A/N: Hi lovely people, I'm still here! Still writing and loving this gorgeous spring weather. I hope you're well and that you've got your blanket and beverage of choice ready for this chapter 💜

Chapter 16. 

Syl woke to the sound of an inhuman scream. 

His eyes flew open to darkness. There was a frantic creature beside him and it sounded like it was banging its fists against a surface above them. 

Syl blinked hard, but his eyes didn't adjust. There was no light. His memory worked slowly, piecing together the moments before Elvyre had put him to sleep. 

The creature beside him was Metyn and they were locked in a pod. Had they been forgotten? Abandoned? In a metal coffin? 

His breaths were coming faster and he swallowed hard. He tried to calm down. But Metyn's desperate movements beside him made it impossible. 

The boy had to be screaming himself hoarse. Was it even safe to speak to him? Would he turn on Syl in this small space? 

"Metyn..." Syl whispered, shocked at the weakness in his voice. 

The boy didn't respond. Didn't react. 

Syl started to turn and pins and needless rushed over his body. His arms and legs cramped. He gasped and curled against Reja's still form. 

A horrible thought made his blood run cold and he fumbled for a heartbeat. It was there. Beneath Reja's thick pelt he felt warmth and a slow steady thump. 

Metyn howled and threw his body against against the shield. The pod rocked and opened a crack. Syl froze, staring at the faint sliver of light. 

Metyn's shouts seized, but his efforts intensified. The lid opened wider and eventually the Dreen pressed through the gap. 

Syl remained still, listening intently. He couldn't hear anything. No voices, no steps, no hum of machinery. Nothing. 

Without Metyn's shouts the silence seemed to roar. 

Suddenly he was afraid to go out there. What if it wasn't the same ship he had left? What if something had happened and the Talaya had attempted to save their pets by preserving them in pods?

"Well? Are you getting out?" 

Sylvester jolted and clutched the Foll tighter. He knew that sharp voice. 

"Aure?" He croaked. 

"Or should I close this again?" 

"Don't!" Syl tried to shout, but his voice didn't raise above a whisper. He struggled to sit up and pulled at Reja. "Reja's asleep!" 

The lid opened further and Aure looked dispassionately down at them. "He might prefer it that way." 

"Help me!" Syl's arms shook, but he managed to drag Reja towards the edge. The Foll seemed to weigh a ton. 

Aure's yellow eyes narrowed, but he jumped up on the edge of the pod, clawed feet curling around the edge, and reached down with an annoyed chek-chek in the back of his throat. Together they managed to lift the Foll onto black sand. 

Syl gazed around them, taking in the starlit sky with three moons and a dark forest ahead. A warm breeze ruffled his hair, smelling faintly phosphorous. 

More cracked pods were littered on the sand and a pet crawled out as he watched. It was a female with dark fur - Syl couldn't discern her coloration clearly in the moonlight. She looked towards them with pale eyes and then ran towards the forest. She stumbled a few times, but righted herself quickly. 

"Where are we?" Syl croaked. 

"I don't know." Aure scratched his feathered neck. "It could be Harune or Euwae. The ship was attacked and our masters sent us here. If they had a choice, they would pick the nearest hospitable planet, I'm sure." 

Syl stared up at Aure blankly. He could feel shock closing in on him. "Are they coming back for us?" 

"They should." Aure cocked his head and scratched his neck again. It might be a nervous gesture. 

"Should we stay here or go into the forest?" 

"What makes you think I'm helping you?" Aure scowled, but his words were hushed, as though he feared his voice carrying. 

You just did... Syl wanted to say, but changed his mind quickly. Aure was proud and prickly. And the last thing they needed was a fight. 

The Kythe had always acted as if Syl and Reja were beneath his notice; as if he wasn't a pet himself. But Syl had seen how attached Aure was to his mistress. And how he lingered near the other pets, in the brief moments that she was gone. 

"Please." Syl wasn't above begging, if that's what it took. He couldn't carry Reja by himself. 

Aure cacked again and the claws on his left foot kneaded the sand. Then he abruptly knelt and slapped Reja's face. "Wake up!" 

Reja's head rolled limply to the side and Syl's throat tightened. "Why is he still asleep?" 

