Okay, I'd planned on double-updating this week, and then I forgot last week, and... well. Life happens. Life goes on, too. So, here you all go. Parts 5 & 6. Not much to say about these right now.

Enjoy!

"Yeah, but then, mine can't exactly be classified as 'normal.'" –Dark

"What? Sometimes I have nothing better to do than sit and listen to people argue." –Luke

Chapter 1.5 – A (False) Peace
Part 5

Dark's POV

"Hey... I've been wondering about something for a while now..." Luke started. I sighed.

"I was wondering when you were going to start asking questions again..." He shot me a half-hearted glare before looking over at Ion.

"So, you mentioned... Daathic Fonic Artes earlier? What's the difference between those and normal fonic artes?" Luke asked. Ion blinked for a few moments, obviously not quite sure where to start, so I sighed.

"Daathic Fonic Artes are tuned to a specific range of human fonon frequencies. They can only be used by people within that range. Those whose fonon frequencies sit within that range, however, are also qualified for the highest position in the Order of Lorelei," I said. Ion shot me a grateful look.

"Yes. Only a Fon Master can use Daathic Fonic Artes. They're more powerful than your average artes, as well," he added. I shook my head though.

"Actually, the first half of that is a common misconception," I corrected him. "It's rare for there to be more than one person who can use Daathic Fonic Artes at any given time, but it could be possible for there to be hundreds of people capable of using them. It's just that one annoying range of fonon frequencies."

Luke sighed. "Okay, back up and start from the beginning, please..."

I rolled my eyes. "Every living creature has a unique fonon frequency. It's kind of like a fingerprint, except that fonon frequencies can change, under certain circumstances," I said.

"That's really rare though," Tear added.

"So, the Daathic Fonic Artes can only be used by people whose fonon frequencies are in a certain range... Why?" Luke wondered. I shrugged.

"I'm not completely sure, actually. I know that much, because I have to be careful about creating artes to make sure I'm not specializing them for my fonslots alone, but the full theory behind why the Daathic Fonic Artes are tuned to a certain range and how it happens? Sadly, Danté would probably know more about that," I said.

Ion frowned. "Actually, I think it has something to do with what you mentioned earlier about fonon frequencies changing. Most normal fonic artes will mutate into a Daathic Fonic Arte if they're overloaded and the person has the potential to be a Fon Master," he said. Luke looked over at me.

"Overloading is what you have to fine-tune all of your artes for, isn't it?" he asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, but then, mine can't exactly be classified as 'normal.'"

Luke shrugged. "Whatever. Ugh, another one?"

I glanced up ahead finally and groaned in agreement with Luke. Another small river. Great.

"Mieeuuu, there's another tree like the one we used as a bridge before!"

My eyes scanned the far bank, and I smiled, then looked down at Mieu. "Well, then. Have at it."

Mieu happily bounced over to the edge and breathed fire before skedaddling back to Luke. I didn't blame him. I wouldn't have wanted to be under where that tree was going to fall either.

Once we had ourselves another tree bridge and made it across, Mieu squeaked.

"Ligers!"

I caught sight of them almost as quickly, and scowled. Lower ranked ligers, all of them... No higher ranks anywhere to be found, yet at least. Well, might as well try to be friendly...

"Hello."

The ligers all paused to stare at me, before exchanging cautious looks. Then, after a few more glances back at the five of us on the riverbank, they turned and disappeared into the foliage. I cringed.

"Damn."

Ion blinked. "What did you say to them?" he asked.

"Uh, 'hello' if I remembered that one right," Luke said. Ion looked up at him, and he shrugged. "What? Sometimes I have nothing better to do than sit and listen to people argue. Listening to Dark and Koran was more interesting than a lot of the arguments I ended up overhearing."

I chuckled. "And we certainly argued often enough. Also, words like 'hello,' 'later,' and 'thank-you' ended up getting passed around a lot. Picking up random bits and pieces of a language happens when you're around two people speaking it as often as we did," I added. Then I became serious again. "Those ligers... They were surprised to hear the liger language coming from my mouth, but not simply because it was. They knew they didn't recognize me... This is Arietta's pack."

