The Dretchen and the Vapra

After The Second Battle of Stone in The Wood

In the stories, rebellions would often celebrate after winning a battle, no matter how small. Friends would dance and drink, victory cries would be cheered, friends and lovers reunite.

Those were lies. You only got to celebrate when the war was done.

And the war of the crystal had only just begun.

And already they had lost a leader. A second this month for the gelfing race overall.

Maudra Fara and many others had died, not to mention Tavra and others who had died in the escape from the castle of the crystal.

Some also counted Deet dead. They said it was impossible for her to survive, that the darkening had killed her from the inside.

But Rian and Brea knew better.

Deet would not be killed by a simple evil such as the darkening. But she could be twisted and hurt by it.

They had to plan. They had to plan safe houses, supplies, battles, transportation, emergency backup plans.

But they also had to find a way to help their friend.

"WHAT?" Seledon shouted at the two's proclamation.

The other maudras, though put out by her shout, nodded in agreement.

Laesid shook her head sadly. "I know you want to save your friend. And Deet is just as important as every other gelfing. But she is one and we have many to protect."

"We understand that." Brea defended. "But Deet is important to the resistance. You saw what she did. She killed a skekis!"

Brea's voice echoed through the deep caverns where the resistance now hide.

A special hideaway for the Grottans, it now teamed with gelfling, arathim, and Podlings.

Funny, the skekis had wanted to divide the beings of Thra, but now they were closer than they ever had been before.

Maudra Argot nodded her head in agreement. "But the true question is, is Deet still in there. I never want to give up on one of my own. But we're not just our own anymore. Everything we do affects everyone else on Thra."

"As does the darkening. That nearly destroyed Thra, but Deet took it into herself to save us. We owe it to her to find her and help her." Rian defended.

"But," Spriton Maudra Mera spoke. "How do we plan to find her, with the skekis looking all over Thra for us? And how do we help her? What if we can't even bring her back here? We don't know much about the darkening or how it has effected Deet."

Silence followed.

To be truthful, Rian and Brea hadn't thought that far ahead yet.

But Seldon had learned her mistakes from not listening to her sister.

She sighed. "Okay. Say we do find her and somehow contain her, what do we do with her? She might be too dangerous to bring here. And Maudra Mera is right, how do we find Deet?

But I agree that we owe Deet a lot and if there are any ideas, I will Spearhead a team to find her."

The other maudras, Rian, and Brea looked at her in shock.

"What?" She questioned. "We do owe our lives to Deet. And, if we can help her, she can help us. Win win."

A chuckle came from the entrance way to the war room.

The wrinkled, three-eyed being known as Mother Aughra stood there.

"Win win win win win." She chortled. "If only the war will be that easy."

"So, you don't think locating and helping Deet is in the resistance's best interests?" Seledon asked nervously.

"Who said that? Did Mother Aughra say that? No! Deet is a good friend, a good gelfing, and a powerful ally. All good things for the resistance."

All the gelfling in the room shared a look. No one really wanted to question the elder woman, but...

"Is there a way to help Deet, Mother Aughra?" Brea asked.

"Help? Help, yes, because of the darkening within her, yes. Yes, there is help!" Mother Aughra cried.

"Really?" Rian gasped. "Well great, what is it? Where do we find it? A potion, plant, artifact?"

"Um, well, they aren't very helpful."

"They?" Seledon repeated. "They who?"

"They--the two the gefling abandoned. The two who were thrown away. The two who went unheard until it was too late. The two who could have saved us all...if someone had listened. But no one did!" Aughra humfed.

"You mean, these two can help us cure Deet?" Brea asked.

"Well, one can, but she won't go without the other. The other, now she's unhelpful. But necessary." Aughra started to mumble to herself. "Come! Come! We go now!"

"But go where?" Rian groaned.

"To them! Help but unhelpful ones! Come! Come! We go! Mother Aughra lead you."

Seledon sighed but got up. "Brea grab some supplies, we don't know how long we'll be gone. Rian grab Gurjin and Naia, they're good at tracking and we may need them wherever we're going. And bring weapons. Mother Aughra, how long shall we be gone?"

"A month! A year! A week! A week? Yes, a week at most." She responded.

"Great. Now where are we going?"

"Where? To where they live of course!"

Then the elder being took off out of the room.

Seledon sighed as she followed.

"Your sister is getting better at this leading stuff." Rian said to Brea as they left the war room.

"I think so too."

"Hmf." Argot spoke to the remaining maudra. "Young gelfing today. Didn't even say good-bye. And in today's conflicts, they might not even come back."