Disclaimer: All characters and major events herein are the property of Small Fish Studios, Inc, Dave Kellett & Ryan North, from the webcomic DRIVE, and side-story "The History of Fillipod-Tesskan Dialetics." I make nuthin' from this, for I write merely for fun and non-profit.
Six weeks till The Shattering:
"Tesskans and Fillipods as equals?!" Glonco raised his glass in a sarcastic toast, and Tendross clinked his smaller glass against his. "Not now, not ever, not in a million years! And to imagine you fragile things domesticating us! Hah! Hah hah hah!" He sank back into his armchair, his massive shoulders shaking with mirth.
"Heh. I had you going there for a minute, didn't I?" Said Tendross, as he stood next to the small coffee table.
"Nah, not even for a second." Glonco smirked at the diminutive Fillipod. Tendross was always a smooth talker, but that really had been too much...
"Ah well, worth a shot. And you know what? Your rejection of this conversation has inspired in me what I'm pretty sure is a new poetic form! I'm gonna turn in, see if I can't get down some of this poetry before bed." Tendross trotted off, Glonco watching him with restrained amusement. A tiny Fillipod, claiming his species had not only been playing his own, stronger, tougher species for years, but was actually domesticating them...trying to turn them into "equals," hah! All Fillipods did was sing songs and chant poetry, anyway...
As that thought crossed his mind, his gaze fell upon the coffee table, where the bottle of wine he and Tendross had opened was sitting. He realised Tendross had left behind his notebook - he could see clearly the heading, written in Fillipod-Basic: "POETRY IDEAS."
Glonco stared at it. Yes, that was what Fillipods did, alright - poetry, and nothing but poetry. Not to say some of their poetry wasn't amusing - one of his most cherished childhood memories was listening to a Fillipod laureate read the comedic poem: "Three Tesskans, a Fillipod and a Tilla tree." The ending when the tree fell on the heads of all three Tesskans, and then a fourth stole the fruit, always made him laugh until he was barely able to stand, even today. And Tendross' stories, though often flagrant lies, like tonight's tale, were always entertaining to listen to. But it was Tesskans who were strong, and powerful, and dominant. They could do lots of things a Fillipod couldn't, like lift boulders in one hand, or brain a swamp-beast with a single blow from a battle club, and they could do all the things a Fillipod could do - but better.
Couldn't they?
Suddenly, it occurred to him he'd never heard of a Tesskan poet. Well, that made sense - I mean, Fillipods were the ones who wrote poetry - but if Tesskans wanted to, they could, couldn't they?
Couldn't he?
Almost without realising he was doing it, his massive hand drifted towards the notebook and the pen on the table, before sweeping them both up and bringing them up to his small eyes. He put the glass of wine down, put the pen to the paper -
...
How did you even write poetry? Well...it was just words, right? Words put together to sound - sort of the same. So, maybe just pick a word...er...
...
Blood! That's a good word. He scribbled it down. blood
...
And then some more words, umm...
blood is
...
blood is tasty
...
blood is tasty cos its gud.gud blood is gud to eat cos blood is food food is blood blood is food food is gud.
Glonco's eyes widened as he reread what he'd written, not even noticing his tongue was still sticking out. "It rhymes! Like a Fillipod poem!"
Suddenly, Glonco felt a great surge of satisfaction flood through him - the kind of satisfaction he normally felt when fighting off a rival, or when he fought off the last owner of the manor he now lived in. He'd always thought that only came from fighting...was this why Fillipods wrote poetry? They couldn't enjoy fighting when they were so puny, so they wrote poetry instead?
He suddenly found himself excited. He was writing poetry! He was doing something only Fillipods did, because he was a Tesskan, and Tesskans could do anything another race could do.
And he bet he was the first Tesskan to do it, too.
"Hey Tendross!" He yelled, shaking the rafters. "Get back down here!"
"Yes, Glonco?" Tendross came racing back down the stairs, already in his pyjamas, but alert to obey his master. "What do you..." Then he saw the notebook in Glonco's hand. "Ah. I must have left that there. My bad."
