Chapter 26: Family Values.
Jack came out of his trance and shook his head to clear the fogginess away, the first thing he saw was Tik's concerned face looking right at him, "Well? Did the spirits help? Do you know where they are?" she asked in rapid fire mode, he smiled at her broadly which surprised her,
"What?" she asked,
"They're where we started out" he said, this instantly confused Tik and she frowned,
"Where we started out?" she asked and Jack nodded,
"Yeah they're on the planet where we first met, where the bad bloods were hunting us….." he said. before he had chance to finish, Tik was at the controls of the ship and began plotting a course back to the planet where this had all started, "And there's more" Jack said stepping up next to her, she glanced at him expectantly while she worked, "It turns out that Ryan is a Dream Warrior too" he said. Tik's hands froze at the controls and she turned to look at him slowly, "I spoke to him Tik, I spoke to our son in the spirit world" he said placing his hands on her broad shoulders, her eyes looked up at him questioningly and he instantly knew what she needed to know, so he began to explain what he'd seen and what Ryan had said.
As he explained Tik's face went through a full range of emotions, from rage that the bad bloods were still hunting her family, to relief that her son was ok, to confusion that he'd met a girl there of all places. This manifested itself as both happiness before turning Tik eleth into full on momma bear mode as she grumbled things like that if the girl broke her son's heart she'd tear hers out and show it to her.
Then she turned and looked at her beloved Ack, "What about Sela eleth?" she asked, he shook his head,
"Nothing yet, but I'm willing to bet that where we find one we'll find the other, you know those two nothing can separate them for long. They always had that ability to know when the other needed help and where they were even when they were little kids." he said smiling, this caused Tik eleth to smile as she remembered some of the mischief their two little miracles managed to get themselves into when they were young. Like when he was six cycles old, Ryan had picked a fight with a Whelp beast which was like a cross between a large dog and a goat. All horns and a vicious temper, Sela eleth had instantly known about it and took off out of the house like a plasma bolt to rescue her brother with her father in tow.
Though when they'd found him, Ack had nearly torn the Whelp's head clean off with his bare hands for hurting his son. Though the Whelp had been lucky he'd gotten there first and not her because she'd have torn it in half for injuring her precious offspring. She looked up into the eyes of her beloved ooman mate and he smiled at her, "We're going to get them back my love and when we do we're going extract a price in blood for every injury they've suffered and we're going to put a stop to this once and for all" he said, she took his hands and growled in agreement. Ack had always known how she felt and what to say to her and when, even before his Dream Warrior side had awoken. Since he had become a Dream Warrior, he always knew what she was thinking and feeling and sometimes it was downright creepy, but she wouldn't have changed a single thing about him.
The only thing she was working on changing was his life span, as Yaujta live a lot longer than oomans and there was no way she was going to accept going the rest of her life without him by her side as he was irreplaceable. "There's also one other thing I think you should know my love" Ack said suddenly, she looked into his sapphire blue eyes questioningly,
"The girl that Ryan has met, she's Shadow Claw clan" he said, Tik eleth's eyes widened as this news hit her, suddenly she felt like she'd been full on punched. The thought of having to deal with her old clan was not a pleasant one.
"Do you even know where we're going?" Shena asked as pushed a branch out of her way, Ryan turned back to look at her,
"Not a clue, but I can see a trail through these trees like it's lit up for me" he said pointing,
"What do you mean?" she asked not understanding, Ryan pointed to the trail ahead of them,
"Well do you see there where that trail intersects with three others?" he asked, Shena looked where he was pointing and nodded,
"Yeah what about it?" she asked,
"Well I can see this trail, it's like a grey smoke along one of the paths, it's like it's telling to go this way" he said sweeping his hand over it tracing the trail with his finger, Shena tried to look where he was pointing, but she saw nothing but grass and dirt.
"I don't see anything, do you think it's something to do with you being a Dream Warrior?" she asked, he shrugged his shoulders,
"No idea, I really don't know much about this whole Dream Warrior thing except for the fact that my father is one and he seems to see things that aren't really there and they guide him. I never really knew what it meant before, but when I was unconscious I was sent into a place that had nothing but white and I saw him there" he said,
"You saw your father?" Shena asked sounding surprised, Ryan nodded as they turned and continued on the path,
"Yeah it was he that awoke this ability that I now have, he also told me some of what I can do" he said, Shena looked at him with interest now,
"So what can you do?" she asked.
"Well I'm by no means an expert on this obviously, but it appears I can see someone's allegiance by seeing an aura that surrounds them, the lighter the color the better" he said,
"Aura?" Shena asked, Ryan nodded,
"It's like a fire that surrounds you and the color denotes how good of a person you are" he said. She looked at him curiously,
"Do you see that when you look at me?" she asked, he didn't answer just nodded, "What color is it?" she asked,
"White" he said without even hesitating. She cocked her head to one side,
"Is that good?" she asked, he nodded,
"The lighter the color the purer of heart you are apparently" he replied.
