LIBERI FATALIS: The Therianthrope Chronicles

by Eddie-E

A crossover between Ace Combat, Katmandu and another, surprise famous furry comic. A Japanese scientist during the onset of World War II in Europe devises a groundbreaking theory of evolution whose effects will resonate not only on Earth but also throughout the universe for centuries to come. Rated M for language and mature situations.

32. WOMEN OF HONOR (PART 3)

ACT XXXII: WOMEN OF HONOR (PART 3)

Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.

Charlotte Whitton

---

September 19th, AD 2299/18th day of the Dry Moon, 1748 (summer season), Desert area, 07:45 PM (dawn)

While all those previous events that befallen the White River village were raging on, one of the hunting parties that had left that day in the afternoon and was led by Pyndan was heading back home after having hunted down enough for several days' worth of food. And while they were sitting on their riding lizards, the warriors chatted with each other about their adventures they had had on the hunt.

-"Boy, I was lucky today; if it wasn't for running fast enough, those herndons would have turned me into a rug by the time they were chasing me!"- Kasil discussed with Pyndan about a previous incident during their hunt.

-"Yes, but thanks to that, at least we managed to hunt enough to have enough food for the winter and maybe a little more for the spring, don't you think?"- The white-furred warrior responded in a very snarky tone.

-"Well, I don't like to serve as live bait, if that's any good for you to know, Pyndan."-

-"Hey, Kasil, at least we know you're fast enough that the herndons can't catch up with you!"- Another warrior, named Taslin, who was behind the two aforementioned warriors, could not help but laugh out loud sarcastically as he reminded Kasil about that event.

The Siamese-like warrior could not help but feel annoyed to see that the other warriors who were part of the hunting group were beginning to make fun of him for that incident, something he let them know out loud.

-"Well... EXCUUUUUSE ME if I have to run fast so I don't end up being run over by wild beasts, people!"- Kasil replied, now clearly irritated with his own friends.

Upon hearing the angry lament of that young warrior, his other hunting companions could not help but burst out laughing, especially when they saw his face of discomfort at the reminder that he ended up being the bait to lure their quarry and hunt them, at the cost of Kasil's physical integrity.

But before they could continue laughing, Pyndan saw something very strange that could be seen in the direction of where their village was located. Even though the sun was setting on the horizon and it was beginning to get dark, it was noticeable that there was something advancing towards them somewhat rapidly, a fact that he brought to the attention of his other partners.

-"Huh?"-

-"Something wrong, Pyndan?"- Taslin questioned him after seeing that his friend was seemingly turning his gaze in another direction.

After looking for a few seconds at that thing that intrigued him which was far away, the leader of the hunting party finally replied...

-"It seems to me that there is something coming at us..."-

The other warriors looked in the direction where the young leader was focusing his eyes on, and they quickly noticed the mysterious being that was coming towards them...

-"Maybe it's an animal, isn't it?"- Another warrior gave his opinion.

-"It could be, but that creature comes from the same way our village is located."-

-"Maybe if we get closer we could find out what it is;"- Kasil suggested to his friend about what they should do. -"it is likely that it could be a lost lizard or that it has escaped from our village, and possibly they have not noticed it."-

-"Good idea, then let's go over there and see what it is. Let's go!"-

And with this order, Pyndan and his other hunting companions ordered their riding lizards to head in the direction of the lizard that was heading their way, thinking that it was possibly some lizard that had escaped from its pen and that the villagers had not noticed its escape.

But the moment the warriors finally managed to intercept the creature, after a few minutes of riding through the desert, what they saw before their very eyes left them completely aghast... and for two good reasons:

That lizard was much larger than the riding lizards they normally rode, which meant that its rider must have been a person of larger stature, similar to Akane's height.

And as for the rider who rode that lizard, the only thing that remained of him was a torso-less stump with legs, which were still tied to the stirrups of his saddle... while the birds of prey devoured the entrails of what was left of that person.

That grotesque scene caused some warriors, even some who were already used to seeing other people's corpses in their lives, to start vomiting from the disgust and repulsion caused by the sight of that brutally mutilated corpse, while Pyndan and Kasil, who were closer to the lizard and the corpse of its rider, could only watch with dismay and equal revulsion what they saw before their eyes...

-"What... the... hell... is... THAT?"- Kasil was the first to ask, while he covered his nose so as not to smell the foul odor of the decaying corpse that was clearly noticeable from the distance where he was standing.

Pyndan, on the other hand, and without hiding his disgust at the sight of that corpse, quickly noticed that both the animal and its rider, not to mention the fact that both came from the same direction where his home village was located, were not from that place, which meant only one thing, which started to appall that young warrior...

-"From the way he died, he must have been killed with a sword; he couldn't have died at the hands of an animal, and besides, both his lizard and his rider are bigger than the ones we have in the village, and that would mean..."-

After that dramatic pause, Kasil completed what Pyndan tried to say.

-"...our village may have been attacked, isn't it?"-

Immediately, and before that latent possibility, the young white-furred warrior looked at Taslin as well as at another partner who was next to him, and immediately issued some orders for both of them.

-"Taslin, you and Colin will stay back here to protect our quarry and the food we have gathered, while I and the rest of the warriors will go back to the village to see what happened."- Pyndan ordered to them, while preparing to return to the village as quickly as possible. -"You two try to hide everything as soon as possible in a safe place, and we will return with you when we are certain it is safe to do so."-

-"Understood!"- Those two young warriors replied. -"Be careful out there, friends!"-

With these orders given, Pyndan quickly turned to the other warriors under his command, and gave the following instructions.

-"All right, everyone else follow me, and stand ready to fight if necessary! LET'S GO!"-

And ordering his animals to walk, the feline warrior and the other hunters rode back to their home village, fearing the worst that could have happened at the sight of that foreigner's corpse. And in Pyndan's mind, the only thing he could do was to pray to all the known gods to make sure that he and his warriors would not be too late to defend his village, never imagining that what had happened there was something that would change his life forever...

---

September 19th, AD 2299/18th day of the Dry Moon, 1748 (summer season), White River Village (Communal Area), 08:40 PM (night)

Meanwhile in the village, after several minutes after the fierce and bloody battle against the bandits commanded by Commander Arn had ended favorably for the natives, all the adults in the village, mainly the women, carried torches to illuminate the village, while also being vigilant in case the bandits had relied on reinforcements to support them to keep assaulting the whole village.

Two of those adults who were patrolling the village were the two heroines who helped save it: Liska and Akane, who were also walking around the village to see if there were no surviving warriors lying low or possible enemy reinforcements that could arrive at any moment from any direction to that hamlet.

And considering the possible risks that they might face more dangerous enemies, Akane decided that she was not going to hide any more things about herself at that moment, and without any problem, she had her Raging Bull revolver hanging on her holster, as well as some other more powerful weapons, including hand grenades and fragmentation grenades, just in case.

In addition to that, instead of using a torch like all the other villagers, the human used an army flashlight, which was powerful enough to illuminate everything in front of both women up to more than 500 meters.

Obviously, all this and more did not go unnoticed by the young alien maiden, who knew that her foreign friend, who belonged to a race completely unknown to her, turned out to be much more skilled than she had thought at first, being a warrior capable of fighting against men bigger than herself, and that she had many secrets that Liska wanted to find out about that woman at that moment...

-"Akane..."-

The female soldier, after listening her feline friend's question, knew very well what she wanted to talk about...

-"I guess you must have a lot of things you want to ask me right now... don't you?"-

The human responded with a certain somber edge to the young slave's voice, which, judging by her tone, Akane sensed that she was somewhere between uneasy and bitter, seeing that the foreign woman had kept a lot of things from her, and that possibly could have had something to do with the village being attacked.

-"To say that I have many things to ask about you would be an understatement, Akane."- Liska responded in a somewhat vexed tone at the African-Japanese Space Ranger.

The black woman, seeing her friend's sulky face, took a deep breath, and she resolved to say a few things about herself... but not before stating the following.

-"First of all, I want to offer an apology to you and your elders for what happened if you think that my presence could have provoked all this..."- The human apologized to the young slave, who was staring at her in rapt attention. -"The truth is, I could never imagine those bastards could have tracked down Noguchi's body, and found this village. If I had known this could happen..."-

-"No, you don't have to apologize, Akane..."- Liska interrupted her. -"There was no way that you or anyone could have predicted that something like this would happen; On the other hand, there's something I'd like to know... and that's what bothers me about you."-

The African-Japanese woman knew what her friend meant.

-"You want to know who I am, and where I REALLY come from, right?"-

-"Yes."-

Akane breathed deep again and raised another question.

-"Judging by the way you're looking at me right now, I have to assume that all my strange gadgets, as well as my weapons, must surely worry you, right?"-

The orange tabby girl nodded her head.

-"Indeed."-

After thinking about it for a few seconds, Akane Araki knew she had to be careful about telling the truth to her alien friend, since the latter came from a more primitive culture than hers. There was a possibility that Liska might think, in case Akane revealed her origins, that the human was some kind of monster, divine being or some kind of creature that she could not fathom. Besides, telling Liska that she came from a far away planet would make her friend think that the foreign woman had possibly gone out of her mind...

-"Well... I think you do deserve to know the truth, my friend..."- Akane then advised her feline ally. -"but let me warn you one thing, dear: what you are about to hear next may be very difficult for you to believe..."

-"After what I just saw about you, I'm ready to believe whatever you really are, Akane..."-

Following a few seconds of silence, the human soldier made a reply.

-"Well, actually, I come from..."-

But before she could tell the truth, both women heard a male voice coming from near them.

-"Unknown party coming from the north of the village! Everyone stand by!"-

That voice was that of the Seneschal, who was giving notice about an unknown group of people approaching the village. Fearing that they might be enemy reinforcements, all the adults in the hamlet, as well as Liska and Akane, set out to head in that direction to stop them in their tracks if necessary. Obviously, this caused Akane to leave the opportunity to reveal her background for another chance..

-"I'll tell you the truth later, we have more important stuff to do now; let's go!"-

-"Understood, Akane!"-

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the other villagers, due to the darkness of the night, the hunting party led by Pyndan entered the village as fast as they could; the first thing the young warriors noticed upon entering their home village was that a fierce battle had raged inside it, as they saw how some teepees had been knocked down, and in some cases, burned, by the enemy invaders, with no trace of the dwellers of those homes.

But the thing that made the aliens' fur stand on end was the sight of the mutilated corpses of several men lying on the ground, most of whom were missing their arms, heads, legs, tails, and any combination of the above; in some cases, even their bowels were strewn on the ground, while there were trails of blood everywhere.

Even many of those warriors, who were used to seeing corpses as part of their harsh daily life, could not stomach such a grotesque scene before their eyes, and some of them even began to retch with disgust at the sight of such a gory spectacle straight out of a horror story.

-"Gods! Whoever did this must have either been really really strong, or really crazy to begin with..."- Kasil remarked to Pyndan as he stood watching aghast at the corpses of the enemy warriors.

-"I just hope that none of those corpses are of anyone from our village..."- The young white-furred feline said, as horrified as his other partner was.

-"As far as I could see, they all looked very big, so I think they must have been Hoplites."- Another young warrior behind the other two also made a comment about the situation before them. -"Also, some of them look like they used swords..."-

-"Would they have been Thracian warriors?"- Kasil commented on the possibility that warriors from the neighboring kingdom may have been responsible for raiding the village.

-"I don't think so; from what I can see, they don't seem to be dressed like Thracian soldiers."- Pyndan dismissed such idea. -"Possibly they are bandits coming from there..."-

The moment the warriors saw all the villagers, who were gathered in the communal area of the village to defend themselves in case of possible reinforcements from the invaders, Pyndan, being the leader, yelled out loud to let them know that he and his other comrades had returned, and that they were no more enemy assailants...

-"HEEEEEEEEEEEEY, IT'S ME AND MY PARTY! PLEASE DON'T ATTACK US!"-

Chief Pownetkee, being the first to hear the returning hunters, and being in front in case there were more invaders to deal with, recognized that voice and quickly warned the other villagers to prevent them from attacking the young warriors who were entering the village, who were equally shocked and disgusted to see what had happened in their own home, especially when they saw all those dead bodies that were lying all over the place.

-"Don't attack them!"- The chief warned to the rest of his people by rising his hand. -"It's Pyndan and his hunting party!"-

Once Pyndan and his men were at a visual distance from the other villagers, and thus verified that they were not invaders; the young white-furred warrior, upon seeing the situation that had occurred in his own home, the first thing he did was to get down from his riding lizard and go directly to the chief, and ask him for an account of what had unfolded hours before.

-"May I know what the hell happened here?"- The young feline alien warrior asked, clearly alarmed and equally disturbed by what had taken place in his absence.

-"We were attacked by foreign invaders, most probably bandits from another country; they caught us by surprise when we were all eating in the communal area, and miraculously we were able to stand our ground until the end."- Pownetkee gave to Pyndan a brief resume about the enemy raid on their village. -"We slew all the raiders, but we managed to capture alive the one who seems to be their leader. On the other hand, we have some people injured, but fortunately we do not have any losses to mourn..."-

Pyndan, upon hearing all this, breathed a sigh of relief to know that no one had died during the enemy attack, considering that all the adult men in the village were out hunting, and that surely the chief and the Seneschal, who were the only men capable of fighting, had been the ones in charge of fighting against that enemy army...

-"I must imagine that you and the Seneschal must have gone through hell to take down all those marauders, especially judging by all the corpses lying around here..."-

What the young warrior never expected was that the truth turned out to be completely different...

-"Well, to be honest, we both help to fight against the raiders, but we didn't do much in the end whatsoever..."- The feline leader recognized with some humilty. -"I think there are two people we should thank for their help in saving our village and our tribe..."-

Pyndan was somewhat bemused by the answer his chief offered, hoping for the most obvious answer in view of what had happened.

-"Don't tell me it was Akane and...?"

And that warrior figured out who could be the first person, but he never expected who the second person to whom the chief was referring to would be...

-"Liska... if that's who you mean, Pyndan..."- The Seneschal completed what the young hunter was tried to say.

The white-furred young man looked at both foreign women, and quickly noticed two important things: The first was that they were both carrying swords, especially in the case of Akane, who was still wearing her flak vest that protected her, apart from the fact that she was carrying many other weapons he had never seen in his life.

The other was that both women were drenched in blood from head to toe, both from the blood of their enemies and from their own, as a result of the various wounds they had suffered during the battle.

Seeing all this, Pyndan went directly to speak with those two brave maidens, who were ultimately responsible for saving their tribe from total obliteration thanks to their weapons and their unmatched courage.

-"You two..."- Panka's older brother said with some expected disbelief on his eyes. -"you did all this, right?"-

Liska and Akane were trying to somehow explain to Pyndan the truth in a more or less factual sense, but even they did not have the right words to start saying about their actions in the battlefield...

-"Well... uh... you know..."- The slave girl was the first to speak, still with some trepidation in her voice.

Akane, on the other hand, being somewhat more sincere than usual, did not hesitate to give her side of the story, even if it meant praising her own actions and those of her companion quite a bit.

-"To be honest, we had to kick some tails here and there when these big cats came to attack the village and... you know... we had to fight them off... and stuff."- The human replied with a certain kind of meekness, trying to make sure that Liska also received the credit she deserved for helping to fight the invaders. -"Having some extra swords and other weapons on hand was helpful... and also the chief and the Seneschal aided in the battle as well."-

But that young warrior could not imagine that two women, especially Liska, who was a slave, were capable of fighting in such a way that they managed to massacre almost all the invading enemies, to such a degree that their mutilated corpses, along with their body parts, were scattered throughout the area, which meant that both women either fought fiercely, or at least, in Akane's case, had previous combat experience.

And this was more evident in Akane's case: Pyndan had never seen his human friend attired in those strange clothes she was wearing, in addition to the strange weapons she used, including her katana, before. In addition to the fact that this woman was obviously not a being similar to them, everything that Akane was wearing implied many questions that the white-coated young man wanted to know about her.

And on the point of Akane's Japanese sword, Pyndan quickly inferred the obvious about her...

-"Are you, by any chance, Akane,... a bushi?"- The young warrior used the word for their local flavor of the legendary Japanese warriors in order to describe the job of the human black woman.

-"Weeeellll..."- The Space Ranger tried to said the truth about herself. -"If that's what you mean... you could say... eh... yes... "

Then, she added the following, after a brief pause...

-"...although the truth about that... and about me... could be more... convoluted... so to speak... to explain to you people... if that's what you want to know..."-

The response from that human soldier only caused more disbelief in that young hunter, who, after seeing that mutilated corpse of that invading Romalian warrior who was in the desert still mounted on his riding lizard, meant that Akane had many secrets that everyone in the tribe wanted to know about that foreign woman.

-"What the hell do you mean by convoluted, HUH?"- Pyndan yelled at Akane at that answer that did not fully explain the extent of what had happened in his home village. -"Do you have ANY idea what YOU and Liska just did?!"-

-"Well... yes... of course..."- Akane was more straightforward on her reply. -"We were raided by these bastards, and me and Liska had to fight... and we killed almost all of them... what else did you want us to DO then while YOU, YOUR brother and the rest of the males were away, Mr. Genius CAT?"-

Akane, aware of the implication of that question, reproached Pyndan for even thinking that both women should not have risked fighting those invaders on their own, something the human woman did not hesitate to let him know in the most intense terms she could have thought at that critical moment. On the other hand, Pyndan did not intend to play along with her, knowing that there were other things he had to worry about at that moment.

-"There are a lot of things I'd like to know about you, Akane... but this is not the right time to discuss them, so we'll leave that aside..."-

And then, the young alien hunter went into another pressing matter for him.

-"And leaving that aside, where is my sister?"- Pyndan asked about his little sister, and his only remaining living relative, Panka. -"Is she all right?"-

Liska, who was present when Pyndan's sister was injured, tried to explain to him what happened...

-"Well, Pyndan... uh... Panka was..."-

Before she could finish explaining, Mother Sanna, who was behind Pyndan at that moment, stepped in to explain what had happened with the latter's younger sister.

-"Your sister was injured when one of the bandits that Liska killed let her fall to the ground when he tried to capture her..."-

Obviously, the news about his sister caused the young warrior to be shocked...

-"Oh, NO, NO, NO, NO!"-

-"Now, please don't worry!"- The old woman tried to ease Pyndan's mind when he heard the news about his sister. -"She didn't suffer any severe injuries, and apparently only had a dislocated arm... though I believe she will be wearing a sling for several days. Fortunately, Brocia is helping me take care of her and others who were injured, so don't be worried about your sister, dear."-

Knowing that his sister was alive, albeit with a dislocated arm, at least reassured Pyndan like he hadn't felt before, since Panka was his only biological relative left alive, and he could not even conceive the idea that she could have died in that attack...

-"Good to know that she is well... thank you very much for your help, grandmother..."- The young warrior replied, this time more comforted to know that Panka had not been gravely wounded or worse...

But before the conversation could continue, Chief Pownetkee had a few words to say to everyone present.

-"Sorry to interrupt your conversation, people, but we have a prisoner to interrogate, so I need all of you to accompany me to my teepee, especially Akane and Liska, just in case."-

All the adults, especially those two women that the tribal chief had mentioned, quickly remembered that the leader of the invaders was still alive and in their captivity. Knowing who he was and his motives for assaulting the village was paramount to warding off future raids, so any information they could glean from him was critical for the whole Highland tribe.

Although in Akane's opinion, she would have liked her feline hosts to have executed the man as she herself was concerned, since one of Arn's men raped Kayce, as well as previously mortally wounding Keisuke Noguchi months ago.

-"sigh... Personally... I would have preferred that you or I had the chance to gut that damn animal..."- Then, the human, with a certain sardonic tone, knew that there was nothing she could do to personally settle the score with Arn with her own hands. -"...but you guys are the ones in charge here... so I got no say in the matter, I guess."-

-"That's right, Akane..."- The chief replied with a serious semblant in his face to the Earth soldier. -"So everyone go to my teepee, and then we'll decide what we'll do with him later as punishment."-

-"Understood, chief."- Liska replied at him

-"Me too."- Akane followed suit. -"I just hope you know what you are doing..."-

So, the chief, all the warriors, along with the women, and above all, Liska and Akane, went to Pownetkee's teepee where Arn was being held prisoner, to interrogate him and decide his fate.

---

September 19th, AD 2299/18th day of the Dry Moon, 1748 (summer season), Chief Pownetkee's tent (inside), 09:13 PM (night)

With all the adults inside the teepee of the chief of the tribe, we can see that some of the women, armed with spears and swords that they had taken from the corpses of the invaders, were surrounding Commander Arn, who was already bound hand and foot, while Pownetkee began to question him and thus obtain any piece of information that the leader of the Romalian bandits had that would be useful for the tribe, in addition to deciding what his punishment would be.

-"All right, whoever you are, first I need to know your name and where you come from."- The feline chief began the questioning. -"If you decide to talk, possibly your punishment will be less severe."-

The cougar-like man, being a foreigner and having never been to the Plains region before, he did not have the slightest knowledge of the local language, something he, with some effort after the brutal pounding Akane had meted out to his face, made him aware of.

-"(Non intellego... quid dicas... vetus homo...) I don't understand... what you are saying... old man."- Arn replied with a pained tone in Romalian.

Seeing that the man did not speak the local language, the natives knew that interrogating him would not be an easy task, so the chief decided to speak to him in another language that the prisoner would know.

