New chapter, woo!
This one also comes with an apology for taking so long again!
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Chapter 17
That night, Grey slept on the cushions in the living room, while Kantra took his old bedroom. At first, he'd tried to tell his mother that he'd be fine sleeping aboard his own ship, but Ijane had told him, in no uncertain terms, that he would sleep in his own room, in his own bed, if she had to tie him down herself, and so he'd acquiesced.
The next morning, Kantra woke her up himself, telling her that it was time, at last, for him to see what she could do in combat. At first, Grey wondered if it was some kind of joke, since it was a full two hours earlier than her and Ijane's normal training time, but Kantra had insisted, and so, yawning and bleary-eyed, the human had rose, splashed some cold water on her face, and changed into her training clothes.
She was almost asleep on her feet as she walked out into the kehrite, and was soon joined by Ijane, who was grumbling tiredly, and a little incoherently, under her breath, clearly irritated by her son's wake-up call.
Kantra, however, was so full of energy that Grey nearly hated him for it. He almost seemed…cheerful? No; that wasn't the right word… Enthusiastic, maybe? Yes, that was better; Grey couldn't imagine Kantra being "cheerful" about anything…
"Now, I will test you to see what Mother has taught you so far. I hope you will not disappoint me. After this, I have something to discuss with you, and something to give you." he said, as he handed her one of the wooden training swords.
The two took their places at either side of the kehrite, while Ijane looked on from the back porch, where she leaned sleepily against the wall of the house.
"Begin, while there's still naxa in the pantry..." she called out, obviously so tired that she didn't realize the nonsense she'd just spoken.
The two began to circle each other, waiting for the other to make their move. Kantra was the first one to attack, landing a solid hit on Grey's shoulder, though she was certain that he was holding back, since even a blow with a wooden sword from a fully-grown Yautja would have easily broken her clavicle; but she'd still have a nasty bruise there later.
Though Ijane had trained her diligently, Grey was still new to using weapons, and Kantra was incredibly experienced, so that it was all she could do to block his attacks, let alone get in any herself. She also got the feeling that he was letting her block him, which didn't give her much confidence in her abilities, to be honest.
Their session went on for the better part of an hour, with Grey's tiredness and inexperience ensuring that she received several more bruises from the training sword.
After this, Kantra spent the next couple of hours working with Grey on her techniques for gripping and holding the sword, how to plant her feet, how to watch her opponent's feet, and so on. She listened as well as she could, considering how tired she was; but she still got the occasional light rap on the head when Kantra felt she wasn't paying attention as she should to his sage advice. When they were finally finished, it was just about the time when she would have normally been waking up, and both she and Ijane were exhausted.
"I am pleased with your progress, Grey. We will try unarmed combat tomorrow." Kantra said, as she and Ijane walked back into the house.
"Are you staying out here for awhile?" the human asked.
"Nanku is coming over soon. He wishes me to see how his own training is coming along. I have spoken with my aunt, and she has given permission for me to spar with him…though I doubt it will be much of a match. You may go and get some rest now." he replied, waving a hand dismissively as Nanku came around the side of the house, yawning, for his own training session.
Grey wasn't going to argue, and after a cool bath, put her nightgown back on and crawled back into the pile of cushions, not even bothering to get something to eat from the kitchen.
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Ijane couldn't believe that Kantra had gotten herself and Luar-ke out of bed so early, and grumbled about it all day; especially since she hadn't even been needed that morning! She could understand that her son was anxious to see the fruits of her labor with the ooman; but Luar-ke was, after all, still little more than a pup.
"You couldn't have waited a couple of hours?" she asked quietly, as she busied herself with breakfast, having bathed and changed into a long green tunic dress. She made sure to keep her voice down, since Luar-ke was still asleep in the front room.
"I doubt it would have made a difference, Mother. Her skills are impressive, though; you are doing a fine job with her, and Nanku." Kantra said, from where he sat at the kitchen table, watching her.
