The next chapter is posted! Enjoy :)

Once they cleared Earth's atmosphere and they were in space, Air'ik set the coordinates for Yautja Prime and set for autopilot.

Aurora didn't leave his lap right away. She sat there, looking out at the scene before her. She was happy that the whole ordeal was over. But a part of her was saddened by the loss of Briggs.

He was such a caring, sweet, and brave man. And she feels he didn't deserve the grizzly death he received. Even though he was already given a death sentence with his advanced pancreatic cancer, it still didn't compare to dying by some alien creature gutting you and tossing you aside like trash.

A tear left her eye when the image of his death played in her mind.

Not a moment later she felt a large warm hand cup her cheek and gently wipe her tear away.

"What's wrong, Aurora?" Air'ik asked, clearly concerned.

She took a deep breath, trying to clear her throat.

"I just miss Briggs. He was...a good man. And he didn't deserve to die like that. I should've never...had to say goodbye to him like that." Aurora said, shakily.

Air'ik removed his mask and placed it aside. Before turning back to face her.

"I understand it hurts. And death is never easy, especially when one dies in battle. But it was clear he loved you very much. He felt he did what he had to do to protect you and keep you safe.

I'm sorry, you couldn't give him a decent burial. He certainly deserved one. He died an honorable warrior's death. And normally, we try to bury our honored. But that's only when and if we can retrieve them." Air'ik told her softly.

Aurora was silent for a moment before she spoke.

"Was your family able to retrieve your brothers after they died during their Chivas?" She asks, recalling the time he told her he lost two of his brothers to such a hunt.

"Only one, because he managed to make a kill and mark himself before his death. The other as far as we knew, died before he could make a kill and his body was too far out of reach deep into the hive to retrieve.

But it did hurt me a bit when I found out they failed and died. Though most yautja try not to show sentiment upon a fallen comrade or family member. Because in our culture, if you were not strong enough to survive your Chiva, then you were deemed unworthy to carry on as it was.

They are viewed as weak, and weakness is not tolerated among the yautja. It's one of the many reasons we have Chivas. To weed out the weak and make sure only the strongest survive.

To you, it may sound cruel. But to a yautja, it is our culture and way of life. It's how it's always been since the beginning of time." Air'ik told her.

Aurora was a bit hesitant with what she wanted to say next. But she felt like she needed to know.

"What would've happened had I'd not pass that hunt we just had back there? Would I have been cast aside and seen as weak too?" She asked, hesitation present in her voice.

She felt his hand cup her chin and tilt her face up to his.

"No, because you're not weak. I knew from the moment I saw you there was a strong warrior lying dormant inside of you. And it slowly made its way to the surface as I trained you. And it made itself clear when you stood your ground and killed the re'van-de.

But the biggest proof was when you took out those hard meats down there. You may not be as strong or fast as yautja. But you didn't let that stop you.

You're cunning and used what you could to your disposal as a resourceful fighter. And used the strength you already had to come out on top." He stated.

Aurora's heart leapt with happiness at his answer and declaration. and she couldn't hold back her smile of appreciation.

She then leaned in and kissed the bottom of one of his mandibles, making him purr.

"Thank you. Though I must say, your deep-seated wisdom is starting to show...old man." She teased.

He rolled his eyes, and then surprised her by picking her up, and leaving his seat.

"When are you going to learn, Aurora? 153yrs. old is still young by yautja standards. In ooman years I'm not much older than yourself." Air'ik pointed out as he continued to carry her out of the control room and down the hall.

Aurora smirked, "Yeah, keep telling yourself that old timer. Considering that's an old person's favorite excuse."

"Female, if you don't stop calling me old, I'll hide all of your clothes, just as you did to me a couple months ago." He playfully threatened.

"You wouldn't dare." She quipped.

A mischievous smirk decorated his face.

"Watch me." He countered.

"I mean it, don't even think about it. Otherwise, I'll change the pass code to your quarters, and you won't be able to get in and you'll be sleeping outside on the floor." Aurora retorted.

Air'ik snorted at threat.

"That's an easy fix of simply overriding the system on the keypad. You're going to have to come up with something better than that." The hunter replied.

"Not good enough you say? Fine, I'll think of something worse then." She said.

"I'm shaking in my awu'asa, Da'dtou-di." He sarcastically replied.

Aurora snorted at his response. Before changing topics.

"Where we headed off to anyway?" She asks.

