UPON VESTIA: CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

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Ethan nodded. "I guess that makes sense. Do they execute the ruler, or do they have to keep them alive?" He probably had too many questions.

~~
"Oh, I know that feeling," Vestia said sympathetically. She watched Amari snooze. Aww.

Armin bowed his head. "It will be good to see them again."

Starr grinned and nodded "Yeah, let's go greet them." She agreed happily

~~~
Rigel went to the ramp to open it once it was safe to.

Asher led the way to the ship bay.

~~
"Come on Silence! Come on Ivor! Let's go do some touring of the ship!" James said.

Ivor looked positively terrified at this huge ship they'd just docked aboard.

Silence put a hand on his shoulder and guided him after James.

Esk looked to Dawn. "Can you walk?"

Luka stretched and eventually made her way down to the rest of the crew.

Half of swarm gathered, their other half were with Hytar's team still.

---

Armin nodded. "Perhaps this is something to tell the rest of the crew about, the return of friends may lift their spirits." He suggested.

James smiled reassuringly and led the shifters out into the ship. "You'll get to meet Kay, finally. It'll be great!"

~~
"I already told them all," Vestia said cheerfully. "I'm sure they'll be on their way."

Armin chuckled. "Excellent news. Sensible as always Vestia."

---

Matt didn't wanna go see people, he was busy sulking.

---

Kay however did go to see them. He wanted to know how everything had gone, and he had to talk to Esk about a few things. Eugh, fun.

---

Amity went to welcome everyone back.

Hewitt napped.

Mourn bounded over there to proudly tell James and any other androids nearby how he'd yet again managed to save the robots. Yeah he was pretty giddily pleased.

----

"Slowly" Dawn replied wryly as she used the bed to stand up then looked to him before heading for the door.


Starr followed the others to the bay to meet their friends again.

Ellie headed down to see the triumphant return of the Silver Devil. She wanted to beg Esk to work his therapist magic on Matt.

~~
Ethan stayed away. He didn't need to be around those crowds of people.

~~
James caught sight of Kay, and waved at him excitedly. "Kay, come over here, I've got some people you neeeed to meet!" To Ivor and Silence he said, "Don't worry, Kay looks grumpy but he's really an absolute sweetheart. You'll love him." Yeah, James was going to tell some white lies to make the shifters feel better.

Asher waved to the Silver Devil's crew as they started disembarking the ship.

Kay looked bewildered and slightly wary as he came over to James, clutching his tablet close to his chest.

Ivor closed his eyes and mumbled something to himself in his native tongue, he looked stressed and frightened. Too many people.

Silence tightened her grip on his shoulder and frowned.
She nodded vaguely to Kay.

---

Esk kept close to Dawn in case she fell or something.

----

Armin waved. "It is wonderful to see you again my friends!" He called to the devil's crew.

----

Mourn grinned at everyone. Swarm flew around him and he laughed.
"Silly bugs!" He paused "You smaller."

"Some of us are with the others." "helping free the slaves" "it was a glorious battle." Swarm told him.

Dawn paused at the ramp and looked to Esk then back out. "I don't think I should try walking all the way to my room.Do you think...could you get a wheelchair for me, please?" She hated to ask, but knew it was better for her.

Starr looked at the two new kids and tilted her head, they were strangers, but they did look like Kay's species. Of course, they did pick up a lot of 'strays' that became family on this ship.

Esk nodded. "Yeah, let's see what we've got." He headed down the ramp to go searching for a chair. He'd ask Vestia, she knew where everything was.

He pretty much ignored everyone else who'd come to say hi.

James smiled at Kay. "Kay, this is Ivor and this is Silence. They're shifters like you. You've gotta meet them. Wanna get away from this crowd? Ivor isn't so great with crowds." He waved to Mourn, and to Asher. He'd catch up with them later.

Vestia helped Esk to find a wheelchair.

Ellie waved indiscriminately.

Asher frowned. Dawn was hurt. Not good.

Esk found a wheelchair then, awesome.
"I'm starting to think I should claim a pay cheque for every odd job I end up doing. Apparently i'm now a nurse too." He muttered.

He'd bring Dawn the chair though.

----