"I have no doubt I'm doing a good job; but that's not the point! How can you possibly assess her skills when she's barely conscious? Tomorrow, let her get up at the usual time and have something to eat, before dragging her outside to pummel her, all right?"
Kantra looked a little sheepishly at her, before he nodded in agreement.
"Very well, Mother." he said, and looked around the kitchen to try and find something else to talk about, and his honey-yellow eyes settled on a small, painted clay pot on one of the counters.
"Is that new? I do not think I have ever seen it before." he said, but since he hadn't been back in this house for so long, that wasn't saying much.
"The pot? Yes; Luar-ke made it a few weeks ago and gave it to me." his mother said, looking fondly at the little pot.
"She made it for you?"
"Nuini is teaching her how to make clay pottery. Neither of her older daughters are interested in learning, and her younger ones can't sit still long enough; so she began teaching Luar-ke, when she noticed her admiring some of the pottery in her house. She's getting quite good at it, actually; and she enjoys it almost as much as when we make hair ornaments together."
"She is helping you make your trinkets, as well?" the Arbitrator asked. He had long known of his mother's using the adornments to trade for sundry household goods; even though he'd told her time and time again that he would provide her with anything she needed, if she'd just ask him, since money was of no real issue to him anymore.
"She is; and I'm teaching her how to cook, sew her own clothes, and make baskets. She's shown interest in learning how to weave cloth, so I'm going to talk to Mjadi about teaching her that, too. Perhaps she could even start learning to play an instrument…" Ijane said thoughtfully, and this was too much for Kantra.
"Mother! I left her here with you so you could teach her our ways, our language and how to fight! I did not leave her here to spend her time learning homemaking and handicrafts!" he said angrily; but he knew he'd gone too far when Ijane threw her spoon down on the counter and quickly turned to face her son, and Kantra caught a whiff of her agitated musk.
"You will lower your voice and mind your manners when you speak to me, Kantra! Luar-ke is still sleeping in the other room! As for what I choose to teach her… Would you have me lock her in her room, and only let her out for training exercises? Perhaps I should just slide her a food tray underneath the door, like one would do a prisoner?" she hissed, her eyes narrowing as she surveyed the male sitting at her table.
"N-no, Mother... Of course, I did not mean anything of the sort… I just think…that her time could be better spent-" Kantra began, but a wave of his irritated mother's hand silenced him instantly.
"Her time is spent learning a number of skills that will serve her well throughout her life. Believe it or not, I'm not just teaching her these things for my own amusement. Luar-ke will need to attain a level of self-sufficiency that many of her peers in your Clan will never reach. She will need to know how to take care of herself; because I fear there will be precious few of our people willing to help her."
"If she Hunts, she can gain their respect-"
"She may gain the respect of some of our more open-minded people, certainly; but you have to accept that a great many will likely see her as an inferior, an amusing novelty or as nothing more than an animal…or they may simply ignore her presence entirely. Once she enters her basic training, she'll have to work twice as the others to gain half as much respect; and it will be even harder, once she joins your Clan."
They were both silent for awhile.
"She works hard, Kantra. She puts all her effort into learning everything I teach. She's not lazy, insolent or stupid; but she is an ooman, and I have to adjust her training accordingly, and temper my expectations when it comes to certain things. What more would you have her do? What more would you have me do?" she asked quietly.
She had him there, Kantra had to admit it. Honestly, he hadn't been expecting that Grey would be able to block as many of his attacks as she had; and the way she'd avoided him and waited for the right time to strike… Yes, she was progressing well; in fact, there were a few Young Bloods he knew of who couldn't have done better. Of course, Grey couldn't be trained exactly like a Yautja; but he was confident that his mother could and would turn her into an excellent Huntress, given enough time.
After all, she'd raised and trained him, and he'd become an Arbitrator, despite…
"I will leave it to you then, Mother. I trust your judgement, and I will not question you anymore." he said, and she smiled.
