The rest of the day in Water Hole seemed to pass by rather quickly with the company she had. Twy'la, while quiet, seemed to get very easily irritated by the different things Jarvell had said towards her. But Kree could also see that he was doing it on purpose, to get Twy'la more used to being away from her home.

Jarvell, aside from trying to push Twy'la into feeling more comfortable, did serve as a really good guide. He did had to leave them as one point as there was another arrival, but he gave them his address in the city, in case they wished to meet up with him later. They ended up returning to the ship before that happened, and the night passed rather quickly.

Sighing, Kree leaned back in one of the cockpit's chair. They had ended up getting fuel and supplies for the next time they depart, but couldn't afford a stay in one of the local hotels. Kree figured they should keep the change, but if they happen to find something that could be useful, then they could afford it.

Moving her hand through Gum, who was sleeping on her lap, Kree still hoped that she'll gain access to the library. To be able to see if she could learn more about any legends or stories about celestial beings.

"Kree'aria?"

Turning her gaze, Kree watched as Twy'la came and sat across from her, on the second cockpit seat. Gum also woke up, and slightly started to squeeze itself against Kree, away from Twy'la.

"Yeah?"

"I don't know if I want to stay here. We said you'll let me down on the first planet, but could I keep travelling with you a bit more?"

"We never said anything like that. Maybe you said it to yourself in your mind Twy'la. I don't mind the company either way."

Twy'la's expression turned into relief "We haven't? Oh thank H'yr."

"But if you are going to stick around, I'll need to start teaching you more about the ship. So you are more of a crewmate and less of a passanger." Kree said.

"Learn about the ship so I'll be more of a crewmate?" Twy'la said, eyebrows rising "Even though I have no knowledge or experience with mechanical things like this?"

"Everyone's gotta start somewhere. I might've started learning as a kid, over 90 years ago, but that doesn't mean you can't learn as an older person." Kree said.

Twy'la nodded for a moment, before thinking over what Kree said again "Wait. You said 90 years?"

Kree shrugged "Over 90 years since I started learning about spaceships, and I'm still learning to this day, yeah. So I think you can count on me to teach you about some things pretty well."

Looking at Twy'la, Kree rose an eyebrow as she noticed the Angel was in shock, her mouth hiding behind her collar, and she had clearly drifted into her mind again. Standing up with Gum in her hands, Kree went and put the Gelac on Twy'la's lap, which she proceeded to hold. Noticing that Twy'la was muttering something, Kree leaned a bit closer to listen.

"… than me by over 30 years at least, and she looks so much younger. Do all aliens appear so young? No, humans seemed to appear older much faster, and there are a few that already seem ancient around the city, though…"

Moving away from Twy'la, Kree stretched and glanced at Gum, who still appeared to be in a panic, though stopped trying to escape as Twy'la started to move her hand through him.

"I still need to figure out what your diet is, don't I?" Kree said as she glanced at Gum.

"It's rocks and minerals." Twy'la responded absent-mindedly.

"Really? Well, then I guess we can find him food basically everywhere. Alright, keep an eye on him, I'm going to grab myself something to eat before we head out again."

"Sure- Wait, what?"

As Kree went to the back room, she smiled as Twy'la panicked and shouted at Gum after realizing where he was and what she was doing.

Not an hour passed, and the three were already back out in the streets of Water Hole. The different residence were out and about, same as the previous day. It didn't seem like the city was ever truly dead, seeing how some of the aliens were more nocturnal. But today, without Jarvell to distract them with his guidance, both Kree and Twy'la seemed to notice something.

There were a lot of eyes looking at Twy'la.

As they arrived by the library, both of them felt like the amount of aliens looking at Twy'la warranted some degree of caution. So despite the warning given to her the previous day, Kree grabbed Twy'la and dragged her inside.

"Welcome to the library!" A different voice from behind the counter spoke to the two, and the shapeshifer seemed to change to resemble Twy'la, only with pink hair like Kree's, and her eyes seemed to almost completely white. She briefly nodded towards Kree, before noticing Gum in her grasp "I'm afraid pets will not be able to enter further then here."