"A stronger dose." Aure snapped and shook Reja's shoulders. Then he caught the Foll's round ear between his claws and started pulling. 

"Stop that!" Syl slapped the boy's hand away. 

Aure shoved him and Syl fell back against the sand and lay winded. The boy produced a short chek, that sounded like exasperation, and dropped to one knee to lift Reja onto his shoulders. With a grunt of effort, he straightened and moved towards the woods. 

Syl's heart leapt and he clambered to his feet, following on unsteady legs. He managed to keep up, but only because Reja was heavy and Aure had to hunch to carry him. 

They reached the edge of the woods and made their way awkwardly into foliage. The difference in humidity was startling, like hitting an invisible wall between the desert and jungle. 

Nearly blind in the dark, Syl strained to listen and the sounds were reassuringly familiar: insects buzzing and chirping, leaves rustling and trees creaking. 

His bare skin was starting to sting and he wondered if it was from the plants lashing against him or some form of alien poison ivy. 

The ground felt spongy and suddenly pain shot up his foot. 

"What?" Aure turned back to look at him and Syl could imagine the scowl on his face. 

"Just stepped on something." He limped onwards. 

Aure eventually stopped in front of a massive tree and lowered Reja to the ground. In a few leaps, the boy had scaled the trunk and was high up in the branches. He searched for a moment and then dropped back on the ground, from a height that would have broken Syl's legs. 

"Get on my back." Aure pulled his long hair to the side and turned stiffly. Syl hesitantly put his arms around the boy's narrow shoulders. Aure was half a head taller than him and Syl's front pressed against a feathered back. 

Two bumpy ridges nudged against his chest and Aure stiffened further. It was the stumps of his wings. 

"Sorry." Syl whispered and flinched when claws dug into his thighs and Aure jumped impossibly high. Syl's stomach rolled and his limbs tightened. Aure perched on a curved part of the tree and shook the Human off. 

Syl sat on the bark and peered around him. The branches blotted out most of the moonlight and his skin prickled. He was keenly aware that he was naked and defenceless. He wondered if the faint dots he could see were eyes shining back at him. Maybe it was the other pets from the pods. Maybe not. 

Aure landed heavily beside him and Syl reeled back, panting with shock. 

"Calm down." Aure spat and dropped Reja none too gently. 

Syl pulled the Foll to him, hands running over the boy's soft limbs; checking blindly for injuries. 

Aure crouched down beside them. "Show me your foot." 

Syl looked up in surprise and tentatively extended his leg. Aure gripped his ankle and tilted it towards the faint light. A claw tapped at an object piercing Syl's sole, just above the curve of his heel. 

"What is it?" Syl tugged at his leg and Aure's fingers tightened. 

"Stay still." Aure pinched the object, twisted and pulled, in one quick motion. 

"Ach!" Syl clenched his teeth and felt warmth drip from his foot. "What was - ah!" 

Aure had pressed his mouth to the wound and sucked, spitting once and then sucking again. 

"What are you doing?" It ached horribly and Syl's leg shook. 

Aure dropped Syl's foot abruptly and spat again. "Kythe spit is antiseptic. It was a small poisonous creature." 

Syl stared a moment. He had forgotten that Ferine and Aure discussed her patients regularly. "Thank you." 

"Don't thank me yet. I don't know if you're receptive." Aure stood and pulled on the low branches hanging above them. He caught a handful in his fist and started twining vines around them. 

"Can I help?" Syl asked, even though he felt lightheaded. His heart beat a little too fast and he hoped it was just fear and not some toxin. 

"No." Aure threw him a contemptuous look and kept threading, fingers quick and nimble, as though he had done this before. 

Syl hugged Reja to him and tried to find some semblance of calm, as Aure worked around him. He wanted to stay alert, but his mind felt as slow as his body. He wondered how long he had been in the pod. 

He was half-asleep, when he felt Reja stirring against him and a howl erupted in his ear. 

In the next instant Aure had the Foll pinned, with a hand over his mouth. 

"Quiet, you fool!" The Kythe hissed. "Do you want every predator to know where we are?" 

Syl heard Reja's choked whine. 

