An Author's Note: Book 19 of Animorphs, the Departure, is probably one of the more important books in the series, and probably the most important book I've ever read. It introduced me to the concept that not all 'evil' creatures did what they did because 'hahaha I'm evil'. Please note that prior to this book even the Animorphs took the view that the Yeerks were always evil and other media like cartoons at the time (including Mighty Ducks), took the same stance. This was the first book that planted the concept that villains might have good motivations for what they do, even if those motivations bring them in conflict with the protagonists or even if those motivations lead them to take evil actions.
So yeah, it's an important book.
And I absolutely hated it when I first read it.
Part of the problem is that Cassie, while she works well as part of the Animorphs as a whole, tends to be the least interesting and engaging of the Animorphs as a solo act. And while most Cassie books at least have the rest of them playing off each other in the background this book is majority Cassie and a Yeerk in a survival situation learning to see things from each other's point of view. While I love the concept as a concept and to this day I like more complicated villains and I like having the antagonists have a somewhat reasonable reason as to why they do what they do, the execution of book 19 left much to be desired.
I love all the Animorphs, there isn't a single one of these six wackos I don't love but I have to choose a least favorite I'd have to choose poor Cassie.
So, while book 19 still happens thankfully the format of this story means I can skip the majority of it as Cassie spends the entire time off playing in the woods. But as a result I forgot that this book is explicitly post the dinosaur mega edition one and thus completely forgot there is a dino adventure before this. So, since this is an au and I have no desire to reread the dinosaur book as well I am going to skip it for now. There might be dino adventures later but hey, AU after all. Another random butterfly fluttered in this universe and prevented Sario Rip dinos. Besides I don't know what I could add at this point in the timeline to that other than incomprehensible screaming.
Chapter 11
Missing the one item she had always relied on pretty much her entire life hadn't slowed Tanya down for long. Despite the fact that she now had to use the world's tiniest screwdriver (it probably was originally used to fix glasses before but not anymore) in order to screw two tiny bits of metal together until they fit she still managed it. It was a much slower process than she would have liked though. Having to rely on the dump and whatever random metal bits she could scavenge around was another problem, but it was either scavenging or attempting to rob a Radio Shack (her favorite store was still a bit to far away for her to even consider robbing it), but she wasn't ready to start emulating Duke no matter how useful the morphing power could be for casual thievery. Although she did ideally wonder at times if the morphing power would be an effective replacement for actual larceny skills. Who needed to spend time picking locks when you could just slip in under a door as an insect? It might almost be worth it just to see Duke's eventual reaction. Still, she wasn't ready to try that out yet.
Maybe when this was all over, she could morph something small and nab something of Duke's as a joke? Usually, it was Nosedive doing the pranks around the Pond but once the Yeerks were out of the equation the morphing power did have a lot of potential in a few areas she would never have been able to consider before without it. It wasn't like it was going to go away with the Yeerks.
"So, she's been doing this since last night?" Someone said from somewhere behind her.
"Yeah, she was working when I went to sleep, and I don't think she ever got to bed. Granted she sleeps on the other side of the room, and we have these barriers we got from the nurse's hut to separate us, but I'm fairly sure she's been up all night." Said someone else.
"What are those things, they kinda look like tiny metal flies." Said a different voice.
It occurred to Tanya that maybe she should pay attention to what was going on around her. The last time she had gotten this involved with a project she had accidentally shot a mild laser in Nosedive's eyes which resulted in him running around her lab screaming that she'd blinded him with science.
He was fine after a few minutes in the Medicom but she still felt a little bad about that, even though she maintained that he should know better than to try and surprise her when she was holding lasers.
Besides, the last one was finished.
She turned in her chair and blinked. The Animorphs, all of them, plus Eva and Ax were all staring at her. Ax's stalk eyes keep scanning her impromptu work bench, either confused or impressed, Tanya couldn't tell. The rest of them just seemed to be in various states of confusion.
"Ummm…how long have you guys been standing there?"
((Forty-five Earth minutes.)) Ax said. ((We have all attempted to get your attention during this time but have all resulted in failure…are you well?))
"Ah, fine, I just…got involved with something…what day is it?"
"Tuesday." Jake frowned slightly. "What are you doing? We were going to give Eva the morphing power today, remember?"
"Oh, oh yeah…" Tanya blinked. While Eva still maintained that she didn't want to be in active combat, Marco and the others (mostly Marco), thought that she should probably still have the option to morph if it ever came up. If there was some emergency in the woods and she needed to escape then turning into a bird and flying away would be the best option. Tanya remembered having the discussion a few nights ago and unlike the vote to bring her in (she wasn't sure who had voted yes and no the night she met them but she had a few guesses), the choice in this case was unanimous. Ax by now had figured that he was going to be condemned for giving humans and ducks the morphing power anyway and seemed resigned to it.
"What are those, anyway?" Rachel inched closer to Tanya desk and peered down at the small device the duck had been working on. "It looks like a metal fly."
"Well…ummm. Tanya fidgeted slightly, realizing for the first time that she had never actually told anyone about this project until she was almost done with it. She had gotten used to Wildwing's policy of just letting her work on whatever she wanted. The duck's leader assumed she knew what she was doing and would let them know what she had come up with when she was ready. But if she was judging Jake's almost stern expression he hadn't been expecting this and was clearly confused.
Tanya took a second to organize her thoughts as best she could. "Basically, it's just a series of small cameras with wings, and yes they are modeled after flies. Mostly inspired by the fly morph. I made them for a few reasons. I know we have Tobais as our main aerial surveillance but there's only, you know, one of him and he can't fly from here to Anaheim and I…I really want to keep an eye on things over there. I'd hate to blindsided by something the Yeerks do. Plus, it might be useful to know how far they're spreading through the city. For all we know they might decide to make another pool there, and I don't think we want to start fighting them on two fronts unprepared."
Jake's stern confusion was replaced by consideration, and he nodded. "Honestly, not a bad idea. Maybe we can use them to keep tabs on the Yeerk pool here as well. A robot fly can't be destroyed by a Bio-Filter…can they?" He looked at Ax, who was now studying the camera flies even closer.
((With the, well, alien nature of her programing I doubt the Yeerks would be able to detect them. Perhaps the ducks would, but since they don't have her or their mask with them these little devices should be able to slip by them. It sounds reasonable to me.)) Ax said.
"They aren't that complex, at least the units aren't. The signals they use to communicate with this receiver I have here" She patted a small television that looked like the back end had exploded its guts everywhere on the wall "should be undetectable by the Yeerks, since I'm not using Z-space transponders with it." She was pleased to see them nodding with a minimum of glazed confused looks. Good, she must still be understandable. "Only one small problem."
"Of course." Marco rolled his eyes.
"What's the problem?" Jake ignored his friend's groaning.
"Range, mostly. In order for the signals to reach the receiver I'm going to have to…basically hang a boosting device in a tree or something somewhere between here and Anaheim, or the signals can't go through all the way back here." Tanya frowned. "But I don't know where I can build something way out here in the woods…"
((…how about the Hork-Bajir valley?)) Tobais asked. Tanya blinked at him. ((It's between here and there, and it's safe and secure, and I don't think the Hork-Bajir will mess with it as long as you explain it to them in very simple terms.))
"Would they let me I mean; I don't want to barge into someone else's home and just start building things." Tanya mused.
((I doubt they'll really understand what it is for, but if you tell them it will help us hurt the Yeerks they'll go for it.)) Tobais replied. ((I've been over there a few times to say hi. You know, Jara and Ket had their kid. She's really cute, and they've been asking about you. They want you to meet her.))
Tanya nodded thoughtfully. She'd have to take the Aerowing over, but now that she knew where the Hork-Bajir valley was she didn't have to worry about circling the Aerowing all over the mountains wasting fuel. It shouldn't take longer than a day to set up what she needed to set up, and she wouldn't mind seeing the oddly sweet aliens again.
"Alright, if that's settled." Jake said, turning to Ax. "Let's do this, alright?"
Ax nodded with only slight reluctance. ((Very well, Prince Jake.)) Apparently, the Animorphs felt that everyone on the team needed to pay attention when they gave the morphing power to someone. Tanya could understand, while she hadn't been there to see Elfangor die she knew that it had a profound impact on the original five of them. All teams had their own little rituals and traditions, even ones that were brand new. So, while she didn't exactly have the same level of reverence that the original Animorphs had for the process in general she could still do the polite thing and be respectful to the team's habits.
