[[Author's Note:: Been looking forward to this chapter for a while. If you want to know what Vyyr looks like, PM me, and I will give you my Skype. I will link you the dA stash link. I wish I could just post the URL, but this site has something against URL's of any sort, even when it is meant to show a picture of the character featured in the story. Really stupid, if you ask me. But meh. Have to do it the hard way. xD]]
Winter dragged on, and on, and on. Kuu refused to step foot outdoors as long as there was snow on the ground; and the entire winter had the ground blanketed in pristine white. Needless to say, Kuu got restless. When he got restless, he paced. The endless pacing drove Evan crazy. He moved things around a lot, too. Evan lost count of how many times the house was re-arranged during the long, cold winter months.
Leanna came to visit frequently over the winter. There wasn't much else for her to do other then help her father around the shop, and she got bored with that after a while. She liked coming to see Evan and Kuu. She helped teach Kuu what she could; and the Enderman was getting better. If they kept their words simple, he could understand them. Evan still wished they could hold actual conversations, though; he was sure Kuu had an interesting story to tell. Kuu could understand the two of them better then they could understand him.
Ever since Evan had introduced Kuu to cake, the Enderman developed an insatiable sweet tooth. Though he was careful not to make himself sick again. He had not liked throwing up, in the least. He also became terribly curious about anything else Evan ate. If the cake was so good, what about the other foods?
Most of the time, it wasn't too much of a bother. Kuu made a game of sneaking up and stealing a bite of everything Evan ate. He never ate more then a bite or two, most of the time, unless he liked it. If he liked it, Evan had to guard every last bite of food on his plate just to get at least a snack because Kuu was quick and sneaky.
Evan finally had an idea for a prank in mind. And it was a good one. He himself liked spicy food. The hotter the better; though he didn't eat it too terribly often. He took a trip to the trading post, which was long and cold, but worth it since he came back with a good amount of ground chilis to add to his next meal. He knew Kuu would try to steal it as soon as it was finished. He could see Kuu watching him from the other room with that usual mischievous and playful stance.
Evan finished cooking, and sat down to eat. One bite had it clear – he'd spiced it up good. It burned in his mouth and made his nose run; but he loved it. As expected, Kuu snuck up, snatched a bite, and ran off with it with his unmistakeable staticy laughter.
Though it didn't last long. Next, came a surprised yelp of pain. Followed by a louder sound as Kuu started to pant. He shook his head a few times, his long tongue hanging out of his mouth as he panted. He tried to wipe his tongue off, but that didn't help. He turned to stare at Evan as if he was completely insane. Evan could not help but laugh. He laughed and laughed, all the while receiving very sulky stares from the Enderman who... looked hilarious with his tongue hanging out and drooling. His drool was oddly thick in consistency compared to human saliva; not water based.
After that, Kuu thought twice before stealing food from Evan again.
Finally, though, the snow of Winter melted as spring started to take hold. The ice receded as the trees burst into bud and the fresh green of grass started to grow on the ground watered by the winter runoff.
Kuu, of course, was off as soon as he was able. He was sick of being cooped up inside and had a whole winter's worth of pent up energy to release. Instead of teleporting around once outside, he ran; stretching out his legs and releasing all that energy. He teleported off somewhere after a bit, only to return with a shining chunk of quartz.
Brrr-uk! He sounded quite pleased with himself before he was off again. Evan, too, had grown restless. It had been too cold to do much work outside. He decided to go down to his mine and get to work on the vein of gold he had found before winter set in. Kuu would find him; he knew it.
He only worked a few hours; it was still quite cold, and his hands stung after a while. But he managed to get most of that vein of gold mined.
There was still no sign of Kuu. He was probably off gods knew were letting out a winter's worth of cooped up energy. He pushed his cart ahead of him, whistling to himself when he saw a flit of shadow and heard the familiar chirp of an Enderman.
"I knew you'd find -" He looked up, only to see that the glowing eyes staring back at him most definitely did not belong to Kuu. "Oh gods... you're not Kuu..." He felt cold all over as his chest tightened up and his heart beat a mile a minute. He remembered the last time they'd met an Enderman that was not Kuu. It had resulted in a vicious battle that could have cost his friend his life.
The Enderman looking back at him was taller then Kuu, and appeared to be a bit more muscled. Its entire body was covered in scars. Its face was scarred up, as well as both shoulders, its hips, its arms, and its legs. He had a line of scars just above its crotch, and across its upper chest; like great big tooth marks. It looked as if it had been in the mouth of a great beast. Its right leg was crooked in two places. It looked scarred up as well; as if it had been broken badly and not healed quite right. One claw on its right foot was missing. Three claws were missing on its right hand; though this was less noticeable with the claws retracted. It looked like it had been through a lot in its life. Around its neck were two chains. One attached to two shining green stones; Ender Pearls, Evan realized. One was quite large, easily as big as both his fists together, and the other half the size. On a smaller necklace, so it sat higher up was a strange pendant. It was made of shining silver, in the shape of a fox's head surrounded by tails. Set in the center of the fox head's forehead was an oval moonstone gem. The Enderman had hair that was roughly shoulder length, slightly wavy and just a little messy with a single lock hanging between its glowing eyes. The hair appeared silky soft, flowing slightly in the gentle breeze that had whipped up.
