The First Verse: Establishments
There's an old saying. "A message hidden within the stars is there for all to see." History lost access to who wrote that. History lost a lot, when the gates were closed. It even lost the knowledge of what stars were. Being in a place that had none, after all, tended to lead to a loss of their memory.
That's why I loved the Truths. The stars were so...
-
***
Erin stared curiously at the man in his parents living room. He was tall, with a black suit that made Erin think of death. His skin was pale, and there was a scar cut across his right cheek that was fresh, as far as he could tell. His hair was jet-black, his eyes were dark green, his height was 5'10, his weight was 210...
All that mattered to Erin was that the man was sad though. His sadness was covered up by duty, and responsibility, and fear and anger and hatred and guilt and desire. But he was sad none-the-less.
His mother and father strode around the far corner, and Erin slipped back behind his own before they noticed, closing his eyes and holding his breath.
"Emperor, we're grateful for the offer, but we have a child, and moving to another world, populated by humans, none the less..." His mother said. Glee. Deception. Pushing.
The sad man nodded. "Of course, ma'am, and all protection will be offered your family. You are the ambassadors of the Sulas people, however, and this settlement is a chance to break free of the prejudices that separate our peoples." He sighed. "Your child will be enrolled in the public school, and given all due protection. You're positions will give you more than enough push with the courts, and me as well, if anything bad is to happen to him."
"We will be the only Sulas in the community, though." His father said. "Our son needs to be surrounded by his own kind as well as human-kind."
"We are recruiting all the Sulas that are willing to set out. You're people are experienced in agriculture, and there are many such positions to be filled within the community."
"Of course..." His mother said, but she left out but they are low-born.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I am a very busy man. I'll send more details, along with the actual contract, out later." And with a soft click, before his parents could say anything else, the man disappeared. Hologram's were handy that way.
Erin didn't stick around to eavesdrop any more, and wandered up to his room, curious as to what his new home would be like...
***
Bright.
Painful.
Erin thought of the stars at night. They were beautiful. He'd never seen their like before, and he spent every night he could get away from his parents out on the roof of his house, staring at the sky.
Painful.
He was quite alone in this place. He'd been here for a few months, and while the other Sulas went to the same school as him, and were in the same class as him, they never approached him. The humans stayed away just as much, but they added cold glares to the distance.
Painful.
His parents didn't know, of course. He was their pride and joy. They would take any slight on him as a slight on themselves, and any interference by them in anything that happened to him at school would only make things worse.
A sharp kick to his stomach made him yowl out in pain and curl up even tighter, but someone grabbed his tail and yanked. He screeched, and flipped over, flinging his paws out to scratch at the person behind him, only to be stopped short at their kinetic deflection field. He hissed in annoyance and fear and pain, and tried to back away, but another boys legs at his back brought him up short.
He closed his eyes and pulled back into himself.
***
"What are the stars, mother?" Erin asked, staring out the window of their car as they drove from the space-port to their new home.
His mother stared at him for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. "Balls of gases, I believe."
"They're not anymore than that?"
"No, Erin. Now be quiet."
***
"Stop it!" A voice interrupted him this time.
Their were gasps of surprise, and some words passed that Erin couldn't quite here over the ringing in his ears. He tried uncurling to see what was happening, but another sharp kick to his stomach stopped that process.
"I said stop it!" The voice said again.
"And why should we?" Another voice over him said. "This filthy fleabag shouldn't be here anyways. Nobody likes him. Not even his own kind."
"Your assumptions are irrelevant. The only thing that matters is that you're all currently breaking the law, as established by the Planetary Act 76. I've already called the authorities, and have a large enough amount of recorded information to send you all to jail for a good chunk of the rest of your lives for assaulting a minority for no reason beyond the fact that he's a minority, and without due defense on his end." The voice paused. "Now, if you give this up, I might be tempted to tell the good officers that you did nothing more than force me to call them as a prank. Which is still an offense, but won't put you in jail for a good portion of your lives."
Their was a pause. "Fuck you." The voice above said, and Erin heard him and his compatriots storming off down the alley.
He didn't even know their names...
Why had they hit him?
Erin's ears perked, and he started slowly uncurling himself. His flinched when his stomach and his back cried out in offense at the action, and tried turning over, but the instant he put weight on his right shoulder, pain beyond anything he'd ever felt in his short life filled his senses and he collapsed back to the ground, gasping and sobbing.
Someone's hands touched his back gently, and he flinched. The hands quickly pulled away, but a voice spoke up. "It's alright. I've called the paramedics, and they'll be here in a bit. I just want to try to make you more comfortable."
Erin flattened his ears, but did a shaking motion with he head that he hoped was interpreted as the nod he was trying to perform. The hands returned to his back and gently slid underneath him, picking him up with a big heave and setting him against a wall.
Erin's left eye was swollen shut, and his right was strangely fuzzy. He started sliding to the side, but the hands caught him again and held him upright. His eyesight cleared slowly, and he caught a look of his savior.
A boy, likely not much older than Erin himself, sat on his haunches in front of him. His hair was a dark black, and a bit mussed. His eyes were the darkest green Erin had ever seen. So dark they were almost black. His skin was pale, his clothes were the dark school uniform of a private school for someone even wealthier than Erin's own parents.
"You look like crap." The boy said, smiling warily. "My name is Juint."
Erin grinned shakily back, uncaring of the tears that were slowly seeping through his fur. "E-e-erin." He said, the pain making his voice hard to control. "I-I would shake your h-hand, but I'm a bii... bii... bit..." Erin couldn't finish the sentence, despite his efforts.
The boy shushed him, and glanced down the alley.
"The ambulance is here. I'll try to talk to you later, if I can find my way to your room and they let me in..." He was still speaking, but Erin's head was lolling to the side and he couldn't seam to hear anything anymore.
