skekTah needs happy times. Not sure if this overblown AU suffices…but heck, I'm doing it anyways.

This takes place in an AU where none of the Skeksis died. Not really dealing with the Gelfling or anything right away in this, but the Gelfling Gathering has occurred, which is past the 600 trine mark in VotSatE. Essence was found before skekHak died and urYa didn't fall into the shaft below the crystal…because reasons! So this is all, I guess technically, post-Legends manga, so we have the Schemer rather than the Note-Taker here.

Following the hermaphrodite path that SkekLa over on deviantART set since, in the original movie novelization, urSu stated that the urRu evolved from "a species of neither gender"…so yeah, going the hermaphrodite route anatomically with the Skeksis.

The Dark Crystal: Visions of the Start and the End

Little Lives

Chapter 1: This is Possible

"I'm pregnant, Schemer."

skekTah felt his jaw drop. Here he was, summoned to the throne room by the Emperor for something very important, and this was the news he received. It was a good thing he was no longer the Note-Taker. He no longer had papers to drop in his surprise.

The Emperor sat upon his throne, more reclined than usual in light of his sudden weight gain. It had been gradual at first but everyone had begun noting the increased appetite of Emperor skekSo, though nobody dared to point it out aloud. The reason behind this was the Emperor's business and the Emperor's business alone.

Then the back pains came. Walking grew difficult and the Emperor spent more time in his bedchambers than usual. skekLach the Collector, favorite of the Emperor, grew more volatile toward others, puffing and snarling if anyone dared to draw near the Emperor. This combination of events led others to fear the absolute worst—that the Emperor was dying and had left skekLach as his successor.

Thankfully, this was proven false several days later when the Emperor returned to active life, though he spent much more time resting on his throne than he did wandering around. His swollen belly was growing more obvious despite the heavy layers of robes that he wore to cover it. And skekLach's behavior, though lessened, remained more aggressive than usual.

Now the Schemer understood why.

The Collector was close by, hunched and quietly bristling despite the smirk curled on his beak, a completely silent yet feral display of dominance and possession. The Emperor was completely at ease, unaffected by his favorite's behavior. The Schemer, on the other hand, found himself entirely on edge.

"Why are you telling me this?" skekTah asked, trying to avoid choking fearfully on the words.

Generally, telling the Schemer anything resulted in that information being stored away for later usage. skekTah never really forgot things. It's what made him an avid and deadly spy. Any secret given to him put his current contact in danger of having that information used against them later.

This is merely how his current job forced him to function, in direct opposition with his previous title as Note-Taker.

Yet the Emperor treated this release of vital information as if it were a casual exchange of pleasantries. It confused and frightened the Schemer. He didn't like it at all.

"Because I feel I can trust you to keep your beak shut until the moment is right, skekTah," the Emperor replied. "I have trusted skekTek until this point. Now I choose to extend that trust to you. You are loyal to me, are you not?"

There was to be no hesitation in skekTah's response. "Of course I am, sire. There is no other that I am more loyal to, my Emperor."

"Good, good," Emperor skekSo smiled. "skekTek has predicted that my heirs will be born two months from now. They are mine and skekLach's. They will command the respect of the entire court. You will serve as my messenger when the time comes to announce this news. Until then, your beak will remain shut on this matter. Is that understood?"

"Clearer than any crystal, sire," skekTah vowed.

"Good. Now go. You're dismissed."

The Schemer turned and left the throne room in a respectable manner.

When he was away from the throne room, he broke into a panicked run born of pure unadulterated fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the job that lay ahead of him. Fear of the concept that the Emperor had planted into his brain.

They could bear children. He had never known that before.

Deep down, perhaps he had registered that it was possible. Gelfling and Podling had children. All life did, in one way or another.

But most life had something the Skeksis didn't—singular gender.

Anatomy and physiology weren't skekTah's strong points. Those sciences were things that the Scientist dabbled in. All that skekTah really cared to know was that gender wasn't an important distinction for Skeksis. They were hermaphrodites, creatures that bore the necessary parts of the genders defined as male and female by most other creatures. Life required both genders to bring new life into the world.

But Skeksis were of both genders at once and the species was more inclined to dislike and abhor one another. Affection, and by extension, love, was a greatly ignored part of their lives. They did not form the same bonds between one another as Gelfling and Podlings did. They were very different in that respect. Yes, Skeksis felt veritable pleasure in many things, but that was not love.

Then again, did you require love to bring new life into the world?

