Ohclaw's Disgrace
There had not been an incident that could be declared 'out of the ordinary' in the Parasect colony dominated by Ohclaw in living memory.
The colony worked only because all those in it followed the orders. Their days were very structured; each individual had tasks they performed daily in the same place at the same time, before eating with the rest of the colony and sleeping for the night. Although Ohclaw liked to believe that he was the one to impose the orders and enforced them, he himself was a slave to the orders just like any of his other people, except his orders enabled him to run the rest of the colony and to invade other colonies in order to gain new followers.
The controlling power of the orders was something that every member of the colony had grown up with. It wasn't a matter of choice to follow the orders, they were ingrained into the very beginning and nature of their species. The orders controlled you, not the other way around. Ohclaw had heard of incidents in other colonies of an individual breaking free from the controlling power of the orders and either fleeing the colony or causing enormous unrest and instability within the colony. He could only be grateful that such a hideous event had never befallen him, but at the same time part of him knew that maybe it was inevitable. He tried not to think about it. Or maybe he was ordered not to. He didn't dwell on it.
Ohclaw's colony lived under the shade of an enormous oak tree situated in the very depths of Eterna forest. There were rock and wooden shelters outside which his people had built themselves where they slept at night, a small pond which consisted of rainwater which collected around the roots of the great oak tree and ran down in gullies to the roots where it was stored. The leaves let light filter down in great shifting patches, which illuminated the forest floor with green and golden light which shifted over rows of berries which had been planted and stored by the working Parasect there. It was common to see the young Paras living in the colony climbing the trees to get a better look out around the colony and over the tops of the other trees out at the other areas of the forest. Compared to adult Parasect, the eyesight of the Paras was more acute, and more often than not they were ordered to be scouts. Ohclaw and his wife Sienna lived within the hollow at the base of the tree. As Ohclaw was the dominant male Parasect in the group it was only natural that he got the most secluded and best furnished hollow. It was in this hollow that Ohclaw was now residing, having returned from taking a registry of all his people as he did at the same time every morning. He was sat on a rug woven out of moss by some of the older Parasect and was watching his wife in the corner.
"Everything okay?" he asked Sienna, hauling himself off his feet and stretching his claws out as he crossed to her
"Yes, everything is fine." She replied to him with a smile, tilting her head up to face him, "I have been tending to it all day. My orders for the last month have been very different…I am getting used to it."
Sienna had always been in Ohclaw's eyes one of the most beautiful Parasect in the colony. The large red fungus adorning her back had always been fractionally darker than most Parasect and she had small eyes and a narrow head which showed off her immaculate shiny claws. And now she had laid an egg, their first child. Sienna's orders had been to guard and warm the egg in their home and as such she had been cooped up here for a long time now. Ohclaw himself had been bringing her extra food every day, exactly the same amount as the orders were urging him to.
"How much longer, do you know?" he asked her, settling down beside her and using one claw to lift up the edge of the moss blanket she had laid over the precious egg she was now guarding
"Not much longer…" she said dreamily gazing down at the mottled green surface of the egg, "I give it a fortnight."
"You do not mind waiting here for that long and tending to it?" Ohclaw asked her
"I have no desire to do anything else." Sienna told him gently, kissing the side of his head gently as she looked away from the egg. Ohclaw smiled at her and stroked the egg gently with one claw as he turned around and headed back towards the door. And though part of him would've liked to spend more time with his unborn child and wife…the orders were urging him back to duty out with the scouts to collect a report. And he could not disobey the orders.
As Ohclaw performed his first lap of the village towards the base of the tree where the scouts were, he suddenly got an urge to visit his own mother, who lived not too far from the base of the tree. After his father had died, she'd got involved with raising and training the young Paras scouts to work, though the orders did most of the work for her. The orders left no time for grieving.
"Mama?" he called, entering the room and looking around. It wasn't long before the ageing Parasect appeared from the kitchen of her wooden house and clattered across the floor towards him
"Ohclaw!" she beamed at him, "To what do I owe this pleasure?
"I am not sure." Ohclaw said truthfully, "But it is good to see you all the same."
"You were ordered here?" she asked him
"I believe so." Ohclaw admitted
"I'm surprised you're not waiting with Sienna and my grandchild today?" his Mama offered
"If I had my own way I would be." Ohclaw smiled at her, "But the orders tell me to work."
"No rest for the chief." His Mama laughed, then a sudden change crossed her countenance, "Oh…I think there is something I should tell you."
"I knew I was ordered here for a reason." Ohclaw laughed as his Mama walked out of the room again and returned with some notes she'd scribbled down onto some paper which she shuffled through efficiently.
"You might want to move berry production inside. At least for a few days." His Mama passed him a sheet, "This details cloud patterns as monitored by the Paras at the top of the tree. They suggest that there is an enormous storm coming. You should get everything moved inside."
"If you say there is a storm coming then I will do as I say." Ohclaw nodded. His mother had never interpreted the weather reports wrong before. He turned and made for the door again but stopped before he reached it, "You will join us Mama? You are welcome to stay with us."
