Lillene

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Serenity shook his head at Ikatha. “The story of creation is interesting, but I don’t think it addresses the current situation. What Oath are you talking about?”

“To protect the Nests,” Ikatha answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “For we are all born from them, even the Tigers. Once, we all knew that, before the dragons spread to match their worlds and the phoenixes found their future in the lastborn, before only the dance of Light and Shadow, hunter and prey, was left.”

Serenity blinked at that. Why couldn’t people ever say things plainly? “That still doesn’t explain why she’d be sending her cubs to eat World Cores.” 

“I don’t know,” Ikatha admitted. “I can guess, but I do not know. I do know that she left her cub here to hunt and did not return. I also know that no White Tiger should hunt as many Black Tortoises as this one did; she seemed maddened. We let the juveniles fight until it was clear the White Tiger would kill and she could catch and she would not stop digging for more.”

“We will have to catch the tiger mother, then. She must have spent far less time on Eitchen than we expected; I suppose that is due to the very short tunnel.” The World Shaman squinted at it, then turned back to the Black Tortoise. “How long ago did she leave?”

“Not very long ago. A fraction of a cycle, a tenth or a twentieth perhaps?” Ikatha ducked her head in a gesture that Serenity guessed was probably her species’ equivalent of a shrug. “We saw her, but she did no more than dig a tiny hole and say something to her cub before she left.”

A cycle was probably something the turtles could sense, but Serenity knew it was unlikely to be a day. A tenth or a twentieth of a day would be a few hours; while that was possible, it seemed unlikely. No, it was far more likely that the cycle in question was the year. A tenth or a twentieth of a year was two to five weeks, which lined up all too well with Samvi’s observation. It meant the remnant spirit must have noticed when she left, rather than when she arrived.

“We should get going, then. It’ll be several more weeks before we can reach Berinath.” Serenity wanted to catch the White Tiger mother before she damaged another world. He still wasn’t entirely certain what she was doing, though he was beginning to have a bad feeling about it. What if she had the same problem the dragons did and was trying to save her children?

[Mentor Quest: Restore the Lost]

[Goal: Find out a way for dragons to have lower-Tier eggs and hatchlings to allow their minds and bodies to grow together and prevent them from becoming Lost]

[Optional Goal: Find a way to restore those who have been Lost from their spirit form, physical form, or both]

[Optional Goal: Learn about other species with this issue. Generalize the solution]

[Reward: Unknown]

[Failure Consequences: None]

[Message begins: I don’t really expect you to be able to do anything about the Lost any time soon, but you have the best chance I’ve seen in millenia. If you can’t, maybe a descendant of yours will be able to. Message ends.]

It would in some ways be a good thing to find; another species with the same issue might well help solve the dragons’ issue. The problem with that was that Serenity wasn’t willing to kill worlds, even partially, to potentially save children. It wasn’t a good trade. At the same time, he knew that many parents would be willing; after all, their children were everything to them. If that was the solution, it was worse than not having one.

Serenity had to admit to himself that he might be willing to endanger a world for his own child as well. He didn’t like that fact, but he tried to face the truth.

As they turned to leave, the Ikatha seemed puzzled. “Why aren’t you taking the shells?”

“They’re your people’s remains. Why would we take them?” Serenity hadn’t even considered taking them; surely the Black Tortoises had their own customs for what to do for their dead. He wasn’t about to take that away from them.

“They’re what the White Tigers hunt,” Ikatha stated bluntly. “The hard protective shell that they lack. Don’t let the deaths be wasted by leaving the shells here.”

Well, if she wanted them to take the shells, who was Serenity to argue? He didn’t know what he’d do with them, but he was certain he knew some crafters who’d be interested in a new material if nothing else. “What about the White Tiger’s body? Do you want us to take it as well?”

The Black Tortoise shook her head in a sharp negative. “Once we are gone, Morrek will feed it to the Heart. As our shells guard the hunters, their bodies feed the Hearts when they fall.”

That sounded almost like a White Tiger’s corpse would help the world increase in Tier. If that was true, it was something Serenity was going to keep very quiet; he wasn’t about to kill worlds for the sake of a few, but he also wasn’t about to kill those few to bolster Worlds. The argument in favor of it was easy, insidious, and still wrong.

It took some effort to get the shells out; they were very large and Serenity hadn’t prepared for anything like them when he teleported down to the bottom of the Cavern. It took them several days to get back to the ship, most of which Serenity spent building the new teleportation ritual. 

