Hello Lovelies! So, this chapter is a bit longer than the last one and has some good stuff going on. We'll have to wait and see what comes of all of it. Enjoy and let me know what you guys think!

Chapter 7 – We Must Speak

Favor. The entire way back to the caves, Lykrosis had been thinking through everything that had happened in the hollow, but he kept circling back to this word. He understood its meaning and there were a variety of significant implications associated with it; some, not things he desired.

Fallen did not offer favors lightly nor frequently; mutually beneficial agreements were common as was asserting rank and dominance to get what you wanted, but not favors. They were not given unless one owed another much. The question was, what did it mean to the pair? Despite everything that had happened between them, Lykrosis did not think the pair owed him for anything he had done and that was the problem. Was he doing more than he realized? The nuur'az had said that he was "helping" the female.

He didn't like that; it seemed wrong somehow, as though he was aiding the enemy.

Are they the enemy?

He paused at his own thought. The distinction had always been easy, if one was not fallen, they were an enemy. Why was he wavering now? He remembered the nuur'az touching him, slight and quick, but innocuous. It had touched him like it did the female. It seemed… affable.

Lykrosis rid himself of that line of thinking with a quick shake of his helm. Now he was angry, with himself. He was letting his guard down, which was exactly what he said he would not do when he started interacting with the pair. It was impertinent, bordered on treasonous, and certainly dangerous.

However, he couldn't shake the feeling that they truly didn't mean him or his crew any harm, and that brought him back to this favor. What were they actually offering and how much would they truly give? He needed nothing from them, but there were things he wanted to understand, things that had been left unanswered in all their conversing. Or perhaps he should wait on this favor until something more apparent crossed his mind. It was intriguing if nothing else. There were—

"Lykrosis."

He looked up to find Kreesis standing against the left wall immediately inside the entrance to the burrow.

Lykrosis had been moving mostly on instinct, not paying much attention to his surroundings other than to make sure there were no others in the area when he had passed through the false wall. He was caught off guard by the immediate address and realized that the reaver must have been waiting for him. "Kreesis," he said issuing a greeting. They often spoke of the crew's happenings so it wasn't entirely unexpected that the reaver was there; that was until he noticed the other did not return his greeting.

"Come. We must speak," he said instead and began moving farther into the cave system.

This put Lykrosis on edge. Kreesis was unusually brusque at the moment and he also had not had a chance to bathe, a foolish mistake. The reaver might catch the creature's scent on him and that would lead to questions he did not have answers for.

Lykrosis followed behind keeping a larger than normal distance between himself and the other vandal in an effort for the scent to go unnoticed. The reaver did not speak during their walk and Lykrosis could glean nothing from his lower claws; they were being held in check, not a single movement giving away his emotional state.

When they passed by his own quarters, he knew they were most likely going to Kreesis' and that meant this conversation was not to be interrupted. Unlike him, reavers did not share quarters nor did other fallen have the access codes to enter.

Once inside, Kreesis settled himself next to a console and gestured for Lykrosis to do the same. This behavior was strange, not following previous patterns when they interacted, and his unease increased the longer the reaver remained silent. He just stared. Lykrosis almost would have said he was being evaluated, but for what, he did not know.

"You intend to leave?" the reaver finally said in a voice that expressed displeasure, but also something else that was harder to identify.

"Leave?" Lykrosis repeated confused by what the reaver was asking.

"The crew."

"No," he growled wondering where this idea had come from.

"You intend to leave the house?"

"One does not leave their house."

"There are rumors. New house, this planet's only satellite. Exiles, traitors."

Lykrosis warbled surprise and then a trickle of anger crept in. "You question my loyalty?"

The reaver did not reply for many moments, but he finally growled out, "No." He stood up and turned away, his lower claws flicking rapidly in what was undoubtedly frustration. Kreesis paced the length of the room, which was uncharacteristic of him. "This… confuses," the other vandal said finally turning back to face him.

Lykrosis himself was confused again. There seemed to be something left unspoken between them and he prompted the reaver for it, "Kreesis, what is occurring?"

