Chapter Three: Aftermath

Nobaya wandered away from the center of the devastation, the hints he had heard of a new civil war heavy on his mind. He had yet to unlock the mystery of who had done this act of dishonorable killing and was not comfortable with the assumption that this was Soua against Soua. There was something askew about the whole business, the pattern did not fit what he remembered of their last fight for survival. Too many holes existed in the information they had to piece together what or who was responsible. He was unable to interpret what he was seeing, he was distracted, his thoughts on things other than the situation at hand.

Nobaya was a tracker, he had built his reputation on finding stories in the dusty prints on dozens of worlds. Finding direction, distance, time between their hunters and the prey by the slightest depression in the earth, the merest hint of a scrape on a tree or the slightest unnatural bend in a branch or blade of grass. He had trekked halfway around continents tracking just the right trophy. For many long rotations he had used that reputation to gain status for his line, reveling in his notoriety. But that was when he was young. He was one of the youngest Taura on Lyonas' pack ship, and he had trained Saru to be Taura for thirteen years. He taught them to track, to hunt the Yhi, to become Fausi, and when that was accomplished continued to train them until they were ready for their Taurana. After the first five rotations as the most noted tracker on the planet, he had grown tired of the constant demands for his time and training, his share of Fausi was often heavier than some of the other Taura. He became irritated by the constant time away from his home world.

That was one thing about him that most in his society would never understand, he had always been happier planet bound on Soona. He felt that the variety of prey on their own planet was enough to keep him happy. He knew if that truth had ever gotten out that he would be labeled a Souata, a Matron, a female ready to give over the mantle of huntress to raise the young and teach. For a warrior with his reputation, a Sougra, it would have constituted the highest of insults. At least that would be the way of it from the other Sougra.

The way he saw it a Souata had the more honorable job, they had the distinction of serving many lines, many different distinguished teachers, proud when Saru were chosen from their crèche. Their lineage was deeper more varied than any Sougra or Sougara ever.

When Endra had first come to him with her wild idea of leaving the city of Donona he had been taken aback. Certainly the idea of starting anew in another city was tempting. It would reduce the chances of another finding out about his aberrant desire to stay on Soona. But he feared for his reputation, he indeed feared for his life.

He had been a member of several of those posses to retrieve rogues, it was a bloody and humiliating affair for the one caught, and nearly all were caught. They would be returned to Donona only to be found guilty of treason and cursed to throw themselves onto their own blade, as the code of honor dictated. But as he had told Courtney and Gui'Yata, Endra's fervor was contagious.

He found himself happier in Taysa, his dislike for travel was not an issue in Taysa, and everyone here had a reason to leave his or her own homes. In the first years of living in the City it was considered a death sentence, yet many had found their way to Taysa attracted to the freer style of living. No one questioned him just as no one questioned Tomakaya for being a Sougara, as the female hunters were called, for so long.

It had attracted him to her immediately, that she was still an active hunter even when she had been sexually mature for nearly ten rotations. She had never bred before she had come to Taysa, for she had found none worthy of her. To avoid complications Tomakaya would hunt off planet during the height of her cycles, not willing to succumb in her lust to what she deemed inferior males. It made her that much more vicious during the hunt, and her reputation rivaled some of the most celebrated Sougra or Sougara in their history. She came from an highly honored line of hunters, and she had many students under her who carried on her line. She was often sought out for her precision and artistry.

Many had been surprised that Nobaya had been able to seduce her at all, they considered her rigid or barren, the only reasons they could come up with for her not choosing at least a breeding partner before now. There had been an immediate attraction between them like the summer storms sudden and unpredicted, because neither of them had been in the hunt for mates. It had been Tomakaya, who had pushed for their bonding, finally finding whom she felt was worthy of her affection and her line. Nobaya could not turn her down, he knew she was the only mate he would ever want, and he could not get enough of her. They had been happily bonded for three years now, and she had produced a fine son in Temasu…Temasu, he sighed, there in lay his current distraction.

