Who I am 10
Just like the first time the pup had been fed the night before, the hall was empty. Ne'Tahl chose to occupy the nearest table since the place was empty and she could have her pick.
"Stay." She instructed as she placed the ooman pup down on the table and turned towards the food locker to select some food.
"Yes, Ne'Tahl." Amanda answered as she carefully duplicated the sounds she had been taught.
"At least she can understand basic instructions from you, now. That's more than could be said for last night." Kre'Gel observed.
"True and I'm hoping that perhaps tonight she won't be so terrified." Ne'Tahl replied.
"When has that fearless little C'jit ever been terrified? Not while I've seen her!" Takhal retorted irritably.
"I've seen her fearful enough that she was about to try to interfere in your sparring match earlier. She was afraid that one of you would be injured." Kre'Gel supplied quietly.
"She was? That's almost as strange as her being afraid once the lights were turned off and she simply couldn't see anything." Ne'Tahl added with some confusion.
"Had you just turned them off or had they been shut down for a while?" Kre'Gel asked quickly.
"They had been on for some time, but the instant I turned them off she became afraid, and started crying for her bearer. I leaned over the edge of my bed to see if I could comfort her with a stroke or two. That only frightened her more, and she was staring straight up. I turned on the lights, and checked the room, but there was nothing there. With the lights on she began to calm down again, so I turned them back off. As soon as I did, she began to reek of fear. That's when I noticed that she wasn't looking at anything. Just staring straight ahead. I waved my hand in front of her face, but she couldn't see it." Ne'Tahl explained.
"I've heard that oomans see a different portion of the spectrum from a Yautja, but I never realized that we would be able to see when they can't." Kre'Gel said lightly.
"Believe it! I witnessed the proof for myself last night. I could see just fine, but she couldn't see my finger even when I touched her nostrils. The crying; I understand, but if I hadn't known that she could see well enough to follow Chakak back to the ship, I would have sworn she was blind." Ne'Tahl exclaimed as turned back to the food locker and began removing a couple of portions of food for herself and the ooman pup.
"Well we all know that she isn't blind! Not after the way she continuously avoided us in the bathing pool. She had to be able to see quite well to pull that off!" Takhal stated with a derisive snort as she got her own portion of food.
"If the Matriarch decides to accept her, then I think I'll be keeping an eye on her. She just might make things very interesting around the Clan compound." Kre'Gel remarked as she grabbed the first pouch of food that caught her eye.
When the three Yautja females took their seats at the table, Ne'Tahl passed a small portion of food to the ooman pup. Takhal snorted in amusement when Amanda immediately plopped the strip of dried meat into her bowl of water.
"What is that weird little ooman doing now?" Kre'Gel demanded curiously while staring at the meat that had been given to the ooman pup.
"That's something she did at first meal this morning. Soaking the meat like that softens it up and restores a lot of the flavor. It still isn't as good as fresh meat, but it tastes a lot better than standard stores. The ooman showed Ne'Tahl, and she showed me. Now you know about this as well. It's a little trick that I will be sure to remember on the next provision trip!" Takhal explained smugly.
"I noticed her having some difficulty eating her meat this morning, but then she put it in her water while she ate her mash. She didn't have the strength in her jaws to eat the dried meat. But after it had soaked for a while, she had no problem with it. It got me curious, so I broke off a piece and tried it. After learning what this little pup has shown me, I will never eat standard dried meat rations again!" Ne'Tahl said firmly as she placed her own strips of dried meat in a container of water.
Amanda had turned her attention to the bowl that was full of the same brown stuff that she'd been given the night before. She still didn't know what the stuff was called, but at that particular moment, she didn't really care. The food that these Shimmer Monsters were giving her to eat was good. She knew the Shimmer Monsters were talking, but she didn't know what they were talking about, since she still couldn't understand them. That was okay though, because they were going to teach her how to talk and growl like they did.
"Ne'Tahl, I need a go bathroom." Amanda said after she finished the stuff in the bowl and turned to the Shimmer Monster that she'd spent the night with. She wanted to show them that she was going to be a big girl by using one of the words that she'd been taught a little while ago.
Ne'Tahl pointed out where the waste closet was, and watched curiously as the little ooman quickly made her way inside. She returned her attention to the conversation that was taking place around her, but noted that the Ship's Elder entered the dinning hall.
"Where is the ooman?" Ta Khan asked as he sat down with a fairly large bowl of S'pke.
"She needed to use the waste…" Kre'Gel began when she was cut off by a loud shriek that emerged from the waste closet.
Ne'Tahl started laughing loudly as the others looked at her strangely.
"Aren't you at least going to check on her?" Takhal demanded instantly.
