"There is no need for such watchfulness, Kov." Tavin made that strange sound again; Kov was beginning to suspect there was some significance to it. "I wouldn't have offered you the shelter of my house if I had any concerns for your safety with my companions. Beyond the legal difficulties your becoming injured would create, it would be illogical and unethical to do so."

"There are four sehlat in this chamber with us, Tavin."

"Ah, so you are able to count."

The other man seemed to be taking considerable pleasure in his agitation. Kov considered leaving – but if Tavin had information he could use in his understanding of what had occurred with Koss, he could bear the man's strangeness, and perhaps even the four enormous creatures in varying states of repose, and the knowledge that two more, as yet unseen, were also in residence.

"Where are the other two? I am able to count, and also to remember. You stated that there were six animals here."

"You've never had a sehlat, have you, young Kov?"

The question gave no answer to his, but this was Tavin's house. It would be most discourteous to say so. "No. Sivet my father doesn't allow the keeping of animals, companion or otherwise."

"I thought as much. There is a manner shared by all who are not raised in the company of a sehlat. For those who are, their size ceases to be a matter of importance long before adulthood is reached – unless the sehlat is ill-trained. Unfortunately, this sometimes results in a child never reaching adulthood at all. Still, though, it is the fault of the Vulcans, and not the animal."

"I am sure that is little consolation to the family of the child who is –" Kov was uncertain whether the sehlat would maul the child in question or consume it. With four sehlats within close proximity, he was quite certain he didn't want to learn the answer in this moment. "Deceased."

"That may be, Kov, but it is even less so to the sehlat, who will invariably be euthanized if a death occurs. It will not matter that proper training would have assured the safety of all involved, or that tens of thousands of domesticated sehlat reside in homes across the planet. An ill-trained sehlat is a menace to all, and if death or serious injury are the result, the animal will die."

"Then there is a deeper purpose to your efforts to adequately train these animals." Tavin hadn't spoken of his deep affection for his companions; there had been no need for him to do so. His knuckles ran over the immense head of one of the creatures, which sat beside him. Another was sprawled over the couch beside him, one giant paw resting on his lap.

"Yes. I want to assure that no sehlat will be murdered as a result of negligence from the family entrusted with its care. It is a waste – of Vulcan life, and of sehlat life – when such things occur. But the family chooses the manner in which they will interact with the sehlat. Being a biddable but instinctive creature, the sehlat is never afforded the same level of choice."

"You didn't answer my question, Tavin. Where are the fifth and sixth sehlats?" Kov looked over his shoulder, to the doorway that led into portions of the house Tavin had assured him he would see once they had "met my companions" and shared a repast. He was uncertain two more of the animals could fit into this chamber, although those already occupying it seemed wholly at their ease.

"You have never made any study of the sehlat."

"No." It hadn't been a question. Still Kov felt oddly compelled to defend it. "I know that they live upon the desert, and that they are carnivorous, and that they can be predatorial, particularly upon the Forge when T'Khut is full, but also in times of prey scarcity."

"Ah, the tour guide text, nothing more." The sound emanated from Tavin again; it seemed to coincide with such commentary. Kov thought he might like to understand better what Tavin intended by the sound, if anything.

The older man reached down along the underside of the sehlat beside him, making sounds Kov assumed to be some form of communication with it.

"I have learned enough to assure my safety, Tavin."

Tavin made some motion, and, when he straightened, his arms cradled two much smaller creatures which blinked in the light and made small grunts. It took Kov a moment to understand that these were infant sehlat.

"But not enough to know that sehlats are marsupials." Again the sound. "They will live within their mother's pouch, receiving warmth, nourishment, comfort, and protection from her for the first three years of their lives. For the next three, they will gradually come less and less often to the pouch, until they are independent. However, the family will remain closely connected throughout the lives of the young. Often, several family members will den in close proximity to one another, and, as mates are chosen, networks of related individuals will work together to provide food, protection, and community. That is why I can have six sehlats in such a relatively small space; these animals are all young offshoots of such a network."

Kov found the infant sehlat aesthetically pleasing, but he wasn't prepared when Tavin rose and came to him. "You will need to learn far more of this species if you are going to design a facility for training them, Kov. Perhaps you could begin by holding one of these infants, so, making certain to cradle her in your arms, so she will feel secure and comfortable, and begin to build trust in your willingness to provide for her needs. That is always the basis of proper training, for any sehlat."

"You wish me to – to hold one of these animals?" But there was no need to ask; Tavin had already indicated that he did.

The infants already had the beginnings of fangs protruding from both upper and lower jaws. If he was not careful, it was possible that he might sustain a bite which might well cause serious injury.

"I am not practiced in handling animals, Tavin. Perhaps –"

"In all things, there can be no change without a new beginning, young Kov. Tell me, when you first learned of your Awakening last night, had you known of the ouz'hesta?"

