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.

Ellie giggled. "It's just glitter, it's nontoxic. It'd be great." It felt good to have a semi-normal conversation with Matt again. She'd missed his humor.

~~
"I dunno man, she's probably exploring," James said. "Vestia?"

"She's a couple corridors away, I'll lead you to her," Vestia said brightly. She used her lights to guide the way.

Skye nodded and headed that way after the lights. She cameto a surprised stop when she saw Silence in her natural form "Wow, um, hi."

"Checkers?" Esk asked. "red and black disks?" Hmm board games, an interesting change of pace

---

Silence paused what she was doing and looked over at Skye and James, tilting her oversized head and blinking all four eyes.

She was a bizarre looking creature. An over long neck that looked like it should barely support a large round head that was somewhat cat-like, somewhat dog-like and entirely alien. She had thick tusks that jutted from her mouth and long ram-like horns, elongated pointed ears that ended in tufts and a mane of darker brown fur that ran down her neck, back and along the full length of her thick, powerful tail. Her tail ended in a plume of feathers, black and brown in colour and large black wings caped her hunched back.
Her body shape could best be described as part sloth, part kangaroo with powerful back legs and arms so long her claws dragged on the floor.

She hesitated, she didn't recognize Skye and got no telepathic reading from her. Was she another android? She didn't look like an android, she had wings.
She recognized James though and nodded her head to him before going back to staring at Skye.

"Yeah but it's like... uncomfortable in... regions." Matt protested with a snicker. "and it sticks to everything."

"Yeah, or any of the other games Vestia has, I don't mind which" Dawn replied with a shrug.

~~~
Skye looked to James and back to Silence. "Is this Silence?" She had to ask him.

"This is Silence, she's a shifter, like Kay only full blooded," James said. "Silence, this is Skye. She's one of my friends here. She doesn't have telepathy, you probably already noticed that."

~~
"Eeew, gross. But it's still fun," Ellie said, laughing.

Silence nodded slowly. Communicating was always difficult when other races couldn't understand telepathy, it brought back unpleasant memories. Unfortunately she wasn't very good at the whole writing thing yet either, even if she was in a humanoid form.

She considered the problem. They needed a translator.

---

Matt nodded sagely. "Don't ask me how I know this." He smirked.

---

"I'm not good at games." Esk admitted flatly. It was true, only person who'd ever play board games with him was his sister.

Kay smiled to Asher. He wasn't convinced Luka was scared of him, but it was amusing to pretend at least. [Thank you.]
He stood up, picking up the spare tablet. He supposed he should take it to Marcus then. Eugh.

"I'm Artuvian" Skye said and gave a smile to her. This would be hard to talk without someone that could 'hear' Silence.

~~~
Dawn shrugged at that then smiled "I'm not either, it just seems it's either a game, a movie or a book to use as distraction."

Eugh books. "Fine, a game." Esk was pretty determined to avoid reading. He set the psych books to one side.

---

Silence nodded, fluttering her wings a little and gesturing with her head, craning her neck around back down the corridor. Follow.
She ambled off down the hall.

Asher smiled softly. "Really, I can talk to Marcus too. I'm sure you'd rather not spend more time with him if you can help it."

~~
"How do you know that?" Ellie asked. Yeah, of course she was going to ask! "Does the story involve a stripper?"

~~
James followed Silence, smiling at Skye. "We'll find a translator, I guess."

Dawn chuckled and looked to the camera then back to Esk "I guess we should figure out which game before going to get it?" It was either go get it or let her walk after all.

~~~
Skye smiled and followed with James, glad for the distraction from her thoughts.

Kay smiled softly. [You really want to do all the work?] Not that he wouldn't quite like to not have to deal with Marcus actually.

---

Matt cackled. "oh man, it SHOULD involve a stripper. And like.. a glitter alien yeah." He shook his head. "I went clubbing once and there was... body glitter and... yeah she was hot but man, she'd gone a bit overboard with the body glitter if you know what I mean. And that stuff gets everywhere. Kinda, starts to chafe a bit if it gets into the wrong crevice. "

---

Silence paused at an intersection, yeah she had no idea where she was. Drat. She looked left, then right, picked a direction and kept walking.

---

"What do you know how to play that's easy enough to learn?" Esk asked.

"Well I did kind of start this thing, so it makes sense for me to take responsibility," Asher pointed out. "And I suspect I don't mind being around Marcus nearly as much as you do." He looked at Kay affectionately. Yeah, Kay had a pretty low tolerance for people he didn't see eye to eye with. Asher was s heck of a lot more tolerant, for better or worse.

~~
"Okay, we'll take it easy with the glitter," Ellie decided. "We'll buy holographic clothes instead."

~~
James followed. He wondered who Silence was looking for, hmm.

Kay nodded grimly. Asher was, he thought, way too tolerant and forgiving. [Alright.]

---

"ooo that sounds extremely sparkly." Matt agreed.

----

Silence hesitated again, made another decision on direction and kept moving. They were heading toward the main habitation area of the ship and nope, she was not about to admit she was lost. Not that she really COULD anyway.
They passed the dining hall, which she recognized so decided that meant she totally knew where she was and kept going.

"Checkers is the simplest I know" Dawn replied with a smile.

