Mei lay in the little nest her Monster had made for her. She could feel her young move in her belly, and knew that they would be born in only a few more days. That would be good, because she was tired of carrying them around. She was meant to be graceful and silent, and now she laid awkwardly in her nest, allowing the Monsters to bring her food. It was not her favorite time, though even Silent Monster continued to bring her gold, even though she could no longer play their game. Still, she somehow understood that this was part of the Way, and so she would bear it until she bore her young.
Sounds came from outside the nest, and Mei wriggled around until she could see what was going on. She was entirely unsurprised to see the Kyla Monster raise her hand from the curved pile of stones again. She had touched it repeatedly since the sun rose, and nothing had happened yet, other than the occasional flash of light.
“Why isn’t it working?” Kyla demanded, pulling back her paw as if she would kick the offending stones. She stopped, ears flat and one paw still hovering as she glared at the silent arch.
The pale Lianhua Monster patted Kyla gently on the shoulder. “Perhaps the chiefs haven’t recovered enough yet. Or perhaps they’ve forgotten what the signal means, just as your stor - ah, howls - left out a few key details about how to know if the message has gone through. It’s only a few more days.”
“And by then Kaz will have made it down through the entire mountain. You know he will,” Kyla growled, but she placed the dangling paw on the ground. “Everything will be over before we even get inside, and I won’t get to help. Again.”
Lianhua’s mouth curved, and she moved her shoulders. “It’s possible. But you know, I don’t think so. Kaz is extremely cautious right up until he decides to act, and he needs to find out who and what Nucai actually is before taking action.”
The two Monsters had had almost this exact conversation every time Kyla attacked the stones, so Mei turned away from them, rolling over with difficulty, so more of the fur she’d plucked from Kyla while she was sleeping surrounded her. It wasn’t so much that Mei wasn’t able to lift herself, because she very much could, but it seemed like her belly extended past her paws now, and it was terribly ungainly. She remembered when she was a pup herself, and other members of her nest brought food for the mothers while they cared for their young. Her current nest was a very strange one, but she was satisfied with it.
As the quiet murmur of the Monsters and the songs of the flying beasts filled her ears, Mei closed her eyes, preparing to sleep again. Kyla had given her mithril, while Lianhua offered cheese. Yingtao gave her things that didn’t taste good but seemed to strengthen her, and the Silent Monster - Chi Yincang - brought the gold discs. Raff gave her mostly copper, and sometimes she didn’t even bother to eat it, just tucking it away beneath the fluff of her nest. Even the New Monsters peered in at her, though only the one that still bore a lingering scent of dragons gave her food. Soon, she would learn that one’s name, but she wouldn’t bother with the other. He kept trying to talk to her, but talking wasn’t food, so he didn’t deserve a name yet.
Then the world shivered, the thing that had begun to build inside her ever since she ate the blue metal jangling loudly in response. Something had just happened that wasn’t meant to happen, but it also wasn’t terribly wrong, so she didn’t need to do anything about it. Not until after her young were born, anyway.
Squeaking in grumpy protest, Mei spun in place, using her round belly to pivot. When her nose was just inside the opening to the nest, she pushed aside the fluff covering her eyes and looked out. There was a tunnel through the world, opening out in the center of the stacked stones. It wasn’t a large tunnel, and not a permanent one, but also not made the way such a tunnel should be made. Mei understood a great deal about tunnels, and she eyed this one consideringly. Yes, someday she would-
Her nest was scooped up entirely without warning, and Mei squealed, legs scrabbling as the bottom almost fell out of her warm burrow. A few copper circles fell to the ground, but Kyla ignored them, clutching at Mei with too-tight fingers. Mei preferred it when the Monsters asked before picking her up, but it would be too much effort to either wriggle free or perch on her usual spot on the Little Monster’s shoulder. She gave another annoyed squeak and allowed herself to be held.
“Everyone move,” Lianhua said sharply, then looked at the New Monster who Talked as if she was unsure if she was allowed to speak. The sparse fur above that Monster’s eyes went up, but he nodded, and the entire nest grabbed for all the things they’d left scattered around. Mei saw the tunnel begin to flicker, and understood that it would collapse soon. It was never good when a tunnel collapsed while someone was in it, but Mei thought she could chew herself out of even this odd hole in the world. Could she do the same for the others, though?
They were hurrying, but not fast enough. The tunnel might well close before they entered it, and that would be fine, but if it collapsed while they were inside? Mei eyed the distance to the tunnel and made her decision. It needed to be fixed anyway, after all, and if they were going to disturb her, she might as well do it now.
It was astonishingly difficult to jump with so much belly in the way, but Mei managed it. The babies inside her wriggled in reaction to the sudden impact with the ground, but Mei’s game with Chi Yincang stood her in good stead, allowing her to balance on the very tips of her toes. From there, she churned forward toward the tunnel, well aware that Kyla was right behind her. Even if something happened to the other Monsters, or they were left behind, she didn’t want Kyla to be hurt. The Littlest Monster was a strange nest-mate, but Mei liked her.
“Mei!” Kyla yipped, but even now, Mei was faster. She entered the tunnel.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
It wasn’t dark. Tunnels were usually dark, but this one was filled with a sort of soft light, reminding Mei of the way the great white fungus above illuminated the sleeping times. It even fluctuated like that, though it grew and shrank so quickly her stomach churned uncomfortably in reaction. She looked around for Kyla, certain that the Little Monster had followed her, but she couldn’t see anyone.
