Path Into the Darkness
Part One: WilyKit
Chapter Two: The Ambassadors
Two more weeks passed without incident. WilyKit’s condition hadn’t gotten any worse, but she had not gotten that much better, either. Her dreams still bothered her, but she was sleeping somewhat better now simply out of sheer exhaustion. The strange nausea had slackened a bit and now only affected her once every few days instead of multiple times a day. The Thundercats had been kept rather busy between the Old Lair excavation and events in the city, so WilyKit had little difficulty keeping her troubles to herself.
That would be easier for her now that she had been selected for a mission that had her sent away for an extended trip, and a rather unusual one at that. The time for the five-year anniversary of the victory at the Battle of the Swords was close, and there were big plans being made in honor of it. They had held a celebration every year so far, but the upcoming one promised to be the largest ever. For the first time the leaders of all three of the newly allied governments—Lion-O, Selene, and Ratar-O—had agreed to a ceremony to strengthen their alliances by each government sending an ambassador to each of the other two home worlds as a gesture of good faith. It was to act as a sign that peace had truly been achieved, and that each side was willing to forgive and forget. Already preparations were being made in Cat’s Lair for the Mutant ambassador, a reptilian named Chamela, and a darkling called Lushara. Originally a different Lunatac, their Chief Ambassador, was supposed to visit the Lair, but shortly after Lion-O’s last conversation with the Lunar royals, he had declined the mission on personal business and the darkling had been selected to take his place.
As for the Thundercats, Lion-O had chosen WilyKat and WilyKit as his ambassadors. WilyKat was to be the one to go to Plundarr and stay with the Mutants while WilyKit was asked go to the Third Moon of Plundarr and stay among the Lunatacs. They would be accompanied by Snarf Oswald and Snarfer, respectively. Lion-O offered them the opportunity to make up for all that they had missed out on over the years while they were still children and were seemingly “left out” of Thundercat activities. WilyKat had some doubts as to whether his sister was up to such a trip, but she assured him that she would be fine, and convinced both him and herself that the change of scenery might do her some good.
Despite his concern for his sister, WilyKat was truly excited to take the mission and see what Plundarr was like. He had never been to the Mutants’ planet and was curious to see what it was like. He and Oswald had been promised a royal treatment and offered accommodations in Ratar-O’s palace, which he’d hoped would not be a duplicate of the less than homey Castle Plundarr of Third Earth. He and Snarf Oswald left early in the morning, an hour or so before his sister’s scheduled departure.
WilyKit on the other hand was somewhat nervous about her trip. She wasn’t sure she was comfortable with the idea of staying in the home base of what was once an enemy, even if all the animosity was supposedly in the past. She had found Selene pleasant enough the few times they had spoke and she had no fears about Psiarik, since he had been the one who had freed her and WilyKat from Mumm-Ra’s pyramid before the Battle of the Swords. It was more the presence of the Lunatacs they had dealt with so many times Third Earth, the supposedly reformed Lunatacs of Plundarr, that made her nervous. She knew that some, if not all of them, lived in the royal quarters, the MoonTower, because of their ties to Selene and Psiarik. The knowledge that Vultureman also worked and resided there did little to ease her tension either. Between the uncertainty of all of that and the remaining questions about her memory loss and dreams, she was not looking forward to the trip nearly as much as she led her brother and Lion-O to believe. Oh well, at least I’ll have Snarfer with me for a friendly face, she mused as she gazed out the window of her auto-piloted spacecraft.
WilyKit watched the stars float all around her and admired the beauty of the planets and moons from the distance of space. She watched the celestial scene for a long time, right up until her ship approached its final destination on the Third Moon of Plundarr. She called Snarfer, who had been napping, over to her and the two of them watched the darkness of space fade away into the evening light as the ship descended into the moon’s atmosphere. When it was time to land, the two of them returned to the controls to manually oversee the landing sequence. Minutes later they landed in the pre-arranged spot and collected their things. As they exited the ship, they saw a small group of individuals waiting for them.
WilyKit recognized two of them immediately: Psiarik, Queen Selene’s husband, and Frostor, their Governor General. Beside them was a small child who could not have been much older than four years old, and a Lunatac of around WilyKit’s age that was of a race of Lunatacs she recognized as the Third Moon hunters, mostly from his strikingly white skin and long, wild, dark evergreen-colored hair that was typical to nearly all of them. She shivered a little when she saw the man, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from him either, almost as though she was irresistibly drawn to him. She thought he was quite handsome, and she supposed that might have been why she watched him, for she was certain she had never met him before, but for some strange reason she thought there was something she ought to know about him too, a sense of déjà vu or familiarity. He smiled at her when he noticed her watching him, and she smiled back.
