The Keleader

''Sidos!''

Seedos looked up in curiosity. The thing that'd most likely brought him here! In person!

A slight bit of dissappointment hit him when he saw that the strange thing was nothing but another Sherbat, it was a bit bigger than the rest perhaps, but it remained a Sherbat.

''Hello! Call me Seedos, please... Take a seed! I have plenty of them in my backpack!''

Seedos took off his backpack and searched for a good-quality pumpkin seed. He knew Sherbats ate pumpkins - Jack O'Laterns at least -, and visiting arriving somewhere empty-handed was always asocial.

''I don't think that that would grow up here. Too dark. Not moisty enough.''

''But I don't know what else to give you!''

''That's okay with me. This is not exactly a tea party.''

''True.''

Seedos now took his time to observe the Sherbat more closely. It actually was a whole lot bigger than his fellow Kelele, the bat piñata was huge! Its confetti was in the deepest shade of purple, and his eyes looked as if they were made out of jade beads, instead of the usual glass ones.

''You must be the leader of the Kelele.''

''I am, yes.''

''I have so many questions...''

''I would answer those, but I've brought you here because I want to tell you something. Something of great importance.''

''Then one of my questions' partly answered... First, what is this place for?''

''This?'' The Sherbat made a wide gesture with his wing. ''This loft? It's a tomb. You see that sarcophagus? That's the final resting place of the temple's High Priest and his wive. The pottery and golden idols you see scattered on the ground, are their belongings. We, the Kelele, use this place to hold important meetings and such, and of course only our most respected members are aloud here.''

''So it's a great honor for me to be here?''

Seedos glanced around. He saw only a few of the dozens of Sherbats that had lifted him up were still in the room. Two were sitting on the sarcophagus and... about five were hanging upside down from the remarkably low ceiling. He was glad he was on the shorter side!

''From the Kelele's point of view, yes. But you are a very respectable man to us.''

''Me?'' Seedos pointed at himself, not really believing what the big bat just had told him. He wasn't even a man, let along a respectable one! ''I...'' he said, heavily blushing under his mask ''yeah, that brings me to something else! How come you know my name?''

A small smile appeared on the bat's lips. ''I'll tell you in a minute. Any more questions, before I tell you what you're here for?''

''Ehm, well, only one. You're a piñata, right? Where have you learned to speak? Do you think I can teach my Shellybeans that too? I've made a few attempts, you know, but I failed time after time...''

''I'm sorry to disappoint you, but that's impossible. Talking is hard for piñatas. I am the only living piñata that can, as far as I'm concerned... In order to talk, you have to be beyond intelligent - as a piñata. Understanding the human language is hard, not all piñatas are capable of doing so... You humans have so many words! You have words for everything! And you also have this awful thing called... grammar.'' The Kelele spat the last word bitterly. ''Took me EIGHT years to master! And then there's the biological reason why most piñatas will never learn to speak...''

''What biological reason?'' Seedos and his siblings had never attended primary school - let alone secondary! On that regard they were just like Pester's Ruffians...

''The vocal cords'' the Sherbat clarified. ''Humans are the only... mortal species that have them. Piñatas don't, but we Sherbats are slightly different from our neighing, growling, barking and howling conspecifics... We actually have echolocation. We can transmit sound waves, which we don't only use to see - we don't exactly have the best eyesight - but also to communicate with each other. The 'voice' you hear now, are my lowest-pitched sound waves, deformed into the words the human race uses and comprehends.''

That gave Seedos food for thought. He didn't get half the purple bat was saying, but he DID grasp that the Kelele had had gone through great effort in order to learn to speak, and that his voice somehow not was an actual voice... And, which was most importantly, that he would NEVER be able to teach his Shellybeans the same, for some obscure 'biological' reason.

''Is that all you want to know for now?''

It took a while for the question to reach Seedos' vacant brain. When it finally did, the boy answered with a confused: ''Ehm, yeah, I guess - I think so...''

''You are tired, aren't you?'' The bat closed his jade eyes a millisecond longer than he usually did when he blinked. ''So am I...''

''I'm not tired!'' Seedos said defiantly.

''Yes, you are. You just might not recognize the feeling... Someone I know told me you don't recognize lots of your feelings nowadays, and when I look at you, I think that person is right...''

''What person?'' The bat actually had contact with humans? Ah well, that DID explain why he spoke 'human' like a human would... And why he knew Seedos' name.

''The reason why you're here. First things first. The Council of Kelele have decided that yóu...''

''Wait. It's NOT first things first if you tell him in this order...''

Seedos' gasped. He knew that hoarse, raucous, sarcastic voice... And he knew the thin, undead person that came floating from a shaded corner even better!

''Dastardos!''

''Bro.''

Before he knew it, Seedos was wrapped up in a cold, bony but heartwarming embrace.

''You weren't supposed to mix into the conversation like that...'' the Kelele bat hissed, fluttering up, down, up, down with the most frustrated look on his face... That little piñata had a short temper - the way he threw a tantrum he reminded Seedos of a way smarter and more magnificent version of Langston!

Hey, how was that guy able to talk anyway? If that stupid Lickatoad could, why not his lovely Shellybeans?

''I personally think that our brother-banter is more important than your stupid little talk'' Dastardos scoffed.

''No! No, no, no, no!''

''Daz? What's going on here? A warning?''

''Listen, brother.'' Dastardos had grabbed Seedos' shoulders and moved the chin of his baby brother's mask slightly in the direction of his'. He wanted to look into eyes that were similar to his own. ''I believe we haven't talked in a while?'' he snickered. ''Haven't you missed me? I'm not the one to admit such stuff, but I kinda... missed you... Have you been taking care of Magnar while I was away?''

Seedos grinned. ''Of course I have!''

''Great! He really needs his life sweets, you know.''

''If you just would've let me finish!''

The Sherbat was ve-ry agitated now. Dastardos didn't want to upset the piñata like that - he really respected the bat, eventhough he didn't always exactly act like he did.

''Okay, okay. Calm down. How about I just tell my baby bro how I ended up here? We can bore him with the rest of the story later.''

The Sherbat seemed to be soothed by that, but this certainly wasn't the momentous way of welcoming his guest he had in mind. ''Fine... fine, that's fine'' he fizzed reluctantly.

''Alright...'' Dastardos murmured, with a slight hint of rush in his voice. ''Seedos, I'm here for very serious reasons.''

''Why Stardos? Why?''

''Dastardos...'' The reaper smirked. ''Because something mad evil is out there to drink my blood... But - as much as I... love you - I think you deserve to know what happened to me that night in detail... I know that that's a question that kept you up, and I also know that now that you see me again you're more curious than ever... Ready to hear a real story that's stranger than fiction - even crazier than that newest novel of that chick Franker?''

Seedos nodded. Of course he was!

''Of course you are.'' Dastardos smiled. ''It all started the night of the assault - when that despicable Tsi managed to take over my dead, emaciated body...''