A sound filled her ears. It was a familiar sound and it echoed very softly into her head as she tried to recognize exactly what it was. It was soothing and peaceful and she simply wanted to sleep and let it flow through her. Flow. That was the sound; it was flowing. Or whooshing, to be more specific, she thought. Definitely whooshing. In a rhythmic fashion.
Woosh. Woosh. Woosh.
She could feel her own heart beating slowly and in timing to the whooshing that filled her ears. She suddenly found herself remembering a whole flood of events and grimaced and moaned as she squeezed her eyes shut and gripped her face with her palm, rubbing softly and feeling an odd sensation against her skin when she did so, as if her skin was gritty.
She opened her eyes slightly and squinted against the burning light shining upon her that were the Yautjan suns. Once she adapted to the brightness, she finally opened her eyes all the way and looked around some very unfamiliar – but very welcome – surroundings.
K'Shai found herself in a circular hollowed out covering that looked quite a bit like a giant seashell, certainly large enough for a Yautja to have a comfortable sitting space for a shelter. She propped herself up and glanced about; noting that no one was around. Her hands sank down into the sand under her, which had provided the gritty sensation she had noted. The soothing whooshing sound was ocean waves moving forth and back some distance away.
Once she had managed to get to her feet, she realized how weak she felt. She looked about and noted that she was definitely on Yaut. The dual suns and familiar planetary view were sure signs of that. She stepped out of the giant conch and gathered her thoughts as she looked around. Her mind suddenly filled with every variety of question that began with where, how, and what, but before she could really begin to process her own answers in her mind she caught sight of far more welcome thoughts.
Not too far away from the shell-shelter was the ko'jol and sitting just beyond it in the sandy beach was A'ryin'di. She could see a bassinet nearby and assumed that El'tude was there and movement from just off the nose of the ship caught her eye and she brimmed ear to ear.
"K'Shai!" R'chnt bellowed and A'ryin'di looked about and dropped what she was doing and darted over towards her mother.
R'chnt moved in and K'Shai gripped onto both of them for a moment before eyeing her sleeping son resting happily in the son.
"R'chnt," she started as she headed over towards El'tude. "What happened? Where are we? I don't remember a thing!"
"Nothing?" He asked quizzically.
She eyed him fleetingly and shook her head.
"I remember talking to you near the pond at the training temple, and then…"
Her thoughts diverted quickly. In fact, she felt her heart stop. She was sure there was some mistake. She had walked over to the edge of the ko'jol and found her son sleeping, only how could it be her son. The last time she had gazed upon him he was a little bit of a "big" baby, at least by human standards. Now he was huge.
"How long have I been asleep?!" K'Shai gasped, finally formulating a question in her mind.
Before she got a response, she had already plucked El'tude from his bassinet, barely stirring him only enough for him to provide some disinterested clicks and groans and go back to sleep. She hummed to him and bounced softly and turned to R'chnt again.
"He's gotten huge!"
"My K'Shai," R'chnt said with a hint of pride and relief as he clamped a hand on her shoulder and squeezed a bit while she softly swayed her son as her daughter clung to her leg.
"You have been dhi'ki-de for weeks."
"What?" She exclaimed back in surprise.
She listened in shocked silence over a meal near the fire R'chnt had built, as he recounted the entire story, none of which she was aware of at all. The last thing she remembered was talking to him on the way back from the swimming pond heading to the temple.
She had no recollection of collapsing and did not even remember being bitten by anything. It was surprising to hear that he cleverly and riskily used his own blood to help her, and while there was no real proof it did anything to help her, R'chnt seemed wholly convinced it had in fact saved her life, and she had absolutely no reason or thought to dispute that.
"I can't believe any of this." She said quietly as she caressed him softly. "You risked so much for me. Thank you."
