Vitalus Loyalty

Komang got a small fire going between her two travel companions. The orange light from the fire brightened the space in their makeshift shelter. The fire’s light competed against the soft yellows from the magical threads that held the structure together, creating a relatively bright space. However, neither of the sleeping reoseans seemed to mind as they slept soundly. Komang noted Mel curled into a tight ball while her sister spread out as far as she could. Komang chuckled to herself before she turned to stand guard. 

Komang looked around the salt flats around them and tried to imagine what this area of VItalus might have looked like years ago. They assumed the lumber was from a ship, but maybe it was from a building. Maybe at one time, there was a bustling village in this area before something happened that caused them to abandon the area. Komang let her mind run with possibilities while her eyes watched the moons rise in the sky. When the moons were a quarter of the way through their journey across the sky, Komang turned to wake one of her companions. 

The empyrian looked between her sister and the vayron. Winona was closest to her, but Komang wanted to let her sister rest longer. Given how Winona covered most of the ground in the cramped space, Komang had no way to physically reach Mel. Komang opted to concentrate her magic into a thin whistle. Her spark had to do with noise; she could control the space a noise could affect. Only her eyes could see the whirling pale green magic forcing the whistle to reach Mel’s ears. 

Mel’s ears twitched as he twisted his body in sleep, trying to get away from the increasingly annoying sounds. Komang increased the volume of her whistle trying to force the sleeping vayron awake. Mel’s face scrunched up as he groaned loudly, letting both empyrians know he wasn’t a morning vayron. 

“What’s going on?” Winona asked as she yawned. 

“Nothing,” Komang whispered, “go back to sleep.”

“Nothing?” Mel growled, “There was an annoying whistle. Didn’t you hear it?”

Komang rolled her eyes, “That was me, my spark. It’s your turn to keep watch.”

Mel huffed and turned his body away from Komang. He used his body language to clearly refuse the idea. Winona hadn’t gone back to sleep, so she stretched and offered to take watch. 

“No,” Komang shook her head, “Mel, Winona used her magic to build this. She needs rest. It’s your turn.”

Mel didn’t turn around. He continued to ignore the empyrian talking to him. Komang, as tired as she was, became more agitated than she normally would have. She concentrated another stream of whistles to Mel. The noise she created was loud enough to keep him from sleeping. It only took a few seconds before Mel leaped to his feet and glared at Komang. 

“There is no space in here for you.” Mel hissed as he stepped over Winona. 

“I’ll stay outside, I don’t mind,” Komang said as she laid down on the ground around the makeshift structure, pleased with herself. 

Mel stayed as close to the entrance of their makeshift shelter as possible to be close to the fire’s warmth. However, he was still irritated to be awake so late in the middle of the night. Mel glared at the empyrian sleeping outside and found she was still watching him. 

“What?” Mel asked through clenched teeth. 

“Just making sure you don’t slip back inside to sleep,” Komang replied. 

“I won’t,” Mel turned away, “Go to sleep.”

Komang hummed a noise before she curled into a ball and fell asleep. Winona still hadn’t fallen asleep. She kept her eyes closed to trick her sister, but she feared the two would butt heads more than necessary, given neither of them were night owls. Winona waited a moment before she shifted and lifted her head to get Mel’s attention. 

Mel was staring at the glow from the crystal forests near the horizon. It was a clear night, so the moons were bright, and the stars clearly twinkled. There was nearly no atmosphere to cloud Mel’s vision of the floating islands further in the distance. He contemplated counting the islands as a way to pass the time, but Winona surprised him when she spoke. 

“Mel, you can go to sleep,” Winona whispered, trying not to wake Komang. 

Mel sighed, “It’s fine, just sleep. I’ll wake you when the moons are at their peak in the sky.”

Winona watched the vayron for a moment before she nodded and resumed her position in the small shelter. She fell back to sleep quickly, letting her dreams take over. Mel stared at the moons as they slowly moved across the sky. He let his thoughts wander back to his home and all the experiments he wanted to conduct. The more he thought about them, the more he wanted to wake everyone up and get moving. 

While Mel thought to himself and Winona dreamed, Komang was awake with her eyes closed. She didn’t trust that Mel wouldn’t suddenly leave them or that he wouldn’t go back to sleep. She was surprised to hear Winona offer to take his place and that he refused. For a moment, Komang considered going to sleep, satisfied he would stay to watch out for them. However, once it was clear Winona was asleep, Mel started to mumble to himself. He talked about his home and his science. Komang listened, unsure if Mel even knew he was talking to himself, and with the things he was saying, she decided she would stay awake until Winona took her turn. 

Hours passed, and Mel was staring straight up into the sky. The moons were at the height that noted midnight, and that, to his relief, meant it was Winona’s turn to watch. Mel shifted and roughly woke Winona. 

Winona was shaken awake. Her eyes cracked open to stare at Mel as he roughly shoved her. She knew she was fairly heavy when she relaxed, and it seemed to cause Mel some issues because he looked like it took quite a bit of energy to move her. Winona yawned to signal he could stop shaking her. Mel shoved her once more before stepping back. 

“You’re quite rude,” Winona muttered as she moved to leave the shelter. 

Mel didn’t respond with words. He grunted at her before moving to the back of the shelter and curling into the tight ball again. Winona couldn’t tell if he was asleep, but with his action just moments ago, she didn’t care. Winona stepped out of the shelter and took vigil. She stared at all things that made Vitalus, Vitalus, before she turned to look at her sister. It was clear to her that Komang wasn’t asleep. 

“You should be sleeping,” Winona gently spoke. 

“I didn’t trust him,” Komang mumbled and kept her eyes closed. 

Winona lightly laughed but left her sister alone to sleep. She turned back to the clear Vitalus night. The moons’ light made visibility nearly perfect as far as night visibility went. While she stared at the glowing places off in the distance, she noticed that Komang’s breathing evened out, signaling she was truly asleep. Winona turned slightly to watch the irritable vayron and found that he was shifting restlessly. She wondered briefly what he was dreaming about but quickly turned back to watch the moons. 

Hours passed, and Winona didn’t move. She took her watching duties quite seriously. When it was time for another reosean to take watch, Winona woke her sister. 

“It’s time,” Winona gently said as she poked at her sister. 

Komang stretched and took in the sky. The moons were setting and the sun was rising. The morning lights were quickly brightening the salt flats around them. 

“Maybe it’s time to wake Mel,” Komang suggested, “We can get an early start.”

Winona nodded, “Good idea.”

Winona used her magical threads to dismantle the shelter. The pieces of lumber fell away from Mel as he slept through the sounds of wood hitting the ground. Komang tried to wake him, but he seemed deeply asleep. Unexpectedly, Winona suggested that her sister use a bit more force. She said it could be karma for how Mel had woken her up. Komnag didn’t try to change her sister’s mind; she let Winona roughly shake the vayron awake. 

“Hey!” Mel growled as he jumped to his paws. 

“It’s time to go,” Winona smiled sweetly, “We wanted to get an early start.”

Mel growled some more while he looked around the salt flats. He looked at the sun as it peaked over the horizon and agreed with his empyrian companions. The trio wandered off towards the Vitalus border that is closest to Roenden. By the end of their travels together, there was no love lost when they parted waits rigidly. 

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