Chapter Nine: Soona
Soona was the only habitable planet in orbit around the larger of the binary stars. The star had been named Chai, pronounced "shy", and its brother had been dubbed Sars. Three other planets shared the system, Ouis rotated around Sars, while Aasa and Fwen rotated around Chai.
There were only two seasons on the Soua's home planet, the equivalent of Spring and Summer. Temperatures ranged from 110 degrees in the Spring to 190 degrees during the summer solstice.
Summer was the roughest season on the planet. The gravitational pull of the second star, and the increased heat played havoc on its inhabitants. Torrential showers and electrical storms created by rapidly evaporating water doused the surface, and when it was not raining the temperature was enough to cook things. The earthquakes on the planet were enough to devastate the whole of the United States, and could never be measured by Earths seismology equipment. They were approximated to her as being 15 as compared to the Richter scale. Those were the smaller ones.
The flora and fauna of the planet had adapted to such a harsh environment, the trees were extremely deep rooted, and tightly interwoven, some even grown together, to provide stability during seismic activity, as well as relief from the extreme heat. The leaves of the plants were very dark, almost black, on the underside of the canopy, and very light on the crowns of the five hundred-foot trees, to reflect heat back into the atmosphere. The forest temperature remained an even one hundred twelve degrees year round, and most of the life was contained under its canopy. Undergrowth was very scarce, for there was little light that penetrated the canopy above. Most of the plant life that thrived under forest boughs was fungal, reaching incredible sizes. Some species had attained at least a small amount of sentience, including the breed that the Soua used for shelter.
The bogs were pocked with deep sinks, and spots of quicksand and other that the forrests, very little of the surface rose above the water. What did was covered in dense purple marsh grasses, and small stunted trees. The few mountain ranges were their desert, there was little or no vegetation and what little animal life lived there stayed underground.
The wildlife was just as hardy, becoming specialized for each particular section of the planet. Most of the species she had read about were extremely dangerous. There were very few true herbivores, most were omnivorous of carnivorous.
There was one other intelligent species on the planet called Noa. The file said that they were completely blind, and instead had developed a keen extremely accurate form of radar. They thrived in deep forest, living on the surface with stilted houses made of wood, to prevent flooding. They were extremely fierce, hunting in large packs. Their natural ability to strip a carcass in less than five minutes made them extremely dangerous. Sharp scraping teeth and powerful enzymes in the saliva were some of their favorite weapons in the small wars they sometimes started with the Soua.
They arrived on Soona in the heaviest part of a midsummer storm. Before Courtney and Gui'Yata made their way from their quarters the Soua's prisoners were moved out of the ship.
The heat of the surface struck the soldiers as a physical presence. Their eyes burned with the brilliance of the two suns just beginning to break through the clouds. They tried to adjust to its intensity, after spending the entire trip here in the constant dusk of their cell.
They lingered at the ship entrance as they took in the totally unexpected sight. All of them had reluctantly agreed these were extremely advanced creatures. Each of them had built a picture in their minds of miles upon miles of steel wire and composite. The pristine environment that confronted them was completely contradictory to that picture. They could barely tell that there was a landing field. It was surrounded completely by tall stalks of purple grass. Beyond the grasses rose a proud looking forest, impossibly tall to the mans standards.
Their awed staring was interrupted by two of their large guards, who roughly shoved them into moving down the ramp onto the tarmac. The landing site was several inches deep in tepid water, and it began to burn through their heavy boots.
Their captors formed a loose circle around them, and the largest of them burbled something at the bewildered troopers. They relayed their confusion with blank stares, and the creature made itself more clear by leveling its weapon at his waist. The other creatures did the same, motioning away from them into the open grasses.
They wanted them to leave the tarmac? Why? He did not let the question bother him too much, tapping his nearest companion to follow him into the wilderness. With out further assistance, they bolted for the tall concealing grasses.
A thought occurred to the senior man as he tried to make good his escape. The thought, of providing running targets for the creatures made his blood go cold, and spurred him to a faster pace. He panted hard as he pushed his weak body beyond its meager limits, waiting for the inevitable pain, to mark the weapon had caught up to him.
