Free the Feesh

Ylli and Hotaru often worked together. Hotaru wasn’t a stranger to Ylli’s work habits and discipline. She didn’t trust Ylli because they worked together — although that was, admittedly, a large part of it — but rather because they were friends. And because they met through work. So work was a big thing for Hotaru. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, she felt it would be wrong if it wasn’t like that. And still, in the spaces between their jobs, she’d gotten to know Ylli differently, as more than her armour.

That meant that Hotaru was also able to predict her friend’s actions accurately.

“Oh, this sucks,” Ylli moaned as they crossed an icy white expanse. “I don’t want to be here. Why, oh why couldn’t we have gotten stuck on an exotic world with an island, beach bars and a friendly populace which would’ve welcomed us with open arms? I would’ve had to trudge through slush and ice just to get things done! Oh, I should’ve been a citizen!”

Ylli continued for a while, and she’d probably continue this trade. After all, she’d been on it the better part of the hour, but Hotaru was so used to this that she didn’t even mind. In her mind, she translated all of this — the whole hour of this — into a simple sentence.

In Ylli’s world, all this meant: I’m going to cause some trouble.

And Hotaru was there to make sure nothing big was caught up in said trouble.

After all, Neo Maera was just another planet on their long wishlist, but even though they’d touched down, it remained unconquered. No matter; Hotaru wasn’t worried about the timeline, only actions, and having Ylli prance about meant that she had to be aware of their surroundings. Thankfully, there wasn’t much to be worried about at all. The locals called this sight the Grand Lake. It was a simple name, if accurate, and thankfully Hotaru cared little for geography, otherwise she’d probably go crazy trying to tell a Tall Mountain from Planet A from a Tall Mountain from Planet B. Ylli was even less worried; it seemed it was all the same to her.

The snowy cover was thick on this part of Neo-Maera, but it didn’t present a problem for the two of them. After all, they hovered about, although Hotaru snuck paranoid glances around, just in case. They weren’t welcome there, that much was clear, and even though the local populace was filling her with child-like annoyance in their attempts to remain sovereign, she could at least respect their tenacity. And she didn’t want to come into contact with them. She wasn’t afraid of being hurt or something ridiculous like that. She was worried about hurting them, and what consequences it could have.

Or rather, she was worried about Ylli hurting them.

So Hotaru liked her. Fine. She was a good soldier, and she was great as a friend, too. Hotaru thought Ylli was pretty alright on a personal matter, towards her. How Ylli acted towards others — in that, well, laid the actual problem. And by Arma Caeli's standards, this was alright in most of the situations which involved invasion and subjugation. Anything else, however, and Ylli needed a guardian around her. Hotaru just happened to be the only person who could talk any sense into Ylli when she got into one of her moods.

“Look!” Ylli exclaimed so suddenly that Hotaru’s entire core shivered in shock. With Ylli, everything seemed to be an attack, and it was never clear who was doing the attack. “There’s a person underneath!”

Hotaru did a double-take.

“What,” she said, but it sounded more like a statement and less like a question. “Where, Ylli?”

“Here, right beneath the ice!” As Ylli flitted about, throwing snow left and right so she could reveal the ice beneath, Hotary hovered warily. She looked around just in case, but there wasn’t a person to be seen around. No one was around to see them, and that was good; Hotaru didn’t want them to be noticed.

Well, no one — unless the potential person, what, floating beneath the waves?

“Ylli!” She shouted to establish authority and then quieted down when her voice echoed around the lake. “Get back here. What if it’s a corpse?”

“Then I’ll see a brand new corpse from Neo Maera,” Ylli’s armour, so reminiscent of purple tentacles, waved her off at its owner’s command. “I wonder what colour they’d be.”

By the time Hotaru reached her, Ylli was already on her knees on the ice, gloved hands dispersing the accumulated snow. Hotaru leaned down intending to hiss something at her, but she stopped dead in her tracks when a face, indeed, had peered up at her from beneath the ice. And not a dead face, either.

It was hard to tell beneath the distortion of the snow, but it seemed like the person was smiling, maybe. They were definitely tapping the ice above them, and it had taken Hotaru a moment to realize that this meant that they were, indeed, trapped beneath layers of sturdy ice.

“Ylli!” She shouted again. “Do we free them?”

“Yes!” Ylli shouted immediately. Vis, manifested in neon blue for Ylli, flashed around them, nearly before the word had left her mouth, and Hotaru had all the reasons to believe that Ylli’s excitement came from the fact that she finally got to kick something, and not her undying wish to save the person below. Did the person even need saving? Hotaru would bet on a “no”.

It had taken them a while. Still, as soon as a small crack had been made, the person was able to gesticulate and show them where the ice was weaker. They were strange. They were really strange. They had a tail — but not a mechanical one like the seraphic armour sported, but what seemed to be e real one. Hotaru had thought it was a piece of clothing until she’d seen it cut the waves Ylli made. They only raised slightly, up to their waist, and they had fins, which, well, that made sense.

They were a new species on this planet.

Finally, she thought. Finally, their foray into Neo Maera had yielded something useful

Ylli, too, looked interested. Hotaru supposed that there would be no harm in her finding out something more about this. As Ylli chatted up the — mermaid? — Hotaru decided to make herself sparse, for just a bit. After all, some things could only be acquired with trust. She hated to leave it to Ylli, but well—

As she walked away, the snow cover on the ice thinned, and she stopped. Beneath the ice, many more creatures twined and twirled, their tails dark and colourful alike, and they kept coming towards the surface. Well, Hotaru thought. Maybe she should stay after all.