hello hello again, dear readers, here's an update!

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without further ado : italic = english, normal = yautja language, bold = everything else

The marketplace did not change at all, she concluded upon her first steps down the ramp and onto the docking bay's platform. It was the same hustle and bustle as always, creatures from across the universe coming and going, each in shapes, sizes and colors she's never seen anywhere else.

As the yautja from the dropship she had been on fanned out, you could tell the other creatures became wary, cowering and avoiding their path altogether.

Unlatching the mask from her face, Kali'adah took to the many elevators upwards to the planetoid's surface, ignoring completely the imp-like thing that chittered after her, their supposedly welcoming party.

Colossal, winding bridges connected the areas together, bathed in some sort of artificial light that mimicked a sun, offering its residents more than enough to go about and grow their own crops. Judging by the many fruits of all ranges and edges of the galaxy on display, she assumed that it had been a good harvesting this rotation.

Tall, dark buildings rose up like spikes from the ground, large and imposing, designed for those that lived there or wished to stay a while, acting as inns for guests.

In complete contrast to the dark, towering giants, her human vision allowed her to experience the colorful garments and shops she passed by, each leaving her with a small semblance of a smile on her face. It wasn't often she had time to indulge herself in simple things such as walking with species different than her own, interacting with exotic beings one couldn't even imagine existed.

She paused here and there, checking merchandise, carpets, seasonings, hair ornaments and more.

With a satchel of luxurious pelts on her person, along with necklaces carved from bone by her own hand, the huntress was set for a few good deals. She would need to unwind, considering the events of the past cycles. That, and she needed to get herself together for the hunt that was to come.

The little unvoiced argument with Jac'in didn't help either.

Amelia was ooman, more ooman than she could understand, despite living among those of the Etei clan for the past six rotations of her life. She was a good one, Kali could admit to that and she formed a strange friendship with the other woman, acknowledging how she would try to cling to her, because she shared her species, so the familiarity gave her peace of mind.

But she was only an eta, if even that. She held no rank, no right to be with Jac'in, who was a very sought after warrior, an incredible hunter with a high rank.

It could spell her death. In the throes of heat, a male could simply slit her open. Servants were nothing to a blooded warrior, even an unblooded. Her status meant nothing, she meant nothing.

Displaying herself like that was asking for it. The yautja female knew that very well.

And that's what irritated Kali the most. She didn't want to have to step over Amelia's body in the hallway of the mothership, she didn't want to see how affected Jac'in would get, even if they both knew attachment was not their way of life.

Perhaps they were both somewhat damaged, imperfect in the path, perhaps that's what brought them together.

In this instance, Kali'adah could say that she was more yautja than her friend, as the passing of Amelia would probably bother her for exactly a cycle or so before she moved on. It was normal for friends to come and go, she learned that on her chiva, when one of the yautja females she was comfortable around and enjoyed the company of, ended up torn to pieces by the kainde amedha queen.

Loss was usual. Detachment came easily for the human huntress, as it should.

"Ig la blonh k'rak'va?"

What? She turned her head abruptly to the side, long dark braids spilling around at the motion, and came face to chest with a tall creature sporting four burly arms, four glowing white eyes and a very furry body. It was naked, except for the cloth draped around its waist to cover whatever modesty it had.

Right. The translator.

She raised her wrist computer to her eyes and activated the chip embedded into her brain from when she was just a suckling, with the role to translate the languages of the galaxy for her to understand.

When she made eye contact with the creature again, it bared its teeth at her, prompting her to flex her arm and let the wrist blades slide out in warning. Seeing this, it backed away and waved its hands in front of its face. "Woah woah there, I just wanted to know if you needed help," the voice was distinctly male. Ah, so it was simply a vendor.

Tilting her head to the side, she retracted her blades, expression void of any emotion.

He must have grinned and she misunderstood. It wasn't the first time it happened. Usually, showing teeth in yautja culture was a sign of aggression, and, while she was used to seeing ooman aseigan do that to each other on homeworld, Amelia doing it to her, and, sometimes, even catching herself in reflective surfaces, witnessing it from another was making her instincts spike up.

