He watched her go, a bright flame in a warm world. When her back was turned, he flipped open his wrist device and punched in the commands. He felt the static tingling across his skin as the cloak covered him, and heard the crackle of it behind him as the ship was also shielded from the strange spectrum of humans and other creatures, but still visible to him. He looked up and saw Hannah staring in his direction. She was not stupid, she knew he was still there. She probably expected him to follow and observe without getting involved. And she would be right. But that was all he would do unless her life came under immediate danger.
As she moved around the rock, Jar-hidda trotted from the ship and climbed up, feeling the sharp stone under his hands. It was easy for him to scale the stone, and soon he was perched atop it, looking down at his human as she wandered. This type of vantage point allowed him to watch her without moving often, only when she vanished behind a spire in the maze did he have to relocate.
He watched her as she stopped and bent. He tilted his head but kept quiet, curious about what she was doing. Switching visions in his mask with a tap of his tusk he saw that she was digging at the ash, and as she put it onto her skin parts of her skin body became obscure until the heat went through the dust. She was camouflaging herself in her own way. Clever. But it would take more than that to fool these r'ka. They were not good of vision anyway, and operated mostly on smell.
She began moving again and he kept watch, crouched on the stones, hand planted on the sharp edges. He felt only a little regret at not giving her a burner, it was acceptable against a beast such as this, even though it had no armaments except its natural weapons, just as the kainde-amedha were. But she had insisted. The odds of her taking down an r'ka now had dropped down to nigh-impossible and the hunting trip had turned into a lesson. She would learn the hard way that she needed to discard her silly human weapon in favor of the much more advance yautja technology.
Sure she had wanted it after she saw it, but he had to erase all desire from her mind. It would be a hard lesson, and afterwards he could take her on a different hunt, once she had healed. All the work he had put into finding the proper r'ka for her to hunt thrown away because of her stubbornness. Oh well, it couldn't be helped, she was only human afterall.
Jar-hidda heard the beast long before she did, whipping his head and seeing t climb past the horizon, the beat of the wings tipping the sain'ja to its position. She switched visions, scanning its organ to determine its health. It was a good specimen, a large male, and angry from the telling of its heat. Jar-hidda crouched low on the rocks, watching the beast approach. Just as it neared the stone it roared in challenge, and Jar-hidda withheld an answer. Below him, he saw the distorted body of heat press against the stone, his vision showing the rapidly beating heart easily.
The thrill of the hunt, Jar-hidda thought to himself. The beast arched over the rock, sending dust invisible to Jar-hidda scattering across his skin, hissing against the stones. It pivoted in the air and beat it's wings frantically. It could tell they were there, but it could not see. For a long time, neither Hannah or Jar-hidda moved. Then the r'ka grew bored and turned, taking off away from them towards the other horizon.
Like a bolt, Hannah was away, chasing the beast, and Jar-hidda felt his own heart flutter. He had to remind himself that this was not his hunt, and he launched from his stone and ran across the spires, gripping and swinging when no flat surface offered itself to him. His hands were tough and could stand the sharp edges, but even he could feel the small cuts made into his skin. These stones had been created from the earth, pushed up sporadically over time, created from the molten core of the planet running close to the surface in this part of the world.
Jar-hidda was impressed that it was a little difficult to keep up with the human. She wove easily through the maze and more than once escaped his attention. She was still moving far too noisily, she'd have to work on that.
The sain'ja was not even out of breath by the time they stopped, but he could hear Hannah's heavy breaths nearby. He shook his head slowly. She really needed to work on her stealth. A camouflage cloak would only do so much if an opponent could hear you as loud as thunder.
Jar-hidda eased forward and looked at the little bundle of light that was his human. She was crouched behind a rock only slightly bigger than her, and beyond he could see the r'ka eating the body of a smaller one, the juvenile males' heat swiftly dissipating to be as warm as the surrounding air. Seemed the large r'ka had smelled the intruder and had gone to fight him. The younger was foolish to think it could take his better instead of submitting and fleeing.
Jar-hidda's head snapped down as he saw movement from Hannah. She had several flimsy sticks in her hand that held the shaft of the flimsy weapon. Jar-hidda grimaced behind his mask. He was not going to like watching this, but it had to be done. She had to learn.
The sain'ja watched closely to gauge Hannah's plan of attack, and he was not disappointed by her bold move of simply standing, in full view of her opponent, the r'ka looking right at her. But he could have smacked himself when she shot at its skin. She hadn't observed her prey long enough, she was too hasty. A roar sent Hannah running, and with an annoyed click Jar-hidda followed, leaping from spire to spire again, ceasing his movement when the r'ka drew close. This was Hannah's lesson, he would not distract the flying beast away from her.
