Chapter 27: The Next Generation.
Sela eleth sat there in a stunned silence as she listened to her brother recount what had happened to him since arriving here, at parts Shena interjected and added bits and pieces from her own perspective. She vividly described the battle between Ryan and the bad blood who had captured her, Sela noted what sounded like awe in her voice as she described the speed at which her brother had moved and the power he had displayed.
Pretty soon Ryan was done with his story and he turned to Sela, she looked completely stunned at the revelation that her own brother was a Dream Warrior like her father. Little did either of them know but the odds of such a thing was astronomical. A fact that was not lost on Shena however, who was at this moment watching the twins with interest.
"So what about you sister? Have you learned anything?" Ryan asked, his voice snapped Sela out of her stupor as she went over it all in her head. She looked at him and nodded,
"Yeah, I know the face of the one who brought us here and why" she said, this stunned both Ryan and Shena.
"Who!? Who did this to us!?" Shena asked with obvious anger in her voice, Sela shrugged her slender shoulders,
"I don't know her name but I'll be damned if I forget her face, one seriously ugly female Yautja. Looks like she took a fifty to the face and lived, she was the Matriarch of the bad blood clan that runs this place. They took my brother and myself so they can hunt us and kill us so they can get back at our parents who destroyed their clan ship before we were born." Sela said, Shena looked thoughtful at this. Then Ryan piped up,
"Well that explains why they took us, but why did they take you?" he said looking at Shena, she shrugged her shoulders,
"I don't know for certain, but I have a theory" she said. Ryan and Sela both cocked their heads in the same direction at the same time, seeing how synced up the twins were made her smile. She sighed heavily, they'd been good enough to tell their stories so it was only honorable that she tell them hers. She moved over to the end of the massive bed that Ryan was laid on and sat down, then she began to tell them her story.
It turned out that Shena had been another planet with her uncle, he'd been taking her on her first hunt as her parents were busy with clan business. They'd been in the process of stalking a Rexnor lizard when they'd been ambushed by bad bloods. The mixture of sadness and pride was obvious in her voice when she described the way her uncle had thrown himself at the bad bloods while telling her to run and save herself. He'd apparently managed to take down at least four of them before they'd managed to take him down. Unwilling to run from them, Shena had stood and fought with her uncle and had managed to take down one of them before they hit her with knock out darts. The next thing she remembered was waking up in free fall towards this planet, she'd been trying to survive on her own ever since, that was a month ago.
Ryan reached out and patted her on the shoulder plate, "Your uncle sounds like an honorable man, he fought bravely and no-one can ask for a better death than defending the ones they love." he said, his words surprised Shena and she smiled at him. This interesting half breed really did understand the ways of honor, but as she looked at him she found herself starting to gaze into his mesmerizing purple eyes. She quickly gave herself a mental slap as she felt her heart begin to pound in her chest,
"So, what is this place anyway?" she said quickly getting up from the bed letting Ryan's hand fall from her shoulder plate, Sela noticed this reaction and smiled inwardly. It didn't take a Dream Warrior to notice the embarrassment in Shena's voice and she could only guess as to the cause,
"It's our matriarch's old hide when she was stuck here" Sela said proudly, Shena spun around so quickly her dread locks whipped around her which Sela noticed made her brother's eyes widen as he watched her.
"This was where Tik eleth survived this place!?" Shena said in a surprised voice. Sela cocked her head to one side,
"You know of our matriarch!?" she said sounding surprised,
"Ryan told me of her" Shena said quickly, Sela noticed the hesitance in her voice,
"That's not it, you know more about her don't you!?" she challenged looking at Shena, who was now standing holding her right arm with her left hand behind her back while twisting her foot in the dirt like a child being scolded. Then she nodded, this surprised even Ryan.
"What do you know?" Sela growled menacingly, thinking that Shena was hiding something from them. Shena looked at them with a worried expression on her face, she watched Ryan sit up from his laid position and focus his attention fully on her. She could feel his purple eyes boring into her. Shena really didn't want to anger her new allies so with a heavy sigh she pointed at the head board of the bed, both Sela and Ryan turned their attentions to it and looked at the large piece of wood. It had been placed at the top of the bed to prevent the make shift mattress from falling off, and to prevent the occupant banging their head on the stone wall. The first thing both of them noticed were the large claw marks all over it, both of them realized that they must have been made by their matriarch during some rather vigorous activity with their father which caused them both to blush bright red. As they did this, Shena noticed both their faces change color and this caused her to stop pointing and to watch them in utter fascination. No Yaujta could change color! But both of these two could, and she had to admit the red color really highlighted Ryan's eyes.