He didn't even have the chance to see the black before it was there.
***
"Shattered shoulderblade, concussion, 3 broken ribs, broken tail, cracked jawbone, missing a few teeth, swollen throat, internal bleeding on the intestines, and a naturally weak heart to boot?" The doctor said from the seat right next to Erin's bed, glancing at his parents across the bed. "It's a miracle your son survived that beating at all before we got to him."
His father was stoic as ever, and his mother was crying silently as she gripped his foot in between her paws.
"It was..." Erin shook his head, trying to focus. "It was a group of kids from... from school." He gripped the side of his head with his working arm, finding it difficult to remember things well. "Juint... Juint, he... Juint got a recording. You can... can... you..." He shook his head again. "You can get it from him. He said he would be... waiting... trying to see me.... see me after..." Erin growled. "Why is it so god-damned hard to think?" He asked.
The Doctor glanced at him in surprise. "You have enough sedative in you to put someone 3 times your weight to sleep. It's a miracle you're awake at all, let alone putting together coherent sentences. Don't get upsest at not being able to think."
Erin said nothing.
"As I was saying, however, he may never fully recuperate from the injury to his shoulder, even with our most advanced medical procedures, we can't piece it all back together well enough for...." Erin passed out.
***
12 years later
Another cold draft blew in through the double doors as more people filtered into the large waiting lobby. Erin's ears twitched, and he closed his eyes, relishing the feeling of the cold air ruffling his fur. He opened his eyes again, and glanced around the lobby, looking for Juint once again.
The lobby, despite being very large, was quite crowded. It was graduation for the latest class of ambassadors, though, so it wasn't too great a surprise. It still made Erin uncomfortable, however. Most of those here were human, and he was getting some nasty looks.
Erin was Sulas, and a rare-breed at that. He was a tigrir, a species modeled off of a ferocious feline (according to legend) from Origin. He was, however, a noble-bred Tigrir. His fur, unlike the rest of those of his kind, was a deep blue. His eyes were a bright violet, and his hair a dark blue that most assumed was black. He wasn't large, even if he was a Sulas, who had naturally larger physical statures then the average human. He was, in fact, smaller than the average human. He wasn't thin, just barely counting as athletic in most cases, but he was only 5'4, so most looked at him as cute.
His claws were sharp, and his wit sharper, however, so he was not defenseless in the least.
Not anymore.
His best friend, Juint, was finally graduating, after nearly 5 years, from Ambassadorial classes. He was the emperors son, after all, and while he would never inherit the throne because he was the youngest of 6, he was still important in the regime, and many foreign empires across the galaxy would be (hopefully) ecstatic and immensely flattered to have one of the emperors own children as an ambassador to their courts.
Erin, in comparison to the great position that Juint was going to be filling, was nothing but a lowly Healer. Powerful psychiks as well, in their own right, but Erin's job was not in relations, but in well-being. Specifically the well-being of the Emperors son, and his best friend, Ambassador Juint.
Whom, as Erin was thinking of him, stepped out of the gilded doors far on the other side of the lobby and glanced around himself. Erin's ears perked, and he immediately glanced up, smiling widely and waving. A woman stepped out behind Juint and put her hand on his shoulder, turning to speak to him, and Erin's hand wavered and dropped.
He hadn't been told about any others joining Juint...
Juint, however, had already noticed Erin and started making his way over, the woman in tow. Erin had to admit, if those two were in a relationship, they fit the bill perfectly. She, tall and regal, with long and wavy dark green hair, and him, tall and regal with his short cropped black hair and skin the color of death and empty eye sockets...
Erin shook his head. Juint's skin was tanned, and his eye sockets were filled. With very nice eyes, if Erin said so himself. A very dark green. The woman, walking besides him, was the very epitome of grace. As much as a human could epitomize grace, that was. Erin grinned slyly, and started his own way to meet the two half-way, his steps especially coordinate to make him look as predatory as possible. Which wasn't easy, considering his stature, but hell, if not predatory, he knew he looked sleek when he walked this way.
He met the two halfway to the doors, and stopped, taking quick stock of Juint as he and the woman took stock of him. He inclined his head, since he and Juint were old friends, and presented his hand. Juint took it and shook, smiling. "It's been to long, Erin. I missed you." He said, pulling me into a tight hug. He had to stoop quite a bit from his 6'5 height, and it looked quite awkward, but Erin hugged back.
"Yes, it has friend. To long by far. And who might your lovely companion be?" Erin said, staring at the woman. She stared right back with eyes as purple as his own, and with... slits in them?
Erin blinked in surprise, and loosened his grip on Juint, letting them both fall back into standing positions.
"Erin, this is Esmer. She will be my wife." He said.
I tilted my head, and my ears flattened questioningly. My tail accidentally flicked someone behind me, and I heard a short gasp and then minor expression of disgust. I ignored them as I stared very hard at Esmer.
I extended my hand. "May I, Lady?" I asked. She knew what I wanted to do. She was obviously a psychik herself, with those shields, but she acqiesced without a word. Juint looked like he was about to say something, but kept his mouth closed. As soon as her hand touched mine, my eyes snapped open and flared gold.
Esmer was a half breed. Those were... Erin hadn't even known those existed. Panthera and human. She had a tail, which she kept well hidden, and ears as well, which, Erin realised, were actually the two perked tufts on her head that he had thought only hair. How did she hide them so well?
She had no evil intent. She was... well, not quite perfect, but Erin sensed nothing bad from her, and let go of her hand. He nodded his head, and gestured at the lobby doors. "Thank you, ma'am." Erin turned to Juint. "Our car is waiting. Your father wanted to talk with you before we left."
Juint nodded and sighed. "Let's get this over with.