An Eckelson story of fraternity by Loquacious Jango

WARNING: No TF to be seen in this one (the scandal!) there may, however, be some feels.

Penndrana curled her legs up against her chest, shivering slightly. The meager towel draped around her shoulders did little to ward away the chill in the air. She shifted her weight against the curved metal surface of the pipe underneath her and folded her ears flat against her skull in an attempt to conserve body heat, with minimal effect. She could already feel the tips of her ears and wings going numb. Despite the discomfort, she didn’t dare let a single shivering whimper escape her lips, for fear of detection.

Vagrancy was very illegal on colony ships, and it was a firmly enforced rule. Sometimes other kids had told her stories of entire groups of the unsponsored getting vented out through an air lock, though her brother had assured her that they were just trying to scare her. Nevertheless, it was always a good idea to hide when the council occasionally sent a security sweep to flush out the homeless. Going deck by deck, the process usually took days, during which a good hiding spot was a sanctuary.

Industrial areas like the one that Penny was currently occupying were often overlooked as squatting grounds, due the amplified rattle of machinery and the heat sinks that were usually turned on full blast to keep the engines cool, leeching warmth from the air in a rough transition from the normally humid, warm climate of the rest of the ship.

Penny tensed as she heard a rattle of movement from somewhere below. With nowhere to go and nothing but time, she had been quietly counting the rivets above her and trying to find faces and patterns in the small patches of frost the clung to the metal. Now she strained her hearing to try and make out the source of the commotion.

The young kyroptian relaxed as the ring of a very familiar sonic call bounced off the metal and reached her sensitive ears. Every kyroptian had their own distinct song, as personal as a fingerprint. Existing just over the edge of the ultrasonic frequency, it was silent to aliens, and even if picked up and recorded by sensitive equipment, only another kyroptian would be able to pick out the timber and resonance that identified the owner of the call. And she had heard this one since the day she was born.

A pair of pointed black ears crested the horizon of the pipe, followed by their owner. He swiveled in place and a smile cracked across his snout.

“Penny” he said softly.
“Eckeles!” his sister beamed, caution reducing her elated gasp to a whisper.
The elder sibling clambered into view, clutching a small sack in one of his wings. He huddled up next to Penny and gave off a slight shuddering sigh, pulling her close.
“Was it safe?” she asked quietly.
“Not really” he answered back.
“Any food?”
“A little”

Eckelson reached into a sack and pulled out a few strips of compressed fruit and a handful of shrivelled beetles. It was hardly a banquet, but it would get them through the night. Penny chewed on one of the crunchy insects quietly, gazing up at her big brother.
“There would be more if I could go out with you” she offered
“No, Penny”
“I’m just three years younger than you” she protested.
“That’s a world’a difference” Eckelson grunted “ s’my job to keep you safe, and what I do isn’t safe. Shoulda been born first if you wanted to scarper about like a bloody fool like I do”

Penny wrinkled her nose at the inscrutable logic of the “because I’m bigger than you” argument, then noticed the small, plastic looking stick that hung from her brother’s lips like a cigarette.
“Is that a chem?” she asked with an accusatory tone.
“Just a nico-stick” he said as he continued to chew on it. “Keeps me hands steady”
“Mum wouldn’t-“
“Mum’s gone.”
Eckelson said the words with enough weight to defuse Penny. For a second.
“Do you think she’ll ever?-“
“No.”

Silence hung between them until Eckelson reached into his bag, pulling out a simple grey cube a little bigger than his hand.
“Have a look” he offered, warmth creeping back into his voice.
Penny gaped slightly at the prize her brother held. With a flick of a small witch on the bottom, the glo-box began to shine with light, which Eckelson quickly dimmed to it’s lowest setting. Even more importantly, heat began to pulsate from the box, warming the two children.
As they huddled around it, Penny had to ask.
“Where do you get this from?”
“Somebody who didn’t need it as much as we do” her brother responded.

She turned her eyes back to the hypnotic glow of the heat source, holding out her hands towards it. Tiredness began to creep into her eyes as she sank into Eckelson’s shoulder.
“Don’t wanna sleep yet” she yawned. “Talk to me about something”
“Want to hear a story?” Eckelson offered.
“Sure” she nodded.
The young kyroptian cleared his throat, trying to think.
“Okay…” he began “This is the story of our home”
            *********************

Homeworld used to support life, generations ago. Back when things were simpler and we lived off the land.

“Hylagios?” Penny asked.

Yeah, Hylagios. That’s what we called it. An old word for soil. Anyways, legend was it the Hylagios was a verdant world of jagged terrain, cliffs and mountains covered in lush jungle. Its beauty was matched only by its savagery. As a young planet, it was covered in demons and all manner of horrid beasties. Limbskulkers would wrap around trees like vines, waiting to snatch up whoever landed on their trees, and those horrid Cainiluks would run through the woods, waiting to devour whoever dared touch the ground. Our people were small then, and lived in constant fear. We were weak, and seemingly lived only to be prey.
But we were not alone. From the depths of space, gliding through the endless abyss, came the great matriarch of us all. The All-Mother-

“The Matron” Penny whispered in awe.

