Na'giest deemed A'luet healthy enough to leave the infirmary. What An'nu wished the yautja would have said is that the medical bay was getting crowded and it was no place for a child to be with raging injured yautja who have returned from perilous hunts.
The room Zeke had had prepared for them was a past elder's room. J'mper was already there. An'nu shot Zeke a questioning look.
"J'mper likes A'luet and vise versa, so I thought it was appropriate to have him move as well."
"You thought huh?"
Visibly weakened, A'luet leaned into Zeke, making him look down. An'nu ran a hand through his hair and walked away, not wanting to be told to engage with the kid. A loud thud made him turn around and see his sister, looking none too happy, having just let her hunting bag hit the floor.
"I suggest you all get settled and then go eat in the hall, I will check on A'luet later." None of the adults missed Zeke's hidden threat. With that said, he gently disentangled himself from A'luet and left the room.
No one moved for several minutes, but then Issa pushed her bag over to her bed with her foot and then studied her surroundings. "So, how much training have you had?"
A'luet glanced at her mute, he knew what she was asking but he didn't want to answer in fear of getting a derogatory response from her. He had heard her comment about his mother in the medical bay. Finally he answered, "none."
She snorted, "perfect."
'He's ten,' J'mper threw her way.
She raised her brows to An'nu to translate. He only shot them both a look. "We should go to the hall, Zeke's going to be looking for us." He didn't wait for an answer from anyone and simply left.
After a moment, J'mper stood and guided A'luet out of the room with Issa muttering to herself and taking up the rear.
…
Three months later
Life hadn't changed much for A'luet but around him, life did. Across the room Issa was asleep, her jeweled dreadlocks reminding him of his mother. It was the end of the week, J'mper and An'nu hadn't returned from their hunt on a distant planet. Despite An'nu's cold disposition towards him, A'luet missed his presence and he definitely missed J'mper. Tried as he might, he couldn't shake the feeling that the two might not come back; then he'd be really alone, as he doubted Issa would stick around.
A ring over the intercom announced the approach of a ship, one ring for a travelling vessel, two for a clan ship. This was one ring. His heart jolting, A'luet sprung off his bed and ran out of the room to the loading dock. By the time he got there, he saw the ship being reeled in by yautja warriors, but not the passengers.
Turning he headed to the medical bay. He heard An'nu's voice before he saw him. The yautja let out a swear, before saying, "Na'giest, it's really not that bad."
"Sit down and shut up An'nu," the medic commanded.
Quietly, A'luet tiptoed to the door and peeked in. An'nu was sitting on the metal table with J'mper close by. On An'nu's right leg was a large gash surrounded by burns. Na'giest was busy with something at the counter and then he turned around with a small bowl of neon blue goop.
"Do you want me to numb you first?" the doctor asked.
An'nu shot him a look, "really?"
"I'll take that as a no," Na'giest bent down and carefully smoothed the blue icing over the injured area of the yautja's leg.
A'luet watched as An'nu grimaced, his hold tightening on the table. As if to block the pain away, he shut his eyes.
Swift footsteps behind A'luet made him turn and see Issa striding towards him. As if she didn't see him, she walked by him and into the medic room.
"What was it?" she asked.
"A Kv'ard," Na'giest answered. "You're lucky An'nu, the beast could have burnt your leg clean off."
"Yeah, I'll remind myself of that later."
Knowing he should leave before he was caught sneaking, A'luet left the medical bay.
….
Not one to adventure around the ship, A'luet found himself lost in the maze of halls not long after he left the medical bay. Desperate, he tried to recall familiar locations and nothing looked familiar to him.
Deciding to turn around and head back the way he came, he came face to face with Bak. Startled A'luet jumped, never hearing the yautja or anyone for that matter in the hall.
"Frightened?" the yautja snickered.
"No," A'luet replied, annoyed at the reaction he gave the yautja. He tried to go around the adult but Bak quickly blocked his path.
"So, what is a little D'jilk doing down in the blooded dorms?"
"I'm lost."
"Oh? Lost." Bak put his hands on his knees and leaned down to A'luet's face. "Is that a fact?"
Tired of the yautja's game, A'luet snapped, "can you just bring me back to the elder section."
Bak stared at him for several seconds. "How about I just gut you for being an insolent little brat?"
It wasn't the yautja's words so much as it was the gleam that lit up his eyes that frightened A'luet. "I know the laws, you can't kill me."
"I didn't say kill," Bak hissed predatory-like. "I have a better idea." The yautja's hand shot out and grabbed A'luet by the arm, his other closing around his mouth.
"Bak!"
A'luet fell as Bak shoved him away from him. Kulak stood behind them with two other blooded warriors. Anger building up in A'luet from all the events that had crashed his world down around his ears made him act impulsively. "Ell-osde pauk."
The hall became tensely quiet as A'luet's snarl registered in the heads of all the males present. For A'luet, he instantly realized his mistake as he had never sworn at an adult before. In his Clan, children were raised to be respectful of their elders. Swearing at an adult granted immediate severe punishment.
A'luet missed Bak's hand, but he felt the exploding pain across his cheek and the jarring impact as he hit the wall behind him. Fire lit the enraged yautja's eyes, as he came in for what A'luet believed was the kill. But then a large body came in between them, blocking Bak and tackling him to the ground.
"Get him out of here!" an unfamiliar voice roared, trying to beat Bak's own ferocious growls.
Kulak yanked A'luet up and hurried him out of the corridor.
Once far enough away, the young adult let go of him and pushed him in to the wall. "What in the hell were you thinking? If I was an asshole like Bak I'd drag your ass before the Elders for judgment."
