The giant spaceship of the galaxy pirates – the Shark Tooth – whose pirate flags had been taken down on purpose and replaced with peaceful merchant ones, docked in the harbour. Its blue fire engines turned off and it floated into the water like some average wooden vessel Violet had often seen in history books back on Earth. However, it was not completely Earthly, either – its blue sails shone as always, indicating its alien origin. There were many other similar ships docked in the Torat harbour, so the Shark Tooth didn't stand out that much, just how the pirates wanted.

Baxus and some Dionoids from Jasheen's gang helped load the goods down onto the ground, while Raido, Rodam, Zehu, and Diana set up an open shop to get ready for the trade. Violet could notice many other merchants from other spaceships do the same. Apparently, it was a common practice for merchants to set up open shops right in the harbour and make it as flashy as possible in order to attract more customers.

After the preparations had been made, Rodam stood before the shop and began yelling with a welcoming smile on his face:

"Only today, purchase items from Planet Irahor! Yes, you've heard that right – the abode of our fellow Dionoids and Radenoids, an ancient battleground of ours, now turned into a massive tourist attraction! Purchase items right from there! Gather round!"

Now I understand why he's working in the covert team – he's indeed very attractive when it comes to the trade...

"Violet," Raido's strict voice woke her from the thoughts, "you're still new to this, so I'd like you to rally nearby districts and distribute these fliers advertising our shop." He handed her a bunch of papers with depictions of the Shark Tooth, their shop, and many richly items (all robbed from Planet Irahor, of course) that could be found in their catalogue. "Your language skills will be the most essential in this mission – you can attract any type of customer of any race whose language you know. Zehu will accompany you. You are a simple human, so he will protect you if need be."

Violet took the papers and walked off, followed by Zehu, who had been silent for the whole time on the ship. She could notice the Torat City was not that much of a rich utopia like it first seemed – right in the streets, a lot of beggars sat around, asking for money. Most of them were either Dionoids or other minor species.

"Poor people... Say, Zehu, is it always like this in here?"

The young man nodded.

"Oh, you don't want to talk?"

He opened his mouth and pointed into it. Violet froze in shock – he had no tongue!

"Wait, it's not that you don't want to talk but... you can't?! Is it a common thing with your species or?"

Zehu shook his head with a bitter smile.

"Only you? I'm so sorry... But, how come you spoke Bakhal with Baxus if you're mute?"

He pointed to his throat.

"You mean since it's a language that works on sound waves and utilizes just the throat to speak? That's cool! I hope to learn Bakhal soon so I can speak with you."

Zehu let out a warmhearted laugh.

"So, what's that green crystal for? I mean the one you carried while we were on the ship..."

Zehu grabbed her chin and made her look into his eyes, which flashed for an instant. Violet received weird images in her head – the same green crystal she had been talking about, Zehu sitting before it, and some other green-haired and green-eyed people standing inside it as if in a mirror. Those green people seemed to look a lot like Zehu but were mostly females. Finally, the image got distorted and vanished, bringing her back to the present.

"W... What did you do to me?"

Zehu pointed on his forehead, and then on her one.

"You sent me your thoughts?! You can perform telepathy? Those people inside the crystal – they're your family?"

She received a nod.

"You all communicate by telepathy with those crystals? You Daluma truly are divine beings, then! So, you're mute, you can communicate only with sound waves and telepathy, yet can still understand Radenese as we speak?"

He showed a thumb up much in a prideful manner, making her laugh.

"Say, Zehu, will you become my friend? I'll make sure to study Bakhal super hard, and then we'll be able to talk as much as we like!"

The young man's green eyes shimmered with joy. He shook her hands heartily and nodded with excitement.

"Then it's decided, my new friend Zehu!"

***

Violet and Zehu walked along the streets together, towards the city center that was near the harbour. They stopped at a certain large square and Violet began handing out the fliers to by-passers. Much to her disappointment, not many paid attention to her, and those who did take the fliers weren't that much interested.

"What's wrong with these people? To think of it, we might not be doing it right – since everyone hands out fliers every day for various reasons, people don't seem to be interested anymore... What do you think we should do? We need something flashier. Do you have any ideas?"

Zehu put a hand to his chin and fell into his thoughts. Then he snapped his fingers as if coming up with an idea. He grabbed the surprised Violet's shoulder and looked into her eyes. Violet received images in her head – Zehu jumping around the square and dancing, with some green dragons flying around him.

"You mean... illusions? Put up an illusionary show with you as the main actor? That's a superb idea! We'll get their attention, and I'll hand out the fliers. Meanwhile, we can also gather some extra cash from the spectators!"

