Pearl's Travels 1: Hollow Shades

by Makitk

09

Brother and I joined Matron as she walked us out to one of the exits in the cavern wall other than that leading back to the resin study hall or the supposed magic room, with me stumbling a little thanks to my hurt limb.

"So why do they call you Matron anyways?" brother wondered before I could voice the question myself, and Matron looked back at us.

"Mostly because I've been in charge of the hatchling halls since before the rest of them were born," Matron explained. "I was there when the majority of the family you'll meet here were born; most are from the same batch."

I perked up at that. "Wait, we were told that we dozen or so were from the same batch as well. How many Changelings get born per batch exactly?"

"That depends," Matron offered, leading us into a longer tunnel than we had seen so far. It made a winding turn to the right and up, and I idly wondered if it would lead us out of this underground system if we followed it to the very top.

"In your case, we are wholly dependent on what our siblings send us from the other world," Matron continued. "Some days it's just one or two of you. Other days it's a whole group. Then there's the speed at which you transform; there are some of you hatchlings who start off as grand blobs of human, and it takes some time for the resin to work its way through that kind of mass."

Brother missed a step and stumbled over his own hooves a moment before he caught his rhythm again, and I looked back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Something wrong there, brother?" I wondered.

"Just thinking of my family, is all; I've always been the lithe one there, thanks to an overactive thyroid gland," brother sighed out. "The rest of them are the stereotypical fast-food Americans, you know? I have aunts and uncles who can't even walk to the fridge without getting out of breath."

"You have left them behind, brother," Matron suggested calmly. "I'm not going to ask you to forget them, but you are no longer a part of their world. It's better to no longer see them as your family."

Brother's head dipped a bit lower at the thought.

"I never had much of a family to begin with; always was a bit of a loner," I suggested, giving brother a soft nudge with my left shoulder to his right. "Maybe we should both be looking to our new family as an improvement, huh? I mean, there's far more of them than we have even met today, and they're mostly kinda sleek?"

Brother smiled up a little, and gave a nod. "Sleek, yeah. I don't know. It's all been going so fast. So much to learn. But I think I feel kinda okay like this?"

Matron stopped in front of a split in the tunnel and turned to face us, her blue insectoid eyes peering at us both. "At this point you really don't have much of a choice, do you?"

I stopped walking, still holding the weight off my resin-cast leg, and looked back up at her. "That much was clear, yeah. I mean, we spent I-don't-know-how-long in those pods, and I'm not even sure how much time went past since we 'hatched' from them. It's been a long day... or week... or month?"

"Day," Matron corrected me. "It's almost dinnertime. I'll explain how you can feed yourselves."

"That would be handy," brother half-chuckled to ward off his gloomy feelings.

Matron pointed at the wall behind her with a hoof. "The common room lies behind this door. There are family members inside who may be sleeping or feeding or just spending leisure time together. Please don't raise your voices, don't panic, and don't hesitate to ask me questions if you're confused about something."

Brother and I shared a glance between one another, but then gave a nod at Matron.

"You're Changelings, both of you. This room is open to the outside and other Changelings may walk in and out when they choose," Matron continued. "Don't run, please. We haven't finished teaching you yet, and we're in a fairly hostile part of our world here. I can't promise you'll be safe out there."

I sat myself down on the tunnel floor, and made a cross over my chest. "I promise I won't run."

Brother looked less sure about it, a nervous flutter of his wings betraying his thoughts.

"I can't wait until we learn how to use our magic and get flying lessons, how about you brother?" I tried, smiling up at him.

He let out a deep sigh, then nodded his head. "I'll stay. There's a part of me which wants to take the earliest opportunity to run home... but I have no clue where we are, how to get home, or... how to undo this transformation."

"Pony guises are a lot easier to undo than our resin transformation, I'd imagine," I suggested. "I'll keep an eye on him, Matron."

"There are many eyes on you both, even in this tunnel," Matron suggested, turning for the bare wall behind her and putting her right hoof to it. With a little push from the Changeling 'mother', the wall dipped outward a little, and then she slid it sideways to reveal the common room behind it.

The room was large. About as large as the hatching room, if not bigger. Several walls throughout it partitioned the area into half-open rooms, with alcoves set in them. Some of these rooms were occupied by Changelings resting on resin beds.

The room was bathed in a green glow, and my jaw slipped slightly ajar when I noticed an intricate pattern of green veins connecting the ceiling to the floor, strung between stalagtites, stalagmites, and the various walls.

A few Changelings, I noticed, had pressed their mouths to the veins near to them, and I thought I could see them suckle on it.