She emphasized her thoughts with a little squeeze and took a deep breath. She looked about at her children who were both playing in the sand nearby. She knew it was a common thing for a human to say their offspring were "growing like a weed", but in El'tude's case, it was a fact, not just an expression. He was almost as large as his sister, more than a year his elder.
He had apparently mastered crawling while K'Shai had been unaware, and his strength carried him right onto his first walking steps, which she also missed. She pressed her lips together into a soft grimace and thought about what had transpired while she was unconscious and unaware. Then she looked around the beauty of the beach and ocean and smiled.
"And where is this place, exactly?"
"The far Eastern edge of the Clan territory." R'chnt responded.
Suddenly a deep, loud, resounding trumpeting noise blared up from the jungle beyond the shoreline and K'Shai stopped all motion and looked. Likewise, the young children curiously turned their heads towards the treeline. A'ryin'di immediately puffed up and howled, sounding rather like a tiny kitten trying to ward off a dog. R'chnt paid the sound some consideration, evaluated the scene quickly and then turned back to K'Shai.
"Do not be alarmed K'Shai, it is not a threat. It is far off; the sound is echoing only.
"What was that?" She asked in alarm, despite R'chnt's reassurance.
"Quatza-Rij," he responded succinctly.
K'Shai's heart skipped a few beats and she suddenly found herself searching for her offspring in haste and worry. She had heard of the mighty indigenous Quatza-Rij, and she had seen depictions of them, and had surveyed their skulls, only three of which were on display within the Clan territory. One of them was in part killed by R'chnt.
The animals, which were easily forty or fifty feet tall, had a massive skull, four sockets for eyes, and a deep internal mouth full of several circular sets of sharp teeth. With the horned ridges along the elongated skull, wide jowls, and reddish tint to their bones, the Quatza-Rij were intimidating and obviously dangerous dead. Hearing one vocalize across the jungle sounded like a cruise ship blaring its horn, only far less inviting.
"You mean, that thing that young Yautja are supposed to hunt to prove themselves or something?" She questioned after managing to settle her mind.
"Didn't you kill one?" She added, with a hint of reassurance. He killed one, he could certainly kill another if they found themselves threatened, right?
R'chnt chuckled.
"I did kill one… with a team of others. But they are not for youngbloods to prove themselves. They are hunted by Yautja looking to prove their merit and earn the right to an elevated standing in the Clan, or even become Leaders. There are all kinds of reasons a team will hunt them."
"How many Yautja hunt them?" K'Shai questioned.
"Three, always."
"Why three?" Her curiosity now more piqued, and her concern about the Quatza-Rij becoming more faint without her even thinking of it. "Is it like a challenge to see who survives?"
"No, K'Shai. Quite the opposite. A good Leader must be able to prove that he can command a group, and provide his followers with direction that will make them better warriors. A Leader is not proven by how many students he can run off to their deaths! The strongest Leaders assume command and guide their students to an honorable victory."
He paused, though he looked like he was going to continue. K'Shai remained silent, understanding the logical point he was making.
"Of course, if they all die anyway, they have at least brought honor by fighting like a true Yautja."
She smiled and chuckled.
"So you were assigned to lead two others to hunt a Quatza-Rij?"
"Not exactly," he responded.
"It was a test of leadership. All three of us wanted to elevate ourself to Leader. I hunted alongside the others with the goal of the three of us surviving against the Quatza-Rij and the one who claimed Leadership of the hunt would be proven. I did."
He emphasized the last two words with pride.
A'ryin'di tucked herself into K'Shai's lap and slept while El'tude sat nearby still playing. K'Shai pondered the idea of three Yautja hunting this giant and deadly beast to prove their worth.
"Does every Yautja who wants to become Leader have to hunt this?"
R'chnt slowly shook his head.
"Some Yautja become Leaders in other ways. Those who wish to receive the highest honors in the Clan will hunt before the Clan. The best of those hunters successfully work together to bring down the creature. All become Leaders if they survive. If any die, none become Leader and are dishonored from the Clan for their failure."