Snarfer noticed WilyKit’s preoccupation. “Snarfer, snarfer, WilyKit, are you all right?” he asked her as they made their way toward the welcoming party. “Do you know that guy or something?”
“I—er—no, Snarfer,” she mumbled as she realized with some embarrassment that she was staring. “I’ve never seen him before. I don’t know who he is.” It was the truth, at least as best as she knew it, but ever since her memory loss she found that she second-guessed herself a lot on things she thought she knew. Still, she kept that to herself, for she did not want to make Snarfer worry about her memory lapse. After the way WilyKat had confronted her a couple weeks ago, she couldn’t bear having anyone else think she might be losing it too. Once they approached those gathered to greet them, she faced her hosts and smiled politely. “Hello,” she greeted them, not really knowing what else to say beyond that. To say the situation felt awkward would have been a major understatement.
Psiarik smiled warmly at the visiting Thundercat. “Hello WilyKit. It’s good to see you again. Welcome to the Third Moon. You too, um,” he glanced down at a sheet of paper he was holding to refresh his memory, “Snarfer. Sorry, I’m not the best with names sometimes.”
“It’s okay,” Snarfer replied with a nervous laugh. Like WilyKit, the snarf was a little nervous. The idea of staying with a bunch of Lunatacs bothered him even more than it did WilyKit, especially because some of the ones that used to take great joy in tormenting him were now living in the same building he and WilyKit would be staying in as ambassadors of peace. Snarfer had a little trouble believing that they had truly reformed, knowing what they had been capable of—and did—in the past.
Psiarik nodded politely and faced pair. “I know you know who Frostor and I am, WilyKit, but Snarfer, I’d like to introduce myself to you as well. I’m Psiarik, King of the Moons of Plundarr, and this is our Governor General, Frostor.” The icewalker nodded in acknowledgment to them. “And I don’t believe either of you have met Darkail, our Chief Ambassador,” Psiarik continued, gesturing to the hunter, “or little Erissa here.” The psi bent down and took the little girl’s hand, and prodded her to wave at them. She smiled shyly and waved. “These two are WilyKit and Snarfer of the Thundercats.”
Darkail leaned forward and took WilyKit’s hand. “Charmed,” he said in a silky-smooth voice as he shook it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“You too, Ambassador,” WilyKit replied, struggling to keep her voice even. It was surprisingly hard, because his presence flustered her. It wasn’t an altogether unpleasant experience, in fact more the opposite, but it still made her feel somewhat off balance.
“So if you’re the Ambassador, does that mean you’re on your way to Plundarr?” Snarfer asked Darkail.
The hunter shook his head. “No, our representatives for the ceremony left this morning,” he said smoothly. “I chose to pass the mission on to some others as I have ongoing business here on the Third Moon.”
A pair of Lunar Royal Guardsmen approached their group, and Frostor directed them to WilyKit and Snarfer’s ship. “They’ll be taking your things to your quarters. I assume it’s all in the baggage compartment.”
WilyKit nodded. “Yes, thank you.”
“All right, now that that’s taken care of, you can follow us. We’ll show you around and to where you’ll be staying,” Frostor told them. “Our Mutant Ambassador arrived a little while ago. As it turns out, he’s an old acquaintance of resident weapons systems specialist, Vultureman. His name’s Jackalman,” he said, and motioned for everyone to follow him.
“Rowr, Jackalman? He used to be real trouble, snarfer, snarfer...” Snarfer said softly as they headed into the main building.
“Figures,” Psiarik remarked. “Vultureman isn’t the sanest bird himself.”
The little girl, Erissa, spoke up. “I think Vultureman’s fun, ‘cept when he makes things blow up and he gets mad.”
WilyKit glanced at the child, and realized that there was something familiar about her as well, although not in the same way that the Chief Ambassador was. The child reminded her of someone. The girl was a little on the tall side for her apparent age, and had longish, wavy white hair and the purplish pink skin color common in psi Lunatacs.
