Episode 3 2/3 – Why Do I Feel This Way

She was getting used to it, definitely. One leg forward, move body, the other leg forward, and repeat! Her adorable nub feet just kept going.

The kivleej however were not as forgiving as the beach for her nubs.

They were bumpy, small kivleej lining the ground and tall kivleej twice Slip's height. Slip had to maneuver around kivleej that was the same size of her. Every time she got past one, she would slip on a smaller kivleej. Round tiny abominations. The tall kivleej with their big shadows cast from their curved tops were appreciated, but seriously why couldn't Zhidlaa just use the ground like normal shadows.

She kept her eyes locked on the ground for each step, only looking up to see what her next move should be.

When she looked up, she could see ahead of her Abhack moved more curtly and with less exaggeration.

"I'm doing it, Abhack! I'M DOING IT!" Slip babbled. Oh, what strain. She looked back down again. What an odd sight to see the kivleej moving underneath her.

She fell.

It wasn't a kivleej tripping her up this time— the ground steeply gave way. She landed on more kivleej. Not too harsh of a fall. Still hurt. Slip could feel bruises lining her legs and torso when she got up. The kivleej were eerily fuzzy under her palms. There was the sound of trickling water. To her left, there was a fairly big pond. It was in a dip in the ground surrounded by gravel. She couldn't see any flowing water as she'd heard it.

"O-ow. Abhack... did you fall, too?" Slip steadied herself on the cluster of kivleej she'd landed on.

Abhack sounded pretty disinterested, probably didn't even hear Slip's question. "Yes... yes... We're here."

Slip's head darted up. As Abhack declared, there was a break in the kivleej growths. THERE WAS GROUND, EVEN!

Also shadows. A lot of them, actually. With each step forward, she could sense more shadows, both familiar and unfamiliar. The heart of Zhidlaa territory, their home.

Once they were closer, a voice called out, "Abhack! Good to see you."

Slip and Abhack dropped onto the ground. A shadow holding a weird sphere moved forward to greet them, looking happy.

"You too, Ritsox. All is well?" Abhack and "Ritsox" met and hugged.

When they pulled away, Ritsox commented, "You were held up?"

I held her up! Was that a bad thing? Abhack answered, "Yeah."

Was she mad? She wasn't smiling. Did Zhidlaa know how to analyze emotions?

"I don't think she's mad," Sio added. "Why don't you go socialize with the other shadows? Deciphering emotions will be useful to you if you're to fulfill your role."

"It—" Wait, don't talk out loud! Ritsox and Abhack didn't seem to notice. Good, good. It will? That's... wow okay.

Who to socialize with? All the shadows already seemed to be talking to each other. Slip couldn't sense or see Sazo through all the dozens of crowded shadows. Her vision became a little blurry from swinging her head back and forth seeking her. Wait, there to her left. A shadow was sulking away from the rest, frowning and staring.

"Hi!" Slip shouted, startling Ritsox and leading a few shadows to look over at her. The loner shadow didn't seem to notice. She stepped off all the kivleej onto the dirty blue ground. Slip walked towards her. "Hi."

Now the shadow looked at Slip, eyes wide. Slip was close enough to pick up on her feelings, but it wasn't anything clear. Here she was far away enough to barely feel the buzz of the gathered shadows.

Up close, the loner has faint pink and green streaked and dotted on her body. She tilted her head away, like she was about to leave.

"When you greet someone you usually tell them your name," Sio advised. "That may be star specific, however."

"No, I think I'm supposed to say my name. You're right," Slip told Sio.

Um, Slip.

"Wh— OHHH. Right! Hi, other shadow. I'm SLIP. Look, I'm a shadow too." Slip held out her hand. The loner dodged away, scowling.

"Well, hi, Slip," the loner groaned. "Why are you over here? Go be a normal shadow over there. Not sure if you qualify as normal."

"OH, how rude. Shadows have etiquette, don't th—you?" Sio sputtered.

"It's fine, Sio!" Slip addressed Siosoxora. "Heh, I'm not sure if I'm normal or not. I think I am! It did take me longer to do the whole LEGS thing than the rest. I was pretty upset about that. A lot of things made me anxious? WOW, I feel great! I don't think that's normal."

"Sorry about you leg problem." The loner started... walking away. NO! NEW FRIEND, DON'T GO! ARGH!