"No. I learned it only in the space of the day – the existence of it, and the practice of it. There is much, I believe, that I have left to learn of it."

"These kits are far less dangerous than that manner of touching. Perhaps you will not believe this truth, at first, but it makes it no less a truth that you doubt it."

Tavin knelt beside the chair that Kov occupied. The kits, as he had referred to them, seemed to be quite comfortable nested in his arms. "I have no wish to hurt the animal," he said. He didn't mention that the kits' mother was watching them attentively, and he would not choose to anger her.

"They are quite resilient, I assure you. You would need to have intent to harm them and exert significant force to accomplish such an act. Your unwillingness to do so means that, for a brief time, the infant will be as safe with you as within the pouch of its mother."

There seemed no other objection he could logically make. "Is there a manner in which I am to receive the kit, Tavin?"

"First, allow the kit to scent your hand. Have no concern about the fangs; they haven't yet developed the jaw strength to allow them to bite, as they are nurslings. Then move your hand slowly and firmly along the length of the spine, until you are able to support the kit's body weight with your arm. Once you are holding it, draw it firmly against your body to provide security, and strive to encompass its body to simulate the mother's pouch."

The instructions were specific, but not difficult to follow. Given the events of the night now fading into dawning, Kov was somewhat uncomfortably aware of Tavin's body as he moved his arm into a supporting position, but the moment was brief, and then he held the kit in his cradled arms, its weight warm and alive and its eyes focused blinkingly upon his own.

There was something quite soothing in this contact.

"I would ask a question of you, young Kov." Tavin returned to his seat with the remaining kit; the mother sniffed it and his hand briefly, then yawned and stretched out upon the floor to rolly belly-up, as though enjoying her moments of relative freedom from parenthood.

"It is your home, Tavin."

"No, not yet, as I have said. But it is my hope that, with your assistance, it will come to be so, and that bears upon the question I would ask of you."

"I will assist you, Tavin. It will have to be in the spaces between my other duties, but your project is of interest, and there is pleasure in your companionship."

"That makes my question more important. Will you accept the care of this sehlat when you are here? Will you learn her needs and the manner of her training?"

"For what purpose?"

Again, Tavin made the sound; Kov thought he might gain confidence enough to ask the other man what he intended to convey with it. "For the purpose of your learning. You must know what is needed, if you are to create the facilities for training, and there is much that is best learned by discovery. But there is more. I learned long ago that giving myself to the care of another being is restorative. You have been soulwounded in your Awakening, and that is an especially vulnerable time. If you would forge a relationship with your Intended, it is best to do it without that wounding, for it would both be a simple matter to cause further injury, and the damage might lead to greater pain for you and he to whom you are Awakened."

"Then you intend this to be a therapeutic experience, as well as an educational one?"

"Yes, young Kov. And more. If you would, I will give this kit into your care. Perhaps she will encourage you to move forward into a life where you do not remain in the home of a father that you speak of with less warmth than you have shown to me, a stranger in your life new-met. Perhaps, with the knowing that this kit is here, and dependent upon you to learn to deal with those not of her species, you will come more often to this place, where you may find restoration and other kinds of learning which you deeply desire." Tavin paused, and, before he spoke again, he bowed his head so it was very near the kit he still held. "And, perhaps, if you do come often to this place, it will start to feel as a home to me, and I will have someone to speak to who is able to speak back in my language and offer something of the companionship lost when my husband died."

Again, there was the moisture in his eyes, but, this time, it overfilled them and ran in lines of mute pain down his face. Kov felt the resonance of that pain, and, were there no other reason, he thought perhaps that it would have been enough to persuade him. "I will accept the gift of you, Tavin. But what will the mother sehlat think of this arrangement? Or the father, since you have said that they form a network?"

"For me and you, Kov, it is as simple as my giving the kit over to your care and keeping. But it is not so for the sehlat. You will be required to earn the trust and companionship of this animal, and to prove, in all instances, that you are reliable and worthy of what she gives to you. That is the only way to earn her acceptance of you. Once you have that, her mother and father will willingly include you into their network."

"Then I accept and will endeavor to do as she requires. Does she have a name?" The kit yawned and made soft suckling motions with its mouth. Kov felt a most illogical, and most welcome, wave of affection for the infant animal. Perhaps, in this moment, he was beginning to understand why Tavin had chosen this species to be his companions.

"I have given her none. I most often wait until the kits are out of the pouch. However, you may choose her name, whenever you wish."

"T'Dana."

"You chose quickly, young Kov. Is it a name that holds meaning to you?"

"Yes." Perhaps no further explanation was necessary, but Kov felt an impulse to share it. "It was the name of my mother. She died during my birth, and I wish to honor her in the naming of this kit." He didn't know whether T'Dana would have found any honor in such a gesture, and he was certain that Sivet would not, but Kov took comfort in it. He would come to know the kit T'Dana as he had never known the woman who gave him life.