CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
It was not like anything she could have imagined at all.
The trees on the top landing plateau had successfully blocked her view until they descended the winding path to the point where she could see the lay of the land. To the left of the mountain the floating pontoon was gliding down was a vast valley far below, separated by a wide river.
The view was endless, and adorned with mountains and hills both near and far. The homeworld looked like a prehistoric jungle, so far as K'Shai could imagine one to look. The lush jungle canopy shimmered a blueish green as if it was luminescing in the sunlight. The colors were brilliant, and as the suns shone down upon the valley, their bright rays made the water speckle, casting glistening brilliance throughout the terrain.
Feeding the river was a massive waterfall, larger than even the great Niagara Falls which K'Shai had seen once just a few years before. Even from the distance she was at, she could hear the water roaring powerfully, smashing over the cliff to the rocks below and causing a great plume of mist which prismed with color as the suns' rays illuminated it.
Beyond the waterfalls was a wide river head which was hard not to consider a lake. K'Shai's eyes followed the flowing water further back along its curving route as it winded out of sight behind rocky shoals and more jungle.
A large wall was just barely visible at the furthest edge of what she could see and far in the distance, popping up just barely through the mighty trees was a silhouette of rigid lines that could only be the tip of a massive pyramid. To the right of the river was the Clan City, nestled into layers along a U-shaped formation of the mountain.
Structures were built upon what appeared to be tiered levels of the cliffs which bordered the city, and obviously wrapped around it to the river and waterfalls. The top tier of buildings, which K'Shai could see the clearest, were backed up to the jungle on one end and as the top level curved around the mountainscape, some of the buildings backed up to both the jungle and an overlook of the waterfalls, along with the rest of the valley.
The buildings were all shaped as thought they were stacked blocks, square and tall and some of them appeared to be chiseled right into the mountain. Some of the buildings along the top tier that she could see were capped in open-sided gazebos atop towers, for what purpose she could not be sure.
As the transport pad drew closer to the city, K'Shai could feel the aniticipation rising. The ride itself was not long at all, but it was obvious as the vessel began to approach the first of the buildings, that the Yautja had used the time to hold back their enthusiasm just to be home.
By the time the platform halted in an apparently designated space at the edge of the city, almost like a cul-de-sac before the gaping entrance to the sprawling heart of the Kaunte Dar'een Clan, the Yautja h'dui'se was nearly overpowering.
As the entire Yautja group exited the platform first, R'chnt waited in silence, watching K'Shai continue to focus on the city before her until the pad had cleared and he directed her to exit before him. She jumped down gingerly off the platform, gripping A'ryin'di closely as she did, trying not to trip or appear graceless as she still gaped at the city before her.
The buildings K'Shai surveyed in surreal amazement looked rather like mostly like stucco-type structures. Some of them looked like they were etched out of solid granite. Almost all of the buildings were either white or pale yellow in color, with natural wear from the environment, but they were all a stark contrast to the dark copper colors of the ships she had gotten so used to.
The entire planet was just as hot as the clan ship, but it was infinitely more bright. Somehow, given the dark and comparatively cramped ships, K'Shai had expected the planet to be darker and less idyllic.
The majority of the buildings were typically shaped buildings; squares. A few had slanted sides giving them a sort of hexagonal look, while a few others that K'Shai had spotted from the mountain side, were pyramids.
Almost all of them had open, apparently glassless windows, doorless doors, and stairs carved into staggering formations right into the sides of them to connect levels. Some of the buildings even had walkways connecting them to one another, and while they were wide, K'Shai did notice a lack of any type of safety railing.
The buildings themselves look rather primitive, at least at first glance, as if they were ancient structures built from the simplest, natural materials. As K'Shai walked off the transport and followed at R'chnt's side through the city, she glanced into the buildings nearby through their doorless doorways.
Although the outsides of the buildings looked like etched stone, some of them carved with hieroglyphic type inscriptions that identified the buildings and the Yautja who would utilize them, or boast of hunts and kills, the insides of them, from what she could see, were well-appointed with all common modern needs and advanced requirements that suited the purpose of each building.
The lack of doors was incredibly common for the Yautja. For the most part, privacy and modesty were non-existent in their culture, as K'Shai had quickly learned. At first, it was an uncomfortable concept for her to adjust to, but she realized as she glanced readily into the buildings to see whatever sights might be in them to see, it had simply become a natural way of life for her.
A door to seal off a room such as an armory or a ship's engines was a necessity, but a door to close off your own private sleeping area was a luxury that one must earn, especially locking doors. R'chnt's chambers were the only ones on the K'ojol, with the exception of the engine room and armory on the lower level, that locked.
Lower castes, especially 'aseigan, had absolutely no privacy of any form. Even youngbloods shared common sleeping rooms that were much like dormitories and also lacked doors to the entry way. There were no doors separating showers or bathrooms, and only in the mei'sa aboard the clan ship did the two areas have any kind of a dividing wall at all.
In the common sleeping rooms, young hunters would fight for whatever particular spot they deemed the best, and sometimes hunters also might find themselves needing to defend their right to a particular set of chambers.
As a Blooded Yautja earned greater privileges within the clan, luxuries like private chambers with doors were granted; not just to hunters, either. Workers of suitably high status, such as the Elders, like L'ruch, could accrue that type of accommodations. But generally, doors to such private accommodations certainly did not lock.
Such privileges were given to the elite Yautja, the Elder hunters, Leaders who were granted their own ships, arbitrators, and the highest castes of the females; the strongest Clan members who proved their worth to achieve such things.
