After the departure of their strange "messenger", and after much discussion, the Senator decides to go back to the Morrhae'Vnu to prepare "suits" for the boys. D'Tarik, Rylan and Byh'hie are to go to the colony and get the rest of their supplies. Vyynd....still suffering from a wicked hangover....announces his decision to stay at the cabin and protect the unconscious werewolf-girl. As the three travelers walk through the dense vegetation of the woods, it's hard to tell that it's been daylight for almost two hours, as hardly any sunlight seems to penetrate the forest around them.
"I *still* say au ought to leave ninte stuff at the fvadt colony!!" Byh'hie again protests as the boys walk, "Au *shouldn't* go back there!!" She's been doing this since the talks first cropped up at the cabin, and Rylan was coming awfully close to just belting her one to shut her up. He was growing weary of the girl's rather shrewish voice; it only served to make his own hangover hurt him all the more. Byh'hie's complaints didn't seem to bother D'Tarik at all. He was more concerned about the possible comments that he was sure Rylan was going to make after having seen the kiss the smaller boy had shared earlier with Byh'hie. It was a little unnerving to him that, as yet, there had been none of his friend's usual snide remarks.
After another five or so minuets of listening to the girl carry on, Rylan finally sighs in exasperation and mumbles to tr'Rekkohan, "Elements D'Tarik!! Can't au just kiss her again, and shut her up?!" Sprinkles suddenly launches himself from D'Tarik's shoulder and springs into a bush on his borg-looking leg. Rylan halts at Sprink's unexpected behavior, and glares at tr'Rekkohan, "What's the matter with that thing now?"
D'Tarik, unheeding to everything else around him, doesn't answer and instead chases after the creature, "Sprinkles! What are you au doing?!"
Rylan sighs, shaking his head, as D'Tarik runs after the Tribble. "Fvadt!! Just Great!!"
Byh'hie casts a confused eye at Rylan, "Aren't au going to go after him?" She stops suddenly, sniffing at the air, and gets a horrified look on her face, "D'Tarik get out of there!"
"Oh! Au don't want *him* to go in there....but it's okay for me to go!" Rylan raises an eyebrow at her as he draws his disruptor. Hoping the boy will stop, he calls after him, "D'Tarik!!!"
Half of D'Tarik is buried within the large shrub that Sprinkles had jumped into. He answers his friend's with a loud, startled, "Ah...OW!!" and he falls back, holding his hand cradled to his chest. The bush starts to rustle violently, and a zombie emerges, heading towards the boy. The Tribble is attached to it's face, clawing and biting the undead creature in a never-before-seen display of furred fury.
Rylan brings the disruptor to bear on the zombie, but doesn't shoot for fear of hitting the enraged Tribble. "D'Tarik!! What the Areinnye happened?!" a look of concern passes over his face, "Did au get bit?!" The whole time that Rylan is speaking, Byh'hie draws a throwing kalen and slings it through the air. It hits the zombie in the base of it's neck, pulling the undead creature back, and pinning it solidly to a tree with a loud "thwump!" sound.
"Na." D'Tarik answers, standing and turning towards his friends. He looks at his hand, a moment than explains, "Sprinkles pushed me away with his claw. It just cut me a little. He didn't mean to hurt me...he was just trying to tell me to get away."
The Zombie pulls against the kalen, coming unstuck from the tree with a sickening sound, leaving a gaping hole in it's neck. It still shambles forward, reaching out to D'Tarik, unheeding to the Tribble that's tearing away at it's face. Rylan sees this and motions for D'Tarik to turn around and see what's coming behind him, "Seems like a good warning to me!" he says of D'Tarik's explanation. He smirks at the blond, "So....silver's more efficient than a disruptor, eh?"
"I'm a better aim with that kalen, then I am with a gun." she answers with a slight shrug of her shoulders, "And silver makes na difference with zombies, anyway."