But that pain did not come, and he slowed his pace coming to a stop, and turned to face the landing site. Two of the remaining guards just stood there, watching their flight with detached interest, the others slowly making their way off the tarmac toward the forest that loomed high above them. He was more than a little confused, this did not match anything he had been taught about being a prisoner. Why would they bring captives all of the way back to their planet, just to release them? It made no sense at all.
He did not have much time to linger on that train of thought, however, for a pained scream reached him from somewhere off to the right and a little forward of his position. He ran that direction searching through the grasses. The scream had definitely been human, and he soon found the source of the sound, and in finding it, proceeded to lose what little was left in his stomach. One of his crew in his blind flight had stumbled upon some... creature. The creature was not unlike a sea anemone, its purple red-spotted tentacles were wrapped around what was left of the young soldier. Every place the tentacles had touched the skin, it had been reduced to a gelatinous mass. The soldier was reaching for him feebly, mouthing for help but no sound came from his lips.
The soldier backed away in horror, unable to bring himself to even try to help his former comrade. Other screams reached him and he whirled to face each, panting hard, sweating in his paranoia. He searched the ground restlessly for more monstrosities trying to claim him. He was unwilling to move fearful of stumbling into another of the anemone creatures. He sank to his knees crying like a child, frozen in fear.
Courtney noticed the humidity change as soon as she stepped through the hatch. The rain was coming in sheets, and it should have cooled the temperature, instead it made the heat almost unbearable. The water was almost hot on Courtney's bare skin.
Everyone else had departed the ship and was making their way to the outer edges of the landing platform. The rain abruptly dissipated and Courtney stopped short, finally seeing the surroundings. Never had she seen such a pristine place, the trees rose higher than she could look up. She could tell that even at this distance. The area around the spaceport was chest deep in a tall purple colored grass. There were relatively few buildings surrounding the landing area, not what she expected from what was the major spaceport on the planet. Ten other ships were parked in various spots along the field. One or two were similar to Quarta, the other Taya. Taya had been, somewhere in their past, integrated with technology, becoming cyborgs. Now that integration was in their genes, and it passed from one generation to the next. There were smaller ships dotted between the larger ones, all purely technological. Those were for the smaller parties, or single manhunts. Several had drop ships, for those parties that were not hunting together but were hunting in the same sector.
"Where is everyone?" Courtney queried, as her partner came up behind her.
"They are in the shade, where we should be."
"Why?"
"The moisture will dry quickly in the ray of two suns. It is hot in the summer, too hot for even us to be out for any length of time." He explained.
He walked around her and headed for a tall bubble settled at the far end of the landing platform. It was a construct made of a semi-transparent material. Courtney fell quickly in behind, not wanting to get lost on this strange world. She questioned the wisdom of that decision when she saw what the building held.
The creatures were about twelve feet tall, remotely resembling birds, not unlike ostriches. They were scaled over most of the body with the exception of primary and secondary feathers on the wings, and a fan of feathers that adorned the tip of the reptilian tail.
Their legs were thick and strong, with opposing toes such as a tree climber on Earth would have. Their small heads were horned and the beak was serrated. Overall its color was a blue-green, with purple stripes. And it was indeed a very wicked looking creature.
"What the hell are those?!" Courtney exclaimed in English.
Gui'Yata turned to face her, "They are Yimhi. Used for local travel, Soua have bred them to be runners as well as tree climbers, such as their ancestors were."
Courtney nodded dumbly, "Whatever you say."
She watched carefully as Gui'Yata quickly saddled the nearest. With a signal she did not see, the creature lifted a leg, and Gui'Yata used it as a ladder to climb on board. He motioned her over and lifted her onto the animal's back, in front of where he was seated.
