"It just makes me think of how difficult it was for me." K'Shai said to R'chnt over a meal on the balcony overlooking the ocean of their new home. "S'aruch-de does not realize what she is going through, and I see it every time I look at her."

"You underestimate yourself, K'Shai. You adjusted quickly and capably as I knew you would."

K'Shai smiled, trying hard not to choke on her food, stifling a hysterical laugh. R'chnt never quite seemed tuned in to what it took for her during those years and she knew it.

"Well..I'm glad you feel that way. For me, going through it, it certainly was not an easy thing." She said lightly.

"What do you think needs to be done?" R'chnt asked as he poured himself another Yautja-appropriate sized mug of drink.

Without missing a beat, K'Shai quickly surmised, "She needs to go back to her home."

"Why do you think S'aruch-de brought her here against your wishes?" He questioned flatly.

"I ask myself that nearly every day." She said emphatically as she leaned back in her chair, shaking her head while she watched the waves sway.

"He was the one raised as he should be. As a true Yautja. He was the one who did not have the human-esque upbringing, he did not learn the language; at least not from us. And yet, he was the one who took up such a fascination with his human heritage that he ended up

bringing her home!" She contemplated aloud.

"And Kelly is curious. On her world, she was… a… a celebrity… for what she experienced with us. Part historian, part alien expert. She became a writer, a journalist; she has a natural curiosity and desire to share her experiences. It's not hard to understand why she left with S'aruch-de at all. She has spent more than half of her lifetime thinking, writing, breathing Yautja. She has dreamt of us and dreamt of this exact life. She is here because she wanted to take the chance when it was presented to her; to leave Earth and learn about us. To learn about me."

Continuing on she surmised, "S'aruch-de, I think, sees what we have done, and was naturally open to the idea of taking her here, and just figured in his youthful naivety that it would all just magically work out and she would adapt to a new life here."

"But that is not what is happening, and she is going to mentally collapse and he can not realize it because he does not understand."

"Have you told him your thoughts?" R'chnt asked.

"Many times." K'Shai sighed defeatedly.

"R'chnt, if she was full blooded Yautja, she would have been cast out with the eto by now. She is rooted on Earth, and she is human to the core. She does not have a hunter's heart, and I think she now has had all the curiosity-satisfying experiences she needs for a lifetime. What she dreamed and imagined this would be like is not at all the reality she is now experiencing and it is going to mentally and emotionally tear her apart."

"I just don't know how to make S'aruch-de realize that."

"K'Shai," R'chnt asked curiously, leaning forward as if to have a clearer conversation.

"What is so different about Kelly's situation over yours?"

K'Shai eyed him blankly for a moment, as if to silently say how could you even ask that? It's totally different!

She took a deep, long, slow breath and thought about her response.

"I was younger… and I had you." She eyed him with a gentle gaze.

"I had you," she repeated firmly.

"I knew you, and you behaved differently. You just knew somehow that I needed you more than anything else. When you were injured, I had you to focus on. And I think… overall… I just survived by spending more time with you than in the mei'sa. It's tough in there!

Not to mention, when I left, the world was still very much in shambles. I left right after the destruction. I was traumatized, that much I know. But Kelly, she lived through the destruction, she rebuilt a society. She had friends and connections and roots there."

"Now, she's here trying to understand life in the mei'sa, why it's so different than her life she knew. She lost a huge part of herself; a part that is freedom and comfort and safety. She has to impress the Clan Leader, the same as I had to. Blooded or not, I had to still prove to Neh'rti every day that I was worthy. And now…"

"Well, now, you do have a fair connection to the Clan Leader." R'chnt joked.

They both chuckled a bit.

"A'ryin'di is proving to be an excellent leader. She is not about to turn her Clan into an open doorway for humans and she needs to make that clear; not just to all Yautja, but Kelly too. This situation has been hard on her as well. She is being scrutinized, but not openly challenged. No one is fool enough to do that. Kelly needs to prove herself before A'ryin'di just the same as I had to prove myself before Neh'rti. Not that I felt like I ever really did."