"I've written something," announced Glonco proudly. "You Fillipods always write poetry, but see? We Tesskans can do it too."
Tendross' jaw dropped. "You...you..."
"Look," said Glonco smugly, holding out the tiny notebook in his massive palm. Tendross took it with his tiny hands and read it. His smile faltered as he read the words Glonco had written down, and suddenly he felt a little insecure. After all, he hadn't done this before - maybe he'd got something wrong? No, no, Tesskans were never wrong. Fillipods were wrong a lot, but not Tesskans. "See?" He announced gruffly, to take his mind off these thoughts. "You were saying in your silly story you Fillipods have to domesticate us. Well, if we can do everything you can do, I'd say we don't need domesticating, right?"
Tendross looked up from the notebook, to look him in the eye. "Glonco...you're quite right. If you can do everything we can do...well, then we can be equals!"
Glonco frowned. That hadn't been his point at all!
"I mean, we can be equally good at poetry," modified Tendross hastily. Glonco, somewhat mollified, nodded. "Right. And it's good, right?"
There was more uncertainty in his voice than he felt a Tesskan should have.
Tendross smiled. "I think so. In fact, I'd say your poem has given me ideas for a new poem!"
Glonco smiled. "I'm that good?"
"You certainly are," assured Tendross, with just a moment's hesitation Glonco didn't notice. "And imagine how good you'll be as you learn even more writing skills!"
Glonco scoffed. "I won't need to learn anything to write poetry - I'm a Tesskan. We're already good at everything you fragile creatures have to learn, remember Tendross?"
Tendross smiled. "True. Well, I'd better get back to bed, but you keep that - who knows, you might have more ideas," he said as he turned away, handing the notebook back to Glonco.
Glonco blinked. He hadn't thought of writing any more poetry - he'd just wanted to prove Tesskans could do it, after all. But he was good at it...
He never noticed, as he bent back over the tiny notebook, Tendross looking back at him with a smile on his face.
Two weeks to The Shattering:
"Come off it, Tendross. A Tesskan poet?" The other Fillipods in the building shook their heads and made various jokes. They were inside the large building a few blocks from the centre of town which, for all the Tesskans knew, was an office building, where Fillipods went to do accounting. The Tesskans didn't realise the Fillipods all did the accounting for their Tesskan wards in the early morning and then "went to work" where they could compose poetry and perform plays in their "offices" without Tesskans watching.
"But he is! I'm telling you, he did! Look!" He presented the notebook. There was a brief pause as everyone craned to read it. Then gales of laughter.
"Poetry? More like woe-try!" "Yeah!" "And he doesn't even use punctuation-"
"He used a full stop-" protested Tendross before being cut off.
"Come on, Tendross," said one of them with a smile. "It's funny, surely, but what's the big deal?"
"It's not funny!" Protested Tendross. "I mean, come on guys - isn't the whole point of our grand plan to make Tesskans equals?"
There was a long pause, filled with murmurs of "Well, sort of," "Yeah, course," and "In a way..."
"What do you mean, in a way?" Tendross rounded on the speaker. "Our ancestors - and we today - live as slaves, purposefully allowing ourselves to be dominated by the Tesskans while we work on slowly training them, giving them culture - we die for that! Otherwise, we'd simply leave, wouldn't we? I mean, we could, couldn't we? We have the technology-"
"Yes, the Drive, we know how it works," pointed out another Fillipod. "But that doesn't mean we can make it yet. Besides. Tesskil is our home. Until the Tesskans can be tamed to stay out of our affairs, we just have to tolerate their presence."
"Tamed? Tolerate?" Tendross frowned. "Milamanee, that's not a nice thing to say. We finally - after centuries - have a Tesskan who actually understands the importance of the most important activity in the Universe - poetry! Sure, he's just one for now, but it means that maybe soon we can truly share Tesskil with-"
"That's nice," cut off another, younger Fillipod enthusiastically, "but really, it's not very cultured poetry, is it?"
"Not yet," clarified Tendross. "Give him time."
