#a glimpse into mikran culture

[blue-kyber]

An excerpt from Chapter 29 of “Out There: The 1K. Part 2″

[Yune] noticed Will kept a vice grip on the light, “Ease up, Sparky, before you break it.”

Will loosened his death grip and tried not to be afraid. A light in the dark kept the monsters away. That was one reason out of many that he hated the lab; it was always bright. The monsters lived in it.

The darkness needled through Will’s resolve to fight his fear. He stopped. His feet refused to move any further.

Yune turned around, “Sparky?”

He clutched the light close, “Me and the dark don’t get along.”

“Well, keep that light on and you’ll be fine,” he said, “We just gotta keep walking.”

Will nodded, “Yeah. Right. I’m - I’m not scared,” but stayed rooted in place. 

When the kid didn’t move, Yune realized he was dealing with a very real phobia. Will had to be in a continuous state of fright in this cave system on top of what he felt losing Terra. He had to do something to help the kid keep his mind off it.

“Hey. You know, this is kind of an adventure. What we need is an adventuring song.”

Will’s voice trembled, “Like what?”

“Well, what songs do you know?”

He thought hard, forcing his mind to work, “Um, ‘Take Me Out To The Ball Game?’”

Yune hesitated, “Uh… culture is going to be a problem here, isn’t it,” he went through his own mental inventory for something easy to learn, “Did they teach you ‘Koonibee?’”

He shook his head.

“Siffon, do you know that one?”

“Yes. Kanera taught me.”

“It’s one I used to sing as a kid. It’s easy to pick up. Just follow along, Sparky.” Yune gave Will a gentle nudge forward to get the kid moving and started singing;

“Koonibee sitting in a cloudy sky,

Koonibee watching all the world go by.

La da dee, la da dee, la da dee dee dai

Oh, to be a koonibee in the sky.”

As they sang, Will’s fear melted away. 

The trio walked through the dimly lit cave with Yune’s low tenor leading the bright melody for Siffon’s and Will’s higher voices turning it into a three part round. 

Terra had said he was a good singer, but he never believed her. Now that he heard how cleanly Yune could carry a tune, and how pure Siffon’s soprano rang through the cave, he wasn’t embarrassed about his own skill. Mik-human songs were a lot like the ones he knew. Thankfully, the three of them weren’t tone deaf. 

He taught Yune and Siffon ‘Row Row Row Your Boat,’ and Siffon taught them a yondi round called ‘The Old Man and the Pibblebonk” but he forgot to ask Yune what a koonibee is.

((I have to keep reminding myself through this story that Will and Terra are 10 (12 terran years, but they didn't age after the experiments). They're intelligent, there's a lot they can do, they're capable, wise, caring, and have skills, and they're relatively fearless, but they ARE just 10 year old kids.))