"Ah, K'Shai, you know you most certainly did."

"Well, maybe," she agreed reluctantly. "I am still here to speak of it, I suppose."

"That's all it takes," R'chnt said smoothly with an undeniable hint in his tone suggesting that it was an easy task to do.

The waves continued to wash back and forth, and finally they did manage to whisk away K'Shai's tension for a while. She found some sleep on the chair overlooking the water until R'chnt carried her back into their bed chambers. He noticed the lines in her and carefully and quietly looked her over. Some lines were old scars, such as on her thigh and abdomen. Others were delicately laced around her eyes, along her cheeks; subtle hints of her own aging body, much the same as his.

He caressed her whispfully, careful not to disturb her rest, then tugged on his own long quills along his chin line, thinking for himself in the quiet still of the room. The moons lit the room in a dancing beam, the water whooshed outside, and he could just hear the sway of the trees rustling in the breeze, or whenever a l'tercha jumped between the branches.

R'chnt headed off to the computer console in the other room so he did not disturb his sleeping mate.

"Hey.." he heard a soft whisper stirring him.

"Working hard?" K'Shai asked with a smile.

He looked around and noticed the sun was up, and his mate was smiling upon him softly, with a gentle tenderness in her touch.

"Fell asleep out here?" She asked.

He pulled himself together properly and nodded.

"I suppose I did." He said briskly, with a stretch as he stood up.

"Well, I am going to head back to the mei'sa. Thank you for taking me to bed last night. I

rather wish you had stayed there with me."

He nodded his head graciously.

"I'll be back later. Let's have dinner again on the deck." She smiled as she left him.

K'Shai made her way to the Clan City and the mei'sa, feeling refreshed. The time on the water's edge had worked its magic once again, and she could not help but smile a bit as she thought about R'chnt's wonderful idea to build a house there. The beach made her smile; the waves lifted her spirit, soothing and washing away worry and stress in ways only the ebb of the tides could.

Upon reaching the mei'sa, she did not immediately seek out Kelly to check in on her. K'Shai instead made use of her morning with some of the other matriarchs, inevitably discussing their thoughts on the additional human in their midst.

"She is always watching us from a distance," one of them commented.

"I don't know if she is trying to study us or avoid us, but it is irritatingly rude either way." Another said.

"Does she come around you?" K'Shai asked.

The three in the discussion all agreed that the apparently shy little human did not. She avoided interaction whenever possible, and looked wide-eyed and ready to run whenever she was beckoned to participate in an activity.

K'Shai sighed deeply, brushed it off, proceeded to check on some of the youths in her charge, teach classes, and found her way to a hot soaking tub right around the height of heat in the afternoon. The warm soaking tub felt wonderfully soothing despite the incredibly hot dual-sun warmed air; it always did.

Perhaps she would have a soaking tub installed right on the front deck of the house, she thought. Silly with the ocean just steps away, but nonetheless, it was relaxing.

"Hi," a voice called lightly to her just as she was finding herself miles away within her own mind.

She groaned throatily and opened her eyes to see Kelly standing at the edge of the soaking bath.

"Come join me." K'Shai invited. "Speak to me."

Kelly looked around, as if eyeing her surroundings warily; a good response for a huntress, and one well learned lesson in the mei'sa. She tiptoed into the water, not bothering to remove her leather wrappings or flowing robes, which was most unusual. K'Shai said nothing of it and simply watched how the human edged into the water.

"Do you know where Sar'uch-de is?" Kelly asked.

"I do not."

"Off hunting, I suppose." She added after a pause in which Kelly stared at her blankly.

"You don't know where he goes?" Kelly asked with surprise.

"I do not. I do not know where El'tude is at the moment. I only know where A'ryin'di is because I happened to see her earlier." Her eyes shifted suddenly to the edge of a training field far off in the distance. "There she is there."

Kelly did not seem content.

K'Shai continued.

"I know on Earth it is quite different. It is a different life here. Hunters come and go, live and die as they please. With Honor ideally, of course. Females come and go, live and die as they please. Also with Honor. That is life here, Kelly."