He cooed at the beast and it headed for the entrance. Once outside it picked up speed, attaining a pace she would not have thought possible from an animal. The purple grass looked liquid as they traveled over it. They reached the trees quickly, the yimhi deftly avoiding large boles as they made their way deeper into the forest. She caught glimpses of strange creatures moving through the trees parallel the trail. Courtney's looked back toward the trail, her eyes went wide as they approached the bole of a large tree, wider than any she had seen previous, going breakneck speed. She closed her eyes knowing they would be unable to stop in time to avoid the tree. When the expected impact did not happen she slowly opened them. Just in time for the yimhis leap, it latched onto the side of the large conifer, and in jarring hops continued up the tree. She looked toward the ground, they were high up already. She swallowed hard. The yimhi slowed when it reached a branch, jumping to the side and down, breaking backing into a ground eating run. It broke through concealing leaves and Courtney gasped at the sight before her. On the bole of the tree, one that was even larger than the one they had just come up, were dozens of bubbles growing like fungus. The bubbles were clustered close together, looking grown rather than built. They glinted and as she got closer she could see that the bubbles were laced with fine wires, and small squares glowed steadily. Transparencies were set directly into the flesh of the growths. The natural hollows of the tree had been expanded into networks of tunnels, which led to more of the bubbles on the other side of the bole of the tree. Between the larger branches platforms, wide and flat, had been erected, by using the smaller branches intertwined, then covering them with a hard but breathable substance. Compared to their mode of travel, the city was infinitely more sophisticated. Two tall spires, clearly not organic, grew through the thick canopy of leaves, to reach the intense sunlight above. They looked to Courtney that the city could house thousands.
When she asked about the immensity of the city, Gui'Yata replied that only five to seven hundred Soua were here permanently. This was the central capital of the planet, and being close to the main spaceport was visited often. Several thousand transited through, arriving in the city to either leave on a hunting party, or to rest after a hunt, before journeying back to their homes. Very rarely it was used to settle disputes between warring factions, to which most of the population would come, just to see the fight. Or for gatherings to exchange fighting techniques, and hunting stories.
Most of the permanent residents lived scattered among the surrounding trees. Gui'Yata was one such, he lived on the far side of the city, a dwelling that had been set aside for him when he had been accepted for training. It was a gift of his teacher Coysa, on the proviso that he survived his training. They were going to have to go through the city to reach his residence.
Already Courtney was thinking of the contradictions of this society. The spaceport, this city, their weapons, all were very advanced, they were technologically smart. Yet they dressed like primitives, their travel was crude, she was beginning to think that she would never fully understand this race. Or perhaps it was the ideal civilization, she reminded herself that she could not really make a judgement on what little she knew.
A few of the Taura had reached the platform before Gui'Yata and Courtney had left the landing field. And already rumor was going around about the strange creature who had shared their journey back home.
"But what does this creature look like?"
"You have hunted humans, Toso." he said slapping the Soua, "Thin skinned, short, this one is shorter than most. They are self destructive, violent. They have no honor."
"Why was the clusu brought here? Why was it not killed?"
"She is clusu no longer, Sama, she has passed Raya, and is now Fausi. She was originally brought on board because Gui'Yata had marked her as Yanahara. She had saved his life, so when she was injured he brought her on board to save her life. When we were forced to leave by a human attack she was stuck on board."
"A clusu serving the pack? That is outrageous!"
"My guess is she did it to remain alive for the trip back. But she is considerably talented, I have fought her myself, when she was still in training. She could surprise you."
A large party of Soua, of different ages, looking at once curious and appalled by her presence met the two at the landing. Gui'Yata lowered her down from the yimhi, and quickly dismounted himself. The bird immediately retired to a building similar to the one they had retrieved it from.
"Looks as if I have already gained notoriety." she whispered to her towering companion.
As soon as they were down the group closed in on them. The questions came all at once until one of the older Soua quieted them, and became the voice for the group. Courtney was taken aback because all of the questions were directed at Gui'Yata, and the only attention given to her were obscenely curious stares and prodding. Several times Gui'Yata was forced to growl a warning when they began to get too personal. They were really shocked when she gave her own warning, they obviously thought she was incapable of speaking their language.
