Author's Note: Heeeeyyy, soooo… it's been a while. Not that I need to tell y'all that. I hope this chapter meets your expectations. It was a tricky one to write after being gone from the story for so long. Many thanks to Obi-wan Baloni and First Dragon for their kind inquiries regarding The Mask Maker and the Spear Trilogy. There are few things worse than an unfinished story. I hope I can conclude both to your satisfaction after all these years. I can't promise regular updates but I can promise I will try. I too want to see how these stories end and what happens to our heroes. Thanks for reading!

Previously: Tharrak (Zeyin) brings the shajara the ceremonial mask hajara Raika had ordered for him, then leaves for Kuuroch with Harsan. Sira is taken to the High Clan's palace to begin purification rituals. From the shadows, a mysterious figure watches over her.


A Scar


Zeyin remained rooted to his seat, claws digging into the leather cushions. Harsan waited outside the hovercraft, fingers drumming along his thighs. The seconds ticked by. The young yautja remain seated, stewing in silence. What was he thinking? He shouldn't be here. He should be in Dar'Isan, rescuing Sira. But he didn't have contacts. Or intel. Tch, he barely had enough money. But did he need those? He usually just winged everything.

Growling in annoyance, Harsan slammed his fist into the door causing it to hiss open. "Enough of this. Get out or I'll drag you out."

Zeyin stared ahead through his mask, tension coiling throughout his body. Before Harsan could muster another growl, he slid out and tromped forward, shoulders slumped forward beneath his cloak.

"Stand up straight," the older yautja rumbled as he caught up.

Zeyin straightened but felt his head sink back down with each step. Everything was exactly the same. The same trees, the same avian calls, the same scents. It was as if time had frozen after he had fled all those years ago. Yet, instead of nostalgia, he felt like an animal walking into a trap.

Harsan sighed. "I know it's been a long time but do me a favor: don't do anything rash."

"Very funny, uncle."

"I mean it. You smell like a frightened cheebok."

"I do not."

Harsan grew silent.

"You told them we were coming, right?"

"Hmm…"

Zeyin stopped, the back of his neck prickling. "You didn't tell them?"

"It's better this way," his uncle growled.

"'Better this way?'" Zeyin grabbed his uncle by his armor as he tried to move forward. "You don't get to decide that! Not after what happened."

Harsan snarled and grabbed Zeyin's wrist, wrenching it aside. "I've made a lot of mistakes in my life but protecting this family isn't one of them."

"How is this protecting me? Seinu could kill me."

"I could," a graveled voice interrupted.

Zeyin and Harsan turned to watch as a young male, well-muscled and in his prime, detached himself from the surrounding forest like a wraith. "Brother."

The urge to apologize welled up inside him, to fall to his knees and beg forgiveness. Bile rose up in his throat as the memories assaulted him, reminding him of his sins, of the pain he'd caused. Every imaginary speech he'd practiced withered against his tongue. What could be said that would undo that terrible day?

Zeyin stared at the forest floor instead, unable to look his older brother in the eye.

Harsan broke the silence. "Well, now that that's out of the way, I suppose we should go inside."

"I suppose we should," replied Seinu, even as his eyes remain glued to Zeyin.

Harsan glanced between the two brothers, huffed, and then trudged up the hill.

"After you, brother." Seinu nodded toward the path. "You are a guest, after all."

Zeyin should have been relieved. Instead, he felt the familiar taste of bitterness. He was a guest in own his home. Even if he'd been gone for over 10 years, he'd still thought of the family land as the one place he belonged to. Things had changed after all.

The instant he crossed the threshold he smelled the difference. Scents of those who dwelled here, some he recognized, some he did not, lingered in the air. Furniture and art decorated the once spartan dwelling. A new hand guided the household, one whose touch he did not recognize. And yet…

"Kaa! Zeyin, you ungrateful little hooligan. How dare you run off like that, disappearing without a trace and giving me heart spasms." Hefsa, now thin and frail with white locks trailing down her back, waddled forward and grabbed his masked face with thin, bony hands, turning him this way and that as she inspected him. "Terrible child! I should whip you but you're too old. Tchaaaa…"

Despite her gruff words, her wrinkly mandibles pulled back in a quivering smile. "It's good to see you, my little one. Look at how you've grown."

She surveyed his body next, frowning. "Sss, and yet still so skinny. I am going to make you a big dinner and we'll have you fat in no time."

Hefsa cackled as she shuffled back toward the kitchen.

Despite himself, Zeyin smiled. Some things hadn't changed after all.

A soft growl snapped him back to the present.

Seinu stood before the inner door, large and imposing. He looked like their mother but he had the presence of their father. Resentment flared briefly within him. Then let it go as he followed his elder brother through the courtyard. They weren't children anymore. It wasn't Seinu's fault his father favored him, the firstborn. He told himself that, trying to ignore the long-buried hurts wriggling within his skull like parasites.

By the time Zeyin realized where they were going, it was too late. The door slid open, the brothers awkwardly staring at everything but each other. Seinu rubbed his neck.

"Visana changed it to a guest room."

"Saa."

"Right… I'll come get you in a little bit."

With that, Zeyin was left alone, staring at the remnants of his old bedroom. It was decorated much like the rest of the house he noted as he stepped inside. Potted vines crawled up one of the near corner and across the ceiling, pale flowering tendrils dripping from its fleshy mauve limbs. Their subtle, fresh scent permeated the air. A furred pallet was raised slightly off the ground opposite a delicate wash basin and reflective mirror set against the wall. A few pieces of art decorated the space. He turned in a slow circle, trying to remember how it used to be.