"Do you remember what it was like?" Kelly asked. "I mean, not what Earth was like when you left. Do you remember what is was like before you left?"

"I do." K'Shai said.

"After you left," Kelly spoke softly. "All we had was each other. We had to fight, and keep fighting because the war… that hell was far from over. My mother and I continued to hide or survive or fight, in the group, with Lewis and Carlos, and so many others that lived or died. We only managed to get by because we had each other.

We always knew where each other was going or where we were supposed to be and who we were supposed to be with. We were family."

She paused for a moment and then looked intently at K'Shai as if scrutinizing her.

"We always wondered about you. Where you were, what you were doing. What is was like in space, and how you were faring with the aliens."

K'Shai tipped her head in an acknowledging gesture.

"And you now know," she said.

"Yes, I do. I still don't know how you've done it, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of how to … just exist… here. Like you do."

With that, she did seem to relax back into the hot tub and the pair soaked quietly for some time. They were joined by others, and others left, and still K'Shai remained stagnant in the hot tubs, soaking up the heat, the warmth on her muscles, and basking in the sun. She was not particularly thinking of any single thing during the tranquil afternoon.

It was well into dusk before K'Shai exited the soaking bath, robed back up, and made her way to some food, with Kelly casually in tow. There was definitely something more proper about Kelly, K'Sha did finally notice. She seemed to follow K'Shai more closely where ever she went, and mimicked what she did and how long she did it for.

It was, perhaps, a useful strategy, K'Shai thought; one that was not available to her. To follow another human around that had already adapted to life on Yaut, and learn her habits. That might have very well helped her make the transition easier, she thought. As it was, if she could help Kelly adjust to life on Yaut a little bit easier by just allowing her to be a personal shadow, that could potentially work. Even though K'Shai still felt as if Kelly would ultimately not be able to make the adjustment.

Days went by, and K'Shai rotated as usual between her home, R'chnt's arms and bed, and the mei'sa. Though the commute was neither long nor frequent, K'Shai found her desire to be at the mei'sa dwindling more than normal. Perhaps it was because she had no offspring there herself; perhaps it was because A'ryin'di's direction of the mei'sa and Clan was precise, clear, and far easier to deal with than Neh'rti's quite properly scathing way of leading.

It was truly only her desire to continue to educate the curious offspring that chose to be there; which was now an openly available course, instead of one kept hidden far out of sight, that kept K'Shai in the mei'sa. The ocean certainly called to her, but if R'chnt was in the Clan city for Clan business anyway, it seemed best for her to just remain in the mei'sa.

Being there also allowed for her to monitor how things were going with Kelly. Much to her surprise, Kelly seemed to be doing quite well. Far better than she expected, after so many months of difficulties.

"You sound pleased," A'ryin'di commented during a discussion on that very matter while they shared a meal at a table in the far corner of the cantina with only a few other select females that she allowed at the table.

"Well, I am," K'Shai said a bit reluctantly. "I didn't expect it to go this far, or for her to last this long."

"Why?" A'ryin'di asked.

K'Shai eyed her offspring with a bit of surprise, but it made sense. She truly would have had little idea how difficult the adjustment was. It only took K'Shai maybe twenty years, she thought. S'aruch-de would have been the only offspring who would have been closest to seeing the struggle, yet he was the one who brought the human here in the first place.

"Well, let me just say the transition from life on Earth to life on Yaut is not an easy one." K'Shai responded vaguely.

"But for now, she does seem like she's adapting better. These last few days, she seems more… just more Yautja." K'Shai added.

A'ryin'di nodded thinly in a vague agreement.

"She has been working on her sparring more. She is timid from what I hear, but she is beginning to try."

K'Shai nodded. "I've heard the same. I've seen it."

"It seems so strange to me, K'Shai," one of the others chimed in.

"What?"

"You are a huntress. Yet, I do not see this one having the makings of a huntress. I mean no offense, but she does not show the same spirit you do. I assumed all humans were hunters like you."

