Reasons to Exhale

After the god's disappearance, Rakshal expected shocked silence in his wake. Much to his surprise, people reacted in a different manner, one of fear. The citizens who witnessed the moment were pulled away by others, spoke in hushed words, skittering past as quickly as they could, as if the god's presence still lingered. For all they knew, he did, and he was likely hungry, they thought; a strange response to have considering what just occurred in which he pointedly showed no interest in eating.

Their reaction was also offset by the God Charmers who clapped and cheered, gave one another words of praise. Rakshal watched them with bewildered curiosity. From what he knew of them, the Moshuni noh Shisheni were a nomadic group wellversed in divine lore and myth. No one was certain why they decided to sing songs about the gods and other divines, but he was told that if he ever needed surfacelevel information about the divine, he could ask them.

He stared at them for a few moments, then turned to leave, deciding to keep his thoughts about Aashubhanay's repeating appearance in the city at bay for now.

His nostrils twitched, and he looked down a street off to the side. It was dark, but he still made out a figure approaching from within.

"Yo, Monsar," said Jakumar, giving an idle wave. He walked no further than where the darkness ended and the light began.

Rakshal huffed. "What do you want, Turaemi?"

"Gotta talk to you in Chicheol. Quan got a lead on that thing you were talking to him about."

His attention piqued, he began to step closer, but he minded himself. "And why can't we talk about this in the open?"

Broad shoulders shrugged. "'Cause we don't want to." Jakumar turned. "It's up to you, really I was just told to pass the message."

Rakshal frowned. A lead on Keekaa. He sucked his teeth, not unaware he didn't have his weapon with him. I'd better not regret this…

He weaved through some people walking down the street as he approached the older man. Jakumar flashed a small smile of acknowledgement as he led the way.

"Didn't think I'd find you here," he admitted, hands in his pockets. "It's so fuckin' noisy at the Isay Baanen, I thought you'd go nowhere near it."

"I have my reasons," Rakshal grumbled. "Why were you looking for me?"

Jakumar frowned. "I don't know what Quan's going to talk about, but Osharswan was spotted at the procession."

Rakshal almost stopped in place. "Right now?"

"A few minutes ago, maybe twenty?"

Twenty minutes? His eyes went wide before lowering to stare at the passing pavement. "I sensed something, but I thought it was a shishen."

"What do you mean?"

"My mother; her forous feels a certain way."

"Is she divine?"

Meeting a deeply curious gaze, he shook his head. "I don't think so. I never bothered to ask what she is."

While Jakumar gave him a disbelieving look, Rakshal's own words made him pause in realization.

Why didn't he ever ask his mother what she was? He always assumed she was a bashmut, a mortal, like all other Faifethin. He did know she was Faifethinborn, as she had to be if she was a Wasihl by birth, but that meant little if her forous reminded him of a divine.

"Keep up."

Jakumar ran ahead with jooryovaa. Taking a moment to watch after him, Rakshal's lips pursed in thought. He would have to truly consider this once he was alone.

He came to Jakumar's side, a deep crease between his brows, and ran in perturbed silence.

Eventually, they came to a deadend street at a wall Before Rakshal could inquire why, Jakumar turned to the left—

"Wait—" Rakshal reached out, only to watch the man disappear…around a corner?

He heard a soft creak, then Jakumar's voice became faint as he called, "C'mon."

Stuttering, Rakshal took a brief glance around to make sure no one was near before following.

There was an illusion of a wall to the left, yet it actually led to another, shorter dead end An opened door in the ground was disguised as a drain, and Rakshal sensed his companion further below in sulphurscented darkness. He quickly walked down a few steps before closing the heavy door behind him.

Immediately, the sulphur smell intensified. He was so accustomed to it that it did little more than bring back old memories, some of which were painful.

At the very bottom of a long, rocky staircase, a bright light flashed at him. It wasn't lamplight, confusing him, until he noticed it was white; a flashlight.

Instead of taking the long trek down the perilous stairs, he jumped. He fell for a good minute, watching the light zoom closer, before landing beside Jakumar. Rising from a crouch, he followed after him through a cragged and mazelike underground course.