Ion's eyes widened, and we were all quiet for a moment. "Maybe I should write to Arietta, tell her to convince them to move back north. If it's her pack..."

I shook my head. "There's no telling that she'll be able to do it soon enough. And if our negotiations fall through, at least we have a backup plan," I said. "Let's go... I don't think the ligers are planning on attacking us yet, but we've got work to do."

Luke nodded and looked toward where the trail led around a bend up ahead. Then he started walking, Ion behind him and Tear next to the Fon Master. Mieu skipped along on Ion's other side, while I brought up the rear. It hadn't really been planned, but it was a good formation. It kept the weakest of us in the middle, where he'd be out of trouble, and put Luke up front. I hated to admit it, but I'd spent so long not really fighting that, while my aim hadn't really suffered, I didn't dare have the fonon cylinders on full power in case I did miss my target. Especially with Luke. The kid was unpredictable.

"No, leave me alone!"

I paused, not even noticing that the others left me behind to investigate a large hole in the ground.

"Get away from here, eastern scum!"

My eyes widened as a baby liger came rolling out of the brush, three lower-ranked southern ligers chasing it with obvious intent to hurt or kill. I shot forward, grabbing the little girl up and rolling out of the way of the adults' charges.

"Hey, where'd the wimp go?" one of the ligers growled as it stood up again, having tumbled to the ground after failing to land on its prey. The baby girl in my arms stared up at me with wide eyes, and I held her close.

"Don't worry. I won't let them hurt you," I growled softly to her. Then I looked up at the older ligers, my eyes hardening into a glare. "What is the meaning of this?"

The ligers snapped at me. "She's eastern!"

"Hand her over!"

"She's trespassing!"

I snarled at the three of them as they tried to get closer. "So am I!"

The ligers backed off only a little, and only for a few moments before they ran in at me again. "Then you can both die!"

"Dark?!"

My eyes widened when I spotted the redhead who had just climbed back out of the hole, and I was shocked as he ran over, managing to jump over the trio of ligers and turn the moment he landed.

Mieu on his shoulder hopped off and started mewing to the ligers.

"Ambassadors? Ha!" the lead liger barked. He glared at me before growling in warning. "Fine. We'll let the eastern fools pass for now. But we'll see what the queen has to say about this before the day is out."

Then the three ligers turned and split, and I sighed, standing out of my crouch and making sure that the shaking baby in my arms was alright. Once I was sure she would live, I turned around and hit Luke on the head as hard as I could.

"Ow!"

"Luke, Dark! What was that all about?" Tear asked, standing near the entrance to the nest with Ion. Luke rubbed his sore head.

"Dark was being attacked," he said. Then he looked up at me. "But why?"

I sighed, shaking my head. "Remember what I said earlier about Koran being eastern?"

Luke, Tear, Ion, and Mieu nodded. "Yes. Also, what's with the baby liger?" Tear added.

"They were going to kill her..." I said quietly. "I stepped in because they kept calling her 'eastern'. And... Well, think about it this way. Arietta was raised by ligers, I was raised with ligers. They consider us to be ligers as well, so just like they've separated themselves into clans..."

Ion's eyes widened. "Oh my... It sounds to me like the southern and eastern clans aren't exactly friendly anymore..." he said. I shrugged.

"They never were. The southern clan always got on better with the western clan, and the western clan tolerates the eastern. It was just clashing attitudes. I never knew it got this bad though, that they would kill an alpha-level pup, and a female at that," I said, keeping the little girl close. She was still trembling, and I didn't blame her. She couldn't have been more than a month old, but to be so far from home...

"I guess it's a good thing we're headed further north after this, huh? We'll be able to take her back home," Tear said. I nodded.

"Yeah. Let's just deal with this first."

Ion nodded and turned around, heading back down into the nest, with Mieu and Tear right behind him. Luke stayed back with me. "You know that was stupid, right?" I started. Luke nodded, refusing to meet my eyes. "But you turned the moment you hit the ground, you protected your back."

He sighed. "I figured, if I was going to be stupid, I could at least try to avoid being suicidal," he said. I smiled and nodded, letting the matter drop. I had more important things on my mind. Or at least, in my arms. "So... what's her name?"

