Jechi: Part 2

The sun rose over the horizon, and a new day seized Jechi at the cusp of dawn. Distant Talyxians roused from their slumber, many woke for their daily commutes, and the young caretaker found himself blinded by light pouring through his nearby window and ushering him into action. But even as he woke, bleary with heavy eyelids, the young sergal couldn't help but feel the events of the day before rush over him like a harsh gust of wind. A sure sense of uneasiness grappled Tori in the early hours of the morning; sent home by his own father, scolded by his leaders, and bullied by his best friend, he would have preferred the sun never to shine on Jechi that day, and for this world to be lost to the nextas soon as possible.

Who would have known that by the end of the day, every citizen - Sergal and Nevrean alike - would share that same sentiment too?

For once, Tori had roused himself from sleep; he awoke, bleary as always, and set about his morning routine. He tied his hair up into a ponytail, then set about breakfast, which was leftover rice from last night's meals and celebrations, then roused the other children from their slumber.

Of the three children who shared a hut with the young Sergal, Rukh, a four-year old Nevrean boasting feathers that could be seen from afar on a clear evening sky, was the first to rise. He was chatty and noisy, and soon his squawks and chirps roused every other sleeping child - annoying young Toto to no end. Aside from feeling bad about last night, Tori really didn't want to have to deal with Suze's newborn waking up at this hour, nor did he want to want to disturb Suze whilst she planned on spending the next few days looking after her newborn child.

At one point during the course of the strained morning goings-on, Rukh had gotten on so many of Tori's nerves that he lashed out and struck the young Nevrean, leaving him dazed and shocked. The action left Jell and Gomi, two other sergal children in the house, in stunned silence as they settled into breakfast. After that, Rukh wouldn't even peep a noise, and  nobody dared to talk as they ate - not even Tori. The silence only broke when he left his tent to go see if he could see, visit or talk to Parsha. But the moment he left, he was immediately apprehended by one of the leaders of Jechi, Shin, with his trusted hunter flanked to his side; one of the purple twins, Zara. The aged Westerner was fuming, annoyed and ready to snap, and it was the first time Tori had ever seen him like that.

*"Where is he?"* Shin demanded at once, moving over to grab his son by the scruff of the shirt and jerk him aside from the hut.
*"Wh-what?"* was all Tori could blurt.
*"**Where is he?**"*
*"Who? I don't know who you're talking about!"*

*"Cycil. Where is he, Tori? We heard his cries last night, but he never came back to his hut. He's gone, and you and Parsha are the last who saw him, so you need to tell me **right now** where he is, and what happened last night."*

*"I-... I-..."* Tori stuttered.

He explained everything. He told Shin how he and Parsha had snuck off after their bedtime to go spend time together in private, which was so unnatural for them to do that even Zara looked awry with suspicion. He told him how they scrapped by their tent, and how they saw him and Kipp talking to the out-of-place tall, dark furred Sergal stranger, and then how Cycil had become overcome in jealousy, revealed where they were, then ran off into the night.

Shin had his reservations about the story, whilst Zara was nonchalant as always, but in the end he believed him and, after giving him an ear on going out after nightfall with Parsha, let him be to talk to the hunter.

*"Zara,"* he started.
*"Sir."* Zara replied.
*"I want you to go with your sister and track, as best you can, where Cycil might have gone. Start at the crates where we found Tori and Parsha, then try and track his footsteps from there. Take Hiko with you - he's the best tracker we have - and find that boy. Do not stay out after dark, and do not go too far into the forest. Be careful, and come back to me and Kipp the moment you find anything."*

Zara, diligent as ever, bowed his head at once, then set off down the dirt-laden streets. The outer ring of Jechi was oval in nature, whilst the centre surrounded a cliff-face where the hunters and leaders took up residence. The commonfolk, including Tori and Parsha, lived on the outer ring, which made meeting up with one another easy. What made it easier was the fact that Parsha's hut was only two down from Tori's, and so, as he watched the huntress walk off in that direction, he also noticed Kipp giving Parsha an ear. Her mad squawks bounced off the leather buildings and her destitute nature made the poor boy shrivel in the spot. Phara was at her flank, guarding her like Zara was for Shin, but upon the latter's arrival and a brief, short conversation later, both left, heading towards the central district astutely.

Jechi did not have any standing guards, or even any standing enforcers. It did, however, have its hunters. Assembled under Kipp and Shin's united command, these six apt individuals were tried and tested combatants, trackers, skinners, and survivalists. They were the bustling town's main coordination for tracking down wandering Talyxians in the nearby Vetla forest, and the main defence for any encroaching threats, which were usually Associators and weasels. Aside from this, they made sure that the route to Hanne was safe, and acted as couriers to the nearby village. It was often said that these Hunters were the only ones in the town who had seen Hanne in it's full beauty, aside from Shin and Kipp; the six of them would even tell Tori and Parsha late-night stories of how the town, in another time, was blanketed all year round in a strange, white coat known as snow.