Once the deed was done Tobias flapped towards the exit hallway. ((I'll go grab a gull for her, I think I saw a few harassing some campers on the other side of the lake. Be right back.))
"Right, we brought our own fly and cockroach here." Jake nodded at Cassie, who held up two small Tupperware containers with the aforementioned bugs. Jake turned his attention back to Eva. "And later tonight you can fly by the Clinic and pick up a wolf morph. If you get into real trouble, it can defend itself long enough for you to run away. And wolves can run for hours, so you won't get tired."
Eva sighed gently. "Alright…let's just hope it doesn't come to that." She shuddered. "I'd to think of what would happen if they ever found me again and…" She trailed off, shuddering again.
Visser One with the power to morph wasn't a scenario they needed, but they had agreed that the risk was worth it if there ever was a need for her to morph.
"You're not going back." Marco said, his eyes narrowed and his body slightly tense.
"Honestly, if I manage to make enough of these, we should be able to see them coming way before they get here." Tanya said, eyeing her new little spies. "Just need to find more metal and lenses and…well I don't have as much resources as I'd like."
Jake hummed, studying the spy cameras again now that the morphing situation had been delt with. "You do this sort of thing for the ducks often?" He asked.
"Umm, not always spying equipment, unless you count Drake One, but that was mostly to keep an eye out for Saurians. It just happened to pick up a lot of disturbances when they occurred around town. But yeah, I did build a lot of our equipment and, ya know, maintained it."
"Huh…is there anything else you can do for us, and what would you need to make it work?" Jake asked.
"Honestly, as long as Ax is okay with it I'd like to get a better look at that cube." Tanya eyed the morphing cube. "There are distinct disadvantages to the morphing ability that I might be able to tweak."
"Wait, you think you can tweak the morphing, how?" Rachel asked, glancing over where Tobias had exited.
"Mostly, I'm thinking of way to better incorporate clothing into the morphing, the nanites don't recognize clothes and it makes sense since Andalites don't wear clothing it was never a factor…"
"Wait, the what?" Marco asked.
"Uhh, the nanites that cause our cells to…ah, shift around. It's how the morphing power works…didn't you listen to Ax when he explained it?"
"All Ax talked about was cascading Z-space something or others we have no idea what he's saying half the time!" Marco shoot a look at Ax. "You didn't mention anything about tiny robots!"
((I…thought it was obvious.)) Ax said, bewildered. ((How else would it work?))
"We don't know!" Marco threw his hands up. "I guess…science magic?"
Tanya snorted and shook her head at Ax. "See, this is why you use the smallest possible words with them."
((I…am uncertain as to how to explain it with enough simplicity it…)) Ax scuffed a hoof. ((But, wait, how would you be able to change the programing with primitive human tools?))
Tanya sighed. "Yeah, that's a huge problem, but at the very least I can try and understand how to do it. At least then I can come up with something if I ever have access to better equipment…"
"Ax, are you alright with this?" Jake asked, and once again the Andalite shrugged.
((At this point I do not see the harm as long as the device remains undamaged.)) With a small breath Ax placed the device on Tanya's work bench. ((Do be gentle with it. It was my brother's.))
Tanya nodded to him. "Don't worry, I can't do much to much damage with this little thing." She held up the tiny screwdriver.
((Hey guys, you want to come up here so Eva can acquire this gull? He keeps trying to peck me.)) Tobias' thought spoke from outside.
As the group started to exit Tanya paused for a second. For a brief moment she thought she saw a flash of red eyes, almost similar to hers, staring at her from a dark corner.
But there was no way.
They were not real. They were only nightmares.
As Tanya gently landed the Aerowing in the Hork-Bajir valley she noticed that there were a few more of them than just the original two and their offspring. At least five unfamiliar Hork-Bajir peered at her suspiciously from the trees, and one of two particularly enterprising ones held what looked like stolen Dracon beams at the Aerowing.
((Yikes, I probably should have warned them, they might think we're the Yeerks…)) Tobais opened up his thought speak as he peered out of the Aerowing's cockpit window. ((Jara, Ket, it's just me! I brought Tanya with me. This is her ship.))
There was a series of gestures and shouts from the Hork-Bajir, and to Tanya's relief a somewhat familiar looking one stepped away from the small crowd and waved at the Aerowing with a huge grin. It took a second but then Tanya recognized Jara Hamee. He was shouting something, but his voice couldn't really get through the Aerowing.
((We'll be out in a second, Jara.)) Tobias said as he fluttered to Tanya's shoulder and gently gripped. He leaned away from her beak in an attempt to keep his feathers away from her nostrils. She looked away from him and took a deep breath, as much to steady nerves as to take a breath of air that wasn't full of feather dander.
Of all the things she was allergic to the feather allergy was the worst. It never went away and it was annoying.
Tanya and Tobias exited the Aerowing to be greeted by Jara and Ket, who both look rather delighted to see the two of them. Ket had a hand on a much smaller Hork-Bajir's shoulder, who was looking up at Tanya with a surprisingly critical eye. Most of the other Hork-Bajir had somewhat bewildered expressions, and sort of looked like how most people looked at Tanya when she accidentally lapsed into technical jargon. Only this time, while she hadn't said a word, they still looked puzzled and confused. However, this small one seemed much more…aware of her, as if she or he wasn't just puzzled, but also coming to conclusions. Tanya had no idea what those conclusions could be.
"Friend Tobais! Bring Tanya! Good! Long time! We have child, want you to meet her." Jara placed a hand on the little Hork-Bajir's back and urged her forwards. Tanya couldn't help but smile a bit. She had a feeling if Hork-Bajir had wallets then Jara's would probably be full of amusing baby pictures. Parents were the same no matter the species…well, most parents.
She did not see the flash of glittering frost antlers in the trees it was -not real-. Focus on the baby Hork-Bajir.
The little Hork-Bajir looked up at her and to Tanya's surprise held out a hand like she wanted to shake hands. The next surprise came when the Hork-Bajir talked. "Hello, my parents told me all about you. Tobias told me a little bit as well. I'm Toby Hamee. It's nice to finally meet you. They told me that humans shake hands. We aren't humans, but I think it will work for this, don't you think?"
Tanya blinked at the strangely articulate sentence and returned the gestures. "I…nice to meet you too."
Toby chuckled. "I'm a seer. We're…well we're different than other Hork-Bajir. Every few generations a seer like me is born. We're smarter than our kin, but I'm still a Hork-Bajir." She looked Tanya over again and…sort of smirked, as if she had finally reached the conclusion she had been contemplating for the past few minutes and found it amusing. It was so strange. This child couldn't be older than a few months and she sounded almost like a teenager. A very smart one.
"Honestly, I'm a bit surprised, there's a lot more of you now than just you and your parents." Tanya said, now focused on the growing crowd of Hork-Bajir peering at them. How many were there?
"Yes, we're a growing community now, not just a few refugees." Toby said firmly. "This place is our home." Tanya blinked at Toby's tone. For a moment she almost thought she was talking to her brother. Just replace Hork-Bajir with Scaleborn and it would have been almost exact. She shook off the feeling. She wasn't here to unfairly compare Hork-Bajir to her clutch.
By now Jara and Ket had managed to explain, in very simple terms, to the other Hork-Bajir who Tanya was. From what words Tanya managed to catch the gist of the explanation was 'friend like Tobias. Help make free'. She supposed it worked.
"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?" Toby asked, tilting her head in curiosity. "Tobais already came here a few times to talk to us, but this is the first time you came. Not that I'm complaining, it's nice to meet you, but I doubt you brought an entire ship with you just for a social visit. You could have just morphed and flown here."
((I told you she's an inventor, remember?)) Tobias said. Then in private talk speak to Tanya he said ((Just talk to her like normal, she's really sharp.)) Tanya gave a small nod.
"Yeah, I basically made these small spy cameras. I'm hoping I can spread them around Anaheim, where I'm from, and keep an eye on the other ducks. They're all Controllers and I want to keep tabs on their activities." Tanya pulled out a fly camera, which Toby studied with interest.
Jara looked at it and frowned. "Tanya have metal bug? Why? Is bad?" He looked around. "Bug can hurt bark? Hurt tree?"
