More Than What Meets the Eyes

This will be a slightly alternative universe story. This veers off of canon a little. You will see that I made Dodia's son a tiny bit younger than what was represented in Barry Blair's "Fire Eyes." Sorry for canon lovers.

Doesn't look like there are a ton of EQ lovers here, but I wanted to tell a story of one of my favorite background characters that I think needs more attention. I love Chot.

Please review and let me know what you think, but I don't expect this story to be seen by very many so I'm not begging for reviews.

I own nothing. Poop!

Chapter Five

"Maybe that is why Door reacts to Zey's name being mentioned," Jethel guessed, "Perhaps Door senses that Zey caused Chot pain and he grows angry at the thought. I don't know if either of you noticed that Door has no love for that which harms the ones he protects."

"I had no clue whatsoever," Dart drily stated as Jethel and Yun chuckled, "That does make sense though. Door would never have met Zey so it stands to reason that he is picking up on something from Chot's past. That is not our affair. It is wrong to pry into other's privacy."

"True, but Chot is my family now," Jethel sighed, "I just wanted to figure out why Chot withdraws when Zey is mentioned. I feel I understand a little more and will never ask Chot questions about that time of his life again. He confides in me more than you two know and I would never betray my brother's confidence. He'll tell either Door or I the full story when he is ready. Excuse me. Dodia just sent that she needs my help with No-name. He can get very cranky when his environment changes. The cub misses Chot and is into everything."

"Yes, that cub does the strangest things," Yun snorted, "Nearly got his hand bit off for grabbing my wolf's tongue. Said he wanted to see what it felt like and then hugged the poor beast nearly to death. It is a good thing my wolf is one of the more patient of the pack or No-name would have been eaten. I'll help you, Jethel. I've been trying to teach the cub better etiquette around wolves and now is as good a time as any. The boy learns quickly."

"I'll see you two later," Dart offered as his friends readied to leave, "No-name isn't what I thought he would be like with his sire being Door. I kind of thought the cub would be more…aggressive. Maybe the word should be arrogant? I don't know, but that lad seems very sensitive."

"That is the perfect word to describe the cub. No-name is pretty gentle natured and usually a happier cub normally," Jethel explained, "He's really upset that he can't be with Chot and that is making him act out a little. I'll talk to the cub. He calls me 'Jethel-Brother.' He'll listen to me a bit, but that lad needs Chot. Chot is the only one that can wrangle him in."

"Then let's hope that Chot heals quickly," Dart stated as Yun and Jethel nodded, "Go save Dodia from her cub."

Dart stood once the others had left and peaked in to check on Chot. It really bothered him that he had truly upset the frailer elf earlier. It made him feel better to see that it looked like both Door and Chot were sleeping deeply. The Go-Back was using Door as a pillow, but the Glider's eyes peeked open slightly to glance in Dart's direction. It seemed like Door was constantly on guard around his soul brother.

-Just me, Door. I was checking on you two. He is better?-

-Yes. Sleeping deeply. Full of boar. Ate better than I had hoped with his recent waking, but still not enough to satisfy me. I look forward to seeing Chot strengthen. Please know how sorry I am for my behavior.-

-Completely forgiven. I too was wrong so no worries. I'll let you sleep now. I just wanted to make sure you two were good.-

-We are doing well for now. I hope to see Chot up and about soon. I don't like to see him so weak.-

-Nor do I. Just let me know if there is anything you need and I'll come running. Sleep well.-

-Thank you, Dart.-

Dart nodded once at Door and left as the Glider's eyes slid closed again. The next few days, Door remained by Chot's side while Dart and his friends came to visit and check up on the two. The scare that Door had felt after Dart had upset Chot made the Glider hover excessively. Too much. All the Wolfriders and nearby Sun Villagers winced when a very cutting, loud send cut through the air one evening.

