“So he’s… in there… somewhere…”
Epani and Yisini hovered above the dark void. It was one of the few places neither of them liked to visit. The Blackspaces, the Voidspheres, as they were often called, were cold, empty territories with only one or two stars inside them, cut off from the rest of the universe. Places that solely belonged to the Voidbron Kenon, Epani and Yisini’s adopted father.
“Hm…” Yisini scratched the smooth scales on her chin. “This is troublesome…”
“Why?” Epani asked, shaking herself down. She had been carrying Yisini on her back and of course Yisini had decided to shed all over her. Little glistening scales fell from Epani’s body then floated aimlessly in space, with no gravity around to pull them elsewhere.
“Well, when was the last time you willingly went into voidsphere territory?”
“Yesterday.”
“Well I don’t go in there. It’s too dark and horrible and that’s where… my least favourite mistakes live.”
Epani tutted. “Mistakes? I thought you loved… or at least liked all life?”
“Nope!” Yisini hissed. “Some of it I regret allowing to exist. Especially those Threanic creatures. I thought the Vohra were bad, those little intersexual Panvok are horrible little things. But they evolved on their own and Kenon likes them for some stupid reason so I can’t just mass-extinction their asses to hell and back! I mean, Rethavok are bad enough, but Skyavok? Yuck.”
“You seem…”
“It’s mostly because Arky likes to take their form. Maybe he does it on purpose, I don’t know!” Yisini interrupted. “But if he’s hiding in there, either he’s got Kenon keeping an eye on him, he’s helping Kenon with something secret or dad hasn’t realised Arky’s hiding in his voidspheres and doesn’t know or care yet.”
Epani shrugged, shaking off yet more scaly flakes. “So? Are you a coward?”
“Yes, actually!”Yisini growled. “I ain’t going in there. It’s too dangerous. I ain’t going to go around potentially pissing Kenon off in his own territory. I’ll just go find something else to occupy my time until our brother leaves that stupid safe space. Self-preservation trumps searching for an idiot.”
Epani shrugged one more time. Yisini eyed her awkwardly.
“You thinking of going in there?”
“Perhaps.”
“Really? Kenon hates it when we go into his little spaces.”
“He does not have to know that we are there if we stay quiet and don’t do anything stupid…”
Yisini waggled her perfectly clawed finger dismissively. “Nu-uh! I ain’t doing that sneaky crap. Arky’s gotta leave the blackspaces at some point, so I’m happy to just wait!”
“Suit yourself…” Epani sighed as Yisini slithered off, leaving a shower of scales and drops of slime as she did so.
Once Yisini was out of sight and out of earshot, Epani tutted a few more times, then began to collect the small scales the Allbirther had left behind. With a couple of cosmic breezes, Epani brushed the scales into a small jar, sealing them up tightly. In another jar, she collected a single drop of slime, sealing it up tightly.
“You may be a waste of space, little sister… but thank you for providing me with… something I can work with…”