Chapter 8
The Meeting
The ground was quickly separated from Stith's feet as she was hoisted into the air. Despite how much she squirmed, Stith could not break free of her captor's grasp. She did a great job of wiggling and squirming, but eventually it was too much for her and she had no choice but to relent; the stranger held her too firmly.
Beneath Stith's dangling legs was the gourd that she dropped in her surprise. It rolled across the grass until it was stopped by her captor's foot.
Stith knew she was in trouble, but she had no idea how much. Memories about what she had been told rushed back to her mind with the force of a tsunami. Lupit had said that those caught escaping would be killed. Stith did not believe him at the time, but now she was not so sure. What if they did kill her, or worse? As this fear overcame her, Stith began kicking and squirming savagely again. It was in vain.
Stith could feel her captor's hot breath on the back of her neck. It was hot and damp, and this sensation, along with how she knew that she could be killed at any moment by this monster, if what she had been told was true, caused her stomach to surge into her skull before plummeting to her feet. She savored each of her breaths, as she thought that any one may have been the last. They were delicious, even when suffocated with panic.
Her hearts were beating furiously, as if they were going to burst, and it was a safe bet that the mantrin holding her could feel them throbbing though her chest. Stith's fear finally got the best of her as she began to cry out in desperation, calling for Tiryso, for Kiryee, for anyone nearby.
It was then that her captor spoke. "Oh, Stith. Don't cry. Shhhh," cooed a soothing, feminine voice, much like a mother to her upset infant. As she spoke she released Stith's muzzle. "You might wake someone, and if they saw you out here you'd really be in trouble." Stith recognized the soft, alto voice immediately. It was Kiryee. Part of Stith was relieved and part of her was chilled with fear upon realizing this. Both simultaneous feelings confused her mind. So far, Kiryee had been kind to her, but she had only known her for two days. Stith wondered if she would hurt her this time for breaking the rules.
Shaking with fear, Stith timidly turned her head back to face the owner of the voice, and this confirmed her assumption. Staring down her muzzle though soft eyes was Kiryee. She appeared drowsy, annoyed, and dissapointed all at the same time.
"And what do you think you're doing?" Kiryee asked, giving her a light squeeze. At this, Stith let out a machine-gun paced barrage of "I'm sorries" and "don't hurt mes", which was cut short by Kiryee closing her hand around Stith's muzzle. "I'm not going to hurt you," she cooed. Her free hand tenderly rubbed Stith's ears, soothing her. She then held her steady, supporting her back and legs, and proceeded to carry her back to the hallway.
"Stith, what were you doing out here?" Kiryee asked. She grunted as she realized that the hallway's guards were missing. She made a mental note to give them extra work at their next training session, as well as an extended yelling.
Stith sniffed slightly, leaning against Kiryee. "I wanna go home," she whimpered.
"I know, Stith, but it's not safe to let you go, and we don't even know where your caretaker is. What if he tells the humans about us, which he surely will, and then we could all be killed. Sorry but I can't let you go either Stith." She touched the end of her beak to Stith's own, looking into her eyes. It was then that Stith realized just how much larger Kiryee was than she. Her muzzle was at least twice the length of her own, and Kiryee was even small for her race. To Stith, it was no wonder how she had been restrained with such ease.
"Speaking of which," she sneered, and then picked up her pace so that they would arrive back at the hall as soon as possible, "I think there was someone here that was supposed to be taking care of you."
Once in the hallway, Kiryee carried Stith into her own room. Stith could not tell precisely how it was arranged in the dark, but the shadows she saw showed a room that was more or less equivalent to how Tiryso's. The stop there was brief, as Kiryee first applied her chest poetyo (Stith had just noticed that she had not been completely dressed), and then went over to one of the room's far corners and leaned forward to pick up two objects from the floor that clacked together. Stith assumed that they were rocks from the sound.
Kiryee then carried Stith out of the room, further down the hallway, and making no attempt to keep her act silent, pushed her way through Tiryso's curtain and into his room. She set Stith on the floor, went over to one of the corners, and struck the two stones together a few times, and soon a spark emanated from them. She used this to light the torch in that corner. She stuffed the rocks into her top poetyo, and then carried Stith over to the sleeping Tiryso.
"Hey, I think you lost this!" she bellowed as she dumped Stith onto Tiryso's chest. The young mantrin fell with a light thump. Tiryso woke with a nervous start. His rapid, sporadic attempt to get out of bed resembled a fish's attempt to get back into the water, and resulted in him falling on the floor while Stith managed to stay on the bed.