While K'Shai had been told that matters over property such as particular chambers, would be settled in the kehrite in a regulated spar, the severity of which was entirely dependent upon the matter to be settled, she had not actually seen any such spars take place during her time on the Clan ship; the Yautja were simply too busy on Earth.
She had been told, though, that with an entirely new shift in society standings on the horizon, due to the numbers of losses and numbers of youngblood who would no doubt be looking to move up far faster than they ever could have normally, typical Yautja life would be heavily disrupted in the coming weeks after arriving home, which also accounted for some of the eager musk in the air, along with an impending breeding season.
As she looked around between the buildings, she noticed no lack of sparring arenas. Some were small and nestled into oddly picturesque garden-like nooks which were adorned with not only trees, shrubbery, vines and flowers, but also pillars and skulls and bones, adding a truly surreal and forboding feel to the beauty of the setting. Some of the kehrites she spotted were larger, and more centrally placed, as if they were designed to accommodate larger crowds of spectators.
As her tour into the clan city continued on, K'Shai's attention turned towards a massive kehrite positioned just away from what she could only consider the town square. There was an obvious elevated stage in the middle of the square, with two totems on each side.
The platform was heavily adorned above and below with bones and skulls and inscribed with passages to the Gods, blessings for the hunters and the clan, and ominous warnings against those who turn their back from honorable paths. K'Shai surveyed the stage briefly, getting the definite feel that it was some kind of public gallows, but her attention was drawn away to the kehrite in the near distance. Transfixed by the sight, she stopped in her tracks, hung her jaw and as R'chnt surveyed her, he recognized that particular look of stunned amazement as she eyed him and then the kehrite again.
"It is a kehrite, K'Shai." He said crispily.
She had seen them before, he was not sure why she took particular interest in this one, although it was the main kehrite for matters that affected the clans.
K'Shai could not move. She surveyed the kehrite in slow study. It was not just the heavily adorned bone trophies on display, like a gothic museum to creatures the likes of which she could barely understand that caught her attention. It was not the beautiful jungle backing up to the arena that transfized her. It was not the ornate carvings into the pillars in the center of the elevated fighting platform in the middle of the stadium-sized coliseum that captivated her. It was the frame work that surrounded the kehrite that drew her attention the most.
Massive stone pillars surrounded the entire circular arena, which had metal bleachers staggered in elevated levels, like any good stadium would have for proper viewing of the fight. Each pillar was intricately carved and adorned with skulls and bones; tens of thousands of them of every size from creatures great and small covering the stone pillars on pegs, and piled at the base.
The stone pillars themselves, each one four times the height of the tallest of Yautja, were situated in a distinct pattern that she was absolutely certain she had seen before.
Each pair of erect pillars was topped with an equally hefty slab. Dozens of pairs of vertical stones capped with heavy toppers formed what looked almost like doorways that encompassed the massive circular fighting pit.
The Yautja propensity for pyramid shaped buildings did not go unnoticed to K'Shai, but she realized she was looking at an alien version of stone hedge. She stared at it for a while longer until R'chnt grumbled and urged her to continue on.
K'Shai walked beside R'chnt, who pointedly kept his naturally large strides contained to match her ambling, half-stunned pace. He had no doubts that K'Shai would certainly want to have a look around, but he had not expected her to be quite so transfixed.
There was a notable difference between what she called cities and what he knew of as a city; he had tried to tell her it was different. He allowed her all the time she wanted to look, while the baby slept soundly in her arms, completely oblivious to anything going on around her.
While the alien amongst the Yautja looked around, the Yautja looked at her. It seemed to R'chnt that K'Shai neither noticed nor cared that all eyes were cast on her. There was a distinct tension in the air, but it was not coming from K'Shai. For the Yautja who gazed upon her walking on their home world, in their home city, standing at the heart of the clan, it was a difficult transition to adjust to. There was something about her being on their world that suddenly cancelled out the acceptance of her presence on the atoll for the last many months.
R'chnt maintained his position at her side. He was careful not to step ahead of K'Shai, and made no attempt to stop her from stepping in front of, or away from him. He noted females, including Neh'rti, keeping wary watch of the small human and the tiny infant in her arms, but they did not interfere for the moment.
He knew it was not only K'Shai's alien presence that was causing a disruption to the workers and 'aseigan who had never been off world, along with the youngbloods and hunters that had simply not seen K'Shai before, but the hybrid offspring and the fact that they were both out walking in the clan city without female back up was equally as unusual.
He ticked his mandibles, clicking in amusement as the realization of what a sight the three of them must be finally struck him. He kept his position alert and guarded, broadcasting to all watched on that they could take their fill to look, but dare not get too close or speak out of turn. The female pack lingering watchfully a few dozen yards away did also announce the same message silently; don't get too close. K'Shai was walking freely, without the slightest realization that she was under heavy guard.
She could not stop looking around. The place was so foreign and yet so familiar. Some of the buildings reminded her of adobes. Some of the pyramid structures she spied in the distance looked like Mayan temples she had seen in school books. Far atop the cliff side, partially hidden behind trees she could just see the base of another massive pyramid with smooth sides, like something from Egypt. Several of triangular buildings she had seen so far shared both the steppe-like sides and smooth sides.
Every building she saw, including the main kehrite and even the main stage, from the outside, looked ancient, yet, perfectly blended into stone panels, were all the accommodations a modern Yautja society would need.
Somehow, the Yautja had mastered blending advanced technology with a primitive-on-the-surface lifestyle. They were a civilized culture, but unlike humans, they were usually clad scantily. They were brutal, aggressive, and vicious, but also social and held to strict codes of conduct.