"Thank you, Kantra. As I said; she's working hard in her training, and getting better every day, and I've never heard her complain. Actually, I believe she loves it… You know, she wants to ask Mother about using one of the larger rooms in her house as a kehrite, so she isn't so limited with the time she can spend practicing every day? She doesn't think two or three hours a day is enough!"
This made Kantra smile with a fierce kind of pride.
"I will talk with Grandmother about it. If she is not using the room, I do not think she will have any objections to allowing you to train there." he said.
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Grey woke up around lunchtime and took a cool shower, enjoying how good the water felt on her bruises. She ate almost as much as Kantra did at lunch, and after this, the Arbitrator quizzed her for awhile on Yautja culture and laws, taking care to explain in detail the society's hierarchy.
"The highest-ranking Yautja are called the Adjudicators." he said, as they sat at the kitchen table, Grey having finished helping Ijane wash the dishes and tidy up.
"They ensure that our most ancient and sacred rites and traditions are upheld. The Adjudicators' Council, sometimes called the "Council of Ancients", are a group of venerable Hunters from the most honorable and influential Clans. They will sometimes set two or more Clans against each other, either in combat or in a Chiva, to decide which will become one of the powerful Clans whose Elders may ascend to the status of Adjudicators themselves one day. These Clans get the first choice when it comes to Hunting territory, and every Young Blood aspires to join one of these one day. No Clan Leader, from the most powerful Clan to the most obscure one, gains their position without the Council's approval." he continued.
"Have you ever met any of them? The Adjudicators, I mean." Grey asked.
"A few times, yes. It is a great honor and privilege to be asked to come before them, even for an Arbitrator. In fact, they are the only ones able to overrule an Arbitrator's decision; though it is extremely rare for them to do so. Elder Yeyinde's family have long been held in high esteem by the Council; and a few of his ancestors have been Adjudicators themselves. Some even say that he may be chosen for the position one day; though I doubt he would ever leave the Thwei-Luar-ke Clan."
"What did they summon you for?" Grey asked, intrigued.
"I was called before them when I was appointed Arbitrator, when they asked me to deal with a particularly ruthless group of Bad Blood dissidents, and after that, when they presented me with my ship. Elder Yeyinde has met with them several times, as they greatly respect his opinion on certain matters."
"Where are they? Where do they live?" the human inquired, more intrigued still.
"There is an enormous estate in the capital city where they live and conduct most of their business. They have numerous servants, many from lesser Clans, who hope to raise their status, and their own personal Elite Guard, who are extremely well-trained, well-armed and armored, and willing to die for any one of the members of the Council. There are currently seventeen Adjudicators serving on the Council; all from fine, ancient Clans."
"Okay, and after the Adjudicators comes the Arbitrators?" Grey asked.
"Yes. As you know, Arbitrators Hunt down Bad Bloods; but we also render decisions on matters that are too minor for the Adjudicators to bother with themselves. It is mostly Clans squabbling over Hunting rights, really; but occasionally we have to pass sentence on Yautja who fail in their Hunts. Technically, they are also considered Bad Bloods; but I do not personally consider them as such. I usually try to give them a second chance; after a period of time in exile, they are allowed to start from the beginning, as Young Bloods, and regain their honor."
"Who's after the Arbitrators?"
"That would be the Ancients, who have survived at least a thousand Hunts. Some of the Adjudicators are Ancients; but not all Ancients are Adjudicators. They may mediate disputes, or some may choose to train Blooded warriors who wish to extend their martial knowledge. After them is the Elders and Clan Leaders, who, as their title suggests, lead their respective Clans. They choose where their Clans will go next, where they will Hunt, when they will return to the Homeworld, how many, if any, Young Bloods will be accepted for training, and so on."
"That's what Elder Yeyinde does, then?"
"Yes. And after the Elders and Clan Leaders come the Elite Hunters, and then the High Honored, then the Honored, then Blooded Hunters, Young Bloods, and Unblooded. Of course, below them are pups and sucklings, respectively, and then the 'aseigan, who are either too cowardly, injured or untalented to Hunt for themselves. And below all of these are, of course, the Bad Bloods." Kantra finished.
