It wasn't exactly the loneliness that was so intolerable, really, K'Shai thought. She had plenty of time to think on such things. Plenty. It was really mostly that nearly every single night, the world would come to such vibrant life that she could barely sleep. She hadn't noticed before. How long ago was before, anyway, she wondered idly as she bathed naked in the river and allowed her body to dry in the warm breeze while she ate a slow cooked fuzzy little beast she nabbed right from the waters' edge.
The moon she had been stuck on for far more planet-rises than she cared to think about was abundant, that was for sure. It was full of bustling animals and fruit-producing vegetation. Plenty of water and abundant greenery and colorful flowers made the moon's surface very beautiful. She just had no time to notice how lovely the place was, while she was busy hunting; hunting down those that had disgraced themselves and any Yautja who had known them. Those that had ended up getting themselves all killed, and killing the huntresses, and successfully managing to destroy the ship while they were at it, too. Thorough bad bloods, that was for sure.
Their trail of terror and dishonor had swept clean across the stars and took K'Shai and the others through no less than three galaxies. They had been gone so long that it seemed highly unlikely; even with fairly frequent communication to R'chnt, that he would be able to pinpoint where she was exactly.
She knew, beyond a doubt, that he would come for her. Of course he would. Finding her on the other hand, would be a different story. She thought about how hard it was to find him when they were stranding without communication on the same planet together, a few dozen miles from each other. The last time she had spoken to him was weeks before they had even arrived in the same star system of their targeted prey, so K'Shai definitely spent much of the last many planet-falls and rises trying to think of just how long it might take him to find her.
1,237. She wrote in Yautja script on the wall of the cave she had come to call home that many, so many, rotations ago. She had moved from location to location throughout the moon, for safety or supplies, and each time, kept record of how many times the planets passed overhead. They passed slowly. Time passed slowly. Why she even bothered keeping track of such things she really did not know. Somehow, it just seemed natural.
When she found the cave and decided to set up camp, so close to the river, high enough up on a cliff that few things could easily climb or crawl their way to her, and deep enough within the cliff face that she was well protected from the frequent and violent storms, she knew it was the ideal shelter. She set up camp, and remained there, hoping each day that her faint little homing beacon in her armor would alert R'chnt, or any other Yautja passing by, to her presence.
It was only meant to be detectable by no greater distance than a ship in orbit; it was far too weak for R'chnt to use it to track her all the way across galaxies; that would have been what the emergency beacon on the ship itself was for. Far more powerful, it would have relayed a distress call to the nearest Yautja ship, hunting party, or outpost, in a matter of minutes.
As it was, the beacon was never initiated before the ship was destroyed, so the message was never sent in the first place.
Unfortunately, it also stopped working thanks to a run in with a creature on the planet that had chomped down on her arm hard enough to dismantle all the circuitry in the armor.
The moon really had no large predators, but it did at least have cumbersomely dangerous creatures to be on the lookout for, especially in the water. The most K'Shai had to be overly concerned about were the giant crab-type creatures. They were huge and had two massive snapping claws bigger than her head and they tended to travel in herds. They liked to swim, and tended to stay low in the water.
The indentations on her lower left leg armor showed just how powerful they were. She would have lost the leg in the blink of an eye without it. She glanced down to her wasted left forearm cover, which housed almost all of the controls for her entire computer systems. The flip cover to the panel was ripped right off the hinges, and the console below was cracked and destroyed, not to mention having been flooded during the quick, and otherwise unimpressive battle.
Fortunately, the crabs were also delicious, although so many rotations of eating crab was also getting irritating. There was plenty of variety of other creatures, from slithering ones to jumping ones that looked like miniature kangaroos, hopping all over the place; sometimes right into the snapping claws of the crab herds. Not very bright. Each one tasted quite good when properly cooked up.
Luckily so starvation was not a concern. Boredom was a minor issue simply because with the lack of any real threat prey on the world, there was very little to do other than sleep and eat. After spending the first several months' worth of rotations walking and surveying, thinking that maybe, just maybe, if she walked in that direction or this, she might stumble across another hunter, a ship, another form of alien life with a ship she could commandeer, perhaps. Anything, some how some way to get some help and get off the moon and back to R'chnt - to tell the others, everyone, what had happened and that L'tdi and Mara'di had not died pointlessly.
But eventually, her search had seemed pointless and she had enough and set up camp and that was it. Home, as it was, worked for her and she did not stray terribly far from it for there was no need.
This left her an obscene amount of time to consider how much she missed R'chnt and her offspring. She tried very hard not to think about it too much but the more she tried to avoid thinking on such things, the more those thoughts just seemed to fill her head by day and by night even while she slept. R'chnt, A'ryin'di, El'tude, and S'aruch-de would all flood into her mind at night, dancing images both delightful and disturbing through her sleep.
She wondered how S'aruch-de was doing along his very Yautja journey from within the mei'sa walls. He was growing beautifully when she last saw him; still young and small, but proud and ferocious and fitting in well with his similarly-aged peers, she recalled. Then, she wondered how El'tude and A'ryin'di were faring as they took their own ships and began their own hunting. By now, K'Shai suspected, they would have hunted at least three seasons, and would be well-established.
It was likely that El'tude had sired offspring already. It was also possible, of course, that he had been killed trying to do something rather bullheaded, which would have been well in line with his personality as much as she hated to think of it.
A'ryin'di, K'Shai liked to imagine, could have followed any number of paths. She was most definitely not the type to want to mate and become a mei'sa mother. Though she may have mated, she may have chosen to continue hunting after childbirth. It was also possible she had not yet taken a mate impressive enough for her, which seemed the most likely. A'ryin'di was strong and discerning; everything a powerful female Yautja should be, and probably would not be easily impressed by anything less than an accomplished Elder to sire her offspring.