-"(En uĉ, ocremok ed novgnil al ilorap savop iv es, sazopus im)"- I guess you do know how to speak trade language, don't you?"-

In that case, Chief Pownetkee used another language, called trade language, in addition to his mother tongue and Hinowan (Japanese), to communicate with the foreigner. That language could be described as a kind of lingua franca used by many of the inhabitants of that planet to communicate with each other, especially between people of different cultures and languages. As its name suggests, trade language is a language used by traders who needed to reach out to their counterparts in other countries, although it was also used for other purposes.

Unfortunately, Arn did not know how to speak trade language either, something he made known by shaking his head negatively. It was obvious that the man was not going to bother to learn another language if his main concern was to raid and plunder other towns at his leisure.

But just when it seemed that the chief would have had to resort to more drastic measures to force the man to listen to his message, someone else stepped forward to help...

-"Excuse me chief, if you allow me, I would like to try to talk to the prisoner, as I know how to speak Romalian."- Mother Sanna was the person who offered to help translate Arn into the local language.

Many of those present, mainly the younger ones, and especially Liska, the old woman's slave, and Akane, who was a close friend of the first two, were puzzled to learn that the old woman could speak the language of the bandit leader, since it was evident that the man was originally from Romalia, an empire located beyond the eastern lands, and no one knew why the woman was able to understand Romalian.

But that had an explanation that Sanna herself would give shortly after...

-"Pardon my rashness, mistress,"- Liska was the first to ask to her master, for obvious reasons. -"but I did not know that you could speak languages other than trade language and Hinowan..."-

Immediately afterwards, the elderly feline lady explained to her slave how she knew how to speak the language.

-"My mother was born in Romalia, for she was a slave who was bought by my father when she was brought to the Plains region, and they both later married, and she used to speak to me in her native language, just so as not to lose the habit."- Sanna replied. -"That's why I know how to speak Romalian, and I feel that I can speak to this man in his language."-

-"Oh, I didn't know that, grandmother..."- Pyndan, the old woman's adopted grandson, also replied with astonishment upon learning this, just like the rest of the young people surrounding Mother Sanna, as he too had no idea about that aspect of his grandmother's background. -"I always thought your parents were from this village."-

-"Sorry if I haven't told this to you and Rial, but I had my reasons for not discussing this with anyone else... and only the chief, some of the women and the Seneschal know this about me. "

With that explained, the healer repeated her offer to help translate Arn's dialogue into the local language.

-"Well, now that all of you know this, ladies and gentlemen, may I restate my request to translate what this man says to us, if you will allow it, chief."-

Chief Pownetkee, upon hearing the old woman's idea, had no problem in granting her request.

-"You can do it whenever you like, Sanna; it would be a great help..."-

-"Thank you, chief..."-

Immediately after, she walked closer to Arn, while keeping a safe distance between them, and she started asking him questions in Romalian.

-"(Volumus scire quid nomen tuum est, tuum militaris ordinis, et quod vos et vestri homines adortus villa.) We want to know what your name is, if you have any military rank and why you and your men attacked our village."- The old lady asked the man who was tied up in front of her, while she was speaking to him in her language, in a certain harsh tone. -"(Respondere statim, et fortasse pœna erit minus gravi.) Respond immediately, and perhaps your punishment will be less severe."-

The bandit chief, with some effort due to pain, answered the questions asked by Sanna...

-"Ughh... (Nomen meum est...) My name is..."- The cougar man responded. -"Arnius Romilius Teutonius... (sed omnes vocat me Arn) but everyone calls me Arn... "-

Sanna then translated to the local language at the rest of the tribe; after hearing the name of the Romalian leader, which sounded like Latin, caused Akane, who came from Earth, to confirm several of the assumptions Akane had about the planet she was on, something she pondered further inside her own head.

-"Arnius Romilius Teutonius?... "- The human woman was surprised to hear that name and also the language the leader spoke. -"Judging by his clothing, his name, and the weapons he and his men carried, it definitely signifies a culture similar to that of the ancient Western Roman Empire. Even the name Romalia sounds similar to Rome, plus the language he spoke sounds much closer to Latin than to the native language of the villagers or those from Hinowa, which is definitely Japanese..."-

Meanwhile, Arn continued to describe himself to Sanna and the rest of the Highland tribe, explaining where he was from, what he originally did for a living, among other things...

-"(Ego praefectus Primo Romaliana Legionem fundatur in provincia Teutonia... sed erat expulsus per meum superiores.) I was commander of the First Romalian Legion based in the province of Teutonia... but I was expelled by my superiors."-

Akane, who had no empathy for the man, for obvious reasons, pressed the old woman to translate what the foreigner said in his language to all those present in the teepee.

-"Hey, grandmother, what did this murderous bastard just say?"- The human asked in a very aggressive manner to Mother Sanna.

-"SILENCE, AKANE!"- The healer replied in a raised voice as she heard the rude tone in which she was addressing the prisoner. -"Even if he is our prisoner, he deserves some respect from us, so I will not allow you to interrupt me like that!... Is that clear to you, child?"-

Surprised to see the old alien woman's reaction, Akane Araki opted not to respond, possibly to avoid worsening things, especially considering the animosity present among all the tribe's inhabitants.

-"Understood... grandmother."-

-"And regarding your question; he said that he was a commander of the First Romalian Legion, which is based in the province of Teutonia. That province is located north of the imperial capital, as my late mother used to tell me about Romalia."-

Seeing how her feline hosts showed a lot of consideration for that prisoner, even after everything he and his men had done, including raping one of her friends, Akane did not hesitate to make her dissatisfaction known... however, she chose to put it in English, since no one in the village knew how to speak that language, compared with Japanese.

-"If it were up to me, I'd gut that son of a bitch with my bare hands and use his fur as a Persian rug in my home rather than playing nice girl with this asshole!"-

Liska, on the other hand, was standing next to her human friend, and she found it strange that Akane was using that unfamiliar language again, who had not used it since Keisuke Noguchi's funeral several months ago.

-"What was that you said, Akane?"- The young slave asked to her alien friend from Earth in a lower tone.

-"Something very personal that I don't want to translate, darling..."- Akane angrily replied.

The slave, knowing her partner's nature, could more or less figure out what Akane had said in English to herself.

-"Knowing how you are, it must have been something very obscene..."-

Akane, standing with her arms folded, declined to say anything more. On the other hand, Sanna resumed interrogating the prisoner.

-"Ehem... (Ego sum paenitet enim intermissione,) I am sorry for the interruption,"- The old Siamese-like old lady apologized to Arn. -"(Ego mos persevero ad te interrogare amplius interrogare.) I will continue to ask you more questions."-

The Romalian bandit said nothing more, leaving Mother Sanna to continue her questioning.

-"(Quare vobis et vestrum homines adortus tribu nostra?) Why did you and your men attacked our tribe?"- The feline woman asked the foreign raider, this time in a more severe tone. -"(Erant vos et vestri homines, aut imperii post haec omnia?) Were you and your men, or the empire behind all this?"-

Arn responded to the old woman, with a certain defiant tone towards her, even though he was still feeling sore after the rain of punches he took from Akane.

-"(Mei homines et ego operor solus...) My men and I work on our own..."- The foreign cougar man replied. -"(Imperii nihil ad hoc. In eo, ego et mei homines sunt priora membra eadem legio ex quibus erant expulsi...) The empire has nothing to do with this. In fact, my men and I are former members of the same legion from which we were expelled..."-

-"(Videre.) I see."- The old woman responded with a certain contempt for the prisoner. -"(Sic vos et vestri homines nihil aliud sunt quam priores milites, qui factus est, reos. Non mirum præpositórum vestrórum calce et tu, et socii de Romaliani imperii exercitus!) So you and your men are nothing more than former legionnaires who became criminals. No wonder your superiors kicked you and your accomplices out of the Romalian imperial army!"-

Despite being a prisoner, the words of that old woman caused Arn, who found his pride hurt by being called a former legionnaire turned criminal by that old woman from an apparently primitive culture, to strike back at her with equal severity, even though he was not in a position to do so...

-"(Et quaenam tu me reprehendis, anicula prisca?) And who are you to criticize me, you primitive old woman?"- Arn retorted violently at Mother Sanna. -"(Praeterea, scis quam loqui lingua mea incipere? Tu Romalianus servus aut quid?) Besides, how do you know how to speak my language to begin with? Are you a Romalian slave or what?"-

The old woman, seeing that Arn mentioned her Romalian ancestry, echoed him in the corresponding tone.

-"(Matre natus est in Romalia et uxorem an habitator de hoc tribu, et docebat me loqui lingua tua!) My mother was born in Romalia and married an inhabitant of this tribe, and she taught me to speak your language!"- The healer admonished him for bringing up her origins, while she pointed her finger at him in a threatening manner. Obviously, she was not going to mention that her mother was indeed a slave, to avoid playing the man's game. -"(Quae mater, et unde venit, nihil ad te pertinet, captivus!) What my mother was and where she came from is none of your concern, prisoner!"-

The prisoner began to grunt when he saw that the old woman was not going to give him any more details about the reasons why Sanna could speak Romalian, beyond her mother being from Romalia. Meanwhile, Chief Pownetkee wanted to know what it was that she and the prisoner were speaking in the latter's language.

-"So?"- The chief asked to Sanna, while smoking his pipe in the meantime. -"What did you and that man talked about, if we can know?"-

The old woman, after a brief pause before continuing, explained what the prisoner had told her, as well as adding some context about what was mentioned in Romalian.

-"Well, the prisoner said that the Romalian Empire has nothing to do with all this, and that they work on their own, which means that they are bandits who were kicked out of the imperial army, very probably because of their crimes."- Mother Sanna explained to the chief and the other adults. -"To be honest, according to what my mother told me, and also what I have heard from some travelers who have been to Romalia, it is not exactly uncommon for some Romalian soldiers to extort or even steal from ordinary citizens, as long as they are not caught red-handed. In the case of this man, everything suggests that his superiors expelled him from the army for stealing and that is why he and his henchmen became bandits."-

Akane, who was listening to the conversation, was quick to give her opinion in a rather sardonic manner, being something she had already seen and heard on her home planet.

-"In a nutshell, corruption."- The African-Japanese woman said, still with her arms crossed. -"Where I come from that is very common, although becoming bandits, rapists and murderers is not..."-

-"Really, Akane?"- Pyndan asked to the human when she mentioned that tidbit.

-"That's right."- The soldier reaffirmed her words. -"And we have special punishments for vermin like him and his men..."-

Liska, meanwhile, asked her mistress a question regarding the last point that caused them both to raise their tone in a threatening manner...

-"And why did you and the prisoner start talking more aggressively, mistress?"-

-"He began to ask me how I knew how to speak Romalian, and even he dared to insinuate that I was a slave, dear..."- The old woman replied to the young girl. -"That was the reason I raised my voice."-

-"I can only assume that he didn't expect that there would be anyone in this village who could speak his language."- Akane said in the same angry tone, never taking her eyes off the prisoner who was kneeling in front of his captors.

-"I guess so too, Akane."- Liska replied to her friend.

In the meantime, Mother Sanna looked at the chief, in order to know what his final judgment about the prisoner would be...

-"Have you already made a decision as to what punishment would be suitable for him, chief?"- The old lady asked to her leader.

Chief Pownetkee stared at the Romalian bandit chief carefully, while he smoked his pipe with some uneasiness, knowing that he had the decision on the punishment to be dealt to the man who attacked his village, and harmed several local residents. After a few minutes of silence, the man finally handed down his verdict.

-"In view of what has happened, and considering the gravity of the crimes committed by him and his men, I, as chief of this village, declare that this man, Arnius Romilius Teutonius from Romalia, be punished by the laws of our tribe..."- The feline chief said in a loud voice before all the people present what punishment would be meted out to the prisoner. -"And therefore I, declare that this man be..."-

But what no one had noticed at that moment was that Arn, knowing that the ropes with which he had been tied were made of an easily cut material, and the fact that his captors had overlooked tying his fingers as well, began to use his long claws minutes ago to use them as knives, and thus begin to cut his ties, while his captors were distracted interrogating him or talking to each other.

By the time he managed to cut his ties and was now able to act on his own...

-"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRWWWWWGGGGG!"-

...the cougar man let out a mighty roar, and noticing that Akane Araki, the mysterious human woman who had brutally beaten and humiliated him minutes ago, was in front of him, and taking advantage of the fact that she was distracted listening to the chief's verdict like everyone else on the teepee...

-"WHAT THE HE-?!"-

...far from trying to escape from the place, most probably driven by his murderous lust for revenge against the woman who humiliated him, he violently pounced on the black woman like a rabid beast, and immediately, he began to strangle Akane with his bare hands, while he used his claws at the same time in order to try to slit her throat at the same time.

-"AKANE!"-

Liska, who was close to her friend at that point, cried out as she saw her friend being strangled in front of her, without Akane being able to do much to free herself from Arn's clutches, due to the fortuitousness of the situation.

Meanwhile, the Romalian warrior, knowing that he might not be able to leave that village alive, decided that the best way to leave this world was to first take that woman who killed almost all his men with her own claws to hell with him, and if he was going to do it, he would do it quickly before the other comrades of that woman could respond in time to save her.

-"(TE IBO AD INFEROS MECUM, FUSCO NIGRA MERETRIX!) YOU WILL GO TO THE UNDERWORLD WITH ME , YOU DARK-SKINNED WHORE!"-

Akane, for her part, tried in vain to free herself from the yoke of that man who was strangling her. Unfortunately for her, nothing what she had learned, both in the army and in the Katori Shinto-ryu school of martial arts, had prepared her to face an opponent who had overpowered her in that way, while at the same time trying to cut her neck and choke her. Although her neck, due to her weight, was thick enough to avoid being broken instantly, that would not help her at all to prevent Arn from using his feline claws to reach some vital vein, such as the jugular one, to kill her instantly if he kept trying to press them to achieve his goal.

The human, then, began to feel that her life was gradually beginning to slip away from her body, without being able to do anything to save herself, and she began to feel that she was definitely going to die on that distant planet, at the hands of a humanoid being who was ready to kill her using only his hands and claws, while Akane Araki could only see, in a scowl of terror, that her life seemed to be drawing to an inescapable doom...

-"Dad... Mom... Kaguya... Satoru... Captain Kurosawa... Noguchi... Liska... grandmother... sensei... friends... please... forgive me... I think... this... is... going to be... my..."-

But before Akane could lose consciousness, and when the other warriors in the teepee, including the chief and the Seneschal, could react to help the human woman, Liska, for her part, and without wasting a single second, unsheathed the katana that Akane had given her to help her fight the bandits, and immediately after, she could quickly slip behind Arn, the man who was strangling her friend, without the others hardly noticing her actions...

Once she was behind him, the young slave girl, mustering all her strength, raised that Japanese blade over her head and...

-"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"-

SCHWING!

Suddenly, time seemed to stand still as the young maiden used her sword against the bandit who was trying to assassinate her friend, while the only sound that could be heard inside the village chief's teepee was the cold sound of a sword coming out of its sheath, followed by a dry but intense noise.

Two seconds later, Arn, the bandit leader who at that moment was trying to strangle as well as cut Akane's jugular vein, as a desperate attempt to kill the human female soldier, stopped squeezing the neck of Liska's friend, who was still on the ground, almost unconscious...

Then, to the horror of all present inside the teepee, Arn's lifeless body fell to the floor, vertically dissected as if it were a loaf of bread cut by a hot knife. As a result, Akane was drenched in the blood and gore of her assailant, while she was still on the ground.

That grotesque and extremely violent scene caused the consternation and revulsion of most of the people, including those warriors who already were somewhat used to having to kill people or see corpses, a common thing in that harsh and dangerous world in which those humanoid felines lived.

Even some warriors, like Kasil and Colin, began to vomit at the sight of the mutilated corpse of that warrior, due to the brutal way Liska killed him. Other people, like Pyndan and Mother Sanna, were avoiding staring at the corpse as much as they could, without hiding their feeling of disgust at the sight, while Chief Pownetkee and the Seneschal, who had more firsthand experience in bearing witness to how brutal life in the Plains could be, were having a hard time digesting the dreadful scene before their eyes; even if they had already seen their share of seeing dead people in various states in their lives, even some in an advanced state of decay, they had never seen someone slicing another person in half with a weapon, let alone a sword.

And as for the young slave girl, Liska was standing still, clutching her katana, whose blade was soaked with the blood of the man she had cut in half, while she wheezed, seeing that she had saved Akane from certain death at the hands of the man, who was stronger and taller than both women.

And seeing that Arn was dead for good, and that there was no more danger, the young orange tabby girl quickly dropped that Japanese sword, and quickly ran to help her human friend, who did not seem to respond, fearing she might be already dead...

-"AKANE!"-

Liska yelled, as she tried to help her friend, who lay unconscious on the ground, while her face was stained with so much blood that it was difficult to know which was the blood of Akane or that of the bandit whom Liska had killed seconds ago. In addition, because much of that blood had splashed onto her face, Akane would probably not be able to breathe as a result.

-"Are you all right, Akane? Please answer me!"-

A few seconds later, Akane began to cough loudly, while Liska tried to clean the female soldier's face of all the blood that prevented her from breathing; this meant that Akane was well, though she was having some labored breathing...

-"Thank goodness you're alright, Akane!"- The young slave girl was happy to see that her human friend had been able to survive the ferocious assault of that warrior who intended to strangle her with his bare hands. -"Let me help you..."

Then Mother Sanna, Liska's mistress, also rushed over to Akane to help her, trying to see if the African-Japanese woman had any serious, life-threatening injuries. She quickly checked her pulse, in addition to observing the claw wounds the human had on her neck, and she saw that Akane's life, at least as far as she could see by her own means, did not look to be under serious danger at the moment.

-"She is fine, dear..."- The Siamese-looking old lady to her slave. -"Other than what that brute may have damaged her when he choked her, she has no wounds that can't be healed away with some water and some bandages..."-

Pyndan, who was watching the scene, and was also close to Akane, breathed a similar sigh of relief to see that the human, even if he had his own negative opinions about her, had survived.

-"It's good to know she's fine; I thought for a moment that man was going to kill her right away..."- The young white-furred man said aloud. -"Had it not been for Liska reacting in time to dispose him..."-

On the other hand, Chief Pownetkee, who at that moment was speechless and frozen in the face of what had happened inside his own home due to being shocked, finally came out of his stupor, and with a somewhat broken voice, issued an order to all those present who were still there...

-"All of you, leave this place immediately, and take Akane somewhere to receive help..."- The old feline chief ordered to all the people in his teepee. -"I will order some warriors to help clean up this mess. Afterwards, we'll talk about what happened once we're sure there's no more danger around here..."-

-"Yes, sir!"-

Everyone present, including the women, immediately obeyed their leader's orders. Meanwhile, Liska, Sanna, Pyndan, Kasil and some of the strongest warriors helped Akane Araki to rise from the ground and leave the teepee, leaving the chief, the Seneschal and other warriors alone inside the place, while they picked up Arn's mangled corpse that was already inside the teepee.

---

September 19th, AD 2299/18th day of the Dry Moon, 1748 (summer season), Chief Pownetkee's tent (outside), 09:41 PM (night)

Once outside the teepee, the natives laid Akane on the side of a large stone nearby, and once there, Mother Sanna, who was the tribe's healer, quickly brought a bucket of water, along with several wraps and bandages, in order to clean Akane's face, as well as treat the wounds she still had, both on her neck and on her body. Liska also contributed to heal her human friend, also trying to clean her, since she still had a lot of blood and even some organs stuck to her body when she was lifted out of the chief's teepee.

Akane, for her part, could only sit still and watch as her feline hosts aided her, unable to say anything because her throat was still sore after the brutal strangling attempt she had suffered.

-"Great gods, Akane, it's incredible that you were able to survive such an attack..."- The old woman said to the human, while she treated the wounds Akane had on her neck. -"If it weren't for your thick neck, you probably wouldn't be here to tell the tale."-

Pyndan, who was close to both women, also voiced his reaction to the incident, being equally surprised by what had happened minutes before.

-"You're right on that, grandmother..."- Rial's brother-cousin said aloud, without losing his gaze on the three women. -"But you have to admit that Liska was the one who saved Akane when she killed that man with one of Akane's Hinowan swords, there's no doubt about that."-

-"Yes..."- Then, Sanna looked at her slave. -"You were very brave to help Akane when she was about to be strangled by that bandit. I think we should thank you for that, Liska dear..."-

The young slave did not seem to pay much attention to the words of gratitude that her mistress said to her for having done her part in protecting the village, as well as saving the life of her human friend. She then preferred to continue cleaning the blood that was still on Akane's body, while she said a few things on the subject...

-"To be fair, that was nothing, mistress..."- Liska replied with some awkward, but soft tone in her voice. -"Akane also did her part in protecting the village, and she also saved my life when a bandit took me as his prisoner to try to escape, and Akane killed him with a weapon she had that blew his head off... I think she deserves as much credit for saving the village as I do too..."-

Akane, who was listening to the conversation in front of her, and once she felt she could, suddenly joined the talk. Her voice was still a little raspy, because her vocal cords were still swollen from the pain of the strangulation, but that didn't stop her from speaking at all.

-"Hey... don't be so DAMN humble, Liska sweetie... cough!..."- The human from Japan tried to cheer up her alien friend. -"You are also a great warrior... and you were a great help to fight all those invaders... and besides..."-

Akane did a brief pause, then she coughed a bit, and afterwards, she continued.