Courtney's attention was caught by something beyond the crowd, she strained to see through the constantly shifting gaps between the people around her. Off to one side of the landing stood a lone Soua, his ornate mask reflecting the half-light from the transparency. Her curiosity got the better of her and she forcibly moved toward the edge of the group. Courtney pushed through them, only receiving a few stares, stopping as she passed the outermost ring of bodies, watching the aloof stranger. Those who came near him in their path took pains to avoid him. He was relatively young about twenty Soona years if she was any judge. He was a head taller than Gui'Yata and colored in a very dull brown. He fidgeted with one of the skulls hanging from his neck, as if debating between two courses of action. He looked at her and then immediately away, as though he wished not to be caught looking. This confused her, but she shrugged and reluctantly turned her attention away. She took her first good look of the landing, glad to be away from the center of attention, if only for a little while. The floor, walls and ceiling were all the color of deep ivory, light but not so bright that it hurt the eyes. There were a few small branches that had grown through the floor, which had been carefully tended as decoration, by creatures that looked a lot like spiders. These creatures were one or two segments longer, with ten appendages, six legs and four arms, the eyes were slit like a lizard. All maintenance functions here seemed to be performed by creatures other than Soua. Nearest the transparent growth was a number of benches, only slightly darker than the floor, for use by small gatherings or hunting parties. She headed for them, fully aware of the silent Soua that followed her at a distance.
She touched the wall of the bubble feeling the warmth generated by the creature, feeling the faint pulse of its blood. The creature responded seemingly glad for the contact, by warming even further. She sat on the bench and looked out over the forest, watching creatures on branches below basking in the sun that filtered through the canopy above. It was so pristine, the Soua lived in harmony with their surroundings, adapting the wildlife to their purposes, instead of warring with them at every turn, as humans did. This reminded her of all those places she had heard about but had never been able to see. Yellowstone, Yosemite, The California Redwoods, all of them were gone before she ever got the chance to witness their beauty. Torn down so the land could be used to house the ever-growing population, of the United States. She had never known how overwhelming nature could be, until now. She let all the thoughts of her bitter childhood slip away, allowing the beauty to wrap itself around her, feeling giddy.
She did not notice when the Soua sat beside her, trying to stop the trembling in his hands. She turned away from the window to be confronted by the ornate mask of her reclusive visitor. She tried not to jump as she replied, "Good day, huntsman."
There was no reply but there was something about his framing, he was tense. His gaze burned into her, sizing her up quickly, before he stood and disappeared into the finally dispersing crowd.
Gui'Yata stepped over to Courtney still sitting dumbfounded on the bench. That must have been the strangest meeting she had ever had.
"You left, are you tired of my peoples attentions, so soon?" he said humorously.
She smiled sardonically, "Who is the Soua with the artful mask?" still watching his retreating form.
"Sora? Best to stay away from him, he is crazy. No one stays around him, and he hunts alone. He has hurt many people in the past. Rumors purport that he is a mute as well, though I would not be sure of that. If I had been through what he has, I would keep my silence too." Gui'Yata sounded as if he was a little bit sorry for the Soua.
"He acted as if he wanted something." she mused.
Gui'Yatas warning did nothing to abate her curiosity about Sora. She had seen him several times more, always at a distance, and he was always watching her. After several weeks of searching and asking with her limited pull as Fausi, Courtney finally was able to get the location of the Taura Sora's dwelling. It was on the outskirts of the city, standing alone on one of the upper branches. The exterior of the dwelling was very beautiful. The smaller branches were all decorated with bits of cloth, bone and metal wind chimes, strips of skins. So much so that the blue-black leaves were not visible in the blowing artwork. And the air sang with music. Over the door hung the skull of a shisi, and bones were set artfully in the walls. This Soua had an eye for arranging. She was broke out of her admiration by a loud crash, and she froze. Then she took several steps back, as the first crash was followed more clamor.
The cacophony died down quickly, and the dwelling fell into silence. Courtney took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. She had a feeling this was not going to be pretty. But she was compelled to find out what this Soua wanted of her. She took reluctant, cautious steps toward the bubble, hearing his rapid breath, sounding like a creature gone mad. She peered around the corner of the frame, taking in the place condition. It was in shambles, furniture and decorations lay splintered on the floor.
