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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2116972" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 178: No One ElseShadow awoke a few hours after sunrise. She didn’t even register the fact that she was using Akan as a pillow. In fact, she didn’t even notice he was there. Without a word, she simply climbed out of bed and walked over to the wardrobe to find some suitable clothes. When she stepped back into the main room from the small washroom, changed and clean, Akan was sitting up on the bed looking only half away.    Seeing him, she jumped slightly, and Akan couldn’t help but notice she felt...odd through the link. At least it was there, but she didn’t feel right at all. Dulled and...well, everything she wasn’t. After a moment, she composed herself and bowed, “I apologize...”    “For what?” Akan asked in a groggy voice as he got to his feet and raised an eyebrow.    Shadow didn’t answer for a moment, but eventually said carefully, “Ah...um...breakfast is served in the main hall, ah...Akan.”    The way she’d said his name made it sound like it had taken a large amount of effort. Almost like putting a name to a face of an old acquaintance that one hadn’t seen for years. Noticing that she was still staring down at the floor, Akan asked, “Shadow...what’s wrong? Back to not even looking at me?”    He attempted to reach over and lift her face up so she couldn’t keep staring down, but her eyes then averted. He sighed in annoyance and wasn’t surprised when she didn’t answer. Grumbling something under his breath he stepped past her to find something to wear. After picking out something that would not in any way match and putting it on, he walked back to see her still standing there in the same place.    “Fine!” he grumbled, “Be that way. Can you at least lead the way and show me where the food is?”This time, she did look at him, an expression of shock and almost horror on her face, “Me...l...l...lead the way?!”    She braced herself for a moment, and when nothing happened, she realized he was actually serious. Was he mad?! Didn’t he know what she was?! But he had said...and...very carefully, she peaked out the door to see no one was there. Good. Quickly, and as carefully as she could, Shadow shuffled down the hallways, leading Akan to the main hall and hoping to the Force that no one would see them.    They made it without any trouble to the entrance of the main hall where two guards stood. The two of them tensed as she passed, and Shadow did her best to ignore the low growl from the both of them. Suddenly, though, a sharp pain rocked through her as she was jerked back by her tail. Somehow, Shadow stifled a yelp of pain.    “Where do you think you’re going?” the guard who had yanked her back growled, glaring down at her and looking ready to kill her in a second.    Very quietly, she said, “I was...leading the way to the breakfast hall.”    “You don’t lead the way anywhere!” the second guard snapped before looking past her to Akan and motioning for him to pass.    Part of Akan really wanted to just deck the guards then and there, but somehow he doubted it was a good idea. Strange things were going on, and he needed time to figure them out before acting so rashly. Shadow was strange enough...but he walked into the room without trouble, and the guards held Shadow back until she was a respectable distance behind him.    The room itself was large and had a very happy feel to it. There were two tables occupied by around twenty or so different Alraxians. The larger one with adults, and the smaller with a group of children of various ages. A silence had appeared as they walked in, and everyone had turned to watch them. Shadow waited for Akan to start for the adult’s table, and did her best to stay just behind him as they walked.    Then, a familiar voice rang out loudly through the silence, “AKAN!!!”    Suddenly, from amongst the smaller table, the little black furred and blue striped form of Tobias scrambled out and rushed at Akan. A moment later, all of the other children charged, eager to find out what Tobias was so excited about. In a second, Tobias latched onto Akan and climbed up him with his claws as usual. Akan didn’t even cringe, though, as he’d somehow gotten used to the little Alraxian clawing his way up, “Hey, little guy. What have you been up to?”    Sitting up in Akan’s arms, Tobias’ eyes went wide as he waved down to all the children that were now encircling them and purring, “I met all these...these people!! And you know what? They like to play!!”    Akan laughed and knelt down to set Tobias down, “Sounds good. I’ll come torture you later, but right now I’m hungry. Go and eat, alright?”    Toby nodded, then all the children scurried away like a swarm of creatures. Grinning, Akan finished heading over to the table and found the two empty seats. Shadow was just standing there behind one, and Akan couldn’t help but wonder what was wrong with her. Shrugging to himself, he sat down anyway just as a large plate of food was placed in front of him.    