The high empress sneered. It had been sweeps since any news of mutants had reached her palace and she grew frustrated; Darkleer had been sent out long ago to hunt them down but there was still no sign. The Condesce rubbed the bridge of her nose, an ache gnawing behind her eyes. A memory swam up of when she had first received news of them from a disgusting lowblood. A smile appeared on her face as she recalled how the troll had left disappointed, then overjoyed when the sack of gold had been dropped in front of them. Of course it was actually a sack of rocks, and as soon as they realized this they were culled. Condesce chuckled a bit at the memory, her headache soothed. That troll had given her the information she had needed, but ever since there was nothing. The headache returned and she called in some mustard blood who wished to speak with her for some reason. Perhaps her ache could be soothed once this one was dead.
Back in the small hive the Psiioniic readied himself for training. Shirt left on his bed the golden troll began to stride from the room, his toned muscles rippling slightly. A small bowl of water sat on the table beside him and the Psiioniic drank it whole. He then looked to the water basin in the corner; it was almost empty so he took the initiative to fill it. No one else was awake at the moment and the sun had just set. As he stepped from the hive he glanced to the horizon, there were still traces of the sun peaking over the hills. The left over water was used to quickly water the garden beside their hive and he carried the basket over to a well in the center of town. Once full he returned to the hive to see Dolorosa beginning to make breakfast.
"Good morning, Psiioniic." She greeted him, a soft smile gracing her features.
"Good morning, Dolorosa." He replied, a small knot tying itself in his stomach. He placed the basket in its place.
"Oh good, you got more water?" She turned with a bowl to drink some. He only nodded.
"Do you know what is wrong with Signless?" Her eyes pleaded with Psiioniic. "Ever since the night he took Disciple out I feel as if he's grown distant. From everyone."
The Psiioniic sighed. "Yes, I've felt that too. But I have no idea what it could be. Perhaps something happened while they were out? The Disciple doesn't see much different though."
"I will speak with her later then." Dolorosa ended with that. There was a moments pause before conversation was struck again.
"What do you think of us trying to speak with the town again?" Psiioniic mused to her, leaning back in the wooden chair.
"I think you should try when you all feel ready." She stood to tend to the cooking meat. "Lean too far back and you'll fall."
"Don't you know who I am? I am the great Psiioniic, master of Psychic powers." He began. The Disciple trudged out from her room half asleep as he talked and sat at the table with him. "No chair can defea-" The Disciple poked a finger at the chair and the Psiioniic went crashing to the floor with a yelp. She snickered and helped him to his feet.
"Sorry, it was just too easy." She apologized while he glared daggers at her. The Dolorosa set the table and the olive and gold trolls dug in. But the jade troll looked back towards the boys room.
"I'll go wake Signless." She announced before walking down the hallway to the room. The boy in question lay still in his bed, breath shallow and slow. Dolorosa placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Wake up my son, night has fallen."
His eyes fluttered open. They had great bags beneath them and he looked up to his mother miserably. She placed a hand on his forehead.
"You're burning up!" It was obvious the Signless had fallen ill. "Wait here, I'll be right back." She stepped out of the room and searched for a rag, dipped it in the cool water, then returned and placed it upon the boys head. He groaned a bit and rolled onto his back so the cloth would stay. The Dolorosa then returned to the cupboard and grabbed a few blankets. She bundled her boy in them and made sure he lay still on his bed.
"Sleep now, you are sick." She rubbed the young trolls shoulder. Signless only moaned in return. The Disciple and Psiioniic peaked into the room.
"Could you two keep an eye on him? I need to go to town to get him some medicine. I'm afraid he has fallen ill." The Dolorosa called to them. Of course both nodded and the jade blood left in a hurry taking only a cloak and her basket.
"I'll make him some soup." The Psiioniic said before disappearing back into the main part of the hive. The Disciple sat down on the bed beside him. Carefully she reached out a hand to stroke his hair, unsure of how he would respond in his sickly state. But he instantly responded to her touch, a slight smile playing on his lips, his head weakly nuzzling into her hand. Then she began to play with his hair, just brushing it with her fingers, then separating the strands and bundling them together again. She began to braid parts of it, although last week the Dolorosa had cut it so it was a bit difficult. The Signless lay still, a smile on his mouth but his brows knotted in pain. Disciple began to hum softly, a sweet melody she had picked up among other trolls. Her voice was still a bit scratchy from just waking up but it still had a sweet tone to it. But her positioned began to grow uncomfortable so instead she moved herself onto his bed and lay there with him in his sickness. The song was still hummed and the hair was still braided, but they lay close together and there was almost nothing more comforting to the Signless than this.
His head felt clouded and heavy, but his heart was warm and buring like the embers in a fire. He had already made up his mind about how he should feel about this girl but even still, he couldn't help but allow himself the pleasure of keeping her close; the feeling of her fingers running through his hair, her gentle humming. Although he physically felt awful, her presence was so comforting that he soon found himself drifting off to sleep.
