Humans and humanoids stood together as they watched the ice cave away from the awesome explosion behind them.

Lucinda was still thrown over Chopper's shoulder, and she's the one that gave out the first warning for the falling debris. Bits of rock and xenomorph guts fell to the earth in huge chunks. Athena and Lex made quick dashes to get out of the way, but Scar, Celtic, and Chopper were more calm about it. Lucinda had no choice in the matter.

The falling wreckage began to calm and Scar was the first to act.

Turning to Lex, he motioned her over. The others watched curiously as Lex cautiously did as requested. When Lex stood before him, he broke off a leg from a dead facehugger he had strapped to his loin cloth. He dipped the tip in the acidic blood and brought it close to her face.

That's when everyone realized what was going on.

"Scar, m-di!" Celtic shouted. "She is not-" "She has proven that she can fight." Scar interrupted with a growl. Celtic scowled. "You know the clan is not going to be happy about this." He insisted. For once, Chopper agreed with Celtic, though he didn't voice it.

Scar growled at Celtic. "You know our ways. Any worthy ooman must be marked. They are granted the respect and protection of our clan. I'll not risk being titled an ic'jit just because I didn't want to admit that an ooman could fight for themselves." With his finishing remarks, it left Chopper and Celtic with options to ponder themselves.

Should they mark their ooman companions?

Celtic's pride didn't want him to. He never liked thinking that any species could have as equal strength or strategy as his. He especially didn't want to be the one to mark an ooman if this situation ever arose.

And yet here he was. With no choice but to do what he hoped he'd never have to.

Chopper was torn for a different reason.

Lucinda was a kid! Albeit a very strong, almost mature one. But still a kid! To mark her meant that his clan would expect her to now and forever more act like an adult and be independent. At least, if for some reason she ever actually met his clan. She'd be given no room to grow up and would be expected to hold her own regardless of her comrades.

Yet he knew, he had no other choice. To kill a r'ka was to be marked with honor and glory, regardless of ones current status. Child or not, Lucinda earned this.

He just hoped he could guard her as much as possible when he would mark her.

Reluctantly, he got down on his knees and picked up a scattered finger from a now thei-de r'ka. He set Lucinda down and gently grasped her shoulder. Her eyes turned towards the claw-like appendage he held in his hand, and she tried to squirm out of his grasp. He held her tighter in place, but gestured over to Scar and his ooman so she could see what was about to happen.

Lex already knew what was about to happen.

Earlier in the pyramid, Sebastian found out that this entire event was a sort of coming-of-age trial. The humanoid creatures were here to hunt the black, bestial ones. Both he and Lex watched as Scar marked himself with the blood. Sebastian pointed out how it was the warrior's mark, at least for their culture.

So Lex knew Scar was going to mark her as a warrior as well.

She just hoped she could tolerate the pain. Scar had howled in agony when it had touched his forehead earlier. She didn't know how well she could handle it herself. She squeezed her lips shut and held her breath as Scar brought the finger closer.

Scar had decided to be a little more gentle with his ooman than he had been with himself and his marking.

He used only the tip of the claw to mark her, where as with himself he had used the base of a severed finger. He gently pressed it to her cheek, barely touching the surface. Lex flinched and gave a tiny gasp, but otherwise refused to move or disturb his concentration.

He was grateful for her cooperation and in return, tried to do it as quickly as possible.

When they were finished, Chopper turned back to Lucinda and made a gesture towards the two and then back at her. She still looked a bit unwilling, but nodded her head and gave a sigh of defeat.

Chopper was amazed at her ability to withstand the pain. She did squeeze her eyes shut and bite her lips, but she still pulled through.

Chopper had been just as gentle as Scar had, maybe even more so. When a drop of blood started rolling down her cheek from the mark, he wiped it away with his thumb. To his dismay, however, it just seemed to stain her skin.

Now they all looked at Celtic and Athena.

Somehow, Celtic was the one who looked hesitant while Athena looked expectant. His lower mandibles were drooped in a frown and to the dismay of the other two yautja present, they could see the self-pride growing in his eyes.