Elders loved nothing more than mating with highly desirable females fresh out of the mei'sa; it was definitely a status boost for them, with nondescript bragging rights fully attached. Such was the Yautja way. Bloodlines were everything, and when it came to the trio of half-blood Yautja, their bloodlines were unique. Unique was good. Unique was something special, and K'Shai imagined that her portion of the gene pool had already had a few new additions at the very least.
The thoughts in her mind of her offspring, and of course of R'chnt, kept her occupied day and night, but they did not make the time pass more quickly. In fact, the time, whenever she thought of them, seemed to stand still. To what end was it exactly that time was passing anyway? Who knew. Rescue? Death alone, abandoned on some nameless moon? It was possible. Any of it was possible really. It was at least good for self- entertainment to try to guess which might happen first.
Each time she had a run-in with a crab under water trying to strike at her, she figured it would be death that would come first. She would likely end up drowning as she was held down by the creature, figuring that one of these times, the thing would grab her, pull her under and despite a spear through the brain, it would not release its grip, so she would drown. She imagined that her body would eventually be ripped to pieces to feed the very things that had killed her. She carefully studied the stripped, skinned, and slightly bloody skull of the small animal she had eaten for dinner and contemplated its existence and death while contemplating her own.
Such were the things that occupied her mind while she was in isolation.
Eating, and contemplating life, or more to the point, death. It was not exactly glorious, she thought, to die alone on this moon, but perhaps she did indeed leave an honorable legacy behind, and somehow that comforted her. Somehow, that made her feel peaceful, and she had finally come to understand why the Yautja valued their honor so passionately.
That particular thing, honor, definitely gave K'Shai plenty to think about over all the passing time, and she continued to contemplate such things as she watched the three faint moons rise with each night and the distant planet and sun rise each morning. She would often watch the dawn and dusk, with the pale pink sky in the morning and the deep golden hue before the night fell, watching those distant astral bodies wane and ebb around the horizon, trying to let her mind go blank, or at the very least avoid falling into madness.
It occurred to her once, a thought she quickly shoved from her mind, that she had nearly forgotten what Earth's moon and sun looked like. She finally remembered, although she wasn't quite sure the mental image she drew up was accurate or not, perhaps influenced heavily by the many moon views and multiple suns she had eyed from other worlds.
She pushed away thoughts of Earth, bottling them up to focus on the matters of here and now, and wondering just where in the universe R'chnt might be.
It was late one cloudy night when the fire she kept burning for extra warmth in the cave flickered and crackled and woke her from her sleep. She instinctively held her breath and looked around, scanning through the darkness with her human eyes to see what she could see. Without the use of the computer console on her damaged armor, nothing worked on her awu'asa. Not the lighted internal display in the lenses, not the multi-sprectrum visual scanning, not the cloaking grid, nothing.
She pulled herself upright with a grunt, shaking off the pain that seemed to forever shoot through her lower back into her legs, and hoping that the crackling bones as she moved did not echo as loudly through the cavern as she thought they did. Silently, she eyed the darkness and allowed her eyes to adjust, gripping her spear preparedly.
K'Shai tracked quietly all the way through the orange and gold- glowing cavern, carefully surveying the walls and ceiling as if they might come alive, never taking a breath, for it might interfere with her ability to perceive what could be around her.
She soon found herself staring over the edge of cliff, out of the mouth of the cavern. The river was there; it's ripples carrying a reflection of the dimly glowing moons upon them. The tree tops swayed gently in the light breeze and she spotted animals leaping from branch to branch and taking off to fly across the night sky.
There were sounds echoing up from the wilderness all around her; sounds of animals calling for a mate, calling that they had found food, or calling a warning that another creature was too near for safety. So many sounds, so many sights, and although they were all normal, K'Shai could not help but find herself gripping her spear tightly, ready to attack whatever she thought might be lurking nearby. Behind her, the fire flickered again as the breeze moved in past her and tickled the flames.
She rotated around and eyed the fire, then huffed a small sigh and started back towards it as another breeze drifted in. It was far from cold air, but all the same, the warmth of the fire felt good as she walked towards it. She took a deep, slow breath and then stopped. There was something different. Something in the air. A scent that was not part of this world, but very familiar.
Turning back with wide eyes, K'Shai sucked in a gasp and held motionless for a moment, then headed off with haste after kicking sand into the fire to nub it out. The scent on the wind told her the source was near, but moving away.
She sped up through the forest, hot on the scent, and leaping over the rugged terrain with ease, both from years of travelling the grounds around her hideaway, and decades of experience hunting as a Yautja. She moved swiftly, quietly, and most of all quickly, having to make up some distance, as she followed the river bank to the source of the scent.
R'chnt was just ahead. He was there. Looking for her. She smiled widely as she knew she drew closer, and then slowed into a prowling pace as she surveyed the woods, tracing his direction with her eyes, ears, and nose.
She quickly climbed into a nearby tree that could easily be scaled, but the higher altitude advantage did not help, for without the enhanced visual spectrums of her bio helmet, her human eyes struggled to see far enough ahead in the dark to spot him, especially if he was cloaked, which he most likely was.
Like a jungle cat sneaking up on prey, K'Shai stalked through the forest absolutely certain she was on his trail when suddenly, she spotted a shimmer in the distance. It was rather like a reflection of the moons against the water, but glowing vertically on land. The shimmery silhouette was there for a moment and gone in an instant but it was more than enough. She tracked him quickly and before he even realized it, she was right next to him.
"R'chnt!" She howled with uncontrolled delight.
In a whooshing moment he was decloaked, turning on her and swooping her up into his arms.