Many hunters preferred to seek their path alone with basic bladed weapons, brute strength, and well-honed natural senses, while it was also common for others to hunt in packs, backed up by targeting systems, smart weapons that could seek out the intended heat source, explosive devices and a full computerized information display in their helmet to guide them, keep them in communication with others, and command their vessel remotely.
They ate their meat raw, but also had modern cooking accommodations. It simply did not matter to the Yautja how they took their food. They could fly through the stars with technology K'Shai could barely understand, yet they lived in stone buildings that reflected ancient history on her own world.
The Yautja people were a seamless merging of enlightened civilization, organic technology, ancient cultural beliefs, middle-ages barbarism, and incredible technology.
The planet, it seemed to K'Shai, was a direct reflection of the Yautja culture. It was an organic coalescence of time honored tradition and advanced engineering and the more she noticed about the clan city, the more she realized that what at first glance appeared to be ancient and primitive, was far more advanced than she could have realized. It was fluidic blend of primitive living and the comforts of modern technological luxuries, just like its people.
The city itself was sprawling and complex, but R'chnt explained each new facet to her as they walked, drawing in everyone's stars and stopping crowds as he put her on display yet again. K'Shai was too transfixed in gaping amazement at everything around her to notice or care, but R'chnt maintained a dignified growl as needed to warn onlookers.
It was not until they reached an overlook with stairs and ramps carved into the cliff side that K'Shai even realized they were on a middle level, not the lowest.
"What are those buildings there?" She asked as she pointed down to the lowest level of the Clan city.
The buildings were smaller, long and flat, more like warehouses than the multi-story buildings on the current level or those above her. Though the lowest level was large and vast, it was contained in the middle of the terrain, like the basin of a quarry.
"'Aseigan." He said flatly.
K'Shai nodded silently, and they continued on their path. As they headed down a long path between buildings, K'Shai noticed the difference in the types of buildings from spot to spot. When she first entered the clan city, the large buildings appeared to be more luxurious, and suitable for gatherings and various activities while the buildings they approached now were clearly working facilities.
K'Shai could smell the familiar and unmistakable scent of blood and leather. As they approached one building, she could see clearly through the wide doorways that it was a metal working facility, and the echoing sounds of metal on metal chinking confirmed that.
They walked on, the longest route possible, until A'ryin'di stirred right as they reached the base of stairwell scaling up the cliff on a far wing of the steppe that the second level was built upon.
"Where to now?" She asked while she shifted A'ryin'di, who quickly grew restless.
"I will show you the rest." He nodded, with an upward tilt of his head.
They walked up the stairs to the next tier of the city. Although the steps were safe, wide, and solidly carved into the stone of the mountain, it was a steep climb that K'Shai was definitely not accustomed to, especially after so long aboard the clan ship.
She halted at the top and sat on a short wall, using the baby's need to nurse as a deflection of her own fatigue. R'chnt stood, like a guard, watching over the pair, silent and rigid, warily eyeing the Yautja eyeing them while K'Shai continued to scan her new surroundings.
"So, you said the lowest tier, all the way down there," she asked as she gazed down the cliff to the basin at the bottom, "is where the 'aseigan reside. And the main level we came in on is the common area and where youngbloods and workers live. What is this level?"
"This is for Honored Yautja."
"So is this where you live?"
"No, K'Shai," he said with a dismissive grunt, a little as though the thought offended him. "This is for Blooded hunters who have proven their worth. Even for Leaders, but not Elites and Elders. Where I reside is there," he said nodding with his head towards the upmost tier.
K'Shai scanned the buildings on the level where she sat nursing A'ryin'di. Each building was designed, as one would expect any building to be, with different levels of floors. R'chnt explained to her while they waited, that the levels of the structures directly indicated which Yautja lived where.
Much like even the two levels of his ship, the lowest floors of any building were for the lowest ranked, and the highest floors were for the upper ranked Yautja who had quite literally fought their way up the ladder.
The clan city itself was built on a tiered system with the highest-ranking males living on the top most tier which was well appointed, while the 'aseigan far below the cliffs lived in what was, essentially, a slum.
Once they reached the top of the city, K'Shai paused again, breathless not only from the climb up, but also from the view. She had walked beside R'chnt up the stairs in the side of the rock face, through wide stone-laden streets, and towards a complex of pyramid structures, all interconnected with elevated walkways.
Each building had stairs chiseled into the sides of them and as K'Shai and R'chnt ascended them, she noticed that they were walking right past obvious patios to other Yautja's homes. K'Shai had almost reached the top of the structure before she realized she was quite literally in an apartment complex, for elite and elder Yautja males only.
The entire curving campus backed up to jungle and from the ledge on the building where she stood, there was a perfect view of the massive waterfalls in the distance. There was also an easy view down the entire length of the mountain and through the entire clan city, and as K'Shai dropped her eyes to take in the view, the city suddenly made sense to her.
From the top tier of the upper building, standing on a large flat granite-looking stone patio, K'Shai gazed from the sunwashed yellow gleam of the water mist beyond the treeline to the buildings along the top tier, noting everything from the open-sided gazebos on the top towers of three of the buildings, to the various chairs, helmets, weapons, and trophies that lined everyone's personal patio space.
'Aseigan hustled by, carrying supplies and food and weapons and trophies, while the elites of the clan looked on mostly towards her as she curiously surveyed them. On the tier below, K'Shai had an unobstructed view of the lattice work of buildings that served as housing to experienced hunters and the few Blooded workers that had earned their right to reside on that level.
The buildings were partially banked into the cliff wall on the back side, and the front of the structures all faced a massive, communal center complex of sparring arenas and cantinas. From above, she spotted a stream and additional small waterfalls trickling their way off the cliff and through the town, that she had not noticed before.