-WINDKIN, IF YOU DON'T COME GET THIS CLINGY, SIMPERING, POKING, YELLOW SNOW-EATING, PUSS BOIL AWAY FROM ME THIS MINUTE I WILL COMMIT MURDER IN THE PALACE! GET DOOR AWAY FROM ME NOW!-

-I'm coming, Chot. Be calm.-

Chuckles followed the elf as Windkin flew off to rescue Door. Dart stood to assist when Windkin sent for him to follow for added help. Dart wasn't surprised by Chot's irritation. Door was being clingy and no Go-Back had the patience or tolerance for that type of behavior. Obviously, Chot was at his wits' end.

"Get away from me," Dart heard as he entered the room and watched Chot huff at his soul brother as Windkin settled next to the couple, "Go hunting or flying with Windkin or rock shaping or something. Go visit your cub. Let me breathe!"

"Allow Leetah to help," Door pushed as Dart blinked while the Glider stooped next to Chot, "Please, Fledgling."

"Why does Chot need to see a healer?" Dart asked as Chot growled from his furs, "Chot, what's wrong that Door wants Leetah to help you?"

"I have a bit of a headache," Chot sniffed irritably, "Nothing big, but this one likes to make an avalanche out of gentle snow fall. I'm fine, Door. I've been fed and I don't need my poking diaper changed. You go get some air and let me alone."

"There is pain within you. I don't like to feel that," Door murmured as Chot's face softened despite the rolling of his eyes.

"Pain means that I'm living," Chot chuckled, "Elves shouldn't go to a healer for every cursed complaint. I think my head poking hurts because I've been lying down so long, you fussy, fussy thing. Help me lean up a little more and then go away for a while. I've never seen anyone brood as much as Dart before meeting you, Floating-Fool."

Windkin snorted loudly as Dart jokingly growled at him. He didn't show his surprise at Door's lock-sending. The Glider was using cushions to help Chot lean up more and made no indication of the private thoughts he was sending to the Wolfrider.

-Try to get him talk, please. There is something wrong. I feel it, but Chot is evading the issue. That is his way, to withdraw when things get too close. You have ways to talk with others. I've seen it. Please, Dart. Would you help me discover what is bothering my soul brother?-

-I'll do my best, Door. Wouldn't Jethel be a better choice than I? Chot and he see one another as family now, right?-

-True, but Fledgling shelters Jethel more than I think he realizes. Helps his younger brother grow and assists him in making decisions, but Chot never reveals too much about himself. I was hoping someone like you could get Chot to open up. Chot has no reason to try and protect you since he knows your inner strength levels. He trusts you. Try for me?-

-I will. Go and let me see what I can do for your soul brother.-

Door left with Windkin as Dart came and sat beside Chot's bedding as the Go-Back studied him sullenly.

"Don't think I don't know that Door asked you to stay," Chot sighed as Dart startled, "He's easy to read once you get to know him, Dart. I can't get him to stop with his fussing about. I'm fine and don't need a sitter."

"He worries," the Wolfrider offered as Chot snorted.

"Door worries too much," Chot groaned as he leaned his head back, "I miss the sky."

"The weather has turned a bit damp," Dart advised, "Not safe with you not being at your usual health to take you outside to get some fresh air. You'll strengthen and be able to leave this room soon. Just be a little patient."

Dart watched Chot sigh softly and look away. Door was right. Something was bothering the Go-Back.

"Mmm," Dart hummed leaning back to gaze at the ceiling as Chot was doing, "Nice view. The crystal of the palace is breathtaking to look upon at least while you are stuck in here."

"Better than stone or hide covered wood," Chot agreed.

"Where are you right now?" Dart questioned as Chot's eyes blinked and looked at him in surprise, "Your thoughts are not here with me in this room."

The Go-Back studied Dart and looked away quickly without saying anything else for a long time. Dart just waited patiently for the other to speak.

"Go-Back lodges don't feel like this," Chot spoke gesturing around the room, "There was no belonging then. None."

Dart leaned up on his arm in confusion.

"Go-Backs feel like a tight tribe," Dart hesitantly began as Chot nodded.

"Yes and no," Chot continued, "We fought and survived as a tribe. We sang and danced for our dead. There are unspoken rules. Don't get too close. Don't feel too much. You belong, but only until you breathe no more. Kahvi set up a system that favored girls and any males knew our place. I was one of the first born after the war, Dart. A disappointment to my dam, me being born male, but I've worked through that. I come here and it…I am tired. I need to rest. Please leave me alone."

