One of the first things Anunnaki noticed in the morning was that he had an erection. It created a large tent in his loincloth. It was the first time that had happened since he was a horny unblooded hunter. He grudgingly assumed it was triggered because of the oomans scent. Annunaki wasn't really concerned about it-until the female started to wake up.

Despite the pain in his leg, he swiftly got up and walked out, heading towards the small waterfall at the other end of the canyon. He stripped off his loincloth, and submerged himself into the cold pool of water. His erection quickly subsided, and he could get back to more important things. With his body partially supported by the buoyancy of water, his leg didn't hurt as much when he moved it. He was doing some physical therapy repetitions when the ooman came outside.

When he was finished with his exercises, he was at a loss as to what to do next. Even with his injury, Anunnaki wasn't going to spend the day in bed. Nevertheless, was in no condition to hunt down great big monitor lizards either. He had plenty of leftover boar meat, and fruit stored. He already had purified water stocked in the cave. Besides the leak in the wall, his chores were pretty much finished.

The ooman was his only company and source of entertainment, and Anunnaki was suddenly grateful that she had stuck around. He tied his loincloth back on, and went to go see what the ooman was up to. He discreetly leaned over shoulder. She appeared to be trying to start a fire, and was doing it improperly.

He retrieved better tinder, and a better chunk of wood to work on. Then he chuffed, trying to get her attention. The ooman continued spinning the stick between her palms. He set the new supplies next to her, but she still didn't pay attention to him. Anunnaki didn't like to be ignored. He found a beetle and plopped it into her hair.

The ooman jumped up and did a funny dance to get rid of the bug before finally turning to him, "What do you want?"

He pointed to her sticks, "You're doing it wrong."

She let out a heavy breath, "Ok."

Anunnaki put his hand on her arm and shoved her out of his way. He sat down, put some dry tinder at one end of the chunk of wood, then used her stick to rub a line back and forth. Ariana watched him, thinking to learn from him. Instead, her eyes found themselves glued to his biceps. His movements never slowed; he was like a machine.

He quickly produced a flame, and moved it over to the fire pit that was already there from when he cooked the boar. Ariana just nodded, impressed. When he started to add more wood to the fire, Ariana went ahead and left. She went to the beach, strung the fish together, and improved a few if the traps. When she returned, the yautja was sitting by the fire.

As soon as she skewered a fish to cook it, he spoke up, "I wouldn't do that."

"Why not?"

"Heat will destroy some of the proteins. You'll get more nutrition eating it raw. Don't be worried about parasites, you already have them."

She looked down at the fish with a frown, then back at him, "I have parasites?"

"That's what I said. My bio mask was able to see them immediately, but they're not harmful. One species will simply breed in your intestines, lay eggs to be passed with your stool, then die. The tapeworm though, will take a small portion of your nutrients, and will continue to grow inside you."

"What the hell? And that's not what you consider harmful?"

Anunnaki cocked his head, "No, not really."

"Ugh, that is so gross! Is there any way to get them out?"

"Yes, I have broad spectrum anthelmintic pills that would easily rid you of parasites."

"Can I have one?"

He straightened up, "Why would I waste my resources on you? You let one fire go out already, and if you eat another raw fish, you will just get more parasites."

Ariana nodded, and started to prepare all the fish. She cooked them anyway. She figured that she didn't need any more parasites. Plus, lately she had been able to find enough food to be able to save some for later-so even if it did kill some of the protein, that was fine with her. While she ate, the yautja stood up and went back in the cave.

She was shocked when he came back and tossed her the anti parasite pill. He also handed her a small tube of something and pointed to her leg, "Put it on your rash."

She happily swallowed the pill, and applied the cream to her rash. Then she moved to sit right next to him, "Thank you."

Anunnaki let out a low rumble, and inched away from her.

"So, what's your name?"

He didn't turn his head towards her, but his eyes shifted to the side and he grunted, "Anunnaki."

"I'm Ariana."

He didn't say anything back; he just stood up and left. Ariana prodded at the fire for a moment, and rolled a few more logs in before getting up too. Though she was full at the moment, she decided to go look for food to eat later. Now that she was staying in the cave, she would be able to safely store fruits and veggies in his refrigeration unit. She could try her luck with hunting too, since she had a fire going.

Anunnaki tried to find things to do while the ooman was away, but just ended up sitting around, keeping the fire alive. He watched the ooman come and go, enthusiastically adding food to the storage units. She would grab a quick drink from the waterfall every trip back, then head right back off into the jungle. She hardly seemed to need his help finding food anymore.

He suddenly leapt up when he heard a noise, and his heart started to pound. Pain shot down his leg from the sharp movement, but he focused his full attention to the jungle. He heard it again, heard the ooman scream. Anunnaki didn't budge. She was close to the canyon, and there was a good chance she'd make it back.

His leg wasn't healed. It would be reckless to go after her. He was on the island to hunt, not to be fussing over an ooman. He could hear snarling and an animal's jaws snapping closed. She'd taken on several feral yaut hounds before and made it out alive. He convinced himself she'd make it to the canyon before anything happened.

He should have never given the female his name. He heard her shout, "Anunnaki!"

Her palms began to sweat as she grasped the animals long bone spines. It had her back pinned to a tree, and the animal's jaws pressed closer, trying to snag her leg. She pushed back with all her strength, but she couldn't shove the bulky hound back. Several bone spines were beginning to press against her body with enough pressure to leave bruises. Soon they'd begin to puncture her skin. She'd yelled the yautjas name, but as the seconds ticked by, it was hard for her to believe he'd actually show up.

The hound's nails dug into the dirt, trying to force his jaws closer. Just when she thought her arms were going to give out, her eyes locked onto the yautja. Even though he had a foot long cauterized gash down his leg, he came running at the hound. He kicked it on the side of its hindquarters with his good leg, spinning the hound around, and releasing her. Ariana went running to the hunter.

His focus was on the hound when he felt the oomans hands on him. He liked the way she grasped his muscular arm, looking to him for protection. The hound dropped its head low and crept closer. The ooman rested one hand on his back as she moved to huddle behind him. The little ooman was easy to impress, but it made him feel powerful.

Anunnaki almost roared at the hound, but remembered the oomans sensitive hearing. He let out a savage growl instead, and the yaut hound hesitantly turned away. The oomans soft hands dropped away from him then. Anunnaki twisted around to checked her for injuries. It didn't look like she had anything but bruises.

Ariana was in a slight daze as she ogled him. He didn't even have to fight off the hound, just his mere presence seemed to scare it away. It took her a moment to realize he was looking down at her, and she was probably making the stupidest face. He probably thought she had brain trauma. Ariana bashfully turned away.

She headed away from the canyon, still hoping to find more food. She thought he'd go back to the cave. Instead, she could hear him walking behind her. She glanced back at him, slightly worried about his injury. If it pained him, he didn't show it, and she enjoyed having a guardian following her around.