"We're going to patch ourselves up and then take a bath. Because let's face it, you smell like sweat and a dead kainde amedha carcass." Air'ik teased.

She rolled her eyes, "Again. you really do say the sweetest things to me."

"Better expect it from here on out. Because you're never getting rid of me." He playfully declared.

"Can't wait." She countered.

They made it back to his quarters. He sat her down in the chair by his desk and pulled out their med-kits and went to work.

Looking at him Aurora's amazed he was still standing and moving about the way he was. Especially, after being roughed up the way he was while fighting the hard meats.

Who can say they were crushed into a wall then slapped across the room into a wall and slid down it, and still got back up afterwards. Her warrior was definitely very strong and sturdy. Because those were some serious blows he took. They certainly scared the hell out of her because she thought at the time that he would be gravely injured after taking such damage or worse, dead.

Her on the other hand, now that most of the adrenaline finally wore off, she felt like she'd been hit by a fucking train.

Aurora couldn't hide her winces as she applied medicine to her cuts, gashes, and bruises. It be a miracle if she hadn't bruised or busted any ribs from when she was tossed down a few times by the hard meats.

She took a few experimental deep breaths. It did ache a little, but it was kind of a dull pain, and thankfully not excruciating. Still, Aurora wanted to ask Air'ik if we can use the full body scanner in the med room to be sure nothing is broken or bleeding inside.

"You think we can use the full body scanner in the med room? I would like to check and make sure nothing is broken and there's no internal bleeding inside somewhere." She requests.

"I didn't see anything bad wrong within you when I used the scanner in my mask earlier. But if it will put you at ease, we can use the scanner in the med room. Let's just finish up here first with the few external injuries we sustained." He stated.

They spent the next few minutes sealing and patching up areas that were still bleeding a little.

Then Air'ik led her out of their quarters and down to the med room.

Once there, he helped her onto the high table and instructed her to lie still. Then he went over to a small computer like device on the side and tapped a few keys.

The scanner came to life and slowly passed up and down over her prone form. While Air'ik looked at the holographic screen that popped up above the scanner and showed him her internal structure.

If there is anything serious, the holographic screen would pinpoint and isolate the damaged area and zoom in on it to see where and what is damaged.

"According to the scanner, everything appears to be fine. There isn't any internal bleeding. All it is showing is some bruising in your lower rib area. But none surprisingly are broken." Air'ik told her, while still watching the holographic image to be sure.

Aurora let out a sigh of relief. And a few moments later, Air'ik switched off the scanner, making the holographic imaging above it disappear. She then sat up and he helped her off the table.

Then they went back to his quarters and into the washroom. Only this time, it was just Aurora who was going to take a bath. Air'ik told her there was something he needed to do first and that he will either join her afterwards or take one later if she finishes before he gets back.

Air'ik went back into the control room and sat in the pilot's seat. He then pressed a couple buttons to contact his father.

Several moments later, a holographic image popped up and his father's face came into view.

"Greetings, Father. How is everything?" Air'ik asks.

"Everything is good, son. How are you? Or more importantly, how's your ooman? She still with you?" His father asked.

Air'ik gave a brief nod, "She is. And she is why I contacted you."

He then spent the next several minutes conveying what had happened on their most recent trip to Earth. All the way from their capture to the hard meats the oomans had.

Air'ik then explained how well Aurora fought the hard meats and managed to kill a few.

"I have everything recorded on both my masks and hers. I'll send you the recorded feed of the hunt for you to observe. And I would very much like the Elders to observe it as well." He told his father.

"Well, it definitely all sounded interesting when you told me. So, I certainly would like to see what you have recorded." My'hai-da replied.

Air'ik was silent for a moment, before speaking up.

"With all that has happened, do you believe the Elders will count this hunt as her Chiva? She did after all take down several hard meats on her own, without any assistance from me.

And the whole point to the trial is doing just that. We we're able to collect at least one of the skulls of the kainde amedha she has killed and secure it as a trophy. It just needs to be cleaned and polished.

Now, she had at least two trophies from two formidable prey species. And according to our codes, that would already make her a blooded warrior." Air'ik pointed out.

His father paused for a moment, giving it some thought.

"By our laws, yes, she would be considered worthy. As you stated she has already succeeded in not just killing one kainde amedha but several. Something that's not exactly an easy feat for most of our Unblooded warriors that go in for their Chiva.

