Machiko felt a headache coming on before her day even started.

Normally, she was really good with stress. The current events however, were anything but normal. The emotional turmoil of the revelations concerning the Witch and the Yautjan God, combined with all of the little things piled on top of her plate, was making it hard for her to concentrate. First was her sense of duty to Helena. The poor woman looked lost now that her chicken was gone, and after having come to some connection with Topknot, he up and vanished a month ago. Then there was Shorty, who was still unconscious and hadn't had the chance to talk to her about matters that should have been his to tell her in the first place. Now Dachande wanted her to join him on a hunt soon, but deemed Helena, in her current state, too unstable to go. Machiko actually agreed with him, but was more worried about leaving her friend alone than how well she'd perform on a hunt.

Machiko needed a break badly!

Helena though, knew this and decided to give her one.
"Go, take a long bath or something. I'll be fine." Helena waved Machiko away. Machiko quirked an eyebrow at her so Helena stiffened her stance. "You're tired. I can see it in your eyes." "You are too!" Machiko retorted. Helena gave a weak chuckle before shaking her head. "No nap is going to fix what I'm feeling. You, on the other hand, could probably use one. Go. I'm ordering you to go relax as your doctor and your friend." Machiko huffed at her attempt to pull rank on her, but felt her resolve softening up. "Will you honestly be alright by yourself?" She asked. Helena nodded and gestured to her room behind her. "I said a nap won't help me, but I'm probably going to take one anyway, and a nice long bath. I'll be fine, I promise." Machiko finally felt her resolve let up. "Well. . .I'll have my gauntlet nearby if you need me to come back." She promised. Helena smiled at her and tapped her own gauntlet. "I'll let you know if the Queen's broken out again or something."

Giving a chuckle, Machiko gave Helena an affectionate hand squeeze before turning and leaving.

A bath and a nap really did sound nice right now.

"He's waking up!" Someone gave a shout with loudly clicking mandibles.

The head Healer turned the corner to the room and peaked inside, finding the small yautja beginning to shift around and groan on the bed with secondary healers watching over him. The head Healer gave a soft sigh. "If he wakes up fully, send a message to Dachande. The pup needs to resist the last fight with death before he can open his eyes." The head Healer observed by looking at Lar'nix'va.

"I estimate another two hours before the outcome of the fight with death is determined." One of the secondary healers informed him. The head Healer nodded and left.

It was up to Paya now if he wanted the pup to live or not.

"Dachande, we have news." A messenger called out.

The elder yautja turned in his chair and raised an eyebrow at the messenger that came from the medic bay, judging from his clothes. "What is it?" Dachande clicked. The Messenger fidgeted under his intense gaze. "Lar'nix'va has awoken." He finally got out. Dachande looked elsewhere and slowly nodded his head to acknowledge that he heard him. "Thank you. I'll deal with him in a moment."
The messenger bowed his head respectfully and left Dachande's presence as quickly as possible.

Once the messenger was gone, Dachande took a sigh of relief and turned towards his gauntlet that rested on the table.

Although he should go and acknowledge Lar'nix'va for his brave stand against the Queen and his even braver battle with Death in his sleep, he knew Lar'nix'va needed something else right now. He needed to finally have the talk with Machiko about where they stood with each other. The tension between them was thick and the cause for it had gone on long enough.

Dachande picked up his gauntlet and began to send a message to Machiko.

Lar'nix'va was staring at the new, long scar across his belly when his healing room door opened up in front of him. He looked up to find Da'dtou-di entering in.

He was momentarily stunned by her appearance. He hadn't expected her to come at all. Though the healers did inform him that it was Da'dtou-di that brought him here, Lar'nix'va didn't expect her to come back at all afterwards.

The woman looked away from him awkwardly as the door closed behind her. "Um, are you well enough to talk?" She hesitantly clicked, fiddling with the claws on her fingers as she spoke. Lar'nix'va was surprised by her nervousness and sat up further in his bed. "Sei-i, I've been fed and have been awake for two hours now. The healers say I am fine now." He confirmed. "Good." Da'dtou-di softly clicked and walked over. She sat on the edge of his bed, surprising him even further and now making him slightly worried about what she wanted to talk about. It must be serious if she was willing to get this close to him just to talk.

Da'dtou-di let out a deep sigh before finally meeting his eyes. "A lot of things happened while you were out cold." She lifted one mandible in a weak smile. Lar'nix'va blinked at her both in confusion and surprise. He hadn't been expecting that response. "Oh. . .what has occurred?" He asked, tilting his head. Da'dtou-di opened her mandibles and then closed them again, getting a look of contemplation in her eyes. Finally, she opened them again and spoke. "Well, um. . .look, Shorty, I kind of found out about your bhu'ja jehdin being me. . . ."
Lar'nix'va's mandibles fell open to gap at her as his mind processed what she had just told him. Of all the things he had been expecting, it wasn't that! Who had told her? Vk'leita? Dachande?! Surely they wouldn't betray him like that.

