them rifling through his memories.
The sound of Vi'mrakka's nickname from the Spirits of all things startled a loud laugh from Rulshkka. He felt settled, and yet his voice shook with nervous fear for his son when he said, "He's alright."
fathers, They mused, the entire room trembling with a hum. little curious thing lost his
Yes. If Rulshkka were honest, he had almost forgotten about that, too busy feeling guilty that Kohgrash had been attacked in the first place. There was no need to worry about Kohgrash's grief if he was sleeping, after all.
Rulshkka wouldn't ask how They knew, as They had likely plucked it from his mind, but he asked instead, "What happened? With my Kohgrash and my son?"
The Spirits told him. They told him everything.
For the second time that week, Rulshkka did not remember how he got home. He suspected the Spirits had forced his body to move, given the strange buzzing he could feel underneath his skin, but that could also just be the fear. Fear for Kohgrash. But also the relief -
When it all caught up with him, he was just stepping into his front door, and his legs could no longer support him. He slid to the floor in a heap, feeling a faint, weak brush of apology in the back of his mind. The foyer security guards yelped in surprise, hauling him to his feet and practically dragging him to his quarters when it become clear he was all but unresponsive.
Thruul shoved him into a kitchen chair and not ten minutes later, shoved a piping hot bowl of soup into his claws. Rulshkka automatically tipped its contents into his mouth, relishing in the way it burned his tongue.
His beloved's claws were on his cheeks, and the sigh of relief the other heaved when Rulshkka finally met his eyes was hot against his face. "Are you okay, my Rul?" he asked, squeezing his face slightly.
Rulshkka nodded, which was a little difficult. "I went to speak with the Spirits," he tried for a conversational tone but it ended up coming out as a hoarse whisper.
When he said nothing else, Thruul prompted, "And they... spoke back?"
A keening sound filled the room, and when Thruul squeezed him tightly, Rulshkka realized that it was coming from him. His mate spoke harshly, telling him that it'd be alright and that they'd work through it together, whatever it was. It was all Rulshkka could do to hold him back.
And Rulshkka told him, through gasps and whispers, what the Spirits had said.
Thruul's grip was slack with shock. "Oh," he said. "Oh."
***
Fho often sent him shreds of schematics of the Outkasts' new hideaway, ones she was granted access to for whatever job it was that she managed to get. Rulshkka was not too terribly interested in them, since they only had her working on the main haunted house and he already knew the rough layout of that from the plans given to the Core members.
Not this time, however.
It took him a moment to realize what exactly he was looking at. But when he did - when he did - he told Rukka that he was going to the Core immediately.
"Why?" she demanded over the phone. "What have you learned?"
"They have holding cells!" he practically shouted into the device. His eyes were wide, and he knew his claws were shaking, but there were cells in a new Buffet and he had to do something about it-!
"Calm down, Rul, take a breath," Rukka told him firmly. "You're in your home, not the Buffet."
Rulshkka struggled to breathe, feeling like there were icy chains wrapped around his lungs, squeezing and choking him in turn. There was a buzzing in his ears and despite the fact that he could see Kohgrash and knew he was alive, all he could see was him falling to the floor with a thump.
Kohgrash - the real Kohgrash - made a noise in his sleep, shuffling somewhat on his bed. It jolted Rulshkka back into the present. His phone was off, and he realized he had grabbed it too harshly and cracked it. He tossed it on the ground carelessly, slumping to the floor and pressing his head against the cold wood of Kohgrash's bed frame.
"I cannot do this without you, my little Kohgrash," he whispered to him. "And now that I know what is going to happen to you-"
His own throat cut him off, and he had to swallow past a large Kohgrash-sized lump. "You will not like it. You will not like it at all. And I'm terrified that you'll... that you'll leave. Perhaps it is foolish. But I'm scared. And here you still slumber."
Kohgrash did not reply. Rulshkka wished, wished, wished he would.
Thruul found him a few minutes later, having taken Vi'mrakka on a walk while Rulshkka worked. Rukka had called him, he reckoned, based on the way that he tossed his phone on the ground before kneeling in front of him. His hands were gentle upon his shoulders, and Rulshkka willingly leaned into the touch. He may not have Kohgrash right now, but, by the Spirits, at least he had Thruul.
