Author's note- an important detail to mention, now that Crow has made an appearance in actual Destiny lore (like a year ago but whatever), is that my guardian Sov was created in my brain before Crow was introduced- this character, and his Ghost, Pulled Pork, are totally separate and distinct from Bungie's characterization of the guardian that was once Uldren Sov and his Ghost, Glint. As shown by the fact that Kipo Oak is running around in the Destiny world, i'm not trying to write canon here. Thank you all for the continued views and support!
The guardian was on edge. This wasn't something that was new. In fact, it seemed like a part of him had been on an edge ever since he'd been brought back to life. But he'd never, in all his days, been this on edge. Not only was he in a cage, in chains, he was underground, surrounded by at least a hundred Eliksni who were all ready and willing to kill him the second he made for the door. He'd been in tight spots before, whether it was facing vengeful guardians, fighting off Cabal patrols, or going to the City for the first and last time, but this… It took a concentrated effort for him to keep his breathing steady, and his heart hadn't stopped racing since they'd closed the cell door.
And then… There was Kipo. Sleeping on the hard concrete, the teen's face was peaceful. Despite the blood on her face and the cold surface under her, she seemed content, as though her dreams were showing her someplace safe, presumably populated with her family and friends. She'd gone straight to sleep first thing they'd been put in here, and the guardian didn't blame her. It had really been a long day.
He supposed he should feel a little jealous of how easily she slept, but he couldn't bring himself to it. If he'd had a chance, the guardian would have helped her clean up a bit from her wounds, but as it was, the manacles weren't going anywhere, and he hadn't decided yet whether to ask their guards for help or not. That younger Eliksni, however…. Maybe she'd listen. What was her name again?
Kipo stirred and smiled dreamily, then rolled over in her sleep. His eyes lingered on her wrists, and the bloody lines where the bindings had rubbed her raw. The guardian felt something in him, a strong feeling, something he hadn't experienced at all until two scant days ago, and it pushed back his anxiety. At first he thought it was anger at the Eliksni for hurting his friend, and that was definitely part of it, but then he realized it was something deeper, more complex. It was the responsibility of caring for another person. To protect them, teach them, to help them in any way that he could.
Was this how parents felt? The guardian's eyes went wide as the thought pushed its way to the surface. That was going a bit too far, he'd only known the kid for like, two days–?
Kipo stirred and winced, opening her eyes blearily, then tensed. "Where am I–" she looked around a bit, then saw the guardian, and she relaxed instantly. "Oh yeah. In jail! That's a first." She knelt, stretching like a cat, and the guardian realized just how apt that analogy was. "There was a jail back in the burrow, but you had to do something really bad to get in there." She sat up and grinned. "But we basically walked into this one. Voluntary jail."
He raised an eyebrow. "Why do you say that?"
"Well, I know…" she looked around, then leaned in and lowered her voice. "I know you got more guns in that dataspace of yours. That, combined with your light, I'm sure you could get out of this if you really wanted to."
Pork piped up from his pocket. "I could attempt hacking the cuffs, guardian."
The guardian sat up, eyes darting at the still forms of the guards outside their cell; they hadn't overhead, as far as he could tell. "Quiet," he growled.
Kipo shrugged. "Yeah, we're basically volunteers." Then she met his eyes. "But I'm grateful that you're trusting me, really. Are you doing ok?"
He sat back against the brick wall, twisting his hands in the cuffs. "Yeah. I'll be fine."
One of the figures outside their cell shifted and sat up, all four arms rising in a stretch. The young Eliksni looked at the captives with a wary eye, and Kipo waved.
"Good morning, Siliska!"
She seemed surprised at the greeting. "Uhh… hello."
"How did you sleep? Sorry to keep you away from your family."
"I… I…" She shook her head, narrowing all four eyes. "This is my duty, and I will do it."
"Well, I'm grateful that there are Eliksni that know English, it makes it a lot easier to communicate." Kipo laughed. "Being shot at isn't the best way to get to know people. Did your mother teach you English?"
"Eia…" Saliska said hesitantly. Kipo opened her mouth to continue talking, but the Eliksni put her hand up to stop her. "Why are you asking questions? You are our prisoners."
