Path Into The Darkness

Grune's ship landed on the soil of the Third Moon of Plundarr, just outside the magnificent palace that had housed members of the lunatacs' royal family for countless generations. He had no idea what to expect, so he prepared himself for anything and proudly stepped out of the ship. Several armed guards surrounded the landing zone and an attractive but stern-faced purple-haired lunatac woman in an ornate robe wearing a small crown atop her head greeted him. "So this is Grune the Mighty." she spoke, sizing him up. "I am Sileira, Queen of the Kingdom of the Moons of Plundarr."

"Lunaro's wife. Yes, I recognize you from the pictures I have seen. You're much younger than he and much more attractive. I must say I'm surprised to see you here and not him, as I have never heard of you actually performing any form of duty other than accompanying your husband to his political engagements. I suppose the rumors that he married you and made you queen only to make himself more appealing are untrue. You do actually have some authority and free will." Grune remarked.

Sileira frowned. "I see, Ambassador Grune, that diplomatic relations are not your strong suit. This, then, must be your among your first missions, Ambassador. However, I am not adverse to taking a compliment, however left-handed it may be. It is my duty to see to it that you are made comfortable here and are kept safe as you have come only to speak your mind in peace. There are those among us who are not as tolerant as my husband and I of the Thundercats and the crimes of war that have been commited by them against our people in our battles. I am here to welcome you to our world in the hopes that some form of agreement can be met by our respective governments. War is a terrible thing, Grune, and it has taken its toll on all sides."

"The Thundercats didn't start that war." Grune replied evenly.

Sileira turned and led Grune towards the palace while guards escorted them and took care of Grune's things. "We are an aggressive people, Ambassador. We will not go against our nature and not take what we believe is meant to be ours."

Grune gave her an unsurprised look and a polite smile. "In other words, you will hear me out, send me off, and continue in your destructive looting of territories you have no business being in, in the hopes that you'll eventually conquer everything in your path."

Sileira let out an amused laugh. "So suspicious, Ambassador... What we do after you leave is not your concern. We have promised to hear what you have to say and have you as an honored guest on our world. Anything other than that, at this point, would be premature, don't you think? Now, let us end this political discussion while I show you to your quarters in the palace." She gestured to a guard and showed Grune to his room.

Several hours later Grune was called to a feast being held in his honor. He was led by a guard to a banquet hall, where there were several important-looking officers and nobles of the various moons of Plundarr. After a quick scan of the room he realized he was the only Thunderian in the place, and a Thundercat no less. Had he not been a brave soul, that might have intimidated him, being in a room of all enemies, but he was determined to take it in stride. Claudus wanted him to try and make peace with these people, and he would to his best to assure that would happen.

Moments after he stepped into the room, Sileira greeted him and introduced him to her husband, King Lunaro. The meeting was polite but tense. Grune really had no idea what to say to a bunch of people he held no respect and a lot of animosity for. They sat at a table and engaged in nauseatingly superficial small talk for a while, but it didn't get all that interesting until Sileira choked on a bite of food and shot an infuriated look towards the door. Grune followed her gaze and saw her staring at group of lunatacs that had just entered the room. Although they looked as though they could have belonged, Grune realized from Sileira's expression that they certainly did not. "Great moon gods, who invited her?" Sileira hissed coldly. Grune saw her gaze on one of the lunatacs in particular, a rather short woman with purple and white striped hair riding atop a large white beast of a lunatac.

"I had to invite Cousin Luna, dear. I don't like her either, but tradition requires that we extend an invitation to all branches of the royal family." Lunaro replied with a frown. "I had hoped she wouldn't come."

"Well she did." Sileira snapped, twisting and contorting a napkin in her hands in anger. She lowered her voice and cast a look at Lunaro. "And that troublemaking second cousin of yours brought along some of her gutter-trash associates as well. You know how I feel about her. You know her reputation."

Grune's ears perked up and he surpressed a smile. Although listening to gossip was beneath him as a Thundercat, it sure was entertaining, especially when it was gossip about the enemy.

"Her reputation is precisely why I had to invite her. You know how powerful she is. She effectively runs the capitol and we can't do anything about it." Lunaro replied with rising irritation.

"She runs the capitol as an outlaw of an organized crime association. Damn it, Lunaro, you're a king. You should be able to control her!"

"I've told you a thousand times that politics are not that simple." Lunaro growled.

Grune smiled. "So that is Luna, the leader of the group known as the Lunatacs of Plundarr? I must say, she hardly looks as dangerous as the stories I heard of her on Thundera would have led me to believe."

