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History isn't about dates and places and wars. It's about the people who fill the spaces between them.
—Jodi Picoult—
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Arthur did not like this one bit, leaving Kirby alone with Meta Knight. When he took his seat at the Star Table, Arthur had been expecting a fight. For Kirby to be a fuming ball of spite, filled to the brim with defiance and distrust. So it caught him pleasantly off guard when Kirby looked at him with no hostility whatsoever. No glaring, no crossed arms. Not even a rebuke made ready on her tongue.
Her large eyes sparkled with curiosity. "So Mr. Arthur, you said I could lay eggs?" was the first thing she asked him.
Before he could answer, Sir Percival let out a snigger. "With any hope, plenty of them one day!" he winked at her.
Arthur sent the redhead an exasperated glare as he answered, "Yes, you can… but it will be a while before you have to worry about pufflings, my dear," he then chuckled, "You haven't even had your first Heatwave yet…"
"Oh!" Kirby perked up at the familiar term he used. "Yes, I have! Meta Knight helped me!"
As if they all needed another bombshell dropped onto this situation. "What!" Arthur balked. After a wench experiences her first Heatwave the rest of her development is right around the proverbial corner. "When? How long ago!?"
"She had her Heatwave last night," Meta Knight informed them just a little too late.
"Why have you failed to disclose this sooner?" Galahad demanded before Arthur could.
"It didn't come up until now," was his answer.
"Oh, bon sang de bonsoir, Meta Knight!" Lancelot groaned, facepalming.
"What exactly did you do with her?" Arthur growled.
Meta Knight's eyes flickered with thinly veiled disgust at the mere suggestion. "I might have smelt good to Kirby, but as you know, a preadolescent wench on her first Heatwave does not smell good at all!"
"Huh?" Kirby cringed, resisting the urge to sniff her armpits. "Are you saying I stunk?!"
"To my senses, you did," Meta Knight admitted. "I suppose it's a biological defense mechanism in our species. But even if your Whiff did appeal to me; I would still have fought the urge to mate," he glared at Sir Arthur. "All I did for Kirby last night was a simple calming technique to quill the heat…"
Meta Knight paused at seeing Kirby's confused look.
"…I released a pheromone or smell…" he explained patiently. "It that makes your body think there is no suitable mate around and lessens the unpleasant effects of the Heatwave. It's usually done by the male family members in a girl's clan, but under special circumstances, strangers can do this as well."
"Oh…" the tension rolled off Arthur and his knights.
"That's good to hear," Sir Percival let out a sigh of relief. "It's bad enough Kirby will probably be some tantalizing jailbait one day, but-"
"Honestly Percival don't call her that!" Galahad chided him.
"…what? She may be worth a life sentence!"
Kirby frowned in confusion. "You're not a stranger," she corrected Meta Knight.
"But I am not family either," Meta Knight replies.
The puffling paused when a sudden thought struck her. Looking at all their faces, Kirby asked, "Then who is my family…?"
That was a question none of them were expecting. "I…" Arthur trailed. "We do not know, young one. To even think a young hatchling had survived the destruction of Starlit Glade is incredulous enough!"
"Perhaps we should start from the beginning, my lord," Galahad suggested.
"Yeah," Percival agreed with them. "Like the one who found Kirby; it was Meta Knight!" he prompted, pointing a finger at the knight.
Kirby turned to Meta Knight who visibly stiffened. Good, Arthur thought. Meta Knight was an honorable knight of the Chivalric Code, but he had a very bad habit of keeping his secrets too close and in this case away from the wrong people!
"Where did you find me?" Kirby asked.
"Remember when we destroyed Nightmare Enterprises' starbase?" Meta Knight asked her.
"Yes," Kirby nodded. "That was 25 years ago to this day."
"Well, many years before that eNeMeE had another station."
"What?" Kirby gasped as if she couldn't imagine that.
That old space wizard has been around for ten thousand years. eNeMeE had plenty of time to scheme and rebuild quietly in the shadows. Especially when their forefathers had foolishly turned a blind eye to his tyrannical ways thinking they would be left alone in turn.
"Yeah, that cocky connard destroyed our home and then erected a massive starbase in its orbit!" Lancelot spat. "But we were avenged! The Star Warriors, along with the help of a defector…" he glanced in Meta Knight's direction. "...we managed to destroy it! Before it decimated, however, an egg was found in eNeMeE's laboratory… that egg was you, mademoiselle."
Kirby appeared dismayed by this revelation. "… am… am I a demon beast creation like Fololo and Falala?"
"No!" Meta Knight assured her quickly. "eNeMeE managed to get a hold of you, but you are not one of his monster creations! A short time later, you hatched. Although eNeMeE suffered a setback he was not defeated and spared no remaining resource to retrieve you at any cost."
Arthur leaned forward. "After too many close calls we decided for your safety to let you drift aimlessly in space in your spacecraft acting as your cradle until you reached maturity. That way we couldn't find you, nor could eNeMeE."
The steward sighed, bowing his head. "I wished there had been another way…" he said quietly, his eyes turning from lavender to a dull slate gray. "…it wasn't right for you to be separated from your people for such a long time, I am sorry, Kirby…"
"No, Arthur," Meta Knight rebuked him gently. "It was a hard time for you. You were re-establishing a place for the survivors and having Kirby underfoot would have been too much. If eNeMeE launched an attack to retrieve Kirby, you would have fallen."