Lar'nix'va kept gapping at her and Da'dtou-di sighed. "Look, I. . . .oh Hell, I honestly don't know what to say. We don't have things like that back on earth."

"You don't?" Lar'nix'va asked, voice sounding a little strained. Machiko nodded and gestured with her hands. "M-di, we don't. We have told stories with concepts like bhu'ja jehdins, but we don't actually have them. So I. . .I'm having a little bit of a hard time believing that a God who is not my own decided I should be the soul mate to someone else."
Shorty hung his head at the news. "So. . . .you are rejecting me then?" He quietly clicked, soft enough that Machiko almost didn't hear him. She quickly shook her head at him. "M-di! I just. . .I'm just having a hard time believing in it. We don't believe in love at first sight. It makes no sense to us humans! Same thing with soul mates. It's just hard to believe that you're destined to love someone when you've never met them before."

Shorty tilted his head up a little and looked at her from under his eyebrows. "Love?" He asked curiously.

Machiko nodded her head at him. "Sei-i, love. . . .do yautja not have a word for it or something?" She asked. Shorty shook his head. "M-di, we do know of love, but. . .it's seen as a weakness. . . .we try not to feel it towards anyone because it lets ourselves become weak."

Machiko had to admit, she felt a small sting of disappointment hit her when he said this.

Ok, a large sting. It really hurt to hear that he didn't believe in love and possibly didn't love her like she thought he might have been doing.

Machiko sighed. "Humans don't view love that way. . .guess our cultural differences are bigger than I thought. . . ."
Shorty frowned at her and sat up straighter. "How do oomans view love, if not as a weakness as well?" He asked. Machiko clamped her mandibles together in thought as she pondered on how to answer. This was going to be difficult.
"Well. . .we don't view love itself as a weakness. . .but we do know that people can use our love against us to exploit our weaknesses already there. . .it's more of a tool to show our vulnerability, not necessarily our weaknesses themselves. Does that make sense?" Shorty cocked his head to the side, answering her question. He clearly did not understand. "Ok, um. Love is. . .love isn't just one feeling to us. When we love someone, we usually have the desire to protect that person at all costs. We. . .we feel the need to show affection to that person. If that person is sad, we feel the need to comfort them and hold them in any way we can. If that person were in need of something, we'd have the desire to fulfill that person's need if it is in our power to do so. Love is. . .the desire to show your best sides to someone who you think deserves your best. Now does it make sense?"
"Sei-i, though I'm still trying to understand it all."

Shorty looked down at his bed sheets for a moment before looking back up at her. "Da'dtou-di, if that is what love is to you, then I. . .I think I love you. . .M-di, I-I know I do! I love you!"

Machiko frowned at him and shook her head. "Shorty, how can you say that? We barely know each other." Now Shorty frowned at her and shook his head as well. "M-di, if that is how you see love, then I have loved you for a very long time. . .long before we have ever met. . ."

Machiko's frown deepened a this news, worried that he had gotten her definition of love wrong. "How? How can you love me before you've ever met me?" She demanded.

Lar'nix'va gulped as he was about to reveal information about himself that he had never told anyone else. How she described love made him realize he needed to be vulnerable with her here if he wanted to get anywhere with her.
"I know I love you because. . .because you saved my life." At Da'dtou-di's astounded look, he continued on. "Da'dtou-di, before we even met, your very existence saved my life. On the day I was told about you in my sight blessing, you redeemed me from a fate that would have dishonored me in one of the greatest ways possible. As soon as I learned of you, that's when I loved you."

Da'dtou-di was fully gapping at him now. "Shorty, what are you talking about? How can you say any of that?" She asked, taken completely by surprise.

Lar'nix'va clamped his mandibles together tightly before answering. "I can tell your culture does not do this, or you would understand. . . .Da'dtou-di, when a mother feels that her child is not worthy to live, she has the right to kill that pup."
Machiko gave him a completely horrified look at this news. "W-What?! Kill their pup?!. . .Shorty, are you telling me that your mother was planning to kill you?" His silence confirmed her question and so she asked another. "Why? What could you have possible done to deserve that kind of judgement on your life?"

Lar'nix'va frowned and tilted his head to stare at the floor again. "It's what I didn't do. . .I didn't grow. . ."