"Then why use it?" Rylan asks annoyed. Shaking his head before she can answer, he calls out to D'Tarik, "Call Sprink off, and I can get a clear shot! Unless au *want* him to be vaporized along with that thing!"
D'Tarik, having turned and seen his pursuer, pushes himself back away from the shambling creature, falling towards the ground. He pulls out a red test-tube sized container, and tosses it at the zombie as he falls. But the container didn't break as planned, and just bounces off the thing's chest instead. "Ah hnaev!!" D'Tarik moans, "Rylan!! Shoot the red tube and duck for cover!!"
Rylan thinks about it for a second, then shrugs and mutters, "Sprink's funeral...." and squeezes off a quick shot. The tube shatters and sends a red-goo all over the zombie's legs, making them slowly kind of melt away.
The zombie falls to the ground, the impact of the fall sending Sprinkles flying through the air with a loud 'SQUEEK!!", until he hits a tree with a thud. Still...the zombie uses it's decayed hands to pull it's rotting upper body closer to tr'Rekkohan. "Rylan!!" D'Tarik calls out horrified as the moving corpse reaches out a bone and rotting flesh claw towards his boot, "Shoot the blasted thing!!" Almost before the words had completely left the boy's throat, the zombie is enveloped in green-fire, and vaporizes into nothingness.
Rylan nonchalantly looks at his disruptor for a moment, then his shoulders drop, "Fvadt!" Without an explanation, he re-holsters the pistol and starts walking again.
Byh'hie heads over to the poor Tribble, and gently picks the creature up, cradling it close to her, she pets it's green fur. Sprinkles happily starts to first coo, then purr. D'Tarik, wrapping a bandage around his wounded hand, walks over to the blond, and nods, "Why don't au hold on to him for awhile? I think he's asleep now anyway."
"Come on!" Rylan calls back to them from a distance, not completely able to keep the note of worry from his voice, "Let's get a move on!" Still walking, he heads in the direction of the colony.
"Is there another road or something we can take?" D'Tarik asks the girl, "I don't feel like running into another io of our undead hungry friends."
"Na...just the woods between here and the colony." she glances towards the retreating figure of Rylan, "Au shouldn't go to the colony!! she whispers urgently to the smaller boy, "Forget ninte things! Au shouldn't go there....it's na safe."
D'Tarik listens to this, then nods in agreement, "I have everything I need. I tend to agree with Bhy'hie on this one. Let's go back....ummm...." he turns back, and finally sees that Rylan hasn't been there all along. He's quite a distance away from them, as a matter of fact. "Isn't that right Rylan?" the boy calls out to his friend, then adds in a very bad imitation of the taller boy's voice, "Yeah D'Tarik, au'rh right! Let's go back! Jee," tr'Rekkohan lightly hits his forehead, and still carries on with the joke, "What an idiot I was for leaving Vyynd to watch over my woman! And hey! Did I tell au that I think Sprinkles is pretty cool? Gotta' love that Tribble!"
But the good-hearted banter was totally lost on Rylan. He was too far away hear it, and too absorbed in his own thoughts to pay it any attention anyway.
Byh'hie, who had been laughing at the smaller boy's taunts at his friend, suddenly shrugged again, and said firmly, "Then don't go! Leave him then!" D'Tarik casts a worried glance at her, then calls out to Rylan again. Byh'hie sighs and tries again, moving closer to the boy, "Let him go..." she waves the retreating figure of Rylan away, before reaching out to grab the lapels of tr'Rekkohan's lab-coat, "Stay here...." she murmurs, "With me...." she flutters her eyelashes at him.
To D'Tarik's credit, the boy didn't pass out at this little ploy. He clears his throat, and with a shake of his head says firmly, "I can't just leave him here. He's io of my few friends who actually likes me....na just *tolerates* me. I can't just let him walk around out here by himself!"
Rylan finally notices that na one is following, and turns around, "What's the hold up?!" he calls back, just a touch of impatience creeps into his voice.