Sora was curled up against the far wall, hugging his knees, rocking quietly back and forth. His wiry body was wracked with spasms, and his arms were slashed from elbow to wrist, bleeding profusely on the floor. He faced her, but if he saw her he gave no indication, he just continued cradling himself.
"Taura Sora?" she said tentatively from the door, and was met by silence.
She took a step into the room, carefully eyeing him to make sure he was not going to burst into violence again. She moved over next to him, and knelt down beside him. She noticed even in this dim light that he was heavily scarred over his chest and arms, by slashes much the same as those that were open now.
She touched him lightly, "Sora? May I assist you?" she said softly. He reacted slowly to the stimulus.
His gaze seemed to become more focused, though it was hard to tell through the single lense of his battle helm.
He began to speak, but it was soft and broken, and Courtney only caught parts of it, "I have...need...of your... knowledge...heal...mind...soyasa..."
He was asking for her help, or rather she had offered assistance so he was able to tell her of his problem. The Soua were a proud people, infirmities were hidden if at all possible. His reluctance stemmed from that social moral, it was especially "weak" if a Taura asked assistance of a Fausi, unless it was first offered. From the shambles of the room around her she was aware that his infirmity was no longer something he was able to hide.
Over the next couple of hours, she had moved all of the rubble to one side of the dwelling, her violent host seemed to have fallen asleep. It was then she treated Soras injuries. During her treatment Sora started awake, seeming surprised that she was there. She had to explain to him what had happened for he could not remember and she in turn listened as he explained his condition to her. He had hopes that she might be able to help treat his violent depressive episodes, where his own kind had given up on him. "I become aware when they pass, but have no recollection of the events during. Only of the results." he said staring at his arms, then gazing about the room. He had expressed deep sorrow for all of the brethren he had hurt in his fits of rage, but knew, with a certain depressed certainty, that he was unable to control them. He stressed that he had tried, he sounded guilt-ridden.
"I have no will of my own, just these rages that rule me... I am tired of hiding from my people, I want to be a Soua again. Not some raging, destructive animal," She saw pain and anger ripple across his body, he ran a hand over his scarred chest. "These are not honorable..." he finished quietly.
His Combat helm was a work of art, he had designed it himself. The metal looked like flames over his eyes, and metal spikes rose from his brows up the centerline disappearing at the back edge. His visor was a wedge narrowing at either end, giving no suggestion of eyes at all. The lower half of the mask was intricately decorated with mock scratches, perfectly symmetrical. It was also different in another way from most Souas helms. The mask was designed with vents, so it could be used without bottles. The vents could be sealed for use on the hunt as well. That was because he wore it almost all the time, and their battle mixture was to precious to waste on normal every day use. Courtney wondered why, and she soon found out.
"Why do you wear the helm all the time?" She had asked with innocent curiosity. Instead of explaining he removed his mask and showed her the evidence, she blanched at the sight of his face. An ugly puckered scar started high on his forehead, running from right to left across his left eyebrow and eye, ending on his cheek. He had designed the mask beautifully to attempt to forget the ugliness that the mask hid.
"This is only flesh," he had said, "The real wound is on the inside, and it has not healed."
His hunting party had been attacked, late one night, when he was five, shortly after his Raya. No one had expected the superstitious Sesaya to come out in the pitch of their night. But they had been stirred up by a fanatic, and he wanted blood, no matter whose it was.
So they had attacked in the dead of night, while the party rested for the coming hunt. The Sesaya descended on them stealthily, and devastated the group, Sora and two others were the only ones to live through the experience. But a Sesaya sword had seriously injured Sora, and even Soua medicine could not save his left eye. A Sesaya sword is always tipped with poison, desiccating venom, which eats the flesh. Their emergency medicos had nothing to counteract the venom, and by the time the injured party had returned his eye had been eaten away. Some brain damage had been sustained from the poison.
After the incident even his instructor was unsure if Sora could, or would complete his training for Taura. Their lack of faith had made him determined to prove that he could be a better hunter than even fully sighted ones. He did not want sympathy, and he proceeded to make Taura without ever touching a piece of armor, or a weapon more technological than the Raspa. This was to the amazement of all who knew him, but his people were still frightened of him. The damage had not marred his intelligence, but it had made him unpredictably, uncontrollably violent.