"Captain Tyriks ordered you monitored. No reason given. Termination orders were issued, to me, if suspicion is found." Lykrosis warbled again, this time in outrage; termination orders were only given against traitorous fallen. "Settle. Found nothing. Nothing to report to the captain."

The words were favorable at least and eased his apprehension; likely then his interactions with the pair had not been discovered. The situation was not favorable though. He had done something to cause suspicion in the captain and he wasn't sure what it was.

"I know you to be loyal, to the crew, to me. Another must speak against you. There is still danger, we must identify this other."

It was only then that Lykrosis realized he had unknowingly endangered Kreesis. The captain may not know yet the entirety of the situation, but the likelihood that he would find out was high. Lykrosis had been fooling himself to think otherwise. And when he was, some might question Kreesis effectiveness to not have discovered this, or worse, suggest he was complicit in it.

Perhaps… perhaps there was another way.

"Kreesis, you are correct; we must speak."

The female had remained at the monitor the rest of the day and throughout the night, skipping her chance for sleep, which was rare for her except for when she was in one of her states. This was different though, she wasn't unresponsive and lost in her own head, she still ate and blinked and moved, she was just… concentrating intensely on these words.

And this reaction thrilled the ghost. Given everything that had happened yesterday, this almost seemed like her brain was behaving differently, perhaps even healthier. Unfortunately, as much as it wanted to leave her be, it needed to interrupt her. Well, it didn't need to, but if it was ever going to get these specific scans, now was the best time to try.

"Hey," it said floating closer to her.

She didn't respond.

"Hey," it tried again, moving in front of the screen to gain her attention. That worked, although it was hit with a flash of irritation, probably due to its interruption. "As much as I love seeing you so interested in something other than sex, can you take a break for a moment? I need to ask you something."

There was immediate reluctance toward its suggestion but a feeling of exhaustion abruptly registered as well. Without the extreme focus on the words to distract her from it, she registered the many hours she had spent sitting there all at once. Her whole body went limp, sagging into the chair as though the atmosphere was suddenly bearing down on her harder than before. She needed a break.

The ghost teleported a goblet of fresh nutritional supplement onto the console beside her. She reached for it instinctually although her arm moved sluggishly. Downing half the liquid in one swig, the female pulled her legs up onto the chair and lent more heavily into it, finally relaxing.

"Feel better?"

Yes.

"Good. I need to take some scans."

It felt a little playfulness from her with the thought, more.

The ghost laughed. "Yes, more scans. These will be a little different though. I need you to try to speak to me."

Speak?

"Not aloud. I mean, I would love it if you spoke aloud, but I know you can't. What I'm hoping is that you can use your voice in my mind, speak to me with real words instead of sending the words as text or as feelings and images." It got an initial feeling of confusion and then curiosity. "I'm working on something. You don't have to worry about it and I'm not going to tell you because I don't want to get your hopes up that it will work because it probably won't. This is going to be a really complex mechanism. If I make any progress though, I'll let you know, but to do that, I really need those scans. Can you please try?"

Yes.

With that affirmation, the ghost waited and the female presumably tried. Minutes passed, then an hour, and finally another, but nothing ever came of it. She sat there, mind and body quiet, but no words ever whispered through its mind and there was no indication that there would be any time soon.

It was disappointed, but not deterred. Perhaps more interactions with the vandal would continue to show progress in her mental state and then it would ask her to try again. "That's okay," it finally said gaining her attention and letting her know she could stop. She sent it apologies, but it waved them away with its optimistic demeanor and words, "Don't dwell on it. You're already doing better and that's more than I could ever have hoped for. You were right about the fallen. Anyways, we can try again in a few days after you have seen him again. For now, let me just get some scans of you thinking at me like you normally do. Send me as much as you can."

Okay.

"Great."

Ghost?

"Yes?" it said distractedly as it prepared to take deep scans of her brain waves when she started thinking.

Thank you.

"For what?"

Everything.

Anybody want to guess what Lykrosis next move is? ;)

Fallen Language. Listed in order of appearance:

Nuur'az – tool of light