Was Emperor skekSo in love with Collector skekLach? Was skekLach in love with skekSo? Or did some unknown series of events between them lead to their current situation?

skekTah's mind ran in circles as his feet guided him to the Chamber of Life. He did not understand. He wasn't sure he even wanted to, but the procuring of further knowledge was much more preferable than living in ignorance of this newfound situation.

skekTek knew about this situation. He could give the Schemer the answers he wanted.

.o.o.o.o.

"So you've been told. Emperor skekSo told me to expect as much one of these days," skekTek noted, not removing himself from his research.

skekTah didn't like being in the lab. This was where pain and mutilation and suffering took place. Where dissections and murder abounded, all in the pursuit of knowledge. Gelfling and Podlings were drained here to create the vital essence that kept the Emperor looking young and healthy. This was also where grievous wounds, from battle or otherwise, were treated with less than kind solutions.

The Schemer's back, broken in a nasty fall from a tree over one hundred trine ago, was crudely fixed here with a heavy brace that was hardwired into his carapace, resembling an overgrown turtle shell in its appearance and thickness.

"How long did you know about this?" skekTah demanded.

"About four months. The Emperor didn't even know he was with child until he was about two months in," the Scientist replied, mixing chemicals and jotting notes. "It is rather peculiar. I never thought the connection between him and the Collector ran that deeply."

"How is this possible?"

skekTek paused in his jotting, looking at the other in confusion.

skekTah decided to try explaining again. "I mean, I understand the situation…but I thought such things were impossible for Skeksis. Or at least, we didn't do such things. Mating, I mean."

"Well, you're right on that account. Mating isn't very high on our list of things to do," skekTek shrugged, finishing his notes so he could turn his full attention to the Schemer. "Though the main reason we never bothered mating is because, frankly, most of us couldn't tolerate each other long enough to perform the act. In the beginning, at least. Now that we've all been stuck together for six hundred trine, perhaps our instinctive loathing of ourselves and others of our kind have diminished to the point where such activities can not only be performed…but can succeed in their primary duty."

"…Pregnancy," skekTah guessed.

"Correct," the Scientist confirmed.

"But why would the Emperor want children? He has enough to deal with, with all of us," skekTah argued.

"Didn't you hear me? The Emperor didn't know he was pregnant until it was too late," skekTek hissed. "I had offered to find a way to terminate the pregnancy but lack of information made me reconsider. That and the Emperor decided he wanted to keep his spawn."

"Won't they become competition for the throne one day?" the Schemer asked.

"Perhaps," skekTek shrugged. "The Emperor seems rather certain that he and the Collector can keep them under control and teach them that usurping the Emperor will not be tolerated. He's rather fond of them already, for having not even birthed the things yet."

skekTah paused, suddenly noticing something. "Things? As in…multiple?"

"I don't know. I can't tell precisely," skekTek admitted. "But the Emperor has decided there must be more than one. I've been studying Gelfling and Podling pregnancies in an effort to figure out how you can discern multiple child birthing from singular child birthing. I haven't found much because both species rarely have more than one child per pregnancy."

"This is all so…strange," skekTah muttered.

"It is," skekTek agreed. "It's not something I thought I'd see happen here in the castle. Mating happens between creatures that explicitly feel and express love toward their mates. Hah! It makes one wonder what skekLach did to catch the Emperor's fancy."

"Perhaps it was just being the favorite," skekTah suggested.

"…Are you implying that if skekLach had not become the favorite, it would be skekSil that would be siring the Emperor's progeny right now?"

skekTah shuddered. He didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to think about any of this. Pregnancies and mating and children. It was all so foreign and strange. Skeksis didn't do these things!

And yet, now they did.

"Don't think too hard on it. You'll get a headache," skekTek advised. "I know I did back when I was told of this."

"I'm supposed to be a messenger. I don't know what that means! Messenger of what?" skekTah cried.

"You'll probably be the one to tell the rest of the court that the Emperor will be having children," skekTek guessed. "Again, don't think too hard on it. We have two months left, if my calculations are right."

"Two months," skekTah muttered.

"Yes. Now get out. I'm busy," the Scientist grumbled, returning to his notes.

The Schemer didn't argue. He left immediately, yet his mind wouldn't stop spinning.

The Emperor was having children. The Collector was the other parent. skekTah was being tasked to tell the rest in two months that the Emperor was having children. He wasn't to think too hard on it.

He felt dizzy and tired suddenly. The Schemer decided to put off today's work. He needed a nap and time to process this.