"Well that doesn't mean we have to be enemies," Kipo replied, crossing her legs and facing Saliska. She reached a hand through the bars for a handshake. "I don't think we were ever properly introduced, I'm Kipo."
Saliksa cocked her head at that. "Eliksni and humans… not enemies?"
One of the guards huffed a chittering laugh, but didn't say anything.
The guardian sighed and leaned his head back. He could understand where the older Eliksni was coming from with that reaction, Kipo didn't know about the deep divide between the two races, but he wasn't about to tell her that long story. Besides, if anyone could leap that divide of a thousand years of war, it was probably Kipo Oak.
"Why not?" Kipo wiggled her fingers. "I have nothing against you or your people, do you want to be friends?"
Saliska looked down at one of her upper hands, then closed it into a fist. "You took my friends. I'm not going to see then again, nobody comes out of Vex portals."
Kipo lowered her hand slowly, smile fading. "Oh… They were your friends? I'm so sorry, I guess–"
"Kipo didn't take anything from anyone." The guardian spoke up then, his eyes leaving the ceiling and meeting the Eliksni's glowing blue orbs solemnly. "She's not like that. In fact, the way she describes it, they walked in that portal themselves."
They both looked at him in silence, as if they hadn't expected him to speak.
"Well… yeah, they did do that." Kipo acquiesced. "But I'm sure that doesn't make it any easier." She looked back to Saliska and leaned forward. "I'm sorry."
Saliska looked back at her, uncertain of how to respond.
"And, we're trying to fix it! Someone will be on their way soon that can help, and maybe we'll get them back!"
The Eliksni was silent, looking away, expression inscrutable.
The guardian spoke up before the silence went on too long. "Saliska. Could you get us something to clean off with? I'm afraid Kipo's ear is going to get infected like that."
Siliska blinked, then her eyes noted the signs of damage on the young human. "Ah. Eia." After a hesitation, she stood and walked off into the basement camp.
Kipo looked back at him. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
"And, have another thanks for sticking up for me." She smiled self-consciously.
He let his head loll backward again, hiding his anxiety at the close space. "Friends support each other, right? I may be pretty new to this whole 'friend' thing, but I'm fairly certain that's a part of it."
"Yeah… it is." Her smile brightened.
Saliksa returned, her four arms bearing several damp cloths and a bottle of unknown medication. She sat down, then seemed to realize there was a set of bars in between Kipo and the materials.
"Thank you." Kipo reached for them, but Saliska shook her head.
"No. Patient does not apply own healing. I am trained." She looked to the guard and said something in Eliksni, and he regarded her for a moment before replying. She said something else to him, and the guard rose, grumbling. He typed something into a pad on his belt, and the guardian noted the order and position mentally. If that was the– The lock unlatched, and the guardian fought back a smile. He could remember that.
Saliksa swung the screechy door open–the joints had been left rusty to alert any of its opening, a smart move– and knelt in front of Kipo.
"Nearer," she said.
Kipo blinked, then realized what she meant. She scooted forward on the dusty concrete, and proffered the damaged ear to the Eliksni.
Saliska flicked on a flashlight in one of her lower limbs, and shone it to illuminate the side of Kipo's head. Without words, she began treating the day-old wound, dabbing at the dried blood and applying the contents of the bottle, some kind of salve, to the afflicted area.
Then she spoke. "It… does not surprise me if that is true." She paused. "Loriks was not a careful Eliksni, and Tosik followed him easily." She started wiping away again, alien expression unreadable. "Loriks was a leader, like his father."
"Oh! Loriks was the Captain's son?" Kipo asked.
"Eia. He and his brother, Tosik."
"That makes a LOT of sense why he doesn't like me, then." Kipo gave a laugh, but then her smile disappeared, expression sobering. "I can't imagine losing a child like that." She tried to meet the Eliksni's eyes. "Or a friend."
"Eia." She seemed to brush it off. "The Captain doesn't like you. I am surprised you still live, human."
"Why's that?"s
"The Captain…" She made a sound, almost dismissive in its tone. "Angers easily. He is a good leader, and a friend to my mother, but he scares me." She stopped moving altogether. "Is it true?
"What's true?" Kipo looked to her, touching her neck reflexively.
"That you stopped him from killing you with only words?"