They ran into the center of the square. Zehu began flashing with green energy. A green crystal stage erected right from the ground, under his very feet. Such a miraculous event wasn't left undetected by people. A lot of by-passers gathered around the crystal. Violet caught the moment and shouted as loudly as she could in Intergalactic Radenese:

"Ladies and gentlemen, please gather round! We are wandering traders, having just arrived from Planet Irahor. We shall display an amazing show depicting our adventures through galaxies and universes. In return, all we ask of you is to check out our shop in the Torat harbour, for the goods from Planet Irahor available only today. Don't miss this chance! Now, please enjoy the show!"

She nodded at Zehu. When the young man's green eyes flashed, Violet beheld something quite bizarre: his innocent face formed a grin full of vile, almost like a merciless inner cackle of a mighty species that stood above the crowd and perceived them as nothing but rats he could freely toy with. Much to her relief, though, that was for just an instant, so that she even began to doubt whether it was truly real. Zehu regained his hearty smile and began jumping around the crystal stage. He threw up some green crystal dust and created a giant green fire dragon, then added some green wolves and began fighting them all at once while performing some ancient Daluman dance moves. The spectators, charmed by such magic, got so agitated that many of them threw money into the sack Violet had modestly held out, and even grabbed the fliers to later on definitely visit their shop.

There's no wonder why Captain Sinbad put Zehu in the covert team – he has some wonderful ideas on how to attract buyers. Raido talked about him as if some additional member, who was there just for the sake of it, but now I see that's not the case. In fact, he could be considered a key member of theirs.

When the sun rolled towards the east and it dusked (Planet Gue rotated from the west to the east around its axis, hence the sun rose from the west and set into the east, unlike on Earth), Violet and Zehu finished their show. They had already gathered a lot of precious coins as well as distributed all the fliers. Zehu made the green crystal stage disappear and released the spectators from his illusions. The amazed crowd clapped and whooped as they left.

"We worked hard today, didn't we, Zehu? You were amazing! Look at how many coins we've got, and the fliers are all taken. This is the best outcome we could've imagined!"

Zehu blushed and averted his gaze from her. Violet giggled at his shyness. They walked on and passed the beggar streets again. The poor people sat on cold stones as before, holding hands out for money.

"Now that I think of it, we could give some of this money to those people. They seem to be in need of it more than us_"

She sensed a hand clutch her arm. Zehu's green eyes shimmered as he decisively shook his head.

"Huh? Why not?"

Zehu sent her images of how those who gave money to these poor people were later on beaten by them, all of their belongings being taken away. Sometimes, it even resulted in their death.

"Alright, if you say so_"

"Excuse me, miss!" A tiny humanoid child clutched her dress, "Please, give me some food, miss! Please, mercy..."

"Aww..." Violet quickly rummaged through her sack and dropped some golden coins into the kid's hands, "There you go, tiny!"

The child ran back into the mob of beggars, showing the coins she had obtained to a sick woman and a sturdy man. Violet smiled thinking she had done a kind deed when the child's father and the beggar men, who had noticed the coins, turned towards them with grins full of greediness. Zehu gave her a sign to run. Violet darted off as fast as she could towards the docks.

"We'll be at the harbour soon! Keep up your pace!"

She ran fast, unable to glance behind even once. When she reached the ship, she saw her comrades stare at a certain place right behind her. She turned back to behold Zehu, all stained in blood from sharp daggers, while around him lay a crowd of the crazy-faced unconscious men. Even though his body should hurt like hell, he still sent her a heartwarming smile before he collapsed.

Don't tell me – he let me go in advance and faced them alone so they wouldn't catch up?!

***

The Shark Tooth returned into space. Zehu was being treated in his chamber after having received multiple injuries. Violet blamed herself over the incident – it was she who gave the coins to the child, disregarding Zehu's warning, and provoked all those crazy men! Apparently, across these countless galaxies and planets, kindness wasn't rewarded the same way everywhere.

Violet thoroughly studied Bakhal with Baxus, in order to atone for her mistake that had resulted in Zehu's getting hurt. Once this latter showed the signs of recovery, she was indeed able to visit him and properly apologize in the Bakhal language:

"I'm so sorry, Zehu! I didn't listen to you and got you into such trouble... Thank you so much for saving me!"

"You don't have to apologize. I knew you might still do it your way. You, humans, have fragile hearts, so I understand you might've felt overwhelming pity for those people. Don't blame yourself – you'll know to be more careful. Now, do you want to have some fun? I'm not able to move much and am stuck to this bed, so playing some board games with my friend would be a blessing."

