Translations:

mesh'in'ga: The battle Dreamtime

(Not entirely sure what that means but in this case I'm wanting it to say that it's now her time to battle but mentally not physically so as she sleeps she'll be basically battling to wake again.)

Cetanu: Death-Black Hunter-Black Warrior- God of Death

Sei-i: yes

Ooman: human (we should all know this one right? Right!)

Kiande Amehda: hard meat

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Lex felt much warmer now than how she did in the tunnels. No longer freezing. Scar tried to share his body heat which did help, but it certainly wouldn't have made her this warm. Warm like lying in the Bahamas with the cool tide washing up against her toes and a gentle breeze blowing on by. Miana loved warm places like that.

Wherever she lied felt comfy. It couldn't be the hard rock of the tunnels, though the furs did help cushion that a bit.

Lex figured she could have frozen death, but she brushed that thought off. Scar wouldn't have let that happen. Though, she knew her oxygen had been low. It explained most of her symptoms, but she didn't want to send Scar into a panic. Not when he already tried so hard to find them an exit. To contact the ship. Something to help them.

She had to admit, his running back and forth had been cute, but annoying. Like an overexcited toddler that wanted to help but had no idea how to help. Concerningly sweet. She smiled at that. Her hunter had always been sweet in his curiosity of her world and his concern of overstepping, though that didn't always stop him, and helping.

A hum began through her ears. A small, comforting sound. The ship. It had to be the ship.

Lex had always been the type needing dead silence to sleep. But, the ship's hum brought a serene kind of comfort. Not annoying or loud like a lot of the things she found on Earth. Purring kind of worked the same way, but Scar could purr quite loud and that annoyed her a lot during their initial stay together. Over time, it died down, as if he made a conscious effort to reel it back in and match the hum of the ship.

As time seamlessly rolled by, a burning sensation started in her chest. Her lungs felt they were on fire. No, her whole body. Like someone lit a match and swung it back and forth on a pendulum over her frostbitten skin. It hurt, but it went away after a time. Even the her burning lungs stopped aching.

A ring started in ears and Lex began to get annoyed. She couldn't rest like this. First on fire and now ringing.

Opening her eyes, Lex took in the familiar sights of the clinic. The metallic walls glowed in the dark by their little streams of sometimes blue, sometimes red lights. Confused, she slowly lifted herself into a sitting position. Clinic beds were usually hard and cold but the furs that surrounded her kept her warm.

"How the hell did I get back here? All I did was take a nap," carefully she moved off the bed and slightly stumbled under her own weight. Her legs, after all, hadn't been used in probably weeks or perhaps days had just flown by, Lex had no way of telling.

The ringing settled down but a headache crept up behind her eyes. She shut her eyes, pressing a hand to her forehead. Biting her lip, she found a cold compress to place on her temple.

No one else looked to be in the clinic at the moment, so she looked around at the various tools that were laid neatly out onto different trays. Scalpels, needles, dishes, and tubes ranged from all different sizes and some even had color-coded bands which was strange to her.

They saw differently, not too different, but still, a different color spectrum than humans. Yet, she easily saw blue and red bands. Perhaps, they were dark or something to them than her. They looked a bit faded in color.

Turning her attention elsewhere, Lex headed back to study the furs. They were of different animals and clearly not hers. The only one she recognized was a leopard's fur in the center. It felt soft and appeared well kept, keeping the color and quality of the material. While she ran her hands across the fur, the door opened to reveal the head medic.

Roaring in alarm at her awakened state, he ran out of the room in a hurry.

Slightly disturbed, Lex followed him out the door but instead made her way down the left corridor instead of the right one. Unaware of the mess she was about to make, Lex continued on down to the dining hall which was empty. The chefs had already had their fair share of the meal and were cleaning up.

"Um, excuse me?" Walking towards the Yuatja she had dubbed Buffy Jeff, Lex waved at him and asked, "got anything left over I can have?" She twisted her fingers nervously.

Between the way the head medic acted and the way they were staring, she was beginning to think something was going on.

But then, almost scaring her by its suddenness, Buffy Jeff yelled at the others to continue their work while he quickly grabbed fruits and cooked up some meat for her. Once he had done that, he handed over the plate to her along with a canteen of water.

Thanking them kindly, Lex took her time going back to her room. She knew she really shouldn't have left the clinic, to begin with, but she just wanted out of the sterile smell and her stomach felt like it had been rumbling for a time now. No better place to be than her own room with a tray of food.

Rubbing the goosebumps forming along her dark skin, Lex used her hip to get the door open before closing it shut with her foot. The leopard fur would have come in handy, but she had plenty in her room. Dumping her plate and canteen on the bed, she grabbed the furs to wrap around her as she ate. Once done, she snuggled into her bed and fell asleep.

In the meantime, the head medic returned with Elder K'ash, Scar, Night, Lu, and Molten. Finding her gone, they immediately sent out a message for members to be on the lookout for their lost ooman but none responded to the call or did the six, including the medic, find her as they hurried around the ship.

The checked the dining hall but it was completely empty after all the chefs had already returned to their rooms for the night. Frustrated, they covered ground from top to the bottom of the ship, even searching the engine room.

"Where could she be?!" Scar growled as engineers claimed they had seen no one.

Splitting from the group, he began to wander on his own. The kehirte appeared mainly deserted. The viewing room had no one in sight, though fairly common.

Finally, he walked into the females' living quarters. His original goal had been to see Nikki and see if she had seen Lex. The two hadn't talked much, but Scar ran out of ideas hours ago.