There were two things Evan noticed as he slowly backed away from the Enderman. First was its posture. As he looked at it, the Enderman's mouth had remained closed. Its stance changed slightly as it lowered its head and relaxed its body. It looked alert, ready to teleport away at the drop of a hat, but relaxed at the same time. Confident, even. It took a single step back. There was no growl, or hiss. In fact, Evan saw absolutely no aggression in the strange Enderman's eyes. Something about its gaze reminded Evan of an old soldier. His gaze was... old. Wise. Gentle.
Evan jumped as a flash of black rushed between him and the new Enderman. He recognized Kuu instantly by his defensive posture and fierce growling. A look of surprise passed over the other Enderman's face.
'You know this human?' The newcomer chirped and cooed, with the occasional click and soft growl mixed in. And yet... SOMEHOW, Evan could understand him! Completely dumbfounded, the human could only stare in shock.
He heard Kuu's chirping and cooing back; recognizing 'Yes, he friend' in the midst of it all.
'Oh?' The other Enderman questioned. The next series of chirps, coos, growls, and clicks from Kuu had the newcomer listening in rapt attention. Kuu kept motioning towards Evan. There was the occasional chirp from the other Enderman. Kuu's posture changed quickly from defensive, to friendly. His chirping and cooing changed to friendly as well. He stepped aside, allowing the other to approach him. He noticed the new Enderman had an odd limp, clearly favoring his right leg. He moved a little stiffly.
'I am Vyyr of the Shadowkin. Your kin call our kin Endermen; I am not sure why' He chirped softly. 'Your young friend tells me you saved his life.'
Evan stared, completely dumbfounded, with got a soft chuckle from the newcomer.
'You wonder why you understand me.' Vyyr said, tilting his head slightly. His gentle gaze did not leave the human.
Evan could only nod.
Vyyr lightly tapped the pendant that hung from his neck. 'This is a Translation pendant. Anything I say you can understand. Anything you say, I can understand; even though I learned your language long before I got this.'
"S-so, you are... Vyyr?" Evan asked. Vyyr nodded. "It sounds oddly like a purr." the human observed. That got a soft laugh out of the new Enderman.
'Fitting comparison.' He commented.
"I- I'm Evan." Evan said, finally finding his manners. "Of the... humans. And.. yes, I do believe I did save him. He ran into my home from the storm. I bandaged up his wounds. Sorry if I am a bit nervous, we had a bad run in with a female of your kind a while back."
'Our females are more aggressive then our males, this is true. But even a female will not attack unprovoked.' Vyyr said. Then his lip curled slightly. 'Unless they are worshipers of the Beast.'
Kuu chirped nervously and stepped back at that. Vyyr glanced towards him as he chirped and cooed nervously, and finally turned and pointed at the back of his neck. Evan remembered the mark there from when Kuu had been frightened of the Thunderstorm when they first met.
'The Mark?' The newcomer narrowed his eyes a bit. But he seemed to calm fairly quickly. 'You may bear the mark but you follow the true nature of our kind. You were born to a Colony that worshipped the dragon; but you are not with it now. The mark is meaningless.' There was another pause as Kuu spoke something back, followed by a nod from Vyyr.
Evan was starting to feel really cold, though. The sun was going down, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. Evan could see his breath on the air.
"I think we should get home." He said, after a moment. "You can come along, of you want, Vyyr."
That got a nod from Vyyr.
'I will come. A bit of company would be nice.' Vyyr said. 'It has been entirely too long since I have seen one of my own kind in these parts; or a human who is so accepting of us.'
Evan headed back to his house, Kuu teleporting ahead excitedly and Vyyr following behind slowly. His limp was more clear now, as he walked behind Evan stiffly.
"Male, or Female?" Evan asked Kuu, though he thought he knew the answer. He was assuming male.
'Male.' Kuu confirmed.
"He is calm." Evan said.
'He is old.' Kuu said.
"Odd. He doesn't look old." Evan said, as he looked back at the Enderman. Aside from his limping steps and slow movement, he seemed youthful. His eyes were bright and healthy, his particles strong and plentiful.
Vyyr, though, was moving more slowly. He winced and rubbed at his back, with a soft sound of displeasure.
"Are you allright?" Evan asked. That got a nod from the Elder.
'I am fine.' He cooed softly. 'Old wound. It hurts sometimes, but it will pass.'
"How often does it get... like that?" Evan asked.