I may not be an Elder yet. But I still know well enough that by our laws she has fought the kainde amedha and successfully killed a few. I can only gather you marked her as well?" His father inquired.

"Yes, as you just stated, she fought and killed several kainde amedha and came out victorious. This is why I believe it should be counted as a Chiva." Air'ik replied.

My'hai-da silently stared at his son.

"There is something else too. And I can't help but feel you're hesitant to speak about it." The older yautja pointed out.

Air'ik let out a small huff. Of course, his father would pick up on the fact that he was hiding something or having difficulty conveying something he wished to talk about. The older yautja always seemed to have a nack for picking up these things.

"There is...one more thing. Though I'm unsure if it's something you would be happy to hear." The younger hunter said.

To his surprise, he heard his father starting to laugh. Air'ik gave him a questioning look for the reaction.

"Let me guess, you want her for a Mate? Did I guess accurately?" My'hai-da surmised.

Air'ik's eyes widened, which only made his father's smirk more pronounced.

"Judging by the look, I did guess it right." He joked.

"You're not upset by this revelation?" Air'ik asked, still somewhat surprised.

"Son, I have eyes. The way you talk about this female, I'd be surprised if you haven't decided to take her for a mate." My'hai-da said, without skipping a beat.

"But again, you're not upset. Why is that? Most in your position would've frowned upon such a choice. Because she is not a yautja female." Air'ik said.

"She obviously has proven herself worthy, and it's apparent that she makes you very happy. I've never seen you so taken with a female before. Because of all this, her not being a yautja is not really relevant." His father stated.

The older yautja paused for a moment. And Air'ik thought he saw a brief flash of guilt in his father's eyes.

"There is also something I never told you. It is something of importance. I can only hope that you can forgive me from what I'm about to tell you and should've told you a long time ago." My-hai-da admitted.

Ok? He wasn't expecting this. Just what secret was his father about to spill?

"You going to tell me you have a harem of ooman females stashed away somewhere?" Air'ik joked.

His father snorted, "Hardly, but we can dream." The older male retorted back.

"Remember how me and your aunt used to talk very fondly of your grandmother? And how we were close to her as pups?" My'hai-da inquired.

"Yes, I do recall. Just as I remember you telling me she died on a hunt when I was a mere suckling. What of her?" Air'ik asked.

"There is a reason why we were a little more compassionate than most yautja, and that stems down our bloodline to her. I never did tell you the full story about where your grandfather met your grandmother did I?" My-hai-da stated.

"You said they met during a hunt." Air'ik replied.

"Yes, a hunt. A hunt on Earth. She was an ooman." His father finally confessed.

"WHAT!?" Air'ik practically shouted, clearly surprised.

"You heard me. Your grandmother was ooman. Centuries ago, your grandfather went to hunt on the backwater planet. When he arrived, he noticed a conflict going on between certain groups of oomans.

He eventually learned that they were engaged in war with another group of oomans. He overheard some oomans during a conversation call it a Revolutionary War. Something about Americans fighting other oomans they called the British, if memory serves me correct.

Your grandfather ended up stalking a camp full of soldiers. He noted one of them broke off and walked a ways to a nearby river. So, he followed them with the intention of challenging and killing this individual soldier.

He stopped and observed the soldier and saw it started to peel off its outer layers. Your grandfather stepped out from behind some trees and engaged his wrist blades.

The ooman heard the blades extend, jumped with a start, and whirled around to face him. The ooman already had most of its shirt off. And that's when he made the startling discover that it wasn't a male soldier. It was a lou-dte- kale ooman.

This revelation certainly threw him off. He couldn't understand why this ooman female was out here amongst the mist of war dressed as a soldier.

She was unarmed at the time, having left most of her weapons back at the camp. He decided not to engage her in combat. But she did leave him intrigued.

Because during this time period in Earth's history, the females didn't fight, nor were they allowed to. Yet, here this female was, doing just that. His interest in her also grew when she didn't scream and run upon seeing him.

She stood her ground and demanded to know who and what he was.

Your grandfather didn't answer her though. He didn't know her language well, and despite having a translator, he refused to answer. He just backed off, cloaked himself, and left.

But he did continue to follow her camp for the next several days. Until one day there was an ambush and many from her camp were killed by the other soldiers. The female was one of the last few remaining.

Your grandfather was impressed by her fighting skills. She may have been smaller than the males, but she fought ferociously for her life. And when she was struck down by a soldier that snuck up behind her, that's when your grandfather interceded, and helped her.

