Chapter 19: Gypsy Tea
"Summer gentle breezes blow,
Swirling winds calling me home again
Before the wet weather comes around.
Parties and tea,
Happy times and secret meetings,
Gypsies always moving in the shadows
Waiting for the moment to return."
Year: June 20, 2308
Location: Great Lake County, Africaus Pack
"Beḷaku, Beḷaku nāyaka!"
The wolf-boy paused, his silvery hair sweeping across his eyes as he cocked his head to listen. The call repeated, drawing closer, but it was still muffled by the thick trees.
The other four elites had stepped ahead but they paused to cast a glance back at their leader, none daring to speak as the call echoed a third time.
Finally, the small shape of Samaya burst through the trees, her frantic pace leading her to crash into the wolf-boy as his partner finally caught up. She wrapped her arms around Beḷaku's waist, ignoring tradition and pack hierarchy as she buried her tear stained face into his shirt.
"Samaya! What is wrong magu?" Beḷaku leaned back into Sangloupmon as he rubbed one hand against the young girl's shoulders, the other waving the other elites away. "Take them on Gāḷi, the sabheyalli is soon."
The harpy watched him with a quizzical expression, part curious and part worried, but she nodded and took back to the sky, her partner Quetzalmon beside her as they led the others on ahead.
Samaya didn't speak for a long time, her sobs the only sound in the summer air, but she finally collapsed to the forest floor and managed a partial reply. "Rekke is not well, the light…the wind…" the little six-year-old burst into sobs again as cutemon settled into her lap, her arms wrapping the rabbit digimon in a tight hug.
"Shh…śānti magu, what has happened in the anūrjita?" the wolf-boy bent down to her level, crouching to study her as he pushed his silvery hair from his face.
"Sahōdara…" she started slowly, her words barely more than a whisper as she rested her chin against cutemon's head, her tears spent for the moment, "He's fading…I don't know…we have to get him out…"
"Shh…" Beḷaku soothed, his gaze shifting back to Sangloupmon, "Shh…Samaya you know the tondare here…the treaty must be maintained…"
"He's dying nāyaka! He'll be gone long before I finish this stupid mission!" Samaya's hands bawled into fists as she spoke, an angry glare now trained on the wolf-boy, "We can't ignore the apāya forever! You haven't seen him!"
Beḷaku sighed, standing again as he rested a hand against his partner's back, and gazed out at the forest around them. "I cannot travel there as freely as the time-hoppers…and now is not the best time, the high rāja calls on the Gaṇya."
"Let us go then, perhaps the packs can address the problem at this meeting…we cannot decide here by ourselves what will keep the treaty…" Sangloupmon's voice rumbled in the silence that followed, the wolf digimon's gaze drifting between his partner and the child.
"True…we should join the others…" Beḷaku lifted Samaya from the ground and placed her upon his partner's back, cutemon still gripped tight in her arms, and they started forward again.
"Thank you nāyaka…" Samaya gripped Sangloupmon's fur in one hand to keep balanced, the other still around her own partner as she watched the wolf-boy, "I'm sorry…"
"It is not your fault magu, perhaps this task was too much…that the humans should condemn even children…" Beḷaku shook his head, his expression unreadable now.
Year: June 21, 2308
Location: Central Clearing, Africaus Tri-Border
Vadeous claimed her seat at the massive, rough wood table next to the high alpha Alex and his mate, her eyes trailing over the two powerful nekos as she absently rubbed her robo-cat Whiskers.
"It is good to meet again gypsy, your followers remain elusive…" the bat-neko returned her gaze, his hand clutching what appeared to be a pocket watch.
The old gypsy smiled and shook her head, her gaze moving to the fox-neko standing guard behind the high alpha then to the other alphas finally claiming seats. "This meeting is long overdue but both of our positions make such planning…difficult…" she sighed and set Whiskers in her lap, ignoring angry hisses from some of the wilder nekos, "We are in feline territory correct? Don't the elites live here?"
"Far to the south…" Alex narrowed his eyes at her, his voice lower now as he cocked his head to listen to the woods behind them, "But you shouldn't have knowledge of them…you and your followers dig too deep into spirit business…"
"Settle child, I seek 'true' peace the same as you… Enough of that though, how are you handling my kids?"
"The eldest is off hunting pack records, I expect him back later today…" Alex waved the issue away, relaxing slightly as he scanned the gathering crowd, "The monkey is off somewhere, he's a hard one to control."
"Ah, Spark is an excellent scout despite his age…" Liana spoke up finally, the young lioness' eyes idly watching the other nekos though she seemed more interested in the gypsy leader and her two guards, "It is so rare to speak freely with gypsies, your movement has been long in the works."
Vadeous cast a glanced back at her two guards, one a human and the other a strange grasshopper neko, and smirked, "We move as we can, such has been our way since the war…"
Several of the nekos hissed at the word 'war', unpleasant memories long ingrained in them through pack traditions, but both the gypsy and the high alphas ignored it.
