Chapter One: Retreats
Gui'Yata stood tensely on the boarding ramp, awaiting Raha's return. He had been disturbed to find that his bondsman was missing upon time for liftoff, which he had to subsequently postpone. More disturbing was the fact that he had found her in council with Eesan Lyonas, his grandfather. His mandibles clacked together in irritation. What had she found so important that she would stall their flight?
Raha had been withdrawn severely since returning from the Noa's dank and decrepit excuse for a city. He wondered yet again just why that was. He knew that something unspeakable had happened to her while in the Noa's company. He had seen enough depravity on the different worlds, to know that she had been treated unkindly by the Noa, and especially by the human, Thomas. Bothersome was the thought that she had been unwilling, or unable to share her troubles with him. Few secrets were kept from the other when it came to their pseudo-bonding, that she would feel this was one of them, was indeed painful.
It was, he felt, a lot to do with the fact that the other human had come into her life. His heavy, spike dotted orange and yellow mottled brows drew down at that thought. Courtney had found another to share some of her troubles with, taking away from that special relationship the human and the Soua shared. He shook his head, his fleshy hair rustling and clinking together with the motion. He knew he should be happy for her; he had given his blessing for her to pursue the relationship with that male. Yet he was unhappy to lose some of the special quality that had made their relationship truly unique. The short predator could almost call it jealousy.
Gui'Yata flexed one clawed and gloved hand as it began to tingle again. The damaged nerves in his left arm did this to him on occasion, most often when he was tense. He glanced down at his still weak arm, raising it slowly upward until it was about waist high. He frowned again, wondering if it would ever be normal. Allowing the arm to relax again at his side, he used his right hand to trace the jagged scar marring the orange and brown-flecked skin of his shoulder. The Noa bite was going to be bothersome for sometime to come.
He snorted, blowing air across his snakelike teeth as he thought about that particular scar. He was now being hailed as a hero, not just by Taysa's people, but also by many of the cities in this hemisphere. The fight for Taysa had come to represent a fight for the Soua way of life, and was already legendary. His part in it had raised his status considerably; they had even bequeathed him Quona of a ship! It was an honor bestowed upon him very early in his young life. But somehow, it held no comfort for him that the price of his new status would be to turn tail and run from the latest threats to the planet. Not only those threats the Noa posed in the continuing war, but those of his own people who were hungry for clusu-grapada.
The human found aiding and instigating the Noa into attacking the Soua cities and outposts had only damaged Courtney's standing among them. Now she was suspect, as was the human Gerard. No amount of talk was going to convince his people of the honorable and brave manner these two humans conducted themselves with. As far as they were concerned all of the humans would betray them to the Noa, and none would allow the two in his charge to live.
So they were forced to retreat. Gui'Yata's orders were to get the two off planet, and return them to their own. That was a bitter pill for him to swallow, because it meant ultimately that he would be losing Raha, forever.
"She has not returned?" He heard said softly in his ear.
Gui'Yata raised a brow, turning his head slightly toward the younger astrogator standing to one side and just behind him, "She is in council with Eesa Lyonas."
The silence did not hide the incredulity and anxiousness emanating off of Yalsa, "If she delays much longer we will miss our exit window."
"I am aware of this," Gui replied with an irritated growl, "She should not be too much longer."
Again it grated at him what she might be relaying to Lyonas without first consulting him. He crossed his arms over his thick chest to further illustrate how much this burr was bothering him. Yalsa was right, another ten minutes and they would have to postpone the flight for the following day. They could not just lift at anytime and expect to be headed the right direction through the solar system. It could be done, flying an orbit around the planet until they were going the right way, but it was time consuming, not to mention a strain on Quarta.
Time stretched out again Yalsa returning anxiously to the astrogator's room leaving him alone. Gui'Yata was on the verge of calling off the launch, when he saw Raha finally crossing the packed dirt, her form becoming steadily larger as she closed the distance with the ship.
She tromped up the ramp toward him, pausing only briefly to say in English, "Sorry about that, I'm ready," before whisking past him into the interior of the ship.
Gui'Yata checked the growl that was welling up in him, unable to explain why that short comment galled him so much. He hit the trigger for the ramp and door, turning from them before they had completely sealed, starting up for the navigation area. He projected ahead of him that all were aboard and that Yalsa could begin final preparations for lift.
