Chapter 2

"I didn't see you at the morning meal." Oasis said softly, keeping her voice low in case the others might hear her. But at her mentioning of the morning meal a growl rumbled from the back of my throat, mandibles flaring as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"I'd forgotten about that…"It was part of our routine we had with one another, each morning I would go with her to the clan mess hall and wait patiently till she got food for the both of us, we'd then retreat to the forest knowing that was the least likely place others would think to look for us. Oasis got bullied a lot by the other pups, use to they'd take her food and she'd be left hungry until she returned home later. She'd lost quite a bit of weight when that happened, her mother had been the one to ask me to watch out for her and knowing what it felt like to be alienated by the clan I took her with me. So every morning I made sure she had her meal and in return she brought me a bite to eat as well.

"You ate this morning though, right?" I questioned. Her eyes lowered as she refused to meet my gaze, dark hair falling in front of her face as she nodded. Eyes narrowing I got to my feet. "I'm hungry either way, let's go pup." Smirking lightly she looked up startled before looking back towards where the others were playing.

"But it's still schooling time…"

"Hasn't stopped you before." A mischievous grin broke out across her face as she lifted herself up from the ground, dusting off the grass and dirt from her loincloth. Straightening her crop top like the little proper female she was being trained to be she moved to my side, only reaching to my abdomen.

"Alright let's go." Oasis spoke , giving a tiny birdlike chirp as I nodded, returning the same chirp back as we headed out.

The mess hall wasn't that from where the females school was, maybe fifty or so niks away. The entire oval structure was constructed from timber harvested from the surrounding trees, it was domed and massive enough to place seven large huts inside and still have room. It easily could house all the yautja from the clan within its walls and was no doubt the safest place to be in storms, besides a shelter it also served as a makeshift Meeting Hall.

As we neared the Mess Hall I stopped not so far from the entrance, I scanned the surrounding area in case another yautja was to come about and see me. Oasis walked through the entrance and disappeared inside, the smell of fresh cooked meats and breads wafted outside and I inhaled the scent. My stomach grumbled as I paced back and forth, eyes locked on the building. When the doors opened up and out stepped one of the clan members I back up, turning to run towards the safety of the forest before ducking down behind a shrub. Luckily the male hadn't taken notice of me as he appeared to be fidgeting with something on his gauntlet, to concerned with that to pay me any mind.

As he past only then did I see my little friend emerge from the Mess Hall with two trays gripped in her hands. She gave a confused glance around before I saw her icy blue eyes land on my hiding spot in the bushes, standing a bit to confirm that I was indeed here she gave a grin while moving towards me. Further in we went from the village before taking our positions on the ground, backs leaned against the trunk of a tree. Oasis passed me one of the trays, I studied the contents on it as she took to scarfing hers down. Today's special looked to be hunks of beef chopped into tiny bite sized pieces covered in a sort of breading with a white milky gravy on the side along with a container of liquid that was either milk or water and a pitiful piece of fruit that was meant to be pup sized. Not the most appetizing but my rumbling stomach wore me down enough to pick at the beef scraps with slow mandibles. It didn't take me long to tire with the beef scraps before taking the fruit and biting into it, tusks gripping into the fruit helped pulled the flesh from the pit and pull into my mouth were I proceeded to chomp the contents then swallowing.

With her beef scraps finished Oasis peered over at my tray, seeing that I hadn't hardly touched mine she picked the fruit from her tray and held it out to me. "Trade?"

Taking the fruit from her outstretched hand I nudged my tray towards her where she gleefully scooped up the leftovers and munched away. We remained this way for a few moments or so before I stilled and focused in on the sound of crunching leaves, quiet footsteps approaching. It took Oasis a moment to notice as well and when she did a questioning chirped sounded softly from her , moving behind me as we both stood. As the sounds closed in my stance widened as the muscles in my body tensed, a threatening rumble bubbled up from my chest as I prepared for a fight. However when two familiar figures come around the corner I felt myself automatically relax.

"Ey! Bhu'ja and Oasis-"

"-We been looking everywhere." Two , almost identical, azure color pups said as they stopped just in front of me, Oasis moving out from behind as she greeted them with her friendly teeth baring.

The Twins as we called them were known individually as B'oomer and Z'oomer, they were also puphood friends like Oasis however they weren't outcasted. The Twins were actually the normal ones from our little group, except for being twins and from the Western Coast they were just a normal pair of yautja pups.

"Ey mei'hswei, we been looking long time." Z'oomer stated, this one was the oldest of the two, he was the responsible one even for his age of only 10 seasons.