~~~
Skye watched where they were going curiously. "Are you looking for someone in particular?"

Asher nodded. "I'll take the tablet to him, and see what he can tell us," he said. "See you later?" Of course he'd see Kay later, they shared a room. But still, he felt unsure about all this and he wanted to spend some more time with Kay in case Kay wasn't okay with any of this.

~~
Ellie nodded in agreement and looked to the movie, where some dumb buddy cop stuff was happening.

Kay nodded. [Good luck, make sure he includes everything, even the horrible bits. It's better to have too much information than not enough right?]

---

Silence sniffed the air, hmm, she could smell a familiar scent nearby so she forged ahead.

---

Esk nodded. "I'll get that then. " He went to go find the bloody checkers board and pieces.

---

"do you think this is actually how police forces work?" Matt indicated the screen. "i mean, i've been arrested a lot.. like.. a LOT and i've never seen a horse inside a cell..."

Dawn watched him go and laid back, waiting for him to return.

Esk would need Vestia's help to find the checkers board. He could vaguely remember what one looked like but the games room was a cluttered mess okay?

---

Meanwhile Silence's nose led her to the wrong hexenfolke/shifter. Bah.
She peered into the medical room out of curiosity.

Kay startled when he saw her. Aiee, nope, it was gonna take a lot of getting used to THAT face.
Hello again?

Skye looked at the door and tilted her head a little "You wanted Kay to translate?" She asked, coming around to wave at him "Hi Kay"

You smell like Ivor. Silence informed Kay.

Kay frowned, utterly bewildered. He waved to Skye.
[She says I smell like her companion.] He looked back to Silence. We're both Hexenfolke/Shifter hybrids, I suppose it makes sense we'd have a similar smell. Yeah he had no idea. You need a translator?

Silence nodded. Silent minds, can't project

Kay nodded, yeah, it was tough right? He considered the problem, looking thoughtful.

Skye came in so she could read the tablet then smiled and chuckled softly "Yeah?" That was weird, but didn't do much

Vestia would help Esk find the checkers board. She was useful that way!

~~
Ellie giggled. "Probably depends on the police force. But yeah, I think horses usually go in the impound lot, not a cell, right?" What did she know? She hadn't met many horses, or cops.

~~
Asher nodded. "I'll get all the information I can." He smiled when the trio came in. "Hello Skye, James. You must be one of the new passengers?" he asked Silence. Man, she looked just as strange as Kay did in his true form. At least he'd had some opportunities to get used to how weird Shifters looked, or he'd have been really freaked out right now.

"Yeah, this is Silence, she doesn't write or speak, and Skye and me are kinda deaf to the best form of communication," James said. "But at least Kay's here! He can be our translator." He grinned teasingly at Kay.

Kay nodded slowly. She couldn't read or write, and she couldn't speak. Hmm.
He opened the drawer of his desk and fished around. AHAH! the amulet! He pulled that out triumphantly.

Silence stared at him, bewildered.

[This should allow her to speak without speaking.] Kay explained, trying to convey that telepathically as well.

Silence didn't look convinced.

----

"So weird." Matt agreed.

----

Esk found the checkers and returned to Dawn's room with them.

Skye looked at the amulet and tilted her head "That's that thing Starr made for you, isn't it?"

~~~
Dawn smiled and sat up again when he came in "You found it"

Kay shook his head. [It's the thing the Family forced me to wear.] He looked at it disdainfully. [I figured it might come in useful at some point though. ] He looked to Silence. It will allow you to speak, you think the words and it makes them verbal.

Silence frowned a little, tilting her head, then nodded and lowered her head so he could slip it around her neck.

Kay came over, chewing his lip a bit. This SHOULD work, right?
One just like it had allowed the little girl who couldn't speak to do so.
He fastened it carefully around Silence's long neck and stepped back.

Silence straightened up, looking bewildered. "How make it work?" She asked. Her mouth didn't move, the very human sounding voice seemed to come from the necklace itself. Weird. She looked startled.

Kay smiled softly It's disconcerting isn't it?

Silence nodded slowly. "strange." She spoke slowly, looked quite stunned. Was that really what her voice sounded like? She'd never heard it.

It will make communicating a lot easier. Kay pointed out.

"Why you don't use?" Silence asked.

Kay shook his head. Bad memories. But better some good comes of it than it just sits in a drawer.

Silence nodded slowly and looked back to Starr and James. "Understand now?"