The very same. The Matron looked down at her people, that she had birthed in her own image, and was saddened by their plight. And so she gave us her greatest gift. Ceasing her endless voyage, The Matron spread her great wings over Hylagios. And so she blocked out the cruel, blinding rays of the sun and gave us the darkness. We took to the skies in celebration, embracing the shadows that let us move unseen over the heads of our enemies, watched over by the two shining eyes of the Matron.

“Those were the moons of Hylagios, right? Evlessia and Gentry?” Penny inquired.

They can be both. Now hush.
The Matron whispered to us, showed us how to use our song and our ears to navigate the blackness. We made the shadows our element, our home. It was in the darkness that we could truly shine.

But the sun was jealous. It demanded to beat down all of the world, and did not take kindly to The Matron’s interference. He sent out his rays, his fire, and attempted to scorch our beloved Matron. He tore a thousand tiny holes in her wings, studding the blackness with pinpricks of light. It caused her agony, but The Matron persevered.

Compelled by their love of the All-Mother, it is said that ten brave souls rose to her defense. Clad in arms and armour of blackest shadow, these great warriors stood by The Matron in the name of beating back the wrathful sun. The Nights of The Matron, devoted utterly to her cause.
Let me see…there was Revvelin the Mighty, who quenched the sun’s fire by diverting an entire river into it with his bare hands...
Gwendorey the Keen, a peerless archer who could pierce light itself with her arrows.
Vellderah the Swift, who led half of the sun’s army on a chase across the heavens, always staying just out of their reach.
Ah, Belphegor the Jolly, who drank an ocean of fire on a bet, then belched it all back into the sky, creating the Polar Lights.

“What are those?” Penny inquired.

They were a sort of aurora, dancing lights in the sky. Other planets have ‘em at their north and south poles, but ours were the most beautiful. Anyways…
There was Mecklee the Clever, who tricked the sun into giving up it’s fire to the mortals of Hylagios, which we used to warm ourselves and create tools.
Ah, heh. There…well, there was Eckeleson the Noble-

“That’s YOU!” Penny blurted out. Her brother quickly shushed her.

It’s just a name, love. A very old name. There are plenty of Eckelsons out there, just like there are plenty of Vellderahs and even more Revvelins. Personally, I wish I was a Revvelin. I’d much rather be mighty than noble…
Egh, where was I? Right…Eckelson the Noble. He was a bit of a putz, really. Shielded an entire city of mortals against an attack at the cost of his own life. He really didn’t do anything great, just died rather spectacularly.

“That sounds really brave” Penny smiled.

You’d better hope I never get a silly thought like that in MY head. Then who’d look after you? In any case…
There was Arravel the Wise, who’s strategy was without flaw. In times of peace, he showed us how to hunt, how to pull food from the trees and from the land, helped us build the greatest cities, and how to love each other.

Penny cuddled up next to her brother.

And finally, there was Torrleyn the Fierce. Torrleyn the bloodstained. The greatest warrior that our kind has ever known. Her wrath was so fierce that it burned the sun itself.
Well anyways, the Ten Nights of the Matron waged war that rumbled the heavens, and at great cost, beat back the solar forces. A balance was struck. For half of all time, the sun would shine on earth, and on the other, darkness would reign. And so we celebrated. The Ten Nights became our calendar, each one named three times a month for every year of the war. There was Revnite, Gwendonite, Vellnite, Bellnite, Meknite and Arranite. On Ecksnite and Torrnite we rested, in remembrance of the fallen.

“But those aren’t the days of the week. Those aren’t even days!”

We had a different calendar back then. Before we adopted the Standard Galactic Date. Buncha sunny-siders that liked to run around in the day time thought there’s was better, and us kyroptians were in no place to argue. They can’t take our culture though, or what’s left of it.

“But…” Penny mused “If The Matron loved us, why did we have to leave Hylagios?”

“It’s just a story” Eckelson sighed, his tale finished. “It wasn’t the sun or monsters that made us leave, people just started getting sick, then it went from bad to worse, spread everywhere. We had to leave. Now we’re out here, scattered and few”

“I miss home” she murmured.

“You’ve never been there” Eckelson smiled weakly. “Our home is here. Or at least, for now it is. Wherever there’s food and warmth”

“I’m still kinda hungry” Penny slurred as sleep finally overcame her.

“You won’t starve” Eceklson whispered, staring into the faint light of the glo-box. “Whatever happens, no matter what, we’ll never starve. I promise”

“I promise. No matter what”