18 Chapter 18 (2/2)

”How would I know?” Jackson asks. ”Leave me alone already, would ya?”. Aeris squints at Jackson, then Jackson says ”What? That's supposed to be a laibah story! Does she even really need to know?”.

”Her parents are laibah, you jerk!” Aeris says as she begins to take out her notebook.

Jackson sighs and says ”Fair enough...”.

After school, Refus found Emily outside of the school's front door and asks ”Hey Emily! I know your parents are back in town for now, but I was wondering if I may be able to meet them briefly?”.

”Oh, uh...” Emily says as she thinks, ”I guess they wouldn't really mind meeting one of my teachers, especially if it's you. I'm sure they're home right now, if you wanted to speak with them”.

”N-now?” Refus asks. Refus then thinks to himself, and about how he wanted to ask Emily's parents about what he and Ryan discussed. ”S-sure”.

Emily took Refus to Matilda's house, where they were all staying for now. Only Emily, Refus and Emily's parents were present. Matilda usually lives alone, and she wasn't there because she was at work. Refus ended up spending a lot of time at Matilda's house, asking Emily's parents about laibah history. Emily walked around the house, letting them talk, and minding her own business. What they were talking about was basically the same thing she had heard earlier from Jackson. Suddenly, Emily's interest was caught. Her parents, Lyra and Jay, began talking about The Amethyst tribe and their shifting abilities.

”You see” Lyra says, ”they had a superior shifting ability that was useful for surviving in the wild. They were able to have more than three forms. They had their human form, fox form, half form, but they could also use forms between those three. They called this quarter shifting”.

”Quarter shifting?” Emily asks as she enters the kitchen, where they were talking.

”Oh, did we pique your interest, sweetie?” Lyra asks.

”Do you like history?” Jay asks. ”Do you want to become scholars like us? Or maybe even an archeologist? O-or maybe a famous historian!”.

”I-I don't know” Emily says. ”I'm not sure what I want to do yet”.

”Well, it's fine, honey” Lyra says. ”Take your time, and don't rush things”.

”Do you want to sit and hear the rest of the story too?” Jay asks.

”Can I!?” Emily says as she nearly jumps.

”Sure you can!” Jay says. ”Now where were we?”.

”Quarter shifting” Refus says. ”I want to know more about this”.

”Right, well” Jay says, ”as you know, there are three forms that each laibah can use, human form, fox form, and half form. Well, to explain this, I'm going to use a half form as the basis to paint a picture in your mind. You see, in a half form, we have a human body but with our tail and ears. Well, there are two quarter forms”.

”Then why did they call it a quarter form, if it adds up to five total forms?” Refus asks.

”It's half of a half form” Jay says. ”To put it simply, the name quarter fox form refers to the quarter form that has the least amount of fox-like appearance. It's a human body, without the tail or ears, but certain features will be discernible upon closer inspection. They're small differences between this form and the human form. The difference is things like, slit-like pupils and sharp teeth. Then the quarter human form, which is mostly like a fox. They appear like a bipedal fox, full body fur, snout, paws, ears, tail, everything, except their bone structure allows them to walk and move like a human”.

”Whoa...” Emily says.

”That's not all” Lyra says, ”there's a trade off for having those forms”.

”A tradeoff?” Refus asks. ”Like what?”.

”Well, like every laibah, The Amethyst tribe can't choose the appearance of their other forms. The appearance of our forms are chosen at birth” Lyra says. ”They can't manipulate the color of their fur, the eye color or anything like that. However, that's completely normal for every laibah. The tradeoff is, while they have more forms to choose from, they have a harder time maintaining their human like forms. This includes the human form and quarter fox form. Their ears and tail are... persistent, in a manner of speaking. Occasionally, they will lose control over their shapeshift during sudden burst of strong emotions, such as fear, happiness, excitement, and et cetera”.

”Do any of you two have that ability?” Refus asks.

”No no” Jay says, ”that bloodline of laibah are believed to be extinct. The old dominant tribe hasn't been active for over a millennia”.

”Well, how do you ever know if you've met one?” Emily asks.

”Well, like the origin of the title 'laibah' suggests” Lyra says, ”they have discernible features. Most of these features slowly began to fade as time passed and the bloodline married more and more outside of their tribe, but they do have one dominant trait that persists in their bloodline. Purple eyes”.

”Purple... eyes?” Emily asks as her eyes slowly widen.

”Oh no” Refus says as he suddenly comes to a conclusion, ”She might be in trouble after all!”.

”What's the matter?” Lyra asks.

”Mom... dad?” Emily says softly, ”I think I know someone in my class who's a descendant of The Amethyst tribe...”.

”You what!?” Jay shouts.

”Is that bad?” Emily asks.

”No!” Lyra says in excitement, ”that's amazing! I didn't think any of them would be around! I want to meet them before we leave Terrio again. Do you think you can arrange that?”.

”Yeah, uh...” Emily says, ”what's going-”.

”I'm sorry” Refus says as he hastily gets ready to leave, ”but I've got to go. I've got to talk to our principal about something early in the morning before classes start”.

”Alright” Jay says as he stands up and shakes Refus's hand, ”it was a pleasure meeting you. Take care of yourself!”.

”Thanks for having me” Refus says.

Meanwhile, Wyatt and Emma were getting ready to go to sleep for classes the next day. As the two lay awake in bed, Emma thinks to herself.

”Can't sleep?” Wyatt asks.

”Yeah” Emma says, ”it's just... I never knew about any of those stories about laibah before. I'm just kind of... thinking it over is all”.

”Yeah, it was interesting” Wyatt says, ”yet a lot to take in. I didn't know that's where the name came from”.

”Me either, to be honest” Emma says. Emma pauses for a while and then says ”The Amethyst tribe...”.

”What?” Wyatt asks.

”Do you think something like The Amethyst tribe really existed?” Emma asks.

”I don't know for sure” Wyatt says. ”The story could've been changed so many times, that eventually they had to come up with a new reason behind the name laibah”.

”I guess that's true...” Emma says. ”If they did exist, I wonder if any of them are even still alive...”.