Jar-hidda still followed though, he knew that this r'ka were the kind that could breathe fire, but its amount was limited, it would use it only if it felt close to defeat, or sure of its victory.
Jar-hidda landed on a spire and crouched low, his dreads swaying through the ash that had gathered at the top. He saw Hannah turn and with her flimsy weapon shook a flimsy stick. A pained roar shattered the air and Jar-hidda shot to the edge for a closer look. Had she actually hurt it with that worthless stick? He flipped through visions and zoomed as the r'ka took after his human again. A triangular marker found what he was looking for. A hole in its wing.
Jar-hidda leaned off the edge, then pushed off with his feet, landing on one below him and following after the two swiftly and silently and genuinely dumfounded.
She had injured it. With a stick. Made of scrap.
His dreads smacked against his back, clicking the beads together and he cursed himself for losing focus. He hopped over the spires and landed on one, looking around for Hannah. She was circling a nearby-spire and the r'ka enraged and no longer thinking properly, was falling for her ploy, more and more holes getting punched into its wing until it could hold air no more.
The beast crashed and Jar-hidda jumped to the nearest spire. The dust did not hamper his vision and he looked at the wounded r'ka and Hannah beneath him. Jar-hidda leaned down, hand gripping the edge of the crag and watched as Hannah stepped out as boldly as before. The r'ka turned and roared. Hannah made ready to attack. Her shrill human roar stirred a great feeling in his chest and he watched completely still as she let an arrow fly.
And then fire flew through the air.
He knew the effects of the spit of this particular r'ka. It dissolved what it touched, much like kainde amedha blood but not as strong, but the spit was pyrophoric. Hannah was hit with it, and Jar-hidda had to stumble back from the spray, kicking up dust and looking at the holes being eaten in the rock. Hannah screamed in pain, but Jar-hidda was more aghast that the r'ka thought it was losing.
He searched for Hannah and found her, her heat again hidden by the dust momentarily as the r'ka floundered. Hannah had hit it somewhere painful, but he could not immediately find the wound. He did see the bright spots of burnt skin on Hannah though, and he began to regret not giving her a burner. With taps of his tusk his burners swiveled to life and his marker hit the dragon. The hunt was over, Hannah no doubt had learned her lesson.
But he hesitated, his tusk hovering just a breath above the trigger button. Hannah was standing, she was no longer screaming in pain. She stood straight from the earth, already posed to keep fighting, her flimsy weapon drawn back in a deep curve. He saw the r'ka bend, maw agape, sharp teeth aimed for Hannah. She did not move, she didn't even flinch, and with a movement the sain'ja didn't even see, the bow snapped nearly straight again.
The two bodies of heat collided and Jar-hidda crouched, ready to pounce from the rock, looking at Hannah's body tumbling across the rocks. He felt the fine particles of dust surround him and he leapt down to the ground, heading towards Hannah to check the status of her body, to see the extent of her injuries. He stopped when she moved. He stood still as she stood, coughing slightly and walked right past him without seeing him, too focused on approaching the downed beast.
A scan showed it was still alive, but not for long as his human put the pointed end of one of her arrows to the eye of the r'ka and it breathed no more.
In half a daze, Jar-hidda deactivated his cloak. Hannah looked right at him, then sat on the ground. The sain'ja approached after a long while staring at the r'ka confirming with several visions that it was indeed dead. He stopped at its head and looked at the pool of spit at its mouth, and the rapidly fading heat of its body.
He tasted his words in his mouth, and they were bittersweet.
He would have to let her use his cleaning kit since he did not give one to her at the start of the hunt. That was, after he remembered how to move his hand to his back to grab it. He heard a sound and Hannah was right behind him, making that human grimace that meant happiness, but also deviousness. She reached up, standing on her toes and pulled the tubes from his mask. Were he concerned about the air he'd stop her, but he stood still as she worked his mask off. He kept his tusks still as he looked down at his human's now obscure lines, unsure of what she was doing, but his mind was in no state to predict movement.
She brought down an r'ka. A large healthy r'ka. With a stick. Made of scraps. Firing smaller sticks. Also made of scrap. It wasn't possible. His world was effectively flipped for the moment.
He felt the heat of her hand on his crest, bringing his thoughts back to focus. The heat from his body had risen across his brow and spread mid-way to his tresses. He clicked slightly, then rattled, upper mandibles spreading wide.
Yes, he was very proud.