Kree shook her head "Only I requested access. Kree'aria of Re'eva."

The shifter nodded and started to look up Kree's request, while Kree passed Gum to Twy'la. Reluctantly, Twy'la took Gum into her grasp.

"Don't take too long." Twy'la said, and Gum seemed to ask the same with his gaze.

Kree shrugged "Well, first need to see if it got accepted. If not, we'll be out of here pretty quickly."

"Well, I can tell you already, it was accepted." The shapeshifter said, as the door to her right opened "There is a directory right after the entrance. You don't have permission to take any books out, so if you need to copy anything, do it with your own papers."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Kree nodded, before heading to the door "I'll do my best to be out as fast as I can." She said, and once she went inside, the door closed behind her.

Twy'la, for once grabbing a hold of Gum for some comfort, glanced at the librarian, who just seemed to offer her a venomous stare.

"I know what you are, Kly'ta. Your kind aren't welcome in the city. Last one that was here started to burn this very building." The shifter said, as she came from behind the counter and started to approach Twy'la.

"W-what? Why?"

"He claimed the library stood against everything H'yr stood for. That knowledge was not for all, and each needs to have their specific role and nothing more. And he would've burnt half the city were it not for the combined coordination of our forces."

Twy'la could feel the pure animosity from the shifter as she ended up with her back against a wall.

"Please, Kree'aria, hurry."

————————————————————-

After checking the Directory, Kree managed to quickly find the mythologies and legends area of the library. Which was way too big. Using the library's VI assistance, a few smaller robots gathered a list of five books for her to read. Much better.

Writing down all the names, Kree started to go over each one, skimming to see if she could find what she was looking for. The first three held nothing, and as she skimmed through the fourth, she stopped and found something that peaked her interest.

"The Seven Celestial Dragons." Kree said as she wrote it down, and continued reading "They are not actual dragons, but rather seven beings that, together, were capable of influencing entire civilizations, shaping them in different manners, and lived for millenias, if not eons. But one day, they had become divided and spread apart. There are still rumours of them appearing, but it has a known myth in the Crux arm systems of the Milky Way galaxy."

After this, there were numerous supposed accounts, varying from actual dragon sightings, to people possessed and aggressive as dragons are told to be, managing to shape civilizations via pure force. Even if it was a legend, it could still serve as a potential lead. So she wrote down "Crux arm", before closing the book and checking the fifth one. She didn't even open it, instead fixing her eyes on the author's name.

Trella.

No surname, no other details. Just Trella, and another book about myths. Though this one seemed to contain entries about civilizations that were supposedly influenced by galactic forces, and written in a way that almost gave a feel the author was there to witness all the different stories. But seeing the supposed dates made it impossible, as it would mean the author had lived for over millions of years.

Letting the library's robots take the books back to the shelves, Kree felt content with her findings, as she made her way back to the entry of the building. After knocking on the door, she got a buzz and was allowed back out, only to notice both Twy'la and Gum were gone.

"Erm, did my companions go outside?" Kree asked.

The shapeshifter just shrugged "I don't know what you are on about. You came here alone."

While Kree could feel something was off, she simply nodded "Right. I suppose I must've misremembered. Thank you."

The shapeshifter lazily waved to her as Kree stepped outside.

And she immediately came face to face with Jarvell, who had a grim expression on him.

"I'm sorry Kree. If I had known what Twy'la was, I likely would've told you to just depart immediately." Jarvell said.

Kree's eyes narrowed "What? What happened?"

Jarvell simply put a finger to his lips as he handed Gum to Kree, before gesturing to follow him. This time, they didn't use the main roads, instead going through the smaller, darker alleyways. And after walking for about 15 minutes, they arrived near the ships, and Kree's eyes widened.

Twy'la was there, tied up, and forced into a tiny pod.

There were a lot of people around, as someone who appeared to be the same race as Jarvell, only older, stood in front of the pod and raised his arms.

