Starsong

Scene 14

{--} Tok {--}

          "Mgnmm..."

          Tok gasped for breath on the floor, wide-eyed and in shock, barely processing the mumbles around him. The hunters had found him, he-- he'd been falling, and now--

          "We're alive!" He heard Piya cry, her voice full and ecstatic, "And I don't even feel hurt! Do you guys feel hurt?"

          "No!" Tok heard Aro's voice, heard his hooves clatter against the stone as he stood. He was a little more breathless, but clearly recovering faster than Tok was, "I-- I'm not! Not at all! Oh-- Heros!" Tok felt Aro's hooves pounding against the stone floor as he ran over to his brother.

          "I'm fine." Heros's soft, firm voice came to reassure his little brother, "Just-- Just get me out of these nets, and then--"

          "Hey!" Piya suddenly leaned down into Tok's view as he continued to gasp on the floor, paralyzed, "Are you okay?"

           Tok just blinked. He could barely answer. He was... He was alive. And he wasn't hurt. He just... Stopped falling. He opened his mouth to reassure her, but couldn't think clearly enough to actually put words together.

          "Hey! Tok! Hiii-- Heros, is he okay?"

          "I'm a little tangled up right now, Piya." Heros said, not unkindly, sounding completely disoriented himself. There were a few seconds of silence from him, then, "Where are we...?"

          Tok could see quite a bit from where he was on the ground-- the flooring and walls were made of dark gray marble bricks, a wide archway before him with all sorts of gold detailing glittering along it. Tok finally managed to take a deep breath and prop himself up a little, managing a weak, "I'm-- I'm alright." He looked around, taking it all in now-- they were in a circular chamber, archways in every direction-- five of them. There was no clear signage, the gold details the same no matter which archway you looked at. "...And I don't... know where we are."

          "Oh, good!" Piya grinned, and Tok stared in confusion for a few seconds before she went on, "I thought because it burned me when I used it but you didn't look burned, maybe it did something to you so you couldn't talk! But you're fine! Wonder why."

          Tok blinked-- why was he okay? He'd used it just like Piya did... To be fair, he didn't feel powerful, and he hadn't been glowing like she did, but he didn't understand what they'd done differently.

          It's not like I'm any more clean of magic than she is, after all. He thought, somewhat bitterly, the pearl still pulsing between his shoulderblades.

          "I'm okay." He tried to reassure Piya. Maybe it was the pearl protecting him. But if it was... He couldn't talk about it. He couldn't let them know, any of them. If they knew... Well... It's not like they were safe, anyway. Not now that... they had found him.

          Tok curled in a little tighter, almost unconsciously. He remembered the moment of cold horror when they had pulled out his hairpiece-- what had he been thinking, throwing it away?! For some reason, traveling with Ren had made him feel invincible, like they would never be able to find him again. He had been wrong, so wrong. And now he'd dragged three other people into who-knows-where and they might never be able to get out and--

          "Hey, um, Tok." Heros's voice came, cutting off his spiral, though he seemed a little choked up himself, "Do you think you can, uh, help me out? This net is pretty tough..."