Even further down the grade of the mountain was the main level of the clan; the common areas for all. The flowing lattice of pyramid and hexagon shaped buildings that housed youngbloods and workers, were segregated by the center of the clan city. There, K'Shai could see the center stage, the main kehrite, and a vast open space that affronted an large open-air cantina, and looked rather like a gathering spot for spectators of whatever might take place on the stage.
On one side of the city, housing for youngbloods; on the other, housing for workers. Below them all, the 'aseigan residences, in a rocky pit almost completely devoid of the bright sunlight Yautja thrived in.
The entire city was simple, logical, fluid, efficient, and to the point. Like the Yautja people themselves, who valued actions over words and a language built more on subtle communication through pheromones and body posture over grandiose vocabulary, they way they lived was as equally streamlined.
It was functional and simple, filling the needs of the clan without being superfluous. The city blended into the terrain just as easily as a Yautja could camoflague themselves naturally, without the use of electronics. From her view atop the mountain, standing on R'chnt's patio, she could see the harmony of the clan and how it intertwined naturally with the planet around it.
Despite the advanced technology the Yautja possessed, they lived notably simply. There were no highway systems, no major infrastructures, no gridlocks, no Yautja enduring a grueling morning commute on packed subways. The people, their technology, even their world, all seemed to function together fluidly and it just felt right.
The Yautja lived by the simplest notion in the universe, kill or be killed. It was engrained so heavily into every fiber of their being that it drove them on a purely savage level, yet they were possessed of an intelligence and technology that reflected the history of their culture. They cultivated eons old wisdom that had been passed down from generation to generation and the culture had evolved to strictly adhere to honor bound codes that were absolute.
The Yautja, K'Shai had learned, preferred the simplest concepts; basic communication and unquestionable language. The strongest had the first rights, and anyone who dared question that right was welcome to try to challenge.
A growl, a simple look, mere body language could be enough to cause a weaker Yautja to shy away from a fight, and yet, despite their preference for basic language skills, the language also had more than fifty different words for Honor depending on context, past, present, reference to specific gods, or even gender.
They were a people of vast wisdom and extreme intelligence and they embraced so many notions that humans had long since shunned as brutal and unnecessary, yet somehow it all seemed to belnd together perfectly to support their entire way of life, allowing the hunters to walk the path of Honor they so treasured.
After allowing her time to survey what would be her new home, R'chnt turned and beckoned K'Shai inside to explore his accommodations in the clan city. He proudly stood next to neatly organized displays of skulls and weapons and trinkets of his personal hunts, along with a rack full of dozens of helmets and a variety of weapons.
"Wow!" K'Shai exclaimed. "So this is what a Yautja apartment looks like? I thought you kept all of your trophies aboard the ship."
K'Shai of course knew that R'chnt had been hunting the stars for the best trophies throughout the course of over three-hundred Earth years, which accounted for the comfortable, museum-like qualities of his chambers aboard his ship.
She never really thought about what his actual home on the planet would look like. Seeing his home now, she realized just how much it suited him. It was a Yautja bachelor's pad, since males never paired with females. His home was simple, fluid, efficient, and adorned with enough skulls to put any haunted house or gothic temple to shame.
Besides the skulls were the weapons, both trophy displays of confiscated prizes from his kills, and neatly organized racks of sparring and hunting weapons to serve a variety of purposes. As he showed her around the apartment, she did not turn a blind eye to how proudly he stood next to his displays, straightening his shoulders and back just a little extra bit as he raised his chin.
Watching him with a thin, entertained smile as he tried to subtly gloat over his proud treasures, she surveyed his home and listened to him tell brief tales of where or under what conditions he claimed his trophies, and what kinds of creatures they were once attached to.
Entering the home from the back patio, which had a single, throne-like with a computer display that could be pulled down like a periscope from the ceiling above, a locking door slid open to allow them into what K'Shai could only consider a kitchen. There was a private eating table, with a bench seat against the wall, and though the space in the area was large, there was limited counter area. The appearance of the kitchen looked more like a wet room or cleaning area for gutting and skinning prey, but it clearly served its purpose.
Through a short hallway with well-appointed display cases and a slight downward grade, there was a personal kehrite, also lined with prizes of hunts past. Between the kitchen and the kehrite, through another short corridor was the bedroom and private bathroom.
The bedroom faced an external wall with a view of the massive lake-sized river head that fed the waterfall. The breeze blew in, carrying with it the scents of the flowery trees and the clatter and growling of Yautja far below.
The apartment was large enough to give plenty of space to a lone hunter, while still being accommodating to guests, for sparring matches K'Shai presumed, although there were plenty of training areas out in the common areas, and even atop the buildings. It was an odd combination of foreign yet familiar; comfortable yet foreboding at the same time.
R'chnt paused, watching her survey the home he had brought her to. K'Shai slowly and efficiently stalked through the rooms and scanned the trophies and weapons. She would stop to closer scrutinize anything she found particularly appealing, but did not touch anything unless he specifically approved. K'Shai seemed instinctually aware that it was understood never to touch anyone's trophies or belongings, which pleased R'chnt.
Once she had her fill of the inside, and had already cleaned the offspring, K'Shai returned to the outer landing and surveyed the planet's terrain once again. She slid into his chair after a short while and opened her chest coverings, tucking A'ryin'di underneath so the child could suckle.
R'chnt watched her quietly, noting both the curious eyes casted up their way from the entire complex, and also her delicate scent in the air, ever so faintly announcing to him that she was pleasantly relaxed and comfortable. R'chnt clicked lightly, approvingly and sat on the ground next to his chair, not at all displeased that his mate was using it.