"Members of Water Hole! Fear not, for the cursed Kly'ta had been caught, and per our accord, will now recieve the sentencing as dictacted 80 years ago, when the previous Kly'ta had nearly burnt our library to the ground!"

Kree could feel herself getting angrier. They were about to judge Twy'la for something another member of her race did? So much for the accepting feeling she had before. She took a step forward, only to feel Jarvell's hand on her shoulders.

"You dropped someone." Jarvell said, pointing at the crowd's feet.

Not understanding what he meant, Kree following his finger, and suddenly noticed a small, pink bolb rolling between everyone. Kree didn't quite understand what Gum was thinking, when she remembered what the Kly'ta soldiers told her when she first encountered them.

"They are acidic in nature, capable of dissolving through anything."

Turning to look at Jarvell, Kree gestured to him to lean down, as she started to whisper something in his ear.

————————————————————-

In the pod, Twy'la glanced around. She tried shouting for help, but it was clear no one could hear her. This was humiliating, uncomfortable, and devestating. They would condemn her for what someone else from her species did? It made her wonder if there would be anywhere in the galaxy where people won't be out for her because of who she was.

Suddenly, Twy'la started hearing some sizzling at her feet. Looking down the best she could, she noticed tiny bubbles. As if something was causing the footing of the pod to melt. Yet it seemed like no one in front of her had noticed. The large speaker or the crowd. As a hole started to form, Twy'la's eyebrows shot up. She saw something pink, and she could hear the speaker.

"We won't let the mistakes of the past repeat! This is why we avoid the Kly'ta! They are ignorant to anyone who will not follow their own ways!" The speaker said loudly, and the crowd agreed with their calls to send her off already "We had given them a single chance, to leave immediately, but it is apparent they still chose ignorance, and will now face punishment!"

The hole at her feet slowly grew bigger, and Twy'la had to push her feet together so she wouldn't let the crowd see what was going on.

"Please, Gum, hurry." She whispered to the small Gelac, though it didn't seem to affect the pace of the melting.

Hearing someone call from behind the crowd, everyone turned their attention, including the speaker and Twy'la. It was Kree.

"You did not give any of us any indication of anything wrong! How were we supposed to know? Especially when one of us is not even local to knowledge of the Kly'ta and what they did!" Kree said, her eyes fixed on the speaker.

"That means nothing!" The speaker retaliated "You are the one who kept her ignorance!"

As the exchange continued between Kree and the speaker, Twy'la watched as Kree also started flying, to better get the attention of everyone. Twy'la's lips trembled a bit, before she suddenly felt her footing vanish, and she fell out of the pod, and right next to Gum, who also dropped onto the ground. Picking Gum up, Twy'la looked at him for a moment, before beginning to quietly head towards the Tin-Can.

"The Kly'ta escaped!" Someone in the crowd called out.

"Guess the jig is up," Kree said, before sending herself over to Twy'la, and grabbing onto her "Hang on!"

Twy'la grabbed onto Kree with one hand, while maintaining her grasp over Gum with her other, as Kree flew them right to the Tin-Can, and let them climb inside, before following them in.

"Now Jarvell!" Kree called out, making Twy'la quickly head into the cockpit, where she saw Jarvell was sitting on Kree's chair, appearing too big for the seat.

"Well damn, so much for my home here." Jarvell said as he got the ship's engine to roar, and the ship quickly took off "This baby is running better then I would've imagine Kree!"

"Thanks, but let's talk about that after we're out of here!" Kree said as she entered the cockpit and took the second seat. She glanced at Twy'la "Go sit on one of the backroom seats, they have seatbelts as well."

Twy'la nodded and went back, doing as instructed, before seeing as Gum jumped onto the bed across from her. It just looked at her, and she looked back.

"I don't know why you did that, Gelac. But thanks." Twy'la said.

Gum just blinked, as the two could feel the ship start up into the air, and then Gum was sent flying right into Twy'la's face.

"Get off me!"