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Nothing is ever certain.
― Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bone—
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The moonlight provided an excellent source of light as Fololo and Falala slowly made their way to Kirby's house. They flew low, making sure to keep a good distance between them and Sir Meta Knight to avoid detection. The Star Veteran didn't survive in the war against eNeMeE for nothing. He was sure to sense them following if they weren't careful.
Soon enough they reached their friend's home. Just in time to see Tokkori being unceremoniously tossed out the front door. "Well, I never!" the canary shook his feathered fist. Still grumbling, Tokkori picked himself up and flew up to his long-abandoned nest to roost for the night.
The drapes were closed on every window. They couldn't see a thing. "Of course he would shutter the blinds too!" Fololo whined.
"Up there!" Falala pointed up at the stout little chimney on the roof.
That will have to do. They descended and settled into a hiding spot in the fireplace.
With a cough building up in the back of his throat, Fololo hacked, "Kirby needs to get a chimney sweep done!"
"Shhh!" his other half shushed him.
A strange scent filled the house and Kirby was happily rubbing up against Meta Knight. Fololo and Falala suddenly felt like they were intruding on something a little too private, but it was too late to turn back now. Hardly any words passed between Kirby and Meta Knight at all. It's as if student and Mentor could communicate without saying a word.
The Fofa halves let out twin sighs of relief when it was all over and Kirby rested peacefully. Sir Meta Knight was able to help Kirby after all. Fololo and Falala were just glad it didn't escalate to other "things" or else they wouldn't be able to look the two in the eye ever again.
Fololo was ready to float back up and out the place when suddenly Falala had a sniffle. She tried to stifle it. "Ah… ah…"
Fololo inwardly panicked. "No Falala don't-"
"Ahchooo!" she sneezed, sending out a gray cloud of ash. He couldn't breathe! Fololo sputtered into a full-blown cough. They fell out onto the rug gasping for air. Rubbing the soot out of his eyes, Fololo looked up into two luminous golden orbs staring down at him and Falala from the bedside.
"Come here you two," called Meta Knight in his no-nonsense tone. Realizing the gig was up, Fololo and Falala shook themselves clean of the ashes before cautiously approaching. "Why did you follow me against my orders?" he asked them.
"…Why?" Fololo echoed with disbelief at the obvious question. "We were concerned for Kirby!"
"I've told you there was no need for concern. Since you two did not heed my warning to return to bed, you must now pay the price…" Meta Knight's gloved hand rested on the hilt of his sword, Galaxia. The two floating spheres gulped. "…and swear to secrecy."
"Oh…!" both sighed in relief. At least he wasn't about to slice them in half.
Meta Knight's eyes narrowed. "Do not take this lightly!" he growled. "Kirby's very future hangs in the balance!"
"Eeep!" Fololo and Falala floated back to put some distance between them and the edgy knight. They had never seen Meta Knight behave like this before. He was always so cool, calm, and collected even in the direst situations. What is it about Kirby that had him so wrought up?
"Now swear to me you both will not speak a word of what you saw here tonight."
Fear took an exodus from Falala's heart and was replaced with a wave of deep burning anger. She hated secrets especially if they could hurt the people she loved. "N-No!" Falala refused. Fololo looked at her as if she was crazy, but Falala didn't care. "I won't promise unless you tell us what happened to Kirby! It… it could be dangerous for him!"
"Uh, Falala, this is Meta Knight-"
"He could be eNeMeE for all I care!" Falala retorted. "Kirby is our friend, Fololo!"
If Falala was going to perish then his fate would be no different. "You're right, Falala…" Fololo conceded. "...this is really shady." Turning to Meta Knight Fololo exclaimed, "We followed you because we're Kirby's friends! And like Falala said, we won't promise anything unless you explain what happened to him!"
To further demonstrate their resolve, Fololo and Falala conjoined their hands and waited for whatever wrath the Star Veteran could possibly dish out.
Meta Knight watched them quietly for a moment before speaking. "I admire your courage... Kirby is lucky to have comrades such as you."
He ran a hand over the snoozing puffling's head. "You need not worry, Kirby will be back to normal by tomorrow morning," he promised. "The Heatwave has passed."
Fololo paused at the unfamiliar term. "…Huh?"
"Heat… as in…" Falala trailed with her cheeks turning rosy. She knew Kirby was no longer a baby, but he certainly wasn't an adult either!
"No, what happened to Kirby was more like a heat up," Meta Knight explained patiently. "I was serving as a comfort tonight. The Heatwave is something all females of her species experience right before the Winging. It's to prepare them for the real heat once they are fully grown and ready to receive a mate."
"…oh, okay…I-wait…" Fololo paused. "…did you just say… her species… as in a girl?"
"Indeed I did," Meta Knight confirmed. "Kirby is a female Kiridian."
They stared blankly for a moment. "… … …WHAAAT?" Fololo and Falala shrieked with disbelief when his words finally soaked in. "Kirby's a girl!? Since when?!"
"Uh, since she was born…?" Meta Knight offered.
"No! We mean, ugh! How long have you known this!?" they demanded.
"Not as long as I should have," Meta Knight admitted sheepishly. "…but with Kirby, I should always expect the unexpected," he sighed. "All Kiridian pufflings start out the same until they are about to reach the "winging" stages or puberty as your people call it, however, the eyes tell a different tale."