"Sei-i, Mother said she saw you two coming from the Mess Hall, didn't take long to find the n'dui'se." The other one was B'oomer, he had been the smallest one when they had been born and was younger by ten minutes, the pup was a ball of energy and often very playful compared to his brother. The two were complete opposites despite being identical, and by identical I meant down to the last tress strand. Same strangely familiar green eyes, same dark blue coloring, same tress length, the two so similar it was scary.

"Twins! N'jauka!" Oasis sang as she rushed forward, she was met with a hug from B'oomer who picked up her tiny form and spun her.

"Mei-jadhi! Missed you so much, been so busy, not see in so long!" B'oomer exclaimed excitedly before sitting down the half breed who giggled, Z'oomer gave her shoulder a gentle nudge.

"Happy to see you too Oasis."

"What are you two doing today?" I butted in once the happy reunion was over with even though the three had seen each other just the other day. Z'oomer was the one to respond while B'oomer and Oasis took to starting a game of tag, leaving me and his brother to talk.

"Mother went to go talk with your father, told us to go find you for a bit while they talked." How I ended up knowing the twins was because my father and their mother had known each other from when they had taken their chivas as unbloods, the two became good friends and after they each decided to have us they just ended up settling into the same clan. Although my father spoke of their mother as only a friend I had the weirdest suspicion that my father and there mother had been more than just 'friends' and by that I meant that there was a good chance that the twins and I were related. I didn't exactly have proof of this except a faint memory of my father taking me over to her home in what I could expect was the mating season and a year later the twins were born.

Of course I didn't tell the twins this as it was still only a theory, but each time our parents got together and sent us off to play we always wondered what it was the two were talking about. I had a feeling Z'oomer had an idea that the two were more than friends but honestly just didn't care. B'oomer however was completely obvious to this and found it better to keep it that way.

"Oasis and I were just finishing up here-"

"Ju'dha Oasis!" A voice suddenly boomed, Oasis stilled as her eyes filled with horror, blue eyes looking to me as I realized she was waiting for me to tell them what to do.

"Twins take off, Oasis with me." I snapped suddenly, the Twins doing as told as they headed off in the direction they had came. Oasis followed close behind me as we rushed off, we both knew who had followed us out here and if either one of us was caught...well let's just say it was best if we didn't get caught.

The pounding of feet followed behind us , Oasis's breathing was ragged as she tried her best to keep up. I kept giving cautious glances back to her , trying to encourage her to keep going. But with her still only being 9 seasons old she hadn't developed the stamina to keep her going for a while like me and the twins had.

After a moment she slowed to a stop, eyes looking up to me as she panted. "Go Ozzy, you'll get…"Pant. "...in trouble…"

"I'm always in trouble." Mandibles lifting in a small grin I moved over to her as I stood in front, waiting for the one who was after her.

And just as expected the 'old hag' emerged from the trees, her towering figure of 9'8 made me shrink back lightly. Even if this female did scare the pauk out of me I kept myself planted in front of Oasis who was whimpering as she peered around my side. Backing up I barked in pain as I was suddenly knocked off my feet , the side of my head burning from the force of her strike.

"You, u'darahje. Did I not make myself clear to stay away from my school?" The female snarled angrily, her mandibles flared widely as a low growl vibrated from her. This was Gwen-Nay, Oasis's schooling teacher. The female was a retired politician and had moved back to her home clan to teach young females the ways of politics as that was what many grew up to become. The shark colored female had been disappointed in finding out that Oasis hadn't wanted to learn politics like the rest of her class and instead wanted to be in a male profession of being a healer.

Oasis had always been uncomfortable around the female to begin with, Gwen-Nay expected Oasis to act and behave in a way she thought females should. Gwen-Nay opening thought females go topless instead of covering themselves and many females did go topless by choice while still wearing loincloths, but she expected young females Oasis's age and younger to be okay with it. Some were in fact okay with this, Oasis was not and that's what ticked me off, her mother if she had still been alive wouldn't have stood for this.

"And you Ju'dha, I expect you to want to honor your family by staying away from creatures such as this." She spat in my direction as I lifted myself up off the ground, head ringing. Taking another hit from the female I merely staggered but hissed lowly as I gripped my shoulder, her razor like talons easily cutting through skin, fluorescent blood running from my freshly opened wound. I kept my eyes on the ground , backing up slightly as her graze seemed to bore a hole threw me.

"Did I give you permission to stand?" Her eyes snapped back to Oasis who had started fumbling her hands nervously, tiny figure shaking as she smelled of fear. "Come Ju'dha , your father paid good units for the classes you so ignorantly skip from day to day and don't think he won't be hearing of this from me." She grabbed Oasis by the arm and began dragging her back with her.