When he saw that she sported no more deadly blades, his many eyes took her in from head to toe. "So what is with the get-up, human? You a yautjan pet or something? Don't see many of your kind around here,"

A deep growl reverberated from her chest, not unlike that of a yautja and she rolled her shoulders, showing aggression. The hair on the male rose in response, but he made no move to cower, so she took a step closer. Her pupils shrunk, face twisted in a snarl and she rattled in her throat, openly hostile, warningly.

Finally, the alien conceded, shoulders sagging and body becoming smaller in stature.

Satisfied, Kali'adah shoved past him, knocking him aside with little effort.

She missed, however, how the creature watched her go, pupiless eyes narrowing at her retreating form. It wouldn't charge, she was confident in that, none of them would try anything at the sight of her armor.

Fortunately enough, she realized as she stopped by a tent with all kinds of daggers, Lar'ja has been scarce last cycle and this one. Hopefully, it would remain this way.

The metal of the intricately made blades seemed too fragile for her liking. They were sharp, but too delicate and easy to bend. During hunts you needed quality weapons, not excuses for one, because that could dictate your fate, either dine with the gods or succumb to Cetanu.

Puffing out air through her nostrils, the huntress moved on, uninterested in the vendors that shouted their merchandise to make the passerby interested. It was an amalgamation of different languages and intonations, inflections and growls, which seemed to harmonize the further you got lost in the sea of creatures crowding the streets.

Her destination changed and she took to the more empty windings of roads and narrow passageways, until she came upon the spot she wanted.

It was a good view, away from the noise, where she came every time they happened upon the Intera Market asteroid. From this point, you could see the stretch of buildings and colors and lights, all the way across, the air felt cleaner here and she could hear distant commotion becoming only background noise as she closed her eyes and inhaled.

This is where she accidentally ended up on her first time coming to this place, got lost from the others she was trying to remain in the proximity of and found this little spot. Now, every time they did come here, she would return, again and again.

Problems seemed far away now, the hunt as well. The heaviness on her heart became a little lighter and she exhaled. It felt like the older she got, the more her ooman body and mind became burdens to the path she chose.

It was rare that a hunter had a moment of peace anyway. Unless she was with her bearer on the homeworld, she hadn't known what serenity felt like. Jac'in's actions crept up on her like a pauking kainde amedha on the prowl, however, and the female rattled in frustration.

A light gasp from behind her made her whip around on the intruder, blades out and a snarl curling her upper lip.

The culprit, she realized, was an ooman pup, dirty and malnourished, sporting only a rugged covering over their body and...holding one of the pelts from her satchel. A thief? One that stole from her? Kali'adah clicked in confusion, her throat constricting as the sound came out, forcing the small one to take a few steps back.

"I didn't mean to!" it squealed, turning around and running off. Her instinct was to follow, body putting itself into motion, thoughts running through her mind as her sandals kicked off dirt with her sprint after the little pup. That vendor from before said that there weren't many of her kind here, so what were the chances of a pup of all things to wander around like that, pick-pocketing?

This language it used sounded familiar, perhaps the ooman tongue that Amelia used sometimes, or the recordings from other hunters' masks she has heard before while on a hunt? She's preyed upon oomans before, those on the game preserves that had been chosen and deposited there, worthy to be challenging, but that was all. Besides, she wasn't interested in a language that would confirm her heritage, she rejected that, she rejected anything to do with other oomans.

No matter.

The Intera Market was known for the slave trafficking, therefore, it would have been normal for her to see grown adult oomans in their prime. Not a pup. Pups were restricted, it was highly criticised and frowned upon.

Its little feet carried it through roads that got narrow, between towers, over unknown areas to her and finally, to a crossroads of sorts, where the little one just disappeared.

The huntress skidded to a halt and looked around, her head moving in a staccato, listening for the light footsteps, trying to catch the scent or track with her vision. Without turning her face, her head tilted slightly to her left, where a pair of heavy hoofs came closer, then to her right, confident footfalls stringing along. From behind her, a shadow casted over the ground until it reached her feet, while her front was covered by the silhouette of none other than the vendor from before.

She rattled into her chest.

The thing had the pup by its neck, making it whimper as he came forth and stopped a few good noks away from her. "There she is, told ya guys she's a keeper. If we sell her to the cage, we'll get a pretty sum, live like kings," the male snickered, shoving the little one away "Good job kid, bringin' her to us, you got yourself a warm meal for tonight,"

The kid stumbled off at first, before giving her an apologetic look and running off to hide behind a corner.

