Memory Bonds

Fleck sat in the bathroom, large enough for him to slump on the floor, and seethed. He thumped his tail against the walls or the toilet. He huffed. His breath was hot, but no smoke came out of his nose.

They'd stopped singing out there. There wasn't much noise outside in general. He wanted to be angry about that too, but without more noise to annoy him, well, he wasn't getting angrier.

He wasn't getting calmer either.

Fleck tried not to snap at her for that. After all, she had enough emotions of her own to worry about.

After stewing for an unknown period of time, there was a knock on the door. "Can Cooper come in?" Moon asked. "He'd like to apologize."

That really meant both of them coming in, but he grunted, and shifted. He was still lying on the floor, but with his tail and neck curled in properly, there was a bit more space.

Cooper opened the door and gave a sweeping bow. He was also speaking.

"He says sorry," Moon told him.

"Tell him to cut the dramatics," Fleck said.

Moon didn't actually have to tell him. At least not out loud. With words. He did, in fact, stop, looking a lot more somber than before. Moon climbed onto the toilet seat, front legs on the back of it. Cooper, meanwhile, closed the bathroom door, and sat down beside Fleck. Fleck could feel his pants against his back leg. He spoke again. He sounded a lot more subdued than Fleck had ever heard him.

"Copper would like to tell you he was once a slave," Moon translated.

There was clear reluctance on Moon's part, but he barely cared about that. He jolted up, head in the air. "What?"

That even got Wren's attention. She sat up straighter, staring at the wall with greater concentration, as if she was in the same place.

Cooper talked a bit more.

"Yes. You know some of those towns on Xentron do whatever they want, including have slaves. He was one until relatively recently." Moon shook her head. "But he doesn't want to talk about that much."

Cooper kept talking, with Moon translating at the same time. It made it a little hard to focus on. If he had to guess, Cooper was a little uncomfortable, shifting his weight and clicking his fingers together, but it had nothing on Moon's urgency to move on. Like when Fleck was being protective.

"He wants to explain that taking your mind off stress isn't always a bad thing. That if you can't change the situation, being stressed about it is just going to wear you down and tire you out before you've actually done anything. He just brought up the slavery so you know he's not full of hot air. He's had plenty to stress about. But he is, genuinely sorry. Because he could've handled the situation a little better. For your sake."

Fleck wanted to be angry anyway. He was still mad that they'd been singing. And he did feel a little talked down to. . .

'Didn't you say you wanted to do something nice for Cooper? Now's the time,' Wren urged.

'Yeah, yeah.'

And he knew, rationally, that Cooper had a point. Fleck himself had basically done the same thing when they all got teleported by the magic crystal. That was enough to stop him from lashing out again. Even if he wasn't going to be magically happy.

"You should do what you want," Fleck said, trying to speak with as little anger as possible.

It worked. He mostly sounded tired.

He sighed. "I'm going to stay in here. Someone can knock if they need the room."

Cooper frowned. It seemed he was a little reluctant to leave things like this. But eventually, he patted Fleck's shoulder, and left with Moon.

~~~

Fleck did in fact stay in the bathroom most of the flight, though he did have to get out for everyone at some point. Rasha hugged him when he left, wrapping her arms around him and moving her hand slowly up and down his back in a way that was either supposed to be soothing, or an apology. He appreciated it either way.

At some point some of the others ate. He could smell it through the door. He wasn't sure he could manage food right now. Having nothing was better than being sick.

He did, however, manage to get to sleep at some point. Cooper really was on to something. He'd drained himself enough sleep wasn't hard.

Harmoni, or rather Wren, just tried to keep her head down. It wasn't hard. None of the cultists were talking much. At first they just seemed to be tired, or injured. Content to lick their wounds in silence. But it was a little over 24 hours to Morivon, and even after some time had passed, they all seemed content to stay in their own little worlds. Not that she was complaining.

She wished she could talk to Cooper about the news he'd dropped on Fleck. But Cooper wasn't here. And he didn't want to talk about it, did he?

They landed while Fleck was asleep. Morivon looked. . .very different than Iva or Xentron. She supposed it had its own impressive sights, but she wasn't going to appreciate them right now, as she was led away by the cult.

Fleck woke up to Moon knocking on the door again.

"The pilot, uh, he's asking if anyone knows where to land on all of Morivon," Moon told him.

Right. Fleck focused on his connection to Harmoni again.

'Wren.'

Fine. He focused on his connection to Wren again. Wren wasn't too familiar with where she was, but she had at least seen signs when she landed.

"They're in Springfield," Fleck said, coming out of the bathroom.

There was a bit more of the rider species talking. The pilot said something that seemed less than polite.

"Apparently, there's a lot of Springfields," Moon translated at Fleck's look.

Based on the way she avoided eye contact, she already knew how that was going to go.

Fleck growled. Moon almost immediately got between him and the door to the pilot's room.

"Don't start a fight."

He wasn't the one starting it.

"Evin just asked how many Springfields have a spaceport. From the sound of it, we're going to the only one that does."

Well, that did appease Fleck a bit. He looked at Evin, and tried to convey his emotions with that look.

Then they were going down, and that was about as unpleasant as going up, but worse for the riders than him and Moon. Still, he should show these spaceships how flying was properly done. Whoever made them would be embarrassed by time he was done.

They landed. After taking a few minuets to compose themselves, the pilot and Evin left the ship.

Apparently, they'd done some planning while Fleck was locked away or sleeping.

"Not much of a plan," Moon said. "But I can give you a bit of a rundown."

According to her, the pilot was refueling, and Evin was getting disguises. Evin had apparently been born on Morivon, and lived there until he moved to Xentron as an adult. He was the only one with any familiarity with the place. He was also the only one the cultists hadn't seen, and with how little slime he was dripping lately, he wasn't super distinct either.

"So he'll be able to hide our friends," Moon said with a shrug.

"Our friends, yes. What about us?"

"I don't know," Moon admitted. "It feels like maybe we should go separately from them. . ."

Fleck lashed his tail. He'd pace, but there wasn't enough space. "I don't mind leaving right now."

He still had his connection to Wren. He knew she needed help. He wanted to get to it.

"How would our friends find us later though? I'm the one who can track her." Both through his connection, and his sense of smell if he could pick up the trail.

"Well, I'm connected to Cooper. So he can still find me. Or we could double back and rejoin them later."

Fleck blinked. He didn't like the idea of doubling back, but he genuinely hadn't thought of her first suggestion.

Even far away, and in a stressful situation, Wren was a little amused at Fleck's embarrassment.

'Oops.' He scrunched his shoulders up.

But it was nice to have Wren happy for a brief moment, so he'd take it.

"Then can we go?" Fleck pushed, standing up.

He could tell, from their expressions, that the rider species had mixed feelings about this. But he had a rider of his own, and he would put that first.

"Yes," Moon said, after a pause. "We can go."