The tunnel flickered. Ahead, a bright light glowed, but only for a brief moment before it was gone again. Was that the exit? Had she gotten turned around, and that was the way back? Where was Kyla?
Waddling forward, Mei sniffed. There was so much to smell here. Moisture and metal and fire and earth and growing things seemed to surround her. They mingled with scents she recognized from the time when she lived in the stone, eating and moving and growing until she reached what she now knew was Outside. The smell of strange Monsters was here, too, inextricably bound to the tunnel, and Mei knew tunnels. There was something in those Monsters and those smells that was the tunnel.
And then the smell of dirt faded, and the other scents tried to fill in the gap it left, and they did it, but there was uncertainty to the space around her. The collapse was imminent now, and Mei had lost Kyla. Were the other Monsters here, too? Some of them were strong enough that they might survive the failure of the tunnel, but Kyla wouldn’t. Had Mei made a mistake? Should she simply have waited after all?
But Mei was fuergar. Fuergar knew tunnels, and Mei knew tunnels best of all. She opened her mouth, or perhaps something not-mouth but close enough, and began to make her own tunnel. For the most part, she followed along the old one, finding that the world was a little softer there, a little easier to swallow. This tunnel had been dug out and collapsed many, many times, and it wasn’t difficult to find the way.
And then Kyla was there, her tail tucked, her ears flat, and her eyes wild. Mei included her in the tunnel. Kyla had almost gotten lost, but she hadn’t, and even though Mei was starting to find it a little difficult to continue eating - which was really not a problem she’d ever had before - she went on, because she’d almost reached the scents that still meant Home, and Mei was very, very good at creating tunnels.
Her paws touched cool stone, and Mei squeaked in protest. She’d been in her nice, warm, soft nest, and then in the tunnel which wasn’t hot or cold, and now she was Home again, and Mei had forgotten that Home was always cool, which wasn’t her favorite thing about it.
Kyla scooped Mei up without asking, again, but Mei enjoyed the warmth of the Monster’s fur and body. She would have to make a new nest, and this time she wouldn’t be quite so gentle about plucking the Little Monster’s fur to line it.
The other Monsters passed through Mei’s tunnel, not even seeming to notice that she’d fixed it. And it was their fault that she’d had to fix it right now, and there had better be more cheese and mithril for her once she built her new nest.
“Ija!” Kyla cried, running toward a Monster with dark red fur. The red-furred Monster was holding something that felt like fire to Mei, and her tail was drooping in a way that Mei was fairly certain meant she was tired. Still, the tail began to sway as she held her arms open, and Mei was crushed between the two Monsters in a way she Did Not Like. She squeaked again, and Kyla sprang back.
Several more Monsters were gathered around a yellow-furred one who lay on the ground. They were all growling at each other, with a particularly small one with light brown fur snapping at another one when he got too close.
“Send for a healer,” that one barked, and two more of the Monsters ran off.
“What happened?” asked Lianhua. “What’s wrong with Idla?”
The red-furred Monster called Ija shook her head. A very small Monster with bright blue fur came up beside her, whimpering unhappily, and she patted his head. “I don’t know,” Ija said. “We’ve been hearing these strange chimes for the last few days, and finally all the Great Chiefs went to the choaxue. When they returned, they said we had to open the mountain, even though it wasn’t time yet. Something felt off from the very beginning, but then it was like…trying to balance on one paw while carrying a chouchou. And then it got better, but Idla fell.”
Lianhua opened her mouth, then closed it again, let out a little sigh, and said, “It’d probably be best to release the portal, then. It can’t be good for her to be holding it open right now.”
Everyone else turned to look back at the tunnel Mei had made. It was a good tunnel, solid and safe, even though it did hang in the air rather than passing through metal or stone or earth like a tunnel should. The important thing was that the world was no longer protesting its presence, however quietly, so Mei was satisfied.
The Ija Monster stared at the tunnel, then looked down at the sliver of fire she held in her hand. “I’m not giving it power any more. The Magmablade isn’t even in the stone.” Her eyes swept over the arch that surrounded the tunnel. “None of the Blades are in place. Why is the portal still open?”
Mei felt a little irritated. Hadn’t they wanted a tunnel there? She’d eaten a lot, more even than she thought she should have, and Kyla had nearly become trapped in the collapse, and though Mei would have tried to get her out, she wasn’t sure she could have found the exact right tunnel out of all the potential ones that surrounded them. Not before it was too late, anyway.
The New Monster who Talked moved toward Mei’s tunnel and peered at it. For a moment, he seemed to swell, changing from a fairly small Monster to one who pushed against everything around him, expanding to fill the available space. He pushed against Mei, and she pushed back, feeling very disgruntled about the whole thing, and he shot her a glance that said he was probably going to try talking to her even more.
“This is a permanent portal,” he said. “I’ve only seen two like this, and they were both in Diushi ruins.” He turned to Ija and tilted his head toward her. “I would very much like to spend some time examining this, Lady Ija. Ah, am I correct that you are Kyla’s sister, the chief of the Magmablades?”
Ija nodded. “I am, but I can’t give you permission. Even if I wanted to, the Magmablades are no longer a Great Tribe. When Idla recovers, she, Avli, and Tisdi will have to decide. But-” her ears lowered, “what’s going on? And Kyla, where have you been?”