Another mental slap later Shena pointed again, "Not the marks the carving" she said. The twin's eyes followed her pointing finger to the center of the head board, both of them noticed a small carving that looked very familiar. Then Sela's eyes widened, "That's the crest that's on our matriarch's head right next to the Mason crest." she exclaimed, then Ryan's eyes widened as he suddenly realized where he'd seen this crest recently. His attention snapped back to Shena and low and behold in bright white ink there it was, tattooed to her head. Shena nodded as she realized he knew what this meant,
"I'm from your Matriarch's old clan" she said quietly and both the twin's mandibles dropped open.
The twins spent the next hour by barraging Shena with questions about their Matriarch's old clan and what it was like, she did her best to answer all their questions and she was quite happy to talk about her clan. Both of them could hear the pride in her voice, but something began to bug Sela eleth, some of her answers mirrored what was written in her Matriarch's diary. Things like not being taken seriously if you were shorter than 'normal' females, it was only at that point that she realized that Shena was the same size as they were. Which wasn't right considering she was a pure blood Yaujta, their ooman genes meant that they were smaller than the pure bloods. But Shena was the same size they were, this must mean that she had the same problems her Matriarch had faced being shorter than her peers. She also noticed that when she was talking she kept glancing at Ryan to see if he was watching her. This actually made her smile as she could also see her reaction every time their eyes met and when she looked away, it was obvious that she'd taken a liking to him. But she seemed to be wrestling with this and guessed that it had something to do with him being a half breed and her being pure blood. From reading her Matriarch's words she knew how deep prejudice ran in Yaujta society, she almost laughed at the irony of her fighting her own prejudice towards Ryan in her mind the same way her Matriarch had fought hers over liking her father.
After Shena was done, both Sela eleth and Ryan felt like they had a much better understanding about Yaujta society and what their Matriarch had gone through before meeting their father. Sela noticed her brother looked absolutely drained, "Get some sleep brother you look like you need it." she said, he didn't say anything, just nodded. He moved over into the corner of the bed so that he didn't take up the whole thing, there was easily room for all three of them in this thing. No sooner had his head touched the make shift pillow than he was fast asleep, Shena found herself smiling at this. Sela noticed her watching him, "He share's that with our Matriarch, our father says she could sleep on a bed of nails." she said, Shena looked first embarrassed that she'd been caught looking by his sister, then confused,
"Why would anyone want to sleep on a bed of nails?" she asked, Sela shrugged her shoulders,
"Must be an ooman thing" she said. Then for some reason both of them burst out laughing and before they knew it they were both rolling up, it was a mixture of relief and happiness that drove them both. Relief that they were not alone anymore, and happiness that now they stood a chance of being reunited with their loved ones. Once they'd finished laughing and had dried their eyes, Sela turned to look at Shena and found her looking at her sleeping brother again. She smiled at her, "You like him, don't you?" she asked. The words startled Shena,
"N-N-N-No, what makes you say something like that!?" she exclaimed embarrassment painted all over her face, Sela smiled at her slyly,
"Because I don't need to be a Dream Warrior to see what your eyes say, just female" she replied. Shena didn't reply at first just looked incredibly embarrassed that Sela had seen through her so easily,
"He fascinates me, and not just because he's a Dream Warrior, I called him some vile horrible things when I first found out what he was and ran away from him. But he still came after me and saved me from that bad blood who was going to rape me, watching him fight for me after I did to him. It made me start thinking that some of the things I've been taught might be wrong, I mean I've always been taught that true Yaujta are pure and even thinking about being with another species is a foul crime. But here's a half blood male who fought for me even after what I did, for no other reason than to defend my honor. He understands honor better than me and I'm a pure blood" she said in a very quiet voice with a look of pained confusion written all over her face, Sela eleth stood up and dusted herself off. Then she moved towards Shena and placed a hand on her shoulder. She held out something to Shena who looked at the book in confusion, "This might help you to understand him and maybe even yourself" she said smiling. Then she turned towards the doorway, Shena instantly turned to look at her,
"Where are you going?" she asked, Sela eleth clipped her hunting mask on,
"Hunting, we're going to need some food" she said. Shena made to get up to join her but Sela eleth held up a hand, "I got this, you two need some rest after the day you've had, so just catch up on your reading and do me a favor by keeping an eye on my brother. If he wakes up he's gonna want to go charging off after me when he finds out I'm gone, and someone needs to stop him" she said. Shena smiled at Sela,
"Ok" she said, Sela eleth nodded and headed out of the doorway before moving the wood back into the doorway. Shena took a look at the book in her hand, then at the massive bed. Ryan was up against the wall on the far left so there was plenty of room on the thing for her to sit down. And it didn't make sense for her to sit on the floor when there was a perfectly good bed now did it? So, she climbed onto the bed, sat down next to the sleeping Ryan, opened the book and began to read.
