Chapter 39: The Power of a Furry Heart.
The hut wasn't massive but it was comfortable for both of them, it had a surprising amount of amenities in the form of electric lights and running water, it also had a fair sized fire place with a grill and two pots for cooking, there was even a table and chairs for them to eat at.
Both Sela eleth and Jack were both impressed at the ingenuity of Yoshi Namboku and his team for creating this place, Sela dropped down on one of the beds which had been made from a wooden frame with a mattress that had been stuffed with what appeared to be fur and bird feathers, it was actually incredibly soft and comfortable, it kinda reminded her of her bed at home.
Sela let out a happy sigh as she kicked her boots off and laid back on the bed, Jack grinned at his daughter, "You always did know how to make yourself at home anywhere" he said playfully, she grinned back at him,
"That's all the camping and hunting trips you and mother took us on" she shot back, Jack laughed as he opened two shutter door like windows which let day light flood in to the hut, as he did he felt arms wrap themselves around him from behind and pull him into an embrace,
"Thank you for coming for us" Sela eleth said pressing her face into her father's back, Jack turned around to face his young daughter and pulled her into a tight embrace,
"We'd have torn the universe apart to find you both" he said quietly into his daughter's hair,
"I know" she said quietly as she clung to him, then she looked up at him with those gorgeous big blue eyes of hers and his heart melted as he saw the tears in them, quickly he pulled her head into his shoulder careful not hit her head against his pauldrons,
"Oh baby don't cry" he said softly stroking her hair as he felt her sobbing softly,
"I'm sorry father I'm just so happy to be back with you again" she said as she sobbed gently.
A sudden noise to their left disturbed their little moment and both of them turned to look, much to their amazement there was a small white furry creature currently in the process of sneaking in through the open window, Sela eleth instantly disengaged from her father's embrace and scrambled to pull a weapon, the small white creature froze looking at them in shock, before she could draw her weapon and attack the obviously hostile invader Sela's father grabbed her wrist and stopped her, she looked at him in confusion, "Don't, it won't hurt you" he said looking at the surprised little creature, it was at that moment that Sela noticed the look of total surprise on her father's face,
"What is it?" she asked looking at the hostile invader,
"It's a pauking house cat" Jack said in total disbelief.
Jack crouched down and looked at the small white house cat which had suddenly just invaded their hut, "How the hell did you get here?" he asked the small cat as it looked at him curiously with its bright golden eyes, the cat meowed at him and then strolled over to the heavily armored man and brushed up against him with a soft purr, he stroked its soft fur as if not believing what he was actually seeing, but it's fur was as soft as velvet and as real as his own hand,
"What's a cat?" Sela eleth asked watching the small white creature with suspicion,
"They're kept as pets on my home world, they're like a very small version of the Patori Tigers that your mum loves hunting back at home" Jack replied, then the little house cat seemed to notice the suspicious Yaujta girl watching it in a crouch and made a bee line right for her, before she had chance to react the little cat jumped right up on to her shoulder.
Sela eleth jumped up and screamed as the small furry thing that her father had called a 'cat' showed it's true nature by viciously assaulting her by jumping onto her shoulder armor and instantly entangling itself in her hair, it even seemed to be emitting some form of war cry which came across as some sort of purring noise, she desperately tried to remove her attacker but it seemed to have somehow got itself entangled in her long hair behind her head where she couldn't quite reach it, rather than rush to her aid her father seemed to have dissolved into fits of giggles despite her desperate plight to remove her attacker, finally she was able to grab her attacker and whirl it around so that it was in front of her, "I think it likes you" her father said as she stood there holding the deviant creature known only as 'cat', she looked at him then at the small furry creature that she found herself holding by its sides, it wiggled it's little legs in an attempt to break free of her grip, her father walked over and took the cat from her and cradled it, but as soon as he did it jumped straight back onto Sela's shoulder again, this instantly set off Sela's defense mechanism again and she tried in vain to grab the small creature, "It's harmless and it just wants to be your friend" her father said with a rather curious and amused grin plastered on his face,
"It's got a funny way of showing it!" Sela exclaimed as she again tried to disentangle the cat from her dread locks, finally she got hold of it and pulled it in front of her again, but this time the cat decided it wanted to grip her front and it pulled itself into her front, this forced Sela to almost have to cradle the small creature, as she did it slowly reached up and placed a remarkably soft paw on one of her mandibles, as she brought it closer to her face for closer inspection it decided to run its face and head over her cheek, she had to admit it's fur was remarkably soft.