Byh'hie pointedly ignores the taller boy's question, and looks hurt by D'Tarik's statement, "Au rather be with him, then me?"
D'Tarik, turns towards the girl again, "I never said...." he sighs, then tries to explain, "Look...I would never leave a friend in a place like this. Na au....and na him either." he turns to face back towards his friend, "Rylan! I think Byh'hie is right. She knows more about this then us. I say we go back."
Rylan mutters something totally incoherent as he's too far away from them to have heard anyway, then he's still for a moment before he calls out impatiently, "Hate to say it D'Tarik....but I have *no* energy left in this weapon. The other back at the cabin is dead as well. Vyynd's on his last clip for the rifle. The replacement clips are at the colony. We're weaponless without them. Now....what do *au* think I'm going to do?"
His statement doesn't affect Byh'hie in the least, "Use mine," she urges tr'Rekkohan, un-holstering a highly modified disruptor, "I have more weapons back at the cabin." As the boy hesitantly takes the offered object, the girl suddenly puts her arm around him -- seemingly for no good reason -- and casts a triumphant eye to Rylan.
Rylan sees the girl's little display and throws his hands up in surrender, "Fine! Au go back! I'm getting our stuff!" he turns and resumes his walk once more.
Confused now, D'Tarik looks to one then the other, torn between his affections for the girl, and his loyalty to his friend. Thinking quickly, he calls out loudly again, "Why do we need our stuff? Anything we need will probably be given to us by our new Commander! He'll probably bring us extra weapons!"
Rylan halts and again mutters to himself, then turns and heads back toward the pair. Coming to a stop near them, he glares at Byh'hie and finally challenges her, "Alright....I hadn't said anything till now, because my friend liked au, and I didn't want to mess things up for him. But it seems that au'rh trying to prevent us from going...and I want to know why." he looks extremely angry, "Tell us something more than 'It's na safe'. Something more concrete than that!"
"It's very unsafe." the girl answers smugly.
Rylan shakes his head trying to hold on to his temper, "*Why* is it unsafe? What exactly is the problem there that makes au act like a cowardly Lloann'na?"
Byh'hie's face becomes a mask of rage at that last remark. She pushes D'Tarik away and draws another kalen, pressing it to Rylan's throat in one fluid motion. Rylan isn't surprised in the least to find a kalen suddenly at his throat. He just looks at her with a deadpan expression. "Don't au *ever* call me cowardly!" she hisses at him like an angry cat, "Au have *na* idea what I have been through, au little...." her face contorts in rage and hatred, then she quickly turns around and bolts into the woods, disappearing without a trace left of her.
D'Tarik, who had been so shocked at the whole thing, only stands there dumbfounded as his friend looks to him and apologizes softly, "Sorry. I didn't mean to upset her." Rylan grows quiet again when no answer was forthcoming, then turns and heads for the colony again, letting D'Tarik make up his own mind on what to do.
D'Tarik looks after the form of his friend, then starts to walk off the trail and into the woods, intent on finding the girl. "I'm going to find her...for two reasons." he explains, "The first of which should be obvious.... and the second...well...she still has Sprinkles!"
Rylan chuckles at the mention of Sprink, but keeps walking, "Well....she's probably heading back to the cabin. Au go on....it's na that far....au'll be safe."
tr'Rekkohan walks a few a feet and finds the sleeping Tribble on a rock. He picks him up carefully, and places the creature on his shoulder. Again confused, he calls out to Rylan, "Well...I don't know what to do. Na point in us splitting up...might as well go with au." he takes a few steps in his friend's direction, then halts again and looks behind him, "But then again.... maybe she needs some company...."
Rylan halts his footsteps for a moment, and turns towards the smaller boy. Smiling, he nods to him and motions for him to go, "Go on....try and find her and calm her down. It's probably better if I just stay away from her for awhile anyway."
D'Tarik nods, then pulls a tricorder out of his coat, "Maybe I can track her with this. I doubt she went back to the cabin." he looks back to his friend, hoping the boy will come with him so he wouldn't feel like he was abandoning his friend.