Sileira sighed. "Things are not always what they seem, Ambassador Grune. Surely you have learned that in your experiences as a Thundercat? Luna and her low-rent friends are far more dangerous than they would seem at first glance. Even my husband, the *mighty* King Lunaro, can't control her."

"You're trying my patience, Sileira." Lunaro responded. "Besides, Luna and her friends appear to be behaving. If they get out of line I will throw them out. They were invited after all. Now I suggest you behave and act the part of dutiful hostess, my darling, for they're coming over here. Apparently they would like to greet us and perhaps meet our guest."

"Aren't we lucky?" Sileira grumbled, then turned to Grune. "Ambassador Grune, I am apologizing in advance for any disturbances they may cause. Thundercat or not, you are currently a guest here, and I will not tolerate any uncalled-for hostile actions or words from them to you. Please ignore anything they may do or say that offends you."

Grune nodded and gave an agreeable smile. "Don't worry, I've been handling troublemakers for years."

Luna, riding Amok, came over with her associates to greet the royal couple and their guest. Grune looked them over. There was the infamous Luna and her large white beast, and with her were a tall man with a receding hairline and longish hair he guessed was of the psychic race of the small moon by his appearance, next to an attractive woman of the same race who gave Grune the impression of being a complete airhead, a pretty and young frozen-race woman who didn't look a day older than twenty but looked lethal nonetheless, a red-eyed lunatac, and a strikingly beautiful woman of a lunatac race he had never personally encountered but had heard of: a hunter-race woman. Grune could not take his eyes off of her. She was on the tall side, perhaps 5'10" or so, lean, but well-developed with a combination of womanly curves and sleek muscles. Her skin was a pale ivory color, and a thick mane of forest green hair flowed from her head down over her shoulders in a wild, untamed fashion. He had a feeling that she was equally wild, and more at home in a jungle or a dangerous city street than in the pretentious air of the palace. She opened her large green eyes wide and smiled at him mysteriously, but said nothing.

Luna spoke first, and Grune snapped out of his trance while staring at the mysterious lunatac. "Thank you so much for inviting me to your party, Lunaro. I hope you don't mind that I brought along some of my friends. After all, Lurella here had invited my good friend Alluro as her escort anyway, and I figured that bringing along a few more of my associates would be no problem." Luna told Lunaro and Sileira.

"No trouble at all." Sileira said, giving Luna a phony smile. She turned to Lurella, the only one of the entire group she could stand. She had no idea why the girl would give the man with her, a friend of Luna's of all people, the time of day, much less actually date him. Then again, she'd known Lurella for years and while she was a nice enough girl and her family was rich, prominent, and well-respected, Lurella had never been the brightest person she'd known either. "Lurella. Nice to see you."

"It's nice to see you too Sileira! This is a wonderful party. Oh, I'd like you to meet my new boyfriend, Alluro. He saved me from a bunch of creeps in the city a few weeks ago and we've been absolutely inseparable ever since. Isn't that right honey?" she asked in a bubbly and sweet voice, squeezing his arm and giving him a dreamy look. Both Chilla and RedEye, along with the hunter-lunatac, standing behind them rolled their eyes. They all thought she was a ditz too.

"That's right, darling." he replied smoothly and with an award-winning smile. He turned to Sileira. "Your highness, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." Sileira replied. "This is our honored guest, Ambassador Grune from Thundera." she made certain to stress "guest" to get her point across to the group in font of her so they wouldn't start a diplomatic incident.

"Ambassador Grune... Grune the Mighty, of the Thundercats, am I right?" Luna asked.

"Yes I am." Grune replied.

"Grune the Mighty" the hunter-lunatac spoke in a husky feminine voice "it is such a pleasure to meet you. I have heard many stories of you. You are a valiant fighter, even if you do fight against us." She moved closer toward him and eyed him intensely.

"Thank you. And who is it that bestows such praise on me?" he asked, even more intrigued by her.

"My name is Kalin." she replied. Luna then gestured to the others to leave and head off elsewhere. Kalin smiled at him one more time, and wordlessly left with them.

Despite meeting others and talking politics and doing all the other things he did that evening, meeting Kalin was the only event that occupied his thoughts for the remainder of the evening.

Across the room, Luna and her group settled at a table, taking advantage of the free gourmet food and indulging in the free cocktails. Chilla turned to Kalin and laughed.

"What?" Kalin asked her impatiently, not really annoyed, only curious.

Chilla made a goofy face. " 'Oh Grune, you're such a brave warrior! You're so big and tough!'" she said in a mocking tone, imitating Kalin's earlier flirtatiousness with the Thundercat. "What was with that?" Chilla asked between peals of laughter.