*"And you,"* Shin eventually said, breaking Tori's train of thought and drawing his attention from Parsha and Kipp and back to him. *"Come with me. I want to talk to you about something."*
*"But what about Par-"*
*"Kipp needs to have her own conversation with Parsha, too, but you two can play together later. I promise."* Shin even fumbled a weak smile across his face, even if it was embraced by the wrinkles that adorned his middle-aged frame.
Tori nodded, and smiled back, then cusped his smaller hand around his father's and the two set off. He only looked back to see Parsha, but he was already gone by the time he did.

Shin ended up taking Tori somewhere he wasn't expecting to be taken. Instead of towards the central bluff, towards his large and majestic place of power, he took the young boy outside of the town's limits and down the slope of the outer ring towards a weak river. It was a fair walk from the town, even if it could be seen from up on the outer ring, and it was joined by fifteen minutes of silence from the two of them. The run of water, really, was the main thing that separated Vetla from Jechi. On one side was the open grass that went up to the slope to the town, and the road that lead towards Hanne in the far east, to the mountain ranges up high, and on the other was long reeds, curved and tubular trees, and shrubbery to block it all. It was a mystery of a place, really, and a place Tori could never visit, no matter the circumstance. It tugged at his mind, full of shadows and secrecy, but his aptitude to let his mind wander usually faltered the moment Shin addressed him, and he did when they reached near the banks of the river, and sat down together to stare at the forest.

*"I wanted to talk to you about Parsha, actually."*
*"What about him? We're not - he's not in trouble, is he?"* Tori said, looking up at Shin, who looked down to beam a weak smile right back at him.
*"No, son - of course not. Neither of you are in trouble. You shouldn't have been sneaking around last night, but I actually wanted to talk about exactly **why** you snuck out with Parsha after you were supposed to be asleep. I want to know - do you like him?"*
Tori shot Shin a rather befuddled look. *"Of course I like him, father, I-..."*
*"Alright. Let me ask you something else, then."*

With that, Shin turned to Tori, squeezed his hand into his, and addressed him properly. A look that enforced seriousness with every second, and one that made young Toto seize up on the spot. His father was only ever serious for things that deserved a proper tone to them, and this was one of the rare things that he had bore witness to. Unsurprisingly, it worried him to his core.

*"Do you love him?"*
Tori froze. His hand slumped out of the older sergal's grasp, and both of his smaller, shorter arms bundled around a pair of legs which squeezed up against his chest as he sat down. Within an instant, his grey eyes darted across the river to the reed beds on the other side, and his vision panned to the trees that shot up at the start of the Vetla. Unclaimed territory, where no Western wandered. Why would they, after all? Beyond that was Northern territory, and they had no business there.

*"I-... maybe?"* he mumbled. *"I don't know. He's kind and smart, and I always enjoy playing with him."*. His teeth sank into his lower lip, and his hands slid down his clothed ankles to grasp on his bare feet, digits sinking in between his toes. *"I'm sorry."* he soon said after that, his voice but a murmur.
*"For what?"* replied the elder, genuinely surprised. It had a knock on effect to his son.
*"For growing attached to Parsha."* muttered the youth.
*"Look, Tori,"* he began, *"I know how things are. Jechi is a strange place, and different to other Western settlements. We live with the Nevreans, we share our cultured with them, and we rule with them. But it's why we prosper so much better than Hanne. Two can overcome that which would defeat one."* A warm and earnest smile embraced his aged features after that.
*"What I'm saying is, I don't care if you like Parsha more than you show on in public, so long as he likes you the same. And you wo-..."*
Shin stopped, as if all of a sudden. His voice came to a close, and his train of thought faded. Tori, too busy staring at the grass between his feet, was too busy to notice, but when he eventually looked up at his father, a confused and startled look was glued to the old man's features. It was as if he'd just awoken from a terrible nightmare; and his face alone was enough to frighten the younger Toto. But a moment later, the trees rustled, and Tori's eyes stared right on forward, following his father's gaze.

And there it was; a figure in the dark, silently smiling as it watched them.

His hand stroked the side of the tree, and his feature only inched outside of the shadows of the forest, only enough for the dawn to light his frame. Tori had a hard time guessing who it was. The strange, ceramic armour that covered the majority of his form only exposed tufts of white and black through the cracks, and a second later, after letting the two Westerners appreciate his presence in the woods, he left as quietly as he came.

*"Wasn't that th--"* Tori started.
Shin wouldn't let him get a word in. In a slow gesture, he rose to his feet and brought his son up with him. His tired, consummate gaze drew down on the other sergal, and his wrinkled, aged hands soon cusped each side of his shoulders. He hunched his back a bit, and embraced a weak, if not weary smile on his face.
*"Head on back to Jechi, now, but go ask Hati to come here. There's someone I need to talk to."*

A part of young Toto wanted to protest, but he wasn't talking to the person who sired him right now. He was talking to one of the two leaders of the proud, mountain-side village of Jechi, famed for it's intoxicating silks and union between Nevreans and Western Sergals. There was no sense of request in his words, structured or no - it was an order, one the young sergal reluctantly took to at once.