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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2197909" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 204: And We Haven't Even Left YetThere was a noise. It was...muffled...no...just soft...no, that wasn’t right. It was...getting louder. Much louder. And it hurt. Shadow groaned at the noise, still half asleep and attempting to write it off as dreaming. But it didn’t go away. In fact, it got louder. Much louder. Slowly, Shadow became aware that the sound, which was almost a constant rhythm was accompanied by a similar shifting in weight on the bed every few seconds.    Finally, though, the impossibly loud noise started to make sense. Or rather, it became words, “Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Waaaake up! Wake up! Wake up wake up wake uuuuup!!!”    Shadow’s eyes opened to see Toby bouncing around on the pillow next to her, yelling at the top of his lungs. It was amazing how something so small could yell so loudly. But he wasn’t being quiet, even at seeing her eyes open. Another few seconds of his yelling passed before she suddenly yelled back, “ALRIGHT! I’m up! Be Quiet!!”    He did. Amazingly enough, there was one last “wake up!” and then he plopped down and purred, a big smile on his face as he started to pad around pouncing at the folds in the blankets around him. As he did this, Shadow sat up and yawned, blinking as she started to slowly wake up. But something wasn’t right. Something was different...it was too...too dark. Why wasn’t the morning light coming in the window...?”    She looked behind her out the window. It was black. Black. BLACK! Pitch black!! Suddenly growling in anger, Shadow spun around and yanked Tobias up to hold him at eye level where she could glare properly, “The sun isn’t even up yet!! You woke me up before dawn! I can’t believe you woke me up before dawn?! Its not even close!!”    Her loud voice didn’t seem to phase the small child, as he only blinked and his ears twitched slightly. After a moment of the two of them staring eye to eye, Tobias got bored and started trying to bite at her arms playfully. This did nothing but get Shadow even more angry, and she growled again in frustration, shifted him under her arm and buried her face back in the pillow again. There were a few muffled sounds from Toby as he tried to fight, but eventually he stopped moving...asleep again. Somehow, Shadow managed to follow.    Hours later, Shadow awoke to the sunlight. Yawning, she opened her eyes, glad that it was actually a decent time to awaken. However, just as she started to sit up, Shadow noticed there was a problem. Tobias had moved. Somehow escaping her hold he had curled up on her stomach. Carefully, she poked him, grumbling something about him needing to wake up.    He didn’t move. Glaring tiredly, Shadow attempted to poke him again, but more roughly. The little child shifted slightly, but didn’t wake up. Typical. He wakes her up in the middle of the night and then sleeps like a rock in the morning. She made a note to never let Aka...Jyren go away without taking the brat with him.    After a few minutes, though, Tobias was awake and clinging to her like a parasite. She had tolerated it for a short time...getting out of the bed and walking across the room. But upon detaching him, he started wailing. Immediately, she let him cling again, if only to shut the noise off. It made things interesting, though, as he made an effort to wail as loud as he possibly could every time she detached him or even pulled on him. That, of course, made showering difficult, but she took a devious pleasure in cleaning him like her nanny had used to do with her.    Once dressed(which was also difficult), she exited her room to find that things were already getting ready for them to leave. In fact, her parents were already aboard the ship, as was Kyren(who would be leading the Guards) and a few others. Before leaving Alraxia, they would make a quick detour south to pick up both Jyren and his father. Shadow just hoped it would happen soon, as she was starting to get tired of having extra weight attached to her while she walked.    When she stepped out into the courtyard where their ship was, a few of the attendants came over, bowed, and then attempted to pry Tobias off of her. This, of course, meant more wailing and claws digging into her. After only a few seconds, she pushed the attendants away and yelled “FINE! He can come!”    The youngest of the attendants seemed to expect this, bowing and then quickly disappearing into the Palace. A few minutes later she returned with a small pack for Tobias, which he actually willingly let go of Shadow to put on before clinging again. Shadow then walked over to the ship, climbing into the large Kanyak to find that she was the last one to arrive. No surprise.    Her mother and father smiled to her, and while she scanned the area for Kyren, she walked right over to an empty chair and collapsed into it. Tobias was suddenly wild again, climbing all over her and pouncing anything that moved, but Shadow did nothing. She felt far too tired to deal with him, and tried to just ignore the small jai climbing all over her.    It was only a few minutes later that Jyren and his father stepped into the ship. The young man looked tired, but not nearly as much as Shadow did. She didn’t seem to notice him, though, too busy with her eyes closed and trying to ignore the wild Tobias. He didn’t head over to her, though, instead following his father over to where the Empress and Emperor sat.    As Navik smiled and sat next to the Empress, immediately starting up a conversation, the Emperor sat up and pulled Jyren off to the side. The older Alraxian glanced across the cabin from Shadow and then back to Jyren. Quietly, he said, “I hear the jai woke her up in the middle of the night yelling at the top of his lungs...he’s had at least three crying fits since this morning and hasn’t let go of her since,” slowly, a grin grew on Cole’s face and he nodded towards his daughter, lowering his voice to a whisper, “Go be her Jedi hero.”    Jyren raised an eyebrow at that, but was pushed off by the older Alraxian and didn’t have a chance to say anything. He got within a meter before Tobias caught sight of him. The little child’s eyes suddenly lit up, “AKAN!!”    In a flash, Tobias jumped from Shadow’s leg to Jyren’s chest, and he was caught and lifted up. Jyren grinned as the jai poked his nose, “Not Akan anymore. Jyren now.”    “Jy...ren...?” Tobias idly played with the words, but suddenly nodded deciding that it had made sense in some way.    Slowly, Shadow sat up, acknowledging Jyren through their link instead of out loud. He started to have a seat next to her when Tobias poked him, “Akan always play...Jyren play?”    “Not right now, Toby,” he answered, starting to put him down on the floor, “Go find something to do, and I’ll play later.”    Once on the floor, Tobias stared up with a hurt look, sniffling and mumbling as he padded off in the other direction “...like Akan better...”    The parents all heard that, and, of course, grinned.    Jyren looked down at Shadow, noting that she felt as bad through the link as she looked. But who was he to dodge fate and not ask the stupid question she was waiting on? Having a seat next to her, Jyren asked, “You alright?”    Shadow just gave him a stare that would melt durasteel. Thankfully, he’d built up an immunity to that. So he just nodded and then lowered his voice, “I’m sorry about yesterday.”    That got some life into her. She returned the nod, then surprised him by leaning over and hugging him, mumbling, “I’m sorry, too...” as she started to make herself comfortable on her shoulder, she grumbled, “...you’re not allowed to go anywhere without Toby ever, ever again...”    Jyren grinned. At least, for a few seconds. Then, both of them noticed that all eyes were on them, with those unique smiles that only parents could use. A mutual thought passed through the link, and Shadow got to her feet before offering Jyren a hand, “Come on, lets go talk some place quiet.”    He nodded and took her hand, “Yeah, I’ve got a few hundred questions for you.”</blockquote>

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