sensitive material in this chapter*
For 2 days now, I had been confined to my home. I could not do anything that could make me profusely sweat, as sweat would enhance my scent, so, no training. I could not leave the house and travel to the city either. All because of how I smelled.
The Hish were practically swarming the city. There were hundreds of them. Uncle and mother would come home with stories about their brutality towards each other and their rude behavior. The Hish are heavy drinkers and unable to handle their c'nlip. They would openly engage in fights, challenging each other and our own for a female. One Hish attempted to take a female by force,
He was executed by an overseer.
This one incident caused a lot of problems between their leader and the Commander. So the council itself agreed to a tournament at the end of the cyclic week. This tournament was simple. If a Hish male wanted a female he would have to fight one of our males. If he won, the female would have to leave with him. If he lost, the female could stay home and our honor would remain intact.
The whole thing didn't sit well with me. The thought of losing control of your life to the point that you'd have to leave to live with those...brutes...it terrified me.
All I had to do was remain hidden for 2 more days. By that time, the foreigners would be gone.
I sat on a soft mat weaving a small basket together using the stretchy vines that climb the walls behind my home. I had taken up basket weaving since it helped pass the time really well. I'm hungry. I thought to myself. Mother or Uncle usually comes home with food around this time.
There was a soft knock on the door. Mother or uncle would have come right in. I got up and answered the door to see Uncle Tu'puk's mate K'ya. Meats and fruits were piled in her large arms.
"My sweet niece!" She smiled widely at me. Her upper mandibles rising in her unique smile. Her lower mandibles were short and barely had mobility to them. One of her fangs had been chipped off in her own Chiva. She was physically battle scarred. K'ya walked with a slight limp, but her glowing yellow eyes and bubbly personality made up for every injury that riddled her body.
"K'ya!" I smiled back. I found her a basket to put the meats and fruits in.
"Your mother's brother decided to let me deliver the food this time. I missed my niece anyway." She was talking about Uncle Tu'puk. "Are you well?" She asked gently.
"As well as I could be..." I admitted.
"All of this will pass soon my niece." K'ya assured, "use the communicator in case you need us." My aunt put her hand on my shoulder and softly squeezed it, signaling her goodbye to me.
That day passed without incident.
The next day started off the same. It was one day before the tournament and I felt that I could enjoy the warm air alone in our garden without a problem. My stomach was a little upset and there were flowers that I could make tea with. I had my hands in the dirt, picking weeds and I didn't realize that I was just only slightly sweating.
"What do we have here..." My eyes snapped up to a very familiar and foreign Yautja. It was the smaller one from yesterday that was arguing with everyone. He was smaller than that other Yautja, but he towered above me. His eyes had a devious fire behind them. "They are hiding humans here now?" He spoke again in our language.
I swallowed my fear, "this-this is private property...you need to leave."
Suddenly he grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet, "you smell divine." He began to purr deep in his chest, "it's the most intoxicating dai-shui I've encountered in years."
"Let me go!" I screamed out, terrified. his grip was too rough and too hard, there was a mad desperation in his face. He pushed me to the ground and stuck his large hands into my hair. His body, hundreds of pounds crushed mine.
"Lie still, I won't hurt you." He growled. His hands fumbling to move my skirt under him.
"You already have!" I roared in anger. My knee connected with his cloth covered groin and his grip loosened slightly. Enough that I could slip out of his heavy grip. That's when I looked down to see blood covering the bottom of my leather skirt. What had happened? How did he injure me!?
"You ungrateful little worm!" My attacker was back up in seconds, grabbing my already bruising arm again,
"LET. HER. GO."
My eyes snapped over to the voice. Relief washed over me when it was Cuda and Rah. Both looking completely murderous at the evil foreigner. The Yautja holding me immediately dropped my arm. I rushed over to my two rescuers.
"Atorah...you're bleeding." Rah noticed as Cuda's eyes stayed trained on the other Yautja, "why do you smell like that?" He asked.
"I smell like what?" I questioned.
"Go get an overseer Rah." Cuda ordered to him. Rah didn't argue, he sped off to find one.
The large and evil Yautja was smirking at us now. A laugh was forming in his throat. I don't think I ever heard anything so evil and detached.
"So the human worm has a claim already? Are you in the tournament young blood?" Cuda didn't answer.
An overseer came trotting up to us, "Atorah...what has happened to you?"
"He-he attacked me!"
"It's true. We caught him." Rah affirmed. I looked back at Cuda, he was still staring at the evil Yautja with a rage that I've never seen before.
"Overseer, I was merely showing my interest in the child-maker." The Yautja calmly stated, "my name is Maut. I am son of Maut-we. I am the right hand and next in line to claim leadership for the Hish. I demand my rights to claim her as a prize for the tournament."
I gasped. This was exactly what we were trying to avoid.
"This will be settled within the council." The overseer growled, "Atorah needs medical attention."
Cuda finally turned to me, his eyes looked me up and down. He sniffed as if trying to get something out of his nose, "can you walk..." He asked quietly.
"Yes." I responded even quieter. My eyes filling up with tears.
Mother, Commander, Tu'puk and 3 council members appeared at the med bay in less than an hour.
"What was she doing outside your home? I thought we made it clear that she was to stay hidden!" Commander roared. I could hear them through the other side of the doors.
"She was picking flowers for tea, her stomach was hurting!" My mother roared back. "Do you really think that she could have predicted all of that happening?"
"It doesn't matter now, does it!?"
"Is this a bad time?" The doctor cut in. The group went quiet, "Atorah's attack wasn't her fault in the least. Her scent is incredibly stronger right now because she's reached sexual maturity." The doctor explained, "for humans, this happens when you have a menstruation cycle. It is a period of time that her body sheds an unused egg by bleeding."
"I know of this cycle. Her father used to talk about it." Mother said.
"The Hish have always been sensitive to smell. But his actions were out of hand."
"So what do we do?" Commander asked.
"We treat Atorah as an equal. Her name will be entered into the tournament."