"Lots of time," said one Fillipod in the back of the room, and the whole floor erupted in gales of laughter. Tendross steamed.
"Come on, guys! Glonco is the start of something! And right now, I'm proud to be assigned to oversee his training - no matter what you say, he's the most intelligent Tesskan in the Empire!"
Fresh laughter burst out. "Yes, he's the smartest Tesskan - for he's as smart as a trash can!" The Fillipod who'd said that beamed. "Did you hear that? That's poetry! Think your "Tesskan Poet" will ever learn how to make those kind of rhymes?"
Tendross scowled and walked off. Before he left, though, he turned back to shout over his shoulder:
"Just you wait!"
Three minutes to The Shattering:
He remembered seeing Glonco kill a Fillipod without a second thought shortly after being assigned to his home, simply out of impatience. He later learned she was named Mirianmnefillastrithanli. He had attended the eulogy planning, the eulogy, the post-eulogy eulogy, the pre-funeral dirge performance, the funeral ceremony, and the post-funeral dirge performance, of course - much as the arrangement with the Tesskans spared many lives, it was inevitable that some would perish in the pursuit of uplifting their Tesskan wards. Martyrs for the cause. Heroes. He remembered from history that there was once a time when dying of old age was the only risk to a Fillipod's life - aside from a broken heart. He imagined the first few decades spent trying to wrangle the Tesskans would have been immensely traumatic - but over time, Fillipod society had become used to it. He had certainly gotten over Mirianmnefillastrithanli's death quicker than he had expected to - even though it was his own ward who'd caused it.
But since then, Glonco had...not grown exactly. But certainly mellowed. Gradually, imperceptibly...
He remembered boasting to the other Fillipods how he worked with "the most intelligent Tesskan in the Empire!" He had meant it. Glonco's poetry was clumsy - poorly written, devoid of passion and clumsily smashed together with a disturbing focus on violence - but it was poetry. A start. A beginning of the end of Fillipod manipulation of their unruly charges, and the start of Fillipod-Tesskan equality.
But now? All that was facing an end. He knew the Continuum would win. And they would show no mercy. The evacuation of Ambassador Cuddow - the very fact the Empire enacted the Tesoro protocol - they needed to brace themselves for the end, or do what the Fillipods had done when the Tesskans first rolled over their land - fall back, and fall back again, and craft new plans, new poetic forms and phrases, until they found a way to turn the conflict into friendship.
The Tesskans would never do that. They weren't doing that. The Grand Voss had refused to evacuate, the Tesskan ships had rushed the Continuum super-ship and were even now being brushed aside like dead flies. Most Tesskans were ignorant of what was happening in their own system in fact - but those that were aware wanted to fight. It was the Tesskan territorial instinct, pure and primal and unchanged over the eons. And Glonco was in it's grip, determined to fight for what he saw as his territory - his home, his planet.
Tendross felt a poignant, heart wrenching ballad of crushed hopes and loss of potential spring to mind, and was just committing the idea to memory as he prepared to flee while Glonco was distracted, tearing apart his fancy wardrobe, clawed hands tearing through the doors and walls as he searched for his favourite club. But he paused as he got caught up in the wording. Should it be "crushed hopes" or "crushed dreams?" Perhaps "crushed hopes and dreams?" Or -
"Aha!" Glonco's cry of triumph, throaty with bloodlust, made him realise he had lingered too long to escape unnoticed - and unflattened. Glonco swung around, holding the battered piece of hardwood, studded with metal spikes, nails and blotched dark with old bloodstains. "Tendross!" He bawled as his small eyes fell on the Fillipod standing frozen in the bedroom.
"Let's fight for our world!"
Tendross was poised, ready to spring aside from a careless or deliberate grab, throw or blow (hey that rhymes), but he now froze, stunned.
"Our world..." He said our world. To me. A Fillipod...even though Tesskans have always said it is theirs, and we are simply their slaves. His instincts should drive him to reject any other claims to his territory - no Tesskan ever shares territory willingly, even with another Tesskan, and yet...