As far as Changelings went; they were literally everywhere. From the sleeping ones to the feeding ones to the ones walking or flying about, or little groups of them conversing on their own resin-made pillows. There must have been a hundred or more spread around the room, and Matron walked ahead of us to add to the number.

Once I could tear my eyes off of the display in front of me, I gave a careful glance sideways to notice brother was about as shocked by it all as I was, and I pulled my jaw closed upon realizing both of ours were half-open.

"Brother?" I started, and he caught himself as well, turning his head to look my way. "How do you like this kind of a family?"

Brother just shook his head in amazement.

"Are you two coming so I can close this door again? There is a bit of a draft, in case you didn't notice?" Matron queried, looking back at us from the other side of the door.

We set in motion as one, passing through the door's opening, but brother continued on while I stopped to look at the 'door'.

It was just a boulder, really, but it closed off the entrance quite well once Matron pushed it back in place. I took a quick survey around the room only to notice several other boulders like it which I assumed to hide other exits.

"Let me find you two a place to rest at," Matron suggested, walking past me and tapping brother on the shoulder as she got to him. "Follow close after me, please; you may lose your way otherwise."

I stumbled after Matron, while brother fell back to my left side again. "Matron, the veins?" I started after a few paces, and Matron's head turned to look at the nearest ones coming down along the wall we passed by on the right.

"They are filled with nutrient paste; it's basically our nutritious resin, but we add an enzyme to it when we transfer it to the vein system so it stays healthy for longer," Matron explained. "You can stick your fangs through the outer layer to create an opening for you to feed on the paste, but do so when we get to your room. I'll put you in with your sister from the sparring room so she can continue to teach you."

I gave a nod to that. "So there's a fifth type of resin we can make?"

"Only us Matrons, I'm afraid," Matron suggested. "You're both drones, so don't worry about it. There's some difference between us all. You have mostly met drones and matrons so far. The guards are stationed outside to protect us."

I looked at brother at that. "So, like ants back home."

Brother gave a weak nod. "A drone is weaker than a soldier, I take it?"

"They are stronger and bulkier than us," Matron agreed. "Drones can be faster since you travel far to get food for the Hive, while we matrons are better with healing magic."

"But our first teacher was a bulky sort," I remembered. "Was he just an overly bulky drone or a soldier?"

"Bulky drone," Matron chuckled. "I know him from when he was still a hatchling. He was far smaller back then, but he does a lot of power training. I'm sure he would have made a fine soldier."

She turned into a room with walls barely twice our height, and motioned to the alcoves set in the three walls which didn't have a space in them for a mock doorway. "You will most likely want to make your bed in two of these. Which you pick doesn't matter to sister."

"Hello sister!" a voice called out from some distance away, and a different Changeling came flying down from a position higher up in the cave. "Did you get Breeze to help you out with those foal looks?"

I peered up and tilted my head a little. "Wait... Oval?"

"What's that about Breeze?" another voice called out from some distance away, but Oval stuck her tongue out in that direction.

"Nothing, sister; go back to sleep," she called back, then landed in the same room Matron, brother, and I were standing in. She looked us over a moment, then pointed at the resin around my right leg. "What happened?"

"She started it," brother decided.

Matron gave Oval a poke in the shoulder. "She sprained her ankle; she will have to rest on it for a day or two."

"Ow, never a fun time," Oval responded, moving in to pull me into a hug. I couldn't return it with my leg basically a lethal weapon now what with the blob of hard resin around it, so I just stood there and let her hug me.

"So you'll be staying with us for a few days, huh?" Oval wondered, pulling back again and noting brother had already moved over to an alcove. "You won't want to keep Matron busy for too long, or she'll get cranky. Why don't I teach you the ropes while you're here?"

Matron smiled up a little at the suggestion. "Done. You'll have to keep them out of trouble, or I'll know where to find you."

"Oh, hush; I'm about the best guide they can have around here; I'll teach them everything they need to know," Oval huffed.

Matron shook her head before looking me straight in the eyes. "Use your common sense; if something she says feels like the wrong thing to do, don't do it."

"Weren't you going back to watch the ringfights again, Matron?" Oval suggested, gently pushing Matron to the room's 'doorway'.

"I know where you live in Hoofton," Matron threatened. "I may need to come visit and give you as much trouble there as you've been giving me each time you return home, hmm?"

Oval waved the threat away. "I'd like to see you try, elder sister," she grinned, but then Matron turned around and pulled the other in a hug.

"Remember to visit a bit more often, Oval dear. It's been too long," Matron sighed out, and I could see she really cared about the other Changeling.

"I do, I do," Oval returned, hugging the other back.

I turned for one of the other alcoves to give them some privacy, wondering how exactly I'd go about making a bed out of resin there...

Comments

[tsaukpaetra]

Yay Commons room!