Sela eleth looked at the little white cat as it desperately tried to run its face along the side of hers, she noticed it seemed to be wearing a collar with what looked like some sort of little silver bell on it, as she looked at it the cat ran its cheek over her mandibles again, it seemed absolutely fascinated by them, for some reason unknown to her she opened them and extended them a little, the cat instantly took notice and gently pawed at the tips of them, it didn't hurt her more tickled than anything, she looked up at her father to once again find him grinning at her, "Ok I'll admit it's kinda cute" she said in a mildly annoyed voice, his grin simply widened.
After a few minutes of playing with the little cat Sela eleth had gotten quite attached to the friendly little creature, she'd sat down on her bed with it and it had immediately started bounding around the bed and bouncing around and rolling over the place, Sela couldn't help giggling at the antics of the little creature, it seemed totally fascinated by both her mandibles and her dread locks, it tried to chase her dreads as she turned her head and swatted at them with its paws before falling over and rolling over on its back, "I get the feeling that someone out there in the village is missing this little guy" her father said running a hand over the cat's back right down to its tail,
"How do you think he got here?" Sela asked as she gently pushed the cat over on his side only for him to roll over and bound around her back and leap at her dread locks again,
"Good question, he's not exactly worthy prey is he?" Jack said watching as the small cat swung from his daughter's dread locks before climbing up onto her shoulder armor and rubbing himself against the side of her head,
"Not really" Sela replied smiling as she rubbed the small cat's head causing him to emit that purring noise again,
"Well given how much he seems to have taken to you why don't you take him out and see if you can find who he belongs to?" Jack said, Sela nodded and stood up with the little cat balancing on her shoulder, she'd been meaning to go and take a proper look at the village anyway,
"I'll be back soon" she said and headed for the door with the little white cat riding on her shoulder,
"Be careful out there, some people might be a little nervous of you Sela" Jack said concern etched into his voice,
"I'll be fine father" she said smiling at his obvious care for her safety, he nodded but his face still showed some angst, with one last wave and reassuring smile she turned and headed out.
The village itself was rather spread out throughout the cave, as she surveyed it Sela eleth noticed just how clever they had been in setting it up, the main shaft of light that came down from the hole in the ceiling had no buildings or any structures directly inside it, the only things that were inside it was a large statue of what looked like Paya and a couple of those mirrors they used for redirecting the light around the cavern. Sela eleth thought about putting on her hunting mask to help her see the people in the gloom, but decided against it as she knew these people were going to be pretty nervous of her already, she figured that if they could see her face and see that she was different from the bad bloods it might help them to accept her, or at least that was the theory.
Sela eleth could see people milling about in the various parts of the village and in the shadows, she could feel multiple sets of eyes on her and it unnerved her slightly so she decided to focus on her task, she wondered where to start looking for the little cat's owner, then an idea struck her, if she was in the brightly lit area of the cavern someone might she the little white cat on her shoulder and approach her, so she headed down to where the large statue of Paya stood.
As she reached it Sela looked up at the massive statue of the goddess of the hunt, it appeared to be ancient and had vines growing all over it, she had heard her Matriarch prey to her more than once in her life, like once when she and her brother had gotten really ill with a virus she had been unconscious for two days, when she had come to she had heard her matriarch at the foot of her bed praying to Paya for her recovery.
The statue appeared to be made of white marble and various pieces had been broken off over the centuries that it had stood here, the marble still looked strong for as long as it had stood though, it depicted the Goddess Paya standing with a skull in one hand and a spear in the other showing the vanquishing of her enemies, for some reason Sela felt an urge to reach out and touch the statue, as she did and felt the sunlight warmed stone under her hand she heard a familiar voice, "Boo! Where are you Boo?" it called, she released the statue in shock wondering if the voice had come from the stone, then she heard the soft patter of running feet and she turned to look.