I shrugged and repeated the question in a growl. The girl just stared at me with wide eyes before burying her head in my elbow. I sighed. "I'll ask again later when she's calmed down a little," I decided.

The five of us stopped at a turn. We could see a rather large open area nearby, and I sighed.

"Do you want me to hold the liger?" Tear asked. I shook my head.

"No. It would be best if only the two of us are marked out as easterners," I told her. Then I adjusted my grip on the little girl so I could hold her with one hand and grab one of my guns with the other. I'd done this plenty of times with two hands, but one? I just barely managed to knock the switch, flip the dial back up to max, and then get the switch back into place.

Tear started a little at the quiet whirring sound that started up as the particle accelerator worked itself up again. I sighed. "One gun... might as well have it on full power. This little one probably isn't planning on releasing my arm any time soon," I said, slipping the gun back in its holster before turning and walking up the small incline into the cavern.

"Who dares disturb me?"

I looked up at the liger queen and bowed my head. "A party of ambassadors, your ladyship," I replied evenly. The queen stood, a low warning growl in her throat, and I spotted the eggs almost immediately. "Oh hell..."

"Oh no. Eggs... This isn't going to be easy at all, is it?" Tear asked. I sighed, waiting for the queen to speak again.

"You... You smell of the eastern cowards. Why have you come here?"

I took a deep breath. "We are here on behalf of the village of Engeve," I told her.

She growled. "So, you've allied yourselves with the humans?"

"Your ladyship, please understand. I haven't been home in many years, and this little one is lost," I told her. "But a mutual friend of mine and your daughter's asked a favor of me, because I was in the area."

The liger queen roared. "You lie!"

I bit my lip. "Then she never spoke to you of Fon Master Ion?"

The surprise on the liger queen's face was plain, and I took a deep breath, seeing that I had finally gained the upper hand. "Please, hear us out."

The liger queen growled. Another warning growl, but this one was much less threatening. "You wish us to leave, don't you?" she asked. I nodded.

"Yes, your ladyship."

She steadied herself, and, realizing what was coming, I reached back and grabbed Ion's shoulder as she roared her displeasure and refusal at us. It was a good thing I did, or the poor kid would have been sent sprawling.

"Never! First your clan's involvement with the humans brought them into our territory, and my sisters' packs were decimated. Then the fire in our home drove us out. And you dare ask us to leave when my eggs are so close to hatching?!"

I cringed. "Okay, not good," I muttered, backing up slowly. But the queen was incensed, and I was getting the feeling nothing was going to quiet her down.

"Oh no! She's going to kill us and feed us to her children, isn't she?!" Mieu cried, scared. I sighed, pulling the gun out of its holster and aiming it at the liger queen.

"I don't want to have to use force, ma'am," I told her, deliberately using the lesser title. Koran had been an alpha-rank, and he had always treated me as an equal. I wasn't going to let a queen I cared nothing for degrade me. She glared at me.

"Then die!" she snapped, running at me. I fired twice, aiming for her eyes. Tiny, moving targets are difficult to hit even for a sniper who's had the recent practice. Me? Not so much. One shot hit, the other missed.

Luke hit her with a Fang Blade on her blind side, and she snapped at him, just barely avoiding losing his arm. Then he glanced off to one side before retreating a bit. "Dark, the eggs!"

I bit my lip. "Ion, we'll try to keep her to one side. See how many of the eggs you can get out of here," I ordered. The green-haired boy nodded as we drove the raging liger queen over to one side, and he darted past.

It was all we could do to keep the queen from running around wildly.

"They're safe!" I heard Ion call.

"Good, because I'm finishing this."

I froze, and so did Luke, when we heard that voice. Good thing Tear didn't as she pulled Luke away.

"O flames of hell, cremate mine enemies in a cage of fire! Infernal Prison!"

I turned on my heel even as the liger queen succumbed to the powerful arte.

"Kairi?!"

Fun Fact: I originally had a longer battle scene written out... then realized I'd have to break my 2.5k word limit by almost four hundred words. So it was cut out in favor of attempted negotiation. (That didn't work, because the liger queen is a bitch.) Oh well.