"How?! How! Ohhhh I never!" She rattled in fragments between elated gasps.
"I could ask the same of you, K'Shai," he chortled as he gripped her. "What happened?"
She pressed her lips together as he set her down onto her feet again.
"Well, I guess we both have stories to tell."
"Stories!" Another, deep, but excited voice called from the woods. "We all certainly have those."
K'Shai turned round to face the source of that voice as the body that went with it decloaked and stepped towards her. For a moment, she felt her heart flutter, nearly choking her.
"El'tude?" She whispered in shock and ran to her offspring, stopping just short of an embrace, as she gazed up at him. "Is that really my El'tude?"
He lurched forward and wrapped his arms around her. She felt the heat emanating from his body, his soft dreads against her face, and she gripped him tightly as a tear fell along her cheek.
"Oh El'tude. Look at you! You are taller than your father!"
He nodded deeply and then tipped his head. "Not quite as tall as my sister, though."
Behind K'Shai, A'ryin'di had appeared and seeing her standing there, tall, proud, regal, with her mask resting in the crook of her arms and her blooding mark now long faded on her forehead took K'Shai's breath away. The first two offspring, the first two half-bloods, born and raised amongst the Yautja people, now so strong, robust, tall, and proud, had taken themselves away from theri normal expected life and joined their sire along with W'rsa, Koraun-de, and N'tul, in search of K'Shai.
"This is…. Overwhelming." K'Shai whispered, stepping back to R'chnt after greeting the rest of her search party. "I have so many questions. I want to hear all of your stories."
R'chnt nodded.
"There will be plenty of time for story sharing. It was no short trip to find you!"
"I can't wait to hear it all," K'Shai laughed.
The group started to head in the direction of the ship and R'chnt stopped and looked at her.
"Do you have anything here you want to collect before we leave?"
K'Shai looked back over her shoulder in the direction of the high cliff cave she had made into home for the last few years. She vaguely recalled that she did at least snuff out her fire pit before she had headed off after the scent in the air.
"No." She shook her head. "Everything I need is here."
WIth that, they headed off and soon found their way back to the ship, back into space, and although K'Shai stayed awake for endless hours listening to just a small part of the stories of the group's adventures in trying to track her down, once she finally returned to R'chnt's chambers and hit those satiny sheets, she fell asleep and rested for days.
"Mother! Join us, tell us how these years have gone by for you." El'tude invited her when she finally appeared in the galley for a hot meal.
She took a bowl of warm stew, an agha fruit, a chalice of water, and savored a bite before sinking into a chair near the head of the table, near R'chnt.
"I just spent… a lot of time thinking." She whispered. "Not much else to do, really. Hardly a riveting story as you all have started to share with me."
"Did we tell you about the time," A'ryin'di started as she sat down across the table from her brother, "when Father set us down on the mud planet?"
K'Shai smiled. "The other day you did."
"Oh, but she left out a very important detail." El'tude added, with a grin which made K'Shai glance quizzically from person to person, A'ryin'di chuckled, El'tude shook his head softly, and W'rsa looked casually uncomfortable at the other end of the table.
She looked over to R'chnt who had not moved. His eyes were set on his mug and he did not seem to show any interest.
"What did I miss?" She asked.
He glanced towards her and nodded to their offspring, silently indicating they should continue.
"Father lowers the ramp of the ship, and it almost immediately started sinking!"
"The ramp?" K'Shai asked.
"The whole ship!" El'tude added. "We did not realize the ground was so weak, and by the time we noticed anything, we were all already off."
K'Shai looked around, as if to somehow confirm that they did get the ship out of the mudpit mess.
"We all tried to get back on board, but the ship was getting lodged so deeply in the mud it almost didn't seem like it would make any difference. We might have been trapped there." El'tude continued.
A'ryin'di propped her head high. "But I was able to get in before it got too submerged, and I ran as fast I could to the control room and got the engines started up.
"Unfortunately," R'chnt growled. "We were all still behind the ship when they were started."
K'Shai paused and looked about a room that filled with chuckles, though she was trying to picture in her mind what the joke was. Clearly R'chnt recognized this and added to the story.
"The engines were full of mud. The blast from starting them kicked mud over all of us."
A'ryin'di and El'tude busted out laughing and K'Shai couldn't help but smile. Seeing her offspring so casually happy with themselves and enjoying every moment of situations that could easily have resulted in death or serious injury was oddly comforting to her.
"I came back out once the ship was landed on firmer ground, and there they were, every inch of them covered in thick mud, just oozing off of them."
K'Shai smiled and looked about and shook her head.
"It was just like some of the old adventures we would all have, mother." El'tude smiled nostalgically. "The things we all did!"
"Old adventures? Doesn't seem that long ago to me, you know?" K'Shai said quietly.
"But we certainly did do a lot."
The continued story sharing carried them through the next few days and weeks.
"It's so nice to hear about all they have accomplished. I'm still amazed by all of this."
"By what?" R'chnt asked.
She eyed him widely as she undressed, pausing for a moment to gape at him while he flexed his gray, muscular physique as he removed some belting in the amber hue of the sleeping area.
"R'chnt! You. I'm amazed by you finding me! All of you coming together like this to track me down! A'ryin'di and El'tude walking away from the start of their own Blooded hunting to come look for their mother. It's unheard of."
"K'Shai, when it comes to you, me, and our offspring, everything is unheard of."
She smiled widely and held back a bit of a laugh. He continued.
"Besides, you are the one that impressed upon them when they were younger how to be together as a family, and how important that was. In fact, come to think of it, you impressed that upon me, too. Of course we would come for you. I would always come for you, you know that."