Psiioniic took his time to make the soup hoping that Signless would squeeze in a nap before it was finished. A faint tune floated from the back room and he let himself indulge in it as he cooked, chopping each vegetable carefully and measuring each spice with grace. He would like to think of himself as learned in the culinary arts, at least from what the Dolorosa taught him. Just as he thought of her the woman in question entered the hive, placed her cloak on a hook, and unloaded her basket. It was full of strange looking herbs.
"Is that his soup?" She inquired.
"Yes."
"Excellent." The Dolorosa strode over to it and began to crush the plants and place them in the cooking pot, mixing in the medicine needed. Psiioniic watched from behind, sitting himself of the table and not saying anything. Soon the soup was done and the Dolorosa slipped into the bedroom where the Disciple and Signless lay asleep in each others arms. The ruby troll was still on his back, his arm now curled under the Disciples and wrapped around her waist. A bit of droll fell from his mouth as it was wide open. The olive girl was curled around his side though, knees drawn up with one arm behind his and the other across his stomach. Her body was slowly rising and falling as the ruby troll continued to breath. The Dolorosa just smiled and returned to the kitchen.
"You're not giving him the medicine?" The Psiioniic watched her, confused.
"He will get his medicine, but for now he'll sleep. It looks a bit too comfortable in there for me to wake him now."
"What do you mean?"
"Go see for yourself." The Dolorosa was smiling to herself, pouring the bowl of soup back into the pot. However, the Psiioniic raised himself and went to see the troll in question. What he lay eyes on next caused rather conflicting emotions. First of all he was angry. Not out of jealousy, no, but out of the set back that might present itself. For he was more than happy to have the Disciple with them, there was no happier time that he could think of (besides when they were children of course), but now the two of them were working for something. Something with a real reason and cause that they had been working for their entire lives and it gnawed on him that because of any infatuation the two of them may gain it might get in the way of the big picture, the real goals. He stomped back into the living room and slumped back into a chair with a huff. The Dolorosa turned, surprised at his reaction.
"Are you not happy for them?"
The Psiioniic sighed. "In a way, yes. I'm glad they both have filled their red quadrent or whatever but let's be honest. What are we really working for here?"
The Dolorosa set her bowl down and pulled up a chair beside him. "You know very well I know what we are trying to do, all of us know."
"Yes but what if their red feelings get in the way?"
"Psiioniic, you know my son-"
"Yes but it's not like I've ever seen him with a woman!"
"He knows very well his position as you know yours-"
"And what if it ruinth everything? Everything we've ever trained for, cried for, starved for? Every troll who hath ever been opprethed ith counting on uth and he'th jutht going to throw it away for hith quadrentth!"
"Don't you realize that it's not only you and the Signless in this? The Disciple and myself are doing our part too! Don't you see her out there training with you every day? Don't I teach you, cloth you, feed you?" The Dolorosa yelled. Psiioniic immediately shrank back, she had never yelled at him like this before. "We are doing just as much our part as yours, and I do not think that the either the Disciple or the Signless will back down from this cause just because of their feelings. You know them better than this, Psiioniic."
It was quiet for a few moments after that. The Dolorosa still seemed angry and the Psiioniic just felt guilty, his own anger forgotten. She was right, the two of them would never let something between them come between what they were all striving for. A few more moments passed.
"You're right, I'm thorry." The Psiioniic whispered, slumped over and rubbing the bridge of his nose. His head was really achey from the energy flowing in his mutant brain.
"It's all right, Psiioniic." The Dolorosa's face changed from anger to kindness as she reached over to rub his arm.
"I'm going to go train." He ended the conversation and stood from the table. Dolorosa stood to stir the soup as the Psiioniic left the hive and went into the night.
He started with punches to the dumby the Signless and he had built. Then psychic punches. A few other psychic manipulations and the dummy's head burst open. Psiioniic sighed and went to go get a replacement head from a basket not too far from the field. When he returned he saw the Disciple crouching on the shoulders of the training puppet. With a flip she was on the ground again standing in front of the gold troll.
"I heard what you two were saying." She said simply, hurt obvious in her voice. "And I just want you to know that there's nothing between the Signless and myself."
The Psiioniic opened his mouth to speak but she put a finger over his lips. "And even if there were," the Disciple continued. "We would never let it get in the way."
The Psiioniic saw the hurt in her eyes and his stomach fell even more.
"Want to train?" She asked him timidly. Psiioniic nodded and she smiled. They began their movements and techniques, hoping to perfect every move, strike, and dodge.
Authors Note
Thank you so much to all my readers and reviewers! Really, I had no idea I would ever get any more than like 3 so this is a big deal to me. I appreciate ever word or encouragement and every suggestion. Special thanks to
MissArsenicChaos
Aimless-A-Smiles
VampireFreak127
I am the antihero Calmasis
crazyfailningaofthehiddenleaf
Dragongirl253
and anyone else! Really, I'm not much of a writer and I'm just doing this for fun, but it makes me feel good knowing other people enjoy it too.
Honestly, this was kind of a filler chapter because I was sick and didn't want to make anything big happen but I still wanted to update, but I'm going to get things picking up in the next chapters. I'm just trying to establish relationships and how characters interact since I'm still getting the feel for things. But thank you so much to everyone, until my next chapter!
Cheetah Girl out, GROWL POWER!