As they navigated, Rakshal heard distant activity, from troglobites to water dripping. It reminded him of how perilous such entrances to Chicheol were; monsoon season and rainstorms made them particularly so.

Jakumar led the way up until the path straightened, then Rakshal came to his side. In the companionable silence, he was given time to think.

Then, in the distance, a warm light came into view. The moment it did, Jakumar disappeared with jooryovaa again. Rakshal raced to catch up with him using his own natural capabilities.

Sounds of activity and rumbling reached his ears as the light became brighter; still dim in comparison to the natural light of day, but easy on the eyes.

"Chicheol," Rakshal sighed, slowing alongside his companion as Yake Meresta's underworld revealed itself.

Jakumar leaned back, spreading his coat to shove his hands in his pants' pockets. "Yeah. Home, I guess."

They slowly walked forward; Jakumar seemed to understand how unique the moment was and allowed Rakshal some seconds to look around.

Fire danced above on the rocky ceiling, whereas water echoed below, rushing through high and low canals and from waterfalls beside twostory buildings. Perilous bridges lacking rails ran from ledge to ledge where those who dared sat with their legs dangling off the ends. It was no different everywhere else; every bridge, every edge, everything lacked a rail to prevent someone from falling to the deep, watery depths.

A smile pulled at Rakshal’s lips, his gaze panning from the upper levels where stalactites hung in strategic spots to the midlevels. Though the pyromantic fire on the ceiling kept the majority of the underworld lit, warm lantern lights dotted the locations where one could go indoors. Flashing white lights indicated people walking about and, surprisingly, there were far more here, in Yake Meresta’s underworld, than in other places he had visited and lived in before.

“Sure took your damn time.”

He leveled his gaze as Quan approached alongside another, slightly familiar man from a low path to the right.

"Shut up. I had to find this one near the Isay Baanen." Jakumar nudged his head at Rakshal.

A scarred brow rose, grey eyes focusing on Rakshal. They weren't critical, but Rakshal felt the urge to explain himself—

“Whatever.” Quan waved a hand dismissively, then motioned to the new man. “This is Shouhei, fellow pirate; you’ve met him before, Rakshal. He’s got someone inside the palace who saw Osharswan.”

Like Quan, the man’s eyes were grey, but they were a darker shade. Bearing reddish brown hair and tattooed on his face, he was evidently older than all of them, as he bore a full beard.

Shouhei flashed a smile that quickly straightened. “Osharswan is a woman,” he announced. “A…very tall woman; maybe 7’5’’—”

“That’s my mother,” Rakshal blurted before anyone could react. “Did she say anything?”

Three pairs of eyes looked hard at him, but he stared back just as intensely at Shouhei. Briefly glancing at Quan, Shouhei began, “Are you sur—”

“I’m positive.”

“Ah…” Shouhei took a moment, then responded, “No, she didn’t say anything.”

“Did she seem okay?”

“Not a bit. She reeked of potent alcohol, but she didn’t seem intoxicated. Just distant and aloof, avoiding eye contact unless expressly ordered.”

“What is her position in the military?”

Shouhei lightly folded his arms, shaking his head. “She doesn’t have one, but she seems to be the ‘right hand’ of Saynab’s—and only Saynab.” His eyes slanted. “I recall being told that the Yerou’yan and yeroi could be ordered to use her, though”

Rakshal softly growled. The Yerou’yan, comprised of merely two people, were the High Generals, those who protected the throne directly. Generals were beneath them on the military hierarchy. He wasn’t surprised to hear the empress wanted to keep his mother close.

“How did your contact come to meet her?” Jakumar asked, lips quirked suspiciously.

Shouhei nodded in understanding. “My contact’s been in the military for just over a hundred cycles and managed to make it to rank of captain in that time.”

“Impressive,” Quan hummed.

“As for how and why, all captains were just recently informed of and confirmed her presence. It seems to be something they had to do, likely so they know to leave her alone if they see her doing something. Though my contact described her as the ‘right hand’, there is no official status for her, meaning she doesn’t have any identification outside of a plaque.” Shouhei looked at Rakshal. “All the captains were told about her, aside from seeing her personally and of her unofficial position, is that she’s a ‘volatile, drunk irratai’.”