She quieted and paced into him, gripping his hand that reached for her face, kissing it gently then guided it towards her cheek as she looked up at him, slowly shaking her head side to side, unable to come up with the words to express herself in that moment.
They walked into the bath, and dissolved themselves into the hot soaking tub in silence until K'Shai spoke up.
"I still have no idea how you found me. I mean, nothing worked. Nothing."
"Hunting you down was no easy task. What exactly happened out there, K'Shai?"
She signed and stretched her back, pressing her shoulder blades together, pushing her breasts out and allowing the hot water to embrace her body and melt away aches and pains before she finally broke down a detailed recounting of exactly what happened.
"But... " she told him in a soft whisper after a long pause at the end of the tale, looking around as if someone might be lurking cloaked nearby and overhear what she was about to say.
"The truth be told, I … I just was never... " She paused and gripped her lips together tightly.
"I was trying to be something I'm not. I couldn't ever be."
R'chnt tipped his head lightly sideways.
"What do you mean by that?"
"The one I hunted down into the cave; Mitch. I... " She looked down at her toes under the hot water. The rippling water in the tub made them look so far away.
"R'chnt, I couldn't. I hesitated… and I just… I knew everything they did, all the dishonor they brought to the Yautja people." She dabbled the water with her fingertips.
"Hunting whoever and whatever they wanted, stealing… all that dishonor, and I still just couldn't…"
"Kill him?" R'chnt said lightly and slowly.
K'Shai pressed her lips together and swallowed like the very words themselves were a weapon digging right into her skin. It was wrong that she did not do it, wasn't it? He was a criminal, and he should have been killed on the spot. She tried to rationalize it in her mind, suddenly realizing that she simply had not thought of such things in years, but being back home, back with R'chnt and their children, having this conversation, just made it all flood back into her.
"But you did, K'Shai. You did." He assured her.
She shook her head. "Only when he… well, I mean, he was trying to kill me. It was self-defense."
"And you think because you hadn't killed him the first time you had the chance, somehow, that changes your ability to be a bad blood hunter? Or a Yautja all together?"
K'Shai paused, not really sure what to say.
"Hunting your own kind down, and killing them, K'Shai, is never easy. So do you think you are less Yautja because you couldn't kill him right away? I have done this very thing. I have been sent to kill progeny of bad bloods, it is a disturbing privilege for few select Elders. It is not easy to make that strike. No matter how much you have hunted, or how right the reasons are."
She remained silent, but her mind was anything but. She ran rampant within her own thoughts but watched R'chnt smoothly wade in the hot water and finally step out. She followed him out, barely speaking, and hardly made a sound as she crawled into bed with him. She curled into his heated body and found his scent and warmth soothing her body and mind, quieting it, almost to the point of sleep.
"K'Shai, I once spoke to you about seeing the Ancients."
"Yes. I thought about that while on that moon. I thought about that a lot."
He looked towards her.
"And?"
"Well, at first, when you first told me about seeing them… I was angry. Really. Really just angry."
"Why?" He questioned in a soft purring tone.
K'Shai grimaced.
"I've had a lot of time to think about that very thing. I had a lot of time, R'chnt. I did a lot of thinking. And I think I was angry because I felt like you were telling me I was broken and in the wrong and needed an… an intervention or something. Like I needed to be told how to be more Yautja."
She paused, expecting him to counter her point, but he did not. He waited for her to continue on, but she wasn't quite sure what to say after he failed to assure her that it was not his intention to convey that to her.
"So... " She paused, looking for more time to come up with something to say. "I guess… I just don't feel that way anymore. I just missed you, I missed the children. I missed home. And I never, really never thought I would see any of you again."
R'chnt huffed a dismissal. "K'Shai…"
She raised her palm, stopping his grumbling.
"I know. I know," she whispered with a soft voice, shaking her head.
He gripped her extended hand and eyed her carefully as he lowered his mighty head, thoroughly assessing her.
"Why do you worry so much about such things?"
She eyed him widely, curiously, shooting him a how can you not sort of a look, but said nothing, merely shaking her head softly.
"Well, I think I…. I want to see them. When we get home. I think you're right. I should see the Ancients, and maybe here what they have to say. She shrugged her shoulders and dropped eye contact submissively.
R'chnt acknowledged her willingness simply by doing nothing more than bowing his head. When he did not speak, or tell her he was glad she was going to do what he suggested, she felt flustered.
"So…. is there something I need to do to prepare or something?" She stammered softly, still avoiding eye contact.
"No."
She looked at him warily.
"Well, how do I go about seeing them?"
"K'Shai, they are expecting you."
"So, it is like a…."
"K'Shai! You need not prepare. The Ancients will see you when we return. I will take you to them as far as I can. The answers you need will be known then."
The simple explanation did nothing to settle her mind from rattling and as the days turned into weeks, turned into months, she simply found herself coming up with more and more concerns and questions. Would the Ancients get tired of waiting or be angry with her that she took years to muster up the courage to see them?
And why was it that she felt like she even needed courage to see them? Weren't they supposed to be blessed with knowledge like no other Yautja for having lived to over one-thousand years? They were considered guides, historians, wise beyond all realization. They were as close to being a god in the Yautja's eyes as anyone could get. Maybe that was why she was nervous about meeting them.
It was hard enough to stand before the Clan council so many years ago and be sized up by the elders that ruled life for the Kaunte D'areen Clan. The thought of meeting them face to face, watching them stare down at her like they were critically assessing some bug's worthiness to live, was almost too much to bear.
Nonetheless, she had intended to keep her word to R'chnt and go through with her journey to meet the Ancients, even if she knew it would likely not turn out well.
