"What are we waiting for?" Lark asked.

"Shh!" Nina hissed.

All of a sudden, waves of light erupted from her hands. Then she raised her arms and bounced in place."Hell yes! Now we're talking!"

Lark skittered back. "What was that?"

Nina glanced at her, flower opening pridefully wide. "It's what real girl power looks like."

"Nina can use magic powers," I said, "like mine, only a lot more versatile, if not quite as strong."

"Wait wait wait," Lark said, "I thought doing that attracts the angry metal building blocks?"

"Oh fuck…" Nina muttered. She looked around in panic.

"Wait!" I said.

My companions stared at me.

"Listen," I said.

"I don't hear anything," Lark said.

"Exactly!"

We waited a couple more minutes, only for nothing to interrupt the blessed silence.

I turned to Nina. "Nina, I think you were right."

"What does this mean, Doc?" Lark asked.

Nina made her best effort to fist-bump herself using both of her arms. "It means I'm a freakin' wizard!"

"Sorcerer, technically," I said, only for her to glare at me.

I supposed I deserved that.

"Dr. Howle, your plan no longer sucks," she replied. "I should be able to protect us if push comes to shove, especially if the D'zd don't like hot and cold."

Lark pointed at Nina. "Wait, so, we're trusting her to protect us?"

"Yes," I said, "and I have no doubt that she'll do a fine job."

"So, we're doing this?" Lark asked.

"Yes," I said. "Let's go find the Vvz'zsh prisoner."

"The Burzhy guy said that they were taking zym to some tower," Lark said. "Let me point out: we don't know where that tower is. Not only that, we have a way to deal with the cold, which, as I understood it, is pretty fucking dangerous to these bodies of ours—and let me go on the record and say that I really, really don't like danger. Like, it's in my top three of most disliked things."

"I think I saw some clothes in the entryway to the big feasting hall," Nina said.

Lark flicked her stinger to the side. "You think?"

"The only way to find out is to go look," I said, "so, let's get going." I spread my flower wide in what I hoped was a commanding display of authority. "And stop bickering, both of you!"

"After you, Dr. Howle." Lark bent her arms and lowered her torso in a mock bow.

Oh Fudge, I thought.

Walking down the wall.

Well, I had to get used to it sooner or later, so… why not get some practice in right now?

A little over a minute later, I could proudly say that I walked down the wall and onto the floor of the great hall all by myself, and I only panicked a little bit, and even then, only at the very end, when I leapt off the wall in a squinted-flower⁠ rush, instead of walking the last few steps down to the ground.

Back in the great hall, some of the hanging lightleaf plants had had their light dimmed, while the rest had been covered up by candle-snuffer-like lids, giving the feasting hall a dark, twilight glow. Nina led us to the alcove near the entrance where she claimed the clothes she'd seen had been. Unfortunately, while there were several clothing racks at that location, all of them were completely bare.

"Great," Lark said. "Can I now go back to figuring out how the hell I'm supposed to get to sleep in this body?"

"What are you doing?" Dk'brr said.

Because D'zd spoke by emitting what I assumed were some kind of electromagnetic waves—the same sort of waves they used to see—Dk'brr's words shone through the barely lit room, casting shadows from the furniture and the curving walls.

I started to speak, but Lark brusquely interrupted me, "We—"

"—He wants to go talk to the voovzhie you guys caught."

Dk'brr's stinger tail popped up in alarm. "The Vvz'zsh, you mean?"

"Yes," I said

"Why?" ze asked.

"I want to hear their side of the story," I said.

That took Dk'brr aback. Ze skittered back, flexing zyr arms in shock. "What good would that do?"

I decided to be honest with zym. "Dk'brr, the information we have is incredibly sensitive. I came to your world knowing nothing about your people and your conflicts. Also, due to personal circumstances, I refuse to go merely by hearsay. I don't just want to know what your enemies have to say, I need to know it. That's the only way I can make an informed decision about what I do next."

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Obviously, I didn't go out and tell Dk'brr that "what I do next" might very well include trying to get the Krr't's help.

"Also, while I'm at it, let me say this: though we haven't known each other for very long, I get the impression that you're a good person—very low on the Margaret scale. You show skepticism when it's warranted, you care about your community, and you don't just want to do what's right, you try to make that a reality."

"Th-thank you…?" Dk'brr said, more than a little confused.

"That being the case, I'd like to think that you'd choose to help us talk to your prisoner. I don't want to do anything that might put you or your people at risk. T'kznd is a wonderful city, and I'd like to keep it that way." I looked zym over. "So… will you help us?"

I'm not gonna lie: it made me fudging angry that I was operating under the false pretense of being a Messenger of the Vyx. It had been a spur of the moment decision, and I'd been regretting it for most of the day. I wanted to tell Dk'brr the truth right then and there, but I knew that would cause problems, so, loath though I was to do it, I made the unsavory decision to hold off on telling zym until we'd had a chance to talk to the Vvz'zsh. Then, I'd come clean.

Dk'brr returned my gaze with one of zyr own. "I admit, you make a convincing argument."

I nodded. "Thank you. Once I get the information from the Vvz'zsh that I need, I promise, Dk'brr, I'll tell you everything."

"Much appreciated," ze replied.

"If we're going outside," Nina asked, "don't we need thicker clothes, or something?"

"Yes, very much so," Dk'brr replied. "Wait a moment, I'll bring some." Ze walked off, and about a minute later, came back with a large pile of clothes in zyr arms, which ze then set down on a table and spread out for us to look through.