A mess of pillows. Wooden knives. Clothes draped here and there.

The young yautja dropped his pack and slumped onto the edge of the pallet.

"Welcome home," he mumbled, to no one in particular.


\|/


Dinner wasn't much better.

They still sat on the floor, as was custom, but the greeting hall by the entrance had been converted to the dining area. Zeyin looked behind him at the kitchen where their family had shared all their meals, the sound of the crackling hearth fire distant. He shifted, meeting each of the gazes around the table and looking away.

They all stared at him in turns for their own reasons. One of them was the fact that Seinu, rather than seating him on his right, had chosen to set him on the opposite side of the circular table. Only Visana had raised an objection but a deep growl from Seinu silenced his mate. She sat now to his left, caring for what Zeyin assumed was his brother's child. His nephew. Hefsa sat on the other side of the squeaking toddler. Well, "sat" was a bit of stretch. She scurried about with dishes and drinks, chiding Visana whenever she offered to help and gently patting the child on the head as he ate. To Seinu's right sat Harsan, who didn't seem pleased at taking Zeyin's guest seat. Loyalty kept his mandibles still. Further right were Djeth, Sunok, and Iyeiden. His younger brothers. All grown, or nearly so, and hardened in the ten years he'd been gone. Only Raithra was missing, Djeth's twin.

None of them knew what to say at the sudden appearance of the second brother who had fled from their lives so long ago.

Other than the females and the pup, the males were conspicuously silent aside from the occasional grunt.

Zeyin stared down at his food, dreading the inevitable. He wasn't hungry, even though he hadn't eaten in several days. But Hefsa had made all of his favorites. His childhood favorites anyway. She'd already prodded him a couple of times to eat.

"Is everything alright, brother?"

Zeyin stiffened and he slowly looked up in Visana's direction. The familial word rolled off her tongue sincerely enough. She was pretty, beautiful even, in a delicate way. She had a slight roundness to her features, arching brows hovering over large eyes. He couldn't help but compare her to Sira, who's ruddy skin and sharp eyes blazed against the desert sunset.

"Saa, it's fine," he rasped looking away.

With a heavy sigh, Zeyin reached up to either side of his mask, biometric scans tracing his fingertips. At the same time, he flicked a release switch within using a mandible. With a hissing pop, the lower half of the mask detached and he set it to the side.

Just before the first morsel of food reached his fangs, a graveled rumble stopped him. It took everything he had not to snarl. "What?" He nearly hissed the words.

"You know the rules. No masks at the table," growled Seinu.

Hefsa and Visana started to protest but the eldest brother cut them off with a look.

The room felt hot. Zeyin struggled to maintain his composure. He'd been taunted before. Mocked. Tortured. This didn't matter. His brothers had seen him before. Hefsa and Harsan. But Visana… He didn't want that.

"Zeyin, it's alright," she replied, sensing his thoughts. "Seinu told me a little bit about your, um… form. It will not startle me."

They all stared at him now. Expectant.

As he reached towards his face, fingers tensed to keep from shaking, something snapped. It all came up at once, flooding to the surface. Pain. Regret. Betrayal. Fear. And beneath it all the bitter jealousy he'd harbored for his elder brother. The favorite son. The perfect firstborn. His only friend. The only one he thought would understand. The only one who knew what happened.

Zeyin rose, suddenly, like a shadow cast forth from an object struck by a harsh light.

Seinu rose as well, muscular and imposing.

"This was a mistake," snarled Zeyin and he swept from the room, heedless of the protests that followed.

The dining area erupted, echoes of voices chasing after him as he rushed to his room to grab his things. He'd do it himself. Alone. Damn Seinu. Damn Harsan. And damn whatever bastards got in his way.

Going back out the main doors wasn't an option. Zeyin scurried up the high walls and onto the tiled roof.

"I don't remember you being so predictable."

Zeying spun around, his brother standing on the roof several paces away. Around them, the trees swayed in the evening breeze and starships flickered across the twilight sky.

"I don't remember you being such a pompous ass," Zeyin hissed. His pack dropped onto the roof with a clank. "Oh wait, it's all coming back to me now. You've always been a self-righteous bastard."

Seinu growled softly. "It's your fault."

Zeyin paused, his anger dimming briefly. "What?"

"Mother. If you hadn't left…"

Shock flushed his system. "You… You think… I'm responsible for her disappearing?"

"You left and she lost her mind!"

The words cracked across Zeyin's psyche, anguish twisting inside him. Harsan had told him what had happened. He had wondered if his leaving had caused her to break as well. To abandon their family in search of him.

Denial welled up inside. "Yan—"

"Don't lie! Don't you sjauk'rin do it! If you hadn't left, she would still be here, father would still be here, and our clan wouldn't be falling apart."

Zeyin's gaze flicked to his brother's exposed chest where the scar should be, a single sliver cutting across the upper chest. A scar carved by Zeyin's own hand ten years ago when he had shoved his knife into his brother's chest.

He thought of his own scars, of all the pain and loneliness he endured up to this point. What did Seinu know of loss? Zeyin had paid for his sins. He refused to share his brother's.

His dark blade slid from his sheath. "Maybe I should finish what I started, huh? Get rid of all the loose ends."

Seinu responded by drawing his own dark blade.

Shocked growls sounded from below. Crawls scrabbled up the sides of the house as the younger males rushed to stop them. Harsan cursed them.

They both rushed at each other at once, roaring in defiance. Sparks flashed beneath the twilight sky.

"Seinu!"

"Zeyin!"