Expedition [Urk Climax #1]: The Long Watch

[Silvertongue Songfox]

Swifttail hadn’t even finished gathering his thoughts. He’d meant to say something kind. Maybe reassure Silvertongue that he wouldn’t hold him to impossible promises. That he wouldn’t pine endlessly while things remained uncertain.

But then the bard leaned in and kissed him. And all thought disappeared...

Silvertongue’s lips pressed gently against his own, and something electric fluttered through Swifttail’s chest. A heat that bloomed out through his fur, down to the very tip of his tail. The cold of Urk vanished in an instant. He didn’t move. Didn’t pull away. He just... let it happen.

His eyes had fluttered shut without realizing. His heart was trying to leap into his throat. When the kiss ended, Swifttail opened his eyes again slowly, feeling dazed but light.

“I’ve never... uh,” he said with a breathless laugh, “That was my first...”

Then a nervous chuckle, this time more genuine.

“Silvie,” he said, still unsteady, “it’s up to the fates. I won’t wait... but I’ll be available ‘til it happens.”

He gave a lopsided, warm smile.

“Right now, we’re friends. And crewmates. And that’s enough for me.”

He turned his eyes out toward the camp, just for a moment. Just to breathe.

Inside his heart, though, something throbbed painfully.

He’s everything I want in a mate.
I can’t leave this here.
Ow, my heart...

"Your first..." Silvertongue whimpered, his ears falling flat. "I didn't know... I should have asked... I-I don't know what came over me." He said breathlessly.

He heard a commotion, turning and seeing Greeneye and the others returning from the patrol. Earlier than he had expected. His face paled, and his heart dropped into his stomach. He quickly turned back to Swifttail. “I’m sorry- I don’t want to get you into trouble with Greeneye.”

He quickly turned and fled, stumbling into the ongoing standoff between Piper, Barret, and Tutlow. Hearing the last few sentences.

Seeing the infant, he walked over to Piper. “We’re just abandoning this child…?” He asked, appalled. “What if the shrews don’t take him back?If we’re so concerned about supplies- I’ll split mine with the child.” He turned to face Tutlow. “For goodness sake- it’s just an infant. It’s just a boy. What sort of imminent threat would it pose that we cannot avoid?”

 

[Vihmastaja]

Vihma did little more than stand at attention as Barret flatly refused to have anything to do with the shrew kit, and then Tultow and Piper had their back and forth.

She flinched a little at some of the harsher moments, but while it was easy to sympathize with her fellow weasel, in her heart she mostly agreed with the opposing viewpoint. What was there to do for this kit, and why? Aye, it was an innocent thing, but it wasn't their responsibility to take care of.

She looked sidelong at Piper as Tultow gave them their orders - standing straighter and saluting sharply when she was given her own.

"Aye, sir. Understood."

Vihma would have left then, only for Silvie to come into the tent voicing his own objections - and the weasel waited to see if her orders would be changing any.

 

[Duchess Dusk Rainblade]

Tultow narrowed his eyes at the Aide-de-camp's objection. "If you and others of the crew go splitting your own supplies," he explained, "you weaken yourselves for the sake of a kit who will not contribute anything to the ship's operation. That will only jeopardize our mission." He sighed before he added, "Feed the kit well, swaddle it, burp it, all of that maternal business. Then take it someplace the shrews can find it and continue your patrol. If," he allowed, putting up a finger, "at the end of your patrol, you come back and the kit has still not been claimed, then you may bring it back to camp for the night. Once this expedition is over, though," he warned, "then that kit is to be left in the village for its own kind to find. You do not want to be explaining this matter to the Minister, I will warn you right now. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir," Piper mumbled, clearly dissatisfied.

"Good." Tultow turned his gaze to the other three who had gathered, raising an eyebrow. "Any objections?"