"No, Father, these are good bugs that will help her free her people. She can watch them so she can find a way to free them, like we are free." Toby said. "They eat things other than bark." She shrugged at Tanya. "We had a small incident with termites a few months ago. It's alright now, but it kinda spooked the other Hork-Bajir. Had no idea that there were bugs that eat wood here. Neither did I until I figured it out."
"Right, well, I was hoping I could plant a receiver of some kind here to bounce the signal these things transmit. That way we can see what the Yeerks in Anaheim are up to without having poor Tobias fly there every few days to look around."
((Yeah, Red-Tailed Airlines is a bit limited in scope.)) Tobias laughed. ((Still the best ride of your life though))
"Ah, that makes since. Do you want to build some sort of radio tower, or just hang something from a tree?" Toby asked. "Because as long as we can reach the bark it shouldn't be a problem."
"Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of metal these days, and I can't really scavenge more and melt it down. I have to keep whatever I find still in its basic form. But yeah, I can hang the receiver from a tree, just have to find the right one."
"No problem. How did you make these things anyway, how do they work?" Toby gently touched the camera fly with a claw, eyes bright and curious.
It didn't take long for Tanya to find the right tree, a nice big one near the center of the valley, and while the other Hork-Bajir trailed along looking curious it was clear none of them really fully understood what Tanya was trying to do. Sure, they got that she was doing science things that would help her kind, but the concept of using small bug like devices to spy was a bit beyond their grasp. However, Toby followed Tanya's explanations of the functionality of her little cameras surprisingly well. It was becoming obvious that while Toby didn't know that much about science that was due to her simply having no one to teach her. Once she got the idea she picked it up almost instantly, and with more understanding than most people Tanya met. In fact, the conversation soon drifted from the specifics of the cameras, to computers in general, to basic computer science and theory. It was the first time in a long while that Tanya could talk to someone who understood who wasn't Ax.
It was enough to distract her from the things that she didn't see out of the corner of her eyes. They were not there.
In fact the conversation she was having with Toby ended up with them both perched in Tanya's chosen tree, Tanya screwing in a receiver to a trunk and Toby holding the device for her while she peppered Tanya with questions. By now most of the Hork-Bajir, aside from Jara, had lost interest and had gone to eat bark or sun themselves in the trees. Jara, who was totally lost in the conversation, simply watched his child with a proud, loving look. He had no idea what his daughter's words meant but he knew that talking with their duck friend made her happy in a way that talking with the other Hork-Bajir did not. This was enough for him.
Maybe Toby liked it so much because Tanya was a duck folk seer? She had many big words and did many smart things. This must be true. At least it was true for Jara.
Jara did notice something that made him worry. Their duck friend didn't have claws to sink into the wood of the tree. Neither foot nor hand claws. She didn't have a tail to wrap around the trunk. In fact, some of the time she let go of the trunk entirely with her hands and gestured at Toby in a way Jara found distressing. He didn't like it. He was proven right when, after turning her head to the right, Tanya suddenly yelped as if she had seen something startling and jerked, unbalancing herself and tipping off the branch. Toby yelled in alarm and tried to grab the duck, but since she was still so little she missed entirely.
Jara was not little.
In an instant Jara leaped upwards, dug his claws into the lowermost branches of the tree and was halfway up. He turned his arms so that Tanya wouldn't be stuck by his blades and snatched her from the air, falling back to the ground with a harmless, to him, thump.
"Tanya not good with tree. No claws. No tail. Bad. Be hurt." He frowned sternly at her. "You better if Hork-Bajir in tree, not duck folk in tree."
Tanya blinked at her. "Wait…you think I should morph you?"
"You like Andalite. Like Tobias. Like Visser Three." Jara spat out the name, but the point was the same. "You be Jara before. Jara remember. You be Hork-Bajir now. Help put thing in tree. Make faster, not as much danger."
"He's got a point. If you can morph him, you should. You are a bit hopeless in a tree." Toby swung gently from a branch, her tail wrapped around it while her claws dug into the trunk. She almost looked like one of those small green lizards that came out in the summer.
Tanya sighed. "The other Animorphs really don't like that. Something about not morphing sentient beings without permission." She shrugged.
"Jara not understand." Jara said.
"They don't want me to control your body. They think it would be like being a Yeerk." Tanya explained.
Jara frowned fiercely. "No. Jara is Jara. Tanya is Tanya. Tanya is not Jara because looks like Jara. Tanya can look like Jara, but does not make her Jara." Jara didn't know what senty ent meant, but he understood the silly humans somehow thought they were doing a bad thing by being Hork-Bajir, but that was not right. Jara remembered both Tanya and one of the other humans being him. It was not like when he was a slave. He was still him even when there were two other hims. So, there was no problem. He didn't understand why this was complicated. He poked Tanya gently so she would pay attention to him. "You and friends be Jara and other Hork-Bajir whenever you need. We always help friends. Even better when helping friends hurt Yeerks. So be Jara if need."
Tanya smiled at him and rolled off. "Alright." Jara watched as his own features emerged from the duck. It was strange, but it was not him. It was not him twisting and melting from tan feathers. It was not his beak changing from flat duck to sharp Hork-Bajir. It was not his feet going from soft and humanlike to strong and clawed. He didn't see the problem.
Silly humans. Silly ducks.
Unfortunately, it was clear that, while she had his body and instincts now, she didn't have Jara's lifetime of experience in a tree. So, he had to show her the best way to grip with her tail and back claws so she could work on her bug machine with her hand claws. Fortunately, she was smart like Andalites were smart, but much less arrogant and I-Know-Everything-Already, so she was easy enough to instruct. Within a few moments she was back to working on the bug machine, and Jara was very pleased overall.
But then Jara saw his seer daughter's eyes sparkle in that way they did when she had a big important thought. He loved that look. He didn't understand but he loved it. She was so smart, and he was so proud.
"Do you ever fight as a Hork-Bajir?" Toby asked Tanya.
"Umm, no. I have a hyena for a battle morph." She replied.
"Hmmmm, why?"
"Couple of reasons. Not to be rude, but the humans have a hard time telling Hork-Bajir apart. They might mix me up with a Controller."
"Hmm, that makes sense, but you're a scientist, and the Yeerks use science. Can you use science to hurt them?"
"Umm, yeah, probably. It's a bit different than what I'm used to, but I've hacked and Andalite ship's computer. Yeerk's probably not that different."
"…but you'd probably have to have fingers for that." Toby mused.
"I think I know where you're going with this." Tanya snorted. "You think I should the Hork-Bajir morph when I need to fight and hack the Yeerk's systems at the same time."
"It just seems like it would be a good strategy. Maybe not in a pitched battle, like you said the hyena is probably best for that, but if you're ever stuck on a ship and need to fight your way out…do you know how to fight like a Hork-Bajir?"
"Umm…no. Honestly, I was never good at…ah, hand to hand combat before."
Jara perked up. "Jara can teach Tanya to fight as his father taught him. As Jara teaches Toby."
"Wait, I…" Tanya blinked and Toby smirked at her again.
"And after Father teaches you, you can teach me more about subatomic particles." She grinned broadly.
Tanya stared at Toby for a few minutes then burst out laughing. Jara laughed too, but he didn't know why.
The receiver was finished by that night, but Tanya, minus the Aerowing this time, was back the next day. The kids were having a school day, and while she didn't really think she would ever need to know how to use her Hork-Bajir morph to fight she couldn't deny it might be a good idea to learn just in case. You never knew. And she liked the thought of teaching little Toby. Toby didn't have to worry about the duck government and their laws regarding proper teaching licenses. She was an alien lizard living in another dimension. She probably would never even set foot on Tanya's home planet. That was almost a shame. She almost wanted to introduce the Hork-Bajir to her family. They probably would get along. She liked Toby and wanted to help her learn. And exchanging science for the Hork-Bajir fighting style wasn't a bad trade off.
So, while the rest of the Hork-Bajir ate their breakfast bark and socialized, Tanya brought out a piece of calk she had brought with her in her goshawk talons and ran through some basic algebra with Toby, who caught on surprisingly quickly. She had never taught anyone before, much less taught anyone by using drawing calk on a rock wall of a cave, but it seemed to work well enough. By the time Jara was ready for battle practice with the other young Hork-Bajir, Toby was happily finishing up a whole rock wall worth of equations.
