Chapter Title: Force Fish
Series Title: Unlikely Brothers
POV: Tanner
Ages in this chapter: Tanner (14) Dashen (20)
Chapter Summary: Dashen has an altercation with a fish.
"What the hell is a helop?"
My brother. Ignorant to all things animal. I'd certainly never expected him to be an expert, but as animals tended to work overtime and bite, chew on, eat or harass him, he generally wanted very little to do with them.
I, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. And discovering the thought-to-be-extinct helop fish right here in Terra's deepest lake, it excited me to the point that I I couldn't help but share the news with my uninterested brother.
"It bears repeating, Tanner, since you didn't answer my question, what the hell is a helop?"
My brother. He definitely was an acquired taste.
"It's a fish, Dash." I said, holding the strange flopping greenish-orange creature by it's tail.
"Thank you for that, Mr. Obvious. I can see it's a fish. Care to expand?"
"It's a small fish."
Dashen rolled his eyes and shifted his stance in exasperation. "This is going to take all day, isn't it?"
"Small fish that was thought to be extinct a long time ago. It's not. See?"
"Great. So, toss it back so he can go find Miss Helop and they can make more helops. Then we can go home."
"Not yet. I want to learn about it, study it."
"Then you'd better grow gills, because it lives in the lake."
"Not all the time. See the bottom flippers? There are tiny claws on them. They can dwell on land for several hours at a time."
"Probably how they went extinct, too much land time, getting eaten by other animals. Do they bite?"
Dashen reached a finger toward the creature. The fish was only about the size of his fist and it had settled so that it lay flat in my own hand, it's fat round slime-coated eyes rotated three hundred sixty degrees.
"Why is it so calm and not flipping around like a mad fish? Oh wait, never mind. You and your weirdo animal thing. It works with fish too?"
"Animal kinship. And yes, but that's not why it's calm. It's Force sensitive and a Force user."
This time, Dashen dropped his head and started walking away.
"Where are you going?"
He waved a hand at me as he kept moving. "Nope, not going there, Mouse. You're not going to tell me that fish can use the same magic that you can. It's a damn fish."
Carefully cradling the helop, I wandered over to my brother where he stopped a few feet away. "You know there are Force-using animals, I've told you that."
"Sure. You didn't tell me that extended to fish. Fish, Tanner. Fish."
The helop still laying patient in my hand, I held it out to my brother. "Sure, a fish, but it's an animal. I never said it was land dwelling only. There are Force-using animals on land, sea, air, underground. Not a long list of them, but they do exist everywhere. Touch him. He won't bite. I promise."
"Sure. It has teeth, Tanner. I see them inside those fat lips of his. If it has teeth, it can bite. If it can bite, it will bite me. Facts. Accept them."
My hand plunged out closer to Dashen. "It won't bite. I can feel it."
"If you tell me that you've bonded with the thing..."
"Do you ever listen to anything I say about animals? About the Force?"
"I hear. Listen? Well..."
Nope, I wasn't giving up. The fish was harmless and Dashen was going to face his fear. An odd fear, yes, of being bitten by an now-not-all-that-extinct fish, but a fear nonetheless. "Come on, Dash. Trust me."
"I trust you. With my life. Seriously. What I don't trust is all your crazy animals friends. Not with my history." He stepped back as the fish bobbled a look in his direction. "See? He's sizing me up. The big bulgy eyes watching me, figuring out which part of me is the most delicious."
"I swear it will not bite. If it does, I will... cook your favorite meal for dinner every day for two weeks. And you know how good my cooking is."
"True." He was thinking. I was wining him over. Brushing his dark hair back behind his ears, hands reached forward. "Three weeks and we have a deal."
"Three. Done. Here, hold the helop." I sent a calming wave to the fish through the Force. So quiet. So easy. Gentle. "Slowly," I said, sliding the fish from my hand to Dashen's. "There. See? Not slimy. No stink. Just a relaxed little guy back from extinction and looking to live his life."
"Huh", Dashen said, taking a finger and stroking the creature's hard scales. "He is kinda neat, I guess. Scales feel strange. So, he's not that bad. I still see teeth, but they aren't bared, so there's that. The teeth are somewhat large for his size though, aren't they? Did you tell him not to chomp down on my fingers, Tanner? Can you talk to him?"
