The three classes of eichi

Rufus ran to Kassim with Haley, Edward and Doreen. They hugged the red furball tightly, who was big enough to reach his hand over all of them.

"What are you doing here?" Haley asked with a bright smile.

"What else, profit of course. My nose told me there was a lot of profit to be made in this world, and as it would be, the king of this kingdom asked me to deliver some people to a moon world. The king is paying huge sums of money for this small feat," Kassim boasted.

"It seems that you already know what you are delivering," Ritter said as he walked behind them.

Ritter was wearing a fancy fur coat with Aurelian soldiers guarding him.

"What the hell are you talking about. These guys here are no royalty. They are a....uhmmmm. Are you guys still, you know, gangsters?" Kassim whispered to Rufus.

"Wellllll...uhmmm. Long story actually."

~~

After a quick explanation of what had happened in the previous years, Kassim looked shocked.

"A king you say huh. Why I knew it I backed the right horse. Never knew the horse would get so far in life," Kassim yelled happily.

"These here are the ones who you are also taking along with us," Doreen said and introduced Kassim to the rest of the envoys.

"Couple grey and gloomy people, two kids, one human girl who looks pissed, some soldiers clad in thick armor hiding their faces....and an eichi," Kassim said as he surveyed through them all.

"You know of Yosef's people?" Haley asked.

"What kind of a merchant ship captain I was if I didn't recognize an eichi. They are the best traders in the whole universe maybe. My second in command is an eichi."

Yosef looked nervous as he heard of another of his kind was nearby.

"Udi! Come down here!" Kassim yelled.

An eichi jumped from the ship and landed right in front of them. Unlike Yosef, who was skinny and a bit scrawny, this one was taller and even had a long scorpion-like tail behind him.

"Look, look, another Eichi," Kassim said.

"You know captain, acting like that only makes you sound even more racist," the eichi replied.

He then stared at Yosef.

"Sorry about him. He tries to come off as a person who doesn't see races but comes off more as a person who ONLY sees races. My name is Udi L'ghem," Udi said and reached out his hand.

"Are you sure he is and Eichi? I mean he is pale and looks like Yosef, but he is way bigger and even has a tale," Edward pointed out.

Everyone stared at Edward like he had asked something innaporpriate.

"I know. What's up with that, Udi?" Kassim continued who couldn't read the mood either.

Udi sighed.

"By ancient law, the Eichi is separated into three classes. The hapolot, who are born normally without any enhancements. They are the most common of our people. Then are the Lohem, the warriors of the people, like me. We are born with a tail to use in battle, but it is now more used in other practical situations," Udi explained.

"How about the third?" Edward asked.

Yosef looked uncomfortable.

"The last is the Maleks, the royalty of our people," Udi said.

"How can you have royalty if you don't have a home," Edward asked, making the situation again uncomfortable.

"Good point," Kassim added.

"You really should get better at this captain....Anyways, the royalty is an old and rare group of our people who are distinguished by their wings. They were previously worshipped, and were thought of almost as gods, as they were thought to be the ones to find us a home, but as time went on and no home was found, we stopped caring about them. They are just a relic of the past, even how strong they might be."

"So you are a hapolot?" Edward asked and pointed at Yosef.

Yosef then looked at them and said," yeah, yeah. Born to a hapolot and always been a hapolot."

Ritter then coughed as to intrude on the conversation.

"I am sorry to intrude on this...history of the Eichi lesson, but I am forced to say that time is not on our side," Ritter said.

~~

Ritter took them to the top of the tower and before they boarded the gravity ship of Kassim, king Ritter gave just a small lecture on the people of the solo green moon world.

"The people who live there are humans just like us, but view the people of the Aesis as barbarians. The people who live there are called the Saracens and live in a clan society. Every clan owns some land and just like us, fights wars among each other for stupid reasons such as land and pride. The moon world is apparently a lush rainforest world, with rich and diverse forests all over. Some even call it a paradise.

"Satifa is not a clan leader, but she is the leader of the locust witches. They are known as the judiciary force of the land and are given the power to place judgment, even on the clan leaders. These witches are powerful beings and by no means should you anger any of them. And by no means, do not anger the queen, she is most likely the only one who can fight the emperor equally," Ritter explained.

Everyone looked a bit weary.

"Well then, nothing else then. Good luck then, it's only the fate of our world that rests on the success of this mission," Ritter said and happily walked away, leaving the rest in a state of uneasiness.

~~

The gravity ship undocked from the tower and started at first slowly ascend into the sky.

It was the first of many times for Rufus and his friends to ascend on top of a gravity ship and enter the vast universe.