Meta Knight's words were true, but it also made him feel weak. For all his skill and all his training, it felt like it was in vain. Even now with eNeMeE gone and Starlit Glade flourishing. He still felt like a failure.
He was there that day… the day when Crescent Starry was swallowed up into the nothingness.
Arthur had been put on guard duty by his father as punishment for rash behavior on the Lookout. A docking station that orbited their star. Nothing ever exciting happened there. The highlight was checking in a random ship every two to three days. He would have never thought he and the surviving few who couldn't get the day off to enjoy the festivities would be all that's left…
Arthur felt something patting his paw. He looked up to see Kirby smiling at him.
"It's okay, Mr. Arthur, it's okay!" she comforted him.
He smiled warmly at her. "You are most kind, little lass."
"But why did eNeMeE want me…?" she asked.
"It's not certain…but we believed eNeMeE intended to use you to get a warpstar."
Arthur gazed at the warpstar on her head, "Known as the Star of the Ancients, a warpstar can only be activated and used by a Star Warrior," he answered.
To Arthur's knowledge, Meta Knight had one as well, although, he didn't know where he kept his. Working under King Dedede may have forced him to put it away to hide his true identity.
Kirby reached up to touch the warpstar on her forehead. "Really…?" she paused thoughtfully. "…well, I guess that makes sense. I've never seen anyone use it besides me."
"Because it's yours alone," Meta Knight spoke up. "A warp star is a biological machine that can only be born with its user and will remain with them until death," with growing passion, he continued. "The Ancients gifted them to our ancestors when they were assigned to be the Guardians of Peace and we, as their descendants, have it as well!"
"… … …" Kirby blinked at him.
Meta Knight saw his words were not getting through so he sat back with a soft sigh. Maybe this was the reason why Meta Knight hadn't told her much. Meta Knight had a scholarly mind and it was rare to find his equal. Not that he was any better. Arthur did not understand the mechanical magicks of the Ancients nor would he pretend to.
"Ahem! Well, the point is, Kirby…" Arthur got back onto their main objective. "You are still very young and our kind lives on for thousands upon thousands of years. A measly century or two will not stop you from being a Star Warrior… please come back with us to our home in Starlit Glade!" he besieged her. "There you will be reunited with your kin and will be brought up in the Courts of Lofty Castle as a Dame of great standing."
"A Dame…?" Kirby seemed confused. "But… but I thought I was going to be a knight!"
"I am sorry, Kirby, but that path is no longer available to you. You're too precious to risk losing you in battle. We need you safe."
"…But I still have to leave Dreamland?"
"Yes. I am sorry," Arthur offered another apology. They were asking a lot of her, but Kirby needed to understand this was her duty to her people.
Kirby slumped lower into her seat. "I see…" she muttered sadly. Kirby did not speak for nearly a minute before she asked, "Um… may I be excused to use the restroom?"
Arthur nodded. "Of course, it's down the hall. Make a left. It will be the third door on the right."
"Thank you…" Kirby got up and left.
That was well over an hour ago.
Arthur drummed his fingers against the polished table with dwindling patience. Sir Lancelot took out his powder and began to dust and polish his javelin. Sir Galahad was reading a novel. Sir Meta Knight seemed to be in his own little world and Sir Percival was sound asleep snoring. Arthur restrained against the urge to kick his chair and storm the lavatories. He had been patient since it was a lot for Kirby to take in all at once. She obviously needed time to collect herself but this was simply too long!
"Galahad, go check up on her," Arthur ordered.
Sir Galahad closed his book. "Yes, sir."
Sir Percival leaned further back in his chair and let out his loudest snore yet. Arthur's eye twitched. Well, that does it! "And take this sluggard with you!" Arthur kicked his chair out causing the knight to crash to the floor.
"…wah?" Sir Percival asked confused. His eyes blinked opened.
"Go with Galahad to check up on Kirby," Arthur ordered. "And bring her back in here. There will be no more stalling!"
"…is that necessary?" Percival sat up with a yawn. He stretched his joints as he got up. "She's been gone only ten minutes."
"It's been almost two hours!"
"Oh, my bad," Percival followed Galahad out the door. "Be back in a sec." Five minutes later the two returned without Kirby, looking slightly panicked and sheepish. "Um, boss…" Percival said hesitantly. "…I think she ditched us-"
"WHAT?"
"No one is in there-"
"Then search the ship!"
"We have, sir!" Galahad spoke up this time. "We have searched it twice. She's not on board!"
"Did you scheme this?" Arthur demanded, whirling on Meta Knight.
He seemed a bit stunned but thoroughly amused as his eyes tinted a pastel pink. "I would like to think a potential squire of mine would not flee from responsibility, but considering the circumstances, I cannot blame her."
"Meta Knight, what exactly did you two talk about in here?" Arthur made a mental note to pull the security tapes for viewing later. He would not go easy on the knight if he had told Kirby to flee from them if they could not be persuaded.
"She was angry that I failed to disclose we were of the same species."
"Anything else?"
"No."
"You know I don't believe you," Arthur tried to call his bluff.
Meta Knight merely shrugged in response. "Believe what you will, my lord."
Arthur growled as he clenched his fists. "Search the perimeter!" he commanded, storming out the room. The last hope of his people could not run away like this! He will find her and bring her home.
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Next Chapter: A Shadow from the Past
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