Sela eleth smiled as she strolled through the forest, following the directions that her Matriarch had written in her diary, towards the pond that the things her matriarch called shimmer lizards lived. She was thinking about what her Matriarch had written in that diary and what sort of effect it was going to have on Shena when she read it. She felt a little embarrassed knowing that Shena was about to read her Matriarch's most intimate thoughts and observations about things like making love with her father and how absolutely incredible it had been. But it had been a paragraph right towards the end that had made her give it to her, where she'd mentioned that she wished she could give this diary to another female Yautja and let her read it, then maybe she'd understand that there was another way and what the depths of true love were really like. She even joked that it might start a revolution amongst Yaujta females, or it might start a spate of abductions from the ooman home world by love hungry Yaujta females eager to test out ooman love for themselves. But she'd hoped that her words would somehow reach at least one female and touch her in a way where she might just question her beliefs enough to be brave enough to try it. Sela eleth had seen this potential in Shena, given the females obvious blooming feelings for her brother and the also obvious conflict in her mind as the Yaujta discipline tried to reassert itself. This book would most likely be enough to tip her over the edge, "Mission accomplished mom" Sela eleth said using the ooman reference for her Matriarch while smiling to herself.
Shena Black Crest was enraptured as she read the written thoughts and feelings of Tik eleth as she'd lived alone on this planet, she felt her pain and her loneliness in her words as she read. She smiled as she read the poetry that had been written, and she had to admit that Tik eleth was a rather good poet for someone who wasn't a scribe. Then the diary's theme seemed to change drastically as she started to write about this ooman warrior that she'd seen, it detailed her stalking him and then watching him as he single handedly took down a giant lizard that easily could have destroyed half the jungle if it had wanted. Her admiration for this ooman was obvious in her language, then it went on to detail her interactions with him as they fought the Calibri wolves together. It detailed how he seemed to fully understand the ways of honor and had paid her compliments, which had meant a lot coming from a warrior of his obvious status.
As she read on Shena could see Tik eleth wrestling with her conscious as she tried to fight off her growing feelings of attraction to this ooman male. Then the details of the battle between them and the kiande amedha and how he'd fought for her and had claimed his love for her in a loud and proud voice, before rescuing her and dragging her out of there and healing her wounds despite the feat being physically impossible for him. Somehow, his love for her had powered him to do the impossible and now her resolve had crumbled, she knew that she was madly in love with him and she was preparing to tell him.
Shena was transfixed as she read the details of Tik eleth's confession of her feelings to her Ack and how he'd accepted them and given her his… As well as the amazing pleasure he'd given her that night, she detailed the feeling of joy that she'd never experienced in her life because of this beautiful male whom she loved with all of her heart. The next few parts described not only their battles with the kiande amedha queen, but it also graphically detailed the first time they'd mated, or made love as oomans called it. Tik eleth left no details out when describing the sheer joy, pleasure, and heart and mind melting love she'd experienced at the hands of this amazing alien male. It also detailed her sadness that it had taken a male of a completely different species to show her what true love was and what it could accomplish. She felt truly sad that it took a member of another species to show her this, and how much of her life she'd wasted on members of her own species. When all this time her heart had been with another race. It also detailed how sad she felt that her prejudice had nearly stopped her from experiencing the sheer blissful joy and happiness, as well as how happy she was that she'd overcome this and had let it go. It also described how happy she felt in the arms of her ooman mate, and how she'd burn the entire universe to protect him and show him how much she returned his unconditional love for her.