Brows shot to their hairlines as Jakumar and Quan processed this. “Irratai…?” Quan murmured, slowly panning his gaze to meet Rakshal’s. “Your mom’s an irratai?”

Rakshal crossed his arms. “Yeah, gotta problem with that?”

The pirate leaned closer, a hint of humor in his narrowing eyes. “She is your adopted mom, right?”

“Fuck yourself. The condition isn’t hereditary.” Rakshal looked away and walked forward to stare out at the underworld, tail swishing with irritation.

It made no sense, and he found himself gritting his teeth.

“Is it true you want to get into the palace?” Shouhei asked behind him.

“Yeah.”

“There’s a perilous underground system beneath the Saralat that even few soldiers know about. It’s not impossible to get into, but so far only kids have been able to go far.”

“Kids?”

“You have to be lithe and slender to get in, unless you want to make a ruckus using yousotyu. Seems like moving the rocks around is occasionally necessary but particularly dangerous since it’s the foundation of the entire citypalace.”

There was a moment of silence, and he felt keen eyes observe him.

“You’re just small enough, but it’d be good to have backup just in case, if you plan on going forward that way.”

Slowly, he nodded. “Alright”

Quan neared. “You sure, Rakshal?”

He twitched at the genuine concern in the man’s voice. “Yeah. Certain.” His tail flickered stiffly, betraying his emotions. Dammit. “I need to do this,” he murmured

“You sure your mom—”

“No, Galang. I’m not,” he snapped with a vehement growl, “but by the sound of things, she isn’t well. I’m not going to leave her to that bitch to experience what is undoubtedly torture.”

A soft sigh. “Alright But you should have a backup. Got any?”

He was quiet. After a moment of thinking, his tail relaxed. “I do.” He bit the inside of his mouth. “Gotta go to Lougui Vanai, though…”

“Good. Go with him, Jak,” said Quan .

His friend audibly sputtered. “Wh—?”

There was a grunt, followed by thumps and quick movement. Rakshal glanced back as the friends briefly and abruptly wrestled, brows furrowed with confusion.

Standing a short distance away, Shouhei simply gave a patient sigh.

“Alright, fine! Goddamn…” Jakumar growled as Quan held his right arm behind his back in a twisted position Rakshal had never seen before.

Chuckling, Quan released him, smirking when his friend emitted a loud cry while taking his arm back. “All that muscle and—”

“Fuck you,” Jakumar grunted, shaking his arm out. He gave his shorter friend a glare, but Rakshal could see a smirk on his face.

Rakshal frowned. “You don’t have to come with me, if you don’t want to.”

“I want to.”

“Are you…?” He raised his gaze .

Jakumar cracked his neck side to side while flashing a genuine smile. “Yeah, don’t worry about it. You need a guide anyway, and I got a map.”

“Couldn’t I just use the map?”

“Fuck no,” he scoffed. “It’s mine, I won a hard bet for it.”

Quan’s face twisted .“Yeah, and it nearly killed you—”

Jakumar all but jumped Quan, taking his friend by surprise as he clamped his mouth shut. “Aht aht! We don’t talk about that, remember?”

Rolling his eyes, Quan nodded with a deep, patient exhale.

“Wait.” Rakshal cocked his head to the side. He did trust Quan, at the very least, but… “Why are any of you even interested in helping?”

Shouhei shrugged. “We are merely among many who are interested in taking the empire down.”

“I’m not interested in that, I just want to get my mother.”

The older man made an easy smile. “Our interests happen to align quite naturally.”

Moving Jakumar’s hand away, Quan explained, “We believe in you, and we think you can help us.”

Rakshal’s tail flicked. “I can’t afford to do favors.”

“Yes, but we want to help you, sincerely.”

“Why?”

“You must be aware of the Wasihl conspiracy.”

He relaxed, nodding with understanding.

