Author Note: I apologize for the short chapter but most of these chapters are created late at night. I promise the next chapter will be way longer. Enjoy!
Issa ignored the gruff trills of the males in the halls as she passed them, she knew they desired her and she made it well known that she didn't desire any of them; yet they were too dense to realize it. Raging hormones.
She slammed her fist against the scanner outside the dorm she had been forced to live in with her brother, nephew and J'mper. "Come on," she growled when it didn't open fast enough. The room was empty, muttering low to herself; she grabbed her bag, stuffed a few of her belongings in it and then made to leave, but froze. J'mper had appeared from somewhere, drying his hands. Knowing he would only make stupid hand gestures at her, knowing she was ignorant; she stalked by him to the door.
"Leaving?"
She paused, and half turned. "So you do speak."
"It's hard," he replied, taking half a step towards her. "I sign instead"
She didn't have a response to that, hell it had taken her a few extra seconds to figure out what he was saying due to the ruin of his face. "Oh," she finally said. "Yeah, I'm getting off this ship, away from these males and away from my pup brother. Besides he and his D'jilk seem to be getting along quite fine now."
J'mper studied her for a moment, "A'luet need family, you."
She raised her brow and then snorted. "Oh? I didn't know that, thank you," she said sarcastically.
J'mper rolled his eyes, annoyed at her. Turning away, he flicked a sign her way out of habit.
"What?"
He barely looked over his shoulder, "Women," he snapped. "You're all high maintenance."
"Excuse me?" Issa let her bag fall off her shoulder. "I am not-" her words died in her throat. She knew she was.
"Don't leave, mistake." He stated before disappearing into another room.
….
"You must always have your eyes on the enemy, especially with Kainde Amedha; they are stupid but cunning if that makes sense."
A'luet nodded, watching as An'nu spun a glass jar filled with a weirdly colored liquid his direction. He caught it and saw upon further analysis that a creature of some sort was in the liquid, with eight legs and a long tail.
"A facehugger," An'nu murmured. "The second stage in life for a Kainde Amedha."
"What does it do?" A'luet asked, feeling a little faint at the sight of it. He knew that obviously it hugged the face, but he wanted to know what happened after it attached to the face.
"It wraps its tail around your throat," An'nu explained carefully, watching his son for any reaction that would tell him to cut the explanation short. He saw none. "-Cuts your oxygen supply and submits its own supply for you while it sticks its tongue down your throat and impregnates you with a Kainde Amedha."
"And if one of us is impregnated by one of those?"
"It's a yautja's duty to kill themselves if they are impregnated. It is the only time suicide is looked at as the answer. Otherwise an abomination is born."
"Viv'n didn't," A'luet's words were so quiet, An'nu almost didn't hear him.
"Sometimes you don't have time," An'nu took the jar away from A'luet's unblinking gaze.
"She had time," the kid's voice hardened a little. "She told me not to tell."
An'nu exhaled slowly, "it's not easy A'luet to turn your weapons against yourself."
"So," a different voice interrupted them. They turned to see Issa striding towards them. "When are you going to train him?"
An'nu looked around and gave the eavesdropping yautja around them a glare that sent all of them back to their work. "When he's taller than my elbow Issa."
The female smirked, "really? So in a few months?"
"Mo," An'nu tried to ignore A'luet's rapt observation of them.
"Ma'da was going to start teaching me the day the Clan died, I can learn." A'luet looked excited.
Issa's smirk turned into a grin. "Excellent. I'll take him tomorrow."
"What? No." An'nu sputtered.
"And why not?" Issa had a face of innocence, a look that An'nu didn't trust.
"Because I said so."
"I go with her," J'mper appeared, earning an eye rolling from the haughty female. 'I'll keep an eye on her.' He added in sign.
"Where are you planning on going Issa?" An'nu demanded.
"Not far," she stated with her grin back on her beautiful face.
"How far is not far?"
She didn't answer, knowing she'd drive her brother's blood pressure up a few notches by deliberately not answering.
'Zeke is docking the ship by the H'Glade belt,' J'mper said. 'We can go to the small game preserve.'
An'nu sighed, "fine."
Issa positively beamed, he still didn't know why she was so happy. She barely associated with A'luet as it stood. That was why he was pleased to wipe the happy expression off her face with his next words.
"I'll come with you."
"Are you for real?" She stuttered as A'luet uttered a happy 'really?'
"Yeah," An'nu placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "Besides, don't you think we should have more family alone time than on this ship day in and day out?" He guided A'luet by a furious Issa and J'mper who looked like he was holding in a laugh.
"You meant it?" A'luet asked once the two of them left the training room. "Coming with us tomorrow?"
"Yeah, might as well, not only because it means spending time with you but I love being the one to deflate my sister's high and mighty attitude."
A'luet smiled. "She's not so bad."
"Nah, she's not. Once you look passed the bitchiness."
An'nu's response reminded A'luet of something he had wanted to ask but never had the gumption to pursue. Taking a deep breath, A'luet asked his question. "Was my mother really a bitch?"
The question surprised An'nu; for a moment he tried to figure out what prompted the inquiry in the first place, but then he remembered Issa's snap when A'luet was still in the medical bay.
"No, I never thought she was. Issa didn't like any female I was with. The only person's opinion that's important about Illeya is yours, not mine, certainly not Issa's."
"Why didn't you stay?"
An'nu paused and waited for two yautja warriors to pass them in the hall. "Tomorrow I'm sure Issa will take you off with her alone, she'll tell you stories about how males are immature, males are gross…" He grinned a little at the last comment, "I was-" He tried to find the right words. "-young and stupid. I only wanted what every other male my age wanted. Honor and a thrill ride. The hunt I left your mother to pursue was the hunt that changed me. It was my first and J'mper's too. I went into the reserve with an ego, that wasn't the type of person your mother wanted. And I came out of the reserve with a friend barely alive."
"J'mper got hurt," A'luet finished.
An'nu grunted, "A facehugger, it jumped out of no where. J'mper's always been fast on his feet, he almost got out of the way but it still managed to latch onto part of his face. Since it couldn't impregnate him with its position on him, he tried to pull it off. It ended up breaking his bottom jaw and then ripping it off."
A'luet didn't know what to say to that. An'nu could tell by his expression.
"He's always said that he's better for it. Don't feel sorry for him, because he never has."
A'luet nodded.
"Well," An'nu started walking again. "I better show you how to pack for hunts because I'm sure Issa will spring that question on you tomorrow and expect you to answer it."
A'luet followed him back to the dorm where J'mper had somehow beat them and was napping. One of these days, A'luet was going to have to learn all the various hallways and their destinations. Someday, he thought.