He considers me an equal. And he's offering me a share in his territory.
Tendross straightened. "I'm with you, Glonco."
Glonco grinned and threw back his shoulders in a show of strength. "Then grab a club, you fool!"
Tendross' thoughts raced. How to protect him...
"The cove!" He blurted.
"What cove?" Barked Glonco, stepping closer to the Fillipod.
"It's...the perfect ambush spot!" Blurted out Tendross, trying desperately to justify his plan to the Tesskan. "There's a rocky overhang which leaves enough room to stand up in - the water only comes to a Tessan's ankles - we can hi-conceal ourselves there, until Continuum soldiers come close enough for us to rush them!"
He was already bolting down the stairs, desperate to get out of the building before the Continuum started bombarding the planet - surely they'd hit the buildings first, right? To his immense relief he heard the heavy thumping of Glonco's footsteps following him.
"Good plan," grunted Glonco, as they reached the ground floor and burst out into the sunlight. "Where is it?"
"This way!" Tendross raced for the rocky bank of the small cove at the end of the manor's beachfront yard, Glonco in hot pursuit. He paused on the edge of the bank, pointing out the rocky overhang and the impenetrable shadow it cast over the water on the far side of the cove. "See? You can't see the space under the overhang at all from this side, but if you wade right up to the cliff face, you can duck under the gap and it widens on the other side." He knew it well - it was where most Fillipods ran to hide when their wards went on a destructive rampage. He just hoped that if other Fillipods were hiding there, they wouldn't freak out as a Tesskan appeared in their midst.
Glonco jumped over the edge of the short bank and began splashing through what, to him, was neck-high water. "Very good, come on, Tendross!" He yelled as he advanced through the waves. "We can't be visible if we want to surprise them once they land!"
Then the world shattered.
The earth beneath Tendross rammed itself into his chest, pushing Glonco underwater and flat on his face, making him feel as if he'd suddenly had a Tesskan jump onto his stomach. Then the ground thrust downwards in a dizzying fall, somehow dragging him with it even as everything else - stones, trees, water, even a house in the distance - and Glonco - were left behind, rising rapidly in the air as high as the manor's roof while the surface of Tesskil raced away from them.
And then it slammed back into them.
And over it all, drowning out all sound, all thought, the word, over and over and over again...
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Ten hours after The Shattering:
Tendross wandered the landscape, his antenna twitching in barely-suppressed terror and amazement. Everywhere there were shattered buildings, Tilla trees that had, in a painfully literal sense of the word, leapt out of the ground and smashed back down to Earth, reducing them to shards of glass-sharp bark and matchsticks littering the ground. Huge splash zones everywhere from rivers that had literally had their waters leap out of the riverbed, only to come crashing down on the ground around. Huge piles of rubble, mud and sea creatures from the tsunami that had swept miles inland after the blast. The sky was ablaze with meteors, and he could swear there was a dim outline of several new moons in orbit that looked disturbingly like slabs of the planet's crust. And every few metres there were the bloodstained smears of Tesskan carcasses, smashed into impact craters.
It was thanks to pure luck that he was alive - the tsunami had nearly grabbed him and sucked him out to sea as he and Glonco ran away from the advancing wall of water - and as for Glonco, he still couldn't believe the jump hadn't killed him. The Tesskan had flown thirty metres in the air, he was certain, and had he not been wading through the waves at the moment of impact, he doubtless would have been killed on landing. Instead, he had splashed back down in a titanic cannonball, and come up swinging - off his head with bloodlust, terror and rage feeding themselves into brutal Tesskan aggression.