"I love every fiber of your being," he spoke into Thruul's neck. Vi'mrakka grabbed Rulshkka's shirt and started pulling, and he easily took his son into his arms, snuggling him. "Every inch of your soul."
"I love you sounds a bit weak next to that," Thruul replied, a little flustered. "But I love you, Rulshkka. With all my heart. Kohgrash is waking up and this... Outkast situation will be far behind us soon."
"Ohras," Vi'mrakka said solemnly, patting Rulshkka's chest a few times before pressing the top of his head right into his sternum as hard as he possibly could. Rulshkka winced in pain.
"He'll be okay, Vi'mrakka," Rulshkka said, feeling much more certain of the words this time. Yes, he'd be okay physically, but emotionally? Spiritually? Rulshkka did not know. "He'll wake up soon, dewdrop."
Vi'mrakka made a grumpy noise. Rulshkka took the moment to bask. Thruul and Vi'mrakka were with him, and Kohgrash was not far away.
But there was a reason he was not well. The Outkasts needed to be stopped before they could do any more damage.
And by the way Fho's emails and encryptions started picking up the pace in the next few weeks, Rulshkka knew they were well on their way.
Rukka talked him out of storming the Core once more, stating they had no concrete evidence. What she said was true, but it still irked Rulshkka more than he cared to admit. The Core, especially the Founders, would not see the floor plans, with their small square rooms and large open theatre as anything more than dormitories and entertainment. But Rulshkka knew. He knew.
He dreamed of the Buffet often. He would know it were he blind and deaf.
He may find sympathy in the Clorklxats or the Montet, but he needed more than speculation. He told Fho this. She said would see what she could do.
Rulshkka, upon receiving her next set of emails, decided he wouldn't kill her after all. She was definitely living up to her uses. The email itself needed him to open it with a special application that scrambled up the text into something readable, if fragmented:
> SUBJ: Musings for Oorah
> > Oorah was a poor beast, I always thought. Poor thing forced to fight
day in and day out for the barest scraps of food. When we kept
bringing in more and more species
Oorah was always forced to fight them. He always needed to learn quickly or get harmed. Either from the
beasts themselves or Krrkh's harsh punishments. Oorah was
always smart but he was
trapped
in the Ring for as long as it lasted. I believe
he was about ten years old when the humans were brought in. I wish I could have
let him go after every fight
but all I could do was feed him. Sometimes,
he'd let me get close enough to pet him. I will always regret his end.
Rulshkka read it over a few times before he managed to figure out its meaning. Certain phrases were deliberately separated form the rest, and reading just those phrases gave him a pretty good idea of what was going on. Even if it made his stomach sink with dismay, he was vindictive to have this proof in his claws.
Oh, it certainly wouldn't be enough to do away with them, not now, but it was a start.
Different species, getting drawn into the Outkast lair and getting released. The question was... how were they able to do this? If their victims were free, what made them refrain from speaking out? Threats could only go so far, after all. And what of their families? Surely, they would notice if they were missing for a prolonged period.
Questions, questions, question. Rulshkka told Fho to answer them. She told him she would. He wondered if she was enjoying this. Then he decided that he didn't really care.
In-between updates from Fho and watching Kohgrash breathe all night, Rulshkka stagnated. Vi'mrakka was getting better and better at crawling around, upgrading to a quick shuffle that he knew Kohgrash would have enjoyed. Thruul started dabbling into cooking for show, whipping up the most ridiculously dressed dishes (that were equally as ridiculously delicious). Nohkka tried her hand at other shows outside of the festival. Humans were plentiful in that regard, and adapting shows to the Vokkrus mythology was rather easy for them. Designing plays even moreso.
Everyone was moving on, and Rulshkka still felt like he was back on that ship, an Outkast's throat underneath one hand and Kohgrash's soul slipping out from his other.
He desperately needed something to do, something other than making plans on how to make the Outkasts suffer, but he didn't know what.
Until Thruul forced some crayons into his hands and told him to draw with Vi'mrakka. He drew something that resembled a poodle from Earth. He thought their little ears looked funny. Vi'mrakka certainly enjoyed it.
"Oody, oody," he repeated, slapping the paper. Rulshkka smiled.
Rulshkka could admit that, maybe, he's been a little detached with parenting these months and months that Kohgrash has been asleep, but he's been detached with everything. It didn't make the burning guilt go away, however, and it was something other to do than think about the Outkasts.