"Well, your mother helped a lot." Kipo laughed and gestured to her ear, which already looked a lot better, the guardian noted. Saliska knew what she was doing, on top of Kipo's natural regeneration. "He wouldn't have missed if she hadn't stopped him. But yeah, I did propose the deal to him. I'm pretty good at talking to people."
Saliska looked down at the blooded cloth in her hands, then back at Kipo's smiling face with what seemed like disbelief on her face. "That… is true." A pause, and she closed one set of eyes. "Kipo."
The guardian shook his head in wonder, leaning back as the two girls of very different situations struck up a conversation. He watched and listened as Kipo learned Saliska's age –17 cycles– how long she'd been learning English –7 cycles– and what her favorite food was–something from the Eliksni homeworld whose appeal was apparently lost in translation because the guardian didn't think the alien dish sounded that good.
Saliska finished treating Kipo's wounds, but the cell door didn't close. They kept talking, and the guardian could see the guards gradually paying more and more attention to the conversation, drawn in by the curiosity directed at that source of good feelings and positivity that was Kipo Oak. This girl was magic, and not like the Light, but like a physical representation of that form of infectious laughter that made its way into your heart before you knew it was there.
As the morning went on, Saliksa wasn't left alone. Other Eliksni children had apparently finished their tasks, because a group of about twenty or so had started playing a game with a ball in the open center of the basement floor. A trio of older Eliksni children cautiously approached the wall where the cells squatted, but then stopped several meters away. There was some hushed conversation, and one was sent out from the group on their own, with an expression of anxiety that made it clear that coming over here hadn't been their idea.
They stopped a short distance away and greeted Saliska in their language, and she replied.
"Hello! Velask!" Kipo called, waving, and the guardian noted with surprise how good her accent was.
The other child froze and looked at Kipo with wide-eyed shock, and Saliska chittered in amusement.
He recovered quickly and asked a question.
"What do they want?" Kipo asked.
Saliska replied first to the Eliksni, then to Kipo. "They want to know if I can join the game. I can't, though. I have a duty."
"To look after me, right?"
"Well, to both the prisoners…" she replied hesitantly.
Kipo got a smile that the guardian already knew all too well. "Well, I'm already unbound, right? And since I promised not to run away or betray you on pain of death, you trust I won't try anything, right? And the door's been open for like, an hour, sooo…"
Saliska blinked. "Ah. Eia? Why do you ask such things?"
"I want to play, too, if that's ok."
Saliksa blinked again, but wider this time, and exclaimed, "Savask!?"
This roused the Eliksni guards, who looked to her in confusion.
She looked at both of them nervously, then back at Kipo. "You… want to play jerreska with us?!"
Kipo shrugged, smiling. "Yeah! I promise yet again not to do anything bad or try to run, and it doesn't hurt to ask, right?"
Saliska looked back at the guards nervously; their confusion was morphing into light suspicion. She looked back at Kipo with narrowed eyes. "You are not the one who must ask such a ridiculous thing!"
Kipo's smile widened, showing teeth. "That's only because you're scared I'll win, isn't it."
"Nama!" she denied, then looked past Kipo. "What of the guardian?"
"I don't think he wants to play, also, I know it would be WAY too much to ask. So it's just me!" She tilted her head and closed her eyes with a smile. "Small harmless Kipo, who also loves games."
The guardian watched on, just enjoying what he was seeing, when Saliska's reply was interrupted by the arrival of the other young Eliksni, a male. When he wasn't stopped by the guards, they came all the way up to the open cell entrance, eyes wide the entire time. The guardian could read a situation well enough to know that they asked Saliksa what was going on, and the Eliksni girl drew the boy in close and they had a very quiet and animated conversation in Eliksni. Eventually their conversation tapered down, and then they looked at the guards, who were gazing down at them, amused and suspicious.
Then Saliksa looked back at Kipo. "If trouble comes to me for asking this, then… then I will be unhappy at you and not want to speak."
"Oh, it's up to you whether you want to ask or not," Kipo returned, feigning casualness, but that spark of challenge was still in her eyes. "But then I'll always know that you were too scared to play jerreska with me."
That spark leapt to Saliska's, and her four eyes narrowed. "Nama. I'm not scared of a skinny human child." Then she turned to the guards and asked them a question.