She spent plenty of time aboard the ship on the return home researching everything she could about the Ancients, and surprisingly, there was very little. They rarely accepted visitors, and they passed along their knowledge in writing only once every hundred years or so. Secretive was hardly a good enough word to describe them, and reports from only a few that had ever ventured to see them, including R'chnt stated that whatever transpired between the Ancients and a seeker, were strictly between solely the Ancients and that seeker.
By the time they had arrived back on the home world, she felt like she was as prepared mentally for meeting them as she could be, although she had no idea what to expect from them. She felt like she knew well enough that the expedition to see them, as required by any seeker, would be difficult, but she really could not quite envision what exactly it would entail.
She also knew that the Ancients would keep a seeker waiting, literally outside their gates, fully aware they were there shivering in the cold heights of the mountain temple grounds, and they would be left waiting until the Ancients felt like allowing the seeker in, if they did at all.
It was nearly always Elders or at the very least elites that sought the council and guidance of the Ancients. Some of the elders that had made the trek to see them had noted in records their reasons for travelling to see them which varied from guidance on building hunting wisdom to growing into a better leader or help with eventually aspiring to becoming a member of the Clan Council. One younger leader, surprisingly admitted in recorded documents, to venturing to see the Ancients on a matter of wanting to kill his own Clan Leader and take the position for himself.
Whether or not any of the seekers actually found the answers they were looking for was not at all clear from the documents K'Shai read, given the fact that what transpires in their Temple was purely to remain secretive; even if you are not allowed to ever see the Ancients.
K'Shai spent quite a bit of time wondering if she was worthy enough to be seen by them, and even if she was, what exactly was she going to do there or discuss with them? For all the time during the long flight back home that she had to think about it, she really could not think of one single thing she wanted to ask or say to them, so she figured it would just be best if she were to allow them to do the talking if she ever got to meet them.
As it was, once the ship set down on the homeworld, K'Shai's thoughts were pushed back into the here and now. Her offspring were departing to head about their business, and she very much wanted to go see Sr'uch-de. She held tightly onto R'chnt for a bit of an extended time before she parted ways with him to head to the mei'sa and as she saw those mighty walls surrounding the complex, she suddenly felt nervous; more nervous than she had ever felt before.
Not sure why she felt so nervous, she entered the gates and headed down the long path to the pyramid campus, deciding to walk and take her time instead of taking a ground vehicle. As she walked, she noticed small groups of youngsters of varying ages throughout the open fields training for fighting and in the jungle trees, learning to climb and jump and balance amongst the trees.
Not a single one of them, or their matriarchs watching over them seemed to even bother to look up or notice her walking along the path.
It had been years since she was last home and yet all throughout the complex, not one single female even bothered to appear happy to see her, or welcoming to her. She was not really surprised by that of course, but still, it might have been nice. She felt grateful that those most important to her, R'chnt, her eldest offspring, even W'rsa and the others, had come looking for her, stepping away from part of their lives and plans and hunts to find her.
When she rounded a corner within one of the pyramids, she stopped suddenly as she spotted Sr'uch-de amongst a trio of his friends walking through. Looking like college students hurrying between classes, they were crossing the glazed white stone slabs of the bright and beautiful structure, and one of them noticed her and nodded to the others, getting Sr'uch-de's attention.
The group of young males all stopped and K'Shai held her ground on the opposite side of the room, half wanting to run to her youngest and squeeze him with delight, figuring she might well have likely never seen him again, but very much controlling herself for not wanting to in any way embarrass him. Sr'uch-de was so proud and proper looking; the most Yaujta-ish of her offspring in the way he acted and was raised, she dared not impede on that display by literally hugging him in front of his chosen group of friends.
Instead, she stood firm, and Sr'uch-de was the one who stopped, turned, and promptly strode forward across the hall, declaring with a loud, resonating roar mother!
She smiled and dropped her head slightly, respectful and appreciate of his advances but Sr'uch-de did not stop there; rather he moved right next to her, reached down and extended his powerful arms right around her, picking her up off the ground as if she was nothing more than a spear. He cared not that his friends stood nearby, and likely he had not noticed N'ehrti and a few elder females enter the hall from another adjacent corridor, but K'Shai certainly had.
N'ehrti promptly started over while Sr'uch-de greeted his mother warmly, much to her surprise. She was not quite sure how he would respond to her; he was so young when she had abandoned him to thrive or die in the Yautja way inside the mei'sa which was something she had spent years regretting. She knew he was growing into a proper Yautja, and with that, it would likely mean that he had no interest in knowing who his mother was, only that his father was the mighty R'chnt.
"I'm glad you're back! They actually found you!" He said proudly and K'Shai looked him at him quizzically.
He must have picked up on the somewhat confused look his mother gave him after he returned her to her own feet because he looked at her a bit sideways and questioned her.
"Is something wrong?"
K'Shai shocked her head, wordless, struggling to even make a sound. Her mouth was gaped slightly and the more she tried to speak, the more she just ended up shaking her head feverishly.
"Stories about your hunt have beaten you home! We found out a long time ago about the hunt of those bad bloods, and what they did to the others." He informed her.
"When Father and the others took off to find you… I … I … did want to come, but... "
K'Shai smiled, again in silence, just watching her youngest born exuberantly speak of such things.
"They knew where your signal was lost, but that was it." He added.
She finally nodded and spoke. "It was a long hunt, in all ways. But it's good to be home, and you…," she smiled again, trying to carefully choose her words.
"You have turned into an incredible young hunter in the making yourself. Your place is here in the mei'sa.. At least for a short while longer. Soon you will be ready to go on your own Blooding hunt and then you will have your own adventures. And you will triumph, I have no doubt."
He grinned widely and proudly, notably puffing up his chest and raising his chin a bit, filling with pride as his mind undoubtedly flickered with visions of his mighty kills, as any young Yautja should, until N'ehrti stepped too near and glared at him.