Even with Tomakaya's reassurance that the Saru was safe, Nobaya was anxious. He had seen no sign of his progeny since arriving here. If Temasu was spared from the slaughter Tomakaya should have brought the Saru to him by now. Yet she had said no more than, "He is safe," given no more information on where he might be, or why she had not deemed it time for him to see his own son.

Nobaya blinked finding himself inexplicably standing near the perimeter of their defenses. Nobaya looked out into the night catching glimpses of movement and he felt his blood surge in response, his eyes turning the vague shapes into crouched Soua, waiting patiently and preparing to strike the decimated city all over again. Even knowing that they were the natural creatures of the forest he expected a renewed attack. He tried to rationalize it but his body reacted the same each time his eyes picked up movement.

Nobaya whirled quickly as he felt a presence near him, relaxing almost as quickly when he found Tomakaya at his side. Nobaya smiled Soua fashion leaning in to rest his forehead on hers. They separated momentarily, Nobaya looking at her then slowly turning his eyes back out into the night active forest.

"You wander away with heavy thoughts," Tomakaya stated turning her eyes out into the dark as well. He nodded before looking back out over the lower boughs of the tree.

There was no surprise in his response to her presence, Tomakaya would have felt his confusion. She was not nearly as adept in her telepathy as Gui'Yata, she was more empathic. The two of them had a special sort of connection, however, one that allowed her access to his thoughts and him to hers. Nobaya turned to face her, "I must ask you of Temasu."

"Temasu is fine," She said in an oddly happy tone.

"But I have not seen him. Is he not in the city?"

"No," She said, "He is not…" Nobaya's confused expression deepened, to which Tomakaya smiled crookedly, "I am sorry, my bondsman, for not telling you this when you first arrived. It seemed inappropriate to speak of happy news when so much ill had taken place here."

"Where is he?" Nobaya asked.

"Kayamoa accepted him for training," She smiled proudly now, "He left for a Pack Ship not two weeks ago."

Nobaya visibly swelled with pride, Kayamoa was the premier trainer at the moment, and he was the Quona of the ship Taya Quama out of Hosmara. That was high honor to have his only son accepted by such, "I am relieved." He said, "I was beginning to think that you kept a great tragedy from me."

"I would never do that to you, Nobaya."

The break of the night before was one of the few that they had for the next two days, all of their spare time was spent recovering bodies and what technology could be salvaged from the wreckage of their lives. Gerard had even stirred himself from his pity to bend to the task that was bigger than him, and obviously of importance to his new found colleagues. Courtney watched as he diligently worked trough the ash, single-mindedly intent on what he had been tasked with. She had given him an idea of what to look for, the dead of course, any kind of equipment that could be salvaged and by no means least to search out any clues as to whom might have been responsible.

Courtney watched Gerard work a moment longer finding herself squinting as in her mind a suspicion surfaced. Down deep she was sure that he understood what had happened here if not the scope of what it meant. She also suspected that he understood more of the language than he let on. He was an observer, watching intently on their trip back here anytime they did something or spoke or acted. He was feeling out the group, and she was unsure whether that was to find where he fit in here or for some ulterior motive that she could not even guess at.

Courtney shook off a chill that had nothing to do with the weather and looked back to the rubble at her feet. All told there had been seventy-five killed and 150 injured in the battle, no one had come away unscathed. Taysa was full of walking wounded, and their own small group was the only ones who were physically untouched. The more able bodied of them worked sentry duty or helped tend the more serious injuries or sifted through the rubble for the dead. It was back breaking, heart wrenching, mind-dulling work. They were exhausted, at once wanting to curl up and sleep and afraid to give up driven by the hope that someone else had survived the inferno. Even the crèche had been laid waste killing all but two of the future hunters there. Of the dead, thirty-five had been desecrated, their heads culled as "trophies". And in that event lay another mystery.