Rylan only nods again, and starts to resume his course to the colony. "Ie...." he calls back over his shoulder, "But au should head back there just the same. It'll only take me a couple of hours. Au'll see! I'll be back soon enough."
D'Tarik watches his friend for awhile, then heads back towards the cabin, knowing that Rylan would more than likely be casting a glance back once in a while to make sure that's where he was headed. Once completely out of Rylan's sight, D'Tarik shrugs off any uneasy thoughts he had about leaving his friend alone, and walks off the trail to find Byh'hie.
As D'Tarik trailed off into the woods, a sudden sound made him slow his footsteps, his eyes daring cautiously around him. A loud echoed growling..... but he could not tell where it was coming from. Sprinkles began to squeak in warning, just moments before a large sliver blade barely missed D'Tarik face. It would've cleaved his head in two, if it had not been for the trademark tr'Rekkohan clumsiness that caused him to trip over a rock.
He quickly turned his head to the left and saw his attacker: an eight- foot tall, red-colored monster, with bright green eyes, two huge horns, and holding the largest sword D'Tarik had ever seen! Too horrified to move, D'Tarik watched the monstrosity as the thing raised it's blade over it's horned head, preparing to cleave the short Romulan in half.
Out of no where, two long, and shapely looking legs, suddenly wrapped themselves around the neck of the beast. D'Tarik followed the legs up, seeing Byh'hie hanging precariously from a tree-branch above by her arms. In a sickening bone-wrenching *pop-krackle!!*, the beast's neck broke, and it slumped to the ground with a loud thud. The tall blond girl dropped to the ground, landing not too far from where the stunned boy sat staring. "Au should na of come after me." she states sternly, still miffed about the confrontation with Rylan, "Au could've gotten ninte self killed."
"Aside from what au may think, I *do* care about you." D'Tarik answers, just a little hurt at the girl's curt manner towards him, "And I know what Rylan said upset au, but you really shouldn't worry about it." he stands, then adds with a shrug as he dusts himself off, "He's just a little stressed."
Byh'hie's eyes narrow at the mention of his friend, "I don't care!!" she stomps her foot childishly, "He had *na* right to say what he did to me!! And you....." her shoulders droop a little, a saddened and hurt expression coming over her, " Just stood there and let him insult me...."
D'Tarik looks at her, and tilts his head, trying to understand, "Look.... I didn't like what he did, but I know him, and I don't believe he meant it. Just don't worry about it. Maybe au could at least tell me why au don't want us at the colony.....or what happened to au there..." then adds before he can help himself, "Or we can forget about this, and go back to the cabin."
Byh'hie thinks about it for a minute....but then a brief look of confusion crosses her features. "Umm....we should go back to the cabin then." she finally agrees with a smile. She turns and heads back for home, confident that he'll follow her.
"Why are au smiling?" The boy asks curiously, "Au sure change moods fast!"
"Well...I wasn't exactly mad at au, was I? she answers with a shrug, still walking, "But that friend of ninte-a is ....well...." she stops and stomps her foot again in emphasis of her next word, "Rude!!" defiantly she crosses her arms, looking as if she were on the verge of tears, "I mean...I invite au all into my home...and he takes it over...then accuses me of things!! He's hasn't exactly been very nice to me...." her eyes lower to the ground and she mutters, "And now....au'rh defending him."
"Na, I was explaining him, is all." D'Tarik interjects gently, "Look....I'll talk to him." noticing how upset she is, he walks closer to her, "Au don't have to get so upset. Come on....why don't we go back to the cabin, and au can rest." then he adds gently, "Au'rh worrying me Byh'hie."
The girl nods and smiles softly, wiping away the tears that had escaped, "Alright then." she casts a few quick glances around the forest, "Umm...I suppose that's where he went as well? The cabin I mean." Again her eyes look back at the boy.
"Well na.....he went to the colony." D'Tarik shrugs, "He couldn't be stopped."