Jara kept giving the math wall a discombobulated stare, as if he was staring at eldritch writing beyond his ability to comprehend with his mortal mind, but eventually he seemed to conclude that he shouldn't worry about it. But he did avoid looking at the wall for too long. It seemed to almost spook him.
Tanya morphed to Jara and followed the other Hork-Bajir to a clearing, with about six other little Hork-Bajir around Toby's age. Not one of them had the same alert expression she did, but they all greeted her warmly, gave Tanya puzzled blank looks, but soon nodded in slight understanding when Jara pointed at her and said. "Friend Tanya like hruthin. Be other thing. Be Jara. Is not Jara, is Tanya. Tanya learning to fight like Hork-Bajir. Andalite not good teacher." That got a few laughs, and after a few more repeats the little Hork-Bajir seemed to understand well enough what was going on.
"Yeerk use Dracon Beam most often, but we no learn that. This for learning to fight with body. Dracon beam is easy. Point. Shoot. To fight with body means you fight hruthin. Andalite." Jara briefly glanced at Tanya as the little Hork-Bajir gathered around him. "But no fight Andalite. Andalite not Hork-Bajir friend, but no enemy. Enemy of Yeerk, like Hork-Bajir enemy of Yeerk. But Hork-Bajir trained to fight Andalite. Will show you what Hork-Bajir learn about fighting Andalite, and show how can be used to fight Yeerk, even if in other Hork-Bajir." Jara took a calming breath, the relatively long speech clearly wearing him out. "Andalite fight fast. Always land hit. You no surprise Andalite. You no avoid Andalite. You must learn to take the Andalite's blow. Hork-Bajir stronger than Andalite. Must use strength."
It was an entirely different philosophy than what little Tanya knew about how the melee members of her team fought. Grin was powerful, but there was a brutality to Jara's motions that as he showed them how to strike with their blades that Grin never had. Grin applied his strength delicately, almost gently in order to take down his foes but never hurt or kill them, while Jara showed them how to strike hard and ferociously. There was a grace and elegance in Mallory's martial arts skills, while the Hork-Bajir simply barreled forwards, relentless and unwavering. Marco had once compared them to weed whackers or salad shooters from hell, and it wasn't a bad description.
And Tanya was pretty sure that poor Duke would have cried at the lack of grace and skill the Hork-Bajir showed. He was always so flashy and elegant in his swordsmanship. The Hork-Bajir were taught to mow down their foes with no regard for how it looked. Although when she thought about it there was a bit of logic to it. Andalites were fast and accurate, and there really was no avoiding those tails. The best you could hope for was surviving whatever strike they landed. A human or a duck, with no natural strange defenses, were easily cut and sliced by Andalite tail blades, but Hork-Bajir, and the majority of the animals the Animorphs used, were a bit tougher. Even if they got cut up with the morphing power the damage didn't last past the next demorph. The entire Hork-Bajir philosophy was based on hitting hard and fast, skill be damned, but while this worked very well with Andalites it wasn't as effective with a creature like a bear or a gorilla.
It was actually a very simple way to fight and for someone like Tanya, who had never had the hand eye coordination needed to be a good melee fighter like her friends, it worked well enough. It was just within her capabilities, a bit like how while she was good at hockey she would never be good at swinging swords or hand to hand combat.
Still, she ended up eating dirt the first few lessons all the same.
Regardless of if she would ever use it these skills or not, she still found herself enjoying the time she spent in the Hork-Bajir valley.
After The Departure
When Cassie went missing after a mission gone wrong, Tanya had been spending some time back in the Hork-Bajir valley, mostly to give the kids space. She could understand why Cassie was upset, to be fair the fact that they had to kill people, the fact that had to kill helpless Hork-Bajir, still bothered her. The fact that they didn't' have a choice didn't make it any easier, but Tanya was an adult while Cassie was a confused kid. Of course she would be having issues with this, Tanya thought that all probably were, even if Rachel outright refused to admit it. The entire breakdown had bothered Tanya, but she had a feeling that emotions were a bit too hot right now. But it did make her think.
But when Cassie turned up missing, and there was a wild leopard on the loose, she had no trouble flying around as a goshawk, then an owl, then going hyena to sniff around the woods in an effort to find their missing friend. What they instead found was a bunch of Controllers. While Marco eventually did find Cassie he found her in the company of a Controller, a child younger than even the kids themselves. At least the host body was young. Tanya had no idea how old 'Aftran' was.
While the entire thing worked out well enough in the end, with Aftran agreeing to not reveal the Animorphs and abandoning her host for good, Tanya still felt that the underlaying problem hadn't been addressed at all, just sort of shoved to the side for now. While psychology wasn't her field, not even her field regarding her medic training, she had studied enough of it to know that the entire team might be driving themselves towards a psychological cliff that might end in disaster for all of them. But it wasn't like they could get a therapist.
Or could they?
The night after Cassie returned to them from butterfly morph, Tanya decided to bring up her concerns to the only person available who might understand those concerns. Eva.
"Hey, Eva, I had a thought…" Tanya tried to keep her nerves out of her voice. She had no idea what the humans would think of this suggestion but she felt she had to try. Eva had been busy at the personal laptop that Tanya had found abandoned in the dump and had brought home. She had upgraded and fixed the thing so that it could connect with the Yeerk network. Apparently, Eva was using it to keep tabs on Aftran. The Yeerk had taken some of what Cassie said to heart, and was slowly, and carefully, spreading the thought of a Yeerk Peace Movement among her fellow slugs. She had been s8urprised to find that the Animorphs had spared Visser One's host body, and indeed this seemed to help convince her that Cassie was sincere in her desire for peace. Eva, while not a fighter, was determined to help Aftran spread the word of the peace movement among the other Yeerks.
"Oh no." Eva frowned at her in mock concern, turning from her new laptop, at least Tanya thought she was trying to make a joke.
"I'm worried about the kids, you know? Some of the things Cassie said a few weeks ago when she tried to quit, and a few of the thing's Rachel said too."
Eva sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I get what you're saying. They're way too young to be dealing with all of this stuff on their own. Especially Jake. He was always a bit mature for his age but I'm getting a bit worried about him. All of that pressure can't be good for him." She shook her head. "But what can we do?"
"If they were duck hatchlings I'd try to get them therapy but…the only things I know about human therapy is the things shown in your horror media and I really hope those are, ya know, just exaggerating for entertainment…unless you people really do electrocute the mentally ill?" If the humans thought that was the proper way to deal with mental issues than there was no way this was going to happen.
Eva looked at her and laughed. "Hahahaha, no. Maybe back in the nineteenth century, but not now. We've also gotten past he whole 'everything is a penis' stage."
Tanya blinked at her. "Wait…humans…everything is a what?"
"Freud. He was an early proponent of talk therapy. Really kick-started modern psychology, but a lot of his views are seen as outdated now. Like, if you're dreaming about long hard things that means you're thinking about…well, you know."
"…your people are weird."
"Yeah, we are crazy little monkeys" Eva laughed again. "I think I get where you are going with this though. Honestly, I agree. If I could force them into a therapy session with someone who I knew wasn't a Controller, hell, even if they didn't know about the invasion it might help a little. But there's no guarantee that anyone we find wouldn't be a Controller."
"Actually, there is. There's the Chee." Tanya said.
Eva stared at her and blinked. "Wait…the androids…yeah, wait, you're right. They can't be true hosts, and they've been here for thousands of years. Maybe one of them took psychology. And the kids could talk about anything to one of them. They wouldn't have to hide anything!"
"Yeah…well, as long as they have one whose only interaction with therapy is that Freud guy." Tanya shuddered.
Eva laughed. "Yeah, I'll do a lot of things but I'm not having my kid learn sex ed from a Freud robot." She frowned slightly. "They won't want to do it. Marco hates being venerable even around me. Jake would see it as a weakness, and I'm pretty sure he thinks he needs to be the perfect leader in order to help the others…"
"Well, now, maybe we don't tell them it's for all of them. Maybe we approach Jake and Marco first and bring up that we're concerned about Rachel and Cassie, but we don't' want to single them out. Tell them that we really just want the girls to get the therapy, but that it would look strange if we single them out. You know how angry Rachel gets, and Cassie would just feel badly. So, they all have to go. Just to, you know, keep up appearances."
Eva smirked. "Yeeees, maybe. Might work." She was eyeing Tanya up and down as if evaluating and calculating something.
Tanya blinked at her uncomfortably. Why was Eva looking at her like that?