"Yes Kalin, I never knew you had a thing for Thundercats." RedEye commented, joining Chilla in his laughter.

Kalin frowned. "Grune is an admirable warrior. Enemy or not, I can respect that, one great fighter to another. Besides, he is attractive, for a Thundercat. Not that you'd know much about attractiveness, RedEye." she retorted.

"It certainly didn't look like fighting was what you wanted to do with him, Kalin." Alluro remarked, sipping at one of the free drinks.

Kalin resisted the urge to punch him and instead shot him a nasty glare. "If I cared in the least bit what you think, I would have asked." she snarled at him. "I have my own reasons for being nice to the Ambassador."

"Yeah, the reason is called 'I want to get laid'." RedEye laughed. Chilla and Alluro laughed with him.

Luna cast them an irritated look. "Enough! We're in public here. The least you can all do is act like you have some manners."

"Yeah, and give poor Kalin a break. So what if she thinks Grune is hot? He is, in that animalistic kind of way." Lurella spoke up in Kalin's defense.

"Thanks... I think." Kalin replied.

Alluro gave Lurella a look of mock jealousy. "So you find that Thundercat attractive, do you?"

Lurella smiled back at him and leaned on him. "Not as hot as you are, sweetie."

Everyone else at the table nearly puked after hearing that. Boy, is she delusional! Kalin thought nastily. She was actually beginning to feel sorry for the girl. All of the others at the table knew Alluro was only pretending to be in love with her to get his hands on her money, but they didn't really care. Kalin used to think if you were stupid enough to get sucked in by creeps like him, you deserved what you got. Now she was genuinely pitying the girl. She may not have been bright, but she did deserve better than a jerk like Alluro. Kalin watched Alluro and Lurella exchange a few more nauseating words of affection, and then leave to take a walk to the terrace or something.

Chilla was scowling. "I'll be glad when he's finished with whatever he's doing with her. She has got to be the most annoying girl I've ever met!"

"She isn't that bad, Chilla." Kalin replied. "You know damn well why you don't like her, and it has nothing to do with her being an airhead."

"What the hell do you know?" Chilla hissed back.

"More than you think." Kalin answered.

"Why don't you go and chase your Thundercat, Kalin?" Chilla sneered.

"Chilla, stop it." Luna berated her. "Kalin's reason for flirting with him is clear. I suggested she do it. Imagine how easy things would go for our people on Thundera if we could get a Thundercat on our side. One who could look the other way when we want to make a raid on their miserable planet. One who could open numerous doors for us if in exchange for sharing in our glory and wealth from plundering the weak fools that live on our worlds. If Kalin can seduce and lure him into our world, think of the possibilites for all of us. The potential for more wealth and power is staggering."

Chilla raised her eyes. "Using sex to get a material payoff... I believe the common term for that, Luna, is 'prostitute'."

Kalin's eyes flashed with fury. "You bitch!"

"I'm only calling it like I see it." Chilla replied with mock sweetness.

"Maybe you're just so familiar with that term because your would-be lover is busy ignoring you so he can be a male one to get money from our dear Lurella." Kalin snapped. Enraged, Chilla spat ice in Kalin's direction. Kalin ducked out of the way with her lightning-fast reflexes. "Temper, temper, Chilla." Kalin sneered. RedEye watched the scene with the utmost amusement.

Luna smacked Kalin on the head with her riding crop and made a threatening gesture at Chilla. "Stop this nonsense now! Have you forgotten we're in the palace, of all places? This behavior may be fine back at the club in the capitol but it is grossly inappropriate here. If you two cause a scene, there will be hell to pay. Kalin, why don't you see to your little mission now? And you, Chilla, better watch your mouth, or I will have Amok shut it for you. Permanently." Luna threatened in a hushed voice. "Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes Luna." Chilla replied with annoyance. Although she was glad Luna had taken her in off the streets, penniless and starving, four years ago when she'd arrived in the capitol after running away from home, sometimes she *really* hated answering to her.

Kalin stood. "I'll be back when I'm back. Don't wait up." she informed them, and left.

Grune made it through dinner with no incidents, much to his surprise. From what he'd seen so far, these lunatacs were actually making an effort to treat him well while he was here. Even if they didn't intend to settle anything peacefully, he was pleasantly surprised that they hadn't tried anything sneaky or underhanded. At the moment, however, Grune was getting a little bored. The royal couple had gone to confer with their head of security for a bit, and he didn't feel comfortable going and talking to anyone, so he he simply got up and took a walk around. He stepped out into the hallway and leaned against a pillar.

"Feeling tired, Ambassador?" a voice asked him from behind. Grune whirled around and saw Kalin standing there. "Relax, Ambassador Grune, I am not going to bite." Kalin said with a sly smile.