Ultimately, that was what had saved him from the tsunami. Even as the waters in the cove were being sucked out to sea, being drawn into the massive wall of water rushing for the coast, Glonco had been charging for the beach, pure adrenaline letting him push through the surging current that should have swept him away. Tendross, meanwhile, had been rooted to the rocky bank, his limbs still tensely locked to the stone. He had been utterly shocked - he didn't have the faintest clue how on Tesskil he hadn't been thrown into the air along with everything else. His limbs burned with fire and his ears rang from the concussive blast of both the explosion and the shouted demands of the Continuum. But as Glonco approached, bawling at him to find a gun for him, to get out of the way, to shoot something, his self-preservation instincts had kicked in and he had begun running as fast as all sixteen legs would take him. Glonco hadn't exactly understood what he was doing - he'd charged after the Fillipod, screaming at him to get back to his place, to defend their planet, and frankly, Tendross would never know how he had kept ahead of the Tessan's powerful limbs. But perhaps Glonco himself had been aware there was some reason beyond mere cowardice his servant was running away - as after a few minutes, his yelling had subsided, allowing Tendross to pantingly explain over his shoulder the danger of a tsunami.
They had made high ground just in time, the waves nipping at their heels, and watched as the tsunami smashed the manor and the farmlands - or rather, what was left of them - like a spider's web in a hurricane. Tendross had been so appalled by the back-to-back disasters he'd only composed a few lines of poetry by the time the tsunami drained from the land and left fresh devastation in its wake. Glonco, on the other hand, had had no problem coming up with words. They were guttural, brutal Tesskan growls, words of pure hatred and unthinking rage, that he flung at the heavens - and the Continuum ship sailing through them. Tendross had always felt Tesskan was a simple, basic language, with little variety in terms or allowance for expression of thought. He now knew he was wrong - the terms may be basic, but when it came to subject of expressing hatred, anger, and cursing, the Tesskan language left Fillipod in the dust. Glonco had raged for hours, swinging his club wildly, while Tendross cautiously began the process of exploring the countryside - and the former town, now little more than waterlogged, cracked foundations with the buildings torn off - for survivors. Glonco had calmed down eventually - even a Tesskan couldn't remain angry forever, especially when there was no way to attack their enemy. He hadn't once threatened Tendross, which in itself was remarkable - most Tesskans would take the sight of any Fillipod as a suitable replacement for whatever they were originally planning to kill. It reassured Tendross that his decision had been the correct one.
"Is it just us?" Asked Glonco abruptly, breaking Tendross from his thoughts.
"Can't be," said Tendross, hoping more than believing himself as he spoke. "We're alright, so others must be too."
Suddenly, he saw a Fillipod, making it's way around the edge of a pile of rubble, and let out an exultant hail in Fillipod - a flood of expressions of greeting, thanks, excitement, and questions as to how the other being was. The Fillipod's head snapped around, to see them, then broke out into a stream of Fillipod as well.
Fillipod speech is incredibly complex, as well as being incredibly formal. As a result, it can cover a whole hour's worth of conversation in Tesskan within a minute or less. They didn't talk for that long, but had their speech been translated to Tesskan, it would have gone like this:
"Hello, fair traveller and survivor of the great cataclysm that has met our world in its prime! Are you well, oh noble survivor? I am Fristhanimonialoliaa, and I eagerly await your poetic renditions of this terrible day we have encountered!"
"Fellow survivor and Fillipod, Fristhanimonialoliaa, we are delighted to see-"
"We??!!"
"Yes, this is-"
"A Tesskan! How?"
"He landed in the waters, the womb of the ocean taking him into it's protection-"
"This is terrible! A surviving Tesskan!"
"How is it terrible? Is he not one of our wards? And surely there are others who survived?"
"Doubtless in other systems, but not on Tesskil."
Tendross froze for several seconds, which gave Glonco time to ask: "What's he saying?"
"A- a moment, friend Glonco," stuttered Tendross, only just remembering to speak in Tesskan. "I do not understand him fully."
Fristhanimonialoliaa cast a wary glance at the Tesskan, obviously not sure how long he could try the patience of a Tesskan, but continued: "They were all killed by the impact - the Continuum ship used their gravity distortion technology to crack the planet. A huge portion of the mantle is exposed - and the Continuum super-ship is gone. It seems convinced we are conquered, or maybe damaged - it left in a hurry. All Tesskan ships are destroyed or were captured and taken prisoner. Some humans are still present, but not many. But we've managed to resume communications across the planet with the help of their ships, and it's clear the tremors killed every Tesskan - some Fillipods too, but most of us are alive - our feet kept us safe."