Shena closed the book and sat there in a total stupor, the words of Tik eleth were still rattling around in her head. One part of her felt flushed and hot under the collar at the vivid descriptions of the mating between them, it sounded like a thing of sheer beauty and wonderment that she would never get to experience with one of her own kind. But at the same time her words on the feelings of anger and distain she'd felt at the hands of her own kind perfectly mirrored Shena's own feelings, right up until this point they had been buried in her mind, but they'd always been there. Tik eleth's experiences had also been her own, she herself was considered small by Yaujta standards and she had received the exactly the same treatment at the hands of her peers back on the clan ship. Males wouldn't even look at her because she was small and females looked at her with disdain and dislike, that's if they chose to look at her at all. Mostly they just ignored her and pretended she wasn't even there.
This meant that Shena had to work twice as hard as everyone else to even get noticed, and even then it was barely an acknowledgement, more of a pity thing. 'Look at the dwarf trying to achieve normal people things' was one infuriating comment that stuck out in her mind. They'd deliberately gone out of their way to give her the tasks that would be harder for her to achieve because of her size, but she had triumphed every single time. But it was to no avail as she had still gained no respect or honor from her peers.
Shena Black Crest laid down on her back and stared up at the cave celling as the words of the diary bounced around in her head, then one thing stuck out and she glanced to her right at the sleeping form of Ryan. He had not treated her in that way at all, in fact he had been nothing but kind and honorable to her since he'd met her despite the way she'd treated him. Did that mean that Tik eleth was right? Were there far greater things outside of her clan? Had she been looking for respect in the wrong place all this time?
These were only a few of the hundreds of questions swirling round in her head as she felt her eye lids getting heavier and heavier, before she knew it she had fallen into sleep herself.
Sela eleth had been relatively successful on her hunt, she'd managed to find the pond that her Matriarch had described in her diary and lo and behold it had been swarming with those shimmer lizards. Finding the pond had been the easy part, catching the lizards had been the hard part as they were damn fast and had a tendency to scatter when she struck at one of them. But she'd managed to get three of them, that should be enough meat for the them. As she walked back to the cave, she wondered how her brother's new friend was getting on with her matriarch's diary, it made her smile as she thought about her brother possibly finding love in a place like this. Plus, the irony of this being the exact same place and circumstances that their parents had found each other, here they were fourteen years later and now it was happening to them. Though she had to wonder where her hunky human was hiding?
As Sela eleth opened the cave silently to avoid waking her brother up, the sight that she saw upon entering made her mandibles drop open before breaking into a massive smile. There, laid on the bed with the diary next to her was Shena Black Crest, but it wasn't that that surprised her. It was the fact that she was wrapped up in her brother's arms.
They were laid face to face with their arms wrapped around each other, holding onto one another rather tightly with their foreheads almost touching. She had to admit they looked adorable together, and they were such a good fit as well. Sela closed the cave as quietly as she could, but it managed to wake the two of them up and the reaction was rather extreme.
As they slowly and tiredly opened their eyes, both Ryan and Shena became aware of a face rather close to their own, and suddenly they both became aware of what felt like arms wrapped around them both. Instantly, they snapped awake and saw each other in an extreme close up. But before they were able to pull away, the intense focus that Ryan had placed on Shena directly in front of him triggered his abilities. His eyes instantly flashed from purple to silver and a whole rush of images and feelings flooded his mind, the fact that his arms were around Shena's slender waist provided the conduit for him to see her heart and mind directly.
Shena burst out of Ryan's grip and severed the connection which caused his eyes to return to their normal striking purple color, she looked at him with a horrified expression on her face. She instantly knew what had happened as she'd felt him in her head as well, she hadn't been able to see his thoughts or feelings. But she'd felt his presence in her head, "Y-Y-Y-You saw didn't you?" she stammered looking at him. He looked at her with sad eyes and nodded his head as her memories of her childhood swam through his mind, as quick as a flash she grabbed her mask and shot past the rather stunned Sela eleth. Who was standing there holding a string of dead lizards in a stunned silence, then she looked at her forlorn brother who sat on the bed in a stupor,
"Well don't just sit there like a pauking Muppet go after her!" Sela said using her father's favorite insult, Ryan burst off the bed and ran out of the cave in hot pursuit of the highly embarrassed young female Yaujta.