The little mantrin peered down at Tiryso, doing her best to keep from laughing.
"Whaaa?" Tiryso groaned. His chest was heaving from being startled, however he still sounded half asleep. Apparently his little scene had failed to wake him up completely. He rubbed one of his eyes and yawned, getting up after a few moments, and began the tedious task of untangling his sheets from his legs and tidying up his bed so that he could go back to sleep.
"I found her, outside, with the gourd you kept her clothes in, trying to leave." Kiryee snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. She picked at the rocks in her top poetyo as they had begun to itch her skin, but she had no other place to put them at the moment
"Stith was outside?" Tiryso asked. He yawned again and sat down on his newly made up bed, looking through tired eyes at Kiryee.
"Yes, she was outside!" Kiryee yelled. "I caught her on my way back from relieving myself."
"How'd she make it past the guards?" Tiryso asked. He rubbed his eyes again and leaned back against the wall.
"What guards?!" Kiryee asked. She snorted again.
"They weren't there?"
"That's right." Kiryee's agitation had not even begun to diminish; Tiryso was beginning to look agitated as well as he had finally woken up enough to grasp the concept of what had happened. "What if someone else caught her, Tiryso? What if she got lost in the woods?" Kiryee's voice had a hint of sadness to it. She did not want to think of the possibilities. "She could have died, and it was because you weren't paying attention to her."
"I was asleep!" Tiryso said. "I wouldn't think that she'd be stupid enough to try to leave! Never mind what we told her what could happen if she was caught, but what if she did get lost in the woods? I trusted her common sense not to leave her safety!"
"Tiryso, she's maybe twenty seasons old! She doesn't have any such thing as common sense!" Kiryee placed her hands on her upper pair of knees, and leaned toward him. Her ears were folded back. "All she knows is that she wants her ahmo and she wants her erseh, and she's willing to do just about anything to try to get to them!"
Tiryso sighed and raised a hand to silence her. "Not so loud, Kiryee. You might wake everyone else."
"Good!" Kiryee shouted. She purposely raised the volume of her voice. "Then at least someone would notice and realize that it's a little strange for a little girl to be going outside, carrying a gourd that's about half her size!" Stith backed off of the bed and into a corner far away from the quarrelling pair. "And would then try to stop her! Unlike you!"
Tiryso spat back, "How was I supposed to know she'd escape?! I can't watch her every second. If you think you can take better care of her, then fine! Take it up with the abwot!"
Kiryee grunted, continuing the argument. She emphasized each sentence with her finger poking into his chest. "Believe me, I would love to, but that's not possible because I have to train and take care of the food rations, otherwise Lupit wouldn't be allowing me to live in the ghishveht hall, and I'm not giving that up! Youwanted to watch her. You watch her. Tiryso, if this girl gets hurt, I'll see that you lose something--" an eerie calm fell over her voice as she traced her hand over his ear "--valuable." He flinched, mainly because her threat was not idle. Even high-ranking ghishvets were not safe from punishment, and Kiryee could be very persuasive.
"Stop fighting!" Stith shouted, cutting through the argument.
"We aren't dear," Kiryee said sweetly as her head snapped to face her. "We're just aggressively discussing your safety. Isn't that right, you old fool?" She lightly jabbed him in his belly after she said this.
He gasped as the breath escaped him, and then nodded. "We're not fighting," he said, sitting back down on his bed. As he slid back under his sheets, another voice was heard from the other side of the curtain. It was a gentle male voice, with a low tenor quality.
"Kiryee," said the voice with a surprising amount of calm, "Can this wait until morning? I'm not the only one that is trying to get some sleep."
"Salu," said Kiryee, "I'm sorry, but we have something important to discuss. About a neglectful guardian." She gave Tiryso another sharp poke as she said this.
"Yes, I know. We can all hear you very well. The child tried to escape, and now you are infuriated that Tiryso felt the need to sleep at some point", he said, yawning deeply and smacking his lips; this they heard clearly from the other side of the curtain. "And, as I would expect from someone with your dismal level of patience, you felt that this situation had to be dealt with right now. Personally I do not appreciate the disturbance, and wish that you could use better judgment about when you have to make a scene."
"Who's that?" Stith asked of anyone that wished to answer.