"Why don't you?" A'luet snapped.
Kulak fixed him with a glare, "you want me to? Don't think I won't."
The remaining warrior, who had followed them, pulled their mask off and A'luet realized his initial thought that the warrior was male, was actually a young female.
"Really Kulak?" She asked amused, "you're going to send him for punishment for something you wish you had the balls for?"
Kulak tsked, but seemed to calm down at her question. "It doesn't matter, Bak has a big mouth, and it'll reach the Elders one way or another."
"Then we claim ignorance," she suggested.
He glanced at her, "Lie?"
"No, not lie, omit."
"Yeah, lie." He snorted. "Really, Neferi?" He turned his gaze back on the kid. "I'm dropping you off at your door and you are going to go in and not answer the door to anyone, understand me? Bak's not going to let you off this easy."
It took less than five minutes to come to the dorm room. If A'luet had known it would this easy to return to the room, he could have avoided the whole fiasco with Bak. The gods hate me. He went in and shut the door behind him.
…
Yautja greeted An'nu and J'mper as they passed their table. "How's A'luet been?" An'nu asked after getting some adequate food in him.
Across from him, Issa looked bored. "Quiet, he is like that little G'isho I had when I was nine. The silence and-innocence, it's annoying."
"I'm sorry," An'nu apologized dryly, earning a look from her.
He was saved from her retort by Kulak joining their table with Neferi. "You have to have a talk with your kid about staying out of Bak's way."
"Quiet huh?" An'nu snipped Issa's way, before turning to Kulak. "Why, what happened?"
"I didn't see all of it, but the D'jilk told Bak Ell-osde Pauk and Bak didn't take it too kindly. He got in one whack to the face before Tro-Jn tackled him."
'Bak hit Al'uet?' J'mper asked,
"Once," Kulak repeated.
"It doesn't matter if it was a tap Kulak," Neferi interrupted. "Bak shouldn't have done it, period."
"Well, from the way it sounds," Issa piped up, "A'luet deserved it. We would have lost our heads if we swore at anyone older than us when we were his age."
J'mper sat back in his chair, fuming.
"Well," Kulak began awkwardly, "Bak hit him hard enough that any one of us would have staggered from the blow. The D'jilk barely reaches my elbow."
Issa shrugged it off and turned her head away, observing the activity around them.
"Where's Bak now?" An'nu asked.
It was Kulak's turn to shrug, "still in the blooded dorms I think."
"Good," An'nu stiffly stood, "I'm going to go talk to my kid."
'Want me to come?' J'mper asked.
"No, stay here." An'nu left the cafeteria.
….
Instead of heading to the Elder's suites, An'nu turned left and headed downstairs to the blooded unit. It didn't take him long to find who he was looking for. Bak's gravelly tones echoed off the metal walls as he retold the story of the insolent brat.
The listening yautja saw An'nu coming before Bak and warily backed away. "Leave us," An'nu snarled. The yautja wasted no time clearing the hall.
Bak gave him a pointed leer. "Back from your hunt? I heard a Kv'ard got you, shame it was only your leg."
"Yeah well, better luck next time," An'nu lost the smirk on his face as he grabbed Bak by the neck and pinned him against the wall. "The next time I hear about you bullying my son and then attack him, I will rip you apart with my hands."
"I'm not done with that f'ikur, brat," Bak growled, before spitting in An'nu face.
With a grunted sigh, An'nu wiped the spit off of his face and then drove Bak into the ground. "Tell me, what kind of rush do you get from bullying a kid? Is it like chasing your prey or is it the type of rush when you know you're about to lose an appendage?"
"You wouldn't," Bak growled.
An'nu grasped one of Bak's mandibles, "I believe you expressed interest a while back about J'mper's injuries."
Fear wafted off the pinned yautja. An'nu let him go. "Go near A'luet again, I'll kill you." He left Bak on the ground.
….
A'luet looked up to see An'nu enter the room alone. Inwardly quailing at the thought of whether An'nu had heard about his outburst to Bak, A'luet waited-prayed that the yautja would disappear into another room. Instead An'nu came forward slowly and reached out, lifting A'luet's face to meet his, studying something.
"I guess we're both wounded today," he murmured. "Can I sit?"
A'luet gave a little shrug and touched his face, trying to figure out what An'nu meant. He felt a split in his skin below his left eye. He didn't even know that Bak had left a mark, though now A'luet knew it was stupid of him to be so naïve.
An'nu sat carefully, stretching his injured leg out. "You know, Kv'ards are moderately dangerous even with the right equipment to deal with them. They become dangerous when you come across a particularly nasty one who swipes you in the leg and almost nicks your artery."
A'luet didn't know where An'nu was going with his rambling, but he wished the adult would just go away.
"-You know what I thought of as the Kv'ard came at my face?" An'nu suddenly asked.
"No."
"I thought of you."
A'luet glanced at An'nu and saw the yautja gazing at him. "Why?"
"I don't know, well I didn't know at first but I realized it later on the way back. I haven't been the most accommodating or nice to you in your time here. I was more focused on the impacts on my life then the impacts you've had on yours. That said I'm going to make a consistent effort to change that."
"I swore at Bak," A'luet admitted after a moment of silence.
"I know," An'nu murmured, "and I kicked his ass for you so you owe me."
Surprised, A'luet stared at him, "you did?"
An'nu grinned, "yeah, been waiting for years to do that. Guess you need to stick around and give me more reasons to unleash anger on pauks."
A'luet gave a tentative smile, the action feeling weird after not doing it for so long.
"Well, let's go get you some food to eat," An'nu stood up and went to the door. After a moment A'luet followed him.