"Don't withdraw from me," Dart begged reaching a hand to place on Chot's shoulder, "Why is it hard to be here?"

"This…all of this," Chot choked gesturing again around him, "I feel…I understand a little more about what Sunstream described when he was still a cub. I don't like 'magic feelings.' The palace hurts to be inside of. I don't like this feeling."

Dart was at a loss. How could the original home of the High Ones, so full of light and love, possibly hurt?

"Why? Why does it hurt?"

Dart glanced up at the voice as Door came to sit beside Chot. The sneaky Glider had been listening in.

"Go away," Chot groaned turning on his side away from his soul brother, "I don't want to talk anymore. I'm tired."

"You are tired. I sense it, but there is more, Fledgling," Door tried reaching to turn Chot back towards him, "I will take you out of here right now, if you wish. Cutter has supplied us with a place for you and I, Jethel, Dodia, and my son to…how did he put it? 'Tree' together. I can only assume that means to live within the holt tree, but won't you tell me why the palace causes you such distress? This should be a place of peace for our kind."

"Peace," Chot breathed before shaking his head, "I can't…take me out of here. I want out of this place. I want out, Door."

"Okay," Door agreed exchanging a troubled look with Dart as he wrapped Chot up tightly, "I'm going to take you out right now. Up we go, Dear One. Let's get you out of here and into our den so you can rest better. Come."

Dart followed and watched from the palace doorway as Door carried Chot quickly from the palace and into the Father Tree while Jethel looked up from a nearby root and bolted after the two. None of this felt right. How could the palace be causing Chot pain?

"Curse it," Dart swore gazing around before gasping at seeing Timmain, "My apologies, High One."

"That child is in a lot of distress," Timmain spoke as Dart froze, "His spirit is weakened due to more than just illness and strain."

"Why?" Dart demanded hurrying forward to question the High One, "Do you know why the palace is causing him such unrest? Maybe what I can do to help? I want to help if that is possible, Wolf-Mother."

"Listen and learn. Act when necessary," was Timmain's cryptic reply as the Wolfrider huffed in his mind as the regal High One walked away.

"Listen and learn, huh?" Dart crabbed as he walked to the Father Tree, "Act on what exactly? I need to speak with Yun. This all feels wrong. There is something that I'm missing. Something that is the key to all of this."

"Why do you want to know so much about the Go-Backs?" Yun asked from beside Tier and Ember once Dart found her.

"Chot admitted to the palace causing him pain," Dart decided to confide as the three elves in front of him gasped loudly, "He was going on about the Go-Backs and there not being a close sense of belonging. Mentioned that Kahvi set up the tribe to favor females. None of it makes much sense to me."

"Ah," Yun said staring off into space for a moment before locking eyes with Dart, "Kahvi certainly did favor fawns over bucks. That is the way she'd put it. I remember her saying that bucks could care for themselves while fawns needed guidance to realize their potential."

"Mother left me for not being female," Tier voiced as his lifemate pulled him closer to her side, "It is hard to feel abandoned. Perhaps Chot went through something similar to my own upbringing, Dart."

"Do those feelings cause the palace to feel distressing to you?" Dart questioned as Tier looked thoughtful.

"No," Tier denied, "But the palace feels welcoming and strange to me. I feel soothed and riled up all at the same time. The gifts within me from my sire feel like they want to burst through my chest within the palace walls, but I've been able to settle a lot of my feelings of abandonment once my mother's spirit reached out to me."

"Good to hear," Ember grinned out as her lifemate returned her smile before gazing at Yun, "What do you know of Chot's parents? Anything?"

"His dam died in a troll raid when he was only a babe," Yun supplied, "His sire was the first cousin of Zey's father. He bounced between the two as he grew, but finally was thrown out to live on his own once Zey was born. Chot was pretty young for that, by Go-Back standards, but he never complained. I remember he would sleep beneath one of our lodge stairs that led to the second level since he had no den of his own. Space was limited in the lodge so you denned with family or friends or you made do. Go-Backs don't coddle and there were other elves without dens. Chot wasn't an exception to this."