"Salu," Kiryee said. "He's our librarian."
"You have a library here?" Stith's ear twitched slightly. She did not like to read very much, but it would be at least something to keep her busy.
"A library of records, yes," she said. Stith immediately lost interest. "Salu keeps record of everything that goes on here and puts them in our library. He also has several records of the human's history, which he has translated for us. But, dear, you shouldn't look at those. They can be very scary. You'd have nightmares for sure." Kiryee gave Stith's head a loving pat as she said this.
"Yes, I'm the librarian," he said as he pushed his head through the curtain and into the room. "You don't have to talk about me like I'm not here." Stith had trouble seeing in the flickering firelight, but she could tell that Salu was a Goureg like Tiryso. Salu was a bit shorter than he, but he towered over her and Kiryee nonetheless. He also did not have the same long, defined muzzle that Tiryso had. His shoulders were broad and squat, giving his upper body a boxlike appearance.
Kiryee laughed. "Well, sorry if I offended you."
"I'm not offended," he said, then stepped fully into the room and moved a little closer to Stith so that he could see her more clearly. As he did so, Stith became aware of his scent. It was an odd smell that Stith couldn't quite grasp, resembling a combination of fresh flowers and leather. Odd yes, but she still found it rather pleasant. Tiryso had a similar scent, but it was not as strong.
Large, tranquil eyes stared down at her from under Salu's brow. Even in the darkness, Stith could see their bright green-blue quality as the flickering torchlight danced over his body. "So you're the girl that I've been hearing about," he said and then glanced over at Kiryee. "She's pretty."
Kiryee's face blushed from her jaw line to her ear tips. "Yes she is pretty, and I'm envious. She does have a name, so you know. It's Stith." She looked over her shoulder to see that Tiryso had already fallen asleep. Deciding to just let him rest, she turned her attention back to Salu and Stith.
"You don't need to be, Kiryee. You inherited your ahmo's beauty." Kiryee dismissively snorted as he looked back down at Stith. "Hi, Stith. I'm pleased to finally meet you, even if it is in this awkward situation," he said.
"Ureaht," Stith greeted him softly. She spoke more to the floor than to Salu. Then, as she let her eyes trace from his feet upward, she averted her eyes in embarrassment. Her entire body tensed up as she looked away. "You're gross," she slowly said, still looking away. "Why can't you just wear your stupid clothes?"
"Well dear, you don't want me to sleep in them do you? It would be most uncomfortable," Salu said. "And then even if Kiryee was being respectful enough to be quiet, I would never be able to sleep I fear."
Kiryee chuckled once more. "Salu, that's part of what the meeting is about tomorrow. Lupit wants a new dress code with Stith here, among other things. He wants it at lii'saa too, just after the sun comes over the forest."
He nodded, and then turned to leave. "I never will understand why he must do this so early. Someone needs to remind him that we younger mantrins have different sleeping cycles than he. Oh well, Syneht khi sayft tyoti you three"
"Yes. I'll see you tomorrow too," she said. She then jokingly added, "Maybe I can bribe Lupit into cutting it short."
"Would you?" he asked with a soft laugh, then yawned deeply as he made his way back to his room.
"Maybe," she said to herself. Her almond shaped, golden eyes devilishly narrowed.
"He's weird," Stith said, cutting off Kiryee's brief fantasy. She was lying down on the floor and was about to fall asleep again, and probably would have if it were not for the hypnotic light display on the walls and ceiling from the torch. Her eyes seemed entranced by them, much like a child seeing a fireworks show for the first time. Finally, Stith clumsily rolled onto her back and added, "I don't like him."
"Oh, Stith, you barely know him. But you're right. Salu's just another big, stupid male like my friend here." She playfully kicked Tiryso in his leg, causing him to momentarily wake. He grunted and rubbed his leg before nodding back off to whatever dream he was having.
"Yeah. Boys are stupid and gross." Stith yawned, eventually letting her eyes rest from the light show. As her eyes lidded, Stith contently placed her hands over her belly.
"Some of them are kind of cute," Kiryee said, directing the statement more to herself than at Stith. "Now come on, you need to get back in bed. You're going to have to get up early tomorrow."
"But I want to sleep right here," Stith said as Kiryee lowered herself to pick her up into her arms. .
