Samateus teleporting with Pyrus and Blaze into the palace took Flare completely by surprise, the young Firian, nearing his own nineteenth birthday, had his blaster up and trained on the blue-furred quadruped with them in as quick a time as they had appeared. Pyrus quickly had his hands held before him placatingly, stepping closer to Flare immediately.
"Hey Flare, it's alright, she's a friend." Pyrus smiled, Flare taking a moment to relax, power down his sidearm and return it to his holster, unphased by the fact that they had just teleported into the room. Samateus had hopped back behind one of the pyres and lay just on the floor out of view until she heard the blaster power down. Samateus cautiously peered out, softly trilling at Pyrus.
"Apologies, you can come out, my weapon is away." Flare took up a similar stance to his Prince, arching his body a little bit to attempt to get a better look at her. She had her right ear swiveled forward and watched Pryus closely, flowing to her feet and cautiously moving around the pyre as the room brightened slightly, Blaze having moved to the wall panel near the primary entry door to increase the ambient light in the room for all of them. "Incredible... Is she, like the ones wearing armour that were protecting the battle moon when those Beast drones appeared?"
"I am, yes." Flare almost fell over in shock when she spoke, not expecting her to understand him, never mind respond. She smiled lightly, waiting a moment and standing still to let Flare circle her once, trying to get a good look at her, noticing strange patches where her longer fur seemed missing stretching along her sides and legs, seeing the scar behind her left ear that others had missed. "You're the first to notice that one, and the others."
Pyrus and Blaze, raised brows comically as Flare blinked, face expressionless for a long moment. She gently and wordlessly expressed that the scars were from her youth, and were painful for her to talk of, lowering her head to let him gingerly run a fingertip over the thick ugly scar behind her ear from the base of her horn to behind her jaw. Pyrus blinked as he spotted it too, smirking only slightly at the fact no one else had noticed earlier, as he realized it was from when she had been on her homeworld, the scar tightly pulling the skin and tissues connected to her ear which made it almost impossible for her to move as she did her right ear.
"Wait... None of us just spoke, whoa." Flare realized that Samateus had linked their minds briefly, smiling facetiously at Blaze who glared at her dangerously.
"Still easier than explaining bit by bit, sharing thoughts that is." Samateus purred, tail swishing lightly, being careful not to touch the blades to the elaborate and beautiful floor. Her eyes looked over the room appraisingly, impressed and in awe, gaze falling to the vault Blaze and Pyrus had spoken of earlier.
"The Blade is in there, but only Blaze and I have keys. Are you okay to stay here for now? I'm having trouble standing here." Pyrus chuckled as he idly scrubbed a hand on his cheek to keep himself awake, Samateus nodding and moving to lie on the floor with her right side against the door to said Vault.
"You three go and rest, I'll remain here. I've slept in conditions you'd find grotesque, and the warmth in here is just perfect to me." Samateus' happy rumbling purr and reassurance from Blaze saw the two young males going off to their rooms, Flare having one as a guest of Pyrus, and Blaze having one as well due to his station as General. The aforementioned General waited until he was certain the two were far enough down the corridor before rounding on Samateus.
"What do you know of the Blade and what it can do?"
"All that he does." Was her curt and simple response.
"And you will not breathe a word?" Blaze growled, Samateus narrowing her eyes at him, lightly raising her lip to show teeth as a warning for his tone toward her.
"I haven't yet. It is up to him to show the boy, not I. Nor Ashtareen. As much as it pains me, I cannot interfere in this, not with as close as Xerxes and I am. You need to know though, he is not well." Samateus explained, elaborating only as much as needed, just in the off chance someone might be listening. This turned Blaze from anger and defiance to concern.
"How long?"
"We do not know. It comes and goes, treatments are still working but there are times when he gets so bad he loses consciousness before we can get him enough oxygen."
"Molostroi, he suffers from the same?" Blaze frowned, if it was in the family line, that could pose a problem.
"Yes, but his is far more invasive compared to Xerxes'. Think autoimmune disorder from hell itself." Blaze shuddered, having watched several members of his extended family suffer from autoimmune issues and die in horrifically painful spasms from their own antibodies attacking their nervous systems, or drowned in their own blood from their lungs being attacked by their immune system.
"And the vision nonsense with the Blade?"
"Not nonsense. That had nothing to do with us." Samateus' response chilled Blaze to his core. Her golden eyes bore into him, briefly going over the vision as he had seen it, frowning herself as her presence withdrew from his mind.
"Xerxes was right in assuming it used Magmus' voice to make you listen. The Maker... He's not awake, I can say that much. The rest... Pyrus has to figure out." Blaze frowned at her words, but nodded in defeat that he could learn no more from the blue-furred female. Her expression softened, lightly purring as she encouraged him to go and rest, and she would remain here happily until they woke in the morning. Blaze simply nodded, leaving without another word. He checked on the rooms his son and Prince had gone to, hearing nothing amiss, and went on to his own.