"Kalin... that is your name, correct?" Grune asked nervously. He didn't know what it was about her that unnerved him so. He wasn't afraid of her, not exactly, but something about her made him nervous. Perhaps the fact that he couldn't stop thinking about her had something to do with it.

"It is. So why are you out here all alone? Did the king and queen bore you with their long winded royal speeches?"

"I just wanted a break, that's all."

"So, Grune, how has your stay here been so far? I imagine a trip to an enemy world all alone must be rather lonely. How are you handling it? Is it getting to you?" Kalin asked him gently. "I know it would bother me." She laid a hand on his shoulder. Grune shivered at her touch. He was so attracted to her, but it was so wrong! Not only was she one of the enemy, but he had a love, back home, her name was Scarlette. How could he even think such thoughts about this woman? "Would you like to go for a walk, Ambassador?" she asked.

In spite of his better judgement, he blurted out "Yes!"

Kalin beamed. "Wonderful! Come on, let's walk around the palace grounds." she led him outside and the two walked through the grounds. Grune hadn't spent much time on the moons of Plundarr, he marvelled at the beauty of the different plant life that grew there as the couple walked among the gardens. He also couldn't help but marvel at Kalin's beauty as well. He'd never met anyone like her. Usually he hated lunatacs. He felt something much different for her, and it frightened him.

The two talked for a while, and sat by a fountain together. "So tell me, what is it exactly that you do? You came to the party with Luna. Are you one of the infamous Lunatacs of Plundarr?" Grune asked.

"And if I said I was?"

"I would be intrigued. You don't seem to me to be a worthless raider and killer at heart. I would have to wonder why you would choose to live such a lifestyle."

"And if I wasn't?"

"I would still be intrigued." Grune admitted.

"Then it will cost me nothing to tell you the truth. I am. I have worked for Luna for the past five years. She is a difficult woman, but not intolerable. She is no one I cannot handle." Kalin told him.

"You are confident." Grune said with a smile. "I hope that confidence is well-founded."

"Do you really think it isn't?" she asked. "I grew up in a wild jungle. My people, my clan... they are not like the other races of the lunatacs. We keep to ourselves. Most of us stay in our remote settlements and don't live among the others. Some of us do, but many do not. I chose to leave because I wanted to see something different, to see what all was out there. However, I haven't, nor will I ever, forget all that I learned growing up. The laws of the jungle. They are very simple: 'watch your back' and 'everyone for him or herself'."

"How harsh." Grune said. "Does living that way make you happy?"

"If it didn't, why would I do it?" she asked him simply.

Grune thought about what she said and nodded. "I understand your point. I have to wonder if you are as happy as you think you are."

"Why wouldn't I be happy? I can do as I please. If there is something I want to do, I can just do it. If I see something I want, I can take it." she said, and laid a hand on his arm suggestively. He shivered, but didn't push her away. "Can you say the same for yourself, when you constrain yourself by the rules of all your Thundercat codes?"

"Being a Thundercat makes me happy." he replied.

"Does it? Or do you sometimes wonder if... you might be missing out?" she asked, leaning close to him.

"No." he said quickly.

"I don't belive you." she whispered. "And neither do you." Kalin then leaned forward and kissed him deeply. No matter how hard he tried to make himself do so, he could not push her away. Instead he kissed her back. After several minutes the two of them broke apart.

"I'm sorry." Grune said right away. He immediately felt very guilty for indulging in that kiss.

Kalin smirked. "No you're not. You wouldn't have kissed me back like that if you didn't mean it."

"You don't know what you're talking about." he said gruffly.

"Yes I do." she asserted. "It's all right. There's nothing wrong with giving into desire."

"There is when it hurts others." he answered stonily.

"I don't think your 'other' was who was on your mind a moment ago." she said smugly, and looked at him intently. "Am I wrong?" Grune didn't answer. "Your silence answers for you." she said after a moment.

Kalin then stepped away. "It is getting late, and I must be on my way. If you would like to meet again, come to this address and ask for me." She reached into her evening bag and quickly scribbled an address on a piece of paper. She handed it to him and smiled. "I hope to see you soon, Grune." She rested her hand on his for a fleeting moment, and walked off into the night.

Grune watched her leave, then looked at the paper, then looked up again. Don't do it. he warned himself. She's nothing but trouble, and you don't want any trouble. Something inside himself told him to rip up that paper and never think of her again. He started, but sighed and stuffed it into a pocket instead. Forgetting her was out of the question, that much he knew already. He glanced over again at the dark night into which she had disappeared, turned, and walked slowly back to the palace, deep in thought.