"Feet?" Inquired Tendross, life coming back into him as he heard the news that the majority of his fellow Fillipods were alright. "How?"
"The Van der Waals force we use to climb the tress to eat the winter Tilla fruit! We were all able to hold on, while the Tesskans were simply flung up into the air. It's the first time in centuries the planet is once again ours!" Fristhanimonialoliaa gave Glonco a sideways look. "We shall have to find a way to persuade the Tesskan to leave - maybe you can convince him to join the humans on their homeworld. Apparently that's where the new Grand Voss is - you could tell him he can get back at the Continuum with his help, or something."
Everything was moving too fast for Tendross. All the Tesskans were gone? It didn't seem possible. And they just wanted to get rid of Glonco...he remembered, just a few hours ago now, Glonco offering him the chance to fight for "our world." The Tesskan had been willing to share his planet - his home - with a Fillipod.
Now it looked as though the Fillipods would have to decide whether to share it with him.
"Glonco is not like the rest," he protested, and then, in order to include Glonco in the conversation, he switched to Fillipod-Basic. "Glonco is the owner of the coastal manor and farmlands that have been devastated, as the rest of our lands and buildings have been. We should assist him. And," he played his trump card with a dramatic wave of his antenna, "he even wrote a poem recently!"
"A Tesskan? A poet?" Fristhanimonialoliaa didn't even think to phrase his question more politely in front of the hulking Tesskan, he was so surprised - and dismissive. "No Tesskan can write poetry!"
"I did," declared Glonco in protest, interrupting. "In fact, I've been working on writing more!"
Tendross spun around to face Glonco, shocked. "You have?!!"
Glonco lowered his head, clearly embarrassed, but not willing to admit it. "Well, of course! You Fillipods aren't the only ones that can do poetry, after all. Anything a Fillipod can do, a Tesskan can do. Better too, probably," he added defensively. Tendross resisted the urge to smirk. Then he saw Fristhanimonialoliaa giving him a smug look, and realised the Fillipod didn't believe Glonco's claims.
Tendross straightened, and stomped his front left foot the way he'd seen Glonco do once when facing down a grumpy neighbour.
"He's right. Not about doing things better, but that anything we can do, they can do. Fillipods and Tesskans can be equals, no matter what you think, Fristhanimonialoliaa. So Glonco's not going anywhere. This is our world, and our land, and we expect our fellow Fillipods to respect that - if they truly do want to treat Tesskans as equals."
Glonco hunched his shoulders in a display of strength. "Tendross, is this Fillipod threatening you?" Fristhanimonialoliaa's eyes went wide.
"You're defending a Fillipod?"
"Why not?" Growled Glonco, lowering his massive head to stare the Fillipod directly in the eye.
"Nothing, my lord - but you Tesskans, you - ah - don't need to worry yourselves with our affairs."
"You sure take the time to worry about ours," rumbled Glonco in a low voice full of menace. "I'm starting to think maybe you Fillipods forget we let you live when we conquered you. And besides," he straightened back up, laying on massive paw on Tendross' head, "Tendross is my friend. And a friend is - er - someone you... should help when in need. Because a friend in need is a...umm...friend indeed."
He glanced at Tendross, suddenly uncertain. "That's an ancient rhyme, right?"
Tendross smiled proudly. "It sure is, my friend. It sure is."
Fristhanimonialoliaa looked them both over. "Suit yourselves," he said eventually. He then switched back to Fillipod. "We'll be keeping an eye on you both, but we're busy trying to restore the planet right now."
"We need help just like everyone else," pointed out Tendross, "and we're willing to help when we can."
Fristhanimonialoliaa had been about to scurry off, but paused to look back over his shoulder. "You actually think this Tesskan is our equal, don't you?"
Tendross simply stared at him levelly.
Fristhanimonialoliaa shrugged. "Alright then. We're arranging some food distribution plans already - we'll get you what you need to get back on your feet. But then you'll both have to look after yourselves." He then sped off.