"Therapy." Rachel stared at the two adult women like they both had lost their minds. "You want us to get…therapy."
Eva nodded. "Yes, we already discussed this with Jake."
Jake nodded. "We all should do it. It's a good idea. Even me." Marco glared at his best friend and sighed. It had taken his mother all night to get Marco to agree, and it was clear he still hated the idea. But he was still going along with it. For now. Probably only for her.
"How? We can't just walk into a shrink's office and say 'hey, I'm feeling bad because I have to fight aliens once a week, and keep up my gpa.' They'd throw us all in the nuthatch right next to the oatmeal guy! Unless they're a Controller!"
"Which is why we contacted Erik." Tanya replied. "A Chee therapist won't be a Controller." She gestured at Erik, who was giving all of them a pleased, proud smile. Apparently, he really liked the idea.
Tanya and Eva's evil horror camp had become a sort of secondary location for the Animorphs to meet up, mostly because it was bigger than the clinic and they didn't have to worry about Cassie's dad coming in to see both a refugee alien duck woman who was supposed to be currently kidnapped by crazy humans and a dead woman. And an android. Discussions still happened at the barn but only when it was just the Animorphs and Ax. Talks that needed Eva usually now happened at the camp. Fortunately, it wasn't that far away as long as you went by air, though it didn't have the animals in case they needed to pick up a morph. For that they still needed Cassie's barn.
"We actually have a few who've taken therapy courses as the field developed…though I've been specifically asked to stay away from the one Chee that studied under Freud…he mostly delivered the guy's mail but he picked up a few things." Erik gave a brief shudder. "Honestly, I don't really blame you guys for wanting to stay away from that mess."
"We don't have the time!" Rachel growled.
"I think we do, actually." Jake said. "It would only be once every week unless you absolutely need to talk to these Chee outside those hours. And since she knows that we have a war to fight it won't be a problem if you have to skip a scheduled day. And, the best part is that for those of us with cover stories, she's one of the Chee who is undercover as a Controller. She's working on getting Tom to get my parents to agree to force me to see her. Basically, she's going to pretend to steer me towards the Sharing while telling our parents that she's helping Tom address some 'concerns' he's having about me. Not sure what those concerns are, but whatever as long as it works. This way Tom won't be suspicious. Same with the rest of you. Even better, if the Yeerks start to suspect us as a group she can reassure them we have nothing to do with Andalite bandits."
Rachel blinked and snorted. "Okay…that almost sounds reasonable…but how in the world is this going to help?"
"It's just a first step to our future destiny as permanent residents of the funny farm." Marco laughed. "I kept telling you people it would happen. Pretty sure in a few months they'll have us all in Hannibal Lecter masks and huggy jackets."
"Aren't they called straight jackets?" Jake frowned.
"I don't know, all I know is they look like they are giving you a nice, warm, reassuring hug." Marco laughed again, and Tanya was able to detect just the slightest hint of bitterness.
"I mean, just give it a shot, it might help." Tanya said, and Rachel turned to her with a toothy grin.
"You can barely talk to us about yourself, what makes you think it's going to be easy to talk to a therapist?" Rachel said, and Tanya blinked.
"I…wait, what?"
Jake gave her a steady look. "I did say we all are going to do this. That means you too."
"Now wait a minute!"
Marco smirked at her. "Oh, I see where this was going. You thought that since you're the adult you're exempt. Nope. Sorry. No one is getting to fly over the cuckoo's nest this time!"
"Now hold on!" Tanya turned to Eva for support, but the damn woman was giving Tanya that same little smirk she had before.
Oh. That's what that look had meant.
That little traitor.
"Okay, let's not beat around the bush." Rachel growled as she paced the Chee's office. She didn't need to be here. There was no reason, she didn't -need- to be here, but…
Heck, even if it was useless for her to be here maybe the Chee could get Tanya to open up at least. And maybe she might be able to help Cassie work through her crisis. Maybe Jake too…
Maybe she might be able to help Tobias.
It was worth wasting her time if the woman might be able to help Tobias.
The Chee, who called herself Dr. Ann, had a relatively nice looking office. Covered with pictures of happy golden retrievers and Irish setters and German Shepards and a collection of cute little pink corgi shaped mugs. At the very least she would be good for a little kid who needed some time hugging a stuffed animal. Rachel was fairly sure that the Chee probably took care of the dogs in the pictures. Maybe she brought them out when people needed to hug an animal. It actually sounded rather nice.
The Chee smiled gently at her. "Alright, what would you like to talk about?"
Rachel glared at her. "I thought you were the one who was going to tell me what do to fix me." She challenged.
Dr. Ann shook her head. "It's not fixing. Fixing implies that something is broken, or wrong. Mental health is just like physical health. You need to take care of yourself to be healthy. Eat the right food, drink water, bandage yourself when you're sick. If you're feeling ill you go to a doctor, right? You wouldn't stay away from a doctor's clinic if you were feeling ill, and this is the same thing. It's just for the things that go on in your head, instead of what's going on physically."
…well that just sounded way to reasonable.
"Rachel, what's really bothering you?"
And that was it. The floodgates burst forth. For ten full minutes Rachel found herself ranting to the Chee about…almost everything. How much she hated she couldn't see her dad as often as she could. How annoying her mother and sisters could be. How much she wanted to punch Marco. How much she hated the Yeerks and what they had done. How annoyed she felt and hurt she had been at Cassie's departure. How much it annoyed her that the others kept overcomplicating their mission. How much she wanted to just grab Tobias and shake him until he morphed back to his real form. If anyone had the right to give up the fight it was Tobias. He had suffered enough. Sacrificed enough and he just couldn't see it! Why couldn't he see it! She could fight enough for the both of them! She could take on the entire empire to keep them safe! To keep them all safe!
Even if she became a monster while doing it!
"…you aren't a monster, Rachel."
She had probably shouted that last bit too loudly. She took a few deep breaths and glared at Dr. Ann, who to Rachel's surprise wasn't looking at her with total disgust. Even though Rachel just confessed to wanting to exterminate an entire species.
"How do you feel now, Rachel? Can you do me a favor? Just, take a moment to understand what you're feeling right now. Can you give a name to what you feel right now?"
Rachel took a deep breath. Huh. Odd. "I…kind of feel better?"
"I've read a lot of human books in my time. I went through the Great Library of Alexandra cover to cover once. But that's neither here nor there. Ever heard of the Shining? The Stephen King book?"
"Pfft, yeah, but what does that have to do with this?" Rachel growled, even though she didn't feel as angry anymore.
"In that book Jack Torrence is at the haunted hotel over the winter because, among other reasons, someone needs to be there to 'dump the boiler'. Basically, it needs to have its pressure released, or it will blow up and take the entire hotel with it. It's a metaphor for a few of the book's other themes, but I also find it's a good metaphor for our emotions." Dr. Ann leaned forwards. "You feel anger. A lot of anger. Lots of human teenagers do. That's normal. Most channel that anger into teenage rebellion, but before you ever got the chance to channel it like a normal human teenager would you ended up being thrown into a war. So, instead of letting your anger out in normal, human ways you let your anger out by fighting. It doesn't make you a monster, Rachel, it makes you a normal human girl with normal human hormones that are being channeled in a way that's unhealthy."
"So how do I stop it! How do I not…be this way?" Rachel struggled to not let her voice break.
"Rachel, the way you feel isn't wrong. It's what you do with the feelings that matter. What you are doing with your feelings is actually fairly positive. Your motives aren't to kill, killing is just the results. Tell me this. If you could win the war, if every human could be free, if Tobias and the others and yourself didn't have to fight anymore, but without having to destroy all the Yeerks, would that still be winning?"
"I…maybe, but they won't!" Rachel cried.
"That's not the point I'm trying to make. You're not a monster. Your goal isn't to kill, it's to protect. You aren't doing this because you like killing, you are doing this to save the people you love."
"But I LIKE to fight!"
"Remember what I said about the boiler? You do have a lot of anger, and just like that boiler it needs to find a release. Without a release the anger will just build and build until you explode. But that doesn't mean you want to hurt people. It just means you need to find an outlet for your emotions. Right now, the only outlet you've found is fighting, and because you're in a war the killing and the fighting have mingled themselves in your mind until you can't separate them."
Rachel plopped into the woman's comfy armchair and sighed. "So, what can I -do-?"