She had vowed to keep her help to him a secret, he was very proud and just as he had fought to make Taura, he was going to prove that he would recover enough to be able to rejoin society.
Courtney slipped off of her yimhi and retrieved the gauntlets from its leg pack. She signaled it to stay and it settled on its haunches, waiting patiently for her return.
She took a deep breath, still unsure whether she was in over her head or not. She was no Psychologist, and not even sure how the Soua mind worked, she was still not completely through her studies as Soyasa. But, she had obligated herself to at least try.
She gripped the gauntlets tighter: they were for Sora. When she had seen how he had shredded his arms and chest, she had gone searching for something that might protect him from himself. She found Habade hide, a skin so tough that it required laser or plasma to cut and shape. It was taken from another native of this planet, a creature that for its size and shape reminded her of a Brontosaurus. She was required to trade a lot of her talent to "buy" the material and have it made into gauntlets.
Taking a deep breath she approached the deathly silent dwelling, it was extremely dark inside, no noise reached her.
She cleared her throat, "Sora?" she said ready for flight at the first signs of violence.
"Come..." the toneless, disembodied voice floated to her.
Stepping just inside the dwelling, she paused to allow her eyes to adjust to the dimness. She saw Sora seated on what passed for his bed. He was without his mask, and his one eye was trained on a sculpture on the left-hand wall.
"I came as I promised," she offered. Slowly he turned his head and looked over at her, reminding her of a tiger sizing up a piece of meat, "I...I brought you something." She stepped quickly across coming to a stop in front of him, feeling slightly guilty about her apprehension.
She held the gauntlets at arm length and he reluctantly took them from her. His look was one of puzzlement.
"These are for?" he asked.
"They are to prevent injury to your arms," she said pointing at the scars, "I cannot, I will not lie to you, Taura. Treatment will take time, I cannot guarantee that you will recover fully. These will keep you from harming yourself during your bouts."
His expression darkened, at the reminder of his violent nature, he returned his attention to the gift, studying the workmanship, "Habade? This is not cheap, the work is Osu's, and his work comes with some expense."
"My time under his tutelage was well spent if these will help." She stated.
She knelt beside him and assisted him in donning them, they were a perfect fit. Sora ran his hands over the material again and again, seemingly fascinated by them. Courtney got up and began to look around. In the few days since she was last here the room had been straightened, and the furniture did not even look as if they had been touched, much less trashed. As was the outside of his dwelling, the inside was a giant piece of artwork. It was a large space, the growth was at least twenty years old, and there were no divisions so all of the floor space was open. All of the furniture was set against the walls. The comm wall was set just inside the door, a set of heat transmitting units that were along the same lines as a computer screen.
Inset in the walls were shelves and shelves of artifacts from different worlds. Every piece was art, from the children's toy to the etched silver weapon. She reached to touch one and was hindered by a transparent covering, so that was how they had survived the violence of their owner.
Next to the case was a neatly carved, narrow table that stood no more than six inches off the floor. On the table was the extent of Soras' personal items, a few articles of clothing, a small dagger, and his retracted raspa. There was a matching table on the opposite side of the display case, but it was completely empty, Sora's ornate mask hung directly above it.
His bed consisted of a thick fur pad of a dark green brown, over which was a strange off-world quilt, color blending into color, so that it was hard to distinguish where one started and the other ended. The pillow was just a roll of padding, tied at either end with braided violet hair.
She heard Sora get up from the bed and approach her, she turned too quickly, giving away her fright. She was only slightly relieved to see that he looked as uptight as she felt.
She could not look at his face for to long without being sickened by it. And she hated herself for feeling that way, for he had enough of that kind of treatment.
"You have an extensive collection of artwork here. Are they all from hunts?" she offered trying to take her mind off dangerous trains of thought.
"No, some I bought from others who had taken them as trophies. You see visual light?" he asked suddenly.
"Yes." she stated, quite puzzled.
"How does it look to you?"