-"...you saved my life, my dear friend..."- The human soldier brought up her friend's act of bravery when she killed Arn with one of her swords. -"I will always be forever indebted to you for that..."-

Hearing Akane's words of thanks, Liska looked visibly moved and at the same time surprised; it was the first time in her life that someone was indebted to her, let alone that the person in question was a foreigner of strange origins, and she had hardly any words to say to her friend in response, other than that she perked her ears in surprise, as well as smiling slightly at Akane.

-"Thank you for your words... Akane..."-

-"Hey... come on... don't be so modest, dear... cough!"- Akane went on with her encouraging words to Liska, while still coughing. -"it takes a lot of guts to do what you did... and even I, who has been practicing with swords for many turns of seasons, wouldn't dare to do something like that in such a haphazard thing as you did when you killed that bastard in that way."-

-"I guess you're right, Akane..."- The slave girl humbly replied at the human, while she finished putting bandages on her neck. -"Let me finish patching you up."-

-"Thank you, sweetie kitty... Owwww... damn!"- The black woman responded with a somewhat pained smile due to the wounds she had suffered, which still caused her pain.

Meanwhile, Kasil, Kebec's husband, was also listening to Liska's conversation with Akane, and he too had some questions to ask the slave girl.

-"I was hearing from some of the women in the village that you and Akane were the ones who killed almost all the invaders. If it wasn't for the fact that I saw you cutting that man to half with that blade, I wouldn't really believe it..."- The Siamese-like young warrior asked to the orange tabby girl. -"Are you by any chance from Hinowa or do you have any connection with that country?"-

-"No."- Liska denied any relationship with the neighboring eastern empire. -"Akane only told me how to use the sword in a quick manner, and besides, I already had experience using machetes when I lived in the Lowlands. I have never used a sword before that."-

-"I see..."-

Then, the young warrior turned his gaze to Akane, for that foreigner was for him and the rest of the tribe's inhabitants a complete black box that hid many questions, some of which could be related to the fact that the village had been attacked in the first place.

-"As for you, Akane Araki..."- Kasil asked the human woman, this time in a more angrier undertone. -"...I think you have a lot of answers to tell us... starting with where you come from..."-

Akane, who was still resting on the side of the stone, did not answer the feline warrior's question, limiting herself to remain silent. Suddenly, a female voice known to everyone in the tribe was heard, supporting Kasil's opinion regarding Akane...

-"He is right."-

Kebec, Kasil's wife, just like her husband, wanted some questions about the human woman, considering her own feelings about her, and the possibility Akane's sole presence in the Highland tribe was the main reason why those bandits attacked the village to begin with, endangering everyone there in the process.

Obviously, no one was in the mood to listen to someone who had a rather strong grudge towards the human, something that Pyndan, who was still at Akane's side, let Kebec know...

-"Hey, Kebec, now is not the time to argue with Akane about that!"- The white-furred hunter said at the girl. -"Can't you see that she almost died at the hands of the bandit leader, and that Akane could have died if it wasn't for Liska saving her life?"-

-"And so WHAT?"- The resentful feline girl angrily retorted at Pyndan, as well to putting her sights and fingers on Akane. -"We hadn't had any problems with bandits for many years until this strange, dark-skinned, furless foreigner showed up here in our village, along with the corpse of her friend that my sister found in the river. Apparently they were hunting for both of them, and we ended up being the collateral damage between those raiders and Akane and her dead friend... Does it seem fair to anyone that we should have to endure the brunt of her presence in our tribe, uh?"-

Liska, not being able to bear that Kebec was insulting Akane in an ungrateful tone after she and the female samurai-like soldier risked their lives to protect the village, stood up and confronted the bully once and for all.

-"And who the hell gives you the right to insult Akane, especially when me and her saved your hide, huh?"- The slave girl defended her friend from Kebec as loudly as she could.

-"Oh, and I almost forgot about you, slave..."- Kebec belittled the young maiden even though the latter reminded her that she had also saved her life when one of the bandits tried to rape her. -"You and that stupid woman have always been good friends since you two met, and I wouldn't doubt to think that possibly those bandits could have been slave hunters, and that Akane and her other friend named "Nokachi", or whatever his name was could have been slaves that escaped from them..."-

In other times, Akane would have snapped at the fact that she and the late Keisuke Noguchi had been called as slaves, but the human, who was still trying to recover from her injuries, not to say that she did not intend to follow her game, refused to respond to her taunts. Despite this, Kebec continued with her string of insults against Akane, not caring about the consequences on insulting against someone who was basically considered, along with Liska, as a selfless heroine.

-"From your silence, I guess I'm right, aren't I, Akane Araki?"-

The African-Japanese woman, having had enough of listening to that bully, took it upon herself to respond to her, albeit in a way that no one expected her to, given her aggressive nature...

-"I'm not in the mood to respond to ungrateful little brats like you..."- The human responded, still with a somewhat harsh voice, not to say annoyed at being questioned in that way.

-"Oh, yeah?"- Kebec decided to escalate the subject. -"Then answer this, foreigner... Where is my sister, and what really happened to her?"-

Mother Sanna, who was also treating Akane's wounds, also had enough with that girl trying to pick a fight with Akane, even though she was injured, and tried to intervene on her behalf, being the elder healer of the tribe, and one of the adults with more standing authority at the moment.

-"Hey, Kebec, Akane is in no condition to answer your questions, let alone-!"-

But before the older feline could intervene, Akane waved her hand at her, ordering her to stop. Immediately afterwards, the female soldier from Japan jumped up from her place where she was already sat, and she seemed ready to face Kebec on her own...

-"Let me handle this, grandmother..."- Akane said, this time her voice was less raspy, and she already had enough stamina to walk on her own without anyone's help.

-"Akane, what do you pretend to..."-

After a brief pause while she took a breath to speak, the human woman finally responded, not only to Kebec, but to all the other people around her, including Liska, Pyndan, Kasil, to name a few...

-"Alright, I am sick and tired like hell of having to hide my origins from you people, and I believe that many in this tribe wish to know who I really am, so I'm not going to keep hiding things anymore..."-

Akane spoke to everyone around her in a loud voice, and this time, she was clearly upset as she had never been before...

-"...And... as for you.. Kebec... I can only tell you that your sister is alive, but I don't think you're going to like what you're going to see now..."-

-"What?"- The white-furred free girl say aloud.

Immediately after, Akane, with no further words, headed for her tent, knowing that her feline hosts would quickly understand what she wanted to imply with that action...

-"Where are you going, Akane?"- Mother Sanna asked to the black woman from Earth.

-"I am going to my teepee..."- Akane plainly responded at the old healer woman. -"If you people want to know the truth about me, follow me."-

And seeing that the human was heading to her own home, all the villagers who were closest to Akane, without exception, set out to follow her in order to find out who she really was, especially those who wanted everything about her since they knew her from day one, such as Liska, Mother Sanna or Pyndan, or her enemies, like Kebec.

And some people could not help but see that the human was acting impulsively in the face of what she felt as an affront to her, even if Akane had a valid reason for revealing the truth about herself...

-"Hey, Liska, it looks like Akane is really angry now."- Pyndan asked to the young slave girl while both characters were heading to Akane's home.

-"Yeah, I know that..."- The feline girl replied, while being as worried as Pyndan was regarding her alien friend. -"..and I'm worried about her doing something stupid when she's in that mood, and even more so when she's still injured..."-

Then, the young white-furred man rolled his eyes, knowing that things could turn for the worse at any moment, especially when Akane was in a very combative mood like she was in that moment.

-"I just hope Akane doesn't make things worse than they already are, for all gods' sake..."-

---

September 19th, AD 2299/18th day of the Dry Moon, 1748 (summer season), Akane's tent (outside), 10:15 PM (night)

Minutes later, Akane was four steps away from the tent that served as home in the Highland tribe. Behind her were her feline hosts, who were at a safe distance from the human, knowing that very few people, such as Liska, Kayce and Kasil, had been able to enter the human's home, and only with the latter's permission.

Inside Akane's tent was lying the already mentioned Kayce, Kebec's older sister-cousin, who had been raped hours before and that Akane had hidden her inside her home to protect her while she was recovering from that aggression against her body.

Once the human was in front of the entrance to her home, Akane pressed what appeared to be something like a smartwatch near her mouth, and she issued a command, directed to her laptop's artificial intelligence called "the Net", in Japanese...

-"(こちら荒木軍曹。) Sargeant Araki here."- Akane said at the AI in her language. -"(聞こえるか、ネット？) Can you hear me, Net?"-

Immediately afterwards, the Net's electronic voice was heard coming from the smartwatch-like device she had on her wrist...

-"(生体認証と聴覚認証により、荒木明音軍曹と確認されました。) Biometric and auditory confirmation verified as Sgt. Akane Araki."- The AI responded to its human master in the affirmative. -"(よく聞こえますした、軍曹。) I can hear you just fine, Sergeant."-

-"(良かろう、ネット。) That's good to know that, Net."-

Meanwhile, the villagers looked on in disbelief as they heard that mysterious electronic voice coming from the device Akane had on her wrist, as they had never seen anything like it in their lives, causing many to begin to build theories on the human...

-"Is that a voice I heard coming out of that bracelet Akane has on her left hand?"- Kasil was the first to ask.

-"Yes, I also heard that strange voice coming from Akane's bracelet..."- A villager answered that question, as he also heard that voice of electronic origin speaking in Japanese, or Hinowan, as they called that language.

-"Is she a witch or what?"- A female villager pondered about the most obvious thing Akane could be, given the supposely fantastic origin about that voice.

On the other hand, Pyndan, who like the other tribesmen had no idea what the Net was saying in Japanese, asked Liska and Mother Sanna, his step-grandmother, who both spoke and understand that language.

-"Grandmother, Liska, do you know what that thing is saying in Akane's language?"-

The old woman was the first to respond, although she shook her head in negation...

-"No, I have no idea what that thing on Akane's wrist is saying in Hinowan, dear; the only thing I can figure out, as far as I know, is something to do with "life measurement" and " hearing", but that's as far as I can tell."-

-"I don't know anything either, Pyndan... and Akane never taught me those kinds of words that come out of that thing..."- The slave replied equally on the subject.

Meanwhile, the Net asked Akane a question in the same electronic voice that AI had.

-"(次の命令は何ですか、軍曹？) What are your next orders, Sergeant?"-

-"(ＡＥＧＩＳ防御プロトコルを無効にしてくれ、ネット。) Please turn off the AEGIS protocol, Net."-

Immediately afterwards, several metallic sounds of varying intensity were heard coming from Akane's tent, which meant that the AI was deactivating the AEGIS defense protocol which was shielding the human woman's home while she was away. Seconds later, the sounds stopped, and the Net responded to the female soldier accordingly.

-"(ＡＥＧＩＳ防御プロトコル、解除。) AEGIS defense protocol deactivated."-

-"(ありがとう。) Thank you."- Akane politely responded at the electronic voice.

Once the defense protocol was deactivated, Akane and her friends could now safely enter her home, something the human let them know right away.

-"All right, friends, we can now enter my home."-

But after what the villagers had just witnessed, some had their doubts about entering that place, fearing that there was something inside that would endanger their lives, considering that Akane had never talked about the AEGIS protocol before, for obvious reasons.

And one of those people was Kebec, who had many reasons to doubt and fear Akane, especially after what she saw a few minutes ago...

-"Wait a minute, Akane! How can we be sure that we can enter your teepee without a problem, huh?"- The white-furred free girl angrily yelled at the human. -"Could it be that you're a some kind of witch, a sorceress, or something?"-

Akane scornfully glared at the bully, and without further ado she retorted what she wanted to know.

-"Then why don't you step into my home to see your sister, and find about that nonsense later, uh?"- The black woman retorted back in the same way. -"But I warn you one thing, dear: What you are about to see next might not be to your liking..."-

Without further words, Kebec angrily stormed into Akane's tent, along with Kasil, to look in on her sister, unaware of what had happened to her hours before...

-"OUT OF MY WAY, YOU IDIOT!"-

So, the young white-furred maiden walked furiously into the human's home, ignoring all the unusual objects inside the place, as she had more important issues to deal with, and the first thing she saw was her sister-cousin Kayce, who was still in Akane's sleeping bag, sitting on her knees...

-"Kayce! What happened to...!"-

Kayce looked at her relative with a certain sense of panic, at the same time that she did not utter a single word, but remained frozen in the same place where she was, while she began to shiver with fear, presumably at the suddenness with which her sister had showed up at Akane's home without any forewarning.

Afterwards, Kebec quickly noticed, upon seeing that his sister had blood stains on her clothes, especially under her abdomen, that there was something not right about her. At first, Kebec thought that Kayce had been bruised in that part of her body...

-"What the hell happened to you down there, Kayce?!"- The woman asked her, already visibly distressed at the sight of all that blood. -"Did those bandits hurt you in your...?"-

...but as he looked further down her abdomen, Kebec realized the terrible reality of what had happened to his sister, which caused her to slowly but steadily lose her poise...

-"No... "- The young woman cried with a low, but still powerful voice. -"This couldn't have happened... please... this is not possible... no... no... no... no... no... "-

Meanwhile, Kasil, Kebec's husband who at that moment was behind his wife, also broke into Akane's home, since Kayce was also his natural sister, and he was equally disturbed by what might have befallen the latter...

-"What's going on there, dear?"- The Siamese-like warrior asked to his wife. -"Did something happened to..."-

The moment the victim's brother saw her, Kasil opened his eyes as wide as he could, and put his hand to his mouth, appalled at what he saw due to the obvious implications...

-"Gods... no... sob..."-

And immediately afterwards, both husband and wife, upon seeing what had happened to their loved one, began to cry quietly but noticeably. Both could not believe what had happened to Ka, and, although she could be thankful that she was alive, thanks to Akane, it was more than evident that her body had been violated by one of the outlaws that raided her village, and that that terrible ordeal had left her severely scarred, most likely for the rest of her life.

Akane Araki, who was behind Kasil and Kebec, also partook of the couple's grief for their kin, for Kayce was also her friend, and the human, in an equally sorrowful manner at the events taking place inside her own home, shared with both of them what had happened...

-"Kayce was raped by one of those bastards who raided the village... and that beast also tried to rape me when I went to look for her at the stream... I managed to kill that monster by breaking his goddamned neck with my bare hands..."-

Then, Akane clenched her hands in anger, as she recalled how she had killed the bandit who had raped her friend, especially when he also wanted to do the same with the human.

-"...but it seems that Kayce was assaulted so badly that she is probably severely traumatized... and I don't know if I can help her at all right now..."-

When she finished speaking, the human lowered her head, completely disheveled and miserable to see how her friend was in pain, and to see her relatives, even if they were people she personally despised, were also crying when they saw that Kayce had been brutally raped. Even someone like Akane would not wish even her worst enemy what had happened to Kayce and her family, especially when watching that grim sight occurring in front of her...

-"I'm really sorry for what happened to your sister, Kebec... sob... I couldn't arrive in time to prevent all this... and surely this is my fault..."-

A few minutes later, Kebec asked Akane a question, her voice ringing with a tone halfway between being completely devoid of any kind of emotion and attempting to suppress the intense anger she was experiencing at that moment...

-"Can she walk, Akane?"-

The human quickly understood what the free feline maiden meant.

-"Well... as far as I could ascertain on my own, she doesn't seem to have any broken bones... but I don't know if it would be wise..."-

Kebec then turned her gaze to her mate, and she asked him a question as well.

-"Do you think you can carry her to our home?"-

-"Yes, dear..."- Kasil responded, being himself equally as sad as his wife was.

And then Kebec spoke to his sister-cousin, this time with a more soothing voice...

-"Can you come with us, Kayce?"-

Kebec's sister-cousin, who was still clearly in pain, and trembling with fear after that dreadful event, nodded her head, without saying a word...

-"Good; let's pick her up and take her to our teepee..."-

-"Understood, Kebec."-

With no more time to lose, Kasil lifted his biological sister from Akane's sleeping bag with both hands, taking care not to touch her anywhere that might cause her pain, and immediately afterwards, he, along with Kayce in his arms, and his wife Kebec, were about to leave the human's tent towards their home, where they were planning for their relative to heal there in a safer and more familiar place.

The other villagers, including Liska, Mother Sanna and Pyndan, who were outside Akane's home out of respect for the pain and privacy of the people involved, not to say that many did not wish to enter that place after they heard the Net's voice when Akane deactivated the AEGIS defense protocol, believing that the place might be cursed or unsafe, only watched as those three people, as well as Akane, left the tent, while Kebec and her family made their way to their home.

And as for the female Earth soldier, she, in trying to console Kebec over what happened to her sister-cousin, wanted to have a word with her, being she so grieved over the incident, as Akane felt that it was all her fault...

-"I am very sorry about what happened with Kayce..."- Akane said in a very pained inflexion -"...if I could have arrived in time..."-

Immediately after, Kebec, who was intending to walk home, suddenly stood where she was, turning her back to Akane, while her husband, ignoring what was going on, continued on his way while still carrying Kayce...

-"Sorry you say, you stupid brute?"-

The woman's voice suddenly became aggressive and hate-filled, while she kept not looking at Akane straight on. Akane, on the other hand, when she heard that insult, tried politely to pretend that she didn't hear it well...

-"I beg your pardon, dear?"-

Suddenly, and without anyone being able to foresee that something like that could happen at that moment...

SNIKT!

SCHWING!

The first thing everyone saw at that instant was how Kebec, unsheathing her claws from her left hand as quickly as she could, violently slashed Akane Araki's left cheek, causing a small amount of blood to fall to the ground as a result of that assault. Surprisingly, considering that it is Akane we are talking about here, she remained motionless, and did not respond to the attack in kind.

On the other hand, Liska, Mother Sanna and Pyndan, who witnessed with horror what had happened, quickly ran to help their friend. For some of them, like the old woman, what Kebec did on the human was an unforgivable deed in her eyes...

-"Kebec! What the HELL did you did to Aka-!"-

But Akane, suddenly, raised her arm horizontally, thereby signaling an order to her friends who sought to help her...

-"DO NOT MEDDLE IN THIS!"- The human bellowed in anger, at the same time that she was standing in the same place, not trying under any circumstances to do anything else in the face of the aggression she had suffered at Kebec's hands.

-"But Akane, Kebec clawed your face!"- Mother Sanna tried to tell her the meaning of that kind of offense that the young free maiden inflicted on the human, aware that Akane had no idea of the gravity of that situation. -"How could you allow her to...?"-

-"I DON'T CARE!"- Akane retorted, as her voice switched between a tinge of anger and sorrow at the same time. -"LET ME HANDLE THIS ALONE, PLEASE!"-

And seeing that the human had no intention for them to interfere in that incident, the three aforementioned characters just stayed behind Akane, without saying anything else, and watching in the event the things went worse...

-"Understood, Akane dear... I hope you know what you're doing, young lady..."- The feline healer said at the black woman.

Meanwhile, Kebec was still staring furiously at Akane, while her left hand, or more precisely, her fingers, were stained with the blood of that human woman, just as she was hissing in the same way a cat would do against someone who tried to attack her, in this case Akane.

But the human, far from trying to attack the bully back, however, chose to remain silent, visibly saddened and certainly looking at her aggressor with a look of pity, irritation and disappointment.

-"That's all you're going to throw at me, huh?"- Kebec furiously ranted at the African-Japanese woman. -"That you're sorry about what happened to my sister... that's all you're going to TELL ME?!"-

Akane remained silent, while still staring at the bully girl in the same sad way...

-"What's the matter, Akane Araki? Don't you intend to do anything to me after I clawed your ugly face?"-

The human, aware that Kebec meant to provoke her, opted not to react to her insults, and still remained silent in the same place, something that irked the Native feline girl even more...

-"What do you pretend by not saying anything to me, huh?"- Kebec continued with her angry rant. -"ANSWER ME, DAMN IT!"-

Seeing that she was trying to elicit a response, however violent, from the human, the latter decided to give her what she wanted, but not in the way Kebec had hoped...

-"I can only tell you that there is nothing I can say to you to calm your anger, whether justified or not, towards me... "- The female soldier replied, crestfallen and regretful, towards her aggressor, feeling pity for her. -"...and you have every damn right to be furious at me for not doing anything more for your sister... and that's all I'm going to say about this..."-

Kebec, caught by surprise to see that Akane did not intend to attack or even insult her, confining herself to agreeing with her aggressor, remained silent for a few seconds when she saw that her enemy was really sorry for not having done enough to prevent her sister from being sexually assaulted.

At the same time, however, she delivered some harsh words to Akane that would resonate on her for a long time...

-"Listen, you stupid foreigner:"- Kebec threatened Akane, as she showed her left hand with her claws out, clearly denoting what she would do with them on the human's body. -"If I ever see you near my sister or me again at any time, I swear by all that is sacred to me that I will use my claws to rip your ugly head off your neck, and use it as a trophy in my home!"-

And if this had not already seemed more than obvious, Kebec went on to add the following...

-"Is that clear for YOU, AKANE ARAKI?!"-

She was even more surprised by the human woman's answer afterwards...

-"Loud and clear, Kebec... you don't need to remind me that..."-

But as if she hadn't had enough of trying to grovel at the African-Japanese woman, the young free maiden also unloaded her wrath on Liska, who was standing behind Akane, along with Mother Sanna and Pyndan.