They believed the Wasihls were meant to be the true imperial family, not the Raakhirahs. It was an old conspiracy that began around the time the Malaki Faifeth’hai began to hunt his family down.

“I admit I’ve never met someone willing to risk their lives for their belief in it,” he said, turning to face and approach the older men.

“Oh, several people here believe in it, want to have it happen, and see it happen in their lifetimes. That involves risking their lives.” Quan looked around, nodding at some thought. “Yeah, in fact, in recent times, more and more people are beginning to believe in it.”

This gave Rakshal a spark of hope, but he didn’t express i.t “There has to be a reason for that.”

“That is due, in part, to my contact,” Shouhei admitted, then shook his head, “but he quite literally gave me a smile and never explained how when I asked him.”

Rakshal nodded. “It’ll do, for now.”

“Ay, Jak.” Quan removed the bag on his back and threw it to Jakumar, who caught it with ease .

“C’mon.” Jakumar pulled it on his back and motioned for Rakshal to follow .

Approaching, Rakshal took a moment to pass a smile at the pirates. “Thank you”

Both men waved him off, as if they didn’t care for the thanks.

“Fuckers,” he scoffed, grinning when Quan stuck out a pierced tongue.

“Monsar!” Jakumar called.

“Oh, shut up!” Rakshal neared the entrance, coming to his side. “We have to go to Qudu anyway. My weapon’s there.”

His companion nodded, then raced ahead. He gave one last look back to see Shouhei and Quan walking away in conversation, then ran down the hall.

After getting his rucksack from Qudu, Rakshal met up with Jakumar at the entrance to the city. Passing under a tall arch where the Isay Baanen ended on the south end, Rakshal noticed something. The people were a bit more normal here, even just past the entrance, dressed in less fancy clothes unless they were in the process of entering Yake Meresta. There were more animals and carriages, and from his view, he could see land going for miles beyond and tall buildings over the horizon.

They approached a short building at the right of the city wall where small vehicles were harbored Jakumar told him to wait a minute before entering, leaving him to peoplewatch.

Less cityfolk gave him the eye upon seeing his tail, and he also spotted more people with defects walking to and fro. Only then did he realize he hadn’t seen anyone in the city who bore them.

Well, that’s unnerving…

The sound of a small airship approaching brought his gaze back to the building. He spotted Jakumar with a speeder coming around from the side after a moment. A small smile pulled at his lips upon seeing the vehicle.

Small enough for one to four people, not counting carryons, speeders were airships made for, as the name suggested, speed over practicality. Boatlike in shape, this one carried a single mast and two sails. As typical of most speeders, there was only one pilot who had to stand, and that person was a ponytailed Jakumar as he brought it over.

It stopped in front of Rakshal, and Jakumar beckoned him over with a nudge of his head. “Get on. We got a ways to go until we hit Lougui; should make it by nightfall.”

Rakshal climbed in from behind, found a comfortable spot, and strapped himself in. While pulling the belt across his lap, the speeder took off, nearly putting him flat on his back.

“Damn, how fast is this thing?!” he shouted above the whisking wind, pulling his hair into a ponytail like his companion.

“Faster than average!” Jakumar cackled. “You should know it’s commonplace to get one’s speeder modified in Khabeyht!”

Shaking his head, Rakshal found the lever beneath his seat and lowered himself so his head was level with the sides of the vehicle.

“Wake me when we get there,” he said, then caught himself.

Those were his last words to his mother.

He clenched his jaw and turned to look at the land speeding by. As sudden sadness overcame him, he shut his eyes while sending a prayer to Atiti Yiwa.

Uneven movement and the sound of distant roaring forced Rakshal out of a light slumber. Startling, he shot upright from a supine position and spread his senses out.

“It’s alright,” a familiar voice said softly, bringing his attention to Jakumar’s crouching figure at his upper right.

As his sight adjusted in the dark, the distant smell of ocean registered in his nostrils. “We’re here?” he asked, unbuckling himself while looking into the direction of the roaring.

“Yeah. Got a problem, though.” Jakumar handed him an eyeglass from within his coat and pointed to the east.

Though certain he didn’t need it, Rakshal took it in hand as he stood, then followed Jakumar’s finger and looked through.