"It is quite beautiful, you have an eye for it." She shrunk back realizing what she had just said. He just looked at her.
"And me?" he said, running a hand down the scar on his forehead, then running a finger over the socket void of the eye.
She took in a sharp breath, "What do you want me to say Sora?" she did not want to offend him, he could easily kill her.
"Look at me!" he bellowed at her, and she did so as a reaction, turning quickly away again, "I am horrid, even you think so." he turned away, "I cannot even be among my own kind. Not even those who were with me that hunt will acknowledge me. They avoid me as if I am a yosa, treating me as a ghost among them."
He spun on her, his eye wild, "I received this honorably! Yet I am punished. For an event I was unlucky enough not to have foreseen, having no control except to survive." He slumped to the ground. Courtney stepped slowly over to him, overwhelmed with sympathy at the poor Soua's condition. She lay a hand on his shoulder, finding out quickly, that was a mistake. Sora spun with more speed than she had ever seen. He grabbed her arms, pinning her to the wall, she felt as if her arms were going to snap in his bear-trap grip. Her legs flailed helplessly two feet from the floor. She managed to wedge her knee between the two of them.
She tried to fight off the pain, feeling his claws start to penetrate her skin, she managed to look at him again. His look was of an enraged animal.
"Sora! Let go of me!" she screamed at him, trying to break through that haze of madness, "You are not an animal! You are Soua, a Taura, act like one!" She screamed and screamed unsure how much effect she was having on him. His grip had stopped tightening, but he stood there for long moments trembling with rage. Several moments later his head drooped, and his grip slackened, and she dropped heavily on the floor.
He stood arms limply at his sides, head down, Courtney stared up at him angrily, rubbing her bruised arms. She scuttled out from under his shadow, out of easy reach and stood up. She was of a mind to leave him.
He seemed to read that thought, "So you will give up on me too?" he said quietly, looking at his feet, his rage past. He roared sinking his nails into the wall of the dwelling Courtney shrunk back.
"I know what I promised, Sora, but...You scare me. I want to help you, but how can I when I cannot predict when you may hurt me?"
"There may be a way...please help me." Sora said. Turning to face her, he looked earnest and desperate. She was sure he did not enjoy being like this. Thinking hard she bit her lip, could she really trust him?
What he suggested was a device set into the gauntlets and another in the wall. When he became too unruly it was tripped and the devices would attract to each other. And he would remain tethered to the wall until he was calm enough. Only then would he be released. Not even a Soua could resist the devices.
At her next session she was very cautious, but that availed her nothing for his rages came swiftly, frequently and without warning. Sora had not come after her this particular time but began to take his rage out on the furniture. Shaking almost uncontrollably, Courtney was forced to activate his gauntlets. It looked cruel, the Soua struggling frantically against the restraints, all too much like a cat on a leash for the first time. This went on for twenty minutes before he collapsed, hanging by his wrists from the wall.
Her times with the Soua were always stressing, but she found herself learning every time she tried to help him. Her training seemed to advance very rapidly in conjunction with her aid to Sora. Very rarely did Soua come down with a mental illness, not even after severe trauma, for they were bred to handle traumas. Those who did come down with it were often misunderstood, and left to either hash it out on their own or die. They usually ended up becoming recluses, unable to cope with their condition or get help, sinking deeper into their violent, depressed, and isolated worlds. They hunted alone, if they hunted at all, only when they could get passage. Even then they were forced by their conditions, to remain isolated from the other hunters.
There was no section of medicine dedicated to mental illness. She had researched everything she could on the subject, and once she had a soyara available began to make detailed studies of the Soua mind, and its function. She had found herself embroiled in those studies almost to the exclusion of everything else, for nearly three years. Her instructor did not let her forget her obligation to the hunt, and kept reminding her with a good walloping when she was falling out of practice.
In the process of her studies she became an instructor of sorts for other Soyasas' interested in the subject. She found that funny that a Fausi would be teaching Taura to treat mental patients. She had several successes with lesser cases, and found herself gaining a reputation.
She saw gradual improvement in Sora's condition, though it was often slow and setbacks came often.