"So you're saying there's a white fire surrounding me right now?" she asked looking at herself, Ryan nodded,
"It swirls all around you like an inferno" he said looking at her properly now, suddenly she felt rather shy being under his eyes, but it wasn't unpleasant. She actually kinda liked it when he looked at her, then she shook her head to clear those thoughts out.
"So what else can you do?" she asked quickly to make him talk some more so she didn't have to think,
"Well apparently it also allows me to see into a person's heart and to see their life although I have no idea how that works" he said, this made her freeze for a second,
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well it's kinda hard to explain, but like when I was in the spirit place with my father and he awoke whatever it was that was dormant inside me that makes me a Dream Warrior. I saw his entire life like I was there living it, I felt what he felt and saw what he saw… even things I really didn't want to see" he said,
"Like what?" Shena asked curiously, Ryan suddenly looked all embarrassed and quickly mumbled something before quickening his pace, "Sorry I didn't catch that?" she said, smiling behind her mask at how his face seemed to flush red when he was embarrassed which she figured must be something to do with the ooman in him. It was rather a pretty color, he sighed heavily,
"I saw him mating with my matriarch" he said in a heavy voice, that stopped dead Shena dead in her tracks as she realized what he'd just said, now she felt embarrassed for him.
"Oh… Wow, yeah I can see why that must have been awkward" she said, he hung his head and rolled his shoulders.
"You have no idea trust me" he said trying to block the images from returning, then a thought suddenly hit Shena hard.
"Wait a moment you can see into a person's heart and know what their thinking and feeling!?" she exclaimed with a sudden flash of both embarrassment and fear in her voice, he stopped and looked at her curiously.
"Yeah so?" he asked,
"D-D-D-Does that mean you've seen inside me too?" she asked, he shook his head,
"No, like I said at the beginning I'm not sure how that works. It's not like I get a constant update or can read your mind or anything, from how my father triggered it I thing it requires physical contact and a lot of focus to fire it up. Him using it on me seemed to trigger my own abilities, so right now I really don't have a clue how it works properly and I don't think I will until I use it for myself for the first time" he said.
Shena breathed a rather visible sigh of relief, for a moment she'd been terrified that Ryan had been able to look into her heart and had seen how she felt about him. Because right now these feelings were confusing the hell out of her, not to mention angering her. One part of her brain kept pointing out how attractive and good looking he was, it was like a constantly updating list of his good points. Like his amazing eyes, his exotic looks, his strong muscular frame, his hunting prowess, his fearlessness, his dedication to the ways of honor, the list went on and on. The other side of her mind was screaming that he was an abomination, a half blood and that his very existence was a crime against nature. It also pointed out the fact that she could be put to death for just associating with him, but then the other part of her mind would chime in and say that it wasn't his fault that he was born. It wasn't like he asked to be born a half-breed or for any of this, that he was just trying to do the best he could with what he had. So far he seemed to be doing a rather good job considering, then the other part of her mind screamed at her for defending him and this was met with a counter argument of why not? He'd defended her, she'd never felt so confused and lost in her life, but she was rather glad that he couldn't just peer into her mind and see all this whenever he wanted. The thought of someone being able to take a stroll through your thoughts and feeling whenever they wanted was rather terrifying.
"It does seem to give me a rather large boost while in combat too, it's kinda like everything slows down and I can see what going to happen before it does. Like I can see the moves my opponent is making and have time to be able to counter them in advance" Ryan was saying, his voice snapped Shena back to reality and she thought on this for a moment,
"So that's how you were able to beat the bad blood so easily?" she asked. He nodded,
"I think so, it was like everything slowed down to a crawl and I could see what he was going to do so I was able to act accordingly" he replied. Shena clicked her mandibles thoughtfully,
"Now that does sound useful" she said, he nodded,
"But I don't think it's without its price" he replied, she looked at him curiously,
"What price?" she asked with concern in her voice which made him smile under his mask.
"I feel physically drained, like I've burned myself out by running a full-on hunt with no sleep or something, everything just feels spectacularly laggy" he replied. This concerned Shena greatly as if he wasn't combat ready he could wind up being a hindrance rather than a help, plus she also found herself being concerned for his wellbeing.
"Why didn't you say something earlier!? We've been walking through this jungle for hours and we haven't taken a rest!" she exclaimed catching hold of his arm,
"I'll be fine, I've dealt with tired many times, you ought to try going on a long-distance hunt with my matriarch when she's hot on the heels of her prey. She just doesn't stop, so I'll be fine, plus it's getting dark and we need shelter so we don't have time to rest" he replied.
