Silver Spoon Adopts a Naga

by Halira

Chapter 8: Places Out of Sight and Out of Mind

Silver Spoon didn't have too far to go from the animal sanctuary to where the naga lived. In less than fifteen minutes she reached their door and gathering up her courage to confront them.

"Okay, Silver, how are you going to play this?" She asked herself out loud. "Are you just going to tell them you're taking custody of Sisstet and leave, or are you going to tell them exactly what you think of them and what they have done to a poor defenseless kid?"

Much as she hated to admit it. The idea of doing anything that might enrage them made her want to run and hide.

"Best to keep it simple," she answered herself. "Tell them I'm going to be taking custody, and leave it at that."

She knocked on the door to their dwelling, and stepped back, waiting for one of the naga to answer. Then she waited some more, and some more, and then knocked again.

"Maybe they aren't at home?" If they were at work in the meat market she didn't want to make a scene in public. Plus, it seemed unlikely that Sythel would leave her egg unattended with how protective of it she had been yesterday.

She squared up her haunches and walked up to the door. "I'm going to regret this."

Pulling down the handle, the door opened with ease. She pushed it all the way open and stuck her head into the dimly lit entrance to their burrow. "Hello? Anycreature home?"

"Ssurry-ssore legss san enter," the unmistakable voice of Sythel echoed from down below. Okay, we're back to furry-four legs. No problem.

Silver entered the burrow. It was even more humid and muggy than it had been before. It must be something they needed for the egg, since they didn't typically keep it this way normally. She made her way down into the main entrance room- which she guessed counted as the living room. It was still dimly lit, and Sythel was still curled up underneath the table.

I'm just going to get this over with. She stood as tall and confident as she could as she stared at the coiled up mother-to-be. "Sisstet is in my care, and I'll be keeping him. You don't need to concern yourself with him anymore."

Sythel tasted the air with her tongue, and the female naga wrapped herself more proactively around the egg in her coils. Her eyes remained locked on Silver. "Good. I keep mine."

Silver narrowed her brow. "Tell me, are you going to feel as strongly about what's yours after that egg hatches? Does the little life inside of that egg matter to you as much as the shell around it? If you lay another egg, are you going to toss this kid aside as well, since you were only ordered to have one?"

Sythel hissed menacingly, so much so that Silver wondered if she needed to make a break for it- not that making a break for it would do much, adult naga could move frighteningly quick when on the attack. Sythel didn't move from her egg, nor give any further response.

Trying to register her courage, Silver steadied her shaking legs and put in a brave show. "Where are Sisstet's things? I'm going to need to have somecreature come get them, but I need to know what they are gathering first."

A clawed hand pointed to the hall on the far side of the room. "Ssird sen ssat way."

Pretty sure she said third, but not sure what 'sen' means. Silver thought to herself as she turned around. Sythel probably said den, in place of room, so third room walking that direction, easy enough.

The heat and humidity here were beginning getting to her. She wiped her brow and hurried along the dimly lit passage deeper into the burrow. This was actually her first time venturing beyond the first room, and she moved slowly, taking in everything she saw.

There were a few small shelf-like alcoves along one side of the wall. Most of these were empty, but some held jars and other things. A branch in the path came up quickly, but when she stuck her head into the path to the left she found it opened up into a small chamber, a few personal belongings were scattered haphazardly around this chamber, along with some wool blankets. This was most likely the adult nagas' room. She veered away from it, and continued down the path to the right.

Another branch came up shortly after, and she gagged off the smell that was coming off from the left. What the smell was she didn't know, but it was so overwhelming that she didn't know why she didn't smell it elsewhere in the burrow. She tried to force herself to look at what was in that direction, but her ability to breathe was too encumbered, and her eyes watered so profusely she couldn't even see properly. Putting one hoof in front of the next, she hurried past it to the right, and after a few steps the foul odor abated.

What in Tartarus was that? Whatever it was, it wasn't sanitary, not at all. Who was responsible for checking in on these nagas' living conditions? Whoever they were, they certainly weren't doing it. The idea that Sisstet had been living in such conditions raised her ire even further. Something needed to be done about whatever that was. It was another thing she'd need to alert the authorities about. She would have done so long ago had she known.

She took a moment to regain her breath, still puzzled about why the smell didn't travel further. When she was leaving she'd need to walk back by it, but was at least aware of it now, and could rush through that area. This path supposedly looped around and came out into the original entry room, but that part of the room was directly next to Sythel, and she was certain getting that close to Sythel when the other naga feared getting that close was about as dumb a thing as she could do.

After a very short distance going forward the path branched again. This would be the third branch, so that meant the third den, Sisstet's room. Walking to the left for the first time, she found it opened into another small chamber. It was very much like the first one- depressingly so. There were some wool blankets piled up in a corner, a small stack of books that she recognized as all being assigned reading she had given out at one point or another, his school satchel, and a firefly lamp placed near the blankets. The room had no furniture, and the only other things in the room were a few of the glowing crystals embedded in the walls to provide dim light, and some papers that had been carefully hung on the walls.