"No...I don't want to go back…" Oasis sniffled as she attempted to pull away from the death grip of the older female.

"Stop struggling." My little half breed looked back to me and seeing the blood run down my shoulder her face paled. I shook my head , showing her that it was no big deal even if it hurt like hell. I mouthed 'see you later' which made a soft smile appear as she wiped at a tear that had fallen on her cheek.

I didn't want her to go back to that place but then again my opinion didn't matter nor did i have the power to stop her from going back. It made me often wonder why her father made her go to that awful place, it might had to have something to do with Oasis's mother passing and her father not really knowing what to do with the half breed female. He still should have notice how miserable she seemed there, how she often came to me crying that the other females called her names and pulled her hair.

The pain in my shoulder drew my attention away from my thoughts as my tusks clutched together, removing my hand from the wound I saw how the blood was still flowing pretty well. It had appeared I misjudged how deep the cuts were, putting pressure back on the wound I jerked my head off to the side and watched as the Twins stepped forward, my pale colored dreads rustled before settling on my shoulders. Seeing my wound Z'oomer hurried over as his brother stared wide eyed.

"Mei'hswei! You okay?" Shouted the youngest of the twins, Z'oomer chattered softly as he lifted my hand to check , a low growl escaped me.

"I'm fine, B'oomer."

"You don't look like it! What if you bleed to death?"

"Hush." Z'oomer snapped at his brother who shrank back but kept his green eyes focused in on me. "It's not too bad, our mom can clean it up if you want."

"H'ko , she'll just tell my dad and he's still upset from earlier…"

"What happen earlier?" Z'oomer wondered as he raised a brow at me.

Rubbing my tusk together in thought I let out a breath as I shook my head. "Nothing, let's just go…"

The Twins and I had ended up going back to the Schooling tent later that evening when the school officially released the students, the Twins had said they would pick up Oasis while allowing me to stay within the tree line. Although when we arrived the Twins immediately high tailed it back, keeping there green eyes focused on the towering male that had arrived with a yaut hound to pick up our little half breed. The male was known as Segt'in and was one of the highest ranking males in the clan , he was an Elite who had more trophies and scars than half the males here put together. Looking at the 8'10 male one wouldn't think he would have put his reputation on the line to bring an oomen to Yautja Prime and risk the honor of his family to produce an offspring with it. But despite many asking what had prompt him to do so he would simply snarl and say it was none of there business.

Being an unusual old age of 49 seasons, it wouldn't be long before he took on the title as an elder and with that there was always a grumpiness that seemed to follow with that title. The males hardly tolerated others except for family and even then that was slim, but in my opinion the male had the grumpy part down as he was often seen muttering angrily to himself or others while snapping and snarling and any who got to close. But then again he was a single father with a female pup so most of his protective grumpiness was excused for.

We watched as the Elite spoke with Gwen-Nay, the old hag most likely rambling on about how much trouble his daughter was. The two stood and talked for a while, Oasis standing off to the side as she looked at the ground while wringing her hands together as she waited for them to finish. One good thing that I liked about Segt'in even if he despised me was that he never struck or hardly raised his voice to his daughter, he never had to. No with Oasis a simple disapproving look was enough to make her regret her decisions or a satisfied grin to make her feelings soar. At the moment though Segt'in was shaking his head as his fingers rubbed at his eyes in exhaustion, his black tresses tied back in ponytail as he gave quick glances over to Oasis with his violet colored eyes. Segt'in's musclebound figure was tense as he listened to the old hag ramble on, as if he to was tiring of her ranting.

Before long the male held his hand up to stop Gwen-Nay mid sentence which caught the female off guard and slightly seemed to have offended her which roused a chuckle from me. Segt'in merely moved over to his panicked pup and kneeled down in front of her, talking softly to her as she responded with tiny nods. After a moment he touched the crest of his cranium to her forehead as a sign of affection before taking a stand. Oasis took the lead and made her way to there home, Gwen-Nay had returned back inside her school which left Segt'in standing out in the open as he watched his daughter head off when suddenly those cold violaceous colored eyes met my gaze. He looked directly at me in such an intense way that I honestly felt like he would strike me down right there.

"He's looking at you Bhu'ja…" B'oomer whispered as he slowly sank behind the bush we stood behind, disappearing from sight. Even Z'oomer gulped nervously as he took a cautious step back.

