Nyssi had planned to go to the Torn Islet on her own, to check in with her cousins and help them move into new accommodation, but since Retvik didn’t have any plans and had been pacing around being anxious, she’d decided to bring him with her. Not only did Retvik need some distractions, but he’d be useful for moving furniture around.
Really, Nyssi didn’t need to constantly visit Tharri, Sonia and Sesi, the three Temthans that she and Tenuk had saved from the remains of the Tharr Clan, but outside of her now rather elderly parents, Nyssi had never really had family, and never had they. So it was somewhat refreshing having shared blood to talk to occasionally. Even if that shared blood came from the Clan Unmourned and a past they all hated. Admittedly though, it was also a past from before their time, none of them had even hatched when the Tharr were torn apart.
But after Tharrus Bloodscale, the last of the Clan Unmourned, had attacked them all, Nyssi had helped Tharri, Sonia and Sesi move to the Torn Islet. The Temthan village, which provided beast hunting and extermination services to much of Vriskera and Lasara’s more wild regions, had offered a new start to Nyssi’s parents, who had only just escaped the claws of the Tharr, and they had offered the same new start to the girls as well. Tharri was learning animal tracking skills and beast butchering, and was learning nicely, while the twins had picked up fishing skills, with Sonia spending her days casting nets and watching bait traps and Sesi learning how to make and repair fishing gear.
They all seemed quite happy, but they had been sharing Nyssi’s apartment until they had ‘proven’ themselves useful to the village. Now that the three of them had made a place for themselves in the community, the Big Chiefs of the Torn Islet were giving them their own homes. And, Nyssi, the kind girl that she was, offered to help them move out.
The drive from Retvik’s place in Skipou on the edge of Palestra, all the way to the Torn Islet wasn’t as bad as it used to be either. On a previous trip, Nyssi had found a side path that cut a good 15 minutes off the normal drive, and the Torn Islet had finally built a second bridge on the other side of the island, meaning Nyssi didn’t have to drive to the southern part of town every single time.
As Nyssi drove into town though, she noticed that something had caught Retvik’s eye.
“Nyssi, does… whatever that is… look familiar to you?”
“What?”
Retvik pointed towards a gap between two buildings. Past them was the Dangerous Animal Processing Dock, and something pink could be seen flapping about. A pair of wings. A pair of pink wings.
Nyssi pulled to one side, to see what Retvik was talking about. It was Sunday, most people wouldn’t be doing much work so things were busy, but she didn’t want to be in the way. However, as she spotted that same pink, Nyssi immediately changed gear and drove over to whatever was going on.
On the dock, Nyssi’s old hunting crew, alongside another party of Temthan hunters, were busy having an argument while a massive, unconscious but still moving bright pink monster weakly flailed from within a net. Nyssi drove right up to them, honked her truck’s horn then shut off the engine and climbed out of the car.
“What the actual fuck have you done?” Nyssi shouted at the other Temthans.
“Oh, fucking thank Sini’s fucking scales!” Haplo also shouted. “These fucking morons just shot a fucking Thraki down!”
“That is NOT a Thraki!” Talish, a big-busted orange and red young lady with short, bright red tendrils, snapped her fingers in anger. “It’s bright pink. It’s a beast. We hunt beasts and bring them here.”
Talish had always considered Nyssi and her hunting crew to be rivals, but that belief was always one-sided. She used to run the largest hunting party around, but when Kinigos and Leontar had wanted to split off and do his own thing and hired Nyssi and Haplo to help them. Considering Kinigos was Talish’s ex, that had clearly rubbed her the wrong way. The rest of Talish’s crew, five dark green Temthans, two of them twins, mostly just let Talish push them around. Because Talish had made her riches by delivering beasts to the Great Arenas, Talish had a lot of power. She had more power than she probably deserved.
“It fucking IS a Thraki!” Haplo snarled. “It has all the features of a Thraki. It wears a standard Thrakian loin cloth and neck piece, it has the same number of fingers and toes, as well as the standard head horns. It’s also probably male since it has a snout horn.”
“It’s PINK AND HUGE! Thraki can’t be pink! OR huge!”
“Well, THAT Thraki is pink!” Haplo turned to Nyssi. “Girl, help us. This bitch is being a bitch, and we’re going to be fucked if the local Thrakian Magenic Circle works out we shot someone down!”
“DON’T CALL ME A BITCH!” Talish screeched, twirling her favourite blade in her hand, before abruptly shutting up. She had just noticed the familiar face standing behind Nyssi. While Talish was well known for being both fiery and willing to lash out, she did have a genuine fear of Rethavok, after an incident with a teenage Rethan about ten years ago. It turned out, even juveniles hit very, very hard when threatened and insulted, and, unlike adults, teenage Rethans didn’t know how to control their anger and strength. “Uh… what the fuck is the Lightbearer doing here?”