"No, you don't. Then you'll wake up feeling all sore and icky, and you don't want that to happen, do you?" Without waiting for a reply, Kiryee carried her back over to her bed and covered her up. Once Stith was tucked in, Kiryee leaned forward and gave her a light lick on the back of her exposed ear; Stith did not fight it. In fact, she secretly enjoyed it. "Now, Stith, don't you worry. I'm never going to let you get hurt. Go to sleep now. I'm going to go get your gourd for you."
In the commotion, Stith had nearly forgotten about her treasure. It was still outside on the grass. "Okay," she said, almost in the comfort of the dream world.
Kiryee patted her on the head. "I'll be right back. Sleep well."
Before she left, Kiryee extinguished the torch's flame. Once the room had been swallowed in darkness, it did not take long for the young mantrin to return to a deep sleep.
ooo
Stith was gently rocked awake at about the equivalent of six in the morning. It was Tiryso who had done so, and once he saw that she had begun to stir, he left the room to allow her to dress, however she did not realize this. A moment later, he returned and lightly shook her shoulder again. This time, he spoke softly.
"Stith, you need to get up," he whispered into her ear, giving her shoulder another light shake and a gentle squeeze. "We have a meeting." This time, Tiryso waited for Stith to open her eyes and look at him before he left the room again; before leaving he took a moment to roll back the parchment over his skylights. Light poured into the room like golden waterfalls that illuminated four patches on the floor. Stith could see dust floating around through the light; it playfully drifted through the air like the freed seeds of a dandelion.
She grunted, sitting up slowly and lightly rubbing at her forehead and ears. She then blinked her eyes rapidly a few times while they adjusted to the fresh light. Not wanting to get up so early, Stith lay back down and considered covering up in her itchy sheets. This she finally did, but unfortunately her skin grew rather sweaty and irritated, causing her to finally toss the sheets aside and stood to follow Tiryso.
Food was the first thing to occupy Stith's mind once she was out of bed. Upon standing, she heard a low irritated rumble deep within her belly that seemed to be cued by her feet touching the ground. She considered going into the storage room to get something to eat, but realized that she needed to dress first. Unfortunately, once her poetyo had been applied to her waist and chest, Tiryso returned to take her to the meeting.
"I'm hungry," Stith explained, as she was scooted through the doorway. No meeting, she felt, was more important than filling her tummy at the moment. Tiryso did not seem to agree.
"The meeting will only last a few minutes, Stith," he said as he quickly led her down the hallway. "And if we are late, we might be in serious trouble. The last thing I want is to be in bad company with Lupit. It is also the last thing you want Stith."
She muttered something sarcastic, although he did not hear it.
As they walked, Stith heard the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. They gained on her and eventually passed before stopping and turning. Stith craned her neck up at the figure and was startled at his bizarre appearance. Even in the low light, she could see that his skin was a nauseating pea soup green. He was unusually thin; his ribs peered through the skin, and what belly he had was hiding somewhere between his navel and backside. What especially startled Stith were his ears. They appeared to be like folded up fans that rested against his skull. He had a very strange odor, one like wet leather and ripened meat.
The strange mantrin lowered himself until his muzzle was nearly touching her own. He looked at her, and Stith had the unsettling feeling that his eyes were staring through her, as though he was not full aware of her presence, much like a mindless animal. "My my, what is this?" he said rapidly in a sour tenor voice, and sniffing just as quickly. He placed his muzzle on each side of hers, still sniffing and finally licking her neck. "Tiryso she tastes like the city," he said, looking up at him while Stith shivered. "What's wrong with her?"
"Hliac, go away. We have a meeting," Tiryso said. "You don't want to be late, and you will find out about her then."
"Oh I bet I will," he replied. "We all will." He hurried down the hallway and was soon out of view.
Tiryso looked ahead as they walked. "That's Hliac. He's rather strange as you can see. Try to ignore him. He's good at what he does, but he can be very annoying. Sometimes I wonder if everything is working in his head."
Once outside, it quickly became apparent to Stith how hot it was. Even in the early morning the air was steamy, and the previous afternoon's rain only helped to increase the humidity. The thick layers of poetyo on her body furthered her discomfort. Stith was relieved when she realized that the meeting was being held under the shade of a large tree that was right behind the hallway. The back of it, as well as the entire outside of the structure, was an exact copy of the walls inside the building. That is, they were a variety of dark stones fitted together with a primitive grout or cement; the roof was flat and wooden, reinforced at the borders by more stone. It was not exactly the prettiest thing in the world, but it seemed to be very sturdy and was better than living outside.