After some time, once A'ryin'di fell asleep again, K'Shai shifted in the throne like chair while R'chnt sat peacefully next to it. She noticed that he though he seemed far more at ease on his own patio on his home world than he ever seemed on Earth, he still remained alert and wary. He sat quietly, but guardedly.
He watched the onlookers from below casting their eyes up towards the open face of the building to survey the patio, but he made no attempt to display displeasure by the unhidden gazes.
Other Yautja, too, K'Shai noticed, were watching them from other levels of the slightly curved building. The entire front of the apartment-complex type of buildings were open and speckled with patios, on tiered levels all interconnect with steps carved right into the stone. It was completely possible to walk from R'chnt's unit all the way around to the farthest unit on the far end towards the main entrance of the clan city, without ever going down to the ground level at all. On the way there, one would pass dozens of other hunter's apartments.
K'Shai vaguely thought about the idea of the doors on the units, and how unnecessary they actually were. What fool would dare enter the home of a Blooded Elder Yautja without permission?
Her attention on the building and contemplation of the other Yautja who resided there waned as she refocused on the far distance, beyond the river head, just past the curve of the jungle of trees.
Her eyes scanned the edge of the horizon. From the elevated viewpoint, she was able to see slightly better beyond the trees, and barely made out what she had originally thought was a wall, although now she was not so sure it was.
The stone façade she could see looked almost as tall as the trees around it, and it did look as thought it might have a similar look to a building. Elsewhere in the distance, just peeking out beyond the tip of the trees, she could see the definite tip to a pyramid.
"R'chnt," she asked, shifting out of the throne to her feet, softly cradling her sleeping child. "What is that?"
He followed her eyes, which were affixed to a view far in the distance and responded succinctly.
"K'Shai, that is the mei'sa."
She turned and eyed him widely as a surprised smile took over her face.
"It is? It looks so far away. I thought it would be in the city or something? Is it behind a wall?"
"Of course, K'Shai." He replied and she eyed him in surprise again.
"Why?"
"For protection."
K'Shai pondered it for a moment.
"Protection from what?"
R'chnt chuckled deeply. "From dangers. K'Shai, you will see. You must be a part of the mei'sa, the same as you were on the atoll. Neh'rti will be expecting you there tomorrow, for now," he explained as he stood and extended his arm towards her. "Come."
She smiled widely and readily moved into him. R'chnt clamped his powerful, clawed hand down on her shoulder as she cradled the sleeping infant against her breast.
K'Shai walked steadily along with him, though she did stop from time to time to inspect anything that caught her attention more closely. He led her down the cliff side, taking a longer route down than they had up. Just as he guided her around the lengthiest routes through the jag d'atoll, and she learned her way through the mighty clan ship easily, he would teach her all the possible ways through the clan.
While Yautja would often scale the cliff wall itself, he knew she was not yet comfortable with vertical climbs, or climbing at all. She had displayed reservation and discomfort at the idea of just being high up on a ledge or building edge as it was.
R'chnt considered this as he took her around the clan towards the common level, via pathways that edged the side of the cliff. Oddly, she did not seem concerned about the height and rather embraced the view, stopping several times to observe it, which he obliged her to do.
As he watched her scanning the lands of his people, he assumed her trepidation about heights had more to do with the footing to get to them. K'Shai lacked claws on either her toes or fingers, and unlike the Yautja, she was far less agile when it came to climbing up trees or rocks. Her training would have to be handled carefully, and while K'Shai gazed over the city, he was already considering his agenda with her for tomorrow.
Once they had rounded through the upper level, descended a less steep decline which took them on a circumvented route along side the river, giving K'Shai ample opportunity to see the jungle and trees and survey the terrain, they followed a pathway between the worker's complex, which also drew in K'Shai's attention.
"What's in there?" She asked as they approached one building.
"It is the hyk-vge," he answered accordingly.
K'Shai fumbled at the word several times. "Huck-vee… Hyak vehee."
"Hyk-vge," R'chnt repeated.
"Right, that. What does that mean?"
"It is for making weapons."
"Oh. What about in there? What are they doing?" She asked, indicating another rounded building with workers all coming to a pause to stare at her.
"They are repairing weapons." R'chnt informed.
"What's that?"
Again, she indicated another building and R'chnt clicked his tusks, lightly chittering with amusement.
"That is the mei'tik-de."
"Oh," K'Shai said with a little grin. She definitely knew the Yautja word for bathroom.
"What about that place? Are they making weapons, too?" She laughed lightly pointing to another building.
R'chnt pulled his mandibles back into a full smile and nodded his head softly. "This is where such work is done."
K'Shai shook her head slightly and shuffled the baby in her grip. She lightly whisked some of her long, beaded black hair out of her face and glanced to the dual suns far over head as she followed R'chnt through the massive clan city. Somehow, when she had learned that the Yautja lived in clans, and based off what R'chnt had said about the differences between their two worlds, she had expected, perhaps, that the home he was taking her to would be smaller, primitive, simple.
Even despite the fact that they wildly advanced technology, space ships, and medical and scientific capabilities, the Yautja still impressed her with their brute-strength, simplistic, survival of the fittest mindset that somehow both empowered them and made them seem backwards.
Perhaps it was because of the nature of the Yautja, or the human presumption of them that remained lingering in her mind, that the Yautja were rather uncivilized and barbaric. She found the city R'chnt had taken her to be the exact opposite of any preconceived and unfounded notions she may have had.
The Kaunte Dar'een Clan City was massive and elaborate, richly appointed with all the luxuries that the Yautja could need or want or expect, and it was home to close one million Yautja of all castes.
