Kulipari: Seeds and Weeds

The Snakes

Everyone stood on high alert. The 3 frogs were Kulipari, with their bright colors, but you couldn't trust all Frogs.

The speaker was the tallest one, a purple and yellow frog who carried a bo staff. The ends were both encased in metal.

Derel stepped forward. "Hello. I am Derel, the..."

"Blue sky king." The small group finished in mocking tones.

"Son of Apari and Acala." The male frog, bright blue and neon green, said.

"Brother to Tipi, Tharta, and Thuma." The female frog, yellow, orange, and teal, hissed.

"Hey! I am the oldest triplet!" Thuma cried out before her siblings shushed her.

"Student of Jir." The Spider took up the chant.

"And seer of the Rainbow Snake's vision." The Scorpion finished.

"Do you know who we are?" The tallest one asked.

Silence engulfed the room. The Kulipari stood in attack stance, the representatives were ready for anything, and if looks could kill, they would all drop dead from the tall frog's slitted gaze.

And all that stood between them was Darel.

He cleared his voice. "Well, no. Care to introduce yourselves?"

The five all shared a look, as if they hadn't been expecting someone to ask who they were, thought they didn't seem surprised they were not known.

The tall one shrugged.

The female frog stepped forward. "I'm Parasite." She hooked her thumb to the male frog. "He's Sac."
The spider. "He's Webber." The Scorpion. "She's Husk." The tall frog. "They're Kuli."

"Kuli." Wilka scoffed. "As in Kulipari?"

"Well, yes." Kuli said. "You see, growing up, I didn't have a name, but everyone called me Kulipari. For the longest time, I thought that was my name. Shortened it to Kuli when I learned the Kulipari are a group and not a who."

"Oh."

"Anywho..."

"Wait, wait. Wait a minute." Burnu stepped forward. "What do you mean you didn't have a name? And how come you weren't brought up and trained by Sergu?"

Kuli smirked. "Koa and Wilka were not trained by your Turtle King. Koa was raised by Geckos."

There were gasps. Not many people knew of their latest members' origins.

"As for the name...no one ever cared to give me one." Their eyes flickered to the ground for a moment before looking to Darel again. "We are the Snakes."

"You don't look like snakes to me." Gee pointed out.

Husk growled at him. Kuli ignored him.

"We are..."

"Excuse me." Corah stepped forward. "I was wondering if I could take some samples of your poison."

The other Kulipari stared at her open-mouthed.

"You don't just ask someone for a sample of their poison!" Dingo cried. "Especially strangers, especially strange strangers, like these." She gave the newcomers the side eye.

"And why," Sac asked. "Would you need samples of our poison?"

Corah shot a look to Jir.

"An unsolved poisoning we had a couple of months ago. Nearly killed one of our most valued people."

All six of the strangers eyes flicked to Jir. And then they burst out laughing.

"Do you--do you think that's funny?" Dingo said in rage. "Jir nearly died!"

"Not-not-not that!" Husk said as she tried to get her grating laughter under control. "But-but-but--"

"How do you not know?!" Webber cackled. "Everyone else in the outbacks does. Guess Nova Australias never got the news!"

"Wait so, you know who poisoned Jir? How?" Deral questioned, suspicious.

"Some of the Scorpions have spread it around." Husk explained. "Scorp by the name of Caz poisoned the old frog."

The triplets gasped in horror, momentarily forgetting about Koa.

"But Stinger joined up with him!" Thuma said.

"He didn't know..." Tharta began.

Kuli cackled harder and louder. "Caz has already been taken care of."

"His body on the sandy ground." Sac giggled.

"Poisoned." Parasite snickered.

"By the lord he wanted himself!" Webber tittered.

"You mean...Stinger killed him?" Darel asked.

They stopped laughing and looked at the Blue Sky King as if he was stupid.

"No, he made him take up medical care. What do you think!" Husk rolled her eyes. "Personally, I think it was the right thing to do. It was a justified scorpion punishment. And unlike Marmoo, it was a good reason. The guy tried to kill one of your people."

Silence regained. More out of shock than anything.

"Well, thank you for telling us this. We will all sleep safer knowing the culprit is forever gone." Deral said. "Now if that is all you came here to tell us..."

"We are here," Kuli said forcefully. "For the people who live out in the Swamps of Terra Australias. You need to cut some roots you have allowed to spread too far."

Deral was taken aback. "What do you mean."

Husk laughed grimly. Sac and Parasite slitted their eyes at him.

"Your Kulipari wallflower has become a weed that is choking out all life in the Outback."