Kiryee, Lupit, Salu, and many others that she did not recognize were already seated on the grass. They were not arranged in any particular order, nor were they sitting in any sort of a proper position, and the situation just generally looked to be very casual. They were all chatting quietly, all that is except for a single Sogowan female that was seated alone. She was the only female that Stith saw other than Kiryee, appeared to be about Lupit's age, and despite having had lived many years was still attractive. One could even say she was beautiful. However, the cold, isolated look in her eye eradicated any beauty that she may have possessed.
Tiryso seated himself next to Kiryee, and motioned for Stith to sit between them. She did so. A few of the strange mantrins started gesturing in her direction as they talked, their eyes clinging to her as they spoke. Her own eyes met those of one such mantrin. He was a Goureg like most of the others in the region, and he responded with a soft smile. The smile was overshadowed by the powerful muscles that covered his body; they were very well toned and he appeared in excellent shape.
"Who is that?" Stith asked Kiryee, tugging on her poetyo, and pointed at the Goureg.
"Oh that's Hoht," she said, waving to him. He waved in return. "He's our best hunter. He helps bring us food, so be nice to him."
"You don't have a grocery store?" Stith asked.
"What's that?"
Tiryso answered for her. "No we don't Stith. We collect all of our own food, and if you are a ghishveht like Kiryee and myself, you get your own garden to grow whatever you would like."
"Ugh," Stith muttered and then tugged on Kiryee's poetyo once more. She pointed at the lone female. "Who's that?"
"Oh, that's my ahmo. Her name is Eleisyn, but you don't want to talk to her. She's mean."
"She is?"
Kiryee nodded, and then lowered her voice so that very few would hear her. "She's really, really mean, especially to anyone she gets to punish. Trust me Stith, you don't want to be sent to her. She's even hurt me before."
Stith looked saddened by this statement. "Why? You're nice."
"Like I said, she's mean." She reached down to scratch Stith behind the ears. "But don't worry about it, Stith. I'm a tough girl," she said, forcing a smile.
"Oh." Stith sadly looked down at the ground, her eyes becoming drawn to a small beetle-like insect that was stumbling through the grass.
Everyone else continued chatting for several minutes until Lupit arrived. Stith had trouble understanding them since they were speaking as rapidly as they were, and her Preidogian was not very strong. She still had trouble even with Tiryso and Kiryee, and they were making an attempt to keep it simple for her.
Stepping in front of the group, Lupit raised his arm to call for silence. He looked around, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the members. After a grunt he spoke. "Where is Myolu?" he grumbled.
Tiryso looked up at him. "He's already gone back to the city. I haven't seen him since Stith woke."
"He knew we had a meeting. He knows the consequences for missing one," he said, and then quickly skirted the subject. "This meeting will be short. I only have a few things to say." There was a small pause, and he seemed to be concentrating on what to say next. "First," he began, gesturing to Stith, "this is Stith." There was another pause. "Her presence here was not intended, but one of our members here decided to kill her adoptive ahmo."
"Why?" asked one of the Gouregs.
"She was human," said Lupit. "It is the only guess."
"She doesn't like humans, does she? I mean, she didn't really want to be there, right?" said another mantrin, although this one's race Stith could not make out. He was very tall, much like Tiryso and Salu, and he also had their bright green-blue eyes. However, his skin was much darker, and he had the same thick build as Lupit. She saw a few very faint variations in his skin tone that reminded her of the Gouregs. Stith wanted to speak up about his comment, but remained silent. She was afraid that she might be in trouble for interrupting them, not only from Lupit, but also from this mantrin. To Stith, he appeared to be the type who would be violent in solving problems.
"She did, and she still does." Lupit responded. "But she must stay here, for our safety."
"I don't care. We don't need her kind here." Turpin, the strange colored mantrin, grunted as he spoke. A few of the other ghishvehtsbegan muttering amongst themselves after this comment.
"She's staying. Do not interrupt me about this anymore!" Lupit glanced over at Eleisyn, causing Turpin to retreat. "I do not want her here anymore than the rest of you. We have to live with it anyway. The one that brought us this misfortune has been punished already. I believe he is dead. If so, then I know he deserved it. So let this be a lesson to those that get any ideas to go against your orders."
No one responded and a cold silence fell over the group. Eventually one of them did speak, a distant female voice. "He's dead," said Eleisyn without any emotion. She spoke no more and returned her attention elsewhere.