Samateus waited a long moment, monitoring Blaze as he walked down the corridors and then entered his own chambers, returning to her own surroundings and regarded the door to her right idly. It reminded her of the surface of the massive black monolith that, to her, had been in its current placement about a hundred years. Her fur stood on end as suddenly she felt a presence within the Vault, which made her frown deeply and snort lightly.
**Stay in your Ark, old one. You'll be called upon soon.** She directed her thoughts at the presence, which lingered a long moment, and withdrew again just as quickly as it appeared.
The following morning, Jade and Graveheart emerged from their rooms and greeted Zera and Cryos in the Aurora's cantina, where the group had a small meal together and went over some of the points Xerxes had touched on only briefly, and if any had further private conversations with him. Zera frowned as she could tell her father kept something to himself, yet was distracted by an Icean suddenly appearing in the room with a massive hovering device. She gaped, recognising the Icean from a painting in the throne room, dedicated to the one who had saved her father. Xerxes chuckled as he promptly shifted back to his main form, grinning lightly as he moved to sit with them.
"It would seem you are more astute than I expected, Lady Zera, couldn't fool you for a moment." Cryos and Graveheart chuckled as Jade just shook her head.
"I will never forget what you did for my father, and it will be very hard for me to keep quiet about what I know... Thank you..." She trailed off, Cryos placing a hand on her shoulder as she sat between him and Jade.
"It is going to be difficult for all of us to keep some of what we know to ourselves. Though I will say this, and I had wanted to speak somewhere more quiet, but it would seem we are alone this morning," Cryos paused and briefly met Xerxes gaze, who smiled knowingly and nodded to confirm there were no others headed into the Cantina at that moment. Cryos then placed a delicate box on the table before Zera, Xerxes recognising the crest on the top as belonging to Zera's great-grandmother, happily watching as Jade and Graveheart were momentarily forgotten.
"Xerxes... Had helped get your Great-Grandmother to safety that day my parents were ambushed. This, was hers, and I find it only fitting it is passed on to the next Warrior Queen of the family line." Cryos watched as Zera's eyes widened, mouth agape and antennae straight up and appearing to shiver lightly as he explained things. Jade and Graveheart blinked, having intended to look into the archive system with Cryos later to confirm if Firians had indeed been the ones to end the lives of the prior King and Queens of Ice. Zera then shakily moved to open the small box, gingerly taking the diadem and its fine silver filigree from the soft lining of the box, looking to Xerxes with an expression neither could truly place. He understood she was dumbfounded and confused, thinking it had been gifted to him for saving her grandmother, which saddened him.
"No... It was asked of me to attempt to return it to her family, which I am glad to have finally been able to do. She had also asked me to try and broker peace from my position on planet Fire, in any way, and so I put the suggestion to Magmus and Coal which led to the Golden Jubilation. You all know how that went." Xerxes explained solemnly, Zera nodding, gingerly placing the diadem back in its case and closed it. She held her hands atop the case a moment, solemn expression soon turning to a smile as she brightly looked to Xerxes.
"Thank you, for returning this to our family. I... I don't feel I'm worthy of wearing it yet, but I hope someday soon I can in confidence." Jade blinked at her restraint.
"Who are you, and what have you done with Zera?" Jade received a jab in the ribs from both sides, Zera and Graveheart both smirking at her joke. Xerxes and Cryos chuckled lightly themselves. Zera then motioned to the large hovering device Xerxes had brought with him.
"Oh, I'll show you all that once we meet with the rest. I've also done some digging into my old files and believe I figured out the problem with the Firians on the Battle Moon. But it's not what any of us thought." Jade and Cryos raised brows at this, Zera simply grinning.
Femur, Sternum and Pelvus had slept surprisingly well on Tibia's ship, which had returned them to the Palace late in the night, Tibia herself sleeping in the control chair on the bridge of the freighter. Sternum woke first, as he had grown so accustomed to the Prison planet and its strict almost militaristic schedules, and did his best to keep to them. He made move to leave his temporary room, blinking and raising a brow at the doorway that would not open for him. Instead, it remained closed, and a word appeared before him in the surface of the fleshy interior of the ship. Lobe had asked if he could trust Sternum with her safety, as while inside, Lobe could do nothing to help her without potentially risking her safety as well, the single word 'Trust' with a crude questionmark below it.
