As he watched the others leave, Marco found himself smiling. He hadn't known exactly how he would have avoided talking about what had happened to his mom without trying to lie – Cassie was perceptive and wasn't really one to give up on something like that – and he wasn't sure he could get away with it. He'd have to think up some way to make it up to her.
Some way that the others wouldn't think to look too closely into.
Turning back to the forest, he listened for the telltale hoofbeats of the Animorphs' sixth member. He still had questions that needed answering, of course.
Once she'd changed back into her human form for the second time that day, Shara had folded her legs and waited while Cassie landed and changed back as well. Jake had left on the way back, claiming that he would be missed if he didn't get home soon. There could have been a story behind that, but then maybe she was looking into things too deeply again.
Father had always said that it was one of her flaws.
When Cassie sat down in front of her, folding her own legs in almost the same way, Shara wondered just what kind of story this was going to be. It had to be a strange one, what with the talking hawk and all. But the specifics were what she was really wondering about.
What would their story be?
Very sad, as it turned out. And reminiscent of the tales she could tell of what had happened to her family at the hands of the Radam. These Yeerks sounded like they could have easily been inspired by the brutal tactics of the Radam; turning people against their families and families against their planet. Breaking the bonds that held people together.
She nodded in all the places that struck a chord within her, and asked questions to clarify things she felt like she didn't understand, but mostly what Shara did was to listen. Listen as Cassie described what it had been like to fight Visser Three those times they'd had to; listen as she described the underground hell that was the Yeerk pool; listen as she talked about all the battles they had been through so far.
More and more, Shara found herself empathizing with these people – these Animorphs – and wanting to help them. As much as the Radam needed stopping for what they were trying to do, as much as she hated them for what they had done to her and her family, these Yeerks needed to be stopped just as urgently. That was when she made her decision: she was going to join these Animorphs in their fight.
No matter what.
"That's pretty much what's been happening up till now," Cassie said, concluding her story.
"I had wondered how you all met my brother after… everything that happened," she said, leaning back on her hands and trying to relax at least a little.
The battles they had been through, while some of them had had their elements of fun, were mostly one long record of horror. Pretty much what anyone would expect from a war, but still a hard thing for anyone to have to deal with. It was good to know what she could expect, though a bit depressing.
"Was there anything else you wanted to know about?" Cassie asked?
Before she could think of anything else to say, Shara's stomach growled.
"Or do you think you'd just like something to eat?" she chuckled.
Shara chuckled right along with her. "I think food would be a great idea right about now."
(I second that,) Slade – he was really someone completely different than her brother Ness, so it was easier to just think of him that way – piped up silently in their minds.
"All right," Cassie said, nodding and smiling and generally seeming like she wasn't unnerved by any of this. "I'll see what I can bring up here for you. Do you want anything in particular, Shara?"
"As long as it's not tofu, I'll be fine," she said, trying to sound just as unaffected as Cassie.
"Okay then, I'll see you in a bit," the other girl said, turning and leaving the hayloft with a wave.
Unfolding her legs and settling back on her hands, Shara turned to look over at Slade again. This was going to take a lot of getting used to, even her own brother was almost completely unfamiliar to her now, but she was determined to face this challenge. For herself, and for the memory of her family.
When he awoke for the second time, prodded back into consciousness by the feeling of something off with his crop of teknopods, Darkon immediately sensed what was wrong. It would have been difficult for someone with his intimate knowledge of his assets not to; another of his Teknomen was missing. The young female named Shara had been taken.
That was something of an annoyance, since the girl would have made a very capable Hunter. Still, there was nothing for it now but to wait for her to die. The failsafe could not have neglected to activate this time, so there would be no reason to search for her. Still, it is always best to be certain, I suppose.
Immersing himself in the workings of his teknopods, Darkon had a rather unpleasant surprise: it turned out that the failsafe had somehow been circumvented once again. One insufficiency had been troublesome, but it could have easily been explained by some interaction between his teknoplants, the unfamiliar biology of these Humans, and the soil of this world. Two, on the other hand, made it more likely that someone or something had tampered with his plants.
Of course, that left the question of just who and more importantly what had been able to affect his plants in his base with him here to oversee them. He would have known almost instantly if there was another of his kind on this minor planet. To say nothing of the fact that this base of his would act as a beacon to any wandering Teknoman without a Warlord to command them, of course.
Still, it was an interesting mental problem. If not something he had the slightest idea how to go about solving.
As she settled herself down to sleep, Shara tried to ignore the subtle prodding from the back of her mind; the feeling that was trying to lead her back into the forest. Back to where Darkon and the other Radam were waiting for her.
There was no way in hell she was ever going to go back there. Not on this side of life, anyway.
Settling back down again, after having sat up when a particularly strong urge hit her, Shara sighed. it was going to be a long night…
When she woke up the next morning, Cassie wondered just how Shara was going to be able to keep two people living in the barn a secret. Keeping Slade was already something of a hassle with the way he ate, if Shara's eating habits were anything like his… But that was a problem for later.
Right now she had to get breakfast, both for herself and for the two people she had been tasked with taking care of.
Levering herself out of bed, Cassie made her way to the kitchen. She knew that she would have to get some normal clothes on before she headed out to the barn to do her chores. But for now, no one would say anything if she came to breakfast in her pajamas.
She hoped her mom had made pancakes today; those were the best.