Kiryee shuddered, squeezing Stith's hand tightly. "She's strange," she whispered. "Ahmo doesn't seem to be able to feel other's pain. I actually think she enjoys hurting people. Stay far away from her dear."
Lupit leaned against the back of a nearby tree. "Next is something you will like even less," he muttered, and was then greeted by a wave of groans and moans. "Until Stith loses her prudish nature, I have to extend the clothing rule to us. If you are outside of your room, cover yourself."
"What?!" one of the two Orkehts shouted. "Why do we have to lose one of the freedoms that we've worked hard to earn? This isn't fair! She can just deal with it!"
"This is not up for debate," Lupit sneered at the Orkeht. "If any of you have a problem with this, then maybe you can help persuade Stith to 'just deal with it.' It is her fault."
The Orkeht furiously dug his claws into the ground, grinding his teeth as though trying to crush ice. "That's tough for her isn't it? Just send her north to the learning center! Then she won't be a bother!"
"I don't trust her safety there. Tiryso said he will look after her, so he will teach her too."
"Fine!" the Orkeht spat. He looked away for a moment before sneering at Stith.
"I don't want her to leave either," Kiryee interrupted, snuggling Stith close to her chest like an extra cuddly plush. The young mantrin jerked away in embarrassment from the candid affection. Then, trying to add a less selfish argument, Kiryee said, "Besides, she wouldn't have many friends there. You know how cruel little children can be. Now imagine what it would be like for Stith, who was partially raised by a human."
Turpin snorted, and spoke up again. He was digging his claws into the ground much like the Orkeht. Long troughs were rapidly appearing in the soil beside his legs. "That's her problem," he said, ignoring Kiryee and pulling the corners of his beak into an angry snarl. "We shouldn't be punished for her being a prude! I agree. Tell her to just get over it! I'll walk around without my poetyo if I want to do it, and I don't care if it makes her so sick to her stomach that she throws up until next season!" His words aroused the others greatly, and the resulting chatter grew to be surprisingly loud for such a small bunch.
Stith looked over to Lupit, expecting a sudden violent outburst from him. She cowered into Kiryee's body in anticipation. The old mantrin was not about to say anything however. He remained silent for several minutes. Eventually the commotion died away as the group grew tired of arguing with no one to argue the other way.
A very low growl began to rise from within Lupit. His voice began just as low and then rocketed to a deafening roar. "I said, this is not up for discussion!" A silence blanketed the grounds as though all sound had been torn from the planet; even the distant chattering of creatures had ceased. "May I resume?" he then said in a hushed tone. The group remained silent and motionless, with the exception of Turpin, who was doodling obscene words in the dirt with his claw. "Myrsya," he muttered, and took a deep breath as he recollected his thoughts
"With luck the rule will not last long. We only have to do this until she is ready."
"Or until we kill her!" came Hliac's overly excited voice. His eerily blank expression was fixated on her as he drew his tongue across his lips.
"There will be none of that," Lupit said as he shook his head. "Unless you want to share the same fate."
The other mantrins remained quiet about this, although Stith began to whimper. She cuddled into Kiryee even more tightly, and was relieved to feel her arms wrapping around her. "Don't worry about him," Kiryee cooed. "He's crazy, but we won't let him hurt you. I promise." The only response was a faint whimper.
Lupit continued: "One more thing." He paused to think of how to properly word what he wanted to say. "Be nice to her. I know none of you agree with how she was raised." He paused to take a deep breath. "She had no choice in her upbringing. Be nice to her," he repeated. "Or you will be promptly punished. That is all."
The chatting among the others resumed as they stood--all except for Tiryso and Stith--and went back to whatever it was they were originally doing. Kiryee had given Lupit's ear an affectionate lick before she got up, to which Lupit responded by lightly nuzzling the end of her beak. After everyone else was gone, Tiryso gently hoisted the dozing Stith into his arms and carried her back to his room. Lupit and Eleisyn remained, but not for long as she gave a slight grunt and made her way back to the ghisveht building.
"Eleisyn," Lupit called after her.
She froze in her tracks, slowly turning her head to look back at him. Her narrow eyes burned into his large body like molten metal. "Yes?"
"I do not approve of what you did to Lyr before you executed him." The lovely Sogowan did not respond. "I understand that his crime was severe," he said, "but even he did not deserve what you did to him. The execution that I requested would have sufficed. Please learn to control yourself."