Snarfer, who was fond of all children, smiled at her and bounced up on his tail so he seemed taller. She appeared impressed with his acrobatics and smiled at him, so he decided to chat with her. “Vultureman used to do things a lot worse than make things blow up. He used to be real bad, snarfer snarfer, yup, sure was. So was Jackalman.” The girl watched him with wide-eyed curiosity as he bounced on his tail. “What about you, are you a troublemaker?” the snarf teased, bouncing back onto his feet again.
Erissa shook her head. “Nun unh. I’m good. They all say so,” she informed him emphatically. She then giggled as she watched Snarfer bounce again. “You’re funny. I never met a snarf before.”
Psiarik nodded to Snarfer. “Yeah, she’s a good kid. Maybe a little hyper. But everyone’s fond of her.”
WilyKit gave Psiarik a curious look. “She’s cute. Is she your daughter?”
“Oh, no,” the psi corrected her. “She’s my half-sister actually—but I do have one child, a son. He’s inside. His name is Silvian—Selene wanted to name him after her brother, who died in the Battle of the Swords.” He paused a moment, wondering if he should have brought up Silvian, as it was a Thundercat that was responsible for his death. But when WilyKit and Snarfer didn’t appear offended by it, he relaxed and continued. “Losing him hit her very hard—it hit all of us kinda hard actually. It was our way of helping keep his memory alive, you know? Anyway, my son is only two years old though, so I didn’t want to bring him all the way out here.”
“Kids are nice,” WilyKit agreed. “Chet and Pumari really liven up Cat’s Lair.” WilyKit glanced at Erissa again. “She’s your sister you say? That’s a big age difference.”
Psiarik shrugged. “It was strange at first, but I’m used to it now.”
Although she knew it bordered on impropriety, WilyKit couldn’t help but comment when she realized that if the child was Psiarik’s sister, they shared the same parent. “So, um, she’s Alluro’s daughter?” she asked curiously. WilyKit noted that she didn’t look all that much like her father however.
Psiarik seemed to pick up on her train of thought. “She doesn’t look much like him. Looks more like her mother, Chilla.”
At that, WilyKit laughed despite herself, and she thought she heard Snarfer snicker too. “I’m sorry,” WilyKit said contritely, trying to hide her amusement. “I don’t mean to be disrespectful, it’s just that I find that entire idea really funny, that’s all, from how I remember those two back on Third Earth. Chilla does not strike me as a parental type.”
Frostor chuckled at the statement. “Yes well, playing ‘mommy’ was a rough adjustment for her, to put it mildly.”
“Not half as hard on her as it was on the rest of us,” Psiarik remarked knowingly.
WilyKit laughed again, relieved that they had taken her comments in the spirit she meant them. “I can imagine.”
Frostor led them through a doorway and into the main hall of the MoonTower. “As you may have guessed, it wasn’t something she had planned on. And if you find the idea of Chilla having a child funny, you should watch Luna baby-sit sometime, if you really want a laugh.”
Erissa frowned, most of the conversation going over her head. “What’s wrong with Aunt Luna, Frostor? Other than she yells a lot?”
“Rowr, I guess the more things change, the more things stay the same, hehehe,” Snarfer giggled.
Darkail, who had been relatively quiet, turned toward WilyKit. “That’s right, the two of you knew Luna and the others back on Third Earth, didn’t you?”
“You could say that,” the Thundercat answered with a half frown. “But all things considered, I’d really rather not think about those times right now. The future is so much brighter, after all.”
“Spoken like a true visionary,” Darkail replied with a smile. “Let’s get you settled then, and prepare for dinner.”
* * *
A short while later, after WilyKit and Snarfer had been taken to their quarters to unpack and rest, WilyKit stretched out on her bed and relaxed for the last few moments before she would be expected to attend the welcome dinner. She was looking forward to dealing with Luna and her crew again about as much as she wanted to wash her brother’s dirty socks by hand, but by now she was resigned to it. It was her duty as a Thundercat to give any mission she was assigned 110%, and she intended to do just that with this diplomatic assignment.
She heard a light rap on her door. “Come in,” she called.
The door opened and revealed Snarfer standing there. “Hi WilyKit! Snarfer, snarfer, it’s time,” he said with a twitter that hinted that he was likely as apprehensive about it as she was.
“Oh goody goody goo drops,” she said with a roll of her eyes, using a statement she had heard Mumm-Ra say a long time ago. She stood, stretched, and joined Snarfer in the hallway, closing the door to her quarters behind her. “Well, let’s go and get this over with.”