"I should very much like to." His Mama smiled, "So long as I get to see this egg which you speak of so fondly!"
"Of course you shall!" Ohclaw laughed, "I will be on my way now. Duty calls.". There was another slight shift in his Mama's expression as he turned to leave
"I'll see you tonight!" she called after him as he closed the door behind him.
The day had been busy as any day that Ohclaw could remember in his career. With the storm closing in and a slight headache as huge pressure was put on him by the orders to get everything ready for the storm, he had supervised the storage of the current berry crop in the tree, given out instructions for the berry planting to be moved to the indoor chambers in the tree and that people should take shelter with provisions and prepare to sit out the storm. It wasn't until that evening, when the first drops of rain were starting to fall outside, that he felt the intensity of the orders decrease and he headed back to his room exhausted carrying claw-fulls of berries which represented the dinner of himself, his wife and his Mama.
"Is everything ready?" Sienna asked him when he walked in. She had barely moved all day and was still sat cuddling her egg close to her.
"It is as good as it can be." Ohclaw nodded, "Everyone is inside and berry production has been moved." There was a distant rumble of thunder, "Is my mother here yet?"
"She is yet to arrive." Sienna admitted, looking out of the door, "Oh Ohclaw, I am hungry do bring those berries over." Quickly Ohclaw headed to the corner and deposited the berries in front of his wife, who looked at them greedily
"You deserve these." He laughed, "Go on."
"Don't I deserve berries too, I'm very peckish!" asked a voice from behind him and he turned around to see his Mama pulling herself through the door, her fungus slightly shrivelled looking…that came with age and drought.
"Of course Mama." Ohclaw beckoned to her to join them, "But please do stop speaking in that peculiar fashion."
"Forgive me." His Mama said quickly as she crossed the room and perched down between them, "May I take a look?" For a second Sienna looked as though she were considering it, before she smiled and lifted the edge of the blanket to let his Mama take a look underneath and the egg and she beamed
"Ah…what are you going to call him?" she asked brightly
"Him?" Ohclaw asked in bemusement
"I've seen enough eggs in my time to know." She laughed then corrected herself, "Sorry…I have seen." Ohclaw smiled at her and climbed to his feet and proceeded towards the door which he pulled closed to shut out the sounds of the now gathering rain and thunder as the storm hit. His Mama looked at the berries and for a second her expression shifted and she pulled herself up to go and eat her fill. Ohclaw smiled to himself again, no doubt due to her age there was a delay in her body getting hungry and the orders telling her to eat.
"So how have you been?" Sienna asked his Mama
"Things have been good down at the scout camp." His Mama told her, "We have seen a number of exceptional new scouts arrive recently, they are producing very detailed maps of the surrounding area. Still no news on a new colony nearby yet though." She sifted through the berries with her claws to try and find one of her favourites as she tucked in to them heartily. The thunder rumbled again echoing around the room as they ate.
"One day we will find one." Ohclaw said, "And when that day comes we will be ready to take them on."
"Always thinking about expanding the colony are you not Ohclaw?" laughed Sienna,
"In reality, my overreaching orders are to make this colony as large and grand as it can be." Ohclaw reminded her, "I find a colony, I take it, we grow, our rivals shrink."
"That is how it should be." Sienna agreed, "I must say though…" but she was cut off by a sound that made everyone in the room freeze at once. Behind them there was a sudden sound like a twig snapping and they all turned. It had come from the moss blankets behind them. Feeling a sudden flush of both excitement and fear, Ohclaw hastened over to the blankets and, followed by his wife and Mama, lifted up the corner. There was an enormous crack running along the top of the green egg.
"It is time!" his Mama squeaked excitedly, but Sienna was shaking her head and wringing her claws looking terrified
"This is wrong!" she told them, "It is early…it should not hatch for another two weeks yet!" She hastened towards the egg and covered it up as though willing the crack to disappear. Frowning, his Mama edged towards the egg and went to lift up the blanket again, but Sienna snapped her claws at her aggressively. It was Sienna's orders to protect the egg. But even as she held the egg under the blanket and the rain beat at the house, there was another cracking sound.
"Nooo!" Sienna wailed, trying to keep the egg covered and will the cracks to go away
"Sienna!" Ohclaw gasped at his wife's desperate reaction. But his orders were to do nothing, so he remained rooted in a horrified fascination on the spot. Sienna eventually realised that covering the egg and willing it not to hatch was going to do little good, so she pulled the blanket off it, her claws shaking so badly she could barely hold it steady. The whole shell of the egg was now criss-crossed with cracks. Despite his nerves about what was going on, Ohclaw was still incredible excited that his son was soon to be hatched out of his egg, and scuttled left to take his wife's claw in his and ensure that she was okay.