Strangely, Byh'hie doesn't seem concerned in the least. "Oh! Well..." she shrugs and begins walking again, "That's his decision then."
D'Tarik, again halts for a moment, and tugs on the girl's arm to stop her as well, "Byh'hie....is Rylan in danger? Tell me!"
The blond again looks momentarily confused. She puts her hand up to her head as if the very act of thinking caused her pain. "Can't we just go back to the cabin?" she asked quietly, evading the question.
"Tell me!! Is he in danger?" The girl only looks extremely confused now, as if she's na sure why D'Tarik would be yelling at her. Her eyes raise again to D'Tarik's own, as if asking for help; she bites on her lower lip in thought, but she still doesn't answer. "Byh'hie," D'Tarik begins firmly, "I'm sorry....but I have to know... so stop playing these fvadt head-games with me, and tell me the truth! If au care for me at all, tell me now!"
Byh'hie begins to cry again, shocked that he should be so angry with her, "If I tell au, au will go after him!!" she shakes her head violently, "Au can't go there!" The girl grabs his hand and tries to lead him back to the cabin, "I tried to tell him....but he wouldn't listen! I don't want au to go there too!"
D'Tarik shakes his own head slowly, looking at the girl with saddened eyes, "I'm sorry, Byh'hie," he pulls his hand gently from her grip, "I have to go help him. And if you care that much for me....then au will come too." This having been said, the smaller Academy boy turns and runs back towards the colony.
Byh'hie casts an angry glare at the boy, then runs...launches herself though the air...and tackles D'Tarik; sending the boy to the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of him. Still on his back, pinning the boy with a strength he didn't know she possessed, she whispers in his ear, "I *do* care about au, au verrul!!" she doesn't even sound like herself anymore, "That's why I will *na* let au go back there! Let that feanna die if that is his choice! Why would au want to follow him into oblivion for!!"
"Because I do na abandon my friends!" D'Tarik protests, trying to escape from the girl's hold, "I have more guts then I let on when it comes to that! Now let me up!"
But she only pushes him down all the harder, her knee digging into the small of his back, "Go back to the cabin with me first!!" she hisses angrily into his ear, "Do au honestly think that the two of au will survive out here alone....without help?! At least let's get ninte Agent friend...and that werewolf that *Rylan*," she almost sneers his name, "seems so fond of." she grinds her knee deeper into his back, making him stop trying to fight against her, "I'm *na* letting au go in there by ninte self!!"
"OW!!" D'Tarik, who is honestly in quite a bit of pain now, says carefully "Uh... honey? Could au stop that....".
Byh'hie only smiles at this, no trace of any emotion behind it, "Give me ninte word....on ninte *honor*..... that au will come back to the cabin, and I will let au up."
"Ah....OW!! Ok!! Au have my word!!" This seems to satisfy Byh'hie as she stands up, grabs the boy by the collar, and yanks him to his feet. D'Tarik however, still looks like he is in extreme pain, as he gingerly rubs the small of his back, sure that there must be a bruise there by now. "Okay now..." he says angrily to her, "That really *really* hurt!!" Suddenly, for seemingly no apparent reason, D'Tarik's eyes roll up until only the whites show, and he slumps back down to the ground.
Byh'hie becomes extremely worried over this, as she's na exactly sure just what had transpired a moment ago. Bending over him, she lightly taps his face trying to bring him out of it, "D'Tarik? D'Tarik....are au okay? Please....wake up!!"
D'Tarik's hand shoots out, snaking itself behind the girl's neck. Catching the girl off-guard, he pulls her across his chest and down, slamming the girl into the ground as he turns his body, positioning himself across her back, all in one fluid motion. Still holding her neck in his grip, he pushes his own knee in the small of her back -- though not as hard as she had done to him. "I'm very sorry hun...." he apologizes with a slight shrug, "Wow!! I can actually fight!" he shakes his head, "Okay...focus D'Tarik!" he chastises himself, "Now Byh'hie...I want the full truth. Now! Na more Drabhik-hnaev*!! And I am sorry for having to do this...." he apologizes once more, before tightening his grip on her neck slightly, "Now please tell me!"