"But," Ijane said, coming over to sit beside her son, "there are also the crafters, clerics, philosophers, scientists, technicians, Healers, and so forth. They occupy a kind of "rank-within-a-rank" system."
Vaguely, Grey wondered what a Yautja philosopher would be like; but then another question entered her mind.
"What's the difference between a pup and a suckling?" she asked.
"A suckling is a child who hasn't yet left its mother's breast; hence the name. Dami is a suckling, while Chu'tdi is a pup." Ijane replied.
"And I'm an Unblooded?"
"You are still a pup." she corrected.
"But I'm almost sixteen years old!" Grey protested, disbelievingly.
"With Yautja, a pup is one who yet resides with their bearer, or caregiver, in this case. You are still a pup, and will remain so until you go off for your training." Kantra said.
So, after all she'd been through, after all the training and learning she'd done these past few months, she was still considered a little kid?
And, she realized, she would still be considered a child well into her twenties!
Ijane seemed to read her mind, and spoke again.
"But, since you're still considered a pup, you have a special degree of protection. None may harm you without bringing down upon themselves the full wrath of our laws. For you, this is a great boon." she said.
They continued talking for awhile, until Kantra seemed to remember something important, and reached into the leather pouch on his belt, bringing out a small, flat device and setting it on the table before Grey.
"Kwei created this for you. He says it is a sort of upgraded version of your translator." he said, sliding it across the table toward Grey, who picked it up and examined it.
It was about the same size as her current translator; but this one had an even sleeker look, and a casing that seemed to be made out of some kind of metal that had the look of highly-polished hematite. The screen was large, and made of some kind of glass that Grey was sure would take more than rattling around inside a pocket to scratch. It was pleasingly heavy, and felt cool in her hand as she held it.
"But she hardly ever needs her translator anymore; you said yourself that her Yautja has improved dramatically." Ijane was saying, cocking her head in confusion.
"Apparently, this one has some new features that Kwei thought she would find useful." Kantra said.
"What sort of features?" Grey asked curiously.
"I know not; but I trust Kwei's judgement about such things."
Grey tapped the screen experimentally, and immediately the device came to life, displaying a very familiar-looking interface.
"What the hell?" Grey breathed, as flicked through several screens, then went into the "Settings" menu. The entire interface was almost a carbon copy of an Android-based smartphone!
Before she could do anything else, the screen changed to show the image of a familiar Yautja face, apparently in the process of adjusting a camera, and doing what Grey now knew to be their version of smiling.
"K-Kwei?" she asked, astounded.
"Indeed. I had my personal computer set up to alert me when you activated your device, so I may answer any questions you may have." he said. He seemed to push a few buttons, and a full-size, full-color holographic image of himself appeared, seemingly floating an inch or so above her hand. The image and audio were so perfect, it seemed as though the quartermaster were in the room with them, golden leg and all!
"Put him down on the table." Kantra said, and Grey did.
"How did you make the interface like that?" Grey asked, still shocked at seeing something so familiar.
"Well, basically I hacked into some of the ooman computer systems and cloned the programming, then mirrored many of the features. I added a number of my own personal touches, as well; as I'm sure Kantra told you. I didn't do it alone, though. I have a number of colleagues who are as interested in ooman technology as myself, and this was another collaboration. They were practically salivating when I told them of my ideas for this device." he said.
"What can it do?" Ijane asked, clearly interested now.
"It has the same basic translator function as the other one, of course; but this one can also scan objects and give a readout of valuable information about them, similar to our masks. Weapons, armor, ships, and the like. I also contacted Vi'ren, who was glad to share with me the list of things you can eat, the medicines you can take, and so forth, and added it to the database. You can also scan plants, medications, food, water, and other substances, to see if they are safe."
That would help her greatly when she was in the forest, looking for berries and herbs; she'd already ended up with an unpleasant rash from some kind of red, thorny vine a couple of months ago that had required Vi'ren's intervention to stop the itchy, oozy thing from spreading. She was in no hurry to repeat that experience.