"What happens to them?" She asked in alarm, thinking immediately that the punishment for something that seemed fool hardy and deadly was awfully strict.
"They are dishonored hunters. Any rightful Yautja will not allow themselves to exist in such a way. They slay themselves usually- alone."
K'Shai grimaced as a more complete understanding of the constant life- or-death-or-worse-dishonor type of struggle the Yautja face if they wish to be respected. She felt a swell of guilt for R'chnt's actions all for her benefit, including the most ludicrous of which being his recent decision to become a blood donor in the hopes his Yautja immune-to-
everything genetics would help her pull through from a beetle bite.
"So…" she asked finally after a brief silence. "What happens now?"
R'chnt gazed upon her, giving K'Shai the immediate impression that he was scanning her with his eyes more than actually looking at her. She could tell he was summing her up in a glance, trying to determine if she was of fit body and ready to proceed to whatever the next step would be. Hunting, she assumed. What else could the next step be, after all? She had been trained far along enough that he was ready to take her hunting before everything happened.
She asked the question rather needlessly, but still, she awaited R'chnt's response to confirm his intent.
"We will train. You are weak from being in such a state for so long. You must get your strength."
Sure enough, that was exactly what they did. However, the training this time around, K'Shai found, simply was not the same as all the training she had been receiving. For starters, they remained on the beach alone together, which in itself was a great treat.
Besides the occasional visitor from the Clan who idled their way through, K'Shai and R'chnt spent weeks alone with no outside contact. The quiet peacefulness of their surroundings allowed them both to spend time training and exploring with their offspring without interruption.
Each day, after rigorous training, K'Shai enjoyed a dip into the warm ocean. Of course, most of the time, their actual training time was rather limited as both K'Shai and R'chnt were mostly occupied with supervising their ever-active children who were clearly eager to "train" with them.
"No! A'ryin'di, don't do that!" K'Shai scolded as her daughter climbed up a cliff face. She had made it higher she could almost reach before she had noticed.
"She is strong and able, K'Shai. You guard them both too much. They are Yautja." R'chnt scoffed with unveiled pride.
"Well, she can still get hurt. I just don't want her getting hurt." K'Shai grumbled as she collected her daughter once convincing her to come down. Meanwhile, El'tude had found ways to occupy himself which mostly involved waddling running at near warp-speed into anything and everything that drew his interest; the trees, the ocean, every hollowed out rock well or oversized animal shell he could climb under, into, or onto.
After many rotations re-training herself to prepare for the great hunts R'chnt spoke of frequently, the ocean-side habitat had begun to feel like home. The children grew larger and stronger each and every day, and listened eagerly to the enthusiastic stories their father would tell of great hunts, mighty prey, and Yautja honor at night around a fire. Each day seemed entirely more exhausting than the previous, K'Shai thought.
Supervising the children was almost more taxing than the training; and a large part of the day was spent hunting prey to eat. To some degree, K'Shai felt like they were all their own private little herd of lions. They had a daily routine, but no real obligations other than to find food and train for the hunt.
The children played like cubs with endless energy and needed vigilant supervision to keep them safe. R'chnt was the master of the pride, but also the one who ended up doing most of the hunting because it seemed to K'Shai that he much preferred that than supervising the children, which he had stated numerous times she was simply more adept at.
This night, R'chnt returned to the K'ojol, to his pride. K'Shai sat on the floor in the open doorway watching the lightning show outside and eyeing up her soaked mate as he returned with a small antelope like juta in his grasp. It was a good meal; an excellent find considering the weather for sure. While hunting for food might not be recognized as a way to actually earn honor in a Clan, hunting food prey with respect was expected of an honorable Yautja.
To capture such a timid and flighty creature in such a savage storm was a sure sign of an accomplished hunter. R'chnt simply went about his business without giving it any consideration. To him, it was just dinner, it was hardly some impressive accomplishment. He gently brushed his hand against K'Shai's face as he nodded a quiet greeting to her and entered into the kehrite.