He was staring me down, Segt'in wasn't at all stupid and he knew very well that the reason Oasis had got in trouble was because of me. It wasn't hard to figure out that he was silently telling me to stay away, that his daughter was off limits and he'd have no problem taking care of anyone who didn't follow those rules he set. I held his gaze a moment or so before finally dropping down my crimson eyes away from his, he had made his point. Segt'in snorted aggressively before taking off at a steady walk after his daughter.

Oasis wasn't allowed back out that evening, no doubt as a form of punishment. So with really nothing else to do the Twins and I headed back to my home, there mother had since left and as we approached I noticed my father outside checking up on the mounts and taking a few out to groom. The Twins, seeing that it looked like work was needed to be done said there goodbyes before leaving for there own home not to far off. My father glanced up for his task and noticing the dried blood along my shoulder he gave a irritated bark, tieing the mount to the fencing before making his way over to me , mandibles tapping with curiosity as his head tilted to the side.

I didn't see the point in lying so I told him about Gwen-Nay and how Oasis didn't belong in that school, it was the same story i'd told many times before. And each time my father smacked me across the back of my head while signing about how stupid I could be at times. But after disinfecting and patching me up we set to work bedding down the mounts and grooming them before feeding them there nightly meal.

The suns had set for the evening, my father had long since returned inside our home to allow me to finish up in the barn. I was in the stall of one of our mounts Mystique , she was a species known as atti. The atti were sturdy animals, more like ridable cattle than a mount, these creature stood at 6'0 at there shoulders and were more robust animals with small triangular heads and a tongue long enough to clean inside there oval ears. They weren't native here but were found in small herds in the jungles, we weren't sure why but there coloring didn't fit in with the jungle as the were dark brown with black stripes and a white face. And unlike sacreds, which were my preferred choice of mount, the attis were strangely mellow and often a bit lazy when it came to riding. All in all the attis were my least favorite although Mystique had to be my most favorite of the mounts we kept.

As I was finishing up with the bedding in Mystique's stall I chuckled lightly as I felt the female atti stick her wet nose to the back of my head, not moving I tried to look back as she snorted softly before moving off to the side to stick her neck out of the stall window. Her large oval ears flicked forward before she gave an excited bellow, stomping her hooves I peered over to see what it was she was getting worked up about.

My father was making his way across the yard, chattering softly I unhooked the latched to Mystique's stall to step out and meet him. As soon as he stepped inside the barn I felt a tension about him that told me something was wrong.

"Bhu'ja." He signed. "Something wrong, community meeting, stay here." My eyes widened in shock.

" What happen? Should I go interpret?"

"No, Miik~ka-" The Twin's mother. "-will interpret, stay, back soon." Turning he started his way back out of the barn and I hurried to follow after him. Catching his attention he didn't stop but simply glanced over as I signed away.

"What's wrong? Is the clan going to war?" I signed questioningly.

"Don't know. Nay'tric will explain." Stopping to face me he snorted lightly before placing a hand on my shoulder. "You have chores, finish you wait, I discuss what happen when return. Understand?"

I nodded. My father grunted before starting back off towards the village, after he got a few paces away he stopped once more and turned to look at me. Hazel eyes stared towards me with an expression that said he was serious.

"You understand Bhu'ja? Stay, no following. I serious. Understand?" I stated again that I understood and that I would stay here. When he seemed certain that I would do as he said and stay put he finally proceed to the village, disappearing down the road to no doubt meet Miik~ka.

You had to believe me when I said that I had planned on doing as I was told, I had went back to my chores but even when all were finished I was left alone with my thoughts which was never good. And it seemed the more my mind thought about what could have been so important the curious side of me wanted to know. The longer I thought over the possibilities that could be wrong the more I needed to know and before I could think of a reason not to go I found myself sprinting down the yard and into the forest, making my way to the Meeting Hall. However I wasn't alone on this trip, no behind me a pair of feet sounded behind me as they soon caught up with me. I didn't need to look to know that It was the Twins, we didn't say anything, just kept on going until we reached the forest edge.

And just as expected was the Mess Hall all lit up and bustling with yautja who had gotten the alert to meet up. Many more yautjas were pouring into the building as it seemed like they would be starting soon. It seemed we weren't the only ones curious as to what was happening as the hall was loud with concerned and confused yautja who asked one another if they knew anything. We had some time, we just needed to get somewhere to be able to hear what they were saying.

Yautja Vocabulary and Notes:

Sei-i - yes

N'dui'se - yautja scent

N'jauka - welcome

Mei'hswei - brother

Mei-jadhi - sister

Z'oomer - Oldest twin, the serious one, suspected half brother of Bhu'ja

B'oomer - Youngest twin, playful and energetic one, suspected half brother of Bhu'ja

pauk - fuck

u'darahje - abomination

H'ko - no