"It can also connect to our informational network, as well as the ooman "Internet"." Kwei added.
"Are you sure that is a wise idea, to include such a thing?" Kantra asked him, a hint of suspicion in his voice.
"I think it's all right that she stay current on what's happening on her homeworld. Unless you think she'd do something foolish, like broadcast her whereabouts, or our existence, to her people?"
All eyes in the room turned to Grey, who immediately shook her head vigorously.
"I won't tell anyone! I swear!" she said; and she was being completely honest about it. Even if she did, there was nothing anyone on Earth could do for her, anyway. What would be the point? She had no friends or family to contact, anyway, and everyone probably thought she was, and had been, dead for some time now.
"Very well. But I want you to monitor her very closely, Mother. If it even looks like she is thinking of doing something foolish, I want you to confiscate the device, and alert me at once." Kantra said to Ijane, who nodded gravely.
"And rest assured, Grey; no intervention from Mother will save you from the punishment I will inflict on you. I am giving you my trust in this matter; for your sake, do not make me regret it." the Arbitrator said, a threatening growl in his voice.
"O-okay…" Grey said meekly, seeing for a moment the shadow of the Arbitrator that made Bad Bloods so afraid of him; she'd seen him in action before, and knew full well what he could do to her, should he decide that it was warranted…
"If that's settled then, I also want to add that it's also a communicator. You can contact anyone for whom you have the hailing codes." Kwei said, his relaxed, cheerful tone contrasting almost comically with the dourness of Kantra's.
"That's useful; I won't have to go to Mother's house to get you for dinner when your so-in games run long anymore." Ijane said.
"And it also has a self-destruct sequence." the quartermaster added brightly.
"WHAT?" Ijane, Grey and Kantra said together, each one shocked. Grey had heard of the devastatingly powerful devices built into the standard Yautja wrist gauntlet; enough "boom" to destroy several city blocks, or acres of jungle, or almost anything else that was in the range of the explosion… To think that she held something with that kind of potential made her very nervous.
"Calm yourself; it will only detonate with a very specific passcode, just like your own. It would be nigh impossible to set it off accidentally." Kwei assured them.
"Where is the self-destruct option, exactly? It's not an app, is it?" Grey asked.
"It's in the "Settings" menu, below the option to make the text larger or smaller."
"Oh, yeah; that's the most logical place to put something like that…" the human thought sarcastically, but said nothing.
"Why would you add something like that?" Ijane asked, beginning to get over her initial shock.
"In case it ever fell into the wrong hands; though I don't really know how they'd hope to access it, since it's biologically coded to only react to Grey's specific genetic signature, or someone to whom she allows access. Otherwise, it's just a useless piece of metal. The only way it can go off without the passcode is if someone tampers with it for too long, such as trying to gain access by force, or hacking. Only a Yautja would have a hope of hacking it, however; since the overall system is of Yautja programming. Ooman-made viruses and the like don't have a prayer of infiltrating it."
"So then, if she drops it accidentally…" Kantra began, looking a little worried.
"Do you think me that much of a fool, Kantra? No; the casing is made of the same kind of alloys as the outer hulls of our ships; and the screen is all but shatterproof, as it's made out of the same kind of glass as our port windows! It's even immune to the acidic blood of the kiande amedha, for the love of the gods!"
Kwei was actually bragging now.
"And I hope to make an even better one, in the future." he added.
"What more can do to it, aside from making it fly or something?" Grey asked, her mind reeling from sheer amazement at the capabilities of the little thing on the table before her.
"Oh, you'd be amazed; but I have to get permission from some of my colleagues in higher positions before I make the kind of modifications I'm envisioning. Until then, I think you'll be more than satisfied with it. Now, I have to go; a new bunch of recruits are beginning their training tomorrow, and I have to start crafting their basic armor. Let me know if there's any problems; but I don't foresee any. I'll see you back aboard the Clan ship, Kantra. Farewell."
With this, he terminated the communication, leaving them all staring at the place where he'd been.