Chapter 2 - A Friend's Push
V rolled in the cubby, the tattered and soiled blanket strained and pulled, but held together like a stiff sweat-tempered sock. The scratchy threadbare and patching weave strained against her green skin, foul beads stirring her from slumber. The din of the constant squabbling snapped into focus, the twisting tunnels of the warren offered no privacy or refuge. Her yellow eyes opened to see that hook-nosed and boil-riddled brute, Muck, shoving and pushing his sister aside to claim V’s sleeping nook.
“Get! Get!” Muck bellowed, turning his attention to V, “GET!”
His bony, gnarled digits reached out, but V rolled towards him. The blanket unfurled and her hand caught the top of the rocky frame to turn and deliver the soles of her feet straight into Muck’s ribcage. With feline grace, V twisted and drove Muck into the mud and began to frantically slap him as Leaf stole away into the vacated cubby. Muck flailed his hands in a bicycling motion and V stepped off his chest no sooner than he roared, “Feh! Feckless qued!”
Leaf’s smarmy grin disarmed Muck and the brute shrugged and dismissively flung his hands into the air, “Did me a favor, Leaf! Enjoy smelling like a qued.”
V turned to Leaf as Muck retreated from the cubby, disappearing down the tunnel towards the common room. Perhaps in search of a bed or an easier fight. Neither mattered to V. As an outcast and fated to be at the bottom of the social order, Leaf was the only one V could call a friend. Leaf was an uncommon name, but it suited her. Her skin had a verdant hue, reminiscent of poison oak in summer, with delicate, faint red spots scattered across the tips of her ears and throughout the rest of her body. The one place the speckles did not touch was the top of her head.
Leaf giggled and curled up in the soiled blanket, “Muck never changes.”
“Could have gotten me that time,” V raised her foot and scraped the sole against the bottom of the stone frame of the cubby, “Ew. Got Muck’s muck on me.”
“Not the worst kind of muck to step into,” Leaf continued to grin, “Bear his child and move up. You will be family. And I will give you a true name. A new name.”
“Never.” V crossed her arms, “Never!”
Leaf's eyes widened at the harsh rejection and rolled over with a grumble, “Filthy qued.”
V’s mouth fell open at the insult, but no words followed. Then it hit her. Her breath hitched for a moment and an apology got stuck in her throat. She choked on the words and Leaf cautioned a backward glance. She was not allowed to utter an apology to a qued, but she offered her hand willingly for a slap or a twist. V stared at it and turned away in shame.
“The dream?” Leaf asked, already sure of the answer.
“Yes,” V raised her hand to her forehead and began to vigorously massage her bald scalp, “Those creatures… Mahn was it? Mahn killing Mahn. The tortures of Mahn. I do not understand it, but I am…”
“You are a Gobbo!” she insisted with frustration, “Qued or not! You were born into the same sacred mud as the rest of us. You have to fight this curse! Tame the nightmares! That is what the Great Mother would say.”
“How?” V glanced back at Leaf with a curious look.
“Ask the Great Mother; she would not refuse even a qued child. She has to listen. She always listens to children. And help them.” Leaf forced the smile, unsure if that was true, “Tell her of the curse. She will guide you. And while you are there; find your path before it is chosen for you.”
“Or beat me senseless and throw me out of the warren,” V snapped.
“That is better than what will happen if you don’t choose a path before the Black Moon.” Leaf turned over and sought the comfort of sleep, “Better Muck's mate then Chief Mudohoon's slave. If you lose your name, you will be bound to the pits and that is where someone brand you as less than a qued. You will not even be a Gobbo anymore. Even you would beg for death long before it comes. Those Bura are still alive...”
Her legs trembled at the whispered horrors Chief Mudohoon had inflected on them. Her gut twisted at the sounds of their wailing, the sounds of chains. Chains. No. She forced down her fear and the dream. Desperation and panic washed over her and she let out a whimper as the seriousness of her situation.
"Leaf... Help me." V whined as she bowed her head, “You have the brains. Tell me, Leaf. What to do? How to do it? Please.”
Leaf groaned and once more turned to face her friend. She did not like being manipulated, but V had her back more times than she could count. V did not feign obeisance to her like the other qued and did not seek favors. It was strange. It did not make sense to her, but there was still hope for V. And perhaps, for her.
“Will you listen, and do exactly as I say?”
“Yes, Leaf!”
“Squeeze in,” Leaf motioned for V to join her in the cramped cubby hole.
There was only a brief moment of hesitation before V squeezed into the cubby, the bulk of her gaunt, green form resting on the edge of the stone frame as she aligned herself with Leaf. The two separated now only by the soiled, tattered blanket. It had been years since V had felt the warmth of another or the true kindness of a friend. It reminded her of the nursery and the Great Mother. And the fun they used to have before Leaf's own coming-of-age ceremony stole it away ten moons ago.
Leaf began to whisper softly into V’s thick green pointed ear a plan of deception, “First of all….”