He changed his mind about his destination as he neared the Nav room, heading instead for Courtney's quarters. The thought would not leave him alone, that she had excommunicated him from this news, and had not even had the courtesy of telling him afterwards what exactly was going on. It was so totally unlike Courtney to do this to him, and he was sure that was why it was such a priority right now to confront her on the issue. He wanted to know.
Stepping into the beam of infrared light that bathed the front door, he heard the low chime of announcement for the occupant. The rooms were well insulated, so Gui could not hear whether Courtney was in attendance, but he could feel her turmoiled thoughts from behind the sealed door.
After a moment the door swiftly opened and Courtney looked up at him with a bland face, "Hey, C'mon in." She said lightly, but the expression did not match the tone of her voice, "I figured you'd come find me."
He stepped in, arms dangling at his side, "You have been very secretive lately, Courtney."
She cleared her throat, "Yeah, well," And then fell silent before him.
Gui'Yata noticed something akin to pain cross her face a moment before she added, "have a seat Gui'."
He did as she asked, sitting on a low pad that adorned one corner of her room. She sat down just across from him, but would not meet his steadfast gaze, "You've been the hardest person to tell this to."
"And why is that? It is easier for you to speak with Gerard?" He wanted the tone to be very neutral, but sounded hurt even to his own ears. How unbecoming a Quona.
Her eyes locked onto his, "It is not that…I cannot tell him this, I will not tell him this, though he may have already guessed," She reverted to Sou, "It is only that I am expected to be strong, to show no weakness, and this last moon cycle has only made me feel insignificant…weak."
Gui'Yata straightened, anxiety bundling up behind his breastbone, "What did Thomas do to you, Raha?"
Her eyes widened, evidentially not expecting her bondsman to be that astute. Her eyes left his face and looked down at the floor. The ship rumbled underneath them as the engines came on line, but neither of them moved nor turned their attention to the sound. In fact it appeared that neither were aware of the change in their environment.
"He was…not kind to me," She started, her head turned to one side and down, "He…committed puomney many times, thinking it would get me to reveal what I know about Soua."
All four of mandibles came free of their neutral positions in Gui'Yata's disgust at what she had just said. Puomney…it meant forced himself upon…and it was something that rarely happened in his society. In earlier centuries it had become the norm to avoid puomney, just as a survival technique. Females were already larger and heavier than the males, and in the height of breeding were highly dangerous, to put it mildly. Only invited males were allowed to copulate with the breeding female, and to try and force sex on them often led to a messy death. That survival instinct had become so ingrained that it had become a crime of the highest form.
Gui'Yata thought again, unbidden, that the human race in general was a sick animal. He reprimanded himself for sliding into old attitudes after so long of knowing better.
"I would make him eat his own testicles," Gui'Yata vowed loudly, "I would kill him, were he not already dead."
Males, usually the young one with their hormones way too high were the ones to try stunts like puomney. Always they were caught, and if not killed outright by the female subjected to their base entertainment, they were…mutilated. This was to mean that their genitalia were violently removed. Afterwards, they were allowed to live for rotation in humiliation, at which time they committed grapada. Most threw themselves on their swords long before that, unable to stand the scorn or the thought that they would never contribute to the furthering of Soua society.
She finally looked up at him, and Gui could see the heat rise in her face as she gratefully smiled at him, "You don't…revile me now?"
"What was done was not your fault," Gui'Yata said sincerely, "It is not the way of this society to shun the receiver of an act such as puomney."
He watched her sigh heavily; "I am so relieved, because I thought you would reject me."
He shook his head in the negative, "Never."
Silence fell between them and a part of Gui'Yata noticed that the vibrations of the ship had smoothed into a steady and easy rhythm, "Is that what you spoke with the Eesa about?"
Her eyes widened again, "That was another issue entirely. I needed to relay to someone who was remaining here on Soona the news that I learned while in the Noa's custody."
A brow ridge raised over his inhuman eyes. It was a silent question, and again Courtney looked uncomfortable. She was spared explanation when the ship requested Gui'Yata's presence in the Navigation room.