"Worthy prey?" K'Shai said with a thin smile.

The female pressed her mandibles together tightly and dropped her stare; a submissive gesture.

"I take no offense," K'Shai reassured. "All humans are quite different. Some are strong.

Some weak. Some smart, some not so much. Both males and females perform the same type of functions, in all different capacities. Each unique individual finds their own unique place and way."

The others at the table murmured amongst each other briefly.

"That sounds… a little chaotic." One of them said.

Talking as if she was educating a batch of students, K'Shai used the opportunity to explain as best she could some of the differences between the two cultures, hoping as she did so, that if they had a better understanding of Kelly's mindset, it could potentially lead to helping her adjust a bit better.

"So, she just needs to take it day by day and see where that leads her."

"It's still so odd," the baffled den mother confessed. "A species that does not cast off the weakest or put them to good use as we do. Do humans not even eliminate severe offenders?"

K'Shai shook her head.

"Once a long time ago. But I doubt that is done any more. To be honest, life on Earth has no doubt changed much more than I could even know. I'm not all that sure how well I know the people any more. It is… or was… very different than life here."

For a while longer, the females murmured amongst themselves about the dramatic differences. Eventually K'Shai departed from the group, found R'chnt and kept in his company throughout the night, listening to him speak of his Clan dealings until she could no longer keep her eyes open.

When she finally awoke in the morning, R'chnt had clearly been awake for at least some time. He was sitting up next to her, tapping buttons on a tablet while she stretched, moaned under her breath and sucked in a deep breath of fresh air, smelling the lucious salt water that always wafted into paneless windows.

"Did you say something to me about Sar'uch-de and El'tude last night, or did I imagine it?" She asked finally as she snuggled in tighter to him, purposely pulling a hand away from his work so she could tuck herself under his arm.

"I did. I said I had spoken to them both. El'tude is off for a hunt. Sar'uch-de just finished once. He was quite proud of his kills, and he should be. He is turning into a fine young warrior."

"I have no doubt of that. He was born for it, after all. He has his father's blood in him." K'Shai agreed proudly.

"And his mother's." R'chnt added.

She smiled thinly at him.

"Well, his mate is trying at least now." She added.

"Warming up to her, are you?"

She eyed him with raised eyebrows.

"What does that mean? I never said… I just… She…" K'Shai stammered and then silenced for a moment before repeating herself.

"Well, she is trying."

R'chnt watched K'Shai carefully, clearly aware that there was far more in her thoughts than she was discussing.

"I just don't want her to feel…" K'Shai said in a dismissive whisper, "... well, like I did for a very long time. If she's here, she needs to try and adjust, and if she can't do that, she needs to go back."

"I still don't think Sar'uch-de should have brought her here in the first place." She added very matter-of-factly after a brief pause.

The matter seemed settled; at least between R'chnt and K'Shai at any rate, and for the morning. When K'Shai returned to the mei'sa nearing sunset while R'chnt headed off for a brief Clan council meeting and some sparring in the high tower, the matter of Kelly and her induction into Yautja society had risen up again.

"What do you mean, no one has seen her?" K'Shai asked of the gaggle of matrons in the soaking baths, idly enjoying their time in the heated waters, not displaying any real care or concern for the human's whereabouts.

One of them shrugged slightly and dipped her ridged brow. "She has been gone since last night."

"The last I saw her, she was sparring yesterday before evening break." Another added.

"She was not at meal time, that I saw." Another said dismissively.

K'Shai furrowed her brow and nodded graciously to the others before departing to look for Kelly. There was no response on communication, though that was not particularly alarming as Kelly rarely carried a communicator with her; there was little need since she was in the mei'sa.

K'Shai searched for Kelly, trying to think of any place where she herself had hidden away while she was in the mei'sa, or anywhere likely that came to mind that Kelly could be. By the morning light, K'Shai was exhausted. Having no luck finding the missing human or any sign of her be it a carcass or a campsite, she sat for a rest in the far edge of the mei'sa territory, past the fields of tall hun'jun grasses, past the river's trail, past the edge of the forest, near to the far northern border wall, in a grove of trees where there was a shallow rockface that provided a bit of shelter.

