Cerea stirred slowly, her entire body aching as she began to move. A groan of pain escaped her lips as she tried to move, only to feel a hand on her shoulder. "Don't try to move," her mother's voice instructed firmly. "You overstrained your body. It will take some time for your muscles to relax."

Cerea instinctively held still in response to that directive. However, her mother talking about her overstraining, when she sounded so strong… "I...lost?" she asked sorrowfully, her mind struggling to recall what happened.

"A Keybearer lose?" her mother snorted derisively. "Impossible. You most definitely won, my child, and in spectacular fashion." Now the pride in her voice came through full force. "You could not equal me in the lists, that much was obvious...but your Master has pushed you to new heights of skill and power that our race has forgotten, to the point the Key chose you! You hold the world's heart in your hands...and that it is you that is chosen and proved yourself with it is the greatest victory I could have hoped for."

"V...victory?" Cerea asked in confusion as her eyes started to open. She made out her mother, Agent Smith, and Caboose standing around her. "M...Master…" She started to reach for him...only to pause. "Is...is there a boot on my hand?" she asked in confusion.

"Your brain crashed," Caboose explained happily. "Simmons taught me that when something crashes, you reboot it! Had to borrow Tio's boots though, no one else's were big enough since everyone else wears the super tight heeled ones."

Cerea's mother frowned as she stared at Caboose for a time. "Are you...certain he's preferable to the males of our own species?" she asked Cerea curiously. "He...certainly doesn't seem to be smarter…"

"It is his kind heart, his gentle soul, and his warrior's spirit together that make him the Ultimate Master," Cerea murmured quietly. Shaking the boot off her hand, she took Caboose's in her own. "And there is wisdom in him...even if he doesn't realize it."

"Perhaps you could explain this 'Keybearer' title to me?" Agent Smith asked curiously. "This is the first I've heard of it, and part of the Interspecies Exchange Treaty was about covering anything of cultural significance we needed to be aware of...and this apparently crosses all species' cultures…"

Cerea's mother stiffened somewhat. "It is not something to be discussed with any outsiders!" she countered hotly.

"She's one of Master's chosen as well…" Cerea murmured, pointing to the bell collar Agent Smith wore.

"Yeah, Kuku's not an outsider!" Caboose agreed.

Cerea's mother blinked thoughtfully. "I had wondered about that," she admitted. "I...can tell you as much as I'm allowed, but I will have to be somewhat vague." She gathered her thoughts. "Long ago, when the races were first being born on this world, a race came from the stars. They saw potential for greatness in us...and potential for ruin. One among them took it upon himself to protect us from that ruin, and in the Heart of the World built the Shroud of Time, that we would be protected from outsiders until such time as we could meet them on even terms. When he left, he left behind two things as gifts. One was the Gatekeeper, a being who stood eternal watch over the Shroud and the world until we could tend to ourselves. The other was The Key, which would wield for only one Chosen for as long as they lived, and would unlock the Shroud when the time came if the Chosen so Chose-"

"Oh!" Caboose called out in understanding. "There's an underground alien Tower here that makes the funky time field in the system! The Key activates the Tower so you can turn it on and off! The Gatekeeper must be like Santa on Chorus and manages the Tower! Maybe there's even another Tower connected to the Moon which is why all the extra-species go crazy under the full moon!"

Cerea's mother stared, her jaw hanging. "Told you," Cerea murmured with a chuckle.

"So is this the part where you tell Cerea your human teaser was her actual father and the stallion you were married to didn't know it?" Caboose asked Cerea's mother bluntly. "That's why you wanted her to beat you, right?"

"How can you possibly know that?" Cerea's mother gasped in shock, causing Cerea to try and sit up only to sink back in pain still.

"I'm a broken clock on a planet with funky time!" Caboose countered happily. "I get to be right lots of times a day!"

"How does that-" Cerea's mother began.

[Error: Sense not found,] Cerea's Freckle unit intoned helpfully.

"I think I'm going to keep the bit about Towers and alien tech under my proverbial hat for a while," Agent Smith observed idly. "I don't even want to think about what learning something like that was here would do...especially not after what such information did on Chorus. We've only got one Blue-"

"We've got lots of Blues!" Caboose insisted. "There's me, there's Freckles, there's Miia, there's Papi, there's Cerea-"

"We only have Blues," Agent Smith corrected quickly, "and I think without any Reds we might have some trouble if we get any sort of military action."

"Okay," Caboose allowed happily, turning back to watching over Cerea.

"Well, at least things are starting to calm down," Agent Smith observed with relief. "I don't think I could handle any more potential incidents like what we had today. I'm hoping for at least a week of relaxation…"

[Error: Murphy invoked,] her Freckle unit warned.

"Crapbaskets," she muttered under her breath.

Polt sighed as she focused on cleaning up the stadium. Cerea the Keybearer...that was quite a revelation! And on live television as well...that was going to be a headache and a half to explain, especially if it was obvious to any human watchers that the Key was alien tech. Hopefully it would be overlooked with all the Freckle units floating around and shrugged off as 'primitive superstition' considering how much more advanced the Key was as compared to anything else available outside the spaceport. The last thing she wanted was to have that headache when her folks came to see her. It would be bad enough to explain-

"A bell collar," a familiar voice spoke firmly and concisely. "Really."

Polt tensed up, all her fur trying to stand on end at once. Eyes wide, she turned towards the door and saw four people she had not expected that day.

The first was another kobold who was nearly identical to her in appearance...save her breasts were distinctly larger, and she dressed in a full bodysuit rather than the track wear Polt favored. "Sister…" she murmured as she caught sight of her before turning.

Next was another kobold female who closely resembled her, dressed in a dark brown and green nature-patterened kimono. "M-mother…" she stammered worriedly.

Third was a male kobold wearing only a loincloth and holding a spear hung with numerous bones, feathers, and colored beads, appearing ceremonial until one saw the blue wave within the tempered steel of the blade, its edge seeming to hum even when still. "F-father…"

The last member of the group was the source of the voice, however. She didn't look any older than Polt or her female relatives, but every hair on her body - fur or on her head - was snow white. Her eyes glowed golden in the dim light, and she wore a two layer kimono, the inner one red and gold with a sun pattern, the outer pale blue and white with a snowflake pattern. Her hair was done up in a bun on top of her head, held in place with three large white reptilian scales...and she stared at Polt in disapproval. "G-Grand Eldest…" Polt murmured in awe, bowing low.

This was the matriarch of their clan...and Polt's Great-great-(many greats here)-Grandmother. This was not a good day for Polt...