-"And the same goes for you, SLAVE!"- She furiously pointed her finger at the ginger-furred girl. -"You and your dark-skinned friend are responsible for everything that has broken out here today, since you two are good friends, and both of you are outsiders to this tribe!"-

Obviously, Liska was not going to allow that bully, despite all that had happened to her sister-cousin, and after she herself had saved her life, to gratuitously blame her for the attack on the village...

-"And what the hell do I have to do with what happened to your sister, Kebec?"- The slave girl yelled back at the other woman. -"I wasn't even in the stream when that happened! And besides, I was the one who saved you when that bandit was planning to assault you!"-

Kebec began to hiss intensely as she saw that Liska was right about saving her from being assaulted by that Romalian bandit, and the ungrateful bully would have preferred to die or be ravaged at the hands of that man rather than be indebted to her rival, something that irked her to her very core of her already dark soul.

And as she quickly noticed that she was beginning to contradict herself, and at the same time, to avoid proving her number one enemy right, not to mention to make an already terrible situation even worst for herself...

-"Where the hell are you going?!"- Liska asked in anger at Kebec, when she saw that she turned her back on her and headed off in a different direction.

-"I'm going home!"- The free girl yelled at her. -"And if I see you again, slave, I'M GOING TO SKIN YOU ALIVE!"-

And so, Kebec walked back to her teepee, in order to take care of her sister along with her husband, while she left behind her sworn enemies, Liska Tas-so-wen and Akane Araki. Even if she had reason to be upset after her sister was raped, she decided to blame those two women for everything that had happened, as well as blaming them for the attack on the village.

Akane, for her part, once the bully was out of sight, offered her opinion on the matter in the way she was accustomed to, in her own language...

-"(チッ, 恩知らずな女どもは常にいるものだ。) Tch... there will always be ungrateful bitches who will never appreciate what one does for them..."-

Liska, at that moment, walked closer to the human, and she seemed to agree with what her foreign friend had said.

-"You are absolutely right about that, Akane..."- The slave girl said in a somewhat irked tone, on regard about Kebec's treatment on both women.

-"She is angry right now, and surely Kebec has no other meaningful way to express her pain..."- Sanna, Liska's mistress, also joined the conversation on the issue, being just as upset about what had happened seconds before. -"I believe that the best thing to do is to leave her alone, and respect her grief over what had happened to Kayce..."-

Akane sighed for a few moments, and couldn't help but agree with the elderly healer.

-"I guess you're right, grandmother... but..."- She did a brief pause, and then, the black woman responded with a notable sad tone in her voice. -"sigh... damn... I can't help but rather feel terrible that I couldn't have been there in time to help Kayce before that monster raped her..."-

The old woman put her hand on Akane's right shoulder, trying to comfort the female soldier as she regretted not having done enough to prevent what had befallen her feline friend.

-"You did what you could, Akane dear..."- The Siamese-lookin lady thanked the human guest, as well as her slave. -"and besides that, you and Liska saved the village... and I think we all, including me, are grateful to you two for risking to fight against the raiders, in spite of everything."-

After a few seconds of silence, Akane returned the old woman's reply, quite moved by her words...

-"Thank you... sob... thank you very much... grandmother..."-

-"You are welcome too, Akane..."-

And then, she addressed to Liska, her slave.

-"And you too, Liska."-

But the slave, far from being happy for the words of her mistress, she appeared to be more like slightly sad and despondent, sensing that she did not deserve all that praise, unlike Akane, being an experienced warrior compared to Liska, a slave who also took up arms to protect the place she considered her home, but her reasons for doing so were very different from Akane's...

-"I..."- The young maiden replied with some trepidation in her voice. -"...I only fought because I was afraid they would kill you, me and everyone else, my mistress..."-

Akane, seeing that her friend did not seem to accept her own heroic deeds to save the village, also joined in the praise along with her mistress, since the human had more than enough reasons to be grateful to Liska for helping her fight the Romalian marauders.

-"Hey, sweetie kitty, don't be so DAMN modest with yourself, sheesh!"- Akane, who was a few minutes earlier just as unhappy as her partner, was quick to adjust her mood in order to appraise her alien friend's courage and heroism. -"If it weren't for you, I, you and the whole village wouldn't be here talking so calmly about this, because you also did a lot in helping me to fight all those bandits... Aaaand... sigh... if you hadn't cut that sucker in half, surely I wouldn't be HERE alive to tell the tale, dear!"-

And then...

-"In short... I thank you for saving my life, Liska... thank you very much... my dear, sweet friend..."- Akane looked at her friend in awe, as she shed tears of gratitude for her friend's endeavor to save her from being strangled by Arn.

The young slave girl, seeing that her human friend was entirely grateful for saving her life, also shed some tears, possibly because it was the first time in her life that someone was indebted to her, especially someone as quirky and different as Akane was.

-"Thank you for your kind words... Akane..."-

On the other hand, Pyndan, who was also witnessing the whole thing, also joined in congratulating and thanking the two women for saving his tribe, and in turn his sister.

-"Well, I think I also agree with Akane in thanking you for saving everyone in the tribe, as well as Panka..."- The young white-furred warrior addressed Liska with a smile as well. -"And while I don't know what exactly happened during the attack, but after seeing what you did with that bandit when he tried to kill Akane, I can see that you are a very brave girl, Liska..."-

-"Oh... thank you... Pyndan."- The orange tabby girl timidly returned his words of gratitude.

-"And... the same goes for you too, Akane..."- The feline man also did the same with the black woman from Earth. -"I never imagined you were more courageous than I thought you were, considering all the arguments we've been having all this time..."-

Akane, with a wide chuckle, couldn't help but comment on Pyndan's last remark about his human peer.

-"Well... I can only tell you that I had my reasons for not showing who I really am... and I am very sorry that this had to happen to make me tell the truth..."-

-"I guess you had good reasons for that, didn't you?"- Pyndan tried to be empathetic to the human.

-"To be frank... yes..."-

Then, Akane sighed a bit.

-"...and I don't know if you and the rest of the tribe will believe me if I tell you people the truth."-

After a brief moment of silence, the young warrior, on seeing that Akane seemed concerned that she would have to tell the truth about her origins, replied in a more comforting manner to her.

-"I suppose we can be sympathetic to you, I think... if we bear in mind that you are not of our own species to begin with."-

-"That mean...?"-

-"...you will have to tell us the truth, and nothing but the truth about you, Akane dear..."- Mother Sanna completed her grandson's words.

Silence again, then the Space Ranger replied.

-"Understood."- Akane said. -"Thank you, grandmother... and you too... Pyndan..."-

-"You are welcome too, Akane."-

And suddenly and unexpectedly, the human woman, perhaps driven by the emotion and feelings that she needed to vent after several minutes of tension and panic after that bloody battle that occurred minutes before, warmly hugged both Liska and the old healer, the two did not expect something like that from Akane...

-"Akane, what are you...?"- Liska and her mistress were the first to respond at the same time when Akane embrace them in that way.

-"BWAAAAH!"- Akane cried. -"GIRLS, I LOVE YOU, LOVE YOU, LOVE YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH!"-

Both women could not help but feel equally moved by the human showing her affection in this way, even if they also began to feel slightly awkward about the way Akane was doing it, partly due to the embarrassment of being seen embraced by a foreigner of a completely unfamiliar species to both of them and to all the tribe's inhabitants.

But even so, both also had reason to show their feelings for the human, and they too gave their own signs of love to Akane, in their own personal ways...

-"Heheh... I love you too, Akane... and thank you for everything..."- Liska responded to the human's lovely hug, with her eyes closed and in a very sweet tone of voice.

-"Me too... you big, silly lady..."- Mother Sanna did the same, with a somewhat naughty smile on Akane.

Meanwhile, Pyndan, who was watching the scene with some hilarity, suddenly saw how his grandmother started looking at him, trying to say something to the young warrior.

-"Hey, young man!"- The old lady said at her grandson. -"Why don't you come with us and hug our big friend who also helped save our village, huh?"-

-"Huh?"- Pyndan responded in shock about his grandmother's petition on embracing Akane. -"ME?"-

-"Yes... YOU."- Sanna replied with a naughty grin in her muzzle. -"Surely you want to hug Akane too, don't you?"-

The young white-furred warrior looked at his family member in disbelief, trying to figure out why his grandmother would want him to do something like that, considering Akane hated him.

-"Uh... grandmother... I don't think that will be a good idea; Akane personally doesn't..."-

But Akane herself was the first to interrupt the old woman, and at the same time, to be the first to be able to also hug Pyndan for the same reasons she was hugging Liska and Sanna: She wanted to have the company of someone else by her side, even if it was a person that, although Akane hated him on a matter of principle, at least she knew very well that he was not a bad person at all...

-"Oh, come on, buddy!"- Akane said at the reluctant feline man. -"I want you to be by my side too! It's not like I'm going to bite you, right?"-

Seeing that the human wanted him to be by her side as well, Pyndan reluctantly agreed to be embraced by her...

-"sigh... Well... if you insist..."-

And without further ado, the young warrior also affectionately embraced Akane, while the human also did the same with him; the female soldier shed tears of joy, seeing that she could be with her friends once again, and at the same time, be happy to be alive, especially after Liska saved hers, something that the female soldier from Earth would be eternally grateful for.

And seeing that Akane sincerely showed her gratitude and affection towards him, the young warrior could not help but show his appreciation for the woman, considering all that she had done for his tribe, and his family as well.

-"Thank you for everything... Akane..."-

-"Heheheh... you are welcome too, Pyndan dear..."-

And then, the three feline characters began to purr pleasantly next to Akane, who fully enjoyed the company of her friends, especially after she was nearly killed, both when fighting the invaders and after Arn tried to tear her head off with his bare hands, only for Liska to save her life at the last minute. She needed that company, and being with those she loved was something she wanted to do, since the human had none of her human friends by her side and the ones she was close to, among them Kaguya and Noguchi, were now all dead.

Even the close company of Pyndan, whom she normally hated, was something that was also no longer a discomfort to her, for what she needed was the approval of her new friends, and not to say that Akane could no longer afford to antagonize him again now, knowing that her status in the tribe had completely changed following the attack on the village.

And as for the young warrior...

-"This is so embarrassing..."- Pyndan said, visibly annoyed to being seen with Akane hugging him.

-"Shhh..."- Liska quietly replied at him. -"Would you have liked Akane to insult you then?"-

-"Uh... no..."-

-"Well... enjoy this then..."-

And with nothing more to say, he continued hugging Akane, embarrassed, but at the same time, he was glad to see that the human really wanted to be by his side, and that she had no desire to speak ill of him anymore...

But just when all seemed quiet, a male voice suddenly broke into the air, causing an interruption in that very personal event.

-"Ehemmm!... I am so sorry to have to break in on this,"- Chief Pownetkee, the leader of the Highland tribe, suddenly appeared near to the four characters. -"but I need all of you to come to my teepee right away..."-

The young slave was the first to ask to the tribal chief.

-"What?"- Liska asked in surprise. -"What do you mean by all of you, chief?"-

-"I need all the warriors of the tribe, including Sanna, to come to my teepee to address various concerns regarding the attack on our village..."-

Then, the feline man pointed his finger on the slave and the human soldier.

-"...and that also includes you two..."-

Akane sensed what the chief intended by it...

-"I guess you want to talk with me and Liska... right, chief?"-

The village leader, who was smoking his pipe, nodded his head to the foreigner.

-"Indeed, Akane dear."-

The human resignedly sighed; she knew that now she would have to reveal the truth about herself and that her excuse of not saying anything about her origins to avoid harming her hosts was no longer valid. What might happen to her and her slave friend after that, considering whether they believed Akane or not, was now uncharted territory for her.

-"I can't be helped... right?"- Akane said in low voice.

On the other hand, Liska, the young slave girl, also looked preoccupied, although not to the extent of Akane. She knew that due to the personal relationship she had with the human, many members of the village could accuse her of having some relation with the events of the invasion that the village suffered, and if that were the case, she could suffer some severe punishment, considering that her status as a slave would prevent her from receiving any kind of fair sentence.

Seeing the faces of both women, Mother Sanna placed both hands on the shoulders of both girls in order to tranquilize them for what might happen to them next.

-"Remember, girls..."- The old, Siamese-like healer said at both Liska and Akane. -"You two just tell the truth... and nothing but the truth."-

-"Don't worry, mistress..."- Liska replied.

-"...we will."- Akane followed suit, after interrupting her.

Both girls looked at each other, knowing that now they had a bigger challenge on their hands, one that now they could not solve with weapons, but with their choice of words, so both women had to be careful with what they were going to say in front of the tribal chief and the other warriors, because the implications for Liska and Akane were now unknown.

-"Don't worry about any problems, girls..."- Pyndan also gave his words of encouragement for the two maidens. -"I will stand up for you in case someone speaks ill of you two for no reason."-

-"Thank you, Pyndan..."- Liska replied with a candid smile at Rial's cousin-brother. -"I think we're going to need all the help we can afford."

-"Well... you are welcome too... that's the least I can do for Rial's mate while he is not here right now..."- The young warrior smiled at the slave girl. -"...and the same goes for you, Akane."-

-"Oh, thanks."- The human also replied as well, without adding anythin else.

After a brief pause, Mother Sanna stated that it was time for everyone to go and comply with the chief's order.

-"Well, if there is nothing more to say, let's go."-

And so, the four characters went to Chief Pownetkee's teepee, in order to discuss what had happened in the village a few minutes before.

In addition, they wanted to talk about the two women who defended the village at the risk of their own lives, especially about the human woman, Akane Araki, for whom there were many mysteries that she now had to answer to her alien hosts, not to mention the relationship that her friend Liska had with her, due to her close friendship with Akane, which was the cause of several doubts among some members of the tribe, something that would be discussed below.

---

September 19th, AD 2299/18th day of the Dry Moon, 1748 (summer season), Chief Pownetkee's tent (inside), 11:00 PM (night)

Once inside the tribal chief's home, Liska, Akane, Mother Sanna and Pyndan noticed that all the adult male warriors who were in the village at the time were present inside, surrounding the people who were entering the teepee, which caused some concern in the two women for whom the meeting was a cause for concern, fearing the worst.

In front of them was the village chief, and next to him was the Senecal, who would also serve as a kind of arbitrator in the meeting, knowing beforehand that the meeting would be very tense, due to the mixed feelings that many of those present had for the two women: The first, a young slave girl, and the other, and perhaps the greatest cause for concern, a woman belonging to a species completely unknown to them, who until that day had kept her origins secret for fear of harming her hosts, and who had abilities that no one had seen up to that point had seen in their lives, including the use of swords and weapons that they had never seen before, like firearms and smoke grenades.

Once all of the requested attendees were inside, Chief Pownetkee was the first to begin speaking...

-"You two can sit there in that spot..."-

The chief was referring to two wooden logs that served as chairs, which were in the middle of the teepee, while the aforementioned leader and his Seneschal sat on two other chairs that were at the back of the place.

-"Oh... thank you, sir."- Liska was the first to respond to her chief's request.

The two women sat in the indicated place, while Mother Sanna, the slave's mistress, was on one side of her; on the other hand, Pyndan was on Akane's left side, so that both women would not be alone during the interrogation that would begin shortly.

Once everyone was in their positions, the chief kicked off the discussion, starting to summarize the events related to the attack on the village that had occurred hours before.

-"Ladies and gentlemen, as you all know, our village was the victim of a cowardly and surprise attack by foreign bandits coming from the Romalian Empire from the east, with the intention of capturing our villagers and selling us as slaves..."- Pownetkee said, while smoking his pipe with some unease in his face. -"Fortunately, thanks to the help of these two maidens, who put their lives at risk despite having no apparent reason to do so, the raid was completely driven off, and all the enemy warriors, including their leader, were killed..."-

After a brief pause, once he had exhaled the smoke from his pipe, the feline leader continued with his talk.

-"Unfortunately, our victory came at a certain price:"- The man then continued with a sad tone in his voice. -"Kayce, Kebec's older sister-cousin, was raped by one of the outlaws, from what I have learned so far by one of the warriors who saw what happened at Ms. Akane Araki's home and who told me about it a few moments ago. Moreover, my son, Gareth, was also injured by one of them while defending Pyndan's younger sister, but fortunately, he has no serious wounds to worry about."-

Later, the chief added some additional details.

-"Now, things could have gone badly for us, since all the warriors of the tribe went out hunting in the afternoon, and the only people who had the ability to fight were your servant, and the Seneschal..."-

Then, Pownetkee said the following with some deserved humbleness.

-"...and as chief of this tribe, I think I must admit that it was a very great lapse of judgment on my part to allow all of our warriors to leave the village at the same time without foreseeing something like what transpired here could actually occur at any time."-

After a somewhat awkward silence, as all the warriors knew that their leader was honestly apologizing for that mistake that endangered the village that he perceived to be his fault, the human Akane was the first to break it, speaking to the tribal chief in a kind and polite way about that mistake perceived by the man himself.

-"Chief, I don't think it was your fault... no one could have foreseen something like this, not even the wisest of men..."-

Akane then continued...

-"...in fact, there is a phrase that my people use for such an event where I come from..."- The human did a brief pause, then she continued. -"No one is perfect... at least, that's what we think... sir..."-

The other warriors, regardless of what they thought of Akane, agreed with her in those words, Pyndan being the first to say something about the issue in question.

-"I think I agree with her on that too; I doubt there's anyone in this village who thinks this is all your fault, chief..."- The young warrior said. -"...don't you think so too, people?"-

All the other warriors, besides Sanna and Liska, agreed with Pyndan and Akane by shaking their heads in a positive manner. The chief, seeing that his men did not seem to hold anything against him for such a situation which was beyond his knowledge, could not help but be grateful for the gesture.

-"I thank you very much for everyone's words of encouragement."- The elder feline replied with a smile in his muzzle. -"And thank you too... Akane."-

-"You are very welcome, chief."- The Space Ranger replied in the same fashion at her senior.

But suddenly, the man decided to rush to the point, and start discussing the issue that everyone wanted to know about, and one of the main compelling reasons why all the warriors currently on hand in the village had come together to begin with.

-"But... I believe that we cannot overlook an issue that has been pending for quite some time, and that has been a cause of concern for all the members of this tribe, and that due to the recent assault on our village, it is a matter that we can no longer continue to gloss over..."-

Akane took a deep breath, knowing what Pownetkee meant by that. Afterwards, and once the tribe's chief threw away the ashes of his pipe and put some tobacco back in it, the man pointed his finger at Akane Araki, and directed the word to her in a somewhat more sober manner than he usually did...

-"Miss Akane Araki... there are many things we don't know about you, starting with the species you belong to, where you originally come from, and above all, what you do for a living..."-

Then, he continued after a brief break.

-"...considering what I saw with my own eyes, it is more than evident that you are not an explorer as you had claimed before, but that you possess combat skills that are very different from any warrior I have met, both from this tribe and from any other in the Plains, matched only by those of the bushi warriors from Hinowa, counting the weapons you used..."-

And finally, he added the next.

-"...And if that wasn't enough, the invaders seemed very interested in you, for obvious reasons, and from what I saw, I think they were the ones who killed your friend Keisuke Noguchi, the one we buried some time ago..."-

Akane remained silent, rather waiting for her time to speak, which came soon after the following.

-"In the face of all these facts, what do you have to say about all this, young lady?"- The chief smoked his pipe again, after he said that. -"I remind you that you must speak the truth before all of us, if you wish to continue living among us, Akane."-

Akane, seeing that she had no choice but to tell the truth to her alien hosts, stood up from her seat, wearing a certain look that mixed concern and seriousness on her face, knowing beforehand that what she was going to say next would be something very difficult for her feline friends to ever digest... or anyone else who would be in a similar situation like her, if the roles were reversed in other circumstances.

-"Remember what I told you, Akane."- Mother Sanna said in low voice to the human soldier.

The black woman replied in the same fashion.

-"Yes, I know that, grandmother..."-

And then, Akane, after taking a deep breath, began to tell the truth about herself... but not before warning her listeners with the following words.

-"Before I start talking, I want to warn all of you that what you are about to hear next may be very hard to believe..."- Akane said in a equally serious tone. -"...sigh... and I can't blame you people if you don't want to, in light of what happened today..."-

-"We are willing to listen to what you say, Akane."- The Seneschal reassured the human woman. -"Please feel free to talk openly about yourself now..."-

Afterwards, the human began to reveal her secrets to everyone present at the chief's teepee.

-"I am Sergeant First Class Akane Araki, a member of the special Space Ranger unit, Kansai Region, from the Japanese Space Self-Defense Force."- Akane began describing herself. -"I am a native of Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, from the nation of Japan, located in the continent of Asia, but I was born in another country, specifically in Mbabane, in the kingdom of Eswatini, located in the continent of Africa, since my parents are adoptive."-

The moment she mentioned her place of origin, everyone present began to whisper among themselves, since no one had ever heard of any of those cities and nations before, since they were all on Earth. This caused even Mother Sanna, who was trying to remain even-tempered about the whole situation, to question her protégé.

-"Where are all those places you have talked about, Akane dear?"- The old lady asked to the black woman. -"I have never in my life heard of a place called "Osaka", "Japan", "Africa", or anything remotely ringing a bell before..."-

On the other hand, Liska, Akane's friend, was equally surprised, like everyone else in the teepee, to know all that, but she preferred not to say anything until Akane finished speaking first. She knew that her friend from another world still harbored many secrets, and the young slave girl wanted to hear them from the human herself, and not force her to say anything until Akane decided to do so willingly.