His offspring were both sleeping nearby leaving their mother to savor a moment of silence to watch the storm. He took the juta to the center of the kehrite. The entire room's floor was slightly concave, purely to facilitate cleaning of blood after a fight. As such, there was a drain in the center of the room, and R'chnt utilized a chain from the ceiling to suspend the animal directly above it. He retrieved a large blade from one of the wall cabinets and then returned to his sleeping offspring and nudged them awake.
K'Shai remained motionless just a few yards away, halfway watching the storms roll on outside and halfway watching her offspring stir. A'ryin'di, older and of equal abilities as a human three year old, watched with enthusiasm as her father explained in simple terms what the blade was called and how to use it. He carried her, nestled into the crook of his arm, over to the suspended carcass of dinner-to-be, and while El'tude sat on the grated ground next to his father, R'chnt showed A'ryin'di how to skin, cut, and filet a meal.
Watching with a small smile from the open doorway, K'Shai found the moment to be so oddly peaceful; serene despite the crackling and roaring thunder. The rain pounded down on the side of the ship, backed by the whoosh of angry waves on the ocean, and yet somehow, the sounds inside the ship were soothing.
The dull amber glow of the dimly lighted kehrite; the sounds of R'chnt's whispering voice, the impressed and interested clicking and trilling of the youngsters; even the sound of the animal's blood trickling down into the drain as the smell of fresh raw meat filled the room and intermingled with the scent of a fresh ocean rainstorm all simply worked together to create a soothing and peaceful atmosphere that K'Shai found relaxing and peaceful.
She stood up and slowly swayed across the kehrite towards her family just as R'chnt had finished putting the last chunks of meat onto a cart he had pulled over. Some of the meat would be for tonight; some would be frozen in the ship's food storage bay for later.
R'chnt turned towards her, still holding A'ryin'di against his chest as she sat on the crook of his elbow, her little hands wrapped around his bicep for some balancing support. El'tude splattered the blood before him, playing in it as any child might a puddle of mud. He would churtle out a baby's laugh and K'Shai smiled as she glanced down at him. She looked back up to R'chnt who remained rather motionless, save for a small twitch of his upper right tusk, which spread apart into a thin smile.
K'Shai ran her hand along R'chnt's free forearm and stroked his bicep. She silently, delicately whisked her fingers across his chest and down to his waist. She smoothly moved A'ryin'di off of her father and briefly saw to it that the children were happy and content before moving back in to R'chnt who had stretched his upper tusks widely. A thick scent of aroused male Yautja musk filled her nostrils as she moved in close to him.
She pressed her lips to his abdomen and stood her bare feet directly upon his strong and sturdy feet, raising herself up just a bit. With a deep stretch of her back, K'Shai could just reach R'chnt's chin and lower mandibles. A helpful lowering of his head told her that R'chnt was enjoying the sensations and wanted more.
As she pressed herself into him and his hands caressed her, he disrobed her while his musk amplified and his aroused chuffing echoed into the room. K'Shai moaned in a quiet whisper and R'chnt toppled her down under him. She could feel his hard erection pressing against her under his heavy leather loin cloth although she playfully and purposefully restrained from removing it, just to further arouse him.
He growled deeply, somewhere between utter arousal and annoyed displeasure to which she responded with a simple playful moan. R'chnt in turn grappled her tightly by the hips, so tightly his intention was to make her squirm, which she did readily . He hovered above her on his knees, with his erection pushing into his protective leather codpiece obviously uncomfortably, which caused him to equally purposefully squeeze his grip on her hips a little too firmly.
His intention worked, as as K'Shai squirmed to get away from the discomfort of his powerful grip, R'chnt bellowed a pleasured moan and shifted his weight while simultaneously flipping K'Shai over onto her stomach. He ripped away his own belt and quickly grappled K'Shai's hips, raising her buttocks off the ground into just the right angle and position that pleased him and without any hesitation, R'chnt pushed himself into her.