Once they were on the ship, Serenity thought it was wise to introduce Ikatha to the nameless cub. While the tsarualk reconfigured a portion of one of the cargo holds to act as a comfortable space for her, Serenity brought the cub to her.

It was awkward. Neither the White Tiger cub nor the Black Tortoise seemed to have anything to say. Serenity still counted it as a success because neither of them seemed to have any interest in killing the other. After a long uncomfortable silence, the cub seemed to lose interest in the tortoise that was far larger than he was. Ikatha simply watched as the cub sniffed the air then seemed to meander over towards the pile of tortoise shells. 

The cub pawed at one, sniffed it, then licked it. “It tastes like the crunchy food, only better. Less stingy.”

After that declaration, the cub tried to bite the shell, only to find that his teeth barely sank in at all. He worried at the shell, but only succeeded in pulling it to the side far enough that it slipped off the shell below it and landed partly on top of the cub.

Serenity started towards the cub, but he emerged from under the shell without apparent injury. The far side of the shell was still partially on the shell next to it; there must be plenty of room under there. When Serenity thought about it, he guessed there was probably enough room under the shell even if the flat part were flat on the ground; it was the shell of a tortoise far larger than the cub, after all.

The cub sniffed the air, then turned around and sniffed the air above the shell. “Why does this make me sleepy?”

Serenity could only blink at that. He couldn’t think of any reason it would make the cub sleepy. He glanced at Ikatha to see if she knew anything, but she seemed unworried. She also didn’t seem agitated at the cub’s treatment of her relatives’ remains.

The cub pushed against the shell with his head. It moved an inch, then stopped. He pushed again, but this time it didn’t move. The cub growled softly, then moved around the shell a little and stuck his head in the opening where the tortoise’s own head might once have emerged from. A moment later, the cub disappeared under the shell.

Serenity chuckled. He’d have to remember to check under the tortoise shells the next time he couldn’t find Curio. “I suppose a tortoise shell is just a bigger box.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Ikatha spoke in a softer voice than her norm, “but if you mean the cub wants to sleep in the shell, I see no reason he shouldn’t. The shell was hunted by his sister, after all.”

Serenity looked at Ikatha. He wasn’t sure what to think about that; Black Tortoises clearly had a very different relationship with death than the humans he knew. In many ways, it felt more like the relationship the Sterath had with death, though the Sterath’s customs about body disposal definitely didn’t allow the killer to eat the flesh or sleep in the carapace.

There was one more question he wanted to ask, though. “Do you know why he said the shell made him sleepy?”

Ikatha’s head moved in a sharp no. “I only know the stories. There are only a few that speak of the White Tigers other than the story I told you already. One says that the shells of the fallen adorn the hunters’ den and guard the youth, but that is all I know.”

At least that sounded like it probably wasn’t harmful. If it really did make White Tiger cubs sleepier and wasn’t harmful, Serenity could completely understand a parent choosing to place it in the cubs’ area. Jenna could be exhausting and Serenity knew he did only a small fraction of the effort required to keep up with her. “We’ll have to make certain he comes out for food and play and doesn’t sleep the whole time, but if you don’t have a problem with him sleeping here, I don’t either.”

Over the course of the trip, getting the cub out of the shell turned out to be more difficult than Serenity anticipated. He found that the best method was to climb under the shell himself and lift it up; once it was no longer above the cub, he seemed to wake up and want to eat and play.

Serenity found Curio asleep on top of the cub more than once.

They were nearly at Berinath before Serenity realized he hadn’t seen Blaze since the day they left Eitchen. That was enough of a reason to go find the other man. He knew Blaze would have done the same for him.

Serenity didn’t expect to find Blaze sitting inside a literal blaze in one of the cargo holds. It was obvious the tsarualk had set up the area for it; everything was clearly properly vented and there were several different fire containment systems set up surrounding the flames. That still didn’t change the fact that Blaze was seated on a metal frame that had to be blisteringly hot, letting flame lick over his body. 

Yes, Blaze had the bloodline of a phoenix. That didn’t change the fact that Serenity had never seen him do anything like this or the fact that Serenity knew this wasn’t a normal way to try to increase an Affinity; it might well work but it was decidedly extreme.

Blaze didn’t seem to have noticed Serenity’s entrance, so Serenity would have to interrupt him. “Blaze? What is all this?”

Lillene

Ikatha knows the stories, but a lot has been lost over the years; the Black Tortoises weren’t really that interested in the others’ business. She’s never met a dragon, a phoenix, or a White Tiger before.