They had only taken a few steps when they heard a familiar jackalian voice behind them. “Well well well, look who it is, nyah ha ha!” Immediately WilyKit and Snarfer whirled around, and they were greeted with the sight of Jackalman and Vultureman approaching them from behind, further down the hall. WilyKit noticed that while Vultureman largely looked the same as he always did, Jackalman had aged a little since she had last seen him at the Battle of the Swords, and very noticeably since his time on Third Earth. His fur now held a distinguished tint of white around his muzzle, and his attire was not that of a warrior, but the well tailored robes of a high-ranking dignitary. His coat was shiny and well groomed, and he almost looked respectable, if such a thing were possible.
“So you’re the Thundercat Ambassadors, are you?” Jackalman said as the pair of Mutants approached them. “Long time no see, WilyKit.”
“Can’t say I’ve missed you,” she retorted.
Snarfer elbowed her sharply in the side, as a silent reminder to act in a matter befitting a representative of peace.
“You look well,” she offered, forcing politeness in the name of being professional with her duty.
“I’ve done very well,” the jackal informed her with a grin. “I might say the same of you, now grown and serving as an ambassador.”
Vultureman cawed irritably and interrupted them. “Would anyone object if we cut the small talk and went downstairs? I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m starving, and no one will be able to eat until you three show up at dinner.”
WilyKit and Snarfer exchanged looks that read, “I don’t believe this is really happening,” and followed the Mutant pair down the hallway.
Once downstairs, Queen Selene greeted them warmly and showed them to their seats around a large and fancy dining table. The room was clearly one built for entertaining important guests, and from the looks of it, had been decorated by someone with very expensive tastes. WilyKit realized as she spoke with the Lunar Queen that she was a rather pleasant individual, and she didn’t seem much like her “Aunt Luna” at all.
As WilyKit glanced around the table, she noticed that four of the six Lunatacs she knew on Third Earth were present. Luna was seated beside Selene in a chair fitted to her unusually small height to give her optimal comfort and use of the table. The former leader of the Lunatacs of Plundarr looked every bit her age, and now wore small wire-rimmed glasses that seemed to give her even more of a critical look. Her hair was tamed as best Luna’s hair could be, and she wore clothing more suited to Third Moon nobility than the attire she’d worn back on Third Earth. Amok sat beside her, comfortably nestled on a large mat designed for his kind. The brute had a place setting, although his utensils and drinking goblet were considerably larger and less fragile than those used by the others, likely due to his size and strength. Amok looked much the same, although he seemed a bit plumper and very content, much like a house pet that had been well cared for. Alluro and Chilla were seated on the other side of the table. The psi seemed almost in place in such a setting. What remained of his hair was neatly combed and trimmed, and his clothes were of a classic Lunar design. He watched her and Snarfer curiously, although he said nothing. Chilla, on the other hand, eyed them both dubiously. The icewalker, clad in a form-fitting but tasteful white dress, and had aged well and looked more youthful than any of the other Lunatacs of Plundarr. The expression on her face, however, made it clear that she would make no pretense of enjoying the fact that individuals she used to despise were sitting at her dinner table.
WilyKit noted with a slight bit of relief that TugMug and RedEye were absent, and she supposed that was a small favor from one of the gods she worshipped. She saw that Psiarik, Frostor, and Darkail were also present and seated at the table, and the only vacancies remaining were the seats reserved for her, Snarfer, Vultureman, and Jackalman. As she sat in her chair, she could feel the Chief Ambassador’s eyes on her, likely admiring her enviable curves in the formal evening attire she wore, and she met his eyes for a brief moment before returning her attention to the conversation.
Once they were seated for the meal, what had to have been one of the most awkward moments in both WilyKit’s and Snarfer’s lives began. Those assembled shared some informal greetings and a bit of quiet small talk about politics and WilyKit and Snarfer’s space trip to the Third Moon, but the worst happened when Luna did the inevitable and opened her mouth.
“So WilyKit, Snarfer, how’s our dear old friend Lion-O?” Luna asked.
WilyKit tried to think of the best way to answer her, and stared back at Luna. She noticed that her glasses made her look comically serious, and it was all the Thundercat could do to keep from snickering. “Lion-O’s fine,” she answered. “He’s doing very well. I’ll be sure to let him know you asked.”
