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It took a almost half a sweep of convincing to get Kanaya to travel to the other side of Alternia to visit her friends. In her defense, it would be quite a trip and there weren’t a lot of rapid transit options available on a planet full of kids. It took Feferi's clout as the charge of The Speaker to have some of the adult trolls pick up Kanaya in her desert oasis and drop her off in the city near her friends. They were traveling around most of the planet anyway, picking up trolls that had reached adulthood to sort them into the various boot camps they would be attending.
The soldier sounded stiffly polite, especially upon seeing Kanaya's lusus, though it was slightly hard to tell with their faces obscured by their mirrored visors. They threw a quick salute as she got on board. She got to ride up in the pilot's compartment and not in the back with the rest of the new recruits. They didn't talk to her during the trip. It was just as well as Kanaya slept most of the way. The soldiers thought it odd that she was so tired when the sun just went down, but they just shrugged and were relived that they didn't have to deal with entertaining her the whole way.
A few hours later she stepped off of the ship at the port downtown and scanned the landing pad for anyone that looked like they were expecting her. Kanaya grabbed her bag and walked up to one troll standing near the corner, with his hands in his pockets.
“You must be Sollux.” She put out her hand.
“Got it in one.” Sollux said as he took her hand and shook it.
“The glasses gave you away.”
“That figures.” He motioned for her to follow him down the stairs and off the landing platform.
“Never theen anyone come OUT of one of those ships, except the tholdiers. They give me the creeps.”
“Feferi called in some favors, from what I heard. I am grateful to her.”
“She's alright. You're going to thee her too?”
“I am going to try and visit everyone while I'm here.”
“You should try to get Terezi and Nepeta to meet you thomplace, like KK's or thomthing. They're kind of out in the ath-end of nowhere.”
“I'll mention it to Karkat when I think of it. I am not sure he would want to put up with a lot of people in his hive.”
“He gets along with Terezi okay, for Karkat anyway. He puts up with Nepeta too. Dunno why.”
“I'll take your word for it.”
“Where are you thtaying?”
“With Vriska probably. She is my morial after all.”
Sollux snorted. “Figures. Just don't get fed to her thpider.”
Kanaya stopped and stamped her foot indigently. “She is NOT going to feed me to her thpi-I mean spider! You're the third troll to tell me that!”
“Whatever. Pardon me if I don't exactly hold her in high regard. We have kind of a hithtory.”
“Yes. I know. I heard.” Kanaya sighed and rubbed her face.
“Well, fine. At least thtop and see Tav on the way. You're going to go right patht him anyway.”
*
Kanaya found Tavros to be charming, in a socially inept sort of way. He was polite a hesitated before saying anything, but Kanaya saw that as a way of him caring about what he said to other people. She liked his hive too, mostly for the landscape it was in. The wide fields reminded her somewhat of her desert home, even if the wind did kick up now and again. They sat out in the field talking, Tavros in his four wheeled device, and Kanaya on the ground.
“Sorry, I, uh, don't have someplace for you to sit. I don't, uh, get visitors out here. That often.”
Tavros had managed to coax a small, fuzzy animal over to his chair. It had hopped up onto his lap, and he was gently petting it's head.
“That is fine Tavros. I do not mind sitting here. The grass is quite nice.”
She looked curiously over at the animal that Tavros was petting. Tavros seemed to notice.
“Oh! This is...uh...Hopper. He's a hop beast. He won't, uh, bite. I asked him not to.”
“I forgot that you can communicate with animals. That must be nice.” She reached over and gingerly scratched it between its overly large ears with one finger.
“It is, uh, nice sometimes. I like to pretend they can talk back some of the time. It's a little less lonely out here this way.”
“I thought you could understand them.”
“No, uh, I can only ask them to do things. They can't tell me anything back.”
Kanaya quickly pulled her finger away in case Hopper didn't actually agree to not remove it from her hand. The animal just looked at her quizzically.
“Don't, uh, worry. They always do what I ask for some reason.”
“Oh.”
They sat in silence for a bit before Tavros spoke up, if only to break the silence.
“Did you know, uh, some places think a magical hop beast appears in the spring time and leaves eggs everywhere?”