As they walked on, R'chnt patiently took her through a breakdown of what all the buildings were for and their specific names as she gaped on in awe. The Yautja were not a frivolous species; everything had a purpose, but yet, the city was also elaborately adorned with trophies new and ancient, all proudly displaying the strong clan's heritage.
The pair rounded the curving arc of another large stone structure and K'Shai eyed a familiar view. The center stage of the Clan loomed in the distance, with its many skulls and bones along the lower façade and up the pillars that jutted off from both sides like twisted totems; straight up about two meters, then at an angle outward and upward into a pointed tip.
The entire stage and the pillars were carved with inscriptions about the Clan's power, the Honor of Hunters, and the punishments for dishonor. Seeing it up close, K'Shai had the ominous feeling it was most definitely a public gallows.
Beyond the stage, just off the rounded center of the city was the Stone Henge kehrite, currently unoccupied. Between the two structures and everywhere else in view, Yautja were gathering. Not far off from the center stage there was a very large cantina which had not only a covered seating area, but also a wide outdoor eating area. It was full.
Packed with adult males and females Yautja hunters, from youngblooded to Honored Elder, and a massive bonfire roaring in a circular fire pit right in the center of the stone floor. It seemed that the entire population of the city had now been deposited in the center of the square.
Further back, towards the worker's complex, K'Shai could just barely see another cantina, also packed full of what she assumed were worker Yautja who were privelaged enough to be near to the hunters and their business, but not so privelaged to join them. They looked on, though. In fact, as K'Shai surveyed her surroundings, she realized everyone was looking on, towards her direction.
She eyed the crowd and noticed large, boisterous groupings of youngbloods well into their drink already, howling and barking at the 'aseigan who were tending to the fire and bringing large trays packed with a colorful variety of fruits and nuts and vegetables to buffet tables.
The youngsters never made physical contact with the 'aseigan, but they were clearly taking pleasure in tormenting them; it was no wonder why they were so skittish. It seemed terrorizing Yautja too weak to prove themselves as hunters was an enjoyable past time for some of the hunters.
K'Shai turned as a deep growling voice caught her attention. The Yautja clamped his hand down on R'chnt's shoulder, greeting him heartly.
The typical Yautja growl was simply a part of their natural vocalization range; there was subtle, but noticeable, differences between a pleasant tone and an aggressive tone. The most humans, such subtle differences might barely be apparent, but to a Yautja, the minor shifts in tone were as different as bellowing from purring.
As R'chnt greeted his friend back heartily, K'Shai's eyes dropped suddenly. She did not notice either of the towering males suddenly turn their gaze to her in response to her dramatic shift in eye contact and the very vocal gasp she elicited.
The large Yautja, equally muscled and fit and refined as R'cnt, only just slightly younger, was clad in heavy armor that had clearly seen equally as heavy battles. His brown-hued striped skin that was only visible in a few spots around his thighs and chest bore deep scars from scratches and punctures.
K'Shai's attention, however, had dropped to the level of the tall hunter's knees. His powerful hand clenched a studded chain and at the end of the chain was an animal quite unlike anything she had ever seen before.
It was a leash, clearly following at its master's side like a trained creature, but it was eyeing her up like dinner, offering an ominous growl as it sized her up. The animal had massive paw with talon-capped toes, it was built like a bear, had no fur, only a thick, pig-like skin and coarse quills sporadically around its body. Its head, though, was by far the most captivating and fearsome thing she had ever seen.
She wasn't sure if the animal was a dog, a bear, a dinosaur, or some combination of all of them with a little shark thrown in for good measure. Its elongated head had tiny eyes, massive nasal passages slit right into its bony head, and the animal's entire head was crowned in horns that could put any Texas longhorn bull to shame.
All of the creature's horns encompassed its long head entirely, making perfect ramming and impaling devices. Anything unlucky enough to meet with the creature's mouth would find itself clamped down between bear trap-like teeth, pointy, large, and deadly.
The animal surveyed her and the infant in her arms, immediately triggering a protective stance from K'Shai, uncertain if the thing might charge at them, trying to make a meal for itself. The thing was large enough to easily topple her down.
If it stood on its hind legs, it would most certainly be well taller than her. Looking at its powerful and compact body, she had no doubts that the thing was pure muscle, just like its master. It was obvious the pair spent a great deal of time hunting together.
"What is it?" K'Shai asked nervously as the animal paced at its master's knee and snarled lightly.
The Yautja handler of the beast chuckled, a deep and playful tone that obviously bothered R'chnt, who immediately stepped closer to her, nudging his heated abdomen into her shoulder.
"It is a narrok, K'Shai." R'chnt answered before the other could puff out his chest enough to offer a response.
She did not respond, only tightened her grip on A'ryin'di and took R'chnt's approach as indication there was something to be concerned about, although she was not entirely certain if it was the animal or its handler, who she finally noticed had affixed his deeply golden eyes opn her without blinking.
Just as she eyed him back warily, the narrok snarled again and K'Shai instinctively withdrew with a flinch, tucking A'ryin'di close to her father without a moment's hesistation.
The Yautja, who had not stopped staring at K'Shai, chuckled a rumbled laugh and settled the animal, jiggling the chain that tethered it a little bit.
"Bi'lei will not injure you. Not unless I command her." He assured with a sort of suave gusto, speaking casually as if he was in complete control of the entire situation. "I will not send her on you, little female."
"Your mate, R'chnt; quite a unique creature." He added to R'chnt with a casual glance.
R'chnt poised firm and moved in front of K'Shai more fully; a deep and foreboding growl erupting from within his chest. K'Shai had thought she had heard the full range of vocalizations he was capable of, especially sounds that reflected his displeasure.