"Boo!? Where have you gone now Boo!?" the voice called, Sela eleth looked for the source and it didn't take her long to spot it, it appeared to be the young girl called Amy, she was running around the village in a bit of a panic, Sela glanced up at the little white cat on her shoulder,
"I wonder if your name is Boo?" she asked the cat, who just made that strange meow noise in response, she stroked his head and it instantly turned into a purr, "Let's go find out shall we?" she said to the purring cat, then she turned and headed to intercept the young girl.
As soon as she spotted Sela eleth heading towards her Amy turned and ran towards her, "Sela eleth you haven't seen my cat Boo have you?" she asked, Sela eleth was confused by this question considering she currently had him riding on her shoulder, that's when she realized he'd retreated in between her dread locks again, at the sound of his name being called the white cat popped his head out from between Sela's dreads and peered down from his high perch at the young girl, "Boo! There you are!" Amy exclaimed happily holding her arms our for the little cat, Sela eleth decided that allowing the girl to remove him was easier than trying to untangle him herself, so she kneeled down and allowed Amy to catch hold of him and pull him out from in between her dread locks, the little white cat looked a lot bigger in Amy's arms than he did in either hers or her fathers.
"Thank you so much for saving Boo Sela eleth!" Amy said gratefully as she fussed the white cat who was purring loudly and nuzzling his owner, Sela eleth smiled at the obvious love the young girl had for the small creature,
"No saving was involved, he simply tried to sneak into our hut and I decided to see who he belonged to" Sela said honestly, Amy smiled up at her,
"He's such a silly cat sometimes, but he's always curious and loves to meet new people" Amy said stroking the purring cat's head as he clung to her chest,
"Why do you call him Boo?" Sela asked curiously,
"Because he looks like he's seen a ghost" Amy said smiling, Sela clicked her mandibles at this not quite getting it, must be an ooman thing, but then her father was ooman and he saw ghosts all the time and he didn't look like this small cat.
When she looked back at Amy she found the small girl looking at her curiously again, "So that's how you guys make that noise" she said, Sela eleth cocked her head curiously at this,
"When I was in the jungle I would hear this clicking noise but I never knew who was making it, I had a feeling it was the people who brought me here, but I could never see them, only hear them" Amy said, Sela's anger flashed in her head at the bad bloods for such a despicable and horrific act as bringing a defenseless child here to be bait,
"I'm nothing like those pauking animals!" Sela said in an angry voice that made Amy jump,
"Sorry I didn't mean to make you mad Sela, please don't be angry with me" the young girl said tearing up, the young girl's grief instantly snapped Sela eleth out of her anger, she kneeled down to bring herself to eye level with the young girl,
"My apologies Amy I did not mean to upset you, I am not angry with you, I am angry with those pauking cowardly bad bloods for bringing you here and making you suffer this" she said placing a hand on the young girl's shoulder, before she could react Amy threw her arms around Sela's neck and pulled herself in against her, in fact if it wasn't for Boo's lightning fast cat reflexes he'd have been squished between them, but as it was he was able to escape just in time to the safety of Sela eleth's shoulder amour.
The impromptu hug startled Sela eleth but she instantly realized that Amy just needed comforting and she put her arms around the young girl's sobbing shoulders and hugged her back, something about this made her remember how her Matriarch would hold her when she needed comforting when she was a child, now here she was fourteen years later comforting a child in exactly the same way, it made her smile when she realized that.
Gradually Amy's sobs faded and she released Sela a little so that she could look into her face, as she got a close up of the young girl's tear streaked face Sela did something out of instinct that surprised her, she used her mandibles to wipe Amy's tears away, just like her Matriarch used to do for her.