"I wont harm her, Tibia is... Like the sister I never had. Were it between her and Femur? I would choose her." He said quietly, hoping that Femur could not hear him, and that Lobe would not tell any of this conversation. The word faded, and the door opened, showing Sternum that Lobe had accepted his words, but could not elaborate on his own feelings on the matter. Sternum chuckled lightly to himself, shaking his head as he went to check on Tibia, who had fallen asleep with her feet propped up on the console that Lobe had dimmed when he took control of their flight from her that night. He watched her a moment, smirking and shaking his head at a strange thought that he should ask her to be an advisor and aide to him and Femur, alongside Pelvus who seemed content to just watch and report on things for them, within reason, once his ability to take the headship of Bone by killing the current holder of said coveted position had been nulified.
"Hey, Tibia... I can only imagine how sore you're going to be having slept all night like that." Sternum gently nudged Tibia's shoulder, the female startling suddenly and then promptly relaxing as she realised she had not been in her bed.
"Ah hells. Lobe, you good?" She gingerly uncurled herself from the chair and stretched, smiling at the light purr from the console before her as she lowered her feet one at a time from the console to the floor, wincing lightly at the tingling and slight cramping from her calves. "How'd you sleep Sternum, Lobe rib you at all?" Tibia joked, turning to look at him where he had crossed his arms to watch her with a smirk.
"He's certainly protective of you." He smirked, tail swishing idly. "I slept just fine, Femur and Pelvus are still asleep though." Both cringed as a high-pitched shriek followed by another yell and string of profanity ushered from further back in the ship. Both turned to look as Femur, followed by a very disheveled Pelvus, waddled their way into the room. Pelvus appeared as if he had been in a fight as his usually immaculate outfit was wrinkled and offset and his curled fins were straighter and drooped slightly.
"What's the big idea? I was having a nice dream too..." Femur sulked, glaring first at Sternum then at Tibia. Lobe made a light chuckling sound which alerted Tibia to exactly what had happened. Lobe had figured the two others of their party would need to depart as well, as he had recorded all the times and dates in his systems on when he and Tibia were required to move cargo for the alliance. To wake the two, he promptly upended the beds Pelvus and Femur had slept on, the two falling into a cushion that quickly deflated as the doors to each room were opened pointedly.
"Lobe thinks you slept quite enough for today. I've got a freight run scheduled so I can't ferry you three around, I think though Spine was teleported here by Xerxes too." She pointed out her viewport to her right, where indeed, the capital ship named Spine sat imposingly next to them. Sternum nodded with a smirk before he and the other two turned to leave her to her day.
"Be careful out there, the Ahr'aht might be protecting the fleet as a whole, but with what we learned yesterday, who knows where beast drones can pop up."
Tekla and Capacitor were still working in the bridge of the Aurora when Cryos, Xerxes, Zera, Jade and Graveheart entered, Glailen saluting when they entered as he had been up and at his post for an hour prior to the group meeting in the Cantina. Xerxes had his floating device with him, a large cube-like thing that had no visible edges or sharp corners, the entire surface appearing filigreed and delicately decorated in one single flowing pattern.
"Oh, Adjudicator, has it already been that long?" Capacitor noticed his leader, Xerxes, before Tekla noticed the others, finishing a quick line of code before she turned from her workstation and moved to greet the others, with her betrothed. Xerxes chuckled while lightly shaking his head.
"Please, Capacitor, there's no need for honorifics. We are all friends here, family even." Xerxes smiled to Tekla, offering a light purr and a upward tilt of his head as he half-lidded his eyes a brief moment. A motion intended to be used amongst family members to express contentment and love, which Tekla blushed furiously at, Capacitor stiffening. Xerxes expressed the meaning behind his motion to the others wordlessly, elaborating that Capacitor had been absolutely lost without Tekla and that Xerxes had done what a father would, in being there and helping him through his grief. Being the only one of those living within their palace that had made it off world -that they knew of- and to the safety provided by the Ahr'aht arriving in the system minutes too late for his world, he had fallen to despair more deeply than Xerxes himself had when he could not help Cryos' parents and later when Cryos' Grandmother passed.
"You certainly seem to take in all the strays." Jade smirked, Graveheart giving her a look of complete shock. Xerxes chuckled, edges of his eyes crinkling lightly as he smiled widely.
"Well, I can't be outdone by the Empress of Rock now can I?" Cryos and Jade both chuckled with him as Capacitor continued to look sheepishly at Tekla who smiled and shook her head.
"Even though you told me all this, everything you saw and experienced since we were separated, I am continually surprised and happily thankful for everything done for our people... Xerxes, I cannot imagine what you would ask for in return..." Tekla still found it hard to believe that the Ahr'aht would not wish for anything in return for their kindness and generosity, Capacitor meeting Xerxes' gaze with a smile, the long pinion feathers dancing about as Xerxes shook his head.
"I ask for nothing Tekla, though Capacitor has done everything he can to try and mitigate some of the requirements of your people amongst mine." Tekla turned to Capacitor who appeared to blush and nodded that he had been working himself almost to collapse in the first days after they lost their world. Tekla then realised, it had been almost a full two years since then, Xerxes moving to gently rest a hand on her shoulder.