K'Shai moaned a howl that echoed just a hint of discomfort, mostly blanketed in pleasure that begged him for more, which he promptly gave. R'chnt snarled and spittled as he thrust his hips harder and harder into K'Shai. He gripped her more firmly with each thrust just to keep her in the exact position she was. K'Shai huffed and moaned and gripped at the floor with all her might; howling a call to him that announced her enjoyment.
With a final massive bellow, R'chnt filled K'Shai with his heated juices. He remained atop her, sweating and grunting for several long moments after he was fully empty, adding in a few additional thrusts just to be totally sure. K'Shai stretched her body under him but did not attempt to move or pull free of his insertion. She huffed and panted while he pressed his chest into her sweaty body and reached an arm around her to caress her breasts before he finally pulled out of her wet passage with a pleasured huff.
K'Shai collapsed onto the metal floor grating and smiled thinly in exhausted pleasure for a long while as she watched R'chnt take the filleted meat into the food prep area on the lower level. After a short rest, some time to catch her breath, K'Shai collected her offspring and joined R'chnt on the deck below. The smell of cooking meat wafted up through the ship and combined enticingly with the scents that already lingered.
A'ryin'di and El'tude both chittered their hunger and eagerness to eat once the meal was prepared. R'chnt finished the meat and placed a large plate of meat on the table before them and K'Shai watched him carve it and put some on each plate before them all. His unencumbered body was still glistening from the sweat of their earlier exertions and it was a perfect sight. The male Yautja body, sleek and lean and muscular, rippling with contours and blood vessels, scars and finely details markings, was a beautiful and natural and powerful and pure sight.
K'Shai glanced around the room for a moment, to her offspring happily consuming the meal their father had hunted, prepared, cooked, and served, and to R'chnt who now was eating the largest helping of the plate quietly, before her eyes dropped to her own body which she had no desire or need to cover up.
Her own body had changed over the years and as she thought about the last few years, she found it harder to recall exactly what she had looked like before her time on Yaut; she just knew she looked nothing like this. Though her body was smaller and less muscular than any Yautja; even children, for a human, she was firm and solid, with her ribs just slightly visible. Her tanned hide was a reflection of spending nearly every moment of every day under two suns.
Her large breasts which hung freely, were a reflection of a maturing body and two cycles of producing milk. Her body bore scars, tattoos, and contours of its own, and as she scanned her thighs and arms, she absorbed the fine little details that comprised what she was now, she felt a moment of pride at herself.
This, she thought; this is what a real life was; and what a Yautja life should be. The hunting for Clan and personal Honor, the constant training, even dare she think, the rituals and rites of prayer and obedience and homage to the Gods, none of that made sense to her.
So little sense, in fact she thought in silence as she continued to survey herself, R'chnt, and her offspring, that she had no desire to leave the beachside paradise that had been home for the last few months at all.
Returning to the mei'sa, to the Clan city itself; bringing her offspring back to that life to learn something so nonsensical seemed so pointless. The real Yautja life was just this- a mature male caring for his family; hunting to eat, teaching his children to hunt; this was what natural life was and for the remainder of that evening, K'Shai simply quietly thought about such a life; one she could well adapt to.
The thoughts of living just meters away from the ocean, under the warmth of the suns, raising offspring carefully and peacefully and safely, filled her mind that night long after the four of them had crawled into bed, and R'chnt and his two offspring had fallen asleep. K'Shai watched him sleeping, stretched along the matted sleeping platform, his nude body loosely draped in some silky hide-sheets, while A'ryin'di slept halfway crawled atop him in what looked purely to be the absolutely most uncomfortable and unnatural position in the entire universe; yet she slept soundly that K'Shai dared not disturb her.