Sr'uch-de bowed deeply to the Clan Leader and then turned to his mother briefly. "We will talk later, mother."
With that, he dismissed himself from the females and scurried off to rejoin his friends who had been waiting quietly, watching with interest before they all departed and left the females to their own business.
"K'Shai," N'ehrti said, "You have returned."
The mighty Clan Leader looked a little more ragged than K'Shai remembered; still strong and powerful, just perhaps, more tired or worn out despite the display of prominent power that she extruded. Perhaps K'Shai just saw something different about the Clan Leader or perhaps it was her own self that was different, she wasn't sure. Maybe it was just she that was tired. K'Shai considered it while N'ehrti continued addressing her, and she missed most of what she had said.
"... will you then?"
"Huh?" K'Shai said, shaking her head briefly. "What was that?"
"Have you forgotten yourself, K'Shai?" N'ehrti snapped annoyedly.
K'Shai paused again, thinking for herself that actually maybe she had. She did not attempt to respond to N'ehrti.
The most Yautja-ish thing to do, after all, was not to apologize for not listening, nor to try to work herself back into the conversation; it was simply to act as if your own business was more important, but to do it respectfully when in presence of the Clan Leader. The tactic clearly worked. N'ehrti changed subjects, or at least K'Shai thought she did, she couldn't exactly be sure.
"Perhaps planning to stay in the mei'sa?" N'ehrti said with an unmistakably condescending tone.
"K'Shai tipped her chin high and looked about, breathing in slowly and deeply, relaxing a bit as the sweet scents in the air hit her senses.
"I came to see Sr'uch-de. I will not be staying. I have some… other matters I need to attend to." K'Shai said after a brief pause.
N'ehrti seemed satisfied, though perhaps a bit indigent about K'Shai's return. It was not like she was expecting to be happily well received. That was a human behaviour, and the only ones who truly demonstrated it were R'chnt and her offspring, even Sr'uch-de though he had not been raised the same as his older siblings.
K'Shai remained at the mei'sa for a few days. She gathered some of her things together that she wanted to take back to R'chnt's hunting grounds before she left on her quest to find the Ancients, but she also simply used the time to relax and watch her youngest and last born do what it was that he was born to do.
He sparred brilliantly and fiercely, perhaps just a bit more Yautja-ish than his older kin, if such a thing was even possible. When it came to sparring, K'Shai's offspring inherited all of their abilities from their sire, it would seem.
It was almost a bit hard to tell that Sr'uch-de even had any human blood in him at all. He was not as large and robust in size as El'tude, but he was not small for a Yautja either. He was not as lightly colored skinned as both of his siblings, and his eyes were so yellow they practically glowed, while both of the other children inherited a duller, more human coloration to their eyes.
In the middle of the sparring circle however, that was another matter. To say that El'tude and A'ryin'di both had inherited their sire's gifts of skill and grace and mastery of the sparring arts was an understatement. Yet Sr'uch-de it seemed, could give them both a good challenge if they were ever to spar together, something that K'Shai envisioned happening soon enough.
She watched him, but kept her respectfully careful distance, simply observing and not interfering or allowing her presence to somehow distract or annoy Sr'uch-de. He did not seem to mind her observation of him at all, and quite to her surprise, welcomed the chance to show off for his mother.
"Are you not impressed?" He asked of her once they had settled down to a quiet meal; a rare moment with just the two of them, removed from all the others.
Her eyes widened.
"Impressed? Sr'uch-de you are exemplary. You are truly a proud reflection of your sire. I can not wait for him to be able to see you in action. He will be so proud."
Sr'uch-de seemed delighted to hear her speak in such a way and K'Shai couldn't help but find it a little odd; he was not raised to be concerned about someone's opinion of him, and yet her opinion clearly mattered to him.
"It will be soon, and you will be with a Leader and Blooded, Sr'uch-de."
"I am ready!" He said with a rather impatient growl, so typical of a young Yaujta wanting to make their mark in their world amongst their people.
"The others speak of you and my siblings sometimes. My c'otuja speak of them," he added, telling her of some of the discussions of his training circle.
"You are not annoyed by the… attention?" K'Shai asked. It seemed that although Sr'uch-de was not the first of the alien hybrids, he was somehow more famous than his older siblings, perhaps because of all the stories of A'ryin'di and El'tude that had been spread as gossip, which seemed to be a universal necessity no matter what the species; if someone did something worth talking about, others were definitely going to talk about it.
"Never!" Sr'uch-de said in a gleeful tone. "They all know who I am, and they know who you are, mother."
K'Shai at her youngest child's enthusiasm for his fame he had not yet truly earned, though she knew he would be well deserved of it in the many long hunting years to come.
"It has been wonderful to see you over the last few rotations, Sr'uch-de. I must go now, but I will tell your father all about you and what you are accomplishing here. He will be so proud, you should know that."
Sr'uch-de raised up his chin slightly in gracious acknowledgement of the gesture.
"You will be returning soon or are you hunting again?" He then asked of his mother.
She shook her head slowly.
"No.. I have something.. Something else I need to do and I'm not sure how long I'll be gone exactly. But, if I can, I will absolutely try to make it back for your selection day."
She parted from the mei'sa and her youngest born, contemplating a great many things as she made her way back to R'chnt's home above the males' common grounds. Her eldest offspring were headed off to their own hunts and would return whenever they were done. Perhaps they would be gone one season, perhaps ten. Perhaps they would never return.
It was such an odd thing to know that when she left her older siblings, it very well could have been for the last time. They were young and robust and prideful and eager to hunt and prove themselves, but also brought up in such a way that family mattered to them enough to put all their desires aside and go off with their father looking for their lost mother.
