Chapter 242: Opening Negotiations

Chapter 242: Opening Negotiations

I curled around a long beam of darkwood, my scale-flesh rubbing against the roughened plant-flesh that stretched across the upper section of the nest. It poked and prodded back at me, bits of its surface sloughing off from my passage, weakened by rot and neglect. The splinters floated downwards, bouncing against my disciples ore-flesh, all but unnoticed.

Or, it would have been, if it werent for the gaggle of tiny Coreless trying to climb up and reach me - and the larger [concerned] Coreless that kept them from doing so. I didnt think they really needed to do that; some of them were so small that I almost felt like I could lift them up with enough effort. And while that wasn't actually true, the beams of darkwood probably would have been able to hold them just fine.

I twined around the beam one more time, anchoring myself fully against its surface, and checked on my still-talking disciples. It was hard to tell what we were waiting on; the Coreless had been talking to each other for longer than usual.

it was times like these that I really wished they would learn how to hiss properly. That would make everything so much easier. I briefly prayed to the Great Core, hoping that it would make that a reality, but they kept jabbering at each other in their Coreless not-hisses.

I bobbed my head in agreement, a movement that I realized was stolen from my disciples, as understanding struck me. The Great Core wouldnt intervene here. They needed to work for the ability to hiss, not just be given it.

Only then could they prove themselves more worthy.

Still, that left me without much to do for the moment. The Coreless didnt seem to be winding down anytime soon, and it had already been a long time since their not-hisses had begun. For all I knew, it would be longer still before they were done. And while I might be able to entertain myself with the other Coreless filling the nest, I had noticed a disturbing lack of [Little Guardians Totem]s in the rest of the many-nest.

I decided to go take a look.

Maybe the other nests were just empty?

===

Ugh. If Valera had liked this sort of thing, she would have become a politician. She didnt. It was torture. The Little Guardian had the right of things, slithering off so quickly.

Finally giving up on her show of paying attention, and sending a silent moue of sympathy towards Erik, Valera stood up and wandered away. There wasnt much that she could contribute that hadnt already been done, and maybe there were other things that she could accomplish during the time that the negotiations remained stalled.

She quickly found something to keep herself occupied, though not something that she expected or hoped for - the Little Guardian had disappeared from his place on the beams above.

Valera couldnt find the Little Guardian, even after checking each and every rafter in the room. Even after roaming through nearby sections of the Tower, hoping that the little guy was just exploring its other rooms. Even after checking with the others to see if they had seen him around either.

Nobody could find him.

And that, finally, bought a reprieve from the toil of negotiations. Just not one that anybody wanted. Soon enough, the Tower was a mess of motion, dilapidated darkwood planks creaking underfoot as nearly everyone - all but the most ill among those living within - joined the search. And with the help of those who lived within it, it wasnt long before Valera was convinced that every nook and cranny available had been checked for the presence of a tiny snake. And found wanting.

It shouldnt have even been that hard; with the cute little metal armor he wore, glowing as it was, the Little Guardian couldnt get trapped in a dark cranny with no one the wiser. Unless he was trying to hide, they should have seen him.

Valera felt her stomach drop as she began to reach what should have been an obvious conclusion That if they couldnt find him, maybe he just wasnt around to be found in the first place. In a flurry of motion, she found herself pushing past the entrance to the Tower, standing at the tiny dock that rested near the foot of the building, a little boat bobbing on the surface of the null-water underneath it. One that, she realized, was altogether unnecessary for a tiny snake that could attach itself to surfaces and slither in ways that shouldnt have been possible. Especially when part of the Towers backside poked out of the null-water entirely, leaving a place for him to reach the safety of the stone beside it.

She raised a hand above her brow, narrowing her eyes, looking for any sign of a curving stream of light slithering along the otherwise-dark ground. There wasnt anything there, at least not anywhere nearby. She kept looking anyway. Valera was more certain than ever that the little snake wasnt in the Tower anymore, in the same way that she imagined a mother just somehow knew when their child was getting up to no good. A prickling at the back of her neck, and an unexplainable overabundance of worry. They needed to find him.

If she didnt, someone else might see him first - and, if they were really unlucky, theyd be surprised enough to do something that theyd all regret.