The band of nine Gelfling came into the village close together. There were other Gelfling that looked at them sternly as they passed by, not recognizing them at all.
They soon came to the big house, which was more of a palace rather. It was gigantic. Gold and silver floors. Blue walls. Big, glass windows. It was beautiful.
When they were at the gates, Kira came forth. "I am Kira, leader of this group. We have come to seek an audience with your leader to find my mate and other guards that have been taken from us." she demanded.
"Are you their Maudra?" the blonde male asked.
Kira hadn't been called a Maudra, but she replied, "Yes. I demand an audience with your leader."
"This way, Maudra Kira." the guard stated. He let her in, but stopped her guards. "Sorry, you must wait here."
The guards waited while Kira was escorted inside to the throne room. She was told to wait there. She couldn't help but wonder who ran this place, but she would get her mate back. That was all she wanted at the moment, but wanted to talk peace and that the clan was welcome to return to the birth of their kind.
Soon, the doors off to the sides opened up, and an older female and her two daughters came out to meet her. She also five sons behind them.
"Hello, Stranger. I am Maudra Seleya. And you are…? Why have you come here?" she greeted. She had brownish hair, with green eyes. She wore jungle, dark green robes. She had a long dress that dragged on the floor.
Kira bowed respectively. "I am Maudra Kira. I am from the Alpha Continent. My mate and I have journeyed that far to come to search for other Gelflings, to reunite our kind as one unity." Kira explained. "Are you all from there, or is this your native home?"
"You are lucky to be alive, Child. With what the Skeksis did to our kind. Barely any of us managed to get away from there. Yes, it is our native homeland, but we sought safety here." Seleya stated.
"My mate and I survived. We thought we were the last ones of our kind for the longest time, but we found out that we were not. We found other survivors there. You are welcome to come back." Kira explained.
"And with what I hear, it is not. You are working with a Skeksis! We will not go back as long as they are there!" Seleya shouted in anger. "Where is he?!"
"He's not with us." Kira cringed. "The Skeksis are gone! He is the only one that is left. I swear. He means you no harm. He wants to welcome you all back. He knows things were out of control, but it was because he wasn't in charge. He is trying to make amends for the past." she explained.
"Skeksis lie! They all lie! He is your enemy, girl! No Skeksis is our ally anymore. We thought we could trust them a long time ago, and look at how they repaid our gratitude to them! By drinking our essence and just killing us off for fun! And with their stupid Garthim no less!" Seleya exclaimed.
"There are no more Garthim either. And it was the Darkening that caused that. It affected creatures all over Thra. Now that the Conjunction is past, things are no longer like that." Kira explained. "This Skeksis is changed. He's saved our lives many times now, and brought other Gelfling together again. Please, Maudra Seleya. Free my mate and the others. We want to make peace. That's all. And it's your choice if you want to go back to the First Continent or not. We would just like to be friends."
"You are so young and naive, young Kira. Just wait. He will betray you one day." Seleya sighed. "Here, dreamfast with me."
The two females put their hands together to dreamfast their memories. Seleya was shocked Jen and Kira were still alive after all that had happened over there. And the Skeksis was in her memories too.
When they parted, Seleya asked, "What is the Skeksis' name?"
"Lord SkekSil, the Chamberlain." Kira replied. "He is the emperor."
"Well, sounds like a royal title well enough, but I still don't trust any Skeksis. He will not be allowed here."
"That's why we didn't let him come. He said he would stay out of this." Kira said.
"The Chamberlain will have you all fooled. He was one of the biggest liars of them all. He just wants you to be his servants, young Kira. It would be wise to leave him while you can. We have our ways of dealing with him." Seleya informed her. "And yes, I'll be happy to release your mate and the guards. They are all here, unharmed." She nodded to her guards.
They replied the nod and left.
"But is life here better than on our home continent?" Kira asked.
"Near similar. Better fertile ground for crops. But yes, I get what you are saying. This is not our homeland." Seleya said.
A bit later, Jen and their guards were brought forth to Kira. They were free. Jen and Kira hugged and kissed. They had missed each other terribly.
"I missed you. I'm just glad to see you're alright." Kira cried.
"I missed you too. I thought the same things." Jen stated. He just held her.
"I see how much you love one another. Don't let the Skeksis tear you apart." Seleya said.
Jen and Kira turned to her. "Why would he do that?" Jen asked. "Chamberlain has given us everything we've wanted. He's helped us." he explained.
"Just wait. He's wanting you to do his dirty work. He'll betray you." one of her daughters put in.
Jen and Kira could see this wasn't working.
"Maudra Seleya, I take it you don't want to be allies with us?" Kira asked.
"I don't want anything to do with Skeksis. You and your guards can be welcome here." she replied.
"That's nice of you, but we have a whole clan at home to run. We need to return there, soon." Jen said.
"Well, let us have a meal together, and give you fresh supplies in that you start back tomorrow to your home. My people have been happy here, away from Skeksis rule." Seleya offered.
They accepted. Jen forgave her for the imprisonment, but he was still nerve wracked. Allying with this group wasn't an option, but at least they had tried.
Later that evening, all the Gelflings, Jen, Kira, and their guards were all having a meal in the dining hall together. They talked and had some glorious food. After many days of rationed food, this was like a delicacy meal.
Jen couldn't help but wonder how Sil was faring out there in the wilderness, waiting for their return.
The guards couldn't help but be fascinated with Seleya's beautiful daughters. The girls were fascinated with them too.
….
After the meal, Jen and Kira were given their own room for the night. The guards were too. They were allowed to get some rest and tomorrow, they would head back to their Sifa ships.
In the morning, some fresh supplies and weapons were given to them for their journey back to the ships. This clan had no business coming back. Not as long as a Skeksis remained alive and ruling.