<< * I'm na translating this io. ;D Au can figure it out!! ;) >>
The girl only acts confused once more, and begins to sprout fresh tears, "I don't *know*!! Alright!! I don't *know*!! Let me up!!"
D'Tarik looks as if this actually hurt him worse then having her knee grind itself into his back, "I'm sorry Byh'hie..." he practically pleads with her, "Please tell me..."
Still crying, the girl tries again, "Think D'Tarik!! Don't au remember what Llunih said!! They *cut her throat* so she wouldn't tell any io...and then left her to die!! It's dangerous there! I don't want au to go!"
"Byh'hie, first off I know au could've reversed this move on me with ease, if au were ninte self right now. So tell me.... what the Areinnye is going on?"
Realizing her ploy isn't working in the least, Byh'hie stops crying instantly, her face becoming a mask of indifference, "They'll find au there, au know. They eventually find everyio in the colony. Go there and die with ninte friend, if that's what au really want." She easily pushes against him, throwing him off. Standing before him she continues in that same, low, confident voice, "Or au can stay with me. I *do* care about au.... despite what au may think now. But I can't go back to the colony. I won't. *My* life would be in danger... perhaps more so then ninte-a....or his."
D'Tarik shakes his head slowly, dusting himself off again as he stands as well. "Au really need to make up your mind who you want to be, Byh'hie. Do you really want to be some kind of...of....monster slayer or whatever it is au are.... or do you want to be with me, and have a group of friends like Rylan and Llunih? People that care about what happens to au."
Byh'hie looks at the ground and says quietly, but still with that mask of indifference, "Au'rh going to leave soon." she shrugs slightly, "I won't be allowed to come with au. Nor will the io ninte friend likes." her turn to shake her head, "He won't let us. Her because of what she is. Me....for another reason." she shrugs again, still na looking at him, but offers nothing further.
"Then.... I will stay, if that is what it takes." D'Tarik says gently, in all honesty.
The girl smiles the first genuinely-felt smile all day, "Au don't know me D'Tarik......Areinnye.....I don't even know myself anymore." She looks away once more, "Are au going after ninte friend?"
"Ie." D'Tarik nods, "Let's go...."
Byh'hie shakes her head yet again, "Na...au go ahead." she nods once towards the Tribble, "I think he'll protect au. Stop ninte friend if au are able. I'll go back and bring the others. There will be safety in numbers where the colony is concerned."
"For once today your actually making sense." D'Tarik smiles to her, "Let's go Sprinkles!" with a loud humming and a few mechanical noises Sprinkles laser arms itself.
But his progress is once more halted by the girl who grabs hold of his arm, and smiles slyly at him as he stops, "I told au the truth e'lev ...now it's ninte turn."
"What have I na told au that was na the truth?" the boy asks confused, before another question dawns on him, "Wait a second!" he looks at her curiously, "Did au just call me e'lev?"
She doesn't answer the question, but the small sly smile turns into a grin, "Where do au know the Senator from, D'Tarik?"
"I don't know him, apparently; but I know somebody just like him. He was a teacher of mine...he taught me science. The rest of it, I blocked out."
Byh'hie raises a brow at this, "Then why do au act so scarred of him?"
"I don't know...more like instinct."
Her brow furrows in incomprehension of what he meant by that last statement, but she understood the 'blocked out' part only too well. "Seems we both have something in our pasts that we have blocked from our memories, e'lev." she smiles softly, "Go stop ninte friend," she releases his arm, "I'll go get the others."
D'Tarik looks confused at this for a second before a grin breaks itself free, "Okay! Come on Sprinkles, let's go! See au soon...." he address the girl, then adds very quickly, "e'lev." Before she could reply, he runs in the direction of the colony.
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