Dr. Ann smiled gently. "I have some homework for you…"
One by one the Animorphs were forced, some with more grace than others, through the awful torture of sharing their feelings with a robot that had been walking the Earth since the days of the mammoth. Even Ax, because he was going to obey his Prince regardless of how stupid his Prince's orders were, found himself on Dr. Ann's armchair, in human morph, hugging the Chee's therapy golden retriever and talking for hours on end about his brother. He had no idea how that happened afterwards, and he never admitted to submitting to dog snuggles, but he had to admit it did seem to help in the end.
At the very least his Elfangor themed nightmares seemed to give way to slightly more happy dreams about his brother.
Then, Tanya found herself having to morph to human to stumble into the therapy office with just as much grace as the rest of them. The only relief she found was the fact that the plan did indeed work and would hopefully help in the long run.
She still was very unhappy with Eva, the backstabbing monkey…
She was even less pleased when she found herself sitting on the armchair, with Sparkle the therapy dog wagging his adorable golden tail at her as he calmly sat next to her. She might not have allergies in her human morph but she didn't know how to interact with dogs. To be fair, the animal simply sat there, making his fluffy fluffy head available in case it was needed for calming pats.
Sparkle was a very good boy.
Tanya took a deep breath and sighed at the Chee. "…before you start on me, I just want to know, how are the kids doing?"
Dr. Ann smiled. "You know I can't tell you details. Confidentiality."
"I know, but can you give me a least a hint?"
"They all need help. So do you." Dr. Ann said.
"I'm really fine. I'm more concerned with them."
"Trust me, we all noticed. Even they have. Ever since you met them you've put their safety above your own. It's admirable, but you can't ignore yourself."
"I'm not ignoring anything."
"Then what are you looking at?"
Tanya jerked and blinked. It had been the eyes again. His…or hers. It was hard to tell which of them were (not watching her, they were NOT THERE)…
"It's nothing, I just…had a bad dream, it's fine." She sighed. "It's not real."
"Just because it's not real doesn't mean it doesn't bother you. Chee don't dream, because we don't have a subconscious like humans or ducks or Andalites do. Dreams are the organic subconscious working through things as you sleep."
"I know how it works." Tanya growled.
"Then you must realize that the nightmares keeping you awake at night is your own brain trying to tell you something."
Tanya glared at her. "Who told you?"
"Eva. She's very concerned about you." Dr. Ann leaned forwards. "Ever since you got back from the mosquito mission Eva said that you keep having nightmares, but you never talk about what is bothering you."
"Because it's based on a myth. An old story, it's not real."
"But whatever it is, it's bothering you enough to wake you up every night, to the point where even Visser One's former host is able to take notice." Ann looked at her. "I'll tell one thing more. Every time the other Animorphs talk about you they all say the same thing. They worry about how closed off you are. They worry about the things you don't tell them- "
"I know they don't trust me but it's not their business and- "
"No, it's not that. They do trust you. Even Ax trusts you. Maybe at the start they didn't, but they can all see how much you care about them by now. They're worried for you. Because they don't know what's wrong they don't know how to help. And it bothers them."
How in the world did Tanya's hand end up on top of the dog's head, petting it? Huh…they really were nice and soft…she was almost starting to see the appeal. Would be better if they were less slobbery.
There was a very long silence, then Dr. Ann spoke again. "You have a right to privacy, of course. I'm not saying that. But instead of thinking about all the things you don't want to tell them, maybe you could think about the things you can tell them?"
"You can't keep ignoring me forever, child. What will you do when I can talk to them instead of just to you?"
Tanya shook her head. Great, now her dreams were talking to her in the real world…
Unless…
Tanya saw a glimpse of something large and serpentine lurking behind the Chee, and then she remembered Wraith and his magic.
…they really weren't dreams, were they?
And they could threaten her kids.
That wasn't going to happen.
Marco, in his quest to make their lives just a little more funny, had decided the best way to conduct what he called Duck Story Time was to drag them all out to the campsite, at night, around the fire pit. After Tanya scoured it to make sure all the rusty speakers and bits of metal had been cleared away, apparently it was originally used to make noises like creepy footsteps and the sounds of metal being dragged along the ground and hushed whispers. She probably could have fixed the speakers but didn't really see the point. The others had quickly taken to Marco's plan, so they were now surrounded by pans of popcorn being popped in the fire, along with hot dogs, buns, condiments guarded by Jake to keep Ax from drinking them all, and smore fixings.
If Tanya didn't have to spend the entire time talking she might have found it fun. As it was she was still mentally trying to decide what was safe to tell the kids and what wasn't.
There were still things she didn't want them to know. Things she hadn't even told Wildwing and the others. If Wildwing knew he'd…
He'd never know. He never needed a reason to know. It was fine. He'd never find out.
Eva gave her a reassuring smile as she poked at the fire. "It'll be fine. Just tell us what you can."
Tanya sighed and sat down on a log. For a moment she listened to the hooting of the normal Earth owls and cheeping of the normal crickets. She wasn't sure how the kids managed to weasel their way out to the woods. Maybe they had just waited till their parents were asleep to sneak out.
It didn't matter. They were all looking at her now. Marco had pulled out a pan of popcorn, poured it into a bowl and was happily covering it with bottled popcorn butter and ignoring Ax's glances. Someone had just gone to the mall and bought the Andalite a big box of buns, which he was working through in his human morph. Ax promised to change back to Andalite and leave their food alone after he was done with his box.
And some milk.
And at least one smore.
Or two.
Or three.
Cassie reached into a cooler and passed out sodas and milk for everyone. Even Tobias, who was also in human morph and chowing down on a hot dog with plenty of ketchup. No bun, he was just gnawing on it while the roasted weenie was still on the stick.
After a moment Tanya sighed. "Before we start, I'd like to lay a few ground rules."
Jake nodded. "Alright, let's hear them."
"There are certain things that are private to me. From back when I was closer to your ages. I don't want to talk about them. I just…I don't. Even the ducks don't know these things about me. It's just…"
Tobias looked at her with a mild frown. "…I don't know the details but…It think I get it. I hate talking about my uncle and my aunt. You don't have to be personal."
Cassie nodded. "Right, just…tell us what you're comfortable with." She smiled. She seemed a lot calmer after a few talks with the Chee.
"Alright." Tanya sighed. "I'll tell you this much. I…don't have parents. I don't want to tell you why, I just don't. No one in my clutch really did except for the oldest ones. Like Mercy, she was raised by my mother and my brother's father before…" Tanya took a deep breath. Why was this so hard?
"So, your stepsister?" Jake asked.
"I…guess, that's the human word for it. Like I said, I don't want to get into the details, but…wait, I suppose humans don't know what a clutch is, do they?"
"…is it just a bunch of your brothers and sisters? Do ducks lay a bunch of siblings? Like Earth ducks?" Eva asked.
"No, no. Not everyone in the clutch is related by blood. A clutch is just a group of children raised together. Usually, it's because their parents are members of the same hockey team. Your hockey team, professional or not, is an extension of your family. So, if your teammate gets married, has an egg, and another pair has an egg, the entire team helps to raise the ducklings. That's a clutch. You never really split ties with them, even if you end up moving to another town, maybe you end up joining your local neighborhood team, you still keep some ties with the clutch you were raised with. At least, that's how it's supposed to work, but…"
Jake nodded. "It's fine. We get it." He did. He didn't need to know all of the details. This confirmed in his mind what Tobias had thought before. She, and it sounded like all of her 'clutch' didn't have parents. Like Tobias did. He didn't need to know the gory details. "What about what happened in Z-space? Are you comfortable talking about that?"
Tanya nodded, relieved at the subject change. "Yeah, I am." She took another breath. "In fact, it's sort of connected to some of the things you asked me about when we first met…and, why my clutch was abandoned in the first place." To give herself a brief break she bit into a hot dog. Not bad. Once she swallowed, she continued.
"Mercy, my 'stepsister' as you called her, is about, oh, five years older than the rest of us. She's an archaeologist. Give me a second, this will be relevant the further we go…
Duck legends say, thousands of years ago, the Great Mother created the entire world. She made a wonderland of ice and snow, filled with the beauty of winter, with none of the death that comes from the deep cold. She gave the giant eariak beasts thick coats to keep warm and safe. She gave the nooli beetles their fire. And to the ducks she gave the ability to skate on the ice, and the sport of hockey itself.