It had been a long time since K'Shai had slept in the wilds of Yaut. She had nearly forgotten how soothing the sounds of the animals of the jungles could be; she had traded up those sounds for that of ocean waves crashing upon the rocks of the seashore. As her mind comfortably drifted to sleep, she tried to decide which sound she preferred the most. The waves, for sure. Yes, the waves. Though the chirping of the nuhaty bugs was pleasant and quite familiar.

She had only been asleep for what felt like minutes, maybe an hour at best, when the rustling of a furry little, long eared rhoja at the base of the tree next to her woke her up. K'Shai watched the skittish little creature for a moment. Scratch, scratch, scratch… look up… survey… scratch, scratch, scratch, over and over until something edible emerged from the roots; sap.

The small animal could easily have been breakfast. For all the surveying its surroundings and agile awareness of what was nearby, it seemed to completely ignore the fact that a giant with weapons was sitting all of four feet from it. The little beast lapped up its sweet, watery morning meal and K'Shai sat, waiting quietly and patiently until it was done and scampered off.

A good meal, perhaps, but somehow it just seemed inappropriate to dine on such a delicate creature that was simply so oblivious to its surroundings despite trying hard otherwise. K'Shai wasn't that hungry anyway. She stood up and stretched. The rocks had done nothing for her back, and her joints let her know all about it. Before she could even straighten herself up and prepare to hike back to the mei'sa, her communicator buzzed. Although it was a quiet alarm, it sounded so loud breaking up the morning quiet.

"Sar'uch-de! What good timing you have. I need to talk to you about…"

"Kelly," he interrupted.

K'shai paused for a moment. "Well, yes… Do you know where she is?"

"Can you come to the landing zone?" He asked briskly.

She acknowledged and with little other words, she was off and Sar'uch-de had disconnected.

Whether he was with her on his ship or not was unclear, so she headed off to see what he needed of her.

It took hours to walk back to the mei'sa, and as soon as she got there, she hopped on a ground transport for the ride to the Clan city, out of the Clan city, past the first landing zone, all the way off to the third landing zone; one rarely used, left for older ships that flew infrequently if at all. That was Sar'uch-de's sneak a human onto the home planet landing zone, so clearly that was where she needed to go.

The second sun was well up into the sky by the time K'Shai eyed Sar'uch-de's ship. Nothing looked amiss from the outside. Nothing looked amiss within the loading bay when she entered. All was quiet. She crept through corridors looking for her offspring and his chosen mate, silently, not giving away her presence by sight or sound. Soon, her target gave away theirs, though.

K'Shai honed on to a wailing echoing through the corridors and it did not take long before she was standing in the doorway to Sar'uch-de's chambers looking at a sobbing Kelly who had a large gash on her upper arm, and a confused, stunned looking Sar'uch-de who clearly had no idea what to make of the situation.

He looked towards his mother with a look that silently and yet so loudly called for help. Of all the hunts he had been on, all the prey he had already faced and would continue to face in the future, he was clearly most challenged by the mate before him who continued to sob and kept her eyes very much away from K'Shai, as if K'Shai would not see her if she looked away.

K'Shai pressed her lips together and stepped forward, assessing the situation.

"Did that happen while sparring?" She asked flatly.

Kelly nodded.

"The wound is deep. It needs to be treated." She added firmly.

"I've used my field kit on it."

K'Shai shook her head.

"No, she needs more. I will take her to L'ruch."

Kelly allowed herself to be taken to L'ruch in a whimpering heap, without incident. She was exasperated and unable to coherently speak, or state how the injury had even happened.

"Sar'uch-de, she should not be here." K'Shai finally said to her offspring after Kelly was tended to, sedated, and sleeping.

They had stepped outside between the small pyramid structure of L'ruch's medical lab and the adjacent buildings, which were all interconnected. In a private nook well out of earshot, K'Shai addressed her concerns, feeling as though she sounded rather like a repeating signal beacon. Still, Sar'uch-de did not seem to quite understand, though there was a glimmer of a hint in his eye that he perhaps was indeed beginning to see.