"Sure, I'd be more than glad! What are we going to play?"

"I'll teach you a Daluman game that my kind and I often play. It is a mind-game like your chess, but more difficult since we, Daluma, think differently from you humans. Anyway, learning it won't be so hard for a genius like you." Zehu winked and held his hand up, creating a small green crystal board with some pieces of different colours – yellow, blue, purple, and red. "Each of us players shall conduct a group of a single colour. Pick any you like, because it makes no difference. The main difficulty starts after that. We play with our colours and the other two groups are enemies. We two are each other's enemies as well. If you are beaten by a remote enemy group, you have a chance to be resurrected, but only once. If an actual player's team beats you, you're done."

"Oh, sounds interesting! So, how do we play?"

"We Daluma are telepathic creatures, so this mind-game includes it. We should fill each of these crystals with our memories, which shall generate emotions. There are twelve crystals. Six should be filled with happiness, six – with rage. Rage pieces and Happiness pieces clash. If your Rage piece defeats the opponent's Happiness piece, it turns into a bigger Happiness piece while the opponent's defeated one becomes a Rage piece. If all of your crystals get filled with rage, you lose. When those crystals return your memories to you, you suffer mentally as all the pieces replay your memories and taint them with sadness and rage. For the winner, it's the opposite – happy memories replay in their mind, making them undergo complete delight."

"It sounds... creepy now." Violet trembled – mental suffering was sometimes far worse than the physical one. Playing with people's memories and emotions wasn't that pleasant, and it didn't sound like Zehu at all. "Do all of you Daluma play this game?"

"Yes. It is a daily amusement for us. I was known to be the best player – I had won many times. Since I abandoned my asteroid, though, I enjoy playing this game only with my closest friends. Back home, I used to play in tournaments in my leisure time, and used to be called the Crystal Crusher."

"Why that alias?"

"Because I used to crush my opponents' minds with my game-play."

Zehu's innocent smile morphed yet again and Violet got assured what she had seen before was definitely not an illusion – a diabolic grin had covered his face as if an inner cackle of a person who felt delighted toying with people's minds.

"I... Is it necessary that we play?"

"No, I'm not forcing you. It'd be regrettable, though. I'd like us to share more between each other. Since I'm mute and speak but Bakhal, my only option is to show you my memories and feelings. That is the main way we Daluma interact. Don't worry – I won't be too serious with you since you're still a beginner."

"Okay, but please, Zehu, promise me something... I feel you are not the type of a person I'd imagined you to be. I mean, there's more to you than meets the eye. I'm not saying it's bad, but, well, you understand... So, since you hold such frightening powers, and since, as you've said, you consider me a friend, please, don't disrupt my mind too much, because there are some memories I am horrified of looking back at."

Tears appeared in Violet's eyes – this boy was not what she had thought him to be. There was vileness hidden deep within him. She could see it now as he had shown that diabolic grin two times and quickly hidden it before anyone would come to their senses. He was more dangerous than he seemed.

"Don't worry, Violet. You have my word."

After Zehu had thus reassured her with a kind, heartwarming smile, they began playing: she with red pieces, he – with purple ones. Violet easily got the hang of the game – instead of confronting the professional opponent she went for an easy kill of the two lateral teams and purified her Rage pieces. Zehu did the same.

"Heh, good job figuring out those remote teams are for our own power increase!"

"Yeah, but... if both of us get our Rage pieces purified, what shall happen?"

"Don't think it'll be that easy. Sooner or later, you'll have to confront me."

As Zehu finished this sentence, Violet's Rage piece that had confronted a remote blue piece lost the battle and got consumed.

"Hmm, it seems your rage wasn't enough to beat the crystal's happiness. Blue crystals are known for their purity. Killing them is difficult. If a Happiness piece loses, it turns into a Rage piece as I've told you, but if a Rage piece loses, it vanishes."

"So, how do we know which piece to confront?"

"That's the whole fun of this game – you have no idea what type of memory you're going to confront. In that aspect, it's more like those card games you humans play – it depends on luck. However, if a piece has already eaten another piece and grown stronger, like that blue Happiness crystal that has consumed your Rage one, confronting it with a simple piece won't do anymore. Your Rage piece should be strong or it'll lose. However, that blue piece is a small fry against my trump card, so I'll just use it and steal both its happiness, and your painful memory that it contains."

He confronted the blue Happiness crystal with one of his purple Rage ones. The purple piece indeed turned the blue into a Rage one. This latter shrunk double in size as it got deprived also of Violet's memory it had consumed before. In the course of the game, though, Violet's crystals too managed to consume a lot of others – even some of Zehu's purple ones became her prey. Soon, however, her only remaining Happiness piece got driven into a corner by Zehu's Rage ones.