"What?" Da'dtou-di asked, confusion in her voice. Lar'nix'va looked back up at her and silently gestured at himself. "I didn't grow as fast as the others. It was obvious from a young age that I was not going to be an acceptable height to our society. So my mother intended to have me killed and to keep the bloodlines clean of my deformity. My father was the only one who stopped her from doing it long ago. He, however, could not keep her at bay forever. Eventually, she would have dismissed his arguments and would have killed me. . .I was expecting that to be my fate once my sight blessing was done,"

Lar'nix'va felt his throat begin to swell up as the emotions both from the memories of his mother and the feelings Da'dtou-di produced in him made it harder for him to breath.

"but then you came to my knowledge and suddenly I was saved." He felt his eyes begin to sting and it was getting harder to talk. "As soon as the Oracle said I had a bhu'ja jehdin, my mother lost her right to kill me. To kill me would have interfered with Paya's direct plan for me. I went home that day, happier than I had ever been in my life, knowing my mother could not lay a hand on me from that day forward."

Lar'nix'va looked up and abruptly took Da'dtou-di's hand, who was frozen in a state of shock. "The mere mention of your existence saved my life. You gave me a second chance to live and Da'dtou-di, that is how I know I love you! I don't care that we barely know each other. I already know that I'll be happy with everything about you. I had unknowingly decided long ago that I love you, and I. . .I hate everything about myself now because of it. . . ."

Lar'nix'va hung his head and finally let out the tears he had been holding back. Heaving sobs escaped his throat, but Da'dtou-di squeezed his hand. "Shorty," She prodded him. "What do you mean you hate yourself?" She asked, desperate for answers. Lar'nix'va sucked in a breath and tried to reply without letting the sobs out again. "Because I hurt you! I have been hurting you for years and you're my mate! I practically took the second chance you gave me and threw it in your face. As soon as I found out who you were, I. . .I should have killed myself because of what I did!"

Machiko froze at his confession as Shorty hung his head and let the wails out again. His body shook with his crying and Machiko was both moved and horrified by everything he had told her.

Seeing him like this. . .she couldn't bare to see him this broken.

Machiko wasn't a touchy-feely person by nature. Her ability to show affection and emotion was stunted long ago by events in her childhood that made it hard to connect with others on a deeper level.
Right now, however, even she knew he needed a hug.
Machiko moved quickly and wrapped her arms around Shorty before he could notice and protest. She pulled him close and held him to her tightly. Shorty momentarily froze at the sudden contact, shocked out of his state of misery by a comforting touch. The moment of shock didn't last though, and Lar'nix'va quickly took that opportunity to hug her back before burying his face in her shoulder and continuing to let himself shed tears. He felt Da'dtou-di's hands begin to rub his back in soothing circles and it caused him to bury his head deeper against her neck.
Under normal circumstances, he'd be completely ashamed of crying in front of her; but these circumstances were anything but normal.

For a while they stayed like that until Shorty finally calmed down again. When he did, Machiko pulled back from him so she could lift his chin and look him in the eye.

"Shorty. . . as moved as I am by your words. . .I'm still going to need time." At his crestfallen face, she continued. "I am not rejecting you. I promise it's not that. I just need more time to come to terms with what I've learned." "How much more time?" Shorty asked, a hint of desperation in his voice.

"At least two years." Rumbled a deep voice behind them.

Shorty lifted his head to look over Machiko's shoulder and she turned slightly to the side to see who had spoken.
Dachande stood in the doorway, giving Lar'nix'va a stern look. He walked into the room and folded his arms across his chest before addressing the smaller male. "You still have to complete your Chiva before you can even court her. You know this." Shorty frowned, but nodded his head to acknowledge that he heard him. Dachande relaxed his stance and glanced at Machiko before addressing Lar'nix'va again. "As it happens, Machiko has accepted my offer to join my new crew of blooded warriors." Lar'nix'va's head shot up and he gave Machiko a wide eyed look and she gave him a sheepish one back. "Sei-i. . .I did. . ." Lar'nix'va turned his head back to Dachande and he almost wanted to scold the pup for giving him such a desperate look. "Do not worry. Since she is your bhu'ja jehdin, I know it is important for you two to be together." He relaxed his stance even further and gestured to Lar'nix'va. "Therefor, I am extending an invitation to you. If you pass your Chiva, I will have a spot on my new ship ready for you to join. So in two years, when you have gone through your Chiva, you may have your chance to court Da'dtou-di there. What do you say?"

Without missing a beat, Lar'nix'va answered him. "Sei-i. I will join you once I have proved myself a man."
Dachande nodded and turned to leave. "Good. This ship leaves back for homeworld in a week."

And with that, he left them alone.

Helena was trudging back from the public bathroom and was about to open her door when a peculiar noise reached her hearing canals.

It sounded like chirping.