So, he started becoming a better parent to Vi'mrakka. He immediately noticed that Thruul had become a lot less tense and asked in a worried whisper, long after they were both meant for bed, why he hadn't asked Rulshkka to pick up the slack.
Thruul sighed for what seemed like an eternity. "You are always so preoccupied, my lord. I feared that nagging you about Vikka would push you further away, and that wasn't what you needed."
"You could never nag me," Rulshkka said to the ceiling then turned so that he could face his beloved. "I'm sorry. I haven't been the... best parent in the world."
"There is no best parent," Thruul said carefully. "There is only trying. You are doing your best."
"No," he returned, voice hardening just a little. "I wasn't. I'm going to. I'm... not going to become my mother."
Thruul just whispered, "You are as far from that wretched bitch as you could possibly be, Rulshkka."
Rulshkka smiled helplessly at him, and even in the dark, he could tell that Thruul was smiling back. "What a mouth on you," he teased. Thruul snorted, rolling over and taking all of the blankets with him. Rulshkka retaliated by wrapping himself around his mate, squeezing him tightly.
"Go to sleep, you fiend," was his response.
The days were a bit easier if he were focusing on Vi'mrakka. He tried to take him to most of where he went, but things like Council meetings were not very conducive to an easily-bored hatchling. The first and only time Rulshkka brought him along, strapped to his chest in his sling that he was swiftly outgrowing, Vi'mrakka babbled and squirmed the entire meeting.
The Council members (those who survived his enraged, frantic replacement spree when Kohgrash had been... injured, at least) knew not to comment on him or his interruptions. Rukka was not so inclined.
"Control your hatchling," she whispered without heat as she bent down to pick up Vi'mrakka when he insistently tugged at her pants.
"I will break your legs," he whispered back conversationally. She rolled her eyes.
Vi'mrakka reached toward him, saying, "Dadadada," and Rulshkka leaned across the table to snatch him back up. Several eyes followed his son's blackened tail. When they caught him staring, they looked away just as quickly.
Vi'mrakka often interrupted whoever was speaking with a loud shout as he saw something out the window, or a random whine of boredom here, and a contented babbling there. It got to be do much that he started fussing, and Rulshkka was forced to leave the room, cutting the meeting short.
"Well," he told the little hatchling, closely followed by Shul and another guard. "That's one way to get out of work, hm?"
He let Vi'mrakka watch the twisting statues for a while, telling him a little about them. "Peace and Order," he told his son. "They never stop moving, to remind us that we should never stop fighting for them. Or so the legend says."
"I was told," Shul piped was carefully, "that the day they stop moving is when the Vokkrus no longer need them as reminders - that when the Vokkrus have reached utopia, Peace and Order do not need to dance any longer."
"Uuu," Vi'mrakka said, making grabby hands toward the guard. Shul looked not only deeply uncomfortable but rather frightened, too.
"Careful, Shul," he said dryly before handing his son over. Shul held him like he was both afraid to drop him but also that he carried every disease in the Universe. "Vi'mrakka might kill you."
He pretended he didn't hear the muttered, "At least I wouldn't have to worry about his father coming after me for revenge," behind him as he started to take a walk through the capitol grounds.
Rulshkka, very tentatively, started taking Vi'mrakka out to places. Sometimes, Thruul would tag along, but most of the time, it was just him, his son, and his entire platoon of guards. His son's safety was one argument he would not have with Krroal. At least he and the head of security didn't disagree about this.
He took him, amusingly, to a zoo. There were no humans in this one, and if Vi'mrakka knew there could have been, he likely would have been very upset about their absence. As it were, he seemed to enjoy seeing all the animals. And mercifully, this zoo visit was extremely unremarkable.
He took him to Korat'ska's place. His stoic ex-neighbor was always delighted to see him, and Vi'mrakka always left with some enthralling toy.
He took him to parks, to libraries, to human-centered malls (Vi'mrakka liked the little trains that turned in circles, but Rulshkka suspected he liked looking at the humans even more), and even to a new movie theatre that the humans had cobbled together.
He attempted to chat more with Kohgrash's friends that visited. They often came when he was gone, as they were both awkwardly dancing around the sore subject that was (namely in Shrrsk's case) Kohgrash's deep slumber. Despite their words stating otherwise, Rulshkka knew they surely must blame him. After all, had Kohgrash not met Rulshkka, hardly any of this would have happened.