"It's your turn. Which Rage piece are you going to tackle?"

"You've already transformed those three crystals into Happiness pieces and then back into Rage ones. You've said that another way to win is to turn all of your Rage pieces into Happiness ones. Why did you turn them back?"

"Well, winning like that wouldn't be fun now, would it? I wouldn't get to consume many of your memories, but this way I did. Play your turn. You might get out of this if you are lucky enough."

"Y... You remember your promise, right?"

"Oh, I never forget my promises."

"Fine, here goes..." Violet moved her crystal towards a certain purple one. It turned into a Rage piece. "Oh, no!"

"You lose. It was a good party. Now, I cannot change the laws of this game, but I can make it less painful. Come here."

Zehu embraced her tightly. Images floated through Violet's mind – the painful memories she had implanted in the crystals with Zehu's help. Even the happy memories she had created the Happiness pieces with had grown tainted. However, once Zehu hugging her began to glow green, the happy memories of hers lost this taint of sadness, while her painful memories she had used as Rage pieces – the ones of her abduction and humiliating labour – turned milder and softer, not affecting her heart that much anymore.

After this whole process finished, she beheld Zehu's memories. Even though the sad moments too were marked with a tint of happiness, it still felt painful. He had been a warden of the biggest prison on his asteroid and tortured prisoners, making them go crazy. His diabolic grin recurred a lot – it seemed he had been enjoying his work. He was called the Crystal Crusher and lived up to the notion of "crushing people's minds". He was a fierce and merciless individual, known for casting dangerous spells. Violet could hear Zehu's fellow Daluma repeat in her mind as if his flashbacks: "He is a genius even amongst us Daluma"; "Ethna, he'll be a threat not only to others but to our own society, just like your elder son had been"; "Ethna, you must dispose of him too"... Consequently, one night, they apprehended Zehu Vaagard the Crystal Crusher and cut his tongue out so that he would no longer perform the mind-blowing spells. He was kept in a cell separated from the society for years until Captain Sinbad and a mysterious man tinted with scarlet rays came:

"Your talent has been wasted on this tiny asteroid... Come with us, and we shall teach you the true values in life. I am a Herminoid, and I declare Lord Captain here to be my emperor and your god and master. Follow us."

Sinbad pointed at the scarlet-shaded man to be the 'Lord Captain' he so greatly worshipped. They took Zehu from the Daluma Asteroid onto the Shark Tooth, to forever join the crew of the audacious Shark Tooth Pirates.

The images vanished and brought both of the friends back to the present.

"So Ethna – your mother – disposed of you?" Violet asked.

"Not quite," Zehu replied. "She had to restrain me since she felt I was a great threat to her people. Considering myself a genius, I had gone uncontrollable and messed with people's minds as I pleased. As a chiefess, she had to put an end to my mischief. That is why I lost my tongue – my main weapon. Only with my eyes, I cannot maintain my illusions on people for long. For complete hypnosis, we Daluma need to perform spells. Once my tongue was gone, I couldn't do that anymore, so I lost the powers that put me above the other Daluma, and they gained enough strength to restrain me. Then, one day, Captain Sinbad and Captain Emperor came. This latter promised he'd teach me how to start my life from scratch. I followed him, but at first, I was still stubborn and vile – I tried to put him under my control, disregarding the fact that he belonged to the godly race of the Herminoids. I paid a large price – he played with my mind. For the very first time in my life, someone had overpowered me in telepathy, making me undergo the same pain I had so often been inflicting upon others. He made me realise how atrocious my actions had been. Since then, I can never bring myself to hurt others without a defensive cause. Lord Captain has taught me that with great power comes greater responsibility, so I should be careful with what I do. Knowing my past now, I hope you can forgive me and, remain my friend..."

He felt Violet's feeble arms squeeze him in a hug:

"Now, after you've turned my bitter memories milder with your powers, they don't hurt that much anymore. I can only thank you for all the kindness you've done for me, Zehu. As for your past – you Daluma have a far longer lifespan than we humans, so you grow slower. Hence, I can only assume you were still a careless child back then, pampered because of your unequalled talents, developing a wrong outlook on the world. Now, when you've matured, you've realised your mistakes and you regret them. You try to move forward. I thank you for sharing your past experiences with me and sympathizing with my own sorrows. I am really happy I've got to meet you and become your friend."

"Your words are soothing my heart. Thank you, Violet. I'll remain your friend forever and support you always in whatever you do, cute little bean..."