The Gelfling group left the village, glad they had made an ally, but disappointed that they were weren't coming back with them.
Once out of the village, they had to find Chamberlain.
They all called out to him and searched for footprints. They hoped he was alright. They weren't leaving until they found him.
It took nearly the whole day to find Sil's tracks and picked up his trail. They followed them to a cave, where he had made himself at home. But, he wasn't there.
There were some other tracks that were there too, and Sil's tracks were leading away from the cave. The strange creature's tracks followed his.
"Where could he be?" Jen asked.
"We'll find him, Jen." Kira assured him.
They followed the trail. It led to a swamp. Sil must have gone into the swamp, just trying to cover his scent, or just trying to get away from it. There had been some pieces of his red robes on the shrubs as he had ran.
"Chamberlain!" the Gelflings called out for him. "SkekSil!"
After many calls, there was rustling in the bushes. It frightened the Gelflings and they held weapons at the ready, staying close together.
Then, out of the bushes, Sil came out of hiding, from wherever.
"Chamberlain!" Jen cried out.
"Good to see friends." Sil limped over to his friends.
As the group saw Chamberlain, he wasn't as they had left him. His robes were filthy from having been in the swamp and being torn up on bushes. He had a big cut on his right leg. He had blood on his hands and mouth.
"What happened?" Kira asked.
"Some time after Gelfling leave Chamberlain, find cave, but belong to some animal. Attacked me. I fight back. Hurt it enough to get away, but it comes after me. Go into swamp water. No choice. I finally kill it on land after dragging out of water, as it couldn't swim. Serve as meal. Was eating when heard call." Sil explained.
"Are you hurt?" Lira asked.
"Cut on right leg. Small cuts on hands, but alright." Sil stated.
Sil sat down and Lira and Kira looked at the wound on his right thigh.
The wound required some stitches. It was sewn up and bandaged after cleaning it up. His clothes were all ragged looking.
"Well, we should head back now." Kira said. "We are leaving here."
"How did talk go?" Sil asked.
"Not good." Jen replied. "They don't even want to try to come back with us. They don't trust you."
"Hmm. Know why. Skeksis treat Gelfling bad. Know. Yes, if they not come, their choice. Ready to leave this place." Sil agreed.
They began the trek back to the ships. They didn't get too far before dark though. This time, they didn't have to be stalked as before. They weren't strangers like before. But they all kept a lookout for strange animals, after what had happened to Chamberlain while they had been separated.
Sil laid on his non-injured leg. He had walked carefully to not tear his stitches out.
Each guard took turns keeping watch.
Sil was a little uneasy that night. He was ready to go home, now that he knew negotiations had failed with them all because he was here with them. At least he had stayed out of the village. But all the kidnappings had meant to put him on edge in the first place from before. But none of their group was dead. They were together and traveling together again.
…
It was a few days' trek through the forest to find the ships again. After a storm had washed all scent away from before, but Sil was able to lead them back to it again. He had a good memory. Despite having stitches in his leg, he had made it just fine.
His hands and face had been cleaned up in some fresh water on the walk back too.
The ships were such a welcome sight. But Sil hadn't forgotten his last trip by sea. He really didn't want to face seasickness again.
When things were ready to get back on board and set sail, Lira came up Sil. "I can offer some advice on how to handle seasickness without having to be knocked out for it the whole trip." she offered.
"Yes? Would like to know to avoid." Sil replied.
"Give me your hand and I'll show you." she said. "Either one."
He gave her his left hand.
"You see this bump on your hand?" she pointed out.
It was down on his wrist. "Yes."
Lira then pushed down hard on it. It hurt and it made Sil yelp. "Let go!"
She did.
"Why you do that?!" he snapped at her.
"I did it to help you avoid seasickness before we sail. It's a pressure point. Anytime you feel your stomach getting funky, press that spot with all you have. It should help." Lira explained. "I do." Then she walked off to attend more of her own business.
Sil watched her leave, then looked down at that spot. He felt it. He might try it later.
Soon, they were back out on the open water once the tide and the wind came about. It would be a few days on the open water again. Everyone who rode had to have the stomach for it.
Sil soon did have the chance to use it when he felt his belly getting fussy. The spot did seem to help keep the awful sickness feeling away, like Lira had showed him.
….
This time, there was a storm out as sea too, and it wasn't pleasant. Everyone kept on getting tossed around when they hit rough waters. They all had to make sure they were holding onto something. They all got good and wet too.
When the storm passed, it was more than a relief. That was when they were back near land. But not where they expected to be. This time, they were on the little island that had once been known as Gruenack Island.
Sil had never been there, but he had heard about it from the Conqueror, and the Garthim Master, and the first General. They had been the warrior Skeksis to conquer the island, but of course, there had been Gelfling soldiers helping them at the time too.
Everyone wanted to spend a couple of days on land before setting sail once again. The Sifa knew this was not where they wanted to be.
The island was pretty peaceful and quiet. Barely anything living there. Just a few wild animals. Harmless ones.
Sil's leg had been well looked after while healing. The stitches were ready to come out now.
They explored a little bit of the Gruenack homeland and discovered the ruins. There were no survivors. There was no sense in staying. The land had already begun reclaiming the village after so long.
They continued on the way back to the ships. They still had to sail around the southern portion to get home. Unless they sail to the edge of the continent's east side and walk from there. But Sil wanted to get off where it had all started.
Kira and Jen had watched over everyone on the voyage over and all, and were ready for some much needed alone time. They were glad to come as far as they had. They would just have to get by with what Gelfling they had found.
Chamberlain had more than enough friends and servants to serve him now. He was ready to get back to the castle. He wasn't going on anymore sea voyages anytime too soon.