"True…" Alex muttered, the sound neutral of any emotion as he finally stood to begin the meeting, "It has been a long time since the packs were called together in this way, let us begin with the feast before getting to the tea party business."
"That's all fine and dandy, but you evolvers are hardly true nekos at this point…" a board-shouldered buffalo-neko kicked his bare feet on the table, the shaggy brown fur of his animal visible on both his thick arms and his bare feet, "Why not leave us to our kind and you stick with yours?"
"Quiet Bea, you stubborn behemoth! Show respect to your higher alpha…" the sharp voice of an albatross-neko broke in, his graceful form settled in the seat to the buffalo's right.
Alex sighed, sitting back down as the resident feline-nekos moved among the alphas with platters of food and cold drinks, "Must we always start with this old argument?"
"It would seem so…" Farsight, the avian evolver alpha added his voice, his eagle eyes watching the quarreling spirit pack alphas, "We might as well get on with the purpose of this meeting before they break off like they did last time."
"This is not a meeting we can rush…" the ocean evolver Seana took her seat beside the eagle, sniffing at the offered food a moment before waving it off, "I said this last time, where is my pickled cod?"
The feline waiter let out a faint hiss but obediently turned and disappeared to fetch her special order.
"Don't make it worse Seana, they do try to cater to all species…" Alex shook his head as he scanned the trees behind them.
"Watching for your pets? Ocean-dwellers must maintain a strict diet, you know this…" Seana narrowed her eyes at him but twisted with a smile as the waiter returned, "Finally, are we all here yet?"
Farsight winced at the thick fishy smell, moving over slightly as he scanned the alphas present, "Aside from Alex's 'pets'…it appears everyone is here…"
"Here they come…" Vadeous turned her attention back to the forest as the leaves rustled, the elite warriors stepping into view in their rarely seen neko forms.
The wolf-boy known outside the elite's private circle as Light was at their head, his partner Sangloupmon at his side and the young child Time resting on the wolf digimon's back with her own partner held close.
Behind them the dragon-protector Pyro and the dark lion Shadow leaned against the available trees, none caring to step closer or take a seat among the alphas. Hovering in the forest shadows behind the two boys their partners could be seen: Flarerizamon and Dobermon.
Above them and perched on the lower branches were the harpy-girl Breeze, her partner Quetzalmon wrapped around the branch beside her, and the quiet moth-boy Storm, his Flymon resting above his head as they looked on.
"Where is Jupiter?" the gypsy murmured, the words curious but not threatening as she returned to her meal.
"He doesn't come out much…" Light muttered, leaving his partner and the other elites as he stepped up beside Alex, "You called rāja?"
"I've told you before not to call me that…" Alex turned back to the table and scanned the gathered alphas, noting the sudden unease as they eyed the elites behind him, "Regardless the gypsy movement has finally made a foot-hole among the machine royalty, and perhaps we can finally work on lifting the ban…"
Hisses greeted his words as Bea jumped to his feet at the opposite end of the table, "I won't have those monsters among us again, it's unnatural!"
Light shifted his gaze up to their accuser, his claws twitching as he waved the other elites back, "You say that with little knowledge of the matter buffalo, is it wrong for us to fight for our honor as you do? To protect ourselves when we feel threatened?" His eyes narrowed as he continued, bright amber sparking against the normal blue, "How many humans have you slain to safeguard your children? How much blood marks your border?"
Bea growled, his sharp horns lowered as he glared at the wolf-boy, "Insolent child! Your kind was never welcomed in our world!"
Other alphas jumped clear as the buffalo paced down the table length towards the elites, the feline waiters hanging back at the forest edge as they eyed the brewing fight nervously.
Light took a step back, staying between the fuming alpha and his followers, "I have seen more of this world than your kind…we safeguard all species while you hide away in your little tribes… What about the children you helped condemn? Making a false treaty that worked only in your favor…"
"Enough!" Alex growled, stepping between the two as Liana took to her WhiteLiamon form and braced herself before Bea, "Return to your followers Light."
"I see no peace will be found here today…" Light turned and walked back to the others, ignoring the fuming buffalo now, "We will speak after this meeting then rāja, come to the meadow when you are ready."
"Insolent digimon! Letting digimon into the tribes has polluted our traditions…" Bea stopped before the lion digimon, his anger far from satiated as he watched the elites disappear back into the trees, "No neko should permit such unnatural creatures among us, next you'll let the cursed humans continue their unethical research!"
He growled again and stalked off in the opposite direction, clearly having no desire to finish the meeting.
Liana relaxed, resuming her neko form as she scanned the other alphas returning to their seats. "Change is necessary to calm the coming tide…does anyone else have an objection?"
The others shook their heads as Liana and Alex took their places at the head of the table again, some faces curious and others afraid of what was to come.