"'There was no belonging then. None.'" Dart murmured echoing Chot's words from earlier as Yun blinked, "Those were your old tribemate's exact words, Yun. Not wanted by his family and rejected for being male, then later used by Zey, who was a cousin, thus family. Has Chot ever known real belonging? He holds to the Go-Back ways, but it doesn't sound like he knows the first thing about…I understand now. Excuse me!"

"Hey! Wait," Yun barked standing to chase after Dart, "What the poke do you understand?"

Dart whirled and caught Yun's shoulders as she slid to a halt with Ember and Tier right behind her.

"He doesn't know love and belonging. Not in the true respect of the words," Dart groaned feeling a pain in his heart at the idea as Yun gaped in horror, "The palace is all about belonging and love. Chot's displaced and feels lost. He doesn't know where he belongs so the palace hurts him. He feels like he doesn't belong there or anywhere. Do you remember what Sunstream and Jethel said after Door's and Chot's healing?"

"High Ones!" Yun choked looking up at Dart, "They worried that someone instilled in Chot a sense that he is less than everyone else. Kahvi left when Chot was too young to remember very well so it couldn't be her. Could it be…his father or Zey's sire? Or even Zey? I never felt that way. I always had plenty of warm laps to climb onto to hear warrior tales. I never noticed if any others did not."

"You were female," Dart pointed out as Yun hissed shaking her head, "Door has helped ground Chot a lot since they bonded. Jethel and No-name also seems to be two that are giving Chot a sense of belonging, but there is emotional pain within Chot that he hides carefully. Pain like that eventually wells up until you become overwhelmed. My own father went through that when he had to take down an elf to save me and the tribe. Chot's slowly destroying himself."

"No! What do we do?" Yun growled yanking Dart forward by his shirt leathers, "Chot belongs to me! He belongs to you and Jethel and Kimo and all of us that ended up in the spear-poking forevergreen! He even belongs to the twice, thrice cursed stone shaper! He's our friend, Dart, and I won't allow him to die!"

"Timmain said to listen, learn, and act when necessary," Dart offered as Yun snarled while Ember and Tier looked pained, "I think Chot needs to voice all of this on his own. If we push him he'll withdraw to where we can't help him."

"He won't admit to the pain," Yun whispered, "Go-Backs don't whine. We grumble, but we don't whine. Chot will hide this pain until he collapses just like he did protecting Door. That is his way. I should have remembered that. He did the same when he got a spear wound to his shoulder after a raid when he was much younger. Chot nearly died because he didn't say a word. It was only luck and pure determination to live that got him through the fever dreams and infection within his blood once he collapsed and his injury was discovered. His father was so cruel. Told Chot to stay behind like the worthless cub he was from then on if he couldn't be a more effective warrior. Chot worked harder to get stronger then, but he never complained about his father's words. I bet that dung-headed elf is to blame for a lot of Chot's feelings that he isn't worth the same as the rest of us."

"Let me talk to Cutter and Leetah," Dart decided as Yun finally let him go, "They dealt with Shuna's pain. She was both emotionally and physically abused by her sire and it sounds like Chot was just a hair's breadth away from being put through the same as a cubling. They can tell me how they reached Shuna."

"My human sister loves her 'good spirits of the forest,'" Ember mentioned as Dart frowned, "She opened up because she believed that our people are ever good and gentle. It won't be the same for your friend, Dart. Chot won't respond like Shuna has since he's been so jaded by life."

"Correct," Dart agreed, "But some of what Cutter and Leetah used to help Shuna might help Chot too. Timmain's advice is sound. Listen and learn. I need to see if I can discover a way to listen better and learn ways to help Chot. Maybe if I learn more I'll know what to do next."

"Act when necessary," Yun sighed nodding her head before scowling at Dart, "I'll help in any way that I can. Keep me in the loop, Dart, or I'll cut off your ears."

"Duly noted," Dart chuckled in amusement for a moment before sobering, "Do not spread this information around. Chot is too guarded and will disappear on us as soon as possible if he feels any pity or that he is being pushed."

Yun, Ember, and Tier agreed as Dart left to seek out his former chief.

To be continued…