"No, I don't need to. The cleaning system frightens her for some reason. That was the cause of that noi…" Ne'Tahl started to reply when she was cut off by a much louder scream that easily pierced the air of the dinning hall.
A moment later all of the Yautja at the table turned to gape at the waste closet as the small ooman pup emerged from the room with an obviously irritated expression on her face.
"I hate that bathroom!" Amanda exclaimed angrily as she wiped a few tears from her eyes. Even though she had known that the jets of water and air had been coming, she still hadn't been exactly ready for them, and they had still scared her when they'd hit. It was certainly not the kind of bathroom that she'd been taught to use. She was so distraught from her terrifying experience that she didn't even think about what she was doing as she arrived at the table, climbed up Ne'Tahl's leg, then used the female's mesh suit, and arm so that she could get back on the table to finish eating.
Even as she resumed eating, Amanda felt the tears as they ran down her cheeks. She missed her mommy and daddy. She missed her home, her dolls, her toys, her room full of things that she was familiar with, and her favorite foods, but at that moment she really missed a potty that wasn't scary.
Ta Khan started laughing heartily when the little ooman pup plopped herself down and began chewing on a piece of meat that she grabbed from her cup while Ne'Tahl stared at the little ooman in disbelief.
"What's so funny about a pup who positively stinks of fear?" Ne'Tahl growled angrily as she glared at the Ship's Elder.
"You're right, she does, and I mean no disrespect, but seeing an ooman who is more afraid of the waste closet than she is of climbing all over one of the most aggressive and dangerous female's on this ship is very funny!" Ta Khan answered still laughing.
"You have to admit that the situation is humorous, Ne'Tahl." Takhal said as she and Kre'Gel started laughing as well.
"Perhaps it should be, but I don't find it to be funny at all! This pup should be with her bearer, and I think it's disgraceful that her own kind can't even be trusted to care for a pup as young as she is!" Ne'Tahl snapped sourly.
Amanda, who happened to be the subject of the discussion wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to a conversation that she couldn't understand. Besides, she'd already been taught by her mommy and daddy that she wasn't supposed to interrupt adults when they were talking. Instead, she finished eating while the Shimmer Monsters were talking. Then, once she was full, she let out a quiet yawn before climbing off the table and into Ne'Tahl's lap to sleep.
Ta Khan shook his head sadly as he looked over at the small little ooman pup that was quickly falling asleep in Ne'Tahl's lap. A part of him wanted to pray to the Gods that Chakak had never encountered the incident that had caused the pup to be here, but then he realized what would have likely happened, and was slightly glad that things had turned out as the did. A pup was only young and innocent for such a very short while before they became more aware of themselves and the universe at large. It was that very same innocence that all Yautja Elders had come to both respect and revere in sentient beings. It didn't matter that many of those beings would become their prey once they matured, because while they were still young, all pups were very much the same. It was for that very reason that their highest and most inviolate laws held that pregnant or nursing females and pups were never to be harmed during a hunt. They could be disarmed if they proved to be a serious threat, but they were not to be injured while doing so! The mere fact that the life of a pup so young was still hanging in a strange sort of balance simply because of the actions of bad bloods weighed heavily upon him.
"I will spread word around the ship that there is in fact an ooman pup on board, and that she is not to be harmed or threatened in any way. I don't know how much that will help with some of the more undisciplined Youngbloods that we have on board, but it should help some, in case she manages to leave your presence." Ta Khan informed Ne'Tahl.
"That might not be a bad idea, Elder. The pup may be good at avoiding us in the bathing pool, but I'm not certain how she would fare at avoiding one of us on dry ground, and some of those males are simply too eager to kill something for their own good. She'd have no chance against them if she did wander away." Takhal said concerned.
"Exactly, I realize that none of you are very pleased with the pup's presence, but I have no wish to see a mere pup injured or killed by a young fool with little or no discipline." Ta Khan said as he resumed eating.
Ne'Tahl looked down at the ooman pup who wasn't even as tall as her arm was long. Although she was definitely not pleased by the fact that she was the one now caring for this pup, she certainly couldn't deny that she felt honored by the pup's repeated requests to be permanently under her tutelage and care as well as becoming to be considered her own pup. After thinking about the circumstances for a few moments, she thought that she understood why the pup wanted her as a protector, although she rather thought that the pup couldn't possibly be aware of what she was really asking, but then, maybe the pup did know what she was asking. The strange thing about it was that the only thing she had done was try to protect the pup as was expected of her. It was true that she might have over reacted to the pup's fear during the previous night. But reacting to a possible threat to a pup in her care was something that would have been expected of anyone who was caring for a pup.
Author's Notes: Please, please feed the Plot Demons by leaving a review, they serve as inspiration, and they let me know how well or poorly I am doing. I do respond to every signed review!