-"Where the hell did this woman really come from?"- The Orange Tabby girl thought for herself after hearing Akane's origins from the human's own mouth.

Then, Akane took another breath, and then, she revealed the place where all these places were located... a revelation that would shock all her hosts afterwards.

-"I, as well as all those places I mentioned, from a place far away from this world... or if I want to be more specific... I am not from your world..."- Akane said with some gravity. -"... I come from a planet or world that our people call Earth, located in the Sol solar system, several lifetimes away from your world, ladies and gentlemen..."-

And then, the soldier concluded with the following.

-"To put it simply... I am basically what one would call an alien... a person from beyond the stars..."-

All this caused everyone present to begin to quibble loudly. For more than obvious reasons, not all the members of the Highland tribe were willing to believe that their guest was actually a person from another world, and some even began to think that Akane was possibly someone or something much worse...

...and the first person to question Akane's words was Kasil, Kebec's husband and Kayce's biological brother, who had more than enough reasons to doubt everything the human brought up about herself.

-"Just a damn moment, Akane!"- The Siamese-like warrior yelled at the African-Japanese soldier, while pointing his finger to her. -"Do you expect us to fall for THAT ridiculous story of yours?! Who can assure us that you are not really a witch, a spy or something more dangerous to our tribe, HUH?"-

-"I do not expect anyone to believe me,"- Akane countered him. -"for I am only telling the truth, as I was ordered to do."-

-"Oh, yeah?"- Kasil angrily responded back. -"If you really come from another world, then I am one of the gods that rule mine!"-

Akane remained silent, while the other feline warriors laugh at Kasil's quip about being a god in a way mock Akane, and later, with a certain mischievous tone, the human shot back at her feline counterpart.

-"I guess that was sarcasm, am I right?"-

-"At least it is more credible than you saying that you come from another world."- Kasil rudely retorted back at the soldier woman from Earth.

Other warriors, supporting their comrade, did not believe Akane's word either, and also began to question her.

-"Kasil is right..."- Colin was one of the Siamese-like warrior who sided him on going against Akane. -"who can convince us that you are telling the truth and that you really come from another world?"-

-"Yeah! Surely you are making up this story about coming from another world just to save your own neck!"- Another warrior yelled at Akane.

-"And maybe that slave friend of yours is your accomplice!"- Yet another warrior did the same, this time pointing his finger at Liska.

Akane, seeing that the other warriors of the village, except for Pyndan, the chief and the Seneschal, were accusing her as their slave friend, whom many began to consider her as an accomplice of the human, caused Akane to slowly lose her composure, although she tried not to show it openly to avoid aggravating that dramatic predicament in which she was neck-deep.

Liska, on the other hand, was visibly nervous, but like Akane, she preferred not to open her mouth unless ordered to do so, since, being a slave, she was not in a position to dispute the claims against her about being the foreigner's partner concerning the attack on the village.

Seeing that the dispute was becoming more heated, and that the accusers were starting to yell at the human, Chief Pownetkee stepped in to intervene before things spiraled beyond control...

-"EVERYONE BE QUIET!"-

The powerful voice of the chief of the tribe, when heard immediately, caused everyone present to stop railing against Akane, causing an almost absolute silence, only interrupted by the sound of insects and birds of prey flying over the village as a result of the corpses of the invaders that still lay there after the fierce battle that took place hours ago.

Then, the chief, glancing with a serious gaze at the human woman, resolved to ask Akane his own questions regarding her revelations about her earthly origins.

-"Akane Araki..."- The feline man asked to the black woman from Earth. -"If you really say that you come from another world, do you have a reliable proof that you can show us that you really don't belong to ours, young lady?"-

The woman from Japan, when asked for proof that she really came from another planet, and after a few seconds without any reaction, finally answered him.

-"Could this serve as a proof for you, chief?"-

Akane suddenly showed everyone her smartwatch-shaped device on her wrist...

-"HUH?!"- All the people inside the teepee said aloud after seeing that thing the human woman had with her.

...and immediately afterwards, Akane pressed some buttons on the device; seconds later...

COME ON, FEEL THE NOISE! GIRLS, ROCK YOUR BOYS! WE'LL GET WILD, WILD, WILD! WILD, WILD, WILD!

The first thing those humanoid felines heard from the device Akane wore on her wrist was heavy metal music; to be more precise, the song was Cum on Feel the Noize, which was originally performed by the British rock band Slade in the 20th century in the 1970s, and whose most famous version was a cover by the American heavy metal band Quiet Riot in the 1980s. The African-Japanese woman picked that song because it was the most outlandish song she could have thought of to show that she was not from that unknown planet.

For more than evident reasons, all those present in the teepee, who had never heard heavy metal in their lives, were staring in horror at the human, to the extent that some of them had their fur ruffled when they heard such a deafening music, coupled with aggressive lyrics sung in a language, which was English, that they did not understand.

-"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT DREADFUL MUSIC?!"- Kasil cried out in distress, as he covered his ears while Akane played that song at full volume.

-"IS AKANE SUMMONING DEMONS FROM THE UNDERWORLD, OR WHAT?!"- Another warrior also yelled, also appalled to hear Quiet Riot's loud lyrics sung in English.

At the same time, Liska and Mother Sanna, who were close to the human, also covered their ears, while they too seemed to resent the effects of listening to music as loud as heavy metal, which they had never heard before...

-"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT MUSIC AKANE IS PLAYING?!"- The old lady, being unable to speak normally under such conditions, yelled at her slave.

-"I THINK THAT'S THE TRADITIONAL MUSIC OF THE PLACE SHE COMES FROM, MY MISTRESS!"- Liska, as a product of the situation, could only deduce, erroneously, what kind of music Akane was playing on her device to prove her off-planet origins.

Meanwhile, Akane seemed to be having a perverse amusement at how her alien hosts were enduring the pain of listening to 20th century rock music, especially the hair metal genre that was popular in the 1980s...

...or at least it was for a few moments... until the feline healer decided to put an end to that music at once.

-"AKANE, STOP THAT MUSIC IMMEDIATELY!"- Sanna yelled at the soldier's ear as louder as she could.

Seeing that her alien friends had no more desire to listen to rock music, the human obeyed on the spot.

-"Right away, grandmother!"-

As soon as the human woman pressed some buttons in her smartwatch-like device, the noise of the heavy metal music ceased instantly. Afterwards, those present at the teepee breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Akane had put an end to her uncalled-for rock'n roll act coming from that device she had on her wrist.

But some people, starting with the Seneschal, wondered what was that thing the human played as music that caused so much discomfort among the tribespeople present...

-"What kind... of music... was that?"- The feline holy man asked aloud to Akane, the woman from Earth who played Cum on Feel the Noize from that unknown-for-him device she had.

Akane, still smiling, threw her head back, and she responded at the Seneschal.

-"Well... we call it rock music."- The woman from Japan replied at the saint man, still amused by his pained reaction. -"Or if you prefer a more accurate name, it is also known as Heavy Metal."-

All the people present in the place, when they heard the name of the musical genre that she put in her device, were dumbfounded by Akane's answer, because when they heard the name rock music, they interpreted the name by the more literal term...

-"Rock music?"- Liska said aloud, also as shocked as the rest of her kind were. -"Do they play music using rocks in your world?"

-"That didn't sound like music made with rocks at all..."- Pyndan followed suit, in a rather wry manner. -"...that sounded more like the screams of a herndon being burned to death."-

Again, the humanoid felines giggled at Pyndan's grisly crack about the sound of that heavy metal song. The only people who did not find that comment funny were Liska, Sanna, the chief, the Seneschal and above all, Akane Araki.

-"Well... this is the first time someone compares Slade and Quiet Riot's music to the death cries of an animal... heheh!"- The human smiled, trying to play along with her hosts.

Chief Pownetkee, however, seemed to have a different opinion on the matter, sensing that the human was not taking them seriously...

-"I suppose you find this very funny, don't you, Akane?"-

Sensing the tribal leader's displeasure after the music incident, the female soldier soon realized that using rock music as an example of her world's culture wasn't such a good idea after all.

-"Ehh... no, chief..."-

-"In that case, I suggest you take this meeting seriously, and save your jokes for another day, young lady."-

Noticing that the tone of the chief's voice became more aggressive and less willing to take such things with a sense of humor, considering that he had to protect his people in the first place, especially after that surprise attack that took the villagers by surprise hours ago, the black woman decided to seriously stop making jokes and follow the advice of her superior.

-"Understood, sir."-

Later on, Liska said a few words in a low voice to Akane.

-"Akane, you'd better stop with your witticisms, and start taking this seriously, unless you want to drag me and yourself into a bigger mess just because you're trying to be funny!"-

-"All right, I get it, you don't need to scold me, sweetie."- The human replied at her feline friend in a more serious tone than before after seeing Liska's concerned face.

Afterwards, the chief went back to speak again.

-"Aside from how loud that music sounded,"- The grey tabby man said at the African-Japanese Space Ranger. -"do you have any other proof that you can show us about your origins outside of our world, Akane?"-

Knowing in advance that now she could no longer come up with something that might horrify her native hosts, and thus put herself, as well as her other friend, in danger, Akane tried to think of another proof she could use to prove that she was from Earth. After a few seconds of careful thought, she came up with an idea...

-"Chief, I would like you to allow me to return to my teepee to bring back something that I could use as a proof regarding my out-of-this-world origins."-

Seeing that Akane seemed to be taking the man's words seriously this time, and that she did not seem this time to be trying to play tricks at the expense of her hosts, the leader granted Akane's request in the affirmative.

-"Permission granted, Akane... but we want you to come back here immediately."-

-"Yes, sir."-

Akane left the teepee for a few minutes, as she walked to her home. Not losing any time, the human immediately returned to the same place, this time carrying a brown briefcase in her left hand; then, she put the briefcase on the wooden trunk where she was sitting a few minutes before.

-"Can you tell what that thing is, Akane?"- Mother Sanna asked to the black woman when she watched how the latter was opening that briefcase.

The human smiled when she heard that question.

-"You will see it soon..."-

When Akane opened the briefcase, its contents turned out to be the laptop she normally used for writing and working inside her home. Obviously for the primitive inhabitants of that village, that electronic device was something they had never seen in their lives, as they saw what looked like a strange object with many buttons on its underside, as well as what appeared to be a mirror, which was actually the device's touch screen.

-"Can you explain us what is that thing you brought here, Akane?"- The Seneschal asked the human, equally astonished to see the electronic device Akane brought to the teepee.

With certain solemnity, the human answered the holy man regarding his question about the computer owned by that stranger woman.

-"Well, I supposed that, if you want to know more questions about me and my place of origin, besides proving that I really come from another world, I thought the best way to answer all those questions you want to know..."-

And immediately after, the woman pressed the ON button on the computer, which booted up in less than 10 seconds. Then, the laptop's screen turned on, displaying the computer's operating system screen.

-"...would be for my virtual friend to answer all these questions beside me."-

All the feline humanoids were surprised to see how that object that looked like a mirror, in this case, the computer screen, turned on, while several letters, icons and numbers appeared on it, waiting for the moment to respond as ordered by its owner...

-"Alright, Net, I guess you already have a big enough database to be able to speak in the local language, instead of you having to do it in mine, correct?"-

...something that happened immediately, from the mouth of Akane herself.

-"Affirmative, Sergeant Araki. I can converse in the local language without much trouble, as per the database I have compiled since you ordered me to do so since you arrived in this village, sir."- The computer's artificial intelligence, through the use of a masculine electronic voice, personally addressed the alien hosts.

As if the presence of that strange electronic device in the teepee was not enough, the knowledge that such object was also able to talk made all those present in the place flabbergasted, because they never imagined that such a thing was possible. Some began to feel terrified to learn that this "strange object with many buttons" was able to talk just like them, and did not hesitate to make their fears known aloud.

-"A...Akane..."- Pyndan, the young white-furred young man, asked to the African-Japanese soldier in sheer horror after he heard the laptop to speak in his own language. -"D...did that thi..thing with the glowing mirror... spoke? "-

To the latter's surprise, the AI responded to the feline warrior with its electronic voice.

-"That's right; I have the ability to speak and communicate in over 7000 languages, including dialects and dead languages."- The Net responded him. -"In addition, I can learn any unknown language, such as yours, and include it in my list of languages I can use by including it in an internal database on my hard drive."-

Seeing that the computer was quite eloquent, Liska, who was standing next to that talking electronic device, also wished to ask the AI a question...

-"And..."- The slave girl, also as surprised as Pyndan was, asked to the Net. -"do you have some kind of name we can call you by?"-

-"I am identified as the Advanced Neuro Electronic Network, abbreviated as ANEN. I operate on an operating system using an advanced Linux family kernel customized for the United Nations Space Force and localized in the Japanese language, also known as "Hinowan" to you."- The AI replied her. -"But, if you wish to address me in a more casual manner, I am usually referred to simply as "The Net" or just Net."-

The young tabby girl scratched her head, for she didn't grasp even half of the terminology the Net used to describe itself.

-"Well... uh..."- Liska replied at the computer with some awkwardness, since she never expected to talk to something who wasn't even a living thing to her. -"I guess it's a pleasure to meet you... Net."-

-"The pleasure is also mine, Miss Liska Tas-so-wen..."-

The young maiden was surprised to learn that that computer knew her full name, something she let the AI know.

-"I presume Akane told you my name, right?"-

-"Technically yes, but I also learned your name after hearing it in Sergeant Araki's daily conversations with you."-

The slave then looked at Akane with some suspicion, as it was obvious that the human was using the computer to record their conversations that both women had been having for several months, even if the human didn't do it with any ill intentions, but in order for the Net to learn the local language, even if the young girl didn't see it that way.

Akane, on her side, and knowing that her friend was looking at her rather peeved, had to explain herself about it.

-"Uh... well... sweetie... I think I can explain that... I just hope you don't take that the wrong way, dear..."-

-"Yeah, right..."- Liska replied at the human, while angrily crossed her arms as a way to signalizing agitation about the Net listening to her conversations. -"I just didn't expect that your strange friend who was with you all this time was listening to everything we were talking about between the two of us..."-

Seeing that the conversation seemed to be growing strained between the two women, the young slave's mistress quickly intervened before things escalated.

-"Liska, I think you shouldn't be angry with Akane; she surely did it for a good reason, and that reason was so that her friend could learn our language, so I think you should be more sensitive with her."-

-"I know that... but... sigh..."- The slave set her eyes on Akane again. -"...I would have liked Akane to tell me the truth before doing something like that..."-

But Liska was not the only person in the tribe who wanted to talk with that computer and its artificial intelligence...

-"All right..."- Kasil, Kebec's husband, angrily addressed to the computer. -"who's to reassure us that you're not a demon out of hell, or some kind of dangerous being out to do us some harm, HUH?"-

The Net, after a brief pause while trying to process the question asked by the Siamese-like warrior, finally answered.

-"Technically, I am an artificial intelligence; in plain language, I am an intelligent being created by people similar to you on the planet where Sergeant Akane Araki and I come from, and I was created to assist any person in any task I am ordered to do."-

The Seneschal also joined the throng of people who wanted to know more about the AI owned by Akane...

-"Does that mean you are an intelligent, sentient person?"-

-"To all intents and purposes, yes."- The AI replied at the holy man. -"But I can't do anything for myself without Sergeant Araki's help. I neither have arms, nor legs, and my visual capabilities are limited without the aid of additional tools that the Sergeant can install at any time; in short, I can do absolutely nothing without someone else's help, much less cause any kind of harm to anyone else. As a matter of fact, I am instructed not to proceed to cause any kind of harm to another living being without authorization from the Sergeant or some higher authority."-

Pyndan was the first to notice that the AI was right: from the point of view of everyone present, that laptop was simply a strange, square-shaped object with a bright mirror without limbs, head or eye-like features, though the computer did have a highly advanced miniature camera that allowed the Net to know who it was talking to.

-"To be honest, if this talking thing is actually a demon, it would be the most useless, harmless demon I've ever met..."-

-"That's right, Mr. Pyndan..."- The computer replied him. -"I am basically a tool, an intelligent tool, but basically one nonetheless, not much different from an axe, a spoon or a bow. I cannot function properly without someone else's orders, so I am not a danger to anyone."-

The AI's response made the young warrior a little uneasy, who never imagined he could talk to something that was basically a non-living, talking object, but was as eloquent and intelligent as any other person.

-"I don't know if I should be happy or unsettled by what you said..."- The white-furred feline responded at the machine with some nervous undertone.

-"I fully understand your concerns, sir, so I will leave it to Sergeant Araki to address any other inquiries you wish to know about me or my superior officer, unless anyone else would like to ask me another question."- The computer retorted back to the alien warrior and the rest of the tribe.

With this said, Akane took the floor for herself again, and addressed the crowd at the teepee.

-"Well, ladies and gentlemen..."- The human took a brief pause and then she continued, -"...I guess you have more questions to ask me or my virtual partner, don't you?"-

The humanoid felines began to mutter among themselves at what had transpired, surprised, and in a way, somewhat startled to see how that item, the Akane's portable computer, was able to talk like any normal person. And one of those people was Chief Pownetkee, who wanted to know a few more things about both that talking computer and, above all, the human woman who owned that sentient entity...

-"Akane Araki, there are three questions I would like to hear from you..."-

The feline man did a brief pause and then, he resumed the conversation, while putting his hands over his knees as a way to indicating his desire to know the definitive truth about that otherwordly stranger.

-"...and I hope you will give me an honest answer."-

The female soldier from Japan gulped, knowing that things were going to become difficult from that point on if she could not convince her hosts that she was not a danger to them, so she had to be careful about what she was going to say next on the subject.

-"And... what would be the first question, chief?"-

The tribal chief tried to think of what his first question would be, and after a brief pause of a few seconds, the man finally questioned Akane.

-"According to what you explained at the beginning about yourself, you said that you are a military officer from where you come from, right?"-

-"Precisely."- Akane responded at the feline chief. -"I hold the rank of sergeant first class in the Japanese Space Self-Defense Force, the country I come from, from a world called Earth."-

-"And judging by the weapons you used during the battle, I take it that you are also a warrior, or to be more exact, you received training as a bushi warrior..."-

Hearing that the chief was referring to her swords and the samurai weapons she used during the defense of the village, it was obvious that the man thought she was a samurai, something Akane explained in its proper context.

-"Well, about the part about me being a warrior, you could say that I am one, sir."- Akane replied at her senior. -"Technically, I learned the arts of the samurai warriors, or "bushi", as you call them here, in a school called Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū in my country of Japan. To be honest, I have no idea why in this world the same concept you know exists, only with another name in mine, but I can say that I am a certified bushi warrior, if that's what you want to know, chief."-

Obviously, the human's response caused some disbelief among all present, as none of the terms Akane used, with the exception of "bushi", were known to the inhabitants of that unknown planet. Afterwards, and ignoring the concerns that were developing among the villagers, the chief continued with the questioning.

-"And may I know how you ended up in our world, Akane?"- Chief Pownetkee asked to the black woman, while smoking his pipe with a face of visible awkwardness.

At that question, which Akane knew would be difficult to explain, for more than obvious reasons, the female soldier of the Earth remained silent for a few moments, trying to find a way to answer the question posed by the tribal chief.

-"Uh... well... sir..."- Akane leaned back and looked up at the teepee's ceiling, trying to come up with a good way to respond to her senior. -"If I had to explain how Noguchi and me ended up in your world, I think it would be even more difficult for you and everyone here to believe me, if you know what I mean..."-

-"Considering what we've seen from you today, Akane, I think we can believe anything about you."- Pownetkee replied at the African-Japanese soldier. -"So, go ahead; tell us the truth about how you arrived to our world..."-

-"Thank you, sir."-

Immediately afterwards, Akane began to explain how she arrived on that unknown planet to her feline hosts.

-"To be as brief and credible as possible, I will clarify one thing: It was never my intention nor that of my people to reach your world. We accidentally came to yours for reasons that even I do not fully understand."-

-"What do you mean, Akane"- The Seneschal asked her.

-"Me and my kind came from another world bound for ours on a mission to transport objects from one world to another, but for some reason we never understood, our... ship or vehicle, whatever you want to call it... ended up in the vicinity of your mother world as we were trying to move to our home world..."-

-"And what happened then?"- The chief wanted to know more from the human.

-"As we tried to figure out why we came to your world, while at the same time trying to figure out how to get back home..."-

Akane continued explaining, while conveniently omitting some details that could harm her, such as the fact that the senior officers of the Asuka, including the captain of the aforementioned ship, Yoko Kurosawa, authorized the exploration of that planet in order to investigate the search for intelligent life, fearing that the natives might react negatively to such an event, and had something to do, even if the likelihood was slim, with the destruction of the ship at the hands of the drones that guarded the planet.

-"...our ship was attacked by monstrous beings made of steel, which managed to destroy it, but not before we escaped from the ship to this world..."-

The mention of the "steel monsters", as Akane referred to the drones that destroyed the Asuka, caused widespread shock, due to the implications it had for the safety of the village...

-"What do you mean by you and your people being attacked by monsters made of steel, Akane?"- The Seneschal asked the soldier in a rather stern way, for very obvious reasons.