There was a short pause, and it appeared for a moment that Eleisyn would not respond. Finally, she did. "Death is a release," she said quietly. Her low soprano voice had the rich color and softness of crushed velvet, and it was sweet like chocolate, although when she spoke it was frigid and lacking emotion. "Thus it is not a punishment. Punishment must be carried out before death." This was all that she said before stepping into the hallway.
ooo
With a slight bit of persuasion from Kiryee, Tiryso decided to let Stith sleep. After all, it was very early. During her slumber, he quickly left to go bathe since he had not had much of a chance the previous night. He decided to go to the main area for a change in hopes of being able to speak to some of his old friends, assuming that they were out that morning. It turned out that they were not. Most of them were busy training, as he should have known. Only a fool would bathe, and then leave to get dirty and sweaty afterward. There were only two other males bathing at the time, and he did not recognize them.
Just to be safe, Stith had been left in the care of Salu while he was away. He did not really believe anyone would harm her, but after the way the morning's meeting had gone, he was not taking any chances.
With Salu watching her, he considered staying out longer to enjoy the water. There were some leaves and branches still carelessly floating about from the previous day's storm, but they were not too much of a hindrance. The water still felt good to his skin, and that was really all that mattered at the moment. Even early in the morning, the summer sun was brutal, and the humidity that lasted throughout the day left everyone feeling awfully sticky and miserable. Tiryso pitied those that had to train this morning. Having had been there himself, he knew what they were going through.
Eventually he decided that it would be best if he went ahead and got out of the lake. He needed to get back with Stith real soon. Salu was trustworthy, but Tiryso still felt more secure watching her himself. And what if she woke before he returned? Stith already did not think very highly of him, and finding him missing would not have helped.
Stepping out of the water, he inhaled deeply as the sun washed over his body. It was hot. It must have been nearly one hundred degrees. I may not need this after all, he thought as he bent down to pick up a long piece of cloth that he had brought to dry himself. It was an extra thick piece made just for that purpose.
Drying did not take long due to the combination of the sun and his towel, and as soon as he was finished, he reapplied his poetyo and went back to his room. On the way, Tiryso's ears perked at the faint sound of some unfortunate mantrin being yelled at by Kiryee. They were far away, but she could raise her voice to ear splitting levels when she felt the need. He decided that it was probably the guards that had vanished last night that were being berated, and quietly laughed as he thought of their misfortune.
Once inside, Tiryso pushed through the curtain to his room. What he saw made him wish that he had come sooner. Stith was up, and apparently not paying him the slightest bit of attention as she munched away at some food. Salu was watching her from Tiryso's bed.
"She's been up almost since you left," Salu said.
"Oh. Sorry, Stith," he said, grinning sheepishly.
Salu chuckled. "It's okay, she forgave you for leaving. She said that you needed a bath because you smelled funny."
"Mmmmhmmm," Stith said, her mouth full of an orange-like fruit. Tiryso glanced down at the gourd in her lap. The writing was not his, so he guessed that it was from Salu's room.
"Pardon me for not smelling up to your standards," he joked.
Stith swallowed. "You need to get some of these. They're yummy," she said, pointing inside the gourd in her lap. It was as though she had not even heard him.
"Stith's muzzle has been in my gourd since she woke. I do believe that she has finished it completely. It is a good thing that they grow as fast and easily as they do, or I would not have any more for a long time." Salu smiled as he watched her engulf a few more of the fruits.
Tiryso glanced down at the gourd. Unable to see inside it for the small hands that were blocking his view, he could not tell how much she had eaten. "She must have been hungry," he said, quite impressed. She had eaten hardly anything the previous day. Anger and stress tended to suppress the desire to eat.
"I don't think she has even come up for breath," Salu said with a chuckle. "She must have a blow hole we don't know about, like those Earth animals. What are they called again? Doobins?"
"Dolphins I think," Tiryso said as Stith set the gourd aside and yawned widely. Some of the fruit juice dribbled from her jaw and onto her lap. The two Gouregs' eyes both fell into the gourd to see how much was left. Nearly a third remained, which was much more than they had expected.
After a brief silence, Stith spoke up again. "Can I see Kiryee?" she asked. A few droplets of juice splattered out of her mouth as she spoke.
"No, not right now," Tiryso said, and then added in anticipation of Stith's protest: "Because she's busy training."
