--- NETUN ---
Netun resisted the urge to make a body just so he could bang his head into a blunt object for several minutes. He’d never met an Alanerea who was so… frustrating. He didn’t hate Alrasi, but the longer he talked with him, the more clear it was that he was still a child in more ways than one.
He’d heard from Salven that anyone who had died young was a bit odd, sometimes they grew their mushrooms strangely, they often didn’t understand things easily, and some of them were so set in their ways that no one could even dream of breaking them out of strange repetitions and dreamlands. None of them suffered though, none of them were in pain, they were just… different.
But a child who’d died after only a month of being mortal? The Alanerea had prided themselves in their low infant mortality, so Netun hadn’t even thought to ask Salven about that possibility. He should have asked Alrasi’s parents how old this kid was…
He sighed internally again and finally examined the human the little Alanerea had befriended. Netun couldn’t just… kill him, Alrasi would be angry and the human hadn’t actually done anything to deserve that fate. And he was a very interesting human. The power to read the perceptions of any fungus? If Netun himself wasn’t a fungus he would be intrigued by the idea.
“Explain yourself, human.” Netun finally said, sending annoyance and curiosity. It was so odd to think that a mortal could hear their conversations without being somehow included.
The human seemed nervous, but he responded, it was a mental projection so Netun could hear it, but the human didn’t seem to realize he was doing that part. “I’m sorry for listening, I couldn’t sleep.”
Netun sent annoyance at the lack of a true explanation, especially since Netun himself couldn’t read the human’s thoughts. For all he knew this was an elaborate ruse somehow… “Explain more.” He commanded.
The human paused for a moment and belatedly sent apology, Netun got the sense that he wasn’t quite as good at sending emotions as he was thoughts. “The artificers above us locked me down here, I’ve been waiting for them to kill me… but it hasn’t happened yet.”
Netun prodded at the surface area, having sent tendrils all through that compound by now, he’d listened to them for days and the existence of a prisoner down here did explain a lot. “Ah, I’ve heard them talking about you. I don’t believe they intend to kill you, but to give you to their king as a means of placating him in regards to their sub-par performance.”
“I… think that’s worse than death,” The human sent terror, “I’ve heard horrible things about the king.”
Alrasi also sent terror, “Kolen! Friend!” Netun had forgotten the child was listening…
“I propose we strike a bargain then.”
The human sent curiosity, “What kind of bargain?”
“I will aid the two of you in escaping this place.” Netun said slowly, knowing that Alrasi was in no state to simply grow his presence outside of that basement.
“And in return?” For such a young human, he was extremely wary.
“In return I will need your oath, by the laws of magic itself; that you will preserve this world, save the dying, avenge the innocent, and uphold justice.” Netun recited, watching the human speculatively, if he said no then it would be difficult to get past him to retrieve Alrasi. There was no reason for him to object though, at least, no reason that Netun could see.
“Is this preservation and justice by your measurement? Or by something unchanging?”
Netun paused. That was… a very important distinction.
“Because if it’s your measurement then I’m going to have to refuse.”
Netun sent concern, “I have never thought of it that way before. Do you know of something unchanging so I can set my standard to that?”
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The human sent surprise, apparently not having expected Netun to be so willing to change. “I don’t know of an unchanging justice. Sorry, but I think I’ll have to decline.”
Alrasi sent support, probably not knowing what exactly was happening. Netun sighed internally, pushing aside his discomfort at his shaking ideals and picking up a different idea. “I would accept it as repayment enough if you help me to find an unchanging justice.”
“I agree then.” The human said.
Netun couldn’t help but feel that he was being tricked somehow.
--- KOLEN ---
He paced around the room for the seventh time, deciding again to walk past Mango and Screamer to see if the guard had tossed any bread down yet—the bread was five hours late, but they might have just forgotten about him again.
He checked the enormous mind again, but it wasn’t paying attention to him anymore. He thought it was more condensed in a few areas than before, but Kolen really wasn’t an expert on mushrooms or fungus, or anything really. But it came looking for Alrasi. He reminded himself again, it clearly had a memory and a vocabulary, it clearly could plan and decide and learn and feel.
The part of Kolen that still thought of fungi as nuisances that ought to be rooted out of society kept arguing that there was no way he should consider them as if they were people.
But if he saw them as not people, he’d be a dragonkisser.
It was very difficult for Kolen to rationalize these two things, he simply… hadn’t thought about it for most of the last few months. He’d gotten to know the local fungi just like he would the local people. And they were as diverse as humanity.
The problem, Kolen figured, was that he couldn’t really see the big version of Alrasi. There was that tiny mushroom he’d seen, but that clearly wasn’t the entire consciousness. Kolen suspected that he would never be able to see the entire consciousness.
And so he’d resorted to giving it a mental breakdown, not wanting to be tied to the moral code of a mushroom. The worst part there as far as Kolen could tell was that he didn’t even feel bad about it.
He paced around the hall for several minutes until the proximity of Screamer’s mental voice started to grate on him, then turned around to pace near Wordy instead. Pacing wasn’t nearly as helpful as people in stories made it out to be, but it was certainly something to pass the time with. He went between the two pacing locations a few times, and then went back to Alrasi, and then tried to check on the big mushroom, but neither of them were paying any attention to him. Alrasi had gotten extra energy from somewhere and Kolen could almost see it growing even as he watched.
Finally, after several hours of this back and forth, Kolen went back to the entrance area to see if the guard was there again, only to see a strange man leaning against the door, his eyes closed and his arms folded. His skin was extremely white, and it seemed to even glow slightly in the dim corridor. His hair was as white as his skin and even his clothing was that same shade.
Kolen took an instinctive step back as his eyes opened to reveal two blood red irises. “Ah, there you are.” The stranger said, hefting a box. “My sense of direction is shot, where’s Alrasi?”
Kolen blinked at him and belatedly noticed that he could sense a mind from the stranger. It was the big mushroom he’d given an existential crisis. “You’re…”
“You can call me Netun, and yes, I know. Usually people find out the mushroom part after the sapient part. Then there’s a lot of screaming with a dash of murder attempts, and I’d really rather skip that part.”
“That’s…”
“Kid, from how your mind felt I assumed you weren’t slow of thought, let’s get going. Where’s Alrasi?”
The mushroom’s personality was vastly different from before, but Kolen belatedly led the strange man through the halls until they came to Alrasi’s little area. Kolen was impressed to see that he’d grown a second mushroom. “Great job Alrasi!”
He got a dim sense of accomplishment from the fungus.
Netun sighed with exasperation. ~Alrasi, I’m going to need you to speed it up.~
The little mushroom sent sadness.
The human-shaped mushroom placed his hand holding the box near the small mushroom, ~I need you to grow a new stream into here and then sever your bond to the rest of your mass.~
The little mushroom sent confusion.
“Can’t you just like… pluck it off the wall and put it in the box?”
Netun turned on Kolen with an offended expression. “You don’t pluck people! Not only is that rude, but it hardly ever—”
Kolen grabbed Alrasi’s larger mushroom from the base and gently tugged it off the wall, setting it inside the box. “There, easy.”
Netun immediately placed his hand where the mushroom had been, “Sparking idiot!! You could damage him permanently when he’s this small!”
Alrasi sent shock and fear, but after a moment returned to his usual contentment.
Netun peered into the box at that message and then glared at Kolen, “You are extremely lucky that that worked.”