-"As I already mentioned, I don't know from where and how precisely those beasts appeared, nor do I have the slightest idea if those creatures are from this world or another."- The human woman explained at the feline holy man. -"The only thing I do know is that they started attacking our ship and managed to destroy it, but not before most of the ship's crew managed to escape."-

-"Do you know what these monsters you mention look like, Akane?"- The Seneschal again questioned her.

-"Well..."- Akane tried to jog her memory as best as she could. -"From what little I could see before the ship was destroyed, the monsters looked like giant spiders with bird-like wings... I must assume that you may have seen those monsters at some point, haven't you?"-

There was a brief silence that took over the entire teepee, as everyone tried to remember if they had seen anything like the metallic creatures that Akane referred to, and that had destroyed her spaceship where she was on board. Soon after, the tribal chief gave the female soldier from Earth an answer.

-"As far as I can remember, and as far as I have heard previously through my own connections, I have never seen or heard of such creatures as you mention, Akane..."- Chief Pownetkee replied, while still nervously smoking his pipe after hearing such revelations from the human woman. -"And I'm taking it that no one here besides our guest has ever heard or seen such a thing, or am I wrong?"-

All those present at the teepee responded with a widespread "no", denying having seen anything of what Akane had mentioned minutes before about the reason that caused the destruction of the Asuka. This caused some consternation in the human, fearing that her hosts were not believing her words.

-"I assume you people don't believe me, huh?"- Akane asked with a nervous undertone.

But the headman preferred not to say anything on that subject and decided to change it to the last issue he was going to discuss with the female soldier, which was the most critical question of all.

-"Now I need you to answer this last question, Akane Araki..."- Pownetkee asked the black woman from Japan.

-"And what would be your last one, chief?"- The soldier responded with nervous curiosity.

-"What kind of species do you belong to, Akane?"- The feline leader asked the human. -"It is more than obvious that you are not a feline like us, nor are you a rodent. What kind of being are you really?"-

Leaving aside the question about her being a rodent, as she did not understand the context of such a question, the human did not hesitate to answer the alien's inquiry about what species she was.

-"Well... if you want to be technical... my species is called in formal terms as Homo Sapiens..."- Akane responded with a certain degree of seriousness. -"But... in more informal terms, and among us... we usually call ourselves as just human beings or in more simple terms, humans, if you want to call me and my people in that way..."-

The revelation of the name of the species to which Akane belonged surprised the feline aliens, who had never seen or heard of "humans" before, which caused everyone present in the crowd to start mumbling amongst themselves about that reveal, starting with Mother Sanna, the tribe's healer, who was more than surprised to learn that her protégé was a being from another planet.

-"Humans..."- The old lady said aloud. -"In all my life I have never seen or heard about beings like Akane as far as I can remember... that means that our friend Akane is indeed from another world..."-

-"Do you think so, mistress?"- Liska, her slave, also asked in the same worried tone as everyone else.

-"After what we have just seen of her, I have not the slightest doubt that Akane is in fact a person who comes from beyond our world."- Sanna replied in awe. -"But..."-

The old woman took a close view of the human female soldier, knowing that she was looking at an alien being, from her point of view, that she, as well as the rest of her species, had never witnessed in her life. This caused an unusual feeling of uneasiness in her, as the healer knew that this person was a creature from beyond the stars, with all that this implied for her and for the rest of the tribe.

-"...I don't think we know all the secrets Akane may be keeping to herself yet, my dear."-

-"I fully agree with that, mistress..."- The young slave concurred with her master.

But the slave and her mistress were not the only people, besides the chief and his Seneschal, who had some questions to ask to the human soldier from Japan...

-"Does that mean... huh..."- Pyndan, who was near Akane, asked to the black woman as surprised as everyone else in the teepee. -"...that you are a warrior woman from another world, Akane?"-

-"Yeah, that's right, my dear friend."- The African-Japanese Space Ranger replied. -"I am a female soldier, as well as a bushi..."-

And, after taking a brief break, Akane added the following toward the rest of her feline hosts.

-"And I would like, first of all, to offer an apology to the whole tribe, including Mother Sanna and Liska to begin with, for hiding all this from you people about me since I came to your village."-

Akane then bowed her head, Japanese-style, before both Chief Pownetkee, and by default, the whole tribe, as an apology toward her alien hosts.

-"The reason I withheld the truth from you is partly because my military training prohibits me from revealing secret information to outsiders, as well as to protect myself in case revealing it would have changed the local perception the local people would have about me, let alone protect everyone here in the same case if my own presence and origins would have caused you any problems beyond my control."- Akane explained aloud to the whole tribe, still with her head down. -"I am really sorry if anything that happened today was my fault or the fault of Keisuke Noguchi, who was my junior..."-

Many of those present, knowing Akane beforehand, would have expected the human to try to excuse herself in some way about the events surrounding the invasion of the Romalian bandits, even if it was not her fault, or that of the late Noguchi, in any way.

But seeing the human soldier acting in a more lowly demeanor, to the point of bowing her head not only to the tribal chief, but to most of the warriors present in the teepee at that critical moment, the humanoid felines realized that that otherworldly woman was willing to come forward and apologize to her hosts for what she felt might have been her fault, and could have led to the destruction of the entire tribe if things had gone any other way.

Liska, Akane's best friend, was surprised to see her comrade-in-arms of a few hours ago apologize to the entire tribe in a manner that seemed unworthy of a warrior, even if her actions, along with those of the young slave, saved the tribe from being obliterated.

-"Akane..."- the orange-tabby girl said at her friend in a rather worried tone. -"please... you don't have to do this... this wasn't your fault!"-

But the mistress of the young slave intervened, understanding why the young human soldier was making this otherwise humiliating action...

-"Let her do it, darling..."- Mother Sanna said at Liska, knowing beforehand what Akane was trying to do. -"That's the way she wants to apologize to us."-

-"But she wasn't to blame for this... there was no way she could...!"-

-"For an experienced warrior like Akane, she considers this as her fault."- The old lady interrupted her. -"Her own presence and that of her friend Noguchi may have endangered the village, even if it was never her intention to cause us trouble, and that is why she is apologizing to all of us for what happened. "-

The young maiden, upon hearing the words of her mistress, and upon seeing her alien friend bowing her head in apology, quickly understood Akane's reason for bowing before the tribe in such a way.

-"I guess..."- Liska said at her senior, still looking in pain to her friend, Akane. -"...that's the way a true warrior should behave in front of others... right?"-

-"Mmmhhh..."- The old feline lady replied her. -"At least for a bushi, it is..."-

-"I see."- The girl retorted back.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, Chief Pownetkee, seeing that the human did not stop bowing her head before him, and by extension, the rest of the tribe, after keeping silent in a somewhat uncomfortable way after watching how that foreigner apologized to everyone in that way, seemed to want to speak to her again.

-"Akane Araki..."-

-"Yes, chief?"- The soldier replied in a awkward tone.

-"You don't need to do that anymore..."- The feline Native-like chief ordered to Akane with a rather neutral tone, without changing his stone-faced expression on his face. -"Please return to your seat, and then we'll talk about it later..."-

-"Uhhh... yes, sir..."-

Then the human woman returned to her spot and quickly sat down, conspicuously uneasy about what might happen to her later once the meeting was over.

Moments later, the tribal chief returned to speak, but this time he didn't intend to continue talking with Akane, but with someone else...

-"I would now like to have a few words with Miss Liska Tas-so-wen, if you would be so kind..."-

The young slave knew that it was now her turn to speak and explain herself to the whole tribe, so her face became noticeably tense, given the implications of that.

-"Understood, chief."-

Immediately, Liska stood up from her seat so that everyone in the teepee could immediately see her sharply.

-"Do you wish to talk to me?"-

-"Yes, young lady..."- The chief replied. -"As with Akane, there are many things we would like to know, even though we already know you better than we know your friend."-

-"I understand that, chief."- The girl politely responded at her senior. -"What are the questions you would like to know about me, if I may know?"-

Chief Pownetkee began to slowly smoke again from his pipe, and after a brief pause, he asked the young slave his first question.

-"You are a slave, and you had no obligation to protect our village... You could have escaped from here taking advantage of the invasion, and no one would have blamed you for that..."-

After a brief dramatic interruption, the native chief looked at Liska carefully and keeping eye contact with her, and then, the leader asked the young maiden the following question.

-"Why did you decide to protect our village, even at the risk of your own life, and fight against the invaders?"- The chief asked the young feline lady. -"Did you want to prove something to us, or just wanted to help?"-

Liska began to take a deep breath, trying to think of the right words to say back to the tribal chief, knowing that anything she might say back could be used against her. At that, and seeing her worried expression, her friend Akane, who was behind her, uttered some words in her own language, as a way to brighten her spirits...

-"(頑張ってね、リスカちゃん。) Go for it, Liska-chan."- Akane said at her friend in Japanese with a low voice.

-"sigh... (ありがとう、明音さん。) Thank you, Akane-san."- The slave girl retorted to the human soldier in the same way.

Immediately after, the young girl who helped Akane defeat the invaders, after taking a breath of air, and closing her eyes in order to think her answer clearly, replied to her superior, speaking in a delicate, neutral voice, and noticeably with a certain shade of pain...

-"It is true that I am a slave and I gain nothing by helping my enemies who enslaved me to defend their home..."- Liska explained her motives for helping the Highland tribe, despite not having any reasons for do so. -"I could have simply walked away from here, leaving everything behind, and returned to my home tribe... and letting this village to be destroyed..."-

Then, before she could move on with her words...

-"But..."-

...the young slave girl slowly glanced at her surroundings, starting by looking at her mistress, Mother Sanna, at Pyndan, then at her friend Akane, and lastly, staring at everyone present in the teepee, and then ending by turning her gaze to Chief Pownetkee once again.

-"...since the time I have been living here in this village, I have met many people whom I hold in high esteem, starting with my own mistress, who has treated me as if I were her own daughter. Later, I have found love at the hands of my mistress's grandson, Rial, who, despite being the person who captured and enslaved me, has treated me with great affection and respect, and I feel the same way about him..."- The feline girl continued. -"The truth is that I couldn't even think of leaving this tribe and leaving him behind after all the love he has given me all this time... that even goes against my own values that my own parents have instilled in me..."-

The slave took a deep breath to regain her breath, and then she resumed her reasoning.

-"Besides, I have met many people who hold me in high regard, starting with Kayce, her daughter, Pyndan and her younger sister Panka, you, your son Gareth, and the Seneschal, several other people..."-

And finally, Liska turned her back to look at the person she most admired of all the people she knew.

-"...And finally... my friend who has always admired and love me, and who I consider as my heroine and one of the people I treasure the most... Akane Araki."-

Liska's words about the human left a very strong impression on Akane, who couldn't help but be moved by the servant's words of appreciation for that foreigner from another world, considering that she was the one who gave Liska the means to fight against the invaders, and not to mention that Akane had always defended the young maiden whenever possible... even if sometimes the two of them had clashed her heads from time to time.

-"Oooohhh... thank you, sweetie..."- The black woman said in a low voice, quite moved by her feline friend's words toward her.

After a brief moment of silence, in which no one present said a single word, the silence was broken by the head of the tribe, who asked the 18-year-old woman another question.

-"I have one last question for you, young lady..."-

-"Yes, chief?"- The slave girl sheeply replied at her senior.

After inhaling some smoke from his pipe, and then releasing it, Chief Pownetkee asked his question.

-"What kind of relationship do you have with Akane, and how did you learn to fight like that?"-

Knowing that the question was much more difficult this time, the young slave took a deep breath, and then she slowly and confidently returned the query.

-"Akane is just my friend, and I have never seen anyone like her before. She took pity on me for being a slave for various personal reasons of her own, and that is why she holds me in such high regard."- Liska replied at the man. -"As for how I learned to fight, Akane simply gave me a quick lesson on how to use a sword during the battle against the invaders; besides, I had used machetes and similar tools when I lived in the Lowlands, and that's why I knew how to defend myself and fight..."-

All the warriors inside the chief's teepee were surprised to know that the young maiden managed to fight very effectively despite having no previous training, and only received a quick and urgent lesson from the human soldier on the use of a katana, which helped her to wipe out all the Romalian invaders along with the latter. They simply could not believe that a woman, and more so in the case of a girl as apparently weak as Liska was in appearance, was strong enough to fight against half of an enemy army with no more help than a sword, a knife and spears. The same went double for Akane, who turned out to be an experienced female warrior, even if that battle was the first in which the human was forced to kill other people to survive, something she chose to keep to herself for the time being.

Afterwards, the slave addressed her elder...

-"Is there another question you would like to ask me, chief?"-

After a brief pause, the tribal leader responded to Liska in a friendly tone of voice.

-"For the moment, I have no further questions to pose. You may return to your seat, dear..."-

-"Understood."-

With nothing more to add, the young slave girl who helped fight against the invaders along with Akane sat back in her place.

Once Liska finished speaking, there was a somewhat eerie silence that descended upon the teepee; no one else said a single word after both women finished giving their explanations about their motives for helping the tribe, and more so considering the fact that the other woman, Akane Araki, was a foreigner from another world, something that most of the people present in that place had trouble accepting, let alone believing, her word.

But after what many of the warriors, including the chief himself, had seen hours ago, including how Liska had killed the leader of the Romalian invaders with a sword, it was more than evident that both women were more than what they appeared to be, something that went double for Akane, for having skills and items that no one in that tribe, or anywhere else for that matter, had ever seen before in their lives.

Now, it was the turn of Chief Pownetkee to give a final judgment on what had happened, at the same time deciding the fate of both women, at the same time determining what to do with Akane, a person who, since she lived in the tribe, her presence had become a permanent cause of concern for all the inhabitants of that place, for reasons that were more than obvious in plain sight.

-"I will now give my verdict regarding both women..."-

Then, the elder feline smoked his pipe, and then, he expelled the smoke with some notable unease.

-"...though I must say that what you are about to hear next could be very controversial for the whole tribe."-

All those present began to whisper among themselves, seeking to infer what the chief of the Highland tribe was going to decide with respect to Liska and Akane. And as for those two women, the human began to fear the worst...

-"I think I'm REALLY screwed now..."- Akane said in a low voice to her feline friend, fearing that she would be punished in some degree.

In the face of her foreign friend's apprehension, Liska laid her hand gently on Akane's one, in order to reassure her, and to signal that she was on her side.

-"Don't worry, Akane... everything will be fine."-

-"I hope so, Liska sweetie... because I don't think your friends are very happy with me for lying to them this whole damn time like that..."-

And after a brief pause, the chief finally gave his verdict, with some context in his words.

-"Ladies and gentlemen, we have before us two maidens from outside our tribe, Miss Liska Tas-so-wen and Miss Akane Araki, who, despite not being bound by the laws and traditions of our tribe, risked their own lives to protect each and every one of the inhabitants of our people, even though they had no reasons to do so..."-

Afterwards, Chief Pownetkee turned his gaze to Liska, and then said the following.

-"Liska, in spite of being a slave from the Lowlands, you showed a bravery and boldness that I have never seen even from men who have been through many battles, by killing several of the invaders with the help of only a sword and a knife, besides saving the life of your friend Akane when she was about to die at the hands of the leader of the Romalian bandits..."-

And then, the feline man setted his sights on the human soldier afterwards, as he wanted to say a few words about her.

-"Akane Araki, a female warrior from the nation of Japan, you also proved your bravery beyond all that was required, by also helping to fight off the invaders, and at the same time killing several of them with your sword and your skills, many of these unknown to us..."

After saying this, Pownetkee made a somewhat sterner look at Akane, and then, he made further statements about the human woman.

-"But on the other hand, I cannot disregard the fact that you withheld knowledge about yourself from us, and that your presence in our tribe, as well as the appearance of the corpse of your subordinate, Mr. Keisuke Noguchi, several months ago, began to disturb the peace and tranquility of our village... not to mention the fact that the invaders seemed to be very interested in you the moment they saw you, Akane..."-

That piece of reproach about her caused Akane to start looking at the tribal chief in a nervous manner, fearing that at any moment things would change for the worse, due to what he had already stated about the previous events involving her...

-"Leaving that aside, by reading your look and judging by your words and actions that I have personally seen from you today, I can know that your reasons for hiding your origins from us were more than justified, as you never intended at any time to deliberately cause us any harm..."-

Pownetkee, after smoking his pipe, added the following about Akane.

-"...Furthermore, even though you were not compelled to do so, you risked your very life to protect each and every member of this tribe, and you even came this close to losing yours, if it were not for Liska helping you first..."-

After finishing what he had to say about both women, the chief of the tribe addressed everyone present in general, and after a brief pause, he resumed his speech.

-"In view of this, and considering the actions that you two have done for our tribe, I, as the chief of this village and of the entire Highland tribe, have made a decision in this regard..."-

Immediately afterwards, the chief looked at the Seneschal in a fortuitous way, and made some gestures, both with his hand and with his ears, something that only the two of them understood its meaning...

-"Understood, sir..."- The holy man replied.

Immediately after, the Seneschal looked towards Mother Sanna, Liska's mistress, wearing a more serious look, as well as making more body signs with his hands, tail and ears. As in the previous case, only the old woman and the holy man knew their true nuance. The old woman, upon receiving these orders, showed visible surprise, and to a certain extent even discomfort, but immediately afterwards, she seemed to adopt a more resigned demeanor to what the Seneschal had commanded her on the spot.

-"It will be done as you order, sir..."- Sanna said with a repressed tone.

Immediately afterward, the elderly healer walked out of the teepee in an unknown direction, leaving her slave, Liska, and Akane, who barely understood many of the tribe's traditions at all, noticeably bewildered. Akane was the one who was most distressed, for she feared that something bad was about to happen...

-"Hey, sweetie, do you have any idea what's going on here?"- The human soldier asked to her alien friend with a low voice. -"Your mistress left the place looking a bit more peeved than I've ever seen her before..."-

-"To be honest, I don't know, Akane..."- Liska replied her. -"Their body language that they are using is something that only they understand since they are the elders of the tribe..."-

-"I see..."- Akane responded with a visible worried expression painted in her face. -"I wouldn't be surprised if that means that we are now completely screwed and we can't escape from this..."-

Seeing that her human friend was noticeably worried about what was going to follow, Liska once again laid her hand on Akane's, and then, she said a few words...

-"Calm down, Akane, I trust that everything is going to be alright... you'll see..."-

The black woman looked at her feline friend, trying unsuccessfully to act more even-tempered, and then she responded her.

-"I wish I could have your sense of optimism, honey..."-

A few minutes later, Mother Sanna returned to the teepee again, this time carrying in her hands something that looked like a wooden stick painted with various colors. Upon seeing that object, Liska, along with many of her own kind, like Pyndan for one, quickly changed the expression on her face to one of utter shock, for she knew perfectly well what that rod meant to her. Akane, on the other hand, had no idea what the whole event was about...

-"No... Is that my...?"-

-"Can you tell me what is that thing your mistress is bringing with her, Liska?"- Akane asked her when she saw the surprised expression on her friend's face when she saw that rod.

But before the African-Japanese female soldier could receive an answer, the old woman quickly stood in front of her slave, while she held the stick with both hands from both ends. Then the tribal chief gave her an order...

-"Do it."-

-"Yes, chief..."- Sanna replied.

Immediately, the old woman broke the rod with both hands, leaving the young slave girl, and most of the male warriors who were in the place, notoriously surprised by what they had just witnessed.

But for Liska's friend, Akane, she did not understand in the least what it meant that Sanna had broken that rod, and the human's voice, when she questioned about what had happened, had an evident tone of fear, feeling that such action meant something terrible for her friend, the young slave girl...

-"Uh... excuse me, grandmother..."- The soldier asked to the feline healer. -"May I ask with no offense what it means to have broken that rod?"-

The old woman answered, both to Akane and to everyone in the crowd, including Liska, the meaning of that symbolic action.

-"It means that Liska is now free as a bird... She is no longer a slave, and now Liska is free to decide her own destiny as she sees fit..."- Mother Sanna explained aloud to everybody in the teepee with some somber humility in her voice, knowing that her right of ownership over that young maiden had been revoked by the tribal chief himself, leaving her with no choice but to unquestioningly obey.

Akane, when she finally understood the magnitude of that event, was dumbfounded to learn that her friend, for whom she felt sympathy and pity for her former condition as a slave, for more than obvious human historical reasons, had now been rewarded with her own freedom. Seconds later, the human did not hesitate to look at her friend and stare at her with a mixture of surprise and happiness written all over her face.

-"It's... It's that true... dear?"-

-"Yes..."- Liska replied with the same smile at Akane. -"That is true."-

A few seconds later, Pyndan, who was behind Liska at that time, was the first to congratulate the now free woman in the best way he could think of...

-"Hey... my congratulations that you are now free, Liska."- The white-furred young feline warrior said with a cheering tone to the girl.

-"Oh, thank you, Pyndan..."- The girl replied at him.

But that decision about her friend's freedom left Akane Araki with more questions than answers that could involve her, for several reasons that she then immediately pointed out...

-"Uh... excuse me, chief, I would like to ask you a question..."- The black woman raised her hand to request to speak to him.

The chief set his sights on the human woman, and then he asked back...

-"What would that question be, Akane dear?"- Chief Pownetkee replied at the soldier from Japan.

-"Since Liska is now free, how would this affect me, being a free woman to begin with?"- Akane said in a worried tone. -"Since I also participated in defending the village, I suppose I will also receive some kind of recognition or consequence for what happened, won't I?"