Chopper spoke up. "You know you have to Celtic."

"Fine!" Celtic snapped, and snatched the severed finger from Scar before he could protest. From either irritation or his pride, one of them made him decide to be less gentle than his partners had been. Like Scar had done to himself, Celtic used the base of the finger to mark his ooman.

He grasped Athena's jaw in a hard grip and held her still as he jammed the finger into a her cheek.

Athena yelled out in pain, but Celtic forcibly held her head still as he traced his clan's mark. Chopper and Scar looked away from the unpleasant scene, as they knew Celtic was being more brutish than necessary. Lex and Lucinda gasped in shock as they could feel that the atmosphere of Athena's marking was severely different from their own.

When done, Celtic let go of her chin and stood back with a smirk, one mandible raised.

At first, he felt a twisted, gloating sensation at having caused the ooman pain. He felt it was justified for her currently being an annoyance to him. Then he saw the stream of blood dripping down her cheek and falling from her chin. It fell to the snow beneath them and she raised her hand to touch the mark. It wasn't a touch of pride, but rather pain. Her hand came away bright red.

When she looked up at him again, his heart gave a jolt at the look in her eyes.

Her eyes brimmed with unshed tears of pain, but the emotion inside held nothing back in way of anger. It was all directed at him and he realized that he had possibly crossed a line here with her. She gritted her teeth and stood up straight.

Then, before anyone could have reacted, she punched him dead in the face.

The force of the blow shocked everyone, as Celtic staggered backwards into the snow and landed on his rump. His hand shot up to his eye, of which he could feel was already beginning to swell. He looked up to find his ooman looming over him with a snarl on her lips.

"If I knew you'd treat me like this, then I would have never saved your life!" She shouted.

Then she turned and stormed away. Lex and Lucinda chased after her, giving Celtic scalding looks as well. Celtic was frozen in shock as Chopper and Scar came to stand by him. "Is it true?" Chopper asked. Celtic looked over at him. "Is what true?" He hissed, growing irritated.

Chopper glared at him and his mandibles tightened in anger.

"Is it true that she saved your life?" He demanded, tone growing angry. Celtic could feel a similar atmosphere coming from Scar as well, though he didn't see him at the moment.

For once, he felt something he hadn't felt before. Shame. . .

His shoulders slumped as he forced himself to admit the truth. "Sei-i. . ." Chopper exploded at him in rage. "Then why did you do that?!" He shouted at him. To his shock, Celtic flinched. "She denied me a yin'tekai thei-de!" He tried to defend himself. Chopper spat at him. "Do you think she knows that?! Not everyone knows, much less practices our way of life! And she's not a beast of pure carnal nature! She's a sentient being that can sense when someone is being malicious! She knew you were spiting her!"

Celtic tried to continue to hold his head high, but even he felt the shame slowly weighing him down. He tried to defend himself one last time.

"I have no reason to show her kindness."

This time, Scar spoke up. "From what it sounds like, you have every reason to show her your best side. Where as she has every reason to no longer be kind to you."

That blow hit home. Celtic felt the final nail of shame get hammered into his heart.

He didn't have much time to dwell on it though, as they all heard a very familiar, heart stopping shriek of rage that could only belong to a very big queen kiande amedha.

Author's note: Translation time!

-m-di: no

-ooman: human

-ic'jit: bad blood

-r'ka: xenomorph

-thei-de: dead/ death

-Sei-i: yes

-yin'tekai thei-de: honor +death

-kiande amedha: hard meat/ xenomorph

I'm very sorry that I had Celtic act this way, for those of you who are pissed off. But sadly, pride is one of his character flaws (as stated on his character wiki page), and pride makes you do dumb, sometimes harmful things. And sadly, pride and relationships just do not mix well.

Character development, it's a long and sometimes painful process. Le sigh.

Also, I just realized something. I think this is the first time I've ever had Scar actually talk. Wow I did not mean to make him the silent type. I promise he's not! Just very observant first before acting.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed!