Fast update! To answer some of your questions, Celia will not be back until much later in the story, back on Earth. I just put 'hitchhikers' in to mislead you. :) Evil me. Enjoy and review!
Ki'cti-pa-wristblades
Paya- A term of respect or conquering warrior
Thwei-Blood
Tjau'ke-Stone
Pauk-Fuck
Pauk-de-Fucker or fucking
C'jit-Damn
Ooman-Human
Nok-Thirteen inch unit of measurement
Naxa-A type of fruit
Chapter 7
The ooman stood frozen in mute terror, gaping at a new Yautja. Guan-Thwei growled in exasperation and shrugged apologetically at the female who was currently glaring suspiciously at them.
"I am sorry, Paya M'yin-de. He has never really seen another Yautja besides me and Nihkou'te. Let me speak to him." Guan-Thwei dragged Matt out of the room and into the hall.
"M'AAT-HEW!" hissed Guan-Thwei "That is a highly respected female! Never treat any Elder like that if you want to live! You are now my eta and how you act reflects me! You dishonor me! Apologize to M'yin-de now! And call her Paya, that is a term of respect!" Matt stuttered an answer,
"H-holy shit! You didn't tell me how big the females were! She's like, nine feet tall!" Guan-Thwei growled,
"Pauk, M'aat-hew! Just do as I say!" Matt was propelled back into the room again. The female was leaned back in her chair, clawed feet on a table. Her dreadlocks were dark grey and very long. Her skin was golden brown, freckled with darker brown. She had many scars and a mechanical right hand.
"I'm s-sorry for my disrespect, Paya M'yin-de." M'yin-de grunted and stood up. Taking a length of knotted cord, she began taking measurements of Matt. She muttered something about "noks" to herself as she worked. Then M'yin-de disappeared into a back room. Several minutes later she reappeared with several pieces of leather.
"Strip." she commanded. Matt started to protest, but was silenced with twin glares from the two warriors. Turning crimson with embarrassment, he removed his clothes and put on the new ones provided. It was about as much as he wore swimming. There was a leather cup thing which was covered by a scaled loin cloth, a thick leather belt studded with metal and hung with a few pouches, and thin leather sandals. Lastly, he pulled on fingerless gloves. They were like Guan-Thwei's; and were only really an anchor for small metal studs on the knuckles. Matt felt very skinny, weak and pale compared to the heavily muscled, yellow-skinned Yautja.
"Thank you, Paya M'yin-de." he mumbled. The female raised a brow ridge and inclined her head slightly. Guan-Thwei talked with her for a while then they left.
…..
Guan-Thwei grinned to himself, seeing the young ooman rubbing at his arms self-consciously.
"Feeling cooler now?" he inquired.
"Yeah. Um…If M'yin-de is so respected, then how come she's making clothes?"
"M'yin-de does not just make clothes; she also makes fine suits of netting and armor. When warriors age or become too badly injured to hunt, they aid other warriors by making things they need, providing services or teaching them. If they have nothing to offer, then they become etas. They don't like doing that though because they will have nothing. Some pilot ships or become Arbitrators. Arbitrators hunt down Badbloods and make sure that Yautja listen to the honor code."
"So they're kind of like your version of cops, right?"
"Yes." They entered another room. This one had weapons hanging on the walls, leaning in corners and lying on tables. A rack was covered in helmet designs. One table was entirely covered in weapons parts. A male Yautja was growling and muttering to himself while fiddling with some small tools and wires. "Thwei-Tjau'ke…" The Yautja looked up and again the two Yautja chattered away in Yautian. Thwei-Tjau'ke gripped a spear and leaned on it while getting up. Matt's stomach clenched; the young Yautja was missing a leg and had a mass of scar tissue covering the left side of his torso. Despite the horrible old wounds, he moved easily on his prosthetic limb. Thwei-Tjau'ke grabbed some spare parts off the table and held them up to Matt's right forearm, discarding them until he came to a smaller one. The crippled Yautja nodded to himself and clicked his mandibles. He wandered back to his table and started working on the new piece. They left then.
…..
"What happened to him?" questioned the ooman. Guan-Thwei sighed mentally.
"Thwei-Tjau'ke was wounded on an early kainde amedha hunt. He was pinned under a dying kainde amedha and the blood destroyed most of his leg. He is young and did not have much status, and so would have become an eta if he was not so good with machines. He has improved many parts of our helmets. I am getting him to make you ki'cti-pa."
"What?"
"These." he replied smoothly. He shot out the blades on his wrist.
"Wow! Are you teaching me to become a warrior?" He almost moaned. The c'jit ooman asked so many pauk-de questions!
"Maybe. At first I will teach you unarmed combat. When you can speak and read Yautian, I will think about it. If the Elders object, I will not. Understand?"
"I understand." The two rounded another corner and he grinned as Matt wrinkled his nose at the smell of the kitchens. Guan-Thwei selected several naxa and some other fruit, handing them to Matt. He pondered over the meat; the hard part was finding some that wouldn't make Matt sick. Guan-Thwei finally chose some and then indicated for Matt to head for his chambers.
Matt wrinkled his nose and gingerly picked up a slab of faintly blue tinged meat. He felt the warrior's eyes on him, impatiently waiting; so in order not to look any weaker than he already did, he bit into it. Its texture was similar to beef, but it didn't taste like anything like it. The meat tasted slightly like pork and something else. Matt decided that it was not as bad as he thought and continued to eat. Guan-Thwei happily ate it, so it could not be poisonous, could it? After all, Yautja ate meat from animals that had acid for blood… But Guan-Thwei would not hurt him, he trusted him.
…..
A short while later, when they had finished, Guan-Thwei began collecting some of his weapons.
"Where are you going?" asked Matt.
"To train." replied the Yautja warrior, clicking his mandibles in exasperation.
"But it's getting late!"
"No. Yautian days are longer than ooman days. Take a nap while I'm out. You start learning Yautian when I get back." The warrior hurried out before Matt could ask any more questions.