"Waaait! Please stay. I don't have any friends." The loner stopped. "See? It's why I'm talking to you!"

The loner moaned. "If you want to make friends, why don't you converse with the other shadows?" She jabbed her digit at the mingling shadows.

"But they're already friends with each other. They'll leave me and go for their better friends. That's what my last friend did! I have no friends anymore..." Wow, Slip didn't have any friends, did she? She... really didn't. Slip gazed over at the other, happy shadows. They're all for each other. Slip isn't. "I'm..."

"An outcast." The loner's eyes lit up with interest. With her sharp digits she grabbed Slip and pulled her closer. "My name's Zilkas. I'm an outcast too."

Zilkas slid her hands down to Slip's wrist, guiding her away from their mildly isolated spot. Zilkas was taking her into the swarm of other shadows. "Um—"

"It's okay, trust me. I know a better spot for the both of us." Zilkas cut through the crowd. Slip saw faces with eyes directed at her. Pink and green faces. She didn't recognize their minds. Was a slight coloring a Zhidlaa thing? It was pretty nice to look at. The Zhidlaa must've thought the opposite of her, since most of them looked away so quickly.

In the Zhidlaa's home, there was a huge jut of ground too steep to be a hill backing the Zhidlaa camp. It was so tall. Taller than the tallest kivleej she'd seen. She could barely see the top! Water flowed out of the steep hill into a stream leading out into the kivleej. Was that the trickling water she'd heard earlier? It sounded like it. Probably.

"What is that?" Slip murmured. It was so high!

"That's a cliff. That's a waterfall," said Zilkas as she pointed to the flow, no longer moving.

"Ohhh." Slip gawked. The cliff continued in both directions. Tall and long.

"C'mon, let's keep going." Zilkas tugged Slip along, exiting the crowd of shadows and eventually out of the Zhidlaa home.

Ohhh, nice, more KIVLEEJ. Why was there so much of the stuff? Zilkas was going fast enough to make her trip over the jarring things. Small kivleej was annoying enough on it's own...

ACTUALLY, WHATEVER! Someone as friendless as her was holding her hand! Someone who liked her! Maybe one day they could talk to each other in a crowd and look like normal, happy shadows. Even be normal, happy shadows.

Finally Zilkas stopped in front of a pretty big kivleej. Not tall, just wide. Not as curved, either. Zilkas climbed on top. There was a little more space for a second shadow. "Come on up."

"Okay." Slip did as she asked.

"Whenever I felt... negative, I'd come here. Here, I can see the stars." Zilkas lied down. Slip mimicked. Zilkas had dreamy eyes, gazing up at the stars like that. Slip blinked a few times and followed her gaze.

"The stars are always there. Longer than I've been here. They're always blinking and shining up there... in perfect harmony. No subspecies... no divisions or territories... Always just shining peacefully." Zilkas paused. She kept her eyes locked on the sky. She looked down. "...While I was down here, fretting over a moment's spurt of emotion. It—it makes me think... I could be like a star. Peaceful."

Zilkas was still holding Slip's hand. Her hand was nice and icy. Zilkas turned on her side to face Slip, lightly smiling. Slip could freeze under her gaze.

She chuckled a little, "A-anyway, enough about me."

"I've never met another outcast before. It's nice to know I'm not the only who feels different," Zilkas started. "Who was this friend that left you?"

"Oh... Sazo. She... I don't know what happened between us. We did a bunch of stuff together. She made jokes. I laughed a lot when I was around her. She made me necklaces. I wanted to make her some. I wasn't very good at it. I would've asked her how to do as well as she did, but... I didn't get very good sleep and I thought about other things and she grew distant."

Zilkas softly rubbed her hand down Slip's arm. With her other hand, she draped it over Slip's torso and pulled her close. The movement prompted, "Earlier... I wanted to impress her. I didn't want to lose her."

"I'm still losing her, anyway." Slip broke up at that last part. She tucked her face in Zilkas and cried. "We were so close..."

—

I DIDN'T INTEND FOR EPISODE 3 TO SO LONG.

Anyway here's more of episode 3. This was going to be longer however it got to a point where it was going to be TOO LONG and I wouldn't have time to finish it by the deadline. I'll save the rest of this episode for next week.

Phew.