The feline tribal chief, after smoking his pipe and blowing out its smoke momentarily in an attempt to think about the suitable solution to the uneasiness voiced by the earth woman, forthwith made his reply.

-"Well, as to your question, Akane..."-

-"Yes, sir?"-

After a brief moment of consideration, the chief finally gave a definitive answer.

-"...I can offer you two a choice of three different options as a reward for risking your lives to protect our tribe..."-

Liska joined Akane on asking about the additional rewards both were going to receive as well...

-"And what are those three options you want to offer us, chief?"-

The chief gazed carefully at both women, and after a brief stop, the veteran tribal leader announced what the rewards would be.

-"The first option would be that you two can leave our tribe and return to your home places, or wherever you want to go."- Chief Pownetkee explained his first choice for a reward. -"Obviously, you can return here whenever you wish in peace..."-

-"And what would be the second option, chief?"- Akane asked.

-"The second option I offer is for you two to stay and live with us in our tribe as free women..."- The feline leader continued. -"The only restriction would be that you would not be able to return to your places of origin ever again, since now you two would be part of our tribe..."-

After a brief pause, Liska knew there was one more option that the chief had not yet elaborated on...

-"And... what would be your last reward for us, chief?"-

Afterwards, the chief finally said his final option he planned to give to both the former feline slave and the human samurai-like woman...

-"The last option would be for you two to become free warriors and protect and hunt for our tribe, alongside the other men of our village..."-

That last reward caused everyone present, especially the males who were members of the warrior class of the tribe, to respond in stunning awe, and in some cases, even react negatively to the possibility of two women becoming warriors.

Meanwhile, Liska opened her eyes as wide as she could at the prospect that she would be part of the tribe's warrior elite, even though she was just a recently freed slave girl a few minutes ago. On the other hand, Akane was also surprised at the sudden turn of events as well, though for different reasons, as she did not fully comprehend the ramifications that being part of the warrior class would have for her and her life from now on, since she was both an outsider and a human being, a very different race from her humanoid feline hosts from that Native American-looking tribe.

And seconds later, the reactions concerning the last option offered by Chief Pownetkee to the two women as a reward for saving the village broke out, starting with Kasil, Kebec's husband and Kayce's biological elder brother, who was clearly upset by that unexpected turning of events that dramatically modified the status quo of the tribe regarding whether one could be a warrior or not...

-"Excuse me, Chief Pownetkee, I need to talk with you..."- The Siamese-looking feline warrior raised his hand to have a word with his senior.

Seeing that one of his warriors wished to have the floor, the tribal chief granted it, foreknowing that there would be complaints about his decision.

-"Do you have anything to say about this, Kasil?"

-"Well... with all due respect to you..."- Kebec's husband angrily addressed his complains aloud. -"sigh... I am against your decision to grant warrior status to these two women!"-

Kasil's belligerent response caused utter astonishment among all those gathered, who did not expect that warrior, who was normally known for being relatively polite when discussing his concerns, was willing to protest openly and notoriously to his own leader, as he completely disagreed with that decision.

The chief, on the other hand, and quite anticipating such a reaction, did not hesitate to ask the obvious...

-"I assume you don't agree with two women becoming warriors, do you?"- Pownetkee said at the young warrior, while still smoking his pipe.

-"It is not just that, chief!"- Kasil angrily replied at his senior. -"I cannot believe that you would reward a filthy slave and her foreign friend, a woman of a species we have never heard of, and who claims to come from beyond our world, whose presence and that of her deceased friend we found in the river surely attracted those Romalian bandits who could have at any time destroy our tribe, and who on top of that, they raped my younger sister!"-

And then, he continued with his furious rant against Liska and Akane...

-"Does it seem fair for us, the Highland tribe, to reward people who come here to disrupt our lives, and still have their way with us?!"-

Kasil was not the only person who openly complained about that decision which he found absurd; Colin, another of the tribe's warriors, also joined his partner in expressing his disapproval about granting those two women a warrior status...

-"Yes, Colin?"- Chief Pownetkee responded when he saw that young warrior raising his hand in order to speak.

-"I also agree with Kasil about giving these two women warrior status. Our traditions and our rules strictly forbid that a woman can be a warrior,"- The feline warrior also joined his partner Kasil on his complains. -"why do you want to disregard all that in the first place, chief?!"-

And immediately afterwards, other warriors also began to strongly express their disapproval aloud of their leader's decision to allow Liska and Akane to join that selected elite just because they were women, and they felt that their chief was rewarding another woman, in this case, the human soldier, even though there were many things about her that were bizarre to those aliens, for the simple fact that Akane was a woman of a different species from them, and that her personality and culture had already brought some problems with several members of the tribe in the past.

While this was going on, Akane Araki, who was listening and watching everything going on around her, felt that she was becoming a bone of contention for her hosts, and that the whole situation she was involved in could end up hurting her, Liska, or both of them. At the same time, the now ex-slave, looking at the worried face of her human friend, once again laid her hand on Akane's, in order to reassure her.

-"Don't worry, Akane, I know everything will be all right..."-

-"I hope so, honey; I would hate to see us both kicked out of this tribe because of me..."-

And just when she thought things couldn't be any worse, the bickering between the male warriors began to escalate to aggressive tones, something that both women could no longer ignore...

-"...And if it were up to me, I would kick Akane out of the tribe, while letting Liska continue to rot in slavery!"- Kasil said aloud, in order to provoke them.

That last remark was the last straw for the human, as she felt that almost no one in the tribe, except for the chief and the Seneschal, seemed to agree with both women becoming warriors, causing Akane to storm out of her seat to respond in kind to Kasil...

-"Hey! Who the hell gives you the right to talk to me like that after I risked my hide to save your tribe, you ungrateful son of a...!"-

And before anyone said anything else they might regret...

-"SILENCE!"-

The powerful voice of the tribal chief was heard inside his teepee, causing everyone present to immediately fall silent at the sound of his voice. Immediately after, he sprang up from his seat, visibly irritated at what had happened...

-"I understand that many of you are upset by my decision, but I will not tolerate insults to anyone's dignity! Is that clear to all of you?!"-

After a brief moment of silence, Kasil responded somewhat grudgingly to his chief.

-"Understood, chief."-

-"Same for me; it won't happen again..."- Akane also did the same and she sat again in her seat.

When things seemed to have become calmer, and once the chief had finished smoking from his pipe, and expelled one puff of smoke, the feline man resumed the discussion once more...

-"Our tribe has always prided itself on amply rewarding those who risk their lives for the protection of our people, including those who do not belong to our people. This is something we cannot ignore at all..."-

Chief Pownetkee explained the rationale of his decision in a way that all present could hear and understand the reasons that justified honoring the human and her friend, Liska. Afterwards, he addressed the other warriors' complains about the issue.

-"I fully understand the concerns of all of you about granting warrior status to women, when our traditions strictly forbid it; that is something I also contemplated when I made this decision, and believe me, this is not something I am taking lightly..."-

Then, the tribal chief turned his eyes on both women again, this time with a certain look that indicated that he was determined to stand by his decision, irrespective of what the consequences might be for him in front of his own men.

-"However, I cannot ignore the courage of these two maidens who, despite not belonging to our tribe, and in the case of Liska, being a slave with many reasons not to help us, decided to do so in order to save us, with all that that entails..."- The chief concluded his speech in regard to both the former slave and the Earth soldier from Japan.

After a quick wait, the chief once again turned to all his men, as if he wanted to ask them a new question.

-"To conclude this, does anyone else have anything to say about this? I have noticed that some have not wanted to speak about their position on the subject, and I would like to give you all a chance to speak kindly about what you think about this."-

After that, Pyndan was the first to raise his hand to request to speak to his leader...

-"What do you want to say?"-

-"Well... personally I have no problem with Liska and Akane joining us as warriors, but..."- The white-furred young warrior addressed his worries to the tribal leader. -"...huh... the only problem I find with all this is the fact that Liska was the slave of both my grandmother and Rial, and he is not here in the village to give his opinion... Since she is his mate, I doubt he would be amused that you freed her, chief..."-

-"I will talk to him when he returns to the village, and he will have to accept this decision, whether he likes it or not; I understand that Liska was his slave as she is also his mate, but my authority as head of the tribe overrides his authority as a slave owner."- The chief replied with a somewhat sterner tone than usual at the possibility that Rial might question his power for releasing a slave of his own without consulting him first. -"Does anyone have any other questions regarding this matter?"-

The other warriors who did not speak, either avoided speaking out, perhaps to avoid inflaming things further, or simply shared with Pyndan his point of view. Then, the chief gave his answer about that particular eventuality that he had not taken into account.

-"I understand your concerns, young warriors; But at the end, the final decision will ultimately rest with the two of them, and we will only be in charge of following their wishes; nothing more and nothing less."-

Then the tribal chief looked back at the two women, and he asked them the question that would change their lives forever...

-"Liska Tas-so-wen and Akane Araki..."-

-"Yes, chief?"- Both women responded at the same time.

-"Have the two of you already made a decision on the options I have offered you?"- Chief Pownetkee asked to the two girls aloud, in a more ceremonial tone. -"I just want to remind you that any choice you make will be respected, but at the same time, it will be a final decision that you can no longer turn back from..."-

Immediately after, Liska and Akane looked at each other nervously, and then, both women looked at the chief again.

-"So, what have you two decided?"-

The human woman, feeling nervous about making a decision of such a nature, and fearing that being the first one to make a decision might influence the same one made by her Native-like friend, Akane talked first to Liska...

-"Hey, honey... you better start first..."- Akane said with a pretty nervous, lower voice at her feline friend. -"I wouldn't like to... well... let my choice influence yours..."-

The girl looked at her human friend, and seeing that Akane looked visibly uncomfortable at the prospect of starting first, she readily agreed.

-"Fine, Akane, I'll start first."-

-"Thank you, sweetie kitty..."- The black woman acknowledged Liska with a kind smile.

And then...

-"Chief, I have already decided."- The former slave girl raised her hand in order to make her final choice known to him and the rest of the warrior elite.

-"And may I know which choice you are going to take, Liska?"- The leader said aloud.

After taking a deep breath and remaining silent for about ten seconds, the feline girl finally let everyone know what her final decision would be...

-"I want to stay in this village, and become a warrior, in order to continue protecting this village and this tribe."-

Liska's decision, while expected, still caused some astonishment, as some members of the tribe thought that she would have changed her mind in the face of the refusal of many warriors to accept her as one of their own, something that did not happen in the end. Afterwards, Chief Pownetkee asked the newest warrior a further question regarding her decision.

-"May I ask what moved you to make this decision, young lady?"-

-"Well..."-

Liska looked first at Akane, her human friend, then at her now former owner, Mother Sanna, and finally at the rest of the tribe, and with some solemnity, she answered that question...

-"...I have realized that there are many people in this tribe whom I love, starting with my former mistress, to Rial, who loved me, despite I was a slave, Pyndan and his younger sister, to Kayce and her daughter, to many people in this tribe..."-

And finally, she put her eyes again on the human soldier.

-"...And finally, to Akane, my best friend, who has taught me many things, including how to fight..."-

The African-Japanese woman looked at her friend, and could not help but be moved by the girl's words of appreciation.

-"Thank you for your kind words, my dear Liska..."- Akane replied with her eyes somewhat damped by her joy to hear her friend thanking her.

Then, the ginger-furred girl continued with her words...

-"Besides... I have grown very attached to this tribe... and to go back home like nothing had happened would be something that I would find... wrong... to put it in a way..."- Liska explained her choice about staying with the Highland tribe. -"...and that's the reason why I want to continue living here... I just want to continue living with Rial, the person I love the most... with Pyndan, with all my friends I have met... and also be with Akane if it's possible..."-

After pausing for a few moments, the tribal chief asked the new warrior another question.

-"Do you have anything else to say on the matter?"-

-"No, sir. That's all I have to say..."-

-"Good."-

Afterwards, Chief Pownetkee stared thoughtfully at Akane Araki, in order to ask her the result of her own personal decision.

-"And what about you, Akane? Have you already made your own choice?"-

The human woman stood in silence for a few moments, not wanting to rush an answer to that question that could effect her for the rest of her life. But, after glancing all around her with an uneasy look, and then finally looking at her friend Liska, who had already made her own decision about staying in the tribe, Akane, with equal sobriety, also delivered her answer.

-"I also want to be a warrior and stay in this tribe, sir..."-

Akane's final decision was even more startling for the Natives than Liska's, as the female soldier from Earth had less grounds for her to stay with her feline hosts, an issue that Chief Pownetkee himself immediately brought up...

-"And may I know why you want to be with us, Akane Araki?"- The chief asked the human soldier with a certain tone. -"I remind you two that if you decide to stay and live in our tribe, you won't be able to go back to your places of origin to live anymore, so you better explain to us what is your reason to stay in our home..."-

-"Well... you see... To begin with, even if I wanted to return home, that would be impossible for me, since the only means I had to do so was destroyed, and I cannot return to my world and my country ever again... and not to mention that the entire crew of the ship I was aboard is surely dead..."- Akane gave her explanation to the feline leader.

-"Does that mean you can no longer return to your home, Akane?"- Pyndan, who was behind Akane, asked to the black human soldier.

-"Yeah, that's right..."- The woman replied with some sadness visible in her face. -"This village and this world are now my home from now on... There is no way for me to return... and I doubt very much that anyone will come looking for me, since no one knows of the existence of this world in mine, and most likely that, where I come from, everyone will think that I am already dead."-

Then, Akane added the following...

-"Besides... I think I've already started to get attached to this place... and I would feel very lonely if I just left this village and leave all my friends I've made here behind... including my little friend that I have by my side... "- Akane looked at Liska with a sweet smile in her face. -"...that is why I wish to stay here, not only to live in this village and in this tribe with you my friends, but I also wish to protect it with all my strength..."-

-"And may I know why you wish to protect our tribe if you are not even of our own kind, Akane?"- The chief asked to the human woman.

After taking a deep breath, Akane responded emphatically to her superior.

-"...Because, besides being partially responsible for what has just happened today, protecting my new home is my sworn duty as a samurai... or bushi as you call warriors of my kind in this world..."- The African-Japanese woman bowed to Chief Pownetkee, thus displaying her loyalty to her new homeland.

Seeing that both the Earth woman and the now former slave had decided to remain in the tribe and become part of its elite warrior lineup, the tribal chief looked at the rest of those present inside his teepee, and said the following.

-"Now that Liska Tas-so-wen, from the Lowland tribe, and Akane Araki, from the nation of Japan, have accepted to be part of our tribe, it is time to give these two brave warrior women the badges that mark them as such, so that when other warriors see them, they will know that they are part of our men and now women who live to hunt and protect our tribe..."-

After making a few left hand and tail signals, the tribal chief instructed the Seneschal to do something specific. Immediately after, the holy man took out from a chest something that seemed to be two cloth sashes of different colors; one was brown and the other green, and immediately after, he drew near Liska and Akane, solemnly carrying those sashes in front of them. Then, he began to speak in place of the chief.

-"Liska Tas-so-wen... Do you accept this warrior sash as a symbol that you will belong to our tribe and that you will protect it even with your life should it be necessary?"-

The feline girl responded in a quick fashion.

-"Yes, sir."-

With no further delay, the Seneschal knotted the sash on Liska's head, while the young maiden received it with her eyes closed. Next, the holy man had other words to say to the now new warrior.

-"Now that you have received our symbol that proves you are a warrior, Liska Tas-so-wen, the slave formely owned by Sanna Hada-ro-seg, has now died for us..."- The feline shaman said. -"As a free woman and member of our tribe, you will now have new clan name that symbolizes your new status from now on."-

-"And what would my new clan name be, sir?"-

-"Starting now, your name and your new clan name by which everyone will know you from this moment on will be Liska Mitsel-eman."-

Akane, upon hearing the new surname her feline friend took, asked the Seneschal a quick question...

-"Uh.. excuse me, sir... eh... forgive my interruption, but I would like to ask a question, if you don't mind..."-

-"What do you want to know, Akane?"- The holy man responded at the African-Japanese Space Ranger.

-"Well... uh... while I know how to speak the local language, as you all know, I have noticed that the new clan name that Liska received seems to have a meaning that I barely understand, as it's an archaic term..."- Akane said. -"As far as I can understand... um... it seems to mean something like... honorable woman.. or something like that... or am I wrong?"-

The Seneschal responded to the human's inquiry in kind.

-"Certainly... Liska's new clan name means "honorable woman" in our language, but only in actual terms, Akane..."- The grey tabby holy man replied. -"In classical usage, however, this new clan name has a much deeper meaning..."-

-"And what would be the meaning, sir?"-

-"It means A Woman of Honor..."-

The human could not hide her bewilderment at the seemingly simple meaning of that clan name...

-"A Woman of Honor... you say?"-

-"Yes."- The Seneschal then explained its meaning for both women. -"It means that we expect you and her to not only uphold the honor of our tribe, but also that your behavior and attitude will be something that you can be proud of in front of everyone, just as you two did today in defending our village from the Romalian invaders... That is its meaning."-

Akane smiled brightly at this, and the human quickly returned her attention to her elder.

-"Well.. I see..."-

Immediately after and after that break, the holy man resumed the ceremony.

-"Now, to return to the ceremony... it is Akane's turn to receive her warrior sash."-

But the holy man found a very obvious problem with that foreign woman: Akane was much taller than the Seneschal, and the man could barely reach the human's head, so he had to ask the soldier for her cooperation to continue with the ceremony...

-"Uh... excuse me, Akane dear..."-

-"Well..."- The black woman quickly grasped the magnitude of the problem the tribal shaman had on his hands. -"ehem... I suppose you want me to... kneel down... don't you?"-

-"That's right."- The feline man replied with a certain tone of embarrassment.

-"Understood, sir."- Akane said, sympathetic to the predicament she and the Seneschal were facing. -"I will kneel down."-

-"Thank you, Akane."-

Once the human was already kneeling at a height where the holy man could reach Akane's head, the ceremony could continue smoothly.

-"ehem... Akane Araki, from the nation of Japan, and hailing from the world named "Earth"... Do you accept this warrior sash as a symbol that you will belong to our tribe and that you will protect it even with your life should it be necessary?"-

Akane, in the most formal voice she could muster, did not hesitate to accept the honor bestowed on the human.

-"I accept the honor conferred upon me, sir."-

The Seneschal found it amusing that the foreigner, who normally had a reputation for being somewhat sassy and aggressive at times, would start speaking in a much more formal manner than he was used to hearing from her, though he also understand that Akane acted that way because of her training as a samurai, or "bushi", in his own context.

Once Akane accepted the sash that recognized her as a warrior, the holy man was about to tie it to the female soldier's head. However, he ran into another issue that he couldn't solve while trying to do that.

It turned out that Akane's head was much larger than that sash, and the shaman couldn't tie it on, something he immediately noticed...

-"Akane..."-

-"Yes, sir?"-

-"I think we're going to need a bigger sash for that head of yours..."- The Seneschal responded with a somewhat snide edge to the Earth woman.

Akane, seeing that her superior could not tie the warrior sash on her head because it was too small, could not help but smile sarcastically at the shaman's dilemma in conferring that honor on her, and immediately afterwards, she came up with a solution.

-"If you want, you can tie it on this arm for the time being, sir. "- The woman from Japan pointed her right arm, around her tricep, so that the holy man could tie the sash on it.

-"Oh, good idea, Akane; thank you."-

-"You are welcome, sir."-

Without further ado, the holy man quickly knotted the sash on Akane Araki's right arm; he knew that this was not the right place to tie that honor on a person, but being a woman of a different species from his own, it was at least a stopgap measure while he could sew her a larger sash that would fit her size.

Then, the shaman continued the ceremony with the following.

-"Akane Araki, since you are a free woman, you have the discretion, unlike Liska, to change your clan name to a new one, if you wish, or to keep yours instead, if necessary."- The feline man said to the black woman. -"What is your decision in this regard?"-

The female soldier, without hesitation, did not shy away from answering him in the face of that possibility.

-"With all due respect that you and your tribe deserve, I prefer to keep my clan name, sir..."-

-"And may I know the reason why you want to keep using your clan name?"-

After posing that question to the human, Akane answered the feline shaman in a formal and precise manner.

-"My last name Araki has a great sentimental value for me, and I would not like to change it for a new one; I hope you will understand..."- Akane then explained her motives for using her Japanese family name.

After a brief break, the Seneschal responded.

-"I see... I understand your motives, Akane; thank you for explaining."-

-"You are welcome."-

Already having tied the bands on both new warriors who had just joined the Highland tribe, the tribal chief was about to end the ceremony with the following words.

-"Well, now that both women have received their sashes signifying their pledge to our tribe, I want you to give a big round of applause to Liska Mitsel-eman and Akane Araki... our two new warriors..."- Chief Pownetkee said aloud. -"And may the gods bless their lives from here on out!"-

Right after that, all the people gathered in the teepee began to rhythmically clap their hands, as was part of the ceremony, for the new warriors who had become part of the tribe's elite after their heroic acts to protect the tribe from being destroyed by those foreign bandits.

For Liska and Akane, however, it had become a very radical change in their lives; for the young new warrior who was once a slave, being recognized for her bravery in defending the village from the people who had enslaved her was the last thing she expected, but now, she had become one of their warriors, with all the privileges, as well as the freedom that came with it. She was notoriously happy to have been able to be free, even if it wasn't in the way she had hoped, not even in her wildest dreams.

