It had been only 600 plus years since the Great Division of the urSkeks. The quiet urRu or Mystics lived in their quiet valley, doing their own wizard like magical stuff. The other half, the Skeksis, lived in their castle and did things that were not always the nicest to other beings of their world, but did invite other beings to serve them in the castle.

Gelflings and Podlings were the top other beings that served the Skeksis in the castle. Each Skeksis had their share of servants.

Life for the moment seemed harmonious enough among what was currently going on, but things would soon change.

The Skeksis had had much vigor and energy when they had first started out. They were more into a middle life right now. Their bodies had slowed down quite a bit, but were still able to do quite many things.

There were currently 16 Skeksis and urRu right now. One of each had died at the beginning of their time when things had been confusing at first. And one of them that was called Mal the Hunter had died not too long ago. One of his hunting trips had gotten him into trouble out in the wilderness.

The Skeksis did individual chores around the Castle, but would come together, not gratefully, but to have meals and ceremonies.

The secretary of state, Sil the Chamberlain, had been falling deeper out of the So the Emperor's favor. He kept on trying to get the attention back on himself, but every try was failing.

Almost not too long ago, Tek the Scientist found a way to keep youth showing. It came from Gelfling essence. It was only for the Emperor alone.

Lately, the Emperor's new favorite among the clan was Lach the Collector. He kept on bringing in Gelflings for their essence. And collecting many other things as well.

Chamberlain was jealous of the attention the Collector got from the Emperor. The others also noticed his jealousy too. Some even teased him about how he was falling out of favor with their leader.

Most of his clan hated his wheedling voice. Sil was sure he had allies among them, though he knew his closest one was called La the Illustrator.

La was also one of the most unfairly treated ones. He preferred to be called a she instead. She had a finger that had gotten injured and had to add some armor to it to protect it. It kept her finger stable to write, as she did a lot of that.

La had gotten along so well with Sil, that she soon started to call him her brother. But after many trines, their relationship had begun to change even more so. They began to get even closer than what Skeksis could normally handle.

Most relationships were nothing more than just working relationships among the Skeksis, and it was mostly done with a lot of hostility too. Most of them couldn't hardly stand one another, but Sil and La were different.

They had more of a real friendship going and new feelings were surfacing.

After awhile, they did tell each other that they loved each other, but it had to be kept secret from the others. Their Emperor had forbidden any kind of loving relationships. If they were found out, there would be trouble.

Sil often went to La for comfort too after he had had a bad day with the Emperor or Lach, or even Ung the Garthim Master giving him a hard time.

One night, the Chamberlain was so upset that he went to the Illustrator's chambers to see if he could get some comfort from his friend.

She had been doing some work for the Ok the Historian, but he had gone to bed.

Sil entered feeling down, that another attempt had gone unnoticed much and brushed aside.

La noticed his whimper that he usually did. His voice had quite a touch of sadness this time. She put her pen down and went to go comfort him.

She knew it wasn't fair the way he and she were treated as nearly like the lowest of the court.

"Why can't the Emperor see how useful I am to him?" Sil whined.

"He never sees your potential to give great advice anymore. But keep in mind that you have me to come to with your thoughts." La said.

"Thank you." Sil said and he gave her a nuzzle.

They both went to hugging and nuzzling, and in their own way, kissing. And that night, everything changed. They went even further for the first time and they went to sleep in La's bed.

The next morning, Sil woke up in La's arms. They both didn't have their main robes on, but he knew that he needed to get up before Ok or any of the others came in here and saw them together like this.

He pushed himself up from La's bed. His movement woke her up too.

He began to get himself dressed in his regular robes. While he was dressing, La kept on looking at him with her bright eyes.

"It's better if we are not seen like this, that much is true... it could be dangerous... Yet…" La began.

Sil turned to her, feeling nervous. "What do you mean?"

"What we shared last night means really much to me... I will see to keep it secret, for both our sakes... but I want you to know... I always... had dreamed of a moment like that with you…" She said.

He finished getting his robes on, then asked, ""Even... time ago, when we were just allies?..."

She replied, "Yes."

He felt a little embarrassed, but he gave a little smile and said, "I believed you felt disgusted by the idea of mating... so, I never asked you..."

La laughed at that. She got up from her bed and went over to him. She gave him a nuzzle, then said, "If I had only known! I would have told you trines and trines ago how much you weigh in my... heart... Sil... now, go! Don't be seen!... Don't be caught... or they may make uncomfortable questions... I will see you later somewhere... my mate…"

Sil left her bed chamber after that in a hurry, to not be seen by any possible passers. Especially SkekOk. But he had a new feeling in his mind of how much he cared for her.

Beta read by a deviantArt friend, SkekLa.

The oc Skeksis, La the Illustrator is hers. I have permission to use her.

This was inspired by the movie, the Legends books, and other movies.

No flames please and just enjoy. Love to hear how you think of the story. I know the Skeksis are portrayed as evil, but in the beginning, they had a somewhat lighter side. I use that a bit more and their darker side too.

And for events later in the story, Jim Henson had said that he and his helpers viewed the Skeksis as a mixture in between the genders. SkekLa wants to be called a she instead of a he like all Skeksis are usually called.