However, upon seeing Lex's door, he changed direction and decided to knock. He pressed the button that was like a doorbell that an ooman dwelling would have. For them, it had the equivalence of knocking.

"Sei-i?" Lex slowly opened the door, tired and worn out from the little walking she had done.

A large pelt of fur hung low from her shoulders, ready fall off if her hands didn't have such a strong grip on them.

"Where have you been?!" Outraged that he had been everywhere on the ship only to finally find her asleep in her room, Scar growled at her.

"Asleep... I'm tired, Scar. We can talk later." She moved to close the door via touchpad but Scar slipped into her room despite her weak attempts to push him out.

"You've been out for almost four weeks, Lex."

"Four weeks? Hmmm... It doesn't feel that long. Why was I asleep anyway? I just wanted to take a nap, and then I'm here in the medic center." Her eyes looked clouded.

"You've been in a coma recovering from low oxygen levels. The drugs are still in your system. You need to be under supervision," his words fell on deaf ears as Lex just walked back to her bed, swaying a little, and tried to climb back onto the bed.

Huffing, he gently picked her up, purring her to sleep, before carrying her back to the med bay.

On his way, he passed his friends who joined the search. He quickly explained how she left for food and then to her room for sleep. Jag trilled at that, nodding as he would do the same.

The medic warned them the drugs would make her loopy and without them, she probably would have stayed in the clinic.

With her back inside the safety of the clinic, the group dispersed to their quarters, leaving Lex and Scar alone.

Lex woke up several hours later, standing from the bed. Her stomach growled loudly.

"You must rest. Lay back down, Lex." Scar forced her back to the cot.

"I'm hungry, though. Can't I go back to the dining hall?" Sleepily, she rubbed her eyes and laid back down, guided by rough hands until she was lying comfortably on the furs.

"Sleep. Food later." He made her settle down and waited for her to return to sleep. She didn't at first, preferring to occupy herself by playing with his hands.

She did eventually sleep. Before she woke up, the head medic had come to check in on her and gave her a new dose of her drugs. They kept her sleeping most of the time and out of balance when she needed to get up.

"Scar?" The Yuatja walked over to the bed and waited silently for her request. "I'm cold. Where the furs at?"

Looking at the doctor, Scar was confused. She had been bundled up in at least five furs. Could she not feel them? Were they not keeping her warm? And why couldn't she see them? After all, she was looking straight at him but her hands seemed to run wildly around on the furs looking for the exact thing she already possessed.

"I'm taking her to her room."

"You can't!" The medic protested but Scar already lifted her up, as well as the furs, into his arms. "She needs to be supervised! You are no medic!"

"Call Elder K'ash and tell him I need him to meet me at Lex's room immediately," without another word, he left the medic to do as he was told.

Upon arriving at her room, K'ash shook his head.

"She should be in the medic center not here, I will not open the door for you Scar. Despite what you think she need to be on that medicine. It will help her, she will recover." Lex stirred slightly in his arms, mumbling something about being cold.

"She cannot feel the furs. She cannot even see them, Elder. She's cold and hungry even bundled up and even if she just ate. It's been almost a month and she has not recovered as she should have. The drug is killing her." The Elder nodded.

"She must be supervised." Elder looked to the medic who had just joined them and then to Scar. "Supervise her in your room. I cannot grant you access to her quaters per ship rules. I will make sure you are not sent on the next hunt for the kiande amedha tomorrow. Though, I cannot keep the others here."

Scar bowed in appreciation. He didn't stop until he reached the safety of his room where he could watch over her.

The cold air seeped from her. The chilling air of death, of Cetanu. The Black Hunter could not and would not take Lex. Not now.

"Shhh, they won't give you that drug anymore. I'm sure of it," Scar kept her wrapped up in the furs and close to him.

She had begun to shake even though her skin burned like the sun.

He had to help her to the bathroom, catching her as her legs gave out under her after a few steps. Still, she tried without his assistance and it gave him hope.

Her words came out low and soft, a bit hoarse, but he made sure she drank plenty of water. Occasionally, she would speak Yautja, though her pronunciation sounded just like it had when she first began to learn. Rough and choppy. Very difficult for him to decipher. She'd speak in English and then suddenly switch to jumbled Yautja that didn't always match her original sentence. Scar worked with her on it, correcting her and gently getting her to express what she wanted.

"Scar," he barely heard her. She had only been with him for a day and had curled into his back for warmth, "I'm freezing. Why?"

"The drugs, the drugs are killing you." He rolled over, pulling her into his arms.

While most would still be up and about, he had settled for laying with her during her frequent naptimes and of course, during his regular sleeping hours.

"I'm dying?"

"No! You will live. I'm sure."

"Miana... Miana. I'm dying. The exact opposite of what you told me to do," her whispered words were lost on Scar.

He knew of the ooman who had helped them back at Antarctica and that they were great friends. Now, he began to wonder what had happened to the small woman. She wasn't with Lex when he visited all those months and if he was correct, she often spoke in her sleep as if reliving a nightmare again and again. A nightmare different from those of Antartica.

Settling in, he kept her cradled in his warm chest, playing with his gauntlet. Lex instinctively relaxed and snuggled deeper into her furs.

"Let the mesh'in'ga begin."

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More tomorrow! I'll post the last two chapters tomorrow hopefully and that shall be a bittersweet end to the *cough cough* part *cough cough* of the story. Hope you have enjoyed this take as much as I have!