Confused and thinking she was hearing things, Helena entered her room and nearly slammed into Topknot on the way in. The woman gave a yelp as she stopped herself and Topknot grabbed on to her hips to steady her. He gave her hips a gentle squeeze when she stared down at him. "It's just me." He promised.

Helena gapped down at him for a second before closing her mouth, feeling numb again. "You left." She bluntly said.

Vk'leita frowned at her and nodded. "Sei-i, I did. I had to take care of something." Now Helena frowned at him back and waited for him to explain, so he did.
Reaching down to the bag hanging off of his loincloth, Vk'leita brought the bag up and then reached inside. "I had to go get these from your planet."
Bringing his hand back out, Vk'leita revealed five little chicks clambering around on his large palm.

Helena gapped at the sight, completely taken by surprise. "There's more." Vk'leita said before she could say anything, grasping her hand gently and guiding her into her room.

Once inside all the way, Helena let out another gasp at the surprise waiting for her.

An actual chicken coop was lined up against her wall, with even more chicks inside. They gathered around a heat lamp and were letting off little chirps that warmed Helena's heart to hear. Piled along the side of the coop were bags of various chicken feed. Bags of wood shavings were stacked alongside the coop as well.

Vk'leita watched Helena's gapping face nervously. "I tried my best to find the right ones." He said.

Him speaking broke Helena out of her staring and she turned to look down at him. He turned his head away sheepishly to the side. "This is why it took me so long. I'm sorry about that." Helena was so astounded that she could only ask one question. "How?"
Vk'leita looked up and then gestured towards the coop with his hand. "Well, I'm not an expert on oomans or their animals, but there are those on my planet who are. So I had to return back to homeworld to acquire the services of someone who is an expert. Even then, it took them a while to come back to me with the information I needed. Then there was the matter of returning to your world and finding all the things I needed."
He walked over to the bags of feed and pointed at them while looking at her. "I had to communicate with the expert over my gauntlet on which ones to get. I cannot read ooman writing, so it took several days for the translations to come back-" "You did all of this for me?" Helena interrupted, astounded by the lengths he was going through for her.

Vk'leita looked at the ground sheepishly before nodding. "Sei-i. If it's not the right things, I can go back-" He didn't get to finish as Helena had walked forward and scooped him up into a hug without him noticing her approach. "You did it perfectly!" She declared, heart beating fast with excitement and happiness.

Vk'leita gave a sigh of relief inside her embrace and hugged her back. "So. . .does this make you happy?" He quietly asked.

Helena set him back down and looked over at the coop before looking back at him. "Sei-i, it does." She dropped her hands down to his and gave them a squeeze. "Topknot, thank you. I had no idea you would do something like this for me." "This is nothing compared to what I owe you." Vk'leita said quietly. Helena tilted her head at him curiously. "What is it you owe me?" She asked, curious about his answer.
Vk'leita's lower mandibles twitched into a frown as he replied. "Everything. . .for everything I've done to you, I owe you everything. . . I am sorry. . ."

Now Helena was frowning at him. She didn't want this happy moment to be ruined by their bad memories. And she knew just how to cheer him up.
Reaching down, Helena cupped his chin with her hand and tilted his head up to look at her. Topknot met her eyes and Helena let one mandible reach out to stroke against the side of his, shocking him with her tenderness. "Topknot. . .I accept your courtship."

At gave Helena great amusement to see his mandibles drop open in surprise. "W-What?!" He exclaimed.

Helena let out a soft chuckle and stroked the sides of his mandibles with hers again. "Your courtship, I accept it. I want you to court me."
Vk'leita was still gapping at her when he replied. "A-Are you sure? Are you sure that you've forgiven me enough to accept my attempts?" He asked. Helena smiled at him and pulled him into a hug. "Sei-i, I have. . .this gift may have earned you a little favor with me." She grinned.

Vk'leita couldn't help what he did next.

He let out a howl of triumph and happiness.

(End of Part 2)

Author's note: Translation time!

-Sei-i: Yes

-M-di: No

-bhu'ja jehdin: Spirit Spar (Their equivalent of a Soul Mate. It roughly translates to "the one who will fight life by my side")

-Chiva: Trial

-ooman: human

This is the end of part two! Woot Woot! Yes, there will be a part 3.

And now you know why Vk'leita didn't tell Helena that he loved her, yet. Dating someone from a differenct culture can be hard some times when it comes to communication.

Anyways, I know I said I was going to have more information on my friend's and I's YouTube page, but that project is taking longer than we thought. I'm going to be drawing the pictures for the projects, and I can't seem to get the right character's face that I want for the main character.
I will be continuing to try, but it's going to take a while. I'll keep you all updated on it.

Anyways, see you in the Epilogue!