"But….." Shena started but Ryan stopped her,
"Look I appreciate the concern but I'll be fine, now let's see where this trail leads us" Ryan said and with that they continued following that path laid out for them that only he could see.
As she lay on the old bed Sela eleth flipped through the pages of her matriarch's diary, it made for pretty fascinating reading. The poems that she'd read had really surprised her as she'd never pictured her matriarch as a poet, but surprisingly they were rather good. The more she read the more she felt that she got to know her matriarch, it was really deep stuff and at some parts it was rather graphic especially when she'd been describing her feelings for her beloved Jack.
Sela was surprised at how quickly the transformation had occurred, from devout follower and believer in the Yautja way to what she herself had described as a deviant. Which is what she'd called herself when she'd been outlining how her own people would see her for what she'd done by falling in love with an ooman. But the depth of her matriarch's feelings for her father couldn't be denied and it touched Sela eleth's heart to know just how deeply and completely her love for him had consumed her heart. She made loads of references to just how females of her species could benefit from knowing ooman love the way she did. She described the sheer power of it and the way that it drove them from being a 'Dumb prey' species into a full on force of nature. She told the story of how Jack had saved her from the kiande amedha, and had performed actions that should have been impossible for him, but he'd done them all the same and had saved her life. Then the text followed her decent into her love for him and she vividly described her sexual activity with her beloved Jack which made Sela eleth flush bright red as she read the words that graphically described what they done for one another. But for some reason she couldn't look away and felt compelled to read each and every word. Once she was done she found herself feeling rather hot and bothered by it, she sat there on the bed with some rather vivid imagery in her head that she was trying to chase out. She knew that her parents had a healthy and active love life as she'd heard them more than once, well at some points she was pretty sure that every living thing on their home planet had heard her matriarch as she wasn't exactly quiet. Then suddenly she heard movement from outside and it snapped her back into reality, suddenly the large wooden piece that was securing the doorway began to move and she instantly dropped into a fighting stance and prepared to defend herself.
A shape entered the cave and looked around, instantly Sela eleth sprang at it with her wrist blades extended trying to get the killing blow in early while her target was off guard. Much to her surprise her target turned in a split second and moved like nothing she'd ever seen, the sheer speed was unbelievable and she felt herself being caught in midair and her own weight being used to spin her and throw her back into the cave. By pure reflex she grabbed hold of whatever it was that had thrown her and her weight pulled it over and down on top of her, she kicked and snarled trying to fight loose and tried to stab into it with her wrist blade but whatever it was had hold of her wrists. Suddenly she saw another shape entering the cave at a run and dropped into a fighting stance and came right at her to engage, suddenly a very familiar voice roared "STOP!" from under her. The second shape screeched to a halt right next to her, she looked down at the shape under her and was greeted by a very familiar shape of a Yaujta hunting mask very close to her own, "Sela eleth! Is that you!?" the voice asked. Then it struck her like a kick to the heart, the shape she'd been about to try and stab to death was none other than her own beloved brother Ryan.
"R-R-R-Ryan is that you!?" Sela eleth stammered looking at the mask, it moved in a nodding motion,
"It's me my beloved sister" he said in an emotional sounding voice, quick as a flash she retracted her wrist blades and threw her arms around her brother's neck,
"Thank the goddess you're ok" she said with a cracking voice as she fought back tears of joy at being reunited with her brother. Slowly she got off him and helped him up to his feet,
"How did you find me? Are father and our matriarch with you?" she asked rapidly looking around until she spotted the other shape and then stopped, "Who's this?" she asked looking at her curiously.
"I am Shena Black Crest unblooded huntress of the shadow Claw clan, it is good to meet you" the stranger said pressing her fist to her chest in a traditional Yautja greeting. Sela did the same,
"I am Sela eleth unblooded huntress of the clan Mason" she replied,
"You are Ryan's sister then I assume?" Shena asked, Sela nodded. She looked at her brother who was looking around the cave in awe,
"What's going on here Ryan?" she asked her brother, he turned to her but before he could speak he suddenly started to collapse. In a split second both Sela and Shena were at his sides catching hold of an arm each with a united cry of "Ryan!" as they steadied him, he shook his head,
"Sorry must be more drained than I thought" he said,
"You need to rest" Shena said and with the help of Sela guided him over to the massive bed and sat him down. Sela looked at them curiously,
"What's going on Ryan?" she asked again as she looked from the new comer to her brother, he looked up at her smiled under his mask,
"Where to begin? This is gonna be a rather interesting story" he said,
"Well I'm not going anywhere" Sela said defiantly, her brother sighed and slowly began to bring her up to speed.