Next to them, El'tude slept, still and rigid like a hefty log. K'Shai eyed them all until her eyes grew heavy. She did not recall falling asleep, but a sharp, overly eager pinching sensation stirred her from her sleep.
El'tude, strong and mobile, had made his way to her breast and started his meal. K'Shai grimaced and shifted as she woke with displeasure and wiggled herself and her son into a more comfortable position.
She hissed softly in protest against him; a familiar reminder to him to be gentle. El'tude was just strong. Such a young child, but so strong, he simply had no way to understand his own strength; but even R'chnt did not overlook the size and power of his son.
"He will be hunting in a few more weeks, I think." R'chnt joked proudly of his child as the family had finally gathered on the beach shore once again under the suns.
The storm had passed, the suns were well past risen in the morning sky, and El'tude was waddling across the beach, stopping to inspect every single shell and rock along his path just to make sure nothing dared to hide from him under them.
K'Shai smiled at R'chnt. "Perhaps," she responded quietly.
"R"chnt," K'Shai began quietly, with a respectful, if not a bit more submissive than typical, downward cast of her eyes. "I'd like to talk to you about something…."
She tiptoed towards him, bare feet arcing across the sand, sinking just a bit with each careful stride. It was so soft and warm between her toes and little splatters of sand grains kicked up with each step. She stopped less than an arm's reach from R'chnt's heated, powerful body and gently pressed one finger against his sternum, tracing his muscles
delicately.
"What would you like to talk about, my K'Shai?" He asked with piqued interest.
"Well… I wanted to see what you might think about…"
Suddenly, a noise from the treeline caught her attention, and R'chnt turned his head and released a pleased bellow as he called out a greeting.
"W'rsa! It is time, then!"
R'chnt immediately puffed up, proudly, as W'rsa greeted him and surveyed K'Shai quickly. His eyes then scanned over towards the children, who had been keeping themselves occupied on the beach and began coming over to investigate the new visitor.
W'rsa grunted loudly in clear surprise.
"How can both of these be your offspring?" He promptly questioned. "The female was just a suckling and it has not been that long, has it? You have had another offspring and he can walk already? How is this even possible? Do humans grow so quickly?"
Less than two seasons had passed. K'Shai had almost forgotten about the unusual nature of her hybrid offspring, because she and R'chnt had been removed from the Clan, from most other Yautja for so long, and the private accommodations of the beach front for the last few months let all of those notions wash away like the ebbing tide.
"This is El'tude. He is very strong. Large for his age, too, I suppose. But he is sturdy and healthy." K'Shai explained quickly and slightly defensively as she grappled her son at her knees.
"He will be a capable hunter, as will A'ryin'di." R'chnt confirmed.
W'rsa eyed A'ryin'di quickly, commenting again on how large she had grown in such an usually short time.
"K'Shai, I am sure you will be eager to bring them to the mei'sa and let the females see your fine offspring! No doubt, you are eager to begin the hunt! R'chnt has told me you are more than ready."
She felt her heart skip a moment, not sure really how to even respond to any of that. She blurted out the first thing that came into her mind without even thinking.
"More than? Oh, he did?"
Both the adult males looked at her with a crooked gaze; clearly it was not the response either of them were expecting. Indeed, K'Shai knew her moment had passed to provide her idea to R'chnt. He had been talking about the hunt, preparing her for the time to hunt; for the time to prove herself to the Clan. Because, obviously, nothing she had
done so far proved it, and somehow, as she stepped aboard the K'ojol after gathering up her children and her belongings, she doubted that anything she did from here on out would prove anything to the Clan.
It didn't even seem important, really - to prove what exactly? To whom? To Neh'rti? To R'chnt? R'chnt was proud of her and had confidence in her capabilities that even she lacked. She did not need to do anything to prove herself to him and his was the only opinion that really mattered to her. None the less, it was done. The time was at hand.