"We will!" Shouted Tendross after him, but the Fillipod was already gone.
"What was all that about?" Inquired Glonco. "I've never seen a Fillipod so grumpy before."
Tendross sighed. This was going to be difficult.
But it had to be done.
"Glonco, I'm sorry...but it looks as if...that is to say...well, the good news is the Tesskan race is still alive. The Grand Voss didn't make it, but there's a new one been appointed by the Empire back on Tierra."
"Good!" Glonco frowned. "Though why those humans always have to get involved in choosing the Grand Voss..."
"Er, yes," said Tendross, trying to find a way to break the new gently. "But here's the thing - as of right now, you..." Suddenly, he had an inspiration. Since the Tesskans cared about hierarchy so much...
"You are the highest-ranking Tesskan left in the Tesskil system."
Glonco's expression of confusion deepened. "I am? I mean, how?"
Tendross swallowed. "You're the only one left," he said in a voice that was barely a whisper.
Glonco's eyes bugged out. "Wait...THE ONLY ONE??!!!"
Tendross didn't trust himself to speak, so he simply nodded.
Glonco dropped his club, for the first time in the entire day, and began to pace back and forth. "You're pulling my leg. It's a Fillipod joke, right? RIGHT?"
Tendross simply shook his head.
Glonco opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. Then he opened it again.
"Where's the Continuum fleet?"
"Already gone," answered Tendross. "Apparently it headed straight back to Continuum space."
"I can't even fight back at them..." Muttered Glonco, almost to himself. Then he looked at Tendross.
"You Fillipods must be happy."
Tendross said nothing.
"Tesskil is yours," Stated Glonco, in an eerie calm. "That was what that Fillipod was mad about, right? Your species has finally gotten rid of us, and now you want me to go too."
"No!" Protested Tendross. "Okay, yes, they are happy not to be beaten up or killed anymore, but-"
Glonco simply turned his gaze up to the sky. "I suppose I should find a way to get to the other Tesskans. Back with my species." A wolfish grin touched his face. "Maybe we can give you Fillipods a run for your money in who reclaims Tesskil the fastest."
"But I don't want you to go!"
Glonco turned abruptly back to Tendross. "What?"
Tendross shuffled his feet - all sixteen of them. "You're my friend."
Glonco scoffed. "And your master. Don't forget that. I'll bet if I wasn't here, you'd be frolicking with your Fillipod buddies, singing songs and writing poems celebrating."
Tendross shrank back - the words stung, because they were true. But he persevered. "Glonco, remember that story I told you? About the history of Fillipods and Tesskans? And how we tried to domesticate you?"
Glonco nodded slowly, before understanding dawned. "It was TRUE?"
Tendross nodded. "The other Fillipods - they seem to have forgotten their goal. They see only the Tesskans as unruly, or threatening. But I- I think -" He straightened up, facing Glonco directly.
"I think any intelligent being can change. I won't lie to you, I don't think it's right to beat up others or make them slaves - and if you want to keep doing that, well, you might as well go and join the other Tesskans in the empire and try finding a way to retake your homeworld. But if you want..."
Tendross reached out his front hand for a handshake. "I'd like to rebuild our world, together."
Glonco stared at his outstretched hand for several minutes. "You really think the Tesskans and Fillipods can change how they view each other?" He asked eventually.
Tendross grinned. "I reckon a Tesskan poet ought to show them it's possible. Don't you?"
Glonco paused, then grinned and swallowed the Fillipod's paw in his own.
"Sounds like a good plan for us, my friend Tendross."
Tendross blinked. Twice.
"We'll work on your poetry," said Tendross with a laugh, before shaking his hand firmly. "Now come on, Glonco. Let's fix our world."
A/N: For the start of this story, see http/archive/210824.html. I felt Glonco and Tendross deserved a happy ending, considering what happened to Tesskil in the main story. As always, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it, and I apologise in advance for IRL commitments leaving me unable to reply to any reviews and constructive criticism, though I do read and take note of them. Thanks!