“It lays eggs? It looks more like a mammal.”
“Oh, no, I don't mean its eggs. It just, uh, carries a bunch of eggs with it and hides them places.”
“Why?”
“So people can find them. I guess.”
“So he hides them, but he wants people to find them? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It's supposed to be like a game I think.”
“What do you win?”
“The eggs...I think. I've never found one.”
Kanaya giggled. She couldn't help herself. “You say some of the strangest things Tavros. I heard you believe in faeries too.”
“Uh-huh.” Tavros blushed.
“Don't you think that seems silly?”
“A little, I guess. But I don't stop believing in them. I guess, uh, I think you shouldn't not believe in something just because you've never seen one.”
“I'm sorry. It still seems ridiculous to me. They're just stories.”
“Well, uh, what about those stories you read? Those rainbow drinker monsters. Don't you believe in them? They're just stories too.”
“I...Ah...” Kanaya blushed. “I...just...wish...they existed. It's not the same as believing in them.”
“Well, why don't you?”
“Because!” She was getting frustrated. “Because they're just...stories, for little wigglers. I can enjoy a story Tavros, but I realize after a certain age that some things are just fake.”
She didn't like using that word on Tavros, but he had touched on a personal subject. Tavros, surprisingly, didn't seem too affected by Kanaya's use of the four letter 'f' word. He simply looked down at the animal on his lap and stroked it gently on the head.
“Well, I never stopped , uh, believing in faeries, and I don't think you should. Terezi tells me that it's, uh, important to believe in something. She says that if you believe in something, it's not as fake as if you, uh, didn't.”
“I wouldn't call that a reliable source.” Kanaya retorted. Tavros just shrugged.
“Anyway...” Kanaya went on. “...I don't believe in fairies, or monsters.”
Tavros went very quiet. The little animal jumped off his lap and bounded away across the field. He sat and stared at the spot where it used to be. Kanaya looked up at Tavros. He looked very sad, and a little scared. It became all too obvious that he was a small, weak troll bound to the chair of his. Kanaya felt her stomach drop out. She remembered who did this to him, and how little he had left. She guess it made sense for him to believe in things like that.
“Tavros, I'm...” But Tavros reached over and put a hand on her shoulder. He leaned over as best as he could, and whispered.
“I don't think you should stop believing in monsters either.”
He looked at the night sky.
“I think you, uh, better go. If you want to get to Vriska's before the sun comes up.” And with that, he turned around a wheeled back into his hive.
*
The sun was peeking over the edge when Kanaya reached Vriska's hive. Turns out that Vriska was waiting outside for her, looking around nervously. She waved and ran towards Kanaya when she saw her.
“There you are! What took you so long?! I thought you got eaten by something. I know you like going out in the daylight like a weirdo, but some of us like to get indoors before the freaks a ghouls come out.”
Kanaya stopped and looked at Vriska. She could see the scar tissue peaking out from behind the plate on her face. More than anything, she noticed her fangs. She realized after a second that she was staring.
“Sorry. I stopped and had a talk with Tavros on the way over.” She said, hoping she wasn't blushing.
“You saw Tavros before me!?” She looked offended.
“Well, he was right on the way. I thought it would save time.”
“Okay, okay, whatever. Just get inside!” Vriska actually grabbed Kanaya by the shoulders and ushered her into the big stone hive. Her left had was ice cold.
“What did Toredork bore you with anyway? More of his fairy crap?”
Kanaya looked back at Vriska again. Her scarred face. Her wicked grin. Her cold touch. She was beautiful.
“I...Yes. But it was not that bad really. He gave me something to think about.”
“Yeah. He makes me think too. He makes me wonder how such a loser lasted so long. Whatever. You hungry? You look like you're spacing out a bit.”
“Uh...Yes! I am hungry. That is why I keep...staring...at you. Very hungry.” She realized how she sounded and almost covered her mouth in surprise. Thankfully, Vriska didn't seem to catch the innuendo.
“You're sounding weird. Let's get you something to eat so you get back to normal. Going to take me a few minutes though.”
“That is okay. I brought a book.”