Shadow had a seat next to him afterwards, and also recieved a fairly good portion of food. Generally, though, she was ignored. Everyone was interested in talking with the newcomer, and her mother and farther were talking amongst themselves on the other end of the table with a couple of the other elders. Next to Shadow, sat her twin Alyx, who’d felt obligated to sit there despite what anyone else may have felt.    She was his twin, and next to her he was the runt of the litter. But she could fight. He wasn’t a warrior. Compared to her, he was even small and wiry. But that didn’t matter. After eating some, he looked across Shadow to Akan and grinned, “The children seem to like you.”    Since Akan had his mouth full, the comment was answered only with a slight nod. Alyx grinned slightly and added, “The new jai...he looks like he could be your son.”    Studiously, Shadow ignored that comment as did Akan. He at least gave the smaller Alyx a sideways glance, but said nothing before diving into more food. He was hungry. Yes. Hungry. So very hungry that he couldn’t bother to comment on such things. Of course, this only got a bigger grin on Alyx’s face, “He must be trouble...I really always thought I’d wait a little longer before having a...”    He slowly trailed off as a shadow loomed over his small figure. Looking up, he saw the much larger frame of their eldest brother, Gawain, standing there glaring down at him, “If you smart, you not sit next to freak, eh?”    Alyx slowly turned to stare down at his plate, turning a very deep shade of red in the process. Almost under his breath, he said, “I’ll sit where I want.”    “You degrade yourself sitting there!” Gawain growled loud enough that the rest of the room went silent. All eyes fell on them...and Akan, who at least a couple noticed had reached for his belt twice to come away with nothing. He really wished he had his lightsaber with him.    “He can sit where he wants, Gawain,” surprisingly, that had been Shadow’s voice. Spoken quietly and calmly while she continued to look down like her twin brother.    “Who are you to speak?!” he roared before stepping closer and punching her hard in the back. The blow sent her face first into the table, and she resisted the urge to jump back up and snap his neck right there. But the guards were watching now. Watching and waiting. Waiting for her to make one move...just one move so that they could kill her.     Instead of fighting back, then, she slowly sat back up and silently cleaned the food off of her face. But Gawain wasn’t finished yet. Grabbing her plate and glass he threw them across the room. A second later he grabbed her shoulder and twisted her around and out of her seat, “Go eat your food!”    That was it. Akan had had it. Despite the fact that Gawain was still taller than he was, and built like a starship, Akan stood up swiftly. No longer caring about having left his lightsaber behind, Akan simply lashed out with a very strong punch to Gawain’s face. It hit. Hard. The taller Alraxian growled and let go of Shadow, stumbling back more in surprise than from pain.     Just as he recovered from the blow and prepared to lash out at Akan, the Empress yelled, “ENOUGH!”    The anger in her voice startled everyone at the table, and surprised Gawain enough that he stopped mid punch. He froze and turned to face her. In Alraxian, the Empress growled an order, to which Gawain replied in a heated fashion. But his protests were met by the two guards, who grabbed him and hauled him out of the room.    “Lock him up until I can face him!” the Empress called after them.     There was only a short silence that followed, and a moment later a summons came from a young Sunrunner. For the first time in her life, Shadow was glad for the summons even if she had to go and meet with Faban. With as much dignity and strength as she could, so got up from the table, bowed as best she could, then left.    And so, everyone stared at Akan, standing there behind the chair he’d thrown to the ground. He was still in a fighting stance, and the adrenaline rush had faded into red hot anger. Dangerous anger. No longer able to just hold it in, he spoke in the coldly dangerous voice that was seething with anger, “I know that our cultures are very different. And I know that because of this, we’re never going to agree on many things...but...something like that, would never, ever, happen where I come from,” slowly, his voice was losing its control and fading into simple yelling, “I don’t know what any of you people are up to, and I don’t even care anymore! I just know that one of you is doing something to her. And I’m going to find out who, and when I do, I will hunt you down and show you why no one, now matter how important you may think you are, will ever mess with anyone I care about again!”    He paused a moment to take a breath, then glared at the table and yelled, “I will not lose anyone else to you damned Alraxians! You’ve taken enough from me already, and I won’t have you taking Shadow!”    Without another word, he stormed out of the room.</blockquote>

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