All of her training, all of her experiences thus far, had finally accumulated to this day; to this future. R'chnt had collected together his entire hunting pack. Ten Yautja males, all hunters of experience, all who had hunted with R'chnt for many years, were standing ready at the Clan awaiting the return of their leader. There would be no delay; the K'ojol would land back at the Clan city in a matter of minutes; and from there, the hunt would begin soon after.
There would be just one matter that, as W'rsa had already pointed out, would have to be tended to first.
K'Shai gritted her jaw and huffed softly as she eyed the Clan city growing closer and closer outside the control room window. The excitement between just the two males in the room with her was almost tangible. It was like teenage boys getting ready for the Superbowl - the anticipation of what was about to happen was almost so much they were bursting. She could not recall seeing R'chnt so simply enthusiastic.
She gritted her teeth, realizing he had sacrificed years of his life, away from the hunt which he needed and dedicated his life to, just to do all he did for her. He had sacrificed his own blood to save her, and risked so much worse than just death because of it. Now; now it was time to give back to him. It was time to honor him and all he had done and all he deserved.
It was time to hold her head high and hunt with the Yautja.
As W'rsa piloted the ship down to the landing zone under R'chnt's direction, K'Shai turned unnoticed out of the room and gathered her children. She huffed with exertion as she lifted El'tude off the ground and onto her hip, then directed A'ryin'di to walk beside her.
"Come now, children. Now is the time to return to the Yautja. To the mei'sa."
K'Shai held A'ryin'di's hand as the ramp dropped off the back of the ship and they stepped down onto the familiar red-tinted dirt path back towards the Clan city. The ride back on the transport pad felt a little quick for her liking. She quietly eyed A'ryin'di the entire time, barely listening to the males discuss excitedly what the next season of hunting would entail.
An entire season, she idly thought as the transport pad came to a halt and she moved off it with her offspring. K'Shai wondered if A'ryin'di would recall anything about the mei'sa at all. She assumed not, as the baby was far too young when there the first time. However, as she returned to the mighty imposing gates outside the mei'sa territory, she certainly discovered that the mei'sa females remembered the child.
"This is your offspring A'ryin'di?" Was a common phrase she heard over and over and over again, and then once more for El'tude.
How could he be walking already? How could he have grown so quickly? Was it normal for humans, because it clearly wasn't normal for Yautja. Suddenly within an hour of being back at the mei'sa, K'Shai felt angered and frustrated. Her children were apparently somehow handicapped and clearly unnatural in every way. They weren't quite Yautja, and they weren't exactly human either.
She was reluctant at the very least, to leave her offspring in the mei'sa - to learn to be something they weren't exactly; to learn to be Yautja. She was more than well aware of how things were taught in the mei'sa, having witnessed and experienced it herself. The idea of leaving her offspring to be trained for a whole season gave her nearly enough cause to figure out some way to not be included in the Yautja need to prove whatever it was one was supposed to prove by hunting. She strongly considered gathering up her children and making a run back to the K'ojol, pick up R'chnt along the way and tell him plans changed.
She knew she couldn't, so she did what was requested of her; what was expected of her like any other Yautja female that continued to hunt to prove their honor.
"The offspring will finally be able to learn properly," Neh'rti emphasized in a typical distasteful sneering way as K'Shai tried for a fourth time to part ways from the mei'sa and thus, her children.
El'tude was busy at the moment exploring every inch of anywhere he could waddle to and he was getting better with every single step he took; stronger and more able to sufficiently get into every ounce of trouble he possibly could. There was no doubt in her mind that he would be a handful to watch over and guard; even for the mei'sa females. El'tude was about twice the trouble of A'ryin'di and he was half her age.
K'Shai suddenly found herself envisioning his entire growth in a matter of seconds. First he was walking, then he was taller and able to fight, then he was a gangly teen and powerful hunter in training, then he was a youngblood, muscular and finely promising to become Leader. Somehow, in her vision, she wasn't there. She missed all of it because she was off hunting and very possibly could never come back.