He killed the remaining enemy soldiers. But by then, most of her allies were either dead or dying. She had a bad injury to her shoulder and was bleeding out. So, he took her to safety, and healed her.

It was then he finally started communicating with her. She taught him more of her language and he told her more about himself and his kind.

As time went on, they fell in love and he asked her to be his mate. She agreed, and he took her with him back to Yautja Prime.

It wasn't easy for her at first. It took a lot to get her to finally be accepted. She went through the hard meat trials as stated by our laws she had to do. Like your female, she came out successful and was marked.

In time, the other yautja started to slowly accept and respect her for the warrior my father already knew her to be. And not long after, she had me, and a couple years later, my sister.

So, now you know why I'm not judging you for wanting to take an ooman for a mate. Because it has already happened once before, and we already have ooman roots in our blood." My'hai-da shared.

Air'ik couldn't wrap his mind around it. He knew stories about his grandmother that his father and aunt shared with him. How she was a brave and strong huntress. How grandfather never gotten over his grief when she died.

But not once had his father mentioned that she was an ooman. Until now.

"Why haven't you ever told me this father? Why would you leave out something so important like that?" Air'ik demanded, starting to feel a bit angry that something like this was kept from him.

His father sighed, "Because I wasn't sure if knowing this information would hinder you and your siblings as hunters. As you know, one of the biggest hunts we partake in is the hunt for oomans. I wasn't sure if knowing a family member was ooman would make you think twice or hesitate with hunting them.

I also was concerned if it may make you feel different, like you wouldn't fit in with our people because you're not a pure blood yautja. And I know, I've never mentioned this before. But there were times when me and my sister were ostracized for being half breeds by other neighboring clans as well as from a few from within our own clan.

I didn't want you and your siblings to go through that like me and your aunt did. Trust me when I say, it wasn't always a very pleasant experience. We were challenged a lot for our positions among the clan by others when we were young.

And this is why I made the decision long ago not to tell you or your siblings.

And don't think it's because I'm ashamed of the fact that she was ooman. Because I'm not ashamed. She was a great warrior and mother, and I would never smear her good name.

It really was all for concern for you and your siblings about being different or being treated differently." My'hai-da told him.

Air'ik continued to sit there and take it all in. It still truly was surprising. Out of all the things his father could've confessed to him. He never could've imagined it would be something like this.

"What was her name? I know you told me it was Da'dtou-di. The same name I have given Aurora. But what was her ooman name?" Air'ik asked.

"Her name was Elizabeth. Elizabeth Anne Woodrow. She broke rules and regulations to join the army to take her brother's place. He had a heart condition, and she did not want him to fight. So, she disguised herself as male and joined.

She was very brave, headstrong, and beautiful. And didn't take any cjit from anyone, whether they be ooman or yautja. All qualities that my father loved about her." My'hai-da said with pride.

Air'ik couldn't help but smile, "That describes Aurora perfectly as well. She too is all of the above you just mentioned."

"You love her?" His father asked.

Love. Something Air'ik never thought he would have. Something that wasn't felt very often among his kind. He may not have mentioned it to her yet. But yes, he does love her. So much so, that he can't imagine ever being with another.

"Yes, I do. And when I ask her, I wish to have her as a Life Mate." Air'ik said, with determination.

His father smiled at his answer.

"Then, I give you my blessings. And I look forward to meeting her when you dock on home world. I also be sure to relay all the recordings in your mask of the hunt to the Elders so they know." My'hai-da informed him.

"Thank you, father. And I'll hook up the masks' feed to the counsel and send you the recordings." Air'ik replied.

"I look forward to viewing them. From what you just told me it sounded like quite the hunt." His father said.

"It certainly was. And I'll share more about it when we get back to home world in three weeks." Air'ik said.

My-hai-da grinned, "And who knows, by the time you arrive, perhaps I'll be getting more news. Possibly about another future grandpup."

Air'ik nearly choked on air.

"For the love of Paya, why are you rushing me!? I still have yet to ask her about being Life Mates! Let's take things one step at a time here!" The younger hunter blurted.

"Then what are you waiting for, son? Ask her. Goodbye." His father said, with laughter in his voice, and the holographic image disappeared.

'Nice to know the old man still loves to embarrass his offspring every chance he gets'. Air'ik thought to himself.

He chuckles and shakes his head. Before he got up and left the control room.

Until Next Time ;)