She stepped into the room and looked around, hoping that there was more that she hadn't been able to see from the entrance. Regretfully, there wasn't much else to see. There was a large flat stone on the floor of one corner that had some paper and writing utensils near it, and that was the only new thing revealed. Where was his bed? Where were his decorations? Where were his toys?

A quick inspection of the blankets didn't reveal anything hidden among them, but did reveal they were very dirty. She wasn't sure if these had ever been washed. The papers on the walls were mostly school work that he had done a particularly good job on and she had written praise on. Some of these she only remembered vaguely, while others she remembered well. There was one corner that had non-schoolwork hung up. These were birthday cards and Hearts and Hooves day cards from the past year going back to when he started school. She encouraged students to give these to each other every year.

Frowning, she debated just marching straight out of the chamber and leaving. There didn't seem to be anything he would need here. She reconsidered that though, and began slowly taking down each of the papers and cards from the walls and putting those carefully into the satchel. She decided not to bother with the rest, all those things could be replaced (and needed to be replaced based on their condition), but these papers and cards were possibly sentimental. When she finished she put the satchel strap around her neck and gave one last forlorn look around the room.

"I'm sorry, Sisstet," she whispered. "If I had known about this I would have done something about it. I'm going to make sure you get to live better than this."

She didn't find any hygiene items in the room. He didn't come to school dirty and smelly, so he must have some somewhere, but she wasn't going to go looking for the bathroom to find them. They could be replaced as well. She would feel better if he didn't carry over anything from this place that he didn't have to, even a toothbrush. This place was a testament to neglect, and she wanted him to have a fresh start with no reminders of the neglect he had endured.

There were definitely going to be a lot of words said to the authorities, and as soon as she got back to Sisstet that was where they were going- straight to Starlight Glimmer to demand the princess be alerted and step in. It wasn't just for seeking justice for Sisstet. Sythel had an egg, and that meant a whole new innocent kid that might be subjected to this. She could give the two adult naga some small benefit of doubt that they simply didn't realize this was neglect or what they should be doing, but someone should have been checking in in them and making sure things didn't end up this way. She was going to find out who had been responsible for that, and see to it that justice was done. This wasn't just a failure of the naga, it was a failure of Equestria in keeping its most vulnerable cared for.

Faced with what she was seeing, she had a major epiphany. It was her failure too. She should have asked questions. She should have done more to find out what conditions he was living in. A horrifying thought entered her mind, about whether there were more students she had taught that had endured such neglect. How much duty did she have to pry into their home lives? In a perfect world she'd have no reason to, but where she was standing at that moment shattered all illusions of a perfect world where all her students had perfectly happy and healthy home lives. She should shoulder some of the guilt for Sisstet, as there'd been signs she'd ignored, but should she feel any less guilty about any other student that was also being neglected at home?

From now on she was going to pay closer attention to any warning signs. These were her students, and she wasn't going to accept any of them being subjected to these kinds of conditions.

She hurried back out through the passageway, barely noticing the stench of the earlier chamber in her rush to get out. When she reached the entrance room she stopped and glared at the naga sheltering the egg in the corner.

"Who was supposed to check in on you?" She demanded a hiss, unable to mask her fury.

The massive naga actually looked shocked that a pony was taking such an aggressive stance towards her. Sythel just answered with a shake of her head. "No ssurry-sore-legss come. Lest alone."

It took a moment longer than normal to try to translate that garbled speech into something coherent, but the meaning became clear. Whoever was supposed to be checking in on them and giving them guidance had not been coming. It blunted her rage only a little, but she reminded herself that she had stated often enough that the naga were woefully ignorant about how to care for Sisstet. She just hadn't realized how ignorant they really were. Why hadn't he said something about this? Had he at any time hinted at it, and she just failed to pick up on it?

She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself. It didn't work very well, but it had enough of an effect that she wouldn't growl out what she needed to say next. "I'm going to be reporting everything I've seen to the authorities. If you're telling the truth, then you aren't fully to blame for this- not fully- but this is not acceptable. Expect the princess to send somecreature to come and inspect your home and ask you questions."

It was hard to read Sythel's face. "Se sshall do as kingsnake sayss. May sshe not dine on our boness."

Silver blinked. Did Sythel honestly think Princess Twilight would eat her if angry? They'd been here for years. Hadn't they learned anything about Equestrians yet? Sisstet knew better (aside from apparently thinking Pinkie Pie ate promise breakers), so couldn't he have educated them?

She shook her head. This was for the princess and her officials to deal with. Sisstet was what she needed to worry about now. She and Sisstet were going to have to have a long talk about all the things he'd never told her, and she was going to have to make some apologies of her own.

Comments

[Boopy Doopy]

Poor Sisset... : (