She shuddered at the thought, not sure if R'chnt would return home next season without his mate; fearing he might. She glanced over to survey A'ryin'di and change her thought pattern. Her daughter was a bit quieter, more calculated. At just over two seasons old, A'ryin'di was far more developed than any Yautja even twice that age. She grew faster courtesy of her hybrid DNA, and she was smarter than any Yautja ten time her age that K'Shai had ever met.
A'ryin'di needed a real education. She needed school and lessons on reading, writing, sciences, history of human and Yautja as she had been learning in addition to hunting. K'Shai gulped, watching her tired little daughter drift off to sleep in a corner spot where she sat, halfway thinking about the lack of education she was leaving her daughter to. Hunting, fighting, killing, and cleaning bones; those were essentials to the Yautja Way.
Reading, writing; an understanding of arts and sciences - such things came later assuming the Yautja excelled at the first priorities and lived long enough to pursue them.
El'tude was exhausting to watch over, strong and rather boorish; like a typical boy. A'ryin'di was smart and talented and would grow to be powerful; if she survived Yautja boot camp, or in other words the rest of her childhood in the mei'sa.
K'Shai's gut felt heavy as she turned finally and headed out of the mei'sa. She said one more goodbye to her children who were both either too preoccupied or too tired to really care. When they realized the following day that their mother was gone, she nearly sobbed in hysterics imagining how they would react.
She had composed herself finally as the transport pad returned her to the landing zone. The moment the pad even came close to the landing zone, she could hear rumbling echoing voices through the trees coming all the way from the massive plateau where the ships were. It took her only seconds to recognize R'chnt's voice in the fray. The roars and rumbles were filled with eagerness and excitement and the scent of a strong musk carried in the wind nearly gagged K'Shai.
As she rounded the path and came into visual range of the K'ojol, sure enough she saw 'aseigan bringing hover-carts full of supplies into the ship to stock it up fully for what would be a long haul; and just off to the side of the rear ramp was a circle of ten Yautja males. K'Shai instantly spotted R'chnt and W'rsa, and then picked out other faces she was well familiar with.
E'jul, Mora'th-de, Lot'kdte, H'bpe-gk'de, N'tul, Koo'ni-de she knew already. Two new faces amongst the crowd were soon introduced by R'chnt; Kor'aun-de and M'jniir-de. K'Shai nodded in silence, still not totally sure her eyes were dry and no longer beet red as she was sure they were not long ago. She licked her lips and with a quick glance towards R'chnt, she stalked up the ramp into the ship. Her purpose was simply to pay the males little attention or regard and let them keep doing their thing.
They were the hunting party, K'Shai thought. She would follow R'chnt wherever he led her and do whatever he directed her. If any of the others annoyed her or stood in her way, or made her time away from her children any more unpleasant than it was already going to be; she would kill them.
Apparently, though, she quickly realized, her passive disinterest in the males was not taken as some kind of slight, nor did it give any hint to them to leave her alone. In fact, they all followed her onto the ship behind R'chnt who tailed her up the ramp. She turned to look at him in wide-eyed surprise as she stood in the shuttle bay and watched nine other males tail them up.
"K'Shai! Your eagerness to depart for the hunt is clear!" R'chnt announced; pointedly misinterpreting where she wanted to be right now.
"Let it begin!" He roared again and the nine others echoed his howling chant.
The door to the back of the K'ojol slid quietly closed and locked out the last little bit of setting sunlight on the Yautja homeworld.
The males took to their assigned duties and got the ship off the ground while K'Shai made her way to R'chnt's chambers. It was fully stocked with armor and garments and hides for blankets and food and drink and everything else that could possibly need to be there. The 'aseigan were busy K'Shai thought.
She paid little attention to the sights outside the viewing windows as the ship flew away from the planet and into darkness. For darkness, she knew, was all she would see for quite some time.