The cage, as they referred it to, was a fighting rink, where strong slaves were made to fight until death, bidders putting large sums of chips or precious objects on their heads. It held no honor, no sense, no purpose, other than the entertainment of greedy owners.

"S'yuit-de zabin," she lowered her head, cracking her neck to the side as she bent her knees. All were armed, hostile, their intent clear by the scent that wafted over her "Dtai'k-dte sa-de nav'g-kon dtain'aun bpide," she cackled menacingly, a sound so chilling that it made the creature's hair stand on end.

"Fuck you, bitch! Get her!"

They all came at her at once. Her senses sharpened, muscles jumping in excitement. With effortless strain, she leaped back, having felt the one behind her closer than all the others. Calculating the exact location of the arachni alien -she had discovered the species it belonged to as she back flipped over its head- the evasion of its claw-like arms was easy. In one fluid motion, as soon as her feet touched the ground, ankles together, her wristblades struck its back like lightning, coming out on the other side.

Releasing a venomous screech, she lifted the spasming thing off the ground and hurled it to the side, where it crumpled into a wall, dead and leaking its blue blood.

The sudden kill had the other three stop in their tracks and watch the show in bewilderment. Kali'adah, however, merely chittered in amusement and fixed them with her ice cold gaze, sliding her dirty blades over her shoulder to get rid of the blood, but also to paint herself with her first fallen prey.

"M-di h'chak,"

This time, she was the one that came for them, the large hooved alien trying to catch her in a roundhouse swing of a large hammer. At the last second, she slid to her knees, under his legs and behind him, before she slammed her back into his to put him off balance, side-stepped, grabbed his neck when he stumbled forward and snapped it to the side, killing him instantly. One of the other goons was rushing to her stupidly, so she used the same heavy corpse and swung around it, before pushing the heavy body onto the unexpecting lizard-looking alien.

The weight of its peer had him fall under, as it was lanky and weak, struggling to push the dead hooved idiot off. But before he could do that, she was already at his side, impaling him on the same blades, just under his ribs. With a cruel sneer, she twisted them, causing a howl of pain to pour out of its maw.

"Tarei hsan, m-di yin'tekai," she hissed, finally yanking her weapon out and allowing the two bodies to fall in the dirt, entangled. The vendor from before, coward as he was, had already taken a few steps back, fur ruffled and eyes large.

"I want to live! I apologize!" he squealed when she approached, gaze locked on him and blades dripping blood at her side "I can give you anything you want! Please have mercy! I don't wanna die!"

He had thrown his weapon aside, which was simply a knife. How pathetic.

That didn't stop her from closing in on him, growling gravely in her throat, until he was cowering into the wall of a building, the same one the pup was hiding behind and panting with fright at what it just witnessed.

"Please, please have mercy!"

She was a nok away from his face as she snarled and raised her wristblades. A deafening roar came forth from her mouth, making the alien crumple on his knees and cover his head as it screamed.

But the final blow never came, instead, she chittered amused, laughing at his expense.

He was not worthy to become her prey. Her gaze moved to the little thing trembling just at the corner, frozen to its spot. Confidently, she straightened up, slid her blades back with a flex of her bicep and turned to it in one fluid motion.

The poor thing had peed itself.

Expression softening, like it usually did when she interacted with pups and sucklings, she stepped closer to it, extending a clawed hand out and changing her tonality to a continuous purr that was meant to calm the small one.

"Take. Hand." she struggled, in the tongue Amelia used often, trying to see if it was something familiar to it. The words rolled hard, stumbled, felt filthy in her mouth, but given the situation, she could make a very very small exception.

When the pup jumped in reaction, she knew her assumptions were right. "Safe. Come." she placed her other hand on her breast plate, letting it know she was safety and it should trust her.

There was no doubt in her mind that what she was doing was right, there was no questioning her actions, nothing. It came naturally to want to take this pup away from this place.

Again, she beckoned it, smiling softly, controlling her facial muscles to show no threat.