"I can't talk to animals, Dash. I know we've had that conversation more than enough. It's a feeling. A sense I can convey to some of them. This one, being an actual Force user, it's stronger than others."
Dash kept petting the fish, the barest hint of a smile coming around at seeing that the fish wasn't his sworn enemy. "So, as a user, he can toss things around like you can."
Hmm. Never really thought of that from a fish perspective. Some larger animal Force users could move things, but could a fish with such a small stature? Size never seems to matter with Jedi Force users, I remembered that with Master Yoda at the Jedi Temple. But with animals, it's one thing I was not completely clear on. I found out soon enough.
Tiny droplets of water began being drawn from the nearby lake toward us and smacking Dashen in the face. Only a few at first, then a hail of them. A few shoreline pebbles followed. Pelted in the head, Dashen dropped the fish that then leaped the few feet off the sand toward the vicinity of the hands that held it just a moment ago, found the finger and chomped right down on it. Blood drawn, it flopped back to the ground and then propelled itself with fin-claws back into the water.
Dashen stood there, hair drenched, three pebble-sized welts on his face, and blood dripping from his right index finger. He stared at me... or on second thought, it was more of a glare.
"Tanner."
Yup, definitely a glare.
"You said and I quote, 'It won't bite, I can feel it'. Well, guess what Magic Boy? It bites. And it bit me. And you owe me three weeks of home cooked meals. Damn Jedi."
So, I was wrong. It happens. I suppose I'd misjudged the bad vibes that Dash put off when it came to creatures great and small. Even the tiny and peaceful helop fish had it out for him. A shrug was all I had to offer and a deal was a deal.
"Dinner. Three weeks." My attention floated to the left to the residue of a water splash, the helop had flipped up and around and disappeared under the dark lake water, then back out and finally under one last time. "I think he's mocking you, Dash." I said curiously. "You must have ticked him off."
"I did nothing to the damn thing. I held it. Touched the scales. That was it."
"You had negative thoughts."
"I had anxious thoughts of it biting me like every other animal you've ever shoved in my face."
"That was it. He didn't like your anxiety. He could read it."
"I'm not a magic user, Tanner."
"Doesn't matter. I've told you that a Force user can sense emotions and feelings of non Force users if they try. Sometimes we can do it without even meaning to, if that person is broadcasting highly enough. Apparently the helop can feel and sense all of what's going on with you. You must send out a signal that says bite me. Seriously. There's really no better explanation."
"Whatever." Dashen moved from the lake in case the helop decided to flip out of the water and chew on him again. "You owe me food, little brother."
I looked back toward the water one last time to see the fish crawling onto the shore in order to watch me walk away. I waved a low hand at him and he quickly vanished back into the water. Strange little creature. Then I looked to Dashen. Strange big brother. Strange day. Entertaining though. It always was when animals and Dashen came together.
"That fish waved goodbye to you, didn't it?"
"Not really. Less a wave then a wiggle."
"A wiggle. Yeah. Okay. Well, I should plan what I want for my first home cooked meal then, huh?"
"Was that part of the deal? That you get to pick? No. I pick. I cook. You eat. That is your job."
"Eh, I'm okay with that. I'd be more okay if you'd stop making friends with creatures that only wish to gnaw on me."
"I'm beginning to think that's every animal on the planet."
"Yeah. Me too." A hand tossed over my shoulders as we made our long walk home. "You have a gift. I have a bloody finger. Seems to be a recurring theme with us, right?"
My arm tossed across Dashen's back. "We're so opposite in every way, it's a wonder we get along."
"Brothers are like that. I think it's an actual requirement or something."
I smiled at the statement. Animal issues aside, Dashen and I really were different in every way. It didn't matter though. He wrapped his bloody finger when we got home as I started home-cooked dinner number one of many to come. It was less a loss of a deal for me than it was a win-win. After all, for the next three weeks - job permitting - I got to do two of the things I loved most in the galaxy. Create delicious meals and spend time with my brother.
Yeah. I could deal with that.
END