"Training?" Stith looked at Tiryso in confusion, her small tail rocking back and forth.
"Yes. She guides the regular members in exercise."
"Why?" One of Stith's ears twitched.
"It helps us stay healthy, plus we need to be prepared in case we need to defend ourselves again." Tiryso shrugged, not wishing to go into further detail.
"Oh." Stith chewed at the cuticle of one of her fingers after swallowing the rest of her juice. "I wanna see."
Salu and Tiryso looked between each other. Neither was sure if this was a wise idea, as letting the other members see her still made them uneasy. Of course no one would be able to harm her if they were busy training, but those that were not certainly could. Tiryso would never allow harm to come to her as long as he was there, but he knew that he could not watch her every second; the previous night proved that all too well. He had hoped that they could gradually introduce her to the others so that it would not be such a sudden shock, or perhaps even come up with a creative lie to explain where they found her.
As for the other members, a large portion of them would not be training at any given time. The exercises were done by age group and experience. Those that were free could spend the day doing whatever they desired. Often they congregated into their groups of friends and busied themselves with swimming, chatting, playing games (ooslaj was a favorite), flirting with members of other groups, and the occasional mutual procreation.
"I don't know if that's a good idea, Stith," Salu said slowly and quietly. "Someone might try to hurt you."
"You're big and he's even bigger," she pouted, pointing at Tiryso. "Why can't we go?"
"We can go Stith," Tiryso said. "But we can't get close to them. We will have to stay far away, and you will need to do your best to stay hidden for now. We might as well climb atop my garden wall and watch from there. It would be quite the view."
"He's right. Nor will you be able to talk to Kiryee like you seem to want to do. Even if you could get close enough, she would be too busy," Salu added.
Stith's ears drooped. In all honesty, she had just wanted to see Kiryee. Watching the other mantrins train did not interest her in the least. "Oh," she finally said in defeat, and rocked back on her tail.
"Oh, Tiryso, I just remembered," Salu said. "Lupit came by while you were away. He wanted to see you. I think it was about a new mission."
"Hmmm." Tiryso scratched under his beak. "I'd better go see him, then. Salu, can you watch her a little longer?"
"I would enjoy that," he said coolly. Salu reached over to pat her on the head. "Stith's a good girl, I would be pleased to watch her whenever you need my assistance."
"Myrsya. Stith, I'll be back soon."
"Okay," was all that she said. Stith did not even look up to see him leave the room.
"Stith, don't be so cold to him," Salu said once Tiryso's footsteps in the hallway died into the distance.
"Why? He's stupid."
"No, he's not. Stith, you should be thankful that he offered to look after you. What if he didn't?"
"Then I'd be happy, because I could be with Kiryee instead."
Salu wrinkled his muzzle. "No, you honestly could not. We have already explained that she is far too busy to spend time watching you. If it was not for Tiryso you would already be at the learning center by now, and I can assure you that children can be far more unforgiving and cruel than grown mantrins like myself. You would be even more miserable than you seem to be, so you should thank him if nothing else."
"But he's still stupid," she grumbled.
Salu laughed as he began to stand. "Stith, he's one of the smartest mantrins here, even if you do not wish to admit it as such." Once his feet were flat on the floor, he stretched, rising high on his legs and reaching up until his palms were flat on the ceiling. From Stith's viewpoint on the floor, Salu looked enormous, even larger than Tiryso. Only the underside of his muzzle could be seen from her diminutive position, not his nostrils, nor his eyes. She imagined him reaching up into the clouds, had they been outside.
Once he was finished with his stretch, Salu returned his attention to her. "Stith, would you like to come with me into the library? I have some work to get done, and maybe I could show you around some."
"I don't like to read." Stith snorted.
"That's too bad," he said pitifully and stepped over to the door. "You might learn some interesting things. Besides, you're going to have to come with me. I don't have a schedule to follow, but if I want to keep my job then I have to be consistent with my work." He stepped partially through the curtain, and looked back at her. "Shall we go?"
"I guess," Stith said with a sigh, and got up slowly enough to stall. When she made her way over to Salu, he gave her a light rub between her ears that met only marginal opposition.
"Tiryso tells me that you can't read our language?" Salu asked, and Stith nodded, her ears flushing slightly in embarrassment. "Then I can get you started on that as well. You will find our language is very easy to read once you become familiar with it. It is far less complicated than all of the human languages," he said, leading Stith through and finally out of the hallway.