But for the human woman, on the other hand, although she too was happy to be recognized for her achievements in defending the tribe from her alien hosts, she could not at the same time feel that she would have to spend the rest of her life with those humanoid inhabitants as one of their warriors, even though she knew that she might never be able to return to Earth, much less to her adopted homeland, Japan.

Not to mention the possibility that she would also never see her step-parents, Fumiko and her soon-to-be daughter Akari, both of whom were the relatives of her late superior officer, Yoko Kurosawa, her friends she had in Osaka... and most of all, her fiancé, Satoru Okazaki.

And to conclude the ceremony, Chief Pownetkee gave his last words on the matter.

-"Well, now that this ceremony is over, everyone is dismissed. We still have a job to do to protect the village tonight in case those bandits may have any reinforcements coming to attack us again."-

-"Yes, chief!"- Everyone said in unison, including the new two female warriors.

And as for those two women, the chief had different orders for them...

-"Not you two, Liska and Akane... you have already done your share in defending the village, and now it is our turn to protect it tonight."- The feline leader explained. -"You two go rest at your homes, and leave the hard work to us for today... You really deserve it, girls."-

-"Oh... well... I don't know what to say, but... huh... thank you, chief..."- Akane thanked her elder for letting them rest, rather than helping the rest of the warriors on protecting the village, since both women were visibly tired after the gruesome experience they faced that day.

-"I agree with her too... thank you for your kind words, chief."- Liska also followed suit on her human friend.

-"You are welcome."- Pownetkee smiled, while still smoked his pipe. -"We'll see you tomorrow, and try to have a good rest; you two must be very tired after all this."-

Immediately afterwards, the tribal chief and the other warriors left the teepee in order to protect the village that night, while the two women retired to their homes to rest, following up the advice given to them.

---

September 20th, AD 2299/19th day of the Dry Moon, 1748 (summer season), White River Village (Communal Area), 12:20 AM (midnight)

Once outside the teepee, Liska and Akane, now fully-fledged warriors, were heading back to their homes, while both women watched as the other male warriors went to different parts of the village in order to protect it from possible reinforcements of the Romalian invaders who attacked it the previous afternoon.

But all that was no longer the concern for those two girls, who were pondering, as they walked, all that drastic change that had befallen in their lives, now that they had the burden of protecting the tribe where they both lived from now on. This was twofold for Akane, because, besides having to live alongside her feline hosts, who were now her neighbors, and her duty to defend them, there was the fact that the human could no longer return to her world, even if she could do it in any case.

And while that was happening, the African-Japanese woman watched as her friend looked visibly uneasy as they both walked, something that caused Akane to ask her.

-"I guess you must be brooding and fretting about how things have turned out for the two of us... right, honey?"- The samurai-like woman asked to her orange tabby friend.

After sighing for a moment, Liska replied to the human in a rather low tone...

-"Yes..."-

Akane, looking up at the sky when she heard the girl's answer in a sign of slight uneasiness, and after a brief hesitation, also gave her point of view on the matter.

-"I don't blame you for that, Liska..."- The black woman from Earth replied in a worried tone. -"I feel the same way you do, that's for sure..."-

-"I suppose all this must be especially difficult for you, since you will not be able to return to your world..."-

Faced with that reality described by her native friend, Akane could not deny that she was in a worse position than Liska, since she had no means to return to Earth, and most likely she could not wait for anyone from her home world to come looking for her, possibly assuming that the entire crew of the Asuka, the spaceship in which she was on board, had perished during its destruction.

-"Yeah, I know that very well, sweetie..."- The human retorted. -"At least you can go back to your hometown at least to visit them from time to time... while I would never being able see my friends and my family again..."-

Seeing that Akane's face had gone from a look of concern to one of sadness, Liska could not help but feel sorry for her human friend, who was fully aware that her life was now completely tied to her new home, with all that that implied for her life... and this much more worrisome for Akane, being a foreigner and a person of a very different species from those of her new neighbors with whom she was going to live for the rest of her life.

-"I'm sorry for that, Akane..."-

The human looked at her friend with a slight smile, and she did not hesitate to respond to the concern expressed by her friend.

-"Thank you, dear."- The Space Ranger, now a tribal warrior, replied her. -"Although at the same time... I would like to apologize to you and everyone for hiding the truth about me all this time... as I said before... I didn't want that, if you and your kind knew that I came from another world, the opinion that your people already had about me could had changed for the worse... you know... because I'm quite... aggressive sometimes... and all that..."-

The young girl looked at her human companion thoughtfully with a somewhat stern look, which caused the latter to conclude that Liska might be displeased with Akane for having kept all this information about herself from her all this time, even if the African-Japanese woman had good reasons to do so.

-"The way you're gawking at me, I'm guessing you're still sore that I kept all this from you about myself, aren't you?"- Akane asked her feline friend.

Immediately after, Liska stopped her walk, and then, she answered the question asked by the female soldier.

-"To be honest, Akane... I don't know."- She replied with a visible frown in her face. -"On the one hand... I would like to believe you that you really come from another world, and I am completely sure that you do, from what I have seen about you today... but yet..."-

Seeing her alien friend hesitated for a few moments, Akane asked.

-"You don't believe me, right?"-

At that time, Akane noticed that Liska began wagging her tail in nervousness and possibly disbelief, at least what the human was beginning to understand about the body language of the feline inhabitants of that planet; Seeing that her friend was not going to give her opinion about her verbally, Akane responded in the best way she could at the time.

-"Look, sweetie, you don't need to believe me now; I know this must be very difficult not only for you, but for all the people of this village and the tribe itself."- The black woman from Earth explained. -"And... if I were in your shoes, I too would act the same way..."-

After a brief pause, the now female warrior responded to her human counterpart.

-"I guess so, Akane."-

Then, immediately afterwards, Akane noticed that, in addition to the issue about her and her background, the human sensed that there was something else that disturbed her friend as well, something she was quick to point out.

-"And... leaving out me... I guess you're also worried about what Rial will think about all this when he comes back from hunting, huh?"-

The mention of her mate's name caused Liska's fur to bristle for a few moments; she had every reason to worry about that abrupt change in the status quo, where she was now a free woman, and Rial's possible aggressive reaction to the reality that Liska was no longer his slave, but his equal from now on.

-"Seeing how you reacted to his name, it looks like I'm right..."- The human asked her.

-"The truth is that I don't know what I'm going to say to Rial when he comes back and finds out that I'm no longer his slave..."- Liska facepalmed. -"He will probably be furious when he finds out about this..."-

-"Well... as the chief said a moment ago, Rial will have to deal with all of this, whether he likes it or not."- Akane said with a wicked smile painted in her face. -"And if that idiot were to lay a finger on you..."-

The young lady quickly surmised what Akane meant to do to Rial if he were to abuse Liska, to which the latter quickly replied.

-"Don't ever think on doing that, Akane;"- The orange tabby girl said in a rather sardonic way. -"I think I can deal all this in a more tactful way... and with his grandmother and Pyndan's help once he returns to the village if needed."-

-"Well, I hope you know what you're doing, sweetie kitty, because if I find out he did anything bad to you..."-

Then, Akane cracked her knuckles...

"...I'm going to use his smelly fur as a rug for my home!"-

At that threat, Liska did not hesitate to gaze at her friend again, this time in annoyance, as she put her hands on her hips to express her irritation.

-"Akane... please... for all the gods' sake... I understand that you hate Rial, but..."- After facepalming again, the feline girl retorted in annoyance at the human woman from Japan. -"...sigh... Why does it seem to grate on your nerves just hearing his name?"-

-"Well... you know, honey..."- Akane explained her personal distaste on Liska's mate. -"...I hate everything that has to do with slavery, and your mate embodies all of that and more... which is why I don't like him in the least... and that's the reason... if that's what you want to know."-

-"He is no longer my master, and he will have to accept that when he returns..."-

And suddenly, Liska stared frowningly at the ground, aware that there was something she hadn't taken into account at that moment.

-"...although how to explain this to him will be the hard part, even with the help of Mother Sanna and Pyndan..."-

In response to that answer, the human gave a more rational response, even though she was the first to show her displeasure for Rial.

-"Well... I don't think it's worth worrying about that for now."- The African-Japanese soldier explained. -"Assuming he comes back tomorrow, we'll have plenty of time to worry about him when he finds out you're a free woman and a warrior at the same time."-

-"Hmmm..."- Liska pondered that as well, and then she replied at Akane. -"I guess you are right on that..."-

-"Although there's another problem we should both be worried about..."-

Suddenly, Akane looked to another, pointing out exactly what she meant.

-"...and I think you know what I mean with that."-

The orange tabby girl gazed her eyes to the direction Akane signaled herself with her head, and she quickly grasped about the topic the black woman from Earth was trying to imply in a physical way.

-"You mean Kayce, right?"-

Akane contorted her face, and then she answered her alien friend's query.

-"Yes..."- The woman from Osaka replied with very visible sadness.

Liska also shared Akane's opinion, and she too could not help but feel sadness and helplessness for what happened to their friend, who was raped by one of the bandits during the attack. Even if the human killed the assailant, the fact that that attack on Kayce's intimacy would affect her for the rest of her life was something that both could not ignore... and that was not to mention that terrible event ended up creating a deeper enmity between Kebec, her younger sister-cousin, and those two women, who she never liked them to begin with.

-"sigh... I don't think there's anything we can do for her now, Akane..."- The young warrior girl said. -"Kebec and Kasil now want us both dead... and the truth is that we can't blame them for that after what had happened to Kayce..."-

-"Yeah, you're right, Liska sweetie, but..."-

Akane heaved a sigh of sadness as she felt unable to have prevented that tragic incident if she had been there in time...

-"...I can't help but feel guilty about all this... even if it wasn't my fault..."-

After a brief period of silence, the young girl preferred to leave that painful issue for another time.

-"It would be better if we left this for another day, and we'd better go to sleep, Akane."- Liska said at the human soldier. -"I really don't feel like talking about sad things anymore today."-

The foreign woman could not agree more with her friend at that proposal.

-"At least I agree with you on that, honey."-

-"But I would like to ask you a favor, Akane..."-

The African-Japanese woman gave her friend a somewhat quizzical look when she asked for that request.

-"From you, you can ask me anything you want, sweetie kitty."-

Knowing that her human friend was willing to grant her anything she asked for, Liska quickly revealed what she wanted from Akane.

-"Well... hmmm... since Rial still hasn't returned to the village... and the truth is that I don't feel very well being alone in my home after what happened today... huh..."- The feline girl hesitated a bit. -"Could I stay at your teepee with you tonight, Akane?"-

The human looked at her alien friend with some incredulity, as Liska was normally someone who preferred to be in her own home at bedtime since she shared her home with Rial, and asking Akane to sleep with her that night was an unusual request. However, the human was willing to fulfill that wish, just because she felt a certain pity for her friend, in view of the situation at the time.

-"Well... I think there would be no problem with that... if you want, of course."-

The feline warrior girl was happy to hear that Akane really agreed to have her in her home...

-"Oh, thank you, Akane!"-

-"Heheheh!"- The black woman laughed a bit. -"You are soooo welcome, Liska sweetie!"-

And with no more time to waste, both women headed for the human's home, in order to rest after the difficult day they both had to deal with after that raid attempt by the Romalian bandits.

---

September 20th, AD 2299/19th day of the Dry Moon, 1748 (summer season), Akane's tent (inside), 12:40AM (midnight)

Now that she was in her tent, Akane Araki was about to unfold another sleeping bag for her friend Liska, who would be sleeping at her home that night, while the latter was getting ready to sleep once the human prepared the place where she was going to rest.

-"It's always good to have several of these bags on hand for a situation like this, don't you think, sweetie?"- Akane said aloud while setting Liska's bed in the tent's ground.

But the young warrior remained relatively silent without giving an answer to the human's question; this was understandable, as it was the first time Liska slept in Akane's home, and considering the circumstances they both suffered that day, she felt somewhat nervous about having to rest in a house that was not hers or that of her now ex-mistress, Mother Sanna, even if in this case it was Akane's home, whom she considered her friend.

But the revelation that Akane came from another world different from hers caused the young feline girl to see her friend with different eyes, for it was more than evident that that woman, who did not belong to any of the species that dwelled in her world, was completely dissimilar and otherworldly to everything she had known until that day, which caused her to feel a certain sense of distrust towards her, considering that Akane had hidden the truth about her and regardless of how justified her reasons for doing so had been.

Akane, on the other hand, upon turning her head and seeing her friend clearly depressed, at the same time she wagged her tail in nervousness, quickly realized what Liska was thinking about the human.

-"I imagine you must be very nervous about having to sleep with me tonight, aren't you?"-

After a moment's hesitation, the girl replied.

-"Yes..."-

-"And..."- Akane asked another question to her guest. -"I must also conclude that you are upset with me for hiding you all this time that I come from another world, correct?"-

When Akane noticed the elephant in the room with what Liska thought of the human about her origins, the latter could only let out a long sigh, and preferred not to say anything, for fear that the human might react negatively.

But Akane, assuming correctly that her friend chose not to express her feelings on the subject, decided to bring up the topic herself, heedless of the consequences.

-"Look, Liska... I understand that you must be very scared right now after what occurred earlier today, considering that you are now a free woman, and that you and I are now full-fledged warriors after we saved this tribe from ending up as slaves..."- The black woman from Earth said. -"...but let me tell you something, honey..."-

-"What do you want to say, Akane?"-

The African-Japanese woman sighed deeply, and after mulling over her answer, she replied to her alien friend.

-"I want you to forgive me for not telling you the truth about myself all this time..."- The female soldier wanted to apologize to her as she bowed slightly to Liska as a sign that she wished to beg forgiveness. -"As I explained before, I couldn't just tell all of you in the village that I come from another planet, and expect everyone to believe me at first, to say nothing of the fact that my army rules forbid me to do so... ...and..."-

Akane, with a pained voice, continued with her apology...

"...I suppose that right now you must be thinking that I am some kind of strange and dangerous creature that could endanger the lives of all of your people here... and yours..."-

When she saw her human friend apologetically bowing for hiding information from her and for feeling that Akane was responsible for the attack on the tribe by the foreign invaders, the young maiden put her hands on Akane's shoulders, and she, in the kindest voice she could muster, retorted.

-"Akane..."-

-"Yeah, Liska sweetie?"-

After a brief pause, the feline girl said.

-"I admit that I'm a bit upset with you because you kept all this from me... but at the same time... I understand how you feel... "-

-"You do?"-

-"Yes..."- The orange tabby girl replied. -"I think that if I had been in your place... I would have done the same thing as you... So... don't blame yourself for this, Akane..."- Liska reassured to her Earth friend. -"I understand that you did that to protect us... even if it might not have been the best way to do it..."-

-"Yeah, dear... and I really know that!"- The human said aloud. -"But..."-

Then, the following was said in Japanese, as Akane used vulgar language.

-"...fuck me... if I had known this was gonna happen and had told you and everyone else the truth... maybe none of this crazy shit would have happened... and maybe Kayce wouldn't have been raped by those murderous assholes in the first place..."-

Liska noticed that Akane was shedding some tears when the human was lamenting in the most vulgar way possible for not having been able to do even more, including saving Ka from being outraged by that bandit who also tried to do the same with Akane, but not before the latter broke his neck.

But at the same time, she also knew that there was not much that both women could do to help her friend, considering that the current situation had changed radically for both of them, now that Liska and Akane's social status was now much greater than what they both had before, with all that that entailed.

-"Akane..."- The feline girl said with a soft voice. -"...the only thing I can tell you now is that the best thing for both of us is to leave all this to her family... unfortunately, there's not much we can do right now... especially now that Kebec and Kasil surely want to see both of us dead after all of this..."-

After a minute of uncomfortable silence, in which Akane was still hunched over, the human finally answered.

-"I guess you're right, honey..."- The soldier from Japan responded to her friend. -"I don't think me crying about this whole thing is going to help me at anything..."-

Seeing that Akane was gradually beginning to regain her smile, Liska wanted to put aside all that both women had suffered the previous noon and try to rest as best as they could in the face of all that had happened to them.

-"We should better go to sleep, and tomorrow we can talk about this if you want to..."- The alien maiden really wanted to rest, and above all, wanted to stop thinking about all more sad things. -"is that fine with you, Akane?"-

-"Understood."-

-"Well, let's get ready for bed then."-

At that point, Akane was already preparing to unclothe to go to her sleeping bag, while Liska was also going to do the same. This caused the human to make a comment about it.

-"Hey, Liska..."-

-"Do you want to tell me something, Akane?"-

The Space Ranger began to look at her feline friend as the latter began to undress, which started to cause some embarrassment to the hostess, for reasons she would mention next.

-"Huh... well..."- Akane hesitated a bit to say the following -"...since you don't like me to see you naked, I'll turn around if you feel like it..."-

-"Don't worry, Akane... I don't mind if you see me naked anymore..."- Liska replied with a smile in her muzzle. -"besides, we are both women, aren't we?"-

-"Really?"-

-"Yeah."-

-"And may I know why that sudden mind change about your own intimacy?"- Akane asked.

-"I guess... if we're both going to be warriors from now on... there will be situations where you and I will have to bathe together... and you'll have to see me naked... so... I think if it wouldn't make me uncomfortable if it were you, besides Mother Sanna and Rial, that you could do it..."- Liska gave her rationale on the human woman having the privilege on seeing her without clothes. -"And the same goes for you if I see you naked..."-

-"Well... I guess you're right about that... though I find it odd that you would bring this up today after what happened..."-

-"Let's say it's a small change in my life I plan to make starting now that I'm a warrior... and I expect the same from you, Akane..."-

The human quickly understood what her feline friend meant, and Akane smiled naughtily at that point that Liska brought up.

-"Heh... Well... I have to admit that I have to live up to your standards just the same, dear..."-

-"In that case, let's start undressing..."- The alien girl said. -"I just can't stand the smell of blood and dead bodies in my clothes anymore..."-

-"Me too."- The African-Japanese woman followed suit. -"I'll have to wash all these clothes tomorrow when I wake up; in the meantime I'll put them in an airtight bag so we won't be bothered by the smell anymore."-

Immediately after, both women undressed at the same time. But during a few minutes, Liska stared at her human friend with slight interest, while the latter was taking off all her clothes and readying herself to go to her bed; this did not go unnoticed by Akane, who wondered why her friend was taking such a look at her.

-"Can I know why you're looking at me like that, Liska?"- Akane asked with some remarkable discomfort in her voice.

-"Well... I can't help but think that..."- The feline girl replied with an awkward tone at her. -"...even though you come from another world, and you are not a feline like us... huh..."-

-"Huh?"-

After that pause, the former slave said the following, while her body language showed a visible embarrassment...

-"...you are... a very beautiful woman... Akane..."-

Faced with that unexpected response about Akane's physical beauty, the human did a wide smile at her friend's opinion of how beautiful the human was, and she also responded in the same way, in the most sincere way possible.

-"You are also beautiful, sweetie..."- The black woman responded with a soft and very sweet voice to her friend. -"And I have told you many times that you are the prettiest girl I have ever met in my life..."-

After feeling overwhelmed by Akane's words abour her body, Liska only managed to say, with a certain humility, the following...

-"Thank you... Akane..."-

-"Heheh... you are very welcome, my dear kitten..."-

But the feline maiden also wanted to say something else about Akane, which was something the latter did not expect to hear from her friend.

-"There's one other thing I want to know about you before we go to bed, Akane."-

-"And what is that another thing you wanna know about me, If may I know?"-

-"I just noticed that you have no fur on your body, except on your head..."-

After a brief pause, Liska pointed her finger at Akane's groin...

-"...and down there..."-

The moment Akane saw that Liska was referring to her private parts, the human angrily covered her groin, and she snapped back at what appeared to be a tasteless joke about her privates.

-"*THE HELL YOU WANNA KNOW THE FUCKIN' GROSS PARTS ABOUT MY HUMAN ANATOMY, HUH?!"- Akane yelled at the girl in Japanese.

What Akane did not know was that the question her friend was asking was a very innocent one, since Liska had, for obvious reasons, no knowledge about the human body, much less that of a human woman like Akane, and she found it strange that humans only had hair in certain regions of their bodies, unlike the anthropomorphic inhabitants of that unknown planet, so that question had no malice in itself.

But Akane was in no mood to answer such intimate questions, and it was for that reason that the female Earth soldier viciously shot back at what sounded like a vulgar joke about her.

-"A-Akane... I just wanted to..."- The orange tabby girl responded with certain fear in her voice after seeing Akane's furious face.

-"Look, I'm not in the mood for such shit, little girl!... ...now, do yourself a favor and go to fuck to sleep before I say something I might regret later..."- The human said in a menacing voice, also in Japanese. -"Do I make myself clear?"-

At the sight of the human's furious face, Liska had no choice but to obey her orders.

-"Un... understood, Akane..."- The girl replied, while having a scared expression in her face.

-"Alright... good night!"- The Space Ranger retorted, and, then, she turned off the lights in her tent, using her smartwatch device in her wrist.

Once the lights were out, Liska also went to her bed, and she too was about to go to sleep, but not before bidding goodnight to Akane at the same time, as she tried to think what it was that she said that caused Akane to behave in such a violent fashion.

-"Good night... Akane."-

And so, minutes later, both women went to sleep, knowing that, starting the next morning, a new life for both Liska Mitsel-eman and Akane Araki was about to begin...

END OF ACT XXXII