They remained there rooted to the spot in the terrible storm for another five minutes until the cobweb of cracks stretched over the entire egg and in one incredible moment the shell exploded off the egg and lay scattered around the room, dropping a tiny looking Paras into the centre of the green moss blanket which cried out feebly and then coughed badly. Ohclaw edged forwards excitedly towards the Paras not wanting to get too close to it in case his wife went for him. It had happened in the past. Sienna edged forwards too, leaning around her husband to get a look at the baby. It was very small and deathly pale looking, the fungi growing on either side of his head were distinctly feeble looking and slightly withered. It coughed again violently and rolled onto its back.
"It is sick!" Sienna gasped, looking at the way the Paras was rolling around coughing badly, for some reason she looked almost reluctant to touch it. For some reason, Ohclaw felt the same. He wanted to go and pick up the baby which was his son…but the state it was in…and the orders in his head were against him making any such action. Sienna bent down towards the baby and looked at it. The Paras looked up at her with big eyes and suddenly, as though she had been stung, Sienna recoiled, looking horrified.
"Sienna?" Ohclaw asked her desperately, taking his wife's claws in his hands and pulling them down, "Oh Sienna! What is wrong?"
"We are cursed." Sienna wailed, "I am shamed!" and with that she broke out of Ohclaw's grip and vanished down the staircase at the back of the room at high speed sobbing audibly
"Sienna!" Ohclaw yelled after her and he felt the familiar strong impulse to run after his wife, so with only a small twinge of guilt, he left the side of the sickly, weak looking Paras to run down the stairs after his wife, leaving his Mama stood alone with the baby. He found his wife in their private chambers near the centre of the tree collapsed on the floor racking herself with silent sobs.
"Sienna?" he asked her quickly, "The baby we cannot leave him…"
"I cannot bear to look at it again!" Sienna shrieked, "I cannot bear the shame."
"He is only ill." Ohclaw reassured her, "He will recover with time."
"He will not, he will not." Sienna still sounded grieved, "You did not see his eyes. He has eyes of the devil. Of the worst kind. He will never get better and now our family is shamed."
"There is nothing wrong with his eyes." Ohclaw reassured her quickly and for the first time Sienna looked back up at him, looking more grief stricken than Ohclaw had ever seen her in his life, "Now we must go back upstairs. We must look after our son."
"That…is not my son." Sienna wailed and then turned her back on her husband. Ohclaw could have stayed and comforted her longer, but suddenly his orders were to return to the main room where his Mama and the Paras were. He could hear the cries and coughs of his ill premature son from down the staircase and he turned his back on Sienna and ascended the stairs back towards the room he'd recently vacated. His Mama was still standing close by to the Paras looking at him in bewilderment.
The Paras was starting to cry now, loud noisy tears. He was evidently wondering where his parents were, why they weren't tending to him. Ohclaw crossed the room quickly and approached his son, bending down to look at him and take him up in his claws. And then he looked into his son's large open eyes and felt every inch of fatherly love and compassion drain from him in an instant. He felt briefly very empty and then physically sick and complete disbelief. The Paras tried to pull itself towards what it recognised as its father but Ohclaw backed away before it could reach his claws and it started to cry again pitifully.
"Ohclaw? What's wrong?" his Mama asked him quickly, and then she looked into the eyes of the young Paras and her breath seemed to leave her, "Ohh…" her voice trailed off into nothing.
The Paras looked around at them mournfully with its large white eyes. But its eyes weren't just plain white like every other Parasect in the colony. It had large black pupils in the centre of its eyes. That would also explain why it was crying so much and not actively seeking out its mother and father. This Paras, his son, his own flesh and blood, was very obviously out of the control of the orders. This Paras wasn't being influenced by the orders at all. He was independent.
"Ohclaw…" his mother said quickly, shaking herself and stepping towards her own son, "He needs you."
"Do not touch me." Ohclaw said revulsed, anger starting to well up within him, both anger from himself, and anger brought upon by the orders.
"He's your son."
"I don't want anything to do with that." The creature which only a few short minutes ago he had been desperate to give love and affection was now alien and repugnant. It let out more sickly coughs and cried even louder. He backed away another two steps, as if his condition was contagious.
"Ohclaw listen to yourself." His Mama said quickly, "This is your son." Ohclaw was fighting to control himself as the anger built up inside him, but he spoke as softly and as coldly as he could manage.
"Get it out of here." He told her in an angry whisper
"What?"
"Get it out of my house. It is a monster."
"But he's sick."
"You take it. Get it out of my sight." And with that he turned about and headed back towards the bedroom to comfort his wife some more and try and get over the sick feeling of shame and dread he had in his stomach when the colony found out that the chief, Ohclaw, had been the father of a weak, sick son who was out of control. It was the ultimate disgrace.
"At least name him…" his Mama appeared at the top of the staircase looking thoroughly mortified. Ohclaw considered for a moment. They'd never come up with a name.
"He does not deserve that honour." He told her before turning his back firmly on her and disappearing down the last few flights of stairs without turning back. As he reached the bedroom he closed the door, shutting out the cries and wails of the ill, dreadful Paras at the top of the stairs