"We're on an unknown planet. We travelled in escape pods. Our masters will come for us eventually and until then, you need to stop having tantrums and grow up!" 

Reja responded with another muffled whine. Syl could just make out when Aure lifted his hand and Reja backed quickly away from him. The Foll scurried towards Syl and huddled in his arms.

"Hi." Syl breathed and kissed Reja's cheek. His head was pounding and sweat trickled down his temple, but holding Reja made him relax some. 

"Hi." Reja lisped back. He was trembling and his breaths were unsteady, but that was all. His self-preservation instincts seemed to be overriding his need to panic. 

"Aure carried you here. And he made this shelter. He's helping us." Syl murmured into the Foll's ear. 

Reja buried his face against Syl's neck and mewled very softly. Syl leaned heavier against the boy, thankful for all that fur, cushioning the bark beneath them. 

"Metyn ran. I don't know where he is." Syl felt anxious at the thought. 

He wasn't close with Metyn, he wasn't even sure he liked him, but now he felt a sudden responsibility. Holding the boy so often must have affected him after all. 

"He's above us." Reja whispered. 

"What?" Syl looked up, but all he saw was black shadows covering them. 

"Will you two shut up!" Aure hissed. 

"Shut up yourself." Reja grumbled. 

Syl slept fitfully throughout the night. He was too hot, then too cold and he moaned until his mouth was covered. He felt licks on his face and neck. He heard Aure and Reja whispering, but he couldn't make out the words. 

He eventually opened his eyes to bright light, heat and noisy insects. He sat up shakily, gripping his head when it throbbed. 

"It seems you're receptive." Aure's flat voice carried a hint of irony. 

Syl squinted through his fingers. The Kythe was watching him with a tilted head. With his feathered body, white skin, and coal black hair trailing over the branches, he reminded Syl of a mythological creature waiting to drag him into the underworld. 

"Is there water?" Syl rasped. 

A white fruit thumped onto the bark next to him and he turned his head painfully to see Metyn twined around a branch. The boy was eating a similar fruit, clutched in his left hand. 

"It makes a mess when you bite into it." Aure warned. 

"Is it safe?" Syl lifted the fruit cautiously. 

"For you, probably. I couldn't stomach it and neither could Reja. He's out looking for water." 

"Alone?" Syl lifted his head quickly and winced. "Why?" 

"Someone had to watch you, and Reja wouldn't be any help if your health got worse, would he? Besides, it's about time he made himself useful." Aure sniffed. 

"Did you say that to him? And how do you know that's safe? He shouldn't be alone." Syl felt anger warm his cheeks and struggled to tamp it down. 

"I don't. But Foll have excellent sensory abilities and a strong survival instinct. That's why they're so skittish." Aure had turned away as he spoke and watched the forest floor intently, head cocking back a forth. Suddenly he jumped off the branch. 

Syl shuffled uneasily back against the cover of leaves and looked at Metyn. The boy was chewing his fruit and his turquoise eyes were drifting, seemingly lost in thought. 

Aure reappeared with a dead animal in his hands. It looked like a big furry larvae with multiple legs. He ripped the head off, then discarded it, and sniffed the lesion. Then he touched the tip of a greyish tongue to it. After a moment, he took a tiny bite and waited. Then he swallowed. And waited some more. 

"How is it?" Syl asked, eyeing the carcass doubtfully.

"How is it? Is that a question?" Aure took another bite and swallowed. 

"I meant the taste." Syl clarified. 

"Not what I'm used to." Aure sucked at the flesh, like he had done to Syl's wound last night. 

Feeling a little nauseous, but nevertheless thirsty, Syl took a small bite of the fruit. Liquid gushed out and he hastily pressed his mouth to it, swallowing a big gulp. So much for being cautious. It was sweet and refreshing. He hoped it would sit well in his stomach. 

"Thank you." He looked towards Dreen, but the boy didn't acknowledge him. He was crouched on the branch, staring up at the treetops. 

"What is it, Metyn?" Syl whispered. 

Metyn's tipped ear twitched, but he didn't turn around. Looking up, Syl thought he saw a flash of pink between the leaves. Then it was gone.