The landscape spreading before them mainly consisted of open grassland before a dense forest in a sandy beachside. He couldn’t see the ocean, but it was close. As for the source of the roaring and snarling, the undeniable movement of large greenish creatures was impossible to miss despite the foliage. There were a few of them, and they appeared to be fighting over something, likely food if he had to take a guess.

“Damn,” he muttered, sucking his teeth. “What are they doing this close to the ocean…?”

Jakumar made an equally confused sound. “They’ve been there for a while. Tried to get some sleep myself,” he scoffed.

Some of the monsters emerged from the forest, causing Rakshal to grimace at their appearances. They were nothing natural, rancid chimeras of normal creatures and whatever they had mutated from after becoming infected with a horrid infection called fasukma. From the looks of these—completely indistinguishable from an animal and impossible to describe much more than dripping green ooze from orifices—there was a possibility they were born of an infected creature.

Including, possibly, a bashmut.

He shuddered with disgust at the thought, then noticed some animals higher in the trees. He saw several birds at the highest canopies as well as monkeys, out of the reach of the monsters. He lowered and handed the eyeglass back to his companion.

“This gonna get in the way of finding your friend?” Jakumar asked.

“Shouldn’t. Bashud are more intelligent than bashmut most times.” Rakshal stepped out of the speeder. “This shouldn’t take long.”

Before the older man could inquire what he meant, he ran ahead with long strides. The distance between him and the forest quickly closed, but the monsters didn’t react.

He picked up in speed, taking shorter steps, before putting energy into his legs and vaulting himself off the ground in a long jump. He landed high in a tree at the start of the forest, then waited a moment to see if he had been spotted as the tree swayed. When the monsters continued fighting, causing whole trees to collapse in their wake, he narrowed his eyes.

Shabh, as Faifethin called them, were more intelligent than they let on. The problem with their intellect was how they displayed it, randomizing in the most unpredictable ways. Rakshal had experienced enough of them to remember this, thus he believed at least one of the monsters had noticed his arrival.

Instead of venturing further into the greenery, he called out with a chirplike screech, brief and slightly melodic.

The shabh appeared unaffected by it, but he kept his eye on them.

His call echoed unnaturally over the forest, and after a few seconds, there was a response. Hooting and chirping neared as a small brown and black monkey swung towards him from out of the verdant canopies. It didn’t hoot for long, though it made soft chirps the closer it approached.

A wide smile spread on his face as the monkey crawled onto his outstretched arm. “S’been a while, old friend,” he greeted, chuckling as it patted his head.

Growling brought his attention to the ground. A shabh neared, its lime green eyes focused on him and drooling dark green blood from a crooked jaw.

He considered jumping away, but he didn’t want to bring it back to Jakumar if it chose to pursue him. Additionally, it could bring another with it.

He huffed, then brandished his bou and emitted a loud growl as it extended in his hand. The creature didn’t flinch until he tried to intimidate it by manifesting the metaphysical weight of his bodaiiva, the divine variant of a Faifethin’s power, upon it. It flinched, gauged him with bright beady eyes, then turned and ran off on all fours.

Waiting only a moment to ensure it wasn’t coming back or would be replaced by another, he turned and bounded back to the speeder in a single jump.

Upon landing, Jakumar, who had been dozing, cracked open an eye. He then blinked fully when he saw the chirping animal on Rakshal’s shoulder. “That’s your backup?” he asked, deadpan.

“Yeah.” Rakshal climbed into the speeder. When his companion didn’t move, looking as if he was trying to wrap his head around the concept, he merely buckled himself in.

He watched the older man finally shrug and move to the pilot’s position. “What’s your friend’s name, anyway?” he asked as the vehicle briefly powered up and rose off the ground.

The monkey cooed while tightly grasping Rakshal’s coat as they took off. Holding it close, a smile formed on his face, and he murmured a name.

“What?” came the shout above the wind.

A fond memory came to mind, one so old, he barely remembered the details. He gave the small form a gentle but firm hug.

Raising his voice, he repeated, “His name is Goku.”