As Courtney shuffled through another pile of debris she heard Quona say in his usual calm tone, "It does not make sense," Courtney paused, gravitating back that direction, as she caught the tense undertone to his even words. He was standing in the middle of the dead that had been recovered. They wished to make a count of the dead before taking them into the forest for the death ceremony. Others of the Eesan were there already listening to what was being said, "There are no dead, nothing to show us who may have done this awful thing. I am no longer convinced that the evidence we were left can be believed. I do not believe that this was the work of any Soua. Even rogues only take from the strongest among the group. Twisted though their honor is, they still possess it. The trophies taken here are haphazard; the grade of the warrior is inconsistent." He continued as he pointed out certain bodies among the many to illustrate his point.

"As trophies they took a gravid Souata, a Saru not yet ready for the pack, an old growth tender, beyond his hunting rotations by fifty, all alongside the more prestigious trophies of the sentinels and some of our best hunters.

"There is also no evidence of pilferage, rogues would have taken foodstuffs, textiles, technology to replace what they can no longer service. Yet nothing was taken."

"The Ot Eesan then…or those who still believe we live outside the code," Gui'Yata said persisting in his thought from the night before.

Quona shook his head, "I do not wish to believe that. Those would not take trophies, they would leave our bodies to rot in dishonor rather than mount our heads on a wall," he shook his head repeating, "It makes no sense. This was done with no sense of honor, the code has been broken here beyond mending."

But still the doubts nagged at him, Courtney could see by the look of consternation on his face. She could see the question there, "What if," his face said, "What if the tide of truce had ebbed, and left them high on the land…easy targets, to be dishonored in the worst possible way?"

Had the truce been broken? Butterflies rose up in her stomach at the thought, she remembered all too well the last altercations between the cities. It had been a lot of bloody hell that she had been surprised to survive and she found that she really did not want to do that again. Suddenly he shook his head, "We will leave for Donona in the morning," He said meeting eyes with several of the gathered, "We will speak with them about the circumstances here, and we will find the answers. For now there is much to be done and it will not go away while we only look on it."

They worked long into the morning stacking the dead into carry nets and dragging them into the designated spot for the ceremony to take place at dawn, now only two hours away. It took everyone's help and all the yimhi's and vehicles they had to get the job done before the appointed time. It was a solemn moment for them all, watching as the bodies slowly disintegrated from the chemical they had been doused with as Quona chanted the prayer for the lost.

The rest of the day they spent cleaning up anything unusable hauling it far away to be buried under the overhang of a boulder. By nightfall it was finished, the only thing left on the platform was about twenty-five growths that were deemed healthy enough to survive. None of the communications equipment was in working order, it seemed the fire had severed the overland connection to the transmitter and was estimated to be several days in the repair. The gather stood out in the dark glowing slightly green in the darkening evening, the scars from the fight strangely black against its surface. Courtney was tired, extremely so, but she pushed herself to make one last set of rounds in the Soyara before calling it a night. Automatically she headed to Katasa's bunk first, but was taken aback when she did not see the Soua lying there. Again she had to remind herself that he had lost his battle with his injuries and had been one of the bodies they had committed to ash.

"Damn it," she said feeling again deeply the downside of being a Soyasa.

She finished her rounds quickly and slowly headed out the back entrance of the Gather. She stretched for long moments looking out toward the dark forest that surrounded what was left of their city. Her eyes moved over what she could see of the railed fence that surrounded the platform. Her heart leapt as she caught sight of something sitting on the edge of the platform. She slowly moved over as she recognized the shape.

Courtney found it be Gerard sitting with his legs dangling over one edge of the city's platform. He was looking out and down into the darkened forest all around them. She sat down next to him, silent and looking out at the dark herself, listening for a moment to the sounds of the forest, trying to drown out the moans that came from the Gather. She did not like to think of Soua possessing weakness, that was the one thing about being a Soyasa that bothered her, she saw the Soua at their weakest, because if she saw them at all they were in bad shape.