'Often enough.' The elder Ender said, putting it simply. He straightened back up, to follow them the rest of the way. They arrived home soon enough. Kuu teleported inside. Vyyr stooped and walked through the door. He glanced at the fire with an approving chirp then looked around the livingroom. He took in several breaths of air through his nose; scenting the place, Evan realized. He saw Kuu do that whenever he was somewhere new. He always looked around and scented the air. Perhaps all Endermen did that.
'Young Kuu'Ruhhr's scent is strong here.' Vyyr said. 'I assume he lives here with you?'
Evan nodded. "He does." he said.
That got a smile from Vyyr. Then he noticed that Evan was looking at his pendant.
'I got this pendant recently.' He said. 'From the Fox-with-Many-Tails.'
"Fox of Many Tails?" Evan questioned.
'She calls herself Shining-moon.' He paused. '… Some things are lost in translation.' He tapped the pendant with a claw. 'Could you bring me paper, a quill, and ink? I must write her name for you to understand it properly.'
Evan nodded. He was actually surprised – an Enderman that could understand him, AND write? He tore a page out of the back of his journal, and brought it over.
Vyyr wrote carefully. Evan noticed that his handwriting was actually very neat, and strangely pretty.
"Moonshimmer." Evan read out loud. "What do you mean by fox with many tails?"
'Exactly as I say. Sometimes, she looks like a human-who-smells-of-fox. Sometimes, she is a fox. Sometimes large, sometimes small. In all of these various states she has many tails. I have counted five.'
"A.. Kitsune?" Evan wondered. "But they're not... aren't they just legend?"
Vyyr shrugged. 'Then Shining-moon is a living legend.' He said simply. 'As for the writing...' He looked down at the paper, where the kitsune's name was written. 'I learned to understand, and write, the speech of the humans. For a very long time, this was how I communicated. I kept parchment, ink, and quills with me everywhere I went. After Shining-moon gave me this pendant, I no longer have need of paper and ink. It is much easier then writing. I leave my paper and ink in my home.'
"Why did you learn to understand and write our language?" Evan asked curiously. He hoped the elder wouldn't grow annoyed with his questions, but he was terribly curious.
'Humans, and Shadowkin did not understand eachother. Humans feared the Shadowkin; Shadowkin feared the humans.' He explained. Evan still found it odd to hear the strange chirping and cooing tongue of the Enderman, but understand it as if he was speaking perfect common. 'Too many were dying on both sides. I wanted to stop the fighting.'
"So you wanted to make peace?" Evan asked.
'Yes.' Vyyr replied. 'I felt that if we learned to understand eachother, we would not fight eachother. That perhaps this world could be a safe haven for our kind. Too many of the Shadowkin have died at the claws of the Dragon. I fear to say the Shadowkin have become rare. We came here, when we could escape. We feared the humans, and fought to defend ourselves. The humans, in turn, feared us. Your kind think the Shadowkin are monsters. But we are not. We are simply afraid; in a strange world filled with strange and dangerous things and creatures. We run from the true Monster of Darkrealm; the Dragon. I believe your kin call Darkrealm the End.'
"A dragon..." Evan mused. "Is that... where all your scars are from?" He asked.
Vyyr nodded. 'I attacked the Beast.' He said. 'I was strong once, but now I am an old cripple.' The odd thing was that he did not seem upset over his damaged body. In fact, he spoke with an odd sense of amusement in his tone. After a moment, the elder changed the subject. He was not fond of talking about the beast. 'You do want to speak with young Kuu'Ruhhr, right?' He questioned.
"Very much so." Evan said. He didn't notice the subject change; the idea of actually talking to his friend was too promising and exciting to him. Kuu chirped excitedly. He, too, wanted to be able to talk to Evan! They could understand eachother to a point... but learning had been slow for both of them. They could communicate basic things, but Kuu desperately wanted to communicate more.
'I will go to Shining-moon; She will make him one of these Translation Pendants.' Vyyr said.
"She'd do that?" Evan asked, trying not to sound TOO excited.
'Gladly. She took a long time to make mine because she had a hard time finding the right spell. But she said it is very easy to recreate.' Vyyr said. 'It will still take her a few days to finish the spell, though.'
"That's perfectly allright! Kuu and I have lived together for a year now." He said. "We can wait a few more days."
Vyyr smiled. 'I will go to Shining-moon now. I will return when the sky turns light again tomorrow; there is something I want to teach Kuu'Ruhhr.'
He slowly and stiffly stood. As he made his first step towards the door, he hunched over with a sharp growl of pain. The sound startled Evan, who stood quickly in worry. Panting a bit, Vyyr carefully tried to make a step, but his legs just... sort of stopped working on him. He realized he couldn't move them anymore. He quickly tried to find something to lean on or catch his balance on, but there was nothing near enough. He crumbled to the floor with a soft thud and a grunt of pain before Evan could catch him.