They regarded her in silence for a long minute. They looked to each other, said some things, and then were quiet again. That was a much more moderate reaction that the guardian had anticipated, but he thought he knew why that was. In unison, the two guards looked at Kipo, appraising her.
They were curious.
"Saliska," Kipo hissed. "Tell me how to say, 'I promise I'll be good'."
"Savask?"
One of the guards showed teeth, apparently trying out a human-style smile. He gestured with a lower arm.
Kipo wasted no time and rose to her feet, off-balance, but stumbled out of the cell. The door was promptly shut behind her, and the other guard eyed the guardian, shock pistol raised.
The guardian looked past him at Kipo, who was standing with a giddy smile. She met his eyes, and worry faded her grin slightly, but he raised a thumb in her direction. "Be careful, and don't hurt anyone by accident." Go, he told her in his mind. Don't worry about me.
She nodded and moved off, following Saliska and the other Eliksni, until they reached the smaller group. The other children looked stunned at the human's unexpected appearance, and a discussion ensued, with Kipo introducing herself confidently. This drew the attention of all the Eliksni children, and they stopped their game to see what was going on. Some seemed fearful, most were interested, but a few were wary and kept their distance. Kipo was patient and friendly, however, and as soon as the larger group realized that Saliska was personally vouching for the human, they became less anxious.
The guardian watched, moving closer to the bars, and the guards looked at him shortly before their attention returned to the scene on the playing field. He noted that other Eliksni had noticed too, at their workplaces and stalls, and soon just about every eye was on the pink-haired human girl as she repeated a motion with the ball that Saliska had showed her.
And then they were playing jerraska. The game seemed simple, a series of passing and kicking the ball into a goal on either end of the field, each guarded by a pair of goal defenders, one from each team. Whether you used your hands or feet seemed to be determined by the goal defenders, who had to agree on a decision, then call it out to the entire field.
Kipo was fast on her feet, even though she was smaller than some of the oldest of the Eliksni and her lack of a second pair of limbs put her at a disadvantage when they had to pass the ball, she laughed and dodged with the rest of them. She didn't appear to be using her jaguar strength, a relief; the guardian didn't think the Eliksni would react well to that.
He remembered something. "Pork."
"Yes, guardian?"
"Any luck contacting your friend in the city?"
"Yes, Miss Rey was quite intrigued about Kipo's situation and is sending someone to help us. She might also come along, but I did warn her about the sensitive situation, so hopefully they arrive diplomatically."
"I hope so too. Tell them to let us know when they're fifty miles away so we can tell the Eliksni they're coming." The name Rey pinged something in his memory, but he couldn't quite place it. Pork's habit of calling everyone he came across Miss, Mr, or Mrs regardless of title (unless they asked him to refer to them as something else) made recalling people and their positions difficult. "Any idea when they'll be here?"
"Two days, guardian."
"Thanks, Pork. We'll have to be ready."
There was a silence.
"Guardian?"
"Yeah?" He looked to the ghost.
He spun his shell. "Miss Kipo really is something special, isn't she?"
The guardian chuckled. "Bridging a thousand years of war with a ball game? Yeah, I'd have to agree." The guardian felt himself relaxing. Maybe this would turn out all right.
The peace didn't last long as a group of hulking Eliksni warriors entered the large room, led by Captain Cariks. The guardian sat up, panic coursing through him. How would the volatile Eliksni react to seeing Kipo freed?
The guards seemed gripped by a similar fear, and they started speaking quickly to each other as the group –they seemed to be a returning war party– set their attention on the game in progress. For their part, the children and Kipo hadn't noticed their entrance yet, they were so engrossed in their game.
One of the guards stood and approached the Captain, who was watching the game with all his attention, standing along the wall.
Kipo caught a passed ball and sprinted down to the other side of the field, leaping with a laugh over a would-be tackler and passing the ball to Siliska, who scored it with a shout of triumph. Kipo rushed over and gestured to give the Eliksni a high-five, which she didn't understand, looking at the human 's open palm blankly. Kipo quickly demonstrated the motion, and then they were back in the game.
The guard started explaining hurriedly, but the Captain held up a lower hand, silencing the Eliksni. Cariks looked back at the guardian, secured in the cell, then sat on the concrete, leaning his long-barreled rifle on the wall. The large Eliksni leaned back, and simply watched the children play.