"Huh?" Fololo blinked. "What do you mean?"
"The eyes of a female Kiridian remain lively and sparkly while males' grow dim and blank. Instead, their emotions are revealed in bursts of color sparks. I simply thought Kirby's eyes were developing at a slower state, my mistake."
Falala squinted her eyes at him. "You really do know an awful lot about Kirby…" she commented.
Come to think of it that sounded very much like Meta Knight's eyes. They were always this eerie blank yellow color but at times they would glow different colors and then fade away. Particularity when he was feeling a certain strong emotion.
Wait…
Falala turned to her other-half hoping for confirmation but was met with a blank stare. She sighed. Guess it was up to her to ask. "Um, Sir Meta Knight?"
"Yes, Falala?"
"I never really thought of it before, but I think the reason why you know so much about Kirby is that you're a member of the same species."
"What?" Fololo blurted. "What are you talking about, Falala? There's no way he's a… a, um, whatever species Kirby is! Right, Sir Meta?" he asked, turning back to Meta Knight.
But the Star Veteran said nothing. His eyes shimmering a green hue as a tattletale sign, confirming Falala's suspicions. "Does that mean you are a blue Kirby?" she blurted.
The pauldrons on Meta Knight's shoulders shuddered. "Please don't call me that!" he bemoaned.
"But are you?" Falala pressed gently.
Meta Knight remained silent this time.
Fololo's eyes went wide. He was around adults long enough to know that when they refused to answer a question it meant in a roundabout way that the answer was "yes."
Meta Knight got up from the bed and gently tucked Kirby beneath the sheets. With his back turned Fololo and Falala could see the shape of his spherical body underneath the cape. Did he really look like Kirby under all that armor? A blue Kiridian with blushes on his cheeks, big oval eyes, and a squishy body with stumpy little paws for hands? A puffball… ahh, how cute-
"Stop imagining that!" Meta Knight turned back to them with an accusing glare.
"Wha… what are you talking about?!" Fololo and Falala blushed at being caught red-handed. "We didn't imagine anything!"
The Knight released an audible growl.
"Ekk! I'm sorry!" Falala was the first to cave. "But when you said you are a member of Kirby's species-"
"I never said I was," Meta Knight pointed out.
"But you didn't deny it either!" Fololo retorted.
"That is not up for discussion!" Meta Knight ended their speculation quickly. Getting back to the point, he warned them gravely, "You must not tell anyone what happened here. And if anyone inquiries about this then tell them Kirby simply had a fever and it passed during the night. Nothing more, nothing less!"
"But why?" Fololo demanded. "Kirby is a girl, so what? That doesn't need to be a secret!"
"And it's not fair to keep this from Kirby!" Falala added. "Why would you do something like this?"
Growing visibly vexed, Meta Knight answered their questions with a question. "Do you know how many Kiridians are left in the universe?"
Falala looked to Fololo who shrugged. "…we don't know."
"Kiridians are a very rare species. They are endangered if you will. Once there were more than ten thousand of them, but now there are less than a hundred."
"What happened?" Fololo asked.
"Many years ago the Kiridian homeworld, Crescent Starray, was destroyed by eNeMeE with the help of his chief Demon-beast, the General. Most of their population dwelt there at the time during the Feast of Twinkle Wisps. There was no time to evacuate the people. The entire planet perished in a single instant."
"…That's awful!" Falala gasped in horror. "But why shouldn't Kirby know or at least let the surviving Kiridians know about her?"
"Given Kirby's youth, the Kiridians would not like the idea of Kirby fighting at all. But if they knew of Kirby's true gender they would not allow her to be a Star Warrior. She will be considered too precious for combat and instead will be forced into the Courts to be married off to produce as many pufflings as possible when she comes of age."
"But… but that means Kirby will have to leave Dreamland forever!" Fololo recalled all the monsters Kirby has battled on their behalf. With the combined efforts of Meta Knight, Kirby was even able to ward off an invasion from the Haltmann Company a short while back. "…where would we be without Kirby?" he didn't want to begin imagining Dreamland without her help.
"Precisely," Meta Knight agreed, wrapping his cloak tighter around his body. "The Universe needs Kirby, we need Kirby. I will tell Kirby the truth, but only after I secure her, or rather his training with the Knights of the Star Table during tonight's celebration."
Fololo and Falala nodded in agreement. "Alright, for Kirby's sake, we promise to keep quiet, Sir Meta Knight!" they vowed.
Meta Knight bowed in gratitude. "Thank you, my friends. Now, let us depart," he said, heading towards the door. "We have to prepare for tonight's festivities."
Fololo took one look at the clock and groaned, realizing how close it was to dawn. It was going to be a long day of preparation and an even longer night. "Do you think we can do this, Falala?" he whispered. "Keep this all, hush-hush?"
"For Kirby's sake, we must!" Falala answered with grim determination. "It's just one party for a couple of hours, what could happen?"
Fololo could have sworn he heard Meta Knight let out a soft snort at Falala's question, and Fololo agreed with him. Sure they could keep this secret if it was anyone else other than Kirby!
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Next Chapter: Out of the Mouth of Birds
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