But then, one day, the earth burst open, and the Saurians came forth. No one knows where they came from, but most ducks say they were demons summoned to our world from Limbo. Soulless monsters bent on conquest and domination, the Saurians were led by the four evil Great Dragons. The King of Fire, the King of Earth, the King of Air, and the King of Frost.
The King of Fire rained lava upon the world, creating an inhospitable desert where he, his people, and the King of Earth and his people dwelled. Only other Saurians could live there, because the land was melted and ruined by the King's hateful flames. However, the King of Air flew to the highest points of the mountains, and there he and his people soared from cliff to cliff, terrorizing the old duck clans that lived in the valleys below them.
But as for the King of Frost, while she was also a being of immeasurable cruelty, she was also a being of great cunning. Instead of ruining the land and scorching the people, she instead led her Frostkin into walking among the ducks. Liars and manipulators, it is said that the Frost King lied and tricked the ducks, pretending to be their friend and ally. It is said that she even supported them and defended them publicly against the Fire King, who wanted to eradicate the ducks. She was so treacherous she went against her own kind. No one knows why. Some say that she only did so because it is a Saurian's nature to betray even those closest to them. Some think she simply wanted the other kings out of the way. Others think that there may have been a small part her that held some sort of affection for ducks."
Jake raised a hand like he was in class, and Tanya nodded to him. "You mentioned someone called Polar Vortex before. Is this the same person…also if he's a king why do you keep calling him she?"
Tanya nodded. "Yes. I don't know the names of the other kings, but Polar Vortex was the name of the Frost King…oh, and…ummm…" She paused. "I don't…really speak English, you know? At least not originally. There's a way we can run a translator through our Medicoms. It's how we learned your language. Sort of…implanted it after recording radio signals. It takes a bit, but it's how we learn foreign languages. The word for what Polar Vortex and the other dragons were is 'Ratitichaia', which really just means 'highest ruler', and it's not a gendered term like the English 'king' or 'queen' is." She frowned. "I supposed you can use Queen if you want, but it doesn't exactly have the right…ah, connotations that 'king' does."
Jake nodded. "Alright. Sorry. Keep going, please."
"Right…so, at some point the Frost King performed the cruelest act she could. She found a way to combine duck and Saurian together, to create the first of the Scaleborn. In the beginning there were only two, Polar Frost and Northern Breeze, which in her perversion of nature Polar Vortex called her 'sons'. Both were horrible monsters, twisted and deformed. Especially Northern Breeze, who was a twisted beast who, like his 'mother', created vile experiments. The other, Polar Frost, was ashamed of what he and his family were, and in the end fled to the great hero of the first duck resistance, Drake Ducaine. He begged Drake to let him fight for freedom among the other heroes, even though he was a monster, and Drake eventually agreed.
The stories of Drake's heroics are too long to get into, but the legends say that despite his deformities and evil nature, Polar Frost remained loyal to Drake until the very end.
For years Drake Ducaine fought to banish the Saurians and the great Dragons back to Limbo, and, with the help of the Mask given to him from beings beyond the stars, he managed to push them all back, and destroyed the rest of the great Dragons, save for Polar Vortex. It was then, at the hour of their final victory over the last Saurian battlemage, that Northern Breeze struck. Angry at the loss of their kin and frustrated by his brother's loyalty to Drake, Northern Breeze killed Polar Frost, stole the eggs he managed to produce, trapped Drake Ducaine in Limbo with the Saurians and ran back to his twisted mother. Seeing how her experiment had failed and knowing that the ducks would come to destroy her in revenge, she sealed her capital of Icespire away from the rest of the world."
"…lies…"
The kids and Eva stared at Tanya, who was a bit surprised she managed to get through the story with a minimum of stuttering. She took another deep breath and a gulp of soda.
"That's what ducks say. Icespire, for thousands of years, stood alone, holding within it the last remains of the Saurians, the ones that Drake didn't manage to banish to Limbo took refuge there. There were also rumors that the Frost King never really gave up on the Scaleborn idea, despite her son's betrayal. Scaleborn still showed up in Icespire, apparently able to breed like normal ducks. Sometimes, one of them would poke their heads out of Icespire and attempt diplomatic relations with the rest of the world, but it was always a fairly…chilly affair. A few ducks even managed to get into Icespire and back and spread rumors that the place was infested with Scaleborn, with a few ducks and a few normal Saurians managing to survive there as well.
But it was okay for a while. People left the Scaleborn alone, and the Scaleborn left them alone. Until about…one hundred years ago.
All at once Scaleborn poured out of Icespire in a flood, but that wasn't all that came with them. They fled because there was a plague. Saurian flu, they called it, a disease that spread among Scaleborn and, for many, killed them. It was a pretty nasty plague, and the Scaleborn were dying by the hundreds. Despite knowing what they were, monsters created by other monsters, the ducks still remembered at least one Scaleborn was good, and they tried to help cure the plague. Eventually, a cure was found, but the duck's cities were flooded by refugees, none of whom could go back to Icespire. Because the moment the last Scaleborn crossed the threshold, a barrier erected itself around the city. To this day, no one can get in. Or out.
Great Dragons cannot die. Like of old age. So even though it's been thousands of years the Frost King Polar Vortex is still in Icespire. Never dying, but not really alive. Just waiting for her opportunity to come back and spread pain and chaos, as she did a thousand years ago…"
Tanya sighed and leaned back. "At least…that's what ducks say…about my kind."
There was a very long silence. Rachel stared into the flames, shaking her head slightly and frowning. Jake wore an almost identical frown, though he was focused on Tanya. Cassie also stared at Tanya, eyes wide and unless it was just the smoke from the fire Tanya almost thought the girl was going to cry, but she wasn't sure why. Marco's forehead was furrowed in confusion and he and his mother were looking at each other, muttering to themselves in something that didn't sound to Tanya like English. Both Ax and Tobias stared as well, though she couldn't decide what they might be thinking.
"…okay, that's what ducks say." Tobias finally leaned forwards; his hawklike gaze focused on Tanya. "What do the Scaleborn say?"
Tanya sighed. "I'm not entirely certain what they all say, but I know what Mercy thinks…remember, archaeologist. She's studied these things, and she the only one of us who knows the stories that Scaleborn say…granted the source is pretty biased but- "
"Oh no, a biased source, how horrible!" Marco snorted and shook his head. Rachel elbowed him.
"Shut up, let her talk." Rachel bit out.
Tanya blinked. "Are…you guys sure. You seem really upset."
Jake tilted his head and raised an eyebrow at her. "…go on. We want to know what Mercy told you. It might help make things…clearer."
Tanya wasn't sure how clearer she could be, but she shrugged. "Okay. According to Mercy, the Saurians didn't just pop up from Limbo, but were survivors of some great disaster that changed our world from a more swamp like planet to a cold one. That's why the Fire King created his vast desert, because his kind were here first and they couldn't survive the cold. Only the Frostkin could because they were naturally frost resistant. She…also says that the Frost King didn't create the Scaleborn with evil magic she…" Tanya laughed. "She said that Polar Vortex either took in two orphaned offspring of a Saurian and a duck, or that Polar Vortex herself had fallen in love with a duck and produced a pair of half duck and half Saurian hybrids. But, really, that's pretty hard to believe."
"…why is that so hard to believe?" Cassie asked.
"Come on, what duck is going to fall in love with a Saurian of all things!" Tanya laughed.
"I don't know. Romeo and Juliet…there are plenty of stories about star crossed lovers. How are you so sure that Polar Vortex didn't fall in love with a duck?" Cassie asked.
"For one so young to speak such truth…"
Tanya shook her head. She didn't hear that bit. Nope. "Look, lots of people don't even think Polar Vortex was a real person in the first place. A lot of scholars think that the Frost King was just an amalgamation of different Saurian leaders. It would explain why the character can be so inconsistent…"
"You told us that everyone agrees that she was some manipulative evil tyrant. Now her character is inconsistent. Which is it?" Marco asked.
Tanya sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Okay, so…the story I told you is just the most popular, modern version. There are older versions that show Polar Vortex in a more…inconsistent light. Sometimes she's almost benevolent in them, sometimes they say she was outright on Drake's side until the end part of the story where she suddenly turns on him for no reason and seals off her city. It's…weird, so most people think she was just a really good liar. Heck, there's our equivalent of a movie that has the actor playing her constantly yelling about her evil scheme into the camera at every opportunity, so the audience knows she's a liar and doesn't think that the moments where she seems kind are anything but deceptions."