This sound conveyed something entirely new, and amplified after several tense moments when the other Yautja did not back down from his proud stance.
He merely shifted his gaze from K'Shai and the baby to R'chnt, before finally dropping his chin to acknowledge the animal once more. He yanked on her chain slightly and called for her to follow, turned and left.
K'Shai breathed slowly, becoming painfully aware that she was shaking from the encounter. She realized she was most disturbed by the ominous sound R'chnt continued to maintain until the other hunter was far enough away to satisfy him. He turned back to K'Shai and silenced as she eyed him warily, noting the tense posture he maintained until he finally caressed her face and pulled his upper tusks apart into a small smile.
They walked on, closer to the center stage and K'Shai returned to surveying the crowd, which went from bustling and packed to overly packed and far busier in the few moments she had stopped paying attention. It seemed that many in the crowd were watching her with piqued interest.
Suddenly feeling on the spot, she tucked A'ryin'di tighter to her chest, disturbing the baby just enough to rustle her from sleep. She clicked in response and then shifted her own position to return to sleep. K'Shai suddenly eyed Neh'rti and dozens of other females approaching; Blooded hunters and Honored Elders alike all hastily moving aside to let them through as they filtered into the crowd.
"R'chnt," K'Shai said in a whisper, wanting so much to tuck herself behind him once again as she drew near to him. "What's going on?"
He clicked softly and peered down at her. K'Shai's eyes barely made level with his sternum. She peered around them and them looked to him with a familiar hint of alarm in her eyes, her h'dui-se changing to anxiety.
Why she was nervous he was not sure. He gently clamped his hand on her shoulder, both supporting her lightly and subtly stopping her from trying to wedge herself behind him for protection. All eyes were upon them, and this was no time for K'Shai's natural shift towards fearfulness to kick in.
"K'Shai, it is su-te."
She paused and exhaled in exasperation; her nerves suddenly subsiding.
"Su-te? Everyone? The whole clan?" She questioned, looking around once again as the crowds of Yautja slowly began to settle on their haunches all over the Clan city.
R'chnt nodded silently and lowered his towering frame to the ground. K'Shai settled in next to him as W'rsa approached and joined them, sitting himself alongside R'chnt farther from K'Shai. Neh'rti took to the stage with the entire rest of the Elder council, composed of six females, both elders and younger apprentices, and three elder males.
K'Shai had been before them all under heavy scrutiny the very first time she had ever been aboard the jag d'atoll of the Clan. It was a nerve-wracking experience to be scrutinized by Neh'rti and the others, but especially Neh'rti. She was stern, proud, aggressive, and rigidly Yautja in all of her ways, and K'Shai had always known that Neh'rti's acceptance of her into the Clan was only because of R'chnt's powerful backing.
Over the many months she had spent aboard the atoll during her pregnancy, K'Shai had gotten to know all of the clan council. They each accepted her or tolerated her in their own ways, some more curious and gracious to her, some uncertain and apprehensive, but Neh'rti's position on K'Shai had not seemed to change at all.
Now, the council stood before every person in the clan, surveying them all with as much scrutiny as K'Shai was once under by them. For once, she did not feel like the center of attention, and was relieved to see mostly everyone's attention turned to Neh'rti as she stepped forward and addressed the Clan.
"Mighty hunters of the great Kaunte Dar'een," she started. "We have heard the call of the gods, we have answered to Cetanu. We have restored honor to our clan and to the Yautja people. We have prevailed, and proven that we not tolerate any dishonor. Those who disgrace our clan, the Yautja people, have been hunted and slaughtered. Those that hunted them have helped secure our honor before the gods.
This Clan has lost many great and mighty hunters. New blood will be honored with new ranks. New mates will soon be readying to grow their bloodlines. The blood of those that have died on the alien world is honored, and their heirs proud and strong.
The hunters that have returned, proud of the kills and scars they bear, have solidified this Clan before the gods. The skills and power of those who have hunted, bled, and lived and died, is amongst the honored heritage of our great Clan.
We have lost many, but we have proven our strength to all. Tomorrow begins nau'chak-thwei'nk. Today, we, as a Clan, honored hunters and honored Elders, youngblood and…" Neh'rti paused for a moment and glanced directly to K'Shai, who became suddenly painfully aware that everyone in the complex turned towards her.
"… our freshest Blooded hunters, who have all done this Clan honor and displayed with pride, the strong foundation of the heart of the Yautja people share in su-te and honor the gods again! As we approach our next breeding season, we will all face the coming changes and challenges with pride and strength. Tomorrow's nau'chak-thewi'nk will test your strength again, and secure ranks and positions between challengers and impress potential mates if you are so lucky."
The crowd rumbled a stifled sound somewhere between an eager growl and a laugh. K'Shai looked around at the Yautja, especially the males, who seemed particularly aroused by the idea of blood challenges for position and status following a celebratory meal.
"Yautja kin!" Neh'rti called finally. "Share in the honor and glory you have brought to the Clan!"
K'Shai had barely noticed during Neh'rti's speech that 'aseigan had delivered a massive plethora of fruits and nuts and vegetables and fish and meats. As the groups of Yautja that had been sitting all took to ther feet and dispersed towards the cantina and every other available space throughout the Clan square, K'Shai noticed large beasts strung up off the totems around the massive bon fire. 'Aseigan were working to skin and gut the animals right there in the middle of the clan, soaking the ground with blood while the creatures would slowly cook over the open flames.
The bonfire, surrounded by the totems with jagged horizontal beams coming off their wide pyramid shape bases, rose up like a rib cage around the fire pit. It was literally a massive grill, K'Shai thought.