Luna nodded. “Well that’s very good to hear. I would imagine he’s starting to get old and out of shape now. After all, he’s got to be in his forties. A far cry from the dashing young fool he once was.”
Smirking smugly, Jackalman interjected his own two cents on the conversation that Luna had the poor taste to instigate. “Nyah, isn’t that the truth! Did you know his hair is still out to here, but with gray streaks in it?” he said to Luna. “I saw him on the monitor when Ratar-O was working out the terms of this whole ambassador exchange deal.” As one might have expected, the other Lunatacs of Plundarr and Vultureman displayed clear amusement at the description of the “mature” Lion-O.
“Hmph, with an ego as big as his, I’d have thought he’d dye it,” Luna quipped, and sipped at her wine. That remark inspired another chorus of looks and snickers from the peanut gallery.
Selene, however, was not amused at the disrespect Luna showed their visitors, and eyed her relation sternly. “Aunt Luna, please.”
Snarfer was unfazed by Luna’s remarks. He twirled his fork around before he took a bite and commented, “Well he’s certainly not as old as you are, Luna.” Much to Luna’s irritation this time, more knowing looks were exchanged among her former crew and the Mutants.
Alluro, never one to miss the chance to take a pot shot at the woman who harangued him for so many years, cast Luna an amused look when Snarfer made his remark. “The snarf has a point, Luna. You haven’t much room to talk. You were getting on in your years back on Third Earth, and here it is nearly twenty years later.”
Luna whirled around at the psi and glared at him. “I’m not the one who’s a grandparent, Alluro. Perhaps you shouldn’t be so critical lest someone point out your own age.”
“Or receding hairline,” Vultureman muttered, just barely loud enough to be heard.
Before anyone had a chance to snicker, the Lunar Queen cast a withering glance at the offenders at the table. “A change of subject now, please?” Her voice held uncharacteristic forcefulness.
“Is that a royal order, darling?” Psiarik asked Selene with a smirk his face. “This was just starting to liven up.”
Frostor turned toward Luna, who sat directly across from him. “Besides, Luna, you wouldn’t want to offend our guests would you? After all that’s gone on to ensure peace?”
Luna opened her mouth to speak again, but Darkail spoke up and cut her off. “WilyKit doesn’t offend that easily.” Surprised, the Thundercat gave him a quizzical look. Alluro also raised his eyebrows at the Chief Ambassador, although that went largely unnoticed by the dinner guests. The hunter then amended his statement. “I imagine not, anyway. That isn’t the impression she gives. Nor does Snarfer,” he said, nodding toward the snarf.
“Oh no, I don’t offend easily,” WilyKit said with an innocent smile. “Just be warned, when it comes to verbal banter, I believe in giving as good as I get. You can say what you will and I won’t be offended, but I can’t be responsible for what I might say in response.”
“Good answer,” Darkail stated approvingly.
Luna frowned and set down her glass. “Was that a challenge to match wits, Thundercat?”
Jackalman laughed out loud. “Don’t start a battle you don’t have the ammo to fight, Luna.”
“Really,” Chilla echoed quietly. “We’ve heard enough from you already.”
Luna let out an unintelligible screech. “Shut up, you flea-brained Mutant,” she snapped irritably, before glaring at Chilla. “And I didn’t ask your opinion.”
“Aunt Luna!” Selene yelled angrily. Silence fell over the table, for it was not like Selene to yell like that. After a tense pause, Selene lowered her tone and eyed her relative almost pleadingly. “Please, enough already. Is it too much to ask to have a polite, civilized dinner?”
“For them?” Frostor asked with a wry smile, gesturing to Luna, her former crew, and the Mutants. “You bet.”
“Shut up, Frostor,” Chilla hissed. “Like you’re any better. We can all see that smug look on your face. You find the whole damn thing funny.”
“Oh, and you don’t?” Vultureman challenged. “Caww, give me a break, Chilla!”
Luna pointedly ignored Frostor and Chilla and instead faced Selene. “Sorry dear. I’ll stop it. As a favor to you,” she apologized. “I wouldn’t want to start a diplomatic incident after all.” Her tone was hardly as sincere as her words would have had her appear, though.
WilyKit meanwhile picked at her food. The dinner was turning out to be worse than she initially expected, and she had only been there a few hours, with a couple of weeks to go in her stay. She had hoped for enough of a distraction to take her mind off of her problems—the mystery of her disappearance, her dreams, and the question of her parents—but she had no desire to replace those troubles with a host of annoyances from her former adversaries.