 

[Silvertongue Songfox]

Silvertongue turned with an eyebrow raised. “Of course, I have no objections, Sir. I realize now the error of my judgment. I simply wish I was older. More... callous. How easy it would be for me to leave a ‘lesser’ child to its almost certain death, and then return home and kiss and hug my own little ones, without a single thought of the hypocrisy of it all.”

Silvertongue didn’t wait for any sort of response from Tutlow, just turning and walking out of the tent into the cold Urk air once more.

 

[SwifttailTheFox]

Swifttail stood just behind the medical tent, the canvas wall at his back and a knot in his chest.

He wanted to scream. To chase after that flick of a bard’s tail and reassure him. Shout you did nothing wrong. But he couldn’t. He knew better. Running after Silvertongue would only draw more eyes. More suspicion. And Greeneye… Vulpus help him, Swift didn’t want to find out what that beast was capable of if he found out.

So instead, he stood in the snow and kicked at a frozen rut in the dirt with the toe of his boot, scuffing little clouds of powder that fell right back down in silence. He huffed a breath and stared at the fading tracks left by Silvie’s hurried exit. Warmth still lingered on his muzzle where the kiss had been. He felt awful.

The muffled voices inside the tent, raised and one of them crying, barely registered. He was too deep in his own thoughts. Until Silvertongue’s sharp retort cut through the tent wall like a slap. Swift’s ears twitched. Then came footfalls, hurried again, but this time from within. Something was happening.

He turned sharply and stepped around the canvas wall, brushing aside the tent flap.

Inside, he spotted the source of the fuss at once. A tiny bundle. A crying kit. Tultow. Piper. Barrett. Vihma. All gathered in tense disarray.

Swifttail blinked. Took a breath. Then winced, paw coming to the bridge of his snout as he muttered under it:

“Oh Vulpus’ teeth, no…”

 

[FinnianBrightfur]

[...] Kaii didn't wish to harm or discourage the youngling. So he did use the length of his pole to push the hopping kit on the chest. Using his temporarily hindered state to knock him onto his back while Finn couldn't really defend. Kaii was, as with almost all of his skills, self-taught on matters of combat. His brain did what was needed to make it work. "Stand up pirate king." He spoke calmly, not giving out any emotions. "That is sadly where you would fail. In such state, upon spotting another enemy, you should run." He moved and turned the metal pole in his paw.

"Consider yourself restored back at full health. Aplenty of enemies may use a polearm like I do. Those undergo very different rules than swords." Kaii explained keeping his eyes locked on the kit while he was standing up. "En garde!" He lunged at the kit without warning as soon as he was on his paws. He aimed at the stick Finn was holding. Should he dodge he would be fine and have correct reaction. Should he try to parry or block? Finn would quickly learn a lesson on bilateral arms and combat at the same time.

Finn had so much momentum hopping forward that he barely had time to stop. The tip of Kaii's pole caught on his chest, skittered up to his collar bone, and sent him spinning off onto the ground. Winded, poor Finn lay on the ground with one paw laying over his shoulder. That definitely was gonna leave a painful bruise.

The kit groaned, and looked up at Kaii as he instructed. Kaii was a curious beast. Though Finn had a faltering smile on his face, Kaii was serious as the grave. Tultow was way more fun to spar with! Propping himself up on his elbows, the foxkit peered in the neck of his shirt to make sure he wasn't bleeding. "Full health? Easier said than done!" he grumbled as he pushed himself to his feet and dusted himself off.

Kaii's surprise attack caught him off guard. Finny let out a desperate cry, and stumbled backwards. His stick swung upwards to knock Kaii's away -- but the motion left him off balance.

 

[Arthur Barrett]

As all beasts that work in infirmaries knew, there were two types of chaos: circumstantial chaos, and manufactured chaos. The first could be managed, but the second rubbed Barrett's fur the wrong way. The dibbun was far more the latter.