"You risked your life to warn others, many of whom I see as family and an extension of my own people. That is all the recompense I could ask for." Xerxes purr layered under his speech told the others he did not expect nor ask for anything as he felt he owed all of them, in a way. Jade and Cryos surmised it was because he had not be able to come and help sooner, and that somehow, he blamed himself for not being there when planet Fire had been lost to the ever hungry Beast. Xerxes held his purr, moving to embrace Tekla gently as she turned fully to him, helping her hide the tears she hated others seeing.
**You don't have to hide that from anyone anymore, Empress, but you should know, they will wish to see you in the Citadel. I will gladly accompany you and Capacitor, and I am confident your friends here will wish to accompany you as well. Graveheart saw you and knew from that moment, that everything he knew was threatened, every life would be involved in War, even those not on the front lines. You made that possible. You did something I couldn't, through someone who didn't think he could. Be proud of yourself, your people, and we will all get through the trials to come, alright?** Xerxes explained to her privately, Capacitor nodding with a smile when their embrace dragged on a moment, Graveheart also smiling knowingly. Xerxes withdrew after another gentle squeeze, reassuring her that she would not be judged or expected to do anything outside of the norm, releasing her to return to Capacitor as he allowed his purr to fade.
"Everything okay?" Graveheart asked after a moment to let Tekla recover. Xerxes and Tekla nodded, the old Ahr'aht patriarch chuckling.
"The Tekians have been able to recover and adapt to their changed environment, looking to Capacitor as their leader under me. Since day one Capacitor has looked to me for guidance, so I had to learn everything of their culture in order to help. I am thankful Khilseith is overlooking the military politics of my people on my behalf, I could not hope to do both while being able to aid those displaced by the voracious Beast, and Tekla has not really thought on her role in leadership until now..." Xerxes' smile never faltered, Tekla blushing herself, the silvery colour of her skin tinting blue on her cheeks. Xerxes also took her reluctance to speak as needing to still gather her thoughts, smile held as he continued.
"While most in positions of power might be seen as needing to keep their emotions closely guarded and that only anger would really be acceptable to the public eye, we of the Ahr'aht have layered speech that allows us to express ourselves more openly, so it's encouraged to show how one feels in any situation. Even nervousness and anxiety or deep sadness. Tek was not as open with emotion, most preferred to take things at face value and in a literal sense, so my stepping in was a bit of a culture shock, yet it was not impossible though did take some months to smooth out the difficulties in interactions, as most Ahr'aht don't speak Galactic Common. Once the Tekians were able to express that they needed something and permitted those who did not know the language to read their thoughts, things became much easier. I can only imagine how difficult it may have been for all of you and the difference in each world." Xerxes' explanation had Jade and Cryos nodding, Zera and Graveheart smiling at understanding exactly what Xerxes meant regarding Tekla, as she also had difficulty with them and their varying emotions and expressing her own concerns. She always appeared as though uncomfortable and that she considered herself an outsider, not really belonging anywhere amongst them and keeping mainly to herself. Graveheart and Zera had gotten her to trust them and feel more comfortable when they are around, yet all the others could tell she was still very apprehensive and wary to trust anyone else.
Tekla then noticed the hovering device, which appeared almost more to be a storage case as she observed it more notably, Xerxes and Capacitor noticing her gaze shift to try and move on from the rather emotionally charged conversation.
"Don't worry, you'll see what's in here soon." Xerxes carefully lay a hand on the top of the device. "I hoped we could all convene on the Battle moon, I worry that the health problems of the Firians there may worsen if we wait too much longer." Graveheart raised a brow.
"You figured it out?"
"Possibly. Having a chance to review old atmospheric scans and then thinking it might be something we can remedy without doing anything too extensive to the existing Battle Moon systems led me to bring this along. You'll see soon enough." Xerxes grinned proudly before he looked to Cryos before Glailen cleared his throat pointedly, the group smiling and turning to him as they had learned his customary cough to be a sign he had some input.
"Emperors Femur and Sternum just informed us they are on route here. Should I send word to them to redirect to the Firian Battle Moon?" Glailen hazarded, figuring that Xerxes would then reach out to Samateus stationed within the Firian Palace. Graveheart was the focus of the gaze of the others then, Xerxes nodding and grinning lightly.
"I believe so. Are all of the crew still on board?" Graveheart asked, earning a nod of confirmation from Glailen. "Let's get ourselves there as well then. Xerxes, I suppose you could let Samateus know we are on our way?" Xerxes' nod told Graveheart everything he needed to know, Xerxes smiling and chuckling, briefly letting his surprise and happiness at how easily Graveheart and his fellows could adapt to a sudden change pass to them.