Fortunately there were no further outbursts from anyone at the table after the last, and Selene had made it quite clear she that would not stand for it, which kept the others in line. Unfortunately that didn’t make the rest of the dinner all that much easier. More than once she caught Alluro of all people giving her strange looks, looks that gave the impression that he was trying to read her thoughts, and it gave her the creeps. As if that wasn’t awkward enough, she also noticed that she couldn’t stop looking at Darkail and thinking about him. What was it about him that intrigued her so, anyway? She could tell that he liked her, which flattered her quite a bit, but she felt there was more to it than that. She just had no idea what.
The last course of food was brought out, and WilyKit made it a point to focus on that instead, rather than think about why she was so fascinated by Darkail, why Alluro would be staring at her, or any of the other issues in her life. Selene then started up a decent superficial conversation that kept those at the table, including herself, occupied pleasantly, and the rest of the dinner passed without incident.
* * *
Later that night, well after what she had mentally termed the Dinner of Doom, WilyKit relaxed on her bed. She was not exactly tired yet, but she felt the need to be alone. Snarfer had already gone to bed, so she had no familiar company in the alien palace. Sighing, she reached into her bag and her fingers brushed against something she had completely forgotten about way at the bottom. She pulled out the worn, leather bound book and smiled. Finally she had an opportunity to finally read Grune’s journal without interruption. WilyKit snuggled under the covers of her bed, and opened to the first page.
As she read on, parts of the journal were quite fascinating, and through Grune’s writing she was able to get a real sense of his personality. At one point in his life, the part detailed in the journal she held in her hands, Grune had been a proud man, full of ambition, strength, love, and even goodness. WilyKit learned that he had served as a Thundercat around the same time as his once closest friend Jaga, as well as Lord Claudus and several others, including the ones named Sibera and Scarlette who had been killed in the Gatoria battle.
In Grune’s writings WilyKit was surprised to learn that Scarlette had not been officially a Thundercat at that point, but a competitor with Tygra for the position that Tygra won by default when she had died. She also learned that Scarlette was Grune’s lover and the woman named Sibera was Jaga’s fiancée. It made her sad to think that Jaga had lost his love in such a way, and she wondered if that was why he spent his later years alone without a mate. The rest of the early pages within the journal told of missions that Grune had gone on and how he had fallen in love with the young trainee Scarlette, and later ones showed how the two of them became inseparable. Nothing in what she read indicated that Grune would have turned to the path of evil that he had later chosen.
WilyKit was drawn farther and farther into the vivid world of Grune’s writings when she came across a passage that she identified with strongly, a passage that in parts was hauntingly coincidental to her own current mission.
“It is on this day that Lord Claudus sends me on a mission of peace to the Third Moon of Plundarr in the hopes that we can form a sort of alliance with the Lunatac royalty, specifically King Lunaro. Personally I don’t think such a thing can ever happen, just like that farce of a peace mission to Plundarr that Tessana was sent on weeks ago. Still I know I must try, even though I find the title “Ambassador Grune” to be rather amusing. I am no diplomat, but I suppose my straightforward manner is why Claudus chose me in the first place. After all, they’re likely to give me the runaround and they’ll need to be set straight, and I’m more than intimidating enough to do it if need be. I dare say I’d enjoy it.
“If only this mission of peaceful negotiation wasn’t so long! I hate the thought of not being able to see Scarlette for five weeks. She and I have been together only a matter of months, and I already know she’s the only one for me. I know she loves me as deeply as I love her and would be my mate if I asked, but she has said she wants to wait on any important decisions, personal or otherwise, until she obtains the rank of Thundercat. I must grant her credit that she is confident, but her rival Tygra is no pushover. Naturally I hope Scarlette will win the position, but unfortunately that decision is out of my hands and in Firestripe’s, and he is impossible to read. Anyhow, there’s no use dwelling on something I can’t change. I suppose instead of concerning myself with this, I should be worrying about how to approach those treacherous Lunatacs and deal with that arrogant king of theirs. I know I’ll have to watch my back the entire time. I can’t help but wonder what awaits me when I arrive as an Ambassador of Peace on the Third Moon of Plundarr, of all places.”
Curious and intrigued, WilyKit turned the page.