Amy smiled as Sela used her mandibles to wipe away her tears, she looked right into the alien girl's bright blue eyes and saw the caring concern in them, she didn't let go of the alien girl and kept her arms around her strong neck "You have really pretty eyes" Amy said smiling at Sela,
"I get them from my father" Sela replied proudly, she was happy at the compliment,
"Do you miss him?" Amy asked, Sela looked at her curiously,
"I miss my mom and my dad, it's been so long since I've seen them" Amy said, Sela looked at her sadly knowing what she meant,
"I'm sure they miss you too" she said, Amy nodded sadly,
"Do you think they're looking for me?" Amy asked, Sela nodded,
"I'll bet they are, no true parent would ever give up on finding their child if they were lost" Sela said, that seemed to brighten the little girl up,
"Really?" she asked, Sela nodded,
"Really, just take my father, he travelled halfway across the galaxy just to find and save me now he's found me I get to fight at his side when he takes on the bad bloods" Sela eleth said proudly as she thought of getting to stand shoulder to shoulder with her father in battle, Amy looked confused,
"I didn't see any other aliens with you when you guys came in?" she said, Sela eleth drew her mandibles up into a massive smile,
"Did you see the big guy dressed in all white amour with the big cape and a load of swords on him?" Sela asked, Amy nodded,
"Yeah I saw him! For some reason he looked like he was glowing and I remember thinking he looked really handsome, sorta like a knight in the films me and my dad used to watch" Amy said, Sela eleth's smile widened,
"My Matriarch would defiantly agree with you" she said, Amy looked confused,
"What's a Matriarch?" Amy asked trying slowly to pronounce the word,
"It's what we call our mothers" Sela eleth said,
"Oh, why do you call them that? What's wrong with mom?" Amy asked, Sela laughed out loud at the young girl's delightful innocence and beautiful curiosity,
"Nothing, but it's a term that shows them the respect they deserve for not only bringing us into this world but raising us, in my case it more literal because my mother is the Matriarch of our clan" Sela said smiling, as she did she felt something tickling her mandible and she saw a white furry paw trying to stroke her face again.
Amy seemed to contemplate what Sela eleth had just said and it seemed to make sense to her, but then something confused her, "So why would your Matriarch agree with me about the man in white?" she asked,
"Because he's my father" Sela said causing Amy's eyes to widen in surprise,
"But-But-But he's one of my kind!?" she stammered in a very surprised voice, Sela nodded,
"Yup, you see I'm only half Yaujta, but I'm half ooman too" she said, Amy looked curious again,
"What's a Yaujta?" she asked, Sela sighed, this was going to take some explaining,
"Let's find somewhere to sit down and I'll tell you all about them" she said, Amy nodded happily, she loved stories,
"Over there by the big pretty statue in the sun, it's really warm and nice" Amy said excitedly pointing, Sela nodded and followed the now skipping girl with Boo the cat riding shotgun on her shoulder, Amy found them a nice spot to sit down and Sela eleth did have to admit it was rather nice here, then she looked at the expectant girl and took a deep breath, then began the tale of the Yaujta as told by Sela eleth of the clan Mason.
Sela eleth told Amy all she knew of the mighty Yaujta race from memory, her Matriarch had told her so many stories of battles and of hunts as a girl that she had committed to memory that she had plenty to call on, Amy sat fascinated as she listened, it appeared that Sela had acquired her mother's gift for story telling as more than once she had the young girl on the edge of her seat with tales of mighty monsters vanquished by even mightier hunters and huntresses. The stories were often interrupted with little bursts of playing with Boo who often got restless, they were also often interrupted with bursts of untangling him from Sela's dread locks which he had taken a massive fascination with.
When she was finished telling Amy about the Yaujta she had told her the story of how her father had met her Matriarch and had looked at her to gauge her reaction, the girl sat there deep in thought while stroking her little white purring cat who had finally given up on chasing Sela's moving dreads and had flopped down on his owner's lap where he now lay purring contentedly, "It's like a fairytale, boy meets a captured princess and fights for her freedom and her love and wins it" Amy said causing Sela eleth to smile broadly, her father had told her some of Earth's fairytales and she'd always been fascinated by the people that's referred to as 'Princesses' and what it would be like to be one.
Amy had also taken the time to tell Sela eleth of how she'd gotten to be here too, sh told her of how the bad bloods had kidnapped her from Earth and had dropped her in with other children in order to try and lure out the adults, Sela nodded having already heard of this from Cortez, but it still made her blood boil how the bad blood scum could use innocents in this way, it was a merciless and despicable act that warranted no forgiveness or mercy to the one who perpetrated it, silently she swore vengeance on Amy's behalf and for those that had fallen in those times, when she and her father went to battle with these scum, she would show them no quarter and no mercy.