Sr'uch-de clearly shared that same sentiment even though this was not something reinforced into him through encouragement or teachings. He had made it clear enough that he wanted to join the rest of his family in search of his mother. It was a matter of pride, perhaps, or perhaps it really was a human characteristic bred right into him at the genetic level.
"But we took El'tude and A'ryin'di and raised them so differently," she said to R'chnt after filling him in on the details of their youngest, then shook her head "Sr'uch-de was simply not raised in that way."
"He is proud of his heritage, and so he should be, K'Shai."
She sighed deeply, not totally sure R'chnt was getting the point she was trying to make.
"We should have raised him like we did his older siblings, R'chnt." She finally whispered in a defeated tone.
K'Shai, "He has learned exactly what it is to be a Yautja, in the Yautja way. We have had this discussion many times."
"We have. I know. But… but… He knows nothing of his heritage, really, other than that he is a half-breed with famous parents. He does not know anything about the human blood that runs in his veins like we taught A'ryin'di and El'tude. He does not know how to speak, read, or write in that language like they do. He barely even knows how to read or write in Yautja!"
K'Shai clearly inflated with aggravation and R'chnt moved in to her, gripping her with his powerful and large hands and arms so much so that it was like she was suddenly burritoed into a hot, snug fitting blanket that she could not even wiggle out of if she wanted to.
It calmed her; it always did. Her body stopped moving, but her mind still continued on for a while longer while R'chnt simply held tightly on to her until she finally slowed her thoughts. Somehow, without any words at all, he still knew what she was thinking, and how active her mind was firing off, and when she was finally settled enough to calm down and be released.
"When he out of the mei'sa, after his selection and Blooding, there will be so much time to teach him all the things you wish our youngest offspring to learn. For now, though, K'Shai," R'chnt' continued, gently placing his thumb and index finger on her chin and lifting her gaze to him.
"For now, allow him to be the Yautja that he has learned to be inside the mei'sa walls, like all other of his Clan before him except for his older siblings."
She smiled and nodded.
"Of course, you're right. You're right. And besides, I have something of an adventure for myself to get onto now don't I?"
"So you are ready then?"
"Well, I don't think I'll ever be truly ready.. How can I really prepare for something like this?"
"K'Shai…" he paused. "That is exactly the point, and that is how you know you are ready."
"That literally doesn't make any sense, you know that right?"
He simply smiled at her and bowed his head slightly before he walked away. K'Shai smiled, shook her head and finished putting together the few things she needed to start this journey.
As she stepped onto the hovering platform, she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach and she was not sure why exactly. She felt a bit like she was stepping onto the loading ramp of the hunt ship for the very first time, and a flashback to leaving Earth so very long ago flooded into her mind. She was not apprehensive then, nor did she feel sick to her stomach.
She certainly felt nervous, but there was so much happening at that time, it never really absorbed into her just how much.
Now, for some reason, as she sat down and the self-propelled vehicle began to move, she nudged herself closely into R'chnt, but remained quiet, feeling as if she was not going to come back from this journey at all, or perhaps worse. She realized such feelings were silly; R'chnt had been to the Ancients and he was sitting next to her just fine. Then the thought crossed her mind that this whole trip would be wasted when the Ancients simply refused to see her. Why would they waste their precious time on someone like her, who was not even Yautja?
Such thoughts kept her quiet and preoccupied all the way through their travels.
It took four days by land vehicle, with stopping in various Clan cities she had never been to before, just to make it to the Eastern most seaboard of the continent where they boarded a small automated shuttle that took them across the ocean, gliding just a few dozen meters above the water, using the ocean's own current as a propulsion system.
The trip across the ocean took only a few hours, which they spent mostly in silence. K'Shai pondered what she was getting herself into and R'chnt seemed to silently acknowledge that her mind was elsewhere.
When they finally docked at a landing zone on the Eastern continent, K'Shai took a deep breath as the door to the shuttle raised open and she looked around.
It was more of the same, yet different, all around her.
There were trees, just different looking. The land was more green and vibrant than even the blue-green wonder that was the lands around the Clan and all the familiar areas she was used to. The jungles they travelled through on the land transport were lush and rich and it all almost looked a bit undeveloped compared to the Clan lands she called home.
The very path the transport glided over was almost too narrow for it to pass. Trees and leaves slapped into the sides of the machine as it glided over the ground and made its way towards the destination entered into the console.
"K'Shai," R'chnt said finally. "We will rest here for the night."
"Here?" She questioned as she looked around, assuming he meant literally in the jungle right where they were heading through.
R'chnt chuckled softly, clearly picking up the alarm in her voice.
"Here, K'Shai." He said with a simple nod of his head forward.
She changed the direction of her gaze and her jaw suddenly dropped just a little.
The Clan before her was like nothing she had ever seen before, and that was something, because she was quite certain she had seen plenty of clans in her time thus far. The Clan City of the Kaunte D'areen was an exquisite place, really. It was a perfect harmonization of high technology and simplicity. It was both rugged and yet luxurious at the same time, and it was home.
"What is this place?" K'Shai whispered as she gaped in awe of the sights around her.
"This is the Clan City of K'tharth, K'Shai."
The buildings they approached were tall, giving almost a skyscraper city-scape to the skyline, and as they drew closer, she realized there were dozens, no, hundreds, of sky scrapers. There was what looked like a river of lava flowing through and around everything she could see. The place was hot, foreboding, and unwelcoming. It looked far newer than the buildings of her own Clan.
Where most of the Kaun'te D'areen buildings looked aged, though maintained, they looked as if they were growing or carved right out of the cliff face and grounds all around the waterfalls and jungle that surrounded the Clan.