Nyssi smiled, then patted Retvik on the side. He was the second largest person here, after the gigantic pink Thraki. “He’s my buddy. Offered to help me with some stuff, but we saw you all here and holy fuck Talish you are being a bitch. That IS a Thraki, that’s my friend Thassalin!”
“He is the WRONG COLOUR!” Talish tried to counter. “Thraki can’t be pink!”
“It’s probably just some sort of genetic fluke!” Nyssi tried to explain better. “It’s like albinism in Temthans. Or pink Banikans. Or the fact that Retvik’s brother…”
“Sibling.”
“… Sibling… has blue eyes instead of red eyes…” Nyssi paused. “Actually, Kuta has ice blue eyes, and that’s really unnatural. But even then, just because someone’s a funny colour, doesn’t mean you should shoot them!”
“We didn’t shoot it. We filled it with tranqs.”
“Probably too many tranqs!” Kinigos protested. “He’s convulsing and you won’t let me see to him!”
“Oh, that’s just my normal venom. It’s fine. He’ll stop soon.”
Nyssi glared at Talish, then grabbed her bag and rummaged through it. Eventually, she pulled out four syringes, all filled with a clear liquid. It was common for Temthans with “5% Bites” to carry an extra supply of pre-milked venom, if their personal venom did something useful. Nyssi was aware that Talish’s venom was a 5% Bite as well, a powerful sedative that also caused spasms that immobilized the limbs. Nyssi hoped her venom, which acted as an anti-venom to everyone else’s venoms, would at least stop the massive pink Thraki from convulsing and hurting himself.
“Retty, can you hold Thassalin still, please?”
Retvik glanced at Thassalin, willing to comply but not sure how to. “Uh, of course. How should I do that?”
“Just hold his head.”
After some brief hesitation (Thassalin was very, very large), Retvik did as he was told. Nyssi swiftly opened all four syringes and injected them into Thassalin’s neck. Thassalin quickly stopped shaking and fell still, before abruptly waking up.
“OH! HELLO! FRIENDLY FACES! OH DEAR, YOU ARE… NOT SUPPOSED TO…” Thassalin tried to get up, but noticed he was utterly tangled up in netting. “THIS IS NOT GOOD. I WAS SUPPOSED TO REMAIN UNSEEN. BUT THOSE TEMTHANS SHOT AT ME WHILE I WAS HUNTING OVER A NEARBY LAKE.”
Immediately realizing she had utterly fucked up, Talish backed off and apologized. “Uh, sorry. Didn’t know you actually were a Thraki.
Thassalin eyed Talish, then grunted. “I AM NOT A STANDARD-LOOKING THRAKI, SO THE MISUNDERSTANDING IS, UH, UNDERSTANDABLE, BUT YOU HAVE INDEED HURT ME. CUT ME OUT OF THESE ROPES, PROMISE YOU WILL NOT BE SO STUPID IN THE FUTURE AND I SHALL FORGIVE YOU!”
“Oh… of course…” Talish pulled her blade out again and started cutting off the nets. Her hunting crew quickly helped, and before long, Thassalin was back on his feet. “Sorry for hurting you.”
“IT IS FINE. MISTAKES HAPPEN.”
“So, Thassalin, buddy, what are you doing here on Portalia?” Nyssi asked.
“And why are you pink?” Haplo also asked.
Thassalin eyed the other Temthans. He growled, then grunted again. “IT IS SOMETHING I CAN ONLY SAY TO NYSSI AND RETVIK.”
“Well, how about you come along with us for a bit, we’ll get you some lunch and then we can talk?”
“What about your cousins though?” Retvik interrupted. “Are we not going to help them?”
Haplo and Kinigos both glanced at Nyssi.
“Tharri, Sonia and Sesi are moving into their new homes and we offered to help them. Retvik’s nice and big and strong so he’s perfect for moving furniture.”
“We can help out too!” Leontar beamed. “Between all of us, we should be done in no time. Thassalin here can rest up a little and he can meet you both in one of the cafes later.”
“I NEED TO STRETCH MY WINGS ANYWAY…” Thassalin frowned. “HOW LONG WILL YOU BE?”
“With their help, two hours?” Nyssi shrugged. “There’s a cafe called the Flibberty Flippery Fishery, it’s nice and big, you can wait in the beer garden there…” Nyssi fished around in her bag briefly, found her wallet and pulled out a couple of notes. “Go buy yourself some lunch.”
Thassalin awkwardly took the money, then shrunk himself down until he was the same size as Retvik. This was rather surprising, but Nyssi heavily hinted at everyone to not question it. The last thing they wanted to do was to anger an already angry Thraki.
“THANK YOU, DEAREST NYSSI!” Thassalin bowed as he lumbered off. “I SHALL SEE YOU AND RETVIK SOON.”