Kay stared at Silence, yep, definitely Shifter eyes. He couldn't tell with Ivor, the guy had his eyes squeezed shut and was muttering the same thing over and over in a language Kay of course immediately recognized.

[He's Hexenfolke?] He wrote, that was weird.

Ivor didn't open his eyes, but he could read Kay's throughts. He nodded, whimpered and clasped at his head. "Away.. away... too loud."

Silence grit her teeth and nodded to James. It was taking most of her concentration to keep Ivor calm.

[Yes, let's find somewhere quieter.] Kay agreed.

---

Mourn grinned at James and noticed the two new people. He tilted his head. They looked weird. Well, the boy looked weird. The girl just looked annoyed. "New people?"

"We're taking on strays, as usual." Esk muttered as he passed, taking the wheelchair to Dawn.
"I'm not pushing you."

Luka stretched, she was tired. "Vestia mentioned you had some new people too?" She asked as she came down the ramp.

James led the shifters away from the cargo bay, keeping an eye on Ivor to gauge whether the telepathic noise was low enough for him yet.

He'd stop in a little lounge area once Ivor seemed calmer. "This seem good?" He asked.

Ivor hesitated, then nodded slowly.

Kay frowned.

"I don't... can't block it." Ivor explained, sensing Kay's question before he asked it.

[Who are these people?] Kay asked James.

"Silence is the daughter of one of Hytar's crew, Ivor is a half-hexenfolke from the Imperium, who Silence's mother wanted to keep safe. Hytar trusted them to our care in exchange for taking our job offer," James said. "We're supposed to keep them safe, and teach them and stuff. I've been teaching them to read and write."

Kay tilted his head, staring at Ivor.

Ivor nodded back. He looked tense. "Yes... Y.. you too?"

Kay's frown deepened. It was strange having a conversation with someone who preempted your questions. He nodded slowly.

Silence stared at Kay, then to Ivor, she looked curious.

[Why would Hytar care about shifters?] He asked James, that part baffled him especially.

"he.. he never really explained... He... he's looking for someone." Ivor volunteered. He frowned. "we... think... his mind is hard to read... "

Silence looked thoughtful.

"We don't get it, but they're nice guys, so who cares?" James said. "We like them." He looked at Kay, "Ivor can hold a shape even though he's half hexenfolke. Isn't that cool?"

Kay looked uncertain, he didn't trust Hytar's motives one bit.
He nodded slowly at James' remark, not sure what to make of that.

"y... you can't?" Ivor asked.

Kay looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Wh.. why don't you speak?" Ivor asked. "D.. did you not learn how?"

Kay looked exasperated. I don't know, it's psychological.

"o.. oh." Ivor lowered his head. "Y.. you're crazy too then?"

Kay looked annoyed.

Silence tried to hide the look of amusement of her face.

[Vestia, find them rooms.] Kay wrote, pinching the bridge of his nose. [away from everyone else till we figure this all out.] Yeah he didn't trust these two, they'd been sent by Hytar and he was wary of that guy's motives. Also Ivor had just admitted he was nuts. Hmm.

"Okay, I've got some rooms that should be perfect. Do you want rooms next to each other?" Vestia asked the two. "You could even share a room I guess, if you prefer."

Ivor looked uncertain. He stared at the camera warily. Did the ship talk? why did the ship talk??!

Silence nodded to Vestia. She didn't seem quite as disturbed by the talking ship, she'd kinda assumed it was a speaker somewhere.

"That's Vestia, she's the ship," James explained. "You get used to her, she's very helpful and nice."

"h.. how?" Ivor started to ask, then decided his head hurt already and he didn't want to know.

Silence stared at the camera, tentatively touching a wall curiously.

[She's a bio ship.] Kay explained.

Even if Silence and Ivor couldn't read what he wrote, they could hear his thoughts just fine.
They both nodded as if that was supposed to make sense to them.

[Can you get them settled in?] Kay asked James. He still had to talk to Esk, much as he didn't want to, he had to.

"Okay," James said. He smiled at Kay, "You go say hi to your baby bro or whatever you're doing, I'll show these guys around."

Kay nodded. [Thank you.] His expression didn't much look like he was looking forward to saying hi to his brother.

He forced a smile to Ivor and Silence and left them to it.

Ivor waved.

James smiled at the two. "Okay. Do you gotta just want to go get settled in your room, or do you want a tour?"

"i.... this is a very large ship..." Ivor observed. "How... do you not get lost?"