Suddenly Amy looked at her and said something that surprised her, "I wish I was a Yaujta or half Yaujta like you" she said, this caused Sela's brow to shoot up and her mandibles to fall open,
"Why?" she asked looking at the young girl who wasn't looking at her face now but concentrating on playing with her cat,
"Because then I'd be strong like you, then I could fight the bad guys who brought us here and I could make them pay for what they did to my friends and for what they did to Robert" she said quietly, this caught Sela's full attention,
"What did they do to Robert?" she asked quietly, Amy was looking down at her cat so all Sela could see was the top of her head, but she straight away noticed the tears dropping off her nose and into Boo's white fur, he noticed too and stood up to nuzzle her face, Sela couldn't help but smile at the little cat's attempt to soothe his owners pain, then she reached out with one hand and placed it on the young girl's shoulder, with her other she gently lifted her chin so that she was again looking at her face,
"They made him watch Sela, they made him watch" she said through hicuppy sobs,
"Made him watch what?" Sela asked softly, Amy took a deep breath,
"They killed his parents Sela, they skinned and killed his parent right in front of him and made him watch" Amy said through sobs.
This hit Sela eleth like a punch to the heart, suddenly the hostility made perfect sense to her, to him she was a symbol of everything he'd have come to hate, suddenly Sela's anger was bubbling again, "Those honorless pauking cowards!" she said with real venom in her voice, Amy looked at her curiously through her tear filled eyes, "To revel in the pain of an innocent, to take their family from them and make them watch the pain and the fear of the ones they love, what sort of sick pauk does that!?" Sela growled so menacingly that it made Amy's eyes widen, Sela noticed the effect her anger was having on the frightened young girl and she calmed down, "My apologies Amy but when I hear of bad bloods doing things like this it makes my blood boil" she said, Amy smiled at her,
"That's cause you're a good person Sela" the young girl said with a smile, then she looked curious,
"Bad blood you've said that before, what are they?" she asked,
"Criminals, exiles, honorless scum that don't believe in rules, they don't care about anyone or anything except themselves, they are the worst of the worst" Sela eleth replied, Amy seemed to understand this,
"Is that why they're so nasty to everyone?" she asked, Sela nodded, then Amy suddenly got really animated and jumped to her feet so suddenly that she sent a rather confused looking Boo flying, "Then we have to tell Robert, we have to show him that all Yaujta are not bad people" Amy said in a rather exited voice, a sudden blush found its way to Sela eleth's face as she thought of the young human boy, but then it was also a joined by a few pangs of pain and sadness to her heart,
"That may not be possible Amy" she said quietly as the displaced Boo clambered himself up on to her shoulders before getting tangled back up in her dreadlocks, the young girl looked at her with both a surprised and confused look on her young face,
"Why not?" she asked,
"To suffer that much pain, to see the one's you love struck down and brutally murdered before his eyes by what to him would have looked like my kind, how do you come back from something like that?" Sela said with great sadness in her voice, suddenly the young girl appeared right in front of her but Sela didn't even see her move, she placed a hand on Sela's shoulder,
"Then we'll show him that you're not the same, we'll show him that you're different and besides Boo like you and that counts for something, he's a really good judge of character" Amy said smiling, Sela glanced over her shoulder at the little white cat who appeared to be trying to use her dreadlocks as some sort of hammock, then she looked back at Amy and smiled back at the smiling girl, her enthusiasm was kinda infectious,
"Alright, I guess it can't hurt to try" she said softly which concealed how much her heart was pounding at the thought of this, Amy smiled broadly,
"Awesome, we're going to show Robert that you're proud honorable Yaujta huntress and not some filthy honorless, criminal scum" she said, then without warning she proceeded to grab Sela's hand and try to pull her to her feet, but Sela's muscle density made her a fair bit heavier than she looked, but the young girl's enthusiasm and effort made her smile, so she aided the young girl in pulling her to her feet and even allowed her to lead her by the hand in the direction of her hut, this was really going to be interesting, all Sela could hope was that Robert would be willing to listen to her side of things and not just hate her because of what she looked like, it was a big hope.
Meanwhile Boo just enjoyed the ride swinging freely in his new comfy living hammock at the back of Sela's head.