"How very convenient. To ducks." Marco snorted. "Tanya, I…look I'm sorry, but I don't buy it. I don't think you're lying, that's clearly the story you've been told but I think it's bull. I think there's something more going on."
Tanya sighed. "Look, you guys wanted to know how I could be half Saurian when the Saurians were banished long ago. That's how. My kind were created long ago by either dark magic or…grosser methods. My grandparents fled Icespire before I was born. Both of them died of the plague. My mother was taken in by a duck named John Vanderflock and he…" She sighed. "I don't want to talk about my mother, but when she…she died John Vanderflock ensured that my clutch would be taken care of. He made sure we were raised together. Sure, we were raised by ducks that…were a bit cautious around us, but we still got to stay together." Tanya sighed. "Polar Vortex is an old legend. I died, the Andalites revived me, but I did die for a few seconds. And, medically, sometimes when your brain losses functioning like that it…sort of starts giving you images. I saw Polar Vortex and Polar Frost when I died, but that's not because they were real. I saw them because I was dreaming."
"…but you're still having nightmares about them, aren't you?" Eva asked gently.
"I mean, yeah, but…we all have nightmares. Don't you kids have nightmares?" She asked.
"Oh, every damn night." Marco scoffed as he ignored his mother's hiss of 'Language!' "And okay, I'll grant you that. Maybe you just are having bad dreams because we all are. Apparently, that's something that happens when you go through trauma, if our friendly neighborhood dog therapist is to be believed. But…Tanya." Marco leaned forwards. "That story is still so full of bull that I surprised there wasn't a chorus of moos in the middle."
Tanya narrowed her eyes at him. "What makes you say that?"
Marco shrugged. "I don't know, maybe because we just got through with a mission where we had to believe that a Yeerk could be good, but your story seems like it was designed to put Saurians and Scaleborn in the worst possible light. Maybe it's because it's obviously written by ducks, with the only opposing source coming from your stepsister who you admit was also raised pretty much by ducks and only knows other sources because she literally went digging around tombs for them. Maybe it's because it makes no sense for Polar Vortex to spend her time trying to trick ducks when they all could have stayed in the Fire King desert. Or…" Marco grinned at her. "Maybe I just can't take the evil villain named Northern freakin Breeze seriously. I mean, come on, Tanya. That sounds like something you'd name a My Little Pony doll."
For a moment she just blinked at him, then Tanya snorted with laughter at the mental image of the legendary monster as a little human girl's toy. The others sort of chuckled along with her, the tension broken, as no doubt Marco had intended.
Finally, after a moment, Jake spoke up again. "Thanks for telling us that. For what it's worth, I don't think your people are monsters. I can't speak on Saurians, but you're a good person. We all can tell that."
Tanya shrugged. "All the Saurians I've met have been evil."
"How many Saurians have you met?" Cassie asked gently.
"Well…four." Tanya admitted.
Cassie smiled gently. "If the only Yeerks we ever met were Vissers Three, One, the one controlling Chapman and the one controlling Tom, maybe we'd all think all the Yeerks were evil too. Heck…even I sometimes doubted Aftran…"
"And yet you still let her infest you." Marco rolled his eyes to the sky.
Cassie shrugged. "I took a chance, and it worked." She looked into the fire. "I doubt we will ever know the truth, but even if you don't, Tanya, I want to think that Polar Vortex loved a duck, not that she made your people like some mad scientist."
Tanya shrugged. She was about to tell them it was a good thing they would never know, but then she hesitated. "Okay, there is, one more thing."
"Oh boy." Marco cheered.
"I…am mostly convinced that what I saw when I died was a hallucination. I want to believe it wasn't real. But…one of the reasons I keep having trouble sleeping at night is because the dreams with her haven't gone away. I actually used to have them when I was a kid, but they were never that detailed. Just sort of images of endless fields of snow and a giant dragon looming in the distance. I've kinda always been afraid of large fifty ton lizards because of it. But now, after the incident, I've seen them a few other times and they keep trying to talk to me." She took a deep breath. "And, sometimes out of the corner of my eye I keep thinking I'm seeing flashes of them. Just…brief haunting things. Nothing concrete." She shrugged again. "I don't want you kids to think I'm becoming paranoid, but I've seen at least one Saurian, Wraith, do magic. Or at least do inexplicable things that he calls magic. I don't want to sit here and keep saying that the Frost King isn't real, and then have her suddenly turn up. I doubt anything will ever come of it, but I just want you guys to know."
Jake studied her, and she had no idea what he might be thinking, then he said. "Has she told you want she wants?"
Tanya nodded. "She wants me to free her."
Jake blinked. "Okay, unless something changes, we are going to go with the theory you're just having nightmares. It sounds like the most reasonable explanation. But Tanya, if they get any worse, or if they start affecting the real world, I need you to tell me. Okay? We've had to deal with aliens that might as well be magic already. I'm not going to dismiss the idea that this Polar Vortex might be on the same scale as the Ellimist is. Or at least closer to the Ellimist than we are. So, keep us informed. Alright?"
Ax lifted a hoof and stamped down. At some point he had demorphed and Tanya hadn't noticed. ((I was about to say that magic is an impossibility, but Prince Jake makes a good argument. Primitive minds would see what the Ellimist does as magic. Whatever power this Frost King might have would be seen as magic to primitive ducks. And, if the Frost King is on par with the Ellimist, we will have to be very, very careful.))
Tanya nodded to Jake. "I can agree to that…"
"Good." Jake pulled out a bag of chocolate bars. "Now that we've had a nice serious talk, my next decree as leader is that it is smore time."
"Ah good. Some more time for smores." Marco laughed.
Tanya smiled as the kids argued over the best way to make these weird human treats. She didn't have these things back home, but they sounded great just from the description.
"You can't ignore me forever. Look at your little monkey babies, you want to protect them, don't you? I can give you that power. I can help you keep them safe…I loved Wulfrim, I didn't create you from dark magic. I loved him. I loved my sons. I can show you real strength…
Please, granddaughter, stop ignoring me."
A/N: Polar Vortex: Launches into a rendition of 'Strong in the real way' from Stephen Universe.
Tanya: 'Lalala, can't hear you, smore time!
No I don't use my personal ipad soundtrack when I write, whatever gave you that idea?
Honestly a part of me wanted to draaag out the 'haunted by your ancestors' thing, but then I realized that with the therapist that wasn't going to fly, and as soon as Tanya thought there might be a slight possibility that the Polars might be real she'd want to make sure he kids knew just in case magical nonsense on the level of Wraith happens. I figure someone who's fought literal wizards before would be less likely to dismiss hauntings. Even if she really wants it not to be true.
And Part One of the Infodump needed to drop. This was the big one, the one where I build the foundations of Scaleborn lore, but as you can tell Tanya still sort of danced around her more immediate backstory. Yes, this will come to bite her soon enough.
I am not trying to turn this into a 'the ducks were the real evil all along', just 'the ducks are capable of being bad people too'. Again, it's a bit of a parallel between the ducks and the Scaleborn (and to a lesser extent the Saurian) situation and the situation between the Yeerks and the Andalites. While there is a definite clear bad side, it's not just because of all encompassing evil, and even the good guys have people who aren't all that moral.
I had a bit of fun playing with how Saurians work. My thought is each of the four 'breeds' (kin if you're a Saurian) are based on three things. Your basic earth, fire, water and air elements that show all the time (frost is taking the place of water), dinosaurs, and dragons.
The Fire Saurians (like Draggy) are based on T-rexes and other large toothy therapods. But they are also based on traditional western style DnD dragons. Your basic Smaugs. The normal ones resemble Dragaunus, with some variations in color and so on, but the Fire King might as well have flown straight out of your local tabletop game.
Earth ones are based on ankylosaurs and triceratops, like Siege, while the Earth King is more like a wingless lizardy behemoth.
The Air ones are based on flying reptiles like pteradons, and their king is based on a wyvern style dragon like the ones from Game of Thrones or Skyrim.
And our Frosty friends are based on brontosaurs and the like, while Polar Vortex looks like an Asian style dragon.
Why there are four incredibly powerful dragon kings and how they got to be that powerful will come up later.
But this chapter is turning into a monster.
Until next time.
Smore time.