"She has been training well. You said so yourself." He insisted.

"Sar'uch-de," K'Shai growled in annoyance. "Humans are masters at hiding their true mental state, and it breaks them down after enough time and pressure."

"She is not a bakkla beast…" Sar'uch-de protested.

"She is doing the same thing. You never see one limping, hanging back from the herd, do you? And Yautja do it do, don't even try to deny it. It's normal for all creatures to want to appear strong, fit, capable. Because the weakest die, and that's the way of it."

Sar'uch-de remained contemplatively quiet.

"Not all humans are the same; not all are capable of this life."

"She must leave." He said with a tone that was a little questioning, a little factually stated, and mostly rhetorical.
K'Shai remained graciously quiet and left Sar'uch-de to ponder the situation he had put his mate in. She returned to L'ruch and whispered quietly to him with a question burning on her mind. Just as Sar'uch-de entered the lab, L'ruch had responded with a silent headshake and scattered away in typical L'ruch fashion before Sar'uch-de got too close.

"Take her back to your ship to rest, Sar'cuh-de. She will sleep for hours." K'Shai said and she herself returned home to meet with R'chnt, and relax into his arms after telling her of the day while listening to the ocean waves swish forward and back.

In the morning, K'Shai had thought she might contact Sar'uch-de and see what the status of he and Kelly was. She got distracted by separate communications from both El'tude and Ary'in-de, and shortly after Sar'uch-de was hailing her.

"I am offworld." He said abruptly as if no further clarification was needed.

"Where is Kelly?" K'Shai questioned.

"With me of course. You are correct, she does need a break from the mei'sa. We are going to go off world for a bit. I think it will be best for her. I will do my best to see her rest easier."

"Sar'uch-de…" K'Shai started with a groan, disappointedly sure that he was not quite understanding what she had tried to tell him.

"She needs to go back to her world." K'Shai emphasized to her offspring.

"She and I have discussed this, and even she agrees, she just needs to be away from Yaut, and the mei'sa… and…"
He stopped abruptly.

"And what?" She questioned quizzically, noticing the twisted look on his face as he clearly tried to stifle his next words to her.

"And you." He said succinctly.

K'Shai pressed her lips together and quelled her annoyance with a disgruntled huff instead.

"Sa'ruch-de, I know you think taking her to another world for a while to relax is the right choice. I know even she thinks that. She does not want to leave you behind, but she also can not exist in this world. She needs to be on her own world, amongst what's familiar to her."

The conversation ended shortly after that, with Sa'ruch-de seemingly quite sure of himself and his decisions with Kelly, though he left a quite unconvinced K'Shai shaking her head slowly.

Days passed and there was no word from Sar'ruch-de. In a rare, but pleasant event, El'tude returned home and visited with his parents. He proudly displayed his newest scar across his chest and new bones, jewels, and adornments across his armor, body, and locks. He had a ridge chain pierced into him as well. He looked mighty, fit, a true prime example of his father's genetics. Of course, he had returned to prepare for mating season, and he had high expectations of himself as well.

K'Shai was sure he would fare well, but probably not without another injury or three to be proud of as well, as he left his own mark for future generations. It often seemed that the only scars male hunters were more proud of than ones received in a hunt, were ones received claiming a mate; and females delighted in putting their marks on their mates.

As she wedged herself a little deeper into R'chnt's side while they sat together on the deck of their home, watching the sea ebb and wane, listening to the sounds of the birds overhead and the waves whooshing, K'Shai couldn't help but ponder R'chnt's differences. He delighted in her gentle touch, just as she needed his firm arms around her. Perhaps most male Yautja enjoyed such things, they were just too Yautjaish to admit it.

There was no room in society for a younger hunter to speak of such weaknesses. R'chnt's age came with certain privileges; privileges in which Sa'ruch-de seemed to want to garner for himself without the patient wait of aging before he got it, and that, worriedly, accounted for his absence and lack of communication.