K'tharth, as K'Shai drew closer to it all and inspected it, reminded her more and more of Manhattan. Tall buildings and large crowds that did not blend into their environment in any way. As she descended off the steps of the land vehicle, she could not help but notice how absolutely everyone stopped to have a good, long gawk at her.
Where there was bustling business and chatter and noise, suddenly, there was motionless silence as she walked through the blackened streetway. It was black from either smoke or dust, or who knew what, but nothing about the city looked pleasant or natural, and she wanted to tuck herself next to R'chnt as much as she possibly could. She had to remind herself not to do that; to stand strong, firm, and slightly in front of R'chnt.
"What is this place?" She whispered as she gawked around, now ignoring the fact that she was drawing in her own spectators continually.
"This Clan is the largest of the industrial builders, K'Shai." R'chnt informed her.
"I have no doubt. This must have been built up as other Clans expanded and needed ships or…. whatever?"
"K'Shai," R'chnt responded with a corrective tone, "This was one of the first Clans ever founded."
"Wait… I don't recall reading about K'tharth being a first Clan?" She questioned, recalling the myriads of history she read through while training so many years ago with R'chnt in the mountain complex.
"It was called K'othath when it was claimed."
"When it was won from the douen, yes?"
"That's right. This was the city where their ships and weapons and every technology you know was originally made, and this city was won when the rebellion finally occurred all over the planet."
R'chnt's voice lifted with pride for a moment. It was a proud, though rarely ever discussed chapter in Yautja history. Before; so long before, the Yautja, strong and ferocious as they were, once were enslaved, abused, tortured.
She knew some of the history, but stories were scarce and scattered. She knew the K'aunte D'areen Clan was so named because its ancient members led the revolution again the white dragons the Clan took their name to spite, and she knew what the Yautja accomplished in the wars that lasted fifty years, but surprisingly, the Yautja themselves did not keep much history on the matter, nor did they teach it, or any other history, to youths in the mei'sa either.
They focused instead, on the glory of hunts and kills, and empowering over all the creatures and beasts intelligent and otherwise, of the universe Any written history there actually was placed most of the emphasis on which bloodlines accomplished the best hunting. This was also why there was very little written about the very Ancients K'shai was travelling to see.
She was distracted by the rather awe-inspiring, even if not appealing, sights of the Clan City of K'tharth, that night and into the following morning, but she had not forgotten why they were travelling through the city.
It was a long night, and by morning, she was exhausted. They had settled to eat in one of the smoke-hazed cantinas and R'chnt was greeted by a non-stop stream of welcomers; from elders he knew to admirers who wanted to get close to him and K'Shai and gawk and ogle them. For the first short time, it was interesting at best, K'Shai thought; being treated like a celebrity, with fans all wanting to meet them.
By the time she was trying to finish a meal, it had become irritating. She was hungry and wanted to eat, and had spent more than half her life becoming Yautja; she did not want to be accosted by strangers in their strange garbs with their strange head jewelry, all just wanting to have a look.
After two hours, it was downright annoying, and by the third hour, when one of the eager onlookers reached out to touch her hair and headbeads, K'Shai let the group their presence was no longer welcome by stabbing the offending Yautja through the metacarpals with a small dagger she flicked freely from her belt and whirred around before anyone knew what was happening.
R'chnt was mid-drink when it all happened, and he slammed the mug down and growled, but it was over just that fast. The crowd got a quick reminder that K'Shai was a female Yautja, and finally the oglers moved on, respecting her space. It felt good, and K'Shai couldn't help but let a crooked smile pan across her lips. She had most definitely made an impression on the Clan City. Perhaps that impression would carry over to the Ancients, she wondered. Maybe they would be impressed by her abilities; maybe they would be offended by her attempts.
Nothing was certain about what she was getting herself in to, but as the pair left the clan city the following morning, the only thing that she knew for sure was that she was definitely not close to home. The more they continued on riding the land vehicle, the narrower the path became and more and more unfamiliar became the lands around her.
The path had been a steady incline since the moment they left the city, but then it sharply turned into a high angle and it seemed to never actually end. They journeyed for two more rotations on the land vehicle, stopping at smaller clan cities along the way for breaks, rest, and meals, before the finally abandoned the land vehicle at what appeared to be a small cul-de-sac at the end of the narrow dirt passageway.
"We must continue on from here on foot."
K'Shai looked around at the trees surrounding them, the same yet so different; the smells the same yet so different. The noises of the animals were really about the only thing that sounded familiar to her. She followed quietly next to R'chnt, lagging just a bit behind him as they scaled up a definite incline, like they were climbing a narrow, barely-Yautja-wide path up Kilmanjaro.
For much of the day, they continued on the path, stopping only briefly to hunt a small piece of game, make a quick meal, and continue on.
"We will get to that summit by nightfall and rest there until morning." R'chnt said, indicating up the incline a bit, where K'Shai could see the peak of what looked like a tall, flat hill top covered in grasslands.
"Is there anything up there?"
"A Temple." He said simply.
"The Ancients' Temple?" She asked with apprehensive wonder.
R'chnt shook his head softly.
"No, K'Shai, it is a prayer Temple on the Path to the Ancients. It is where I will remain while you continue on. This is what must be done."
"Wait, what?" She asked sharply. "You're not coming with me?"
He clearly tried to restrain a little chuckle as he looked at her with a twisted up why are you acting so worried sort of look.
"No, K'Shai. Each seeker must present only themselves to the Ancients. The Ancients determine if they will receive that Hunter."
"Well, what if they don't want to receive me?"
Again, he looked at her with a contorted face.
"Oh, my K'Shai, they asked to see you."