Fengar had just finished his patrols, and had been relieved by Arkay, literally a member of a Hidden Trio, of all people. Apparently folks called him the Guardian of the Thantir, and he’d do a lot of guard duty whenever he was around. Fengar appreciated the break, he had admittedly been doing longer than normal shifts in a bid to prove himself, but now Fengar didn’t really have much to do.
Of course, Fengar took his normal shower, then quickly sat down and ate some meat and potatoes like he always did. After that though, Fengar didn’t know what to do. The spot where he normally sat and watched the trees and the ripples in the water was currently occupied, but Fengar hadn’t noticed until he’d gotten somewhat close. He didn’t want to interrupt though. That would have been rude.
Before Fengar could back away though, the beings sitting on the bench noticed him. And one of them came over and patted him on the leg.
“Mister Fengar! Mister Fengar! Come play with us!”
Fengar inspected the being. Talok was absolutely tiny compared to him, but nearly as heavily armoured. Not only did she have armoured chitin, but she also wore heavy silver armour on top. Her companion and best friend Tahvra was still on the bench, trying to get off without moving the bench too much.
“Play with you?”
“Yes yes! Play with us! We are playing with our bricky toys! Making a gigantic bricky toy monster!”
Fengar glanced around. Normally the two tiny Vohra were accompanied by their two oddly shaped friends, either the tiny fluffy shapeshifter (Fengar couldn’t remember if he was called Tenuk or Tanos or both) and Shattershield, the Matanaiai-like being that was apparently called a Lanex. Akah wasn’t mechanical though, outside of his mask, armour and augments, and underneath the heavy armour he wore all the time, he had organic plating somewhat similar to Fengar himself.
“Are… are you sure? Where are your other friends?”
Talok shrugged. “Best friend Tenuk went on Corruption purge with friends Nyssi and Kayel and big friend Ret. Apparently there is big nearby rock fill of nasty black stuff. So they went to deal with it quick. Best friend Akah is talking to the queen Phovoses, about a little new project.”
Tahvra had finally managed to climb off the bench and had made his way over too.
“Does mister Fengar want to play with us?” Tahvra asked.
“I think so, yes yes!” Talok bounced excitedly. “You want to play with us, yes?”
Fengar hesitated. “I… don’t really know how to play with bricky toys. And I am big and scary and not… really suited to small things.”
“That is okay!” Tahvra was now also bouncing excitedly. “Best friend Akah is tall as well but he plays with us! You can play too! And you can help hold up the giant monster while we build it!”
“But… I might break something…”
Tahvra and Taloik both stopped bouncing and glanced at each other, before looking back up at Fengar. He was literally more than three times their height. A literal giant compared to them.
“If you break something, we fix it, yes? Is what we do with broken things.”
“But I am big… and broken…” Fengar sighed. “I’m not really good at making friends.”
“Doesn’t matter! Neither was I!” Talok went back to bouncing. “We are Vohra, we live in big nests and have friend-nest groups too. But I was important Vahla, I did not have time. And when I was, uh, kidnapped by Torr and Lanex, I ended up nest-less. But I make new friends! Best friend fluffy Tenuk helped me make new friends! And Tahvra had same thing, but he became best friends with Akah, who was lonely and did not fit in! We are small and do not fit very well but we still are friends!”
“And you can be our friend too, mister Fengar!” Tahvra added. “Come! Come join us! We can be friends and talk and stuff. And you can build bricky toys with us!”
“Mister Fengar will be good for carrying big bricky toy box too!” Talok clicked.
Tahvra nodded in agreement, then jumped up and tried to grab Fengar’s hand. When that didn’t work, he and Talok both tugged at Fengar’s leg.
“Come on! It is fun! You deserve fun too! And friends! You deserve friends!”
Fengar sighed. “I… I don’t, really.”
“Why not?”
“Because my old friends… abandoned me. I didn’t follow them. They wanted to fight Voidborns forever. I didn’t. I did other jobs instead. So they left me behind.”
“Aw…” Talok frowned. “That is sad. They are not real friends. Real friends do not leave you behind. And we won’t leave you behind! Right, Tahvra?”
Tahvra clicked excitedly and tried to grab Fengar’s hand again. “You are our friend now, mister Fengar! So come now! Come and play bricky toys with us! And then later on when best friends Tanos and Akah come back, we can play snow balls or something!”
Fengar took a deep breath, then relented. After all, Talok and Tahvra were utterly adorable. And tiny. He was scared of hurting them.
“You will not hurt us! Oh…” Talok frowned some more. “Sorry. I accidentally did mind reading. But we are strong! Hard to break. You will not hurt us at all. And if you do? Is okay! You say sorry and we are good again! Come on! Come play.”
“Alright, fine. I’ll play with you. But you’ll have to show me how the bricky toys worked. I haven’t played with them before.”
Tahvra and Talok both jumped up, and this time, Talok managed to grab Fengar’s hand. She did swing somewhat awkwardly from it, but Tahvra then grabbed Talok and led both Talok and Fengar to the bench. Fengar delicately put Talok down, and both Vohra immediately started messing around with whatever it was they were building. By their sides were three boxes nearly as big as they wer,e filled with loose pieces.
“So… what is it?” Fengar asked.
“It will be a dragon!” Tahvra beamed.
“Where are its wings?”
The two Vohra shrugged. “We did not make them yet.”
Fengar inspected the boxes for a moment. “Can I make the wings?”
“Of course!” Talok giggled. “See! You help already! We will be great friends.”
Fengar smiled back as he started rummaging through one of the boxes, looking for parts. “Yes, I think we will.”