Dk'brr instructed us to put girdles and cloth wraps around our abdomens, on top of the flowing undergarments the Brrk'zk had given us. After that, I put on one of the thick, flowing overcoats Dk'brr had brought and paired it with a set of gloves and shoes. Lark and Nina did much the same. By the end, we were covered in clothes from head to toe, and felt—and looked—like flower-headed mantises dressed up as mummies for Cheldmas.

Dk'brr fetched zyr scissorblades before we left, which ze sheathed in scabbards that dangled from either side of the girdle at the base of zyr abdomen, against the back of zyr torso.

Ze opened the front door. "Alright, follow me."

Dk'brr led us out into the night.

It took all of three steps before I realized just how miserable the cold was for the D'zd.

This world's night redefined the meaning of the word cold. Even with my thick layer of clothes, it was like I'd soaked myself in ice water and then went and jumped into a blizzard. Even for humans, clothing didn't create warmth; rather, they helped hold in your body heat. Unfortunately, the D'zd didn't produce much in the way of body heat.

I shivered constantly. My legs jittered, making my every step a bit unstable, teetering me side to side, and Lark and Nina weren't faring much better.

Somewhat to my surprise, like my world, the D'zd's Archive world didn't have any stars visible in this world's night sky. Eventually, I would learn that this was because their homeworld had a thick atmosphere, and the Vyx had strived to recreate that for the D'zd in the Archive. Large amounts of chemical compounds known as tholins were present in the planet's atmosphere, causing the star-obscuring orange-haze—not that it was in any way orange to a D'zd's sense of "vision".

"This way," Dk'brr said.

We followed a meandering route. Lightleaf lanterns shined the way, looking like Munine paper lanterns as they shone with their protective coverings, presumably to keep them from succumbing to the elements. Scarce figures could be seen, wandering through the blustery chill; like us, they were mummified.

After spending several minutes walking seemingly without getting anywhere, Lark spoke up.

"W-Where's the tower the old guy mentioned?" The light of her words quivered with the shivers and twitches of her head, flower, and antenna.

Dk'brr pointed with one of zyr arms. "Th-there!"

The tower looked a lot like the ones adjoining Szr't't's estate, only taller. There were quite a few windows at its top, as well as several that studded its side. Curiously, all the windows were closed, except for the ones at the top.

"Stay on your toes," I said, as we walked toward the tower. We had to stay vigilant. "I have a feeling that Tchk'tk the retainer won't be pleased if ze finds us talking with the Vvz'zsh."

"If that piddlecharge gives us any trouble," Dk'brr said, "my progenitor will deal with zym accordingly."

Lark dared to walk up to the door and pull the handle. To her surprise and mine, the door wasn't locked. I wanted to take that as a good sign, but, honestly, I couldn't. I didn't even know if the D'zd used locks on their doors, and, if they didn't, did that mean there were guards waiting for us inside, or perhaps on patrol somewhere nearby.

"Well," Nina asked, "are we going in, or not?"

"We might as well," I said.

We entered to find an empty room. The furnishings were few and far between: just a table with three chairs, some floor mats, and more of the hanging lanterns. The lanterns were all uncovered, allowing the lightleaf plants within to radiate their dull glow. A semicircular tube jutted out from the far wall, radiating a blissful warmth.

That had to be this building's kiln.

"I think we're gonna have to climb," I said.

Like with the Brrk'zk's home, the paths to the upper areas were indicated on the wall by patterns of dimples and bumps that doubled as climbing aids. Here, the way up entailed skittering up the walls through a sequence of holes carved into the ceiling of one room to get to the floor of the one above. The holes weren't all aligned with one another, likely to shorten the length of the drop if anyone ever fell.

I didn't have as much trouble with climbing this time around, mostly because the constant fear of being discovered kept me on my toes.

Nina was the nimblest of us. She scouted ahead.

"Do you see anyone?" I asked, softly.

"No." Nina's words bounced off the walls. "I think they're keeping him on the top floor."

I grumbled. "Oh joy…"

We made our way up. Nina got there first; Lark and I followed soon after.

"Shit, it's cold up here," Lark said.

It was an accurate observation. The kiln's heating tube didn't reach up to this floor, which, coupled with all the open windows leaving it exposed to the elements, made the place positively frigid. On top of that, the room was barely lit. Most of the lightleaf lanterns were covered in cloth, and the ones that weren't covered weren't faring well, to put it mildly. They looked awful, and the sub-red light they gave off showed it. The plants were sickly and lumpen, and—in places—shriveled, as if they'd been drained of fluid. The lumps in the leaves and vines were chunky and cubic, greatly straining the surrounding tissue.

We went up to the final chamber, up top. The top room had six windows, grouped in two sets of three, one on each side, all of them wide open. The frigid wind whistled as it blew through the openings and stormed about the chamber, rocking the lanterns on their hooks. This caused their light waves to stretch and sway. The effect was weirdly hypnotic.

Several poles stood in the room, spanning from floor to ceiling, and all were bare except for one, where the Vvz'zsh was bound by sinewy, corded rope. The Vvz'zsh's arms were pulled up and bound over zyr head, while zyr legs and abdomen were tied on the lower half of the pole. The Vvz'zsh trembled like an egg timer in the blistering cold. Cubic lumps bulged in zyr limbs. In places, they broke through the exoskeleton, creating perches for frost to gather and crumbs. The Vvz'zsh flower was wilted and several of the sub-stalks of zyr antenna had snapped off at the tips.

I knew next to nothing about D'zd physiology, but that didn't stop me from noticing that this individual was in bad shape. Even without a degree from a D'zd medical school, it was clear that if conditions didn't improve soon, the Vvz'zsh was going to die.

Dk'brr, meanwhile, was absolutely horrified. Ze stepped forward, transfixed by disgust.

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