This time, the small one sniffled and nodded its head, reaching out with a little shivering hand and placing it into hers. She breathed her relief and grasped its fingers, pulling it to her gently and looking it over for any wounds.

When she was satisfied, she glanced back at the vendor that had meanwhile fainted and decided that it was due to return to the mothership, with a new addition.

And by the time she reached the dockingbay, where the drop-ship was, she had wrapped one of the pelts she meant to exchange, around the pup's shoulders and traded ornaments for a few pieces of fruit to fill his belly -she learned on the way that it was male.

They were the first inside, and she made sure to sign for him to keep quiet as she settled into the seat and easily pulled him on her lap. She saw this behavior with bearers and their sucklings, it was a manner of comfort and security, not like any yautja would try to harm a pup for no good reason with a female around at that.

He tried to speak in the ooman tongue, but she quickly placed two fingers on his mouth and shook her head. "H'ko,"

Water still sprinkling his eyelashes, the little whelp nodded, just as the dropship started to fill with yautja. The curious clicks and tilts of the heads, the way they looked over her and the pup didn't go unnoticed by the small one, but she made sure to keep him close to her and for a warning growl to rise at the warriors that halted to look for too long.

Finally, when the shuttle started thrumming, she shifted the child in her lap and wrapped the belts around them both. She instinctively wanted him to be safe.

As for what she was going to do once they docked, she didn't know. She hadn't planned that far ahead...but she knew the controversy that would meet her once she showed up with an ooman pup on her hand.

...

"And you just took the pup?"

"Sei-i,"

The moment she walked the halls of the mothership with a child in her arms, no less, Amelia and Jac'in were the first to meet her halfway. The servant took the boy from her arms and started talking to him in his tongue, soothing the weeping pup, while the yautja female ushered them all into her own quarters, clearly agitated.

By now, the child was sleeping in their nest, covered in pelts, belly full and clean from the bath he took, courtesy of the female ooman.

While Kali and her hunt sister were discussing, Amelia was stroking the boy's hair affectionately on the edge of the bed. "He was taken from his home. By the worthless cowards," she clicked her tusks together, watching her lover caring for him.

"It is getting worse. The takings, especially from N'ithya," the brunette chittered venomously, folding her arms over her breastplate.

"M-di yin'tekai,"

"Sei-i,"

Feeling like this was an opportunity to speak to Jac'in seriously, she looked up at her "Jac'in, I must apologize for earlier-" but the female raised a hand to signal her to stop "It is I that must do so. I understand, mei-jadhi,"

And that was a relief for Kali'adah.

"I believe it would be best for the pup to remain with us, Amelia knows his tongue and Lar'ja…" she spread her mandibles and glanced down at her hunt sister "If he smells the scent of another male, be it pup or not, he will become hostile. It is not his, therefore, it should not be yours," she explained dully.

She didn't even realize the risk she took by getting the little pup away from the market, but now all of her being became alight with furious embarrassment and worry.

It was often that she saw yautja males snarling at male pups that were not their own, especially when they wanted to court a certain female and they were still with their bearer. There had been a case or two of a male yautja slaughtering a pup in the throes of the mating season -he was killed shortly by the bearer, nevertheless. And while no such cases have been heard of since then, the open aggressiveness was still there. It had been so long ago that laws against it were put in place, yet instinct could always overtake the mind of a warrior when their very culture was based on it and around it.

Kali'adah bowed her head in acknowledgment. Truth be told, the pup was indeed safer with a female yautja than it was with herself, the logical outcome was clear. Besides, with the hunt fast approaching, a cycle standing between them and probable death, having Amelia look out for the whelp was the best path to take.

"I will meet you on the hunt, mei-jadhi," both huntresses shook each other's shoulder in farewell and the intruding female left the quarters in favor of her own.

Only to find a very bitter yautja at her door, waiting impatiently.

eta/aseigan = servant/slave

nok = unit of measurement (equivalent to around 13 inches)

S'yuit-de zabin = pathetic insect

Dtai'k-dte sa-de nav'g-kon dtain'aun bpide, = the fight that begun would not end until the end

M-di h'chak = no mercy

Tarei hsan, m-di yin'tekai = unworthy opponent, no honor

h'ko = no

sei-i = yes

N'ithya = earth

mei-jadhi = hunt sister