Finally she looked over at Gerard who was seemingly ignoring her, "You gonna jump or something?"

She watched trying not to laugh when he visibly jerked, realizing that he had not even been conscious of her presence. After a moment he settled, shaking his head, "No… I was just…watching…listening. This place is so different…from anything I've known."

Courtney pursed her lips suppressing her smile, "I felt the same when I first arrived at Donona," She looked at him shaking her head, "All I could think about was how could such an advanced race maintain such equilibrium with their surroundings? How did they prevent the destruction of their natural surroundings."

He looked back at her, "Yeah something like that." He said smiling with small quirk. He was now staring at her oddly.

She blinked trying to deny what she saw there, then she changed the subject looking away, "You really shouldn't be out here beyond the sentries. What ever force hit this place could still be out there, waiting to finish what they started."

"What did happen here?" Gerard asked.

"How much have you picked up on?" She asked testing his ability to at least understand the language.

"Not enough…what little I got was enough to scare me," he admitted, "I know that this is the city that you told me about, that it was a shock to find it in this condition, but beyond that…I didn't catch it." He paused looking away and licking his lips.

"They were overwhelmed by a force of greater numbers than those still here. You saw the results."

"Any ideas who did this?"

Courtney shook her head, "Could have been rogues…" she trailed off, as if she did not believe that, "It could have been the central government, or someone representing them. See…"

"These creatures are living outside the rules, or at least used to until they were 'pardoned' by the Central Government."

"You've been holding out," Courtney said gruffly, "You have picked up more than I thought." He smiled in a shy way that touched Courtney somehow, "Why didn't you say something?"

He shrugged now, "I guess I was hoping that this was a bad dream and I could just data dump all this crap when I woke up. I'm realizing now that it is not going to happen," he paused again swallowing hard, and Courtney felt a lump in her own throat at the lost look in his eyes, "I'm stuck, I'm stuck in a society of killers, with no hope of learning how to be like them. All I can really think of right now is going home."

Courtney nodded biting her lip, "I know you want to go, I know, but the Soua will not make a special trip just to drop you off. They are stubborn about combining trips within the same sector." she paused a moment, "You can learn, I know you can," Courtney said trying to buoy his spirit, "I did it. Believe me you do not want to be protected from the others for the rest of your life. You have to learn to stand on your own."

He shook his head, "I don't have your aptitude for this," And then he surprised her when he said, "And I refuse to run around in a loincloth for the rest of my days, socially acceptable or not." And then he laughed shortly. Courtney got a visual herself and could not help but laugh at the image.

She sobered, "I think we can work around that. Will you try though? You're beginning to worry me."

He turned to face her his brown eyes locking her own, "Courtney, I am still amazed by what you have accomplished here. Surviving in this society, even what little I have seen of it had to be tough, extremely so."

He reached out a hand to touch the scars on her cheeks, and then moved up to the one between her brow. Courtney closed her eyes and felt him trace a line softly down her nose with one finger. An electric shiver went through her at that touch, as the hand moved back to her scarred left cheek. "You have got to be one of the strongest women I have ever met in my life."

Courtney blinked suddenly and her body jerked slightly as a feeling totally foreign to her rose up from her still very human side. She found herself fighting that feeling. Gerard seemed to sense her confusion and dropped the contact. He rose slowly beside her self-conscious about his action rose beside her, smiled down in embarrassment and turned back toward the Gather. Courtney slowly stood and watched him go. She stood there motionless for long moments trying to calm her suddenly racing heart, and slow her breathing. That was a feeling that she had not felt in over a decade, something she had not felt since she had met her husband. That same physiological reaction, "No," she said sharply under her breath.

"Not again!" She growled, denying what she had felt, refusing to fall into that same trap again. That was how she had gotten hurt the last time that was how she had ended up being abused.

She looked up suddenly catching Gui'Yata looking at her, but before she could recover he nodded once and disappeared into the dark.