Of note, Tultow technically outranked him. While Arthur maintained quite a bit of leeway on the infirmary, the lieutenant effectively stood in for Talinn, and carried a substantial amount of weight. Fortunately, for Barrett, the stoat seemed to see his side of the issue. Barrett kept a grim poker face, and tried to show no reaction to the decision.

It was a rough business, all things considered. But the first concern was to cause no harm. Inaction from an inability to render aide was morally questionable, but ethically necessary. The pine marten wouldn't lose sleep over it. The rest of the crew, however...

Internally, Barrett was pulling his fur out. Externally, he calmly stepped towards Tultow. "A word, Mr. Tultow?" he asked calmly.

Stepping aside to watch the circus, he spoke in lowered tones to the stoat.

Spoiler

"It... may be in our best interests to take care of the shrewbabe..." he said, with a sigh of resignation. "The decision seems to be... unpopular. Morale may suffer greatly, and we might not wish to deal with the consequences of that. If I may suggest..." -- and here, he grit his teeth. "...once a beast is under my care, I'm obligated to continue care until death or discharge. It's... splitting hairs... but it could be argued that I have a duty to care for it."

 

[Kaii Nashirou]

Kaii just tapped Finn with the side of the pole to push him onto the ground again. He then came closer and kneeled over him, putting his paw over Finn's bruise he inflicted.

"I am sorry for this. But it will heal soon. You may consider me harsh. But as you may know yourself, life doesn't give you always the easy path either. Keeping your reaction and mind sharp lets you keep the good parts intact when it happens." He explained pointing at the bruise and the stick Finn used. Even if the kit didn't want to listen to him now, Kaii just wanted to make sure they are capable of doing something he failed at miserably.

He offered his paws to Finn, helping him up. "Let me take you to Mr. Barrett. I don't want you to be in pain." Kaii continued. He spoke truthfully but his stone cold expression and lack of any mimic aside from gentle sways of his tail made his hard to read. He then took the youngling into Barrett's tent for inspection.

While walking they spotted most of the camp standing on the other side of the tent, clearly arguing. Kaii cared little at the moment. Still to practical and wary of the surrounding dangers that could come.

But very soon Chirurgeon and one of the marines stepped to the side of the tent Kaii and Finn was at to mutter words that told Kaii the whole story. He simply listened and pieced everything up before audibly clicking his tongue and speaking his mind. "A civilian life should be protected. I am glad to hear such words from you Mr. Barrett." Kaii managed a smile. One that totally broke his cold shell for a moment. Such was his satisfaction to both see the honourable decision being made and to see Barrett falter on his usual demeanour.

 

[Duchess Dusk Rainblade]

Tultow glared at Silvertongue for the near-insubordination. Technically he was an officer in a different branch of the military and outside of the Lieutenant's direct command, but the way he'd spoken... Tultow bit his tongue to keep from saying anything that would cause an incident. Certainly he could out Silvertongue and Swifttail, but there were plenty of beasts who could out him and Honeytail just as easily, and the last thing he wanted was Honeytail's service record besmirched posthumously. Besides, among their kind, there was a code of silence for everyone's protection.

Tultow straightened up as the surgeon asked for a private word. He gave a small nod, following after the surgeon. "You may speak freely, Mr. Barrett," he advised the marten. "I welcome your counsel on this matter."

He listened to the marten's suggestion, grinding his own teeth at the soundness of the reasoning. "I suppose," he sighed, "that I can understand your perspective. The impact to morale already seems to be quite acute. Very well then, if you can provide care to this kit without it impacting our mission viability, then do so." He lowered his voice before admitting, "To be honest, I'm happy to have an out. I was getting concerned about Corporal Piper doing something rash."

~ ~ ~

Piper, in the meantime, was gently bouncing the shrew in her arms, rocking it back and forth. "Would... Would one of you be able to help me mix up some feed for this one?" she asked, blinking back tears. "There's a bag of powdered mealworm, and some fish oil. Should do well enough to feed this one if we can mix it up. Poor thing, it's so hungry."