Though the blood and entrails poured out of the creatures being carved, the entire place was quickly cleaned by other 'aseigan. Unwanted parts were tossed inot the fire, while larger chunks of the animals' innards, like internal organs, were collected up. K'Shai knew enough about the Yautja's "want not, waste not" system to know everything had a purpose.
As Yautja dispersed, K'Shai and R'chnt joined with W'rsa and a dozen others who all joined the elder council at the forefront of the group. Each Yautja filled their platters and mugs with food and K'Shai, brimming with a smile, joined in the celebratory feast. Yautja sat at tables or on the ground, on low walls, even on the roofs of the buildings, which they climbed up to.
They were on balconies of the buildings near by and packed into the stony streets between the structures, or on the walkways that connected building to building far above the ground.
The chatter, clicking, rumbling, and trilling of thousands of Yautja voices rising up through the Clan city eventually became like background noise as K'Shai tuned in completely to the conversation at her table. She tucked up against R'chnt, resting her hands on him, and he returned the gesture in kind. She listened to stories that the others had to share, about their own experiences on Earth.
Each hunter, young and elder alike, had their own version of events, their "one great" story of the whole hunt. Each one had that one kill that would be most memorable; each one had their own great scar they could not wait to tell the tale of to another.
Though R'chnt did not offer up his own tale, everyone likely knew it anyway, he was gracious when the conversation turned towards him and what was certainly his most memorable kill of the entire hunt. He was even of lifted spirits enough to joke about the kill and his injury, and make light of the whole event as if it is was nothing at all.
Sometimes the stories got back round to her, and she added in what she could, though she felt her stories rather lacking in sheer enthusiasm over the Yautja way. Each one quieted down to let her speak, and tell her tales, and she was grateful for that at least. As she continued to look around during the meal, she did notice that all of the Yautja seemed utterly jovial.
She had of course seen them happily drinking themselves into a stupor on alcoholic cn'tlip before, but there was something much more passionate about the first su-te back home. The Yautja were ecstatic. They talked with vigor and pride of the battles they endured in the recent past, and of the challenges they would endure the following rotation.
Nau'chak-thwei'nk was a blood-rite to secure status and rank. It was not a death challenge; rather a formal and clan supervised challenge between two generally similarly-matched Yautja each looking to vie for an escalated position. Sometimes, a younger, lesser ranked challenger would take on a higher ranked Yautja for his status, and depending on the circumstances of that particular challenge, it could likely be to the death. For now, though, no Yautja seemed concerned about the blood promised to be shed on the following rotation. They were celebrating.
Su-te was not just a community meal time; it was a feast, a celebration, a prayer session and story time all in one. K'Shai had experienced only a few of them on the atoll, with far less in attendance. Some of them were in the mei'sa, with all the females and their offspring gathering. Some took place in the main cantinas, especially after the hunters had begun to return in large numbers.
Despite their aggressive ways, the Yautja were equally as social as humans, and one of the few things the two species shared in common was bringing groups together over a meal. K'Shai had simply never imagined that the entire clan would participate in su-te on the scale she was witnessing.
K'Shai sat amongst the group of elders for so long that she lost track of time. A'ryin'di slept through most of the meal and the chatter, and only awoke when songs and music filled the air, at which point, K'Shai pulled away from the warm comfort of R'chnt and retreated to a table of females, two of whom had suckling offspring on their breast.
K'Shai had no reservations at all of nursing A'ryin'di in R'chnt's company, but being comfortable with revealing nudity around other males was still something she was not entirely confident about. It was just as uncomfortable for her to feed her offspring in public as it was to share the soaking pools with males, although she knew Yautja did not share the same taboos as her human culture demanded.
As the festivities continued on, K'Shai took a clear note of the fact that "night" never actually came. When she arrived on the world, she naturally assumed it was midday because the suns were both well above her head. As she watched them move across the sky during the entire course of the planet's rotation, she noticed that they both moved quite separately and at different trajectories.
While the hours passed on and the suns did lower in the sky, one finally dropping out of sight below the horizon sending beautiful rays of familiar ambers and pinks through the clouds, the other one never quite set.
The night time light changed with the absence of one sun, but the sky never turned to darkness. As the second sun lowered just below the horizon, creating a few Earth hours' worth of what the Yautja would call night, there was always a subtle twilight kind of light.
It seemed dusk light was the darkest the Yautja home world would get; a stark contrast to the dark ambiance of the jag d'atoll she had gotten used to.
As R'chnt obliged her to return to his home when she was too tired to remain awake anymore, she commented to him that she was sure she would not be able to rest with it so light.
"Does it ever get dark on your world?"
"Not as on Earth, no, K'Shai." He said.
"Well, the view is still amazing." She added in, casting her eyes again to the moons fully visible with their sparkling rings glistening brightly in the twilight.
The sounds of the jungle echoed loudly as the world turned into its version of night, and the music and rumbling clicking chatter of the Yautja all over the clan city echoed up through the massive canyon-like bed the Clan city was set in.
K'Shai focused on the sounds of the water fall for a moment before tuning back in to the animal calls from the jungle trees, shifting the baby in her grip and glancing up again to the moons before stepping back into R'chnt's home and making her way to the bedroom.
She set the baby in her bassonette, which an 'aseigan brought up apparently while they were at the festivities, along with additional food, which K'Shai gratefully acknowledged with a grin to R'chnt.
"In case you get hungry." He said as he watched her disrobe and survey the oval-walled room one more time.
She stopped by the glass-less window and looked out to the common area below, the busy clan square far below, the waterfalls to the right in the far distance, and the adjoined buildings curving their way out of sight to her left. The sounds of nothing less than a party echoed up enthusiastically, but it did not stop her from falling asleep after all.