Rulshkka blamed himself, too. Very much so.
But Vi'mrakka enjoyed their visits, and they did fawn over his son. So he put his uneasiness behind him.
Until, awkwardly, the one named Nikolas cornered him. In his own home, for Spirit's sake.
"You know," he said into the crowded room. Shrrsk, Vlika, and Kommika were huddling around Kohgrash's bed, making idle small talk to the sleeping human. They looked up at his voice, just as Rulshkka had done. "Maybe there is some good that is had by this."
Kommika snorted. "Like what? What good can a year-long coma bring?" Vlika put her hand on his arm.
"Almost a year," Shrrsk reminded them. Rulshkka had no doubt that the man had the exact day, down to the minute. Like he did.
"Well, I am meaning... I cannot remember the last time we were all here together. Maybe it was the last time he was in a coma. He woke up, then, too."
Rulshkka spoke up then, not remembering if he had told them. He cleared his throat a bit awkwardly. "The Spirits... they have told me," he struggled to say it all, but he could say, "they have told me that he will wake soon. He is... much improved than the last time you were here."
Vlika smiled at him. "Thank you, Vok'Rul. We know he wouldn't be anywhere else, so thank you for taking care of him."
Before Rulshkka could brush it off, Shrrsk said in a snarling tone, "It's his fault that he's like this in the first place. His dad dies and then he gets fuckin' shot on the way home. Fuckin' ridiculous."
Amidst the cries of protest from the others, Kommika spoke the loudest, "Shut up, Pedro. We both know that Viktor would've jumped in front of anyone who had a gun aimed at him. It was that freaking shapeshifter's fault, not Vok'Rul's."
Shrrsk's face was all twisty before it fell. "Fucking aliens. Life was so simpler ten years ago." There was a pause. "Then some dick had to abduct us."
"Pedro!" Vlika hissed, reaching over Kohgrash to smack his arm.
"I know... that we do not see eye to eye, Shrrsk," Rulshkka said quietly, ignoring the insult for Kohgrash's sake. "I am sorry for what I did to Trosk. I regret it deeply."
Shrrsk sighed, running a hand down the side of his face. "Hell, I'd have lost my mind, too. I know you're a Vokkrus and expecting you to act human is unfair. I treated you unfairly, too. Vik would've kicked my ass."
Kommika chuckled. "He would've. How dare you be mad at his bestie!"
The humans started bickering over who was actually Kohgrash's best friend, each claiming it for their own. When they were leaving for the day, Shrrsk went up to him and offered up his hand. Rulshkka took it in his, bemused. He always enjoyed partaking in the strange little greetings the humans had for one another. Shrrsk shook his hand companionably.
"We all know you're his greatest friend. And I know you would do anything for him," Shrrsk began. Rulshkka nodded slowly. "So... just kick those shapeshifters' asses, alright? And we'll be square."
Rulshkka knew what that phrase meant, now. "I plan to do exactly that."
Shrrsk smiled at him, all teeth. All Rulshkka could do was smile right back.
Kohgrash slept on.
***
Rulshkka felt the summons before he actually heard the words. It was like a deep tugging from his insides, urging him to take several steps in the direction of the Sanctum. It was a very odd feeling, but it was quickly shrouded by the Spirits clear, demanding, come here
Bemused but not that fussed about having an opportunity to skip out on festival paperwork - his heart wasn't in it, this year, and picking a color theme was not as fun with Kohgrash still sleeping somewhat peacefully on the bed across his desk - Rulshkka went to the Sanctum. He was not one to disobey the Spirits.
Bhrak was eager enough to take him, eager as that old Vokkrus could be, he supposed, and they arrived rather swiftly. All the while, Rulshkka still felt the nervous swoop of fear in his stomach, gnawing at his insides without mercy.
He had been... well, not glad but certainly relieved that the Spirits had been too tired from what They had done for Kohgrash to seek him out sooner. Rulshkka was still not to terms with... it. With what They had told him.
There was no getting out of it now, he guessed, standing in front of the doorway to the Mirror. He could feel Their impatience from here. He stepped in.
It must tell a story, They told him, forcing him to sit on the ground lest he fall right over. And you will listen.
This did not bode well, Rulshkka thought grimly and settled in.