CHAPTER NINETEEN
She heard rumbling that woke her from her sleep. She was sure it could have been the sinister sound of a horde of the kainde amedha approaching, or maybe it was gunfire. It sounded like cannons.
There was a war; she remembered that well. Suddenly worry for A'ryin'di popped into her mind as a flicker of R'chnt also flashed in an instant. She opened her eyes with a soft gasp, feeling her body flush and her heart speed up. It was dark, but she remembered then where she was. She was in R'chnt's…. no, she was in her home.
Given it was twilight outside when she went to bed and it seemed even darker now, she had no idea how long she had been asleep. R'chnt was standing, pacing softly, clearly unconcerned by the sounds of cannons, or fireworks, filling the air. As K'Shai focused her eyes, she noticed the bassonette was empty.
Barely shifting so as not to disturb him, she turned just enough to see that he was cradling his child, mimicking her soft swaying around the room to help soothe A'ryin'di, who was clicking a trill purr at her father's touch. K'Shai pressed her lips together in a pleased smile and watched them for a fraction of a second before flickering lights from outside the window caught her attention.
The rumbling started up again and lights flickered. K'Shai turned fully towards the window and noticed ominous gray clouds illuminated with flickering purplish bolts of electricity.
"She awoke before you," R'chnt said to her with a purr as he cradled his child. K'Shai smiled at him, half astonished, completely delighted.
He had never voluntary picked up the baby since she had slipped into his hands upon her birth. K'Shai wasn't sure if he was just so unaccustomed to handling an infant that he didn't think he had the right to without her permission, or if he was simply uncomfortable with the parenthood she had determinedly sprung upon him.
Either way, she was glad to see him caring for his child. Despite his insistence that he was no father and that nurturing behaviours were not part of his existence, in the flickering purple flashes filling the room, he looked completely relaxed and natural crading an infant barely the size of his forearm.
She slid out of the bed and looked on to the downpour beyond the sloping side wall of the pyramid-shaped building, watching the storm rage for a moment before she retrieved the baby.
"I'm sure she needs to nurse," K'Shai informed.
She settled back on the bed, quietly humming absent-mindedly while R'chnt gathered and donned armor and weapons.
"You are learning our songs well," he noted.
She looked at him with a thin smile, letting the tune to the hymn she had learned during the celebration last night drift away.
"Heading out?" She asked him idly.
He nodded. "To spar."
She glanced again to the window as lightning and thunder raged and rain that mimicked any tropical storm.
"Oh," she said quietly. "Inside, I assume?"
"There is a kehrite on the top level, I will be there."
She glanced out the window again, reconfirming the intense storm. "You spar outside in this kind of weather!?"
He looked at her quizzically, but thought about it for a moment. He was not sure why, but he had observed many times that not only K'Shai, but all humans, seemed to have a natural desire to avoid rain; just one of the numerous unusual behaviors they exhibit.
"Join me," he invited.
She shot him a wide-eyed look and considered him for a moment before smiling widely.
"Maybe in a while, after this storm passes through. This storm is about as tough as any Yautja!"
He nodded deeply and stepped over to the pair, whisking his long talons gently over the tender skin of his infant child before sweeping K'Shai's face, brushing some of her beaded locks aside as he cupped his hand around her chin fully.
"I don't want to take her out in this," she added in, shifting A'ryi'ndi slightly. "But I'll join you later, you don't want to keep the others waiting."
R'chnt straightened his back, shifted his grip on a sparring staff in his other hand and clicked in amusement.
"They wait. Only I say begin."
K'Shai smiled, then suddenly realized exactly what he meant.
"You mean, they've been waiting for you this whole time?"
He tipped his head sideways into a curious nod, dismissing her surprise as she glanced one more time to the angry storm raging outside.
"I am Leader," he clarified absolutely to clear up any confusion she might have had.
His group had been waiting as they should be, for his appearance, knowing far better than to begin a spar without him. His child was restless and his mate was resting, his attention for the time being was needed elsewhere. Now that K'Shai was awake and the infant was tended to, he turned and headed out.
K'Shai occupied her time inside R'chnt's home, evaluating trophies and weapons without touching, and listening to the sounds of the storm which slowly dwindled away. Finally, once the rain had stopped completely, she headed out onto the patio at the front of the building, taking in the simply spectacular series of rainbows that filled the sky as the suns emerged through the slate-gray clouds.
The entire sky looked as if it was painted in glittering pastel colors. Unlike the Earthly phenomenon, which arced across the sky, the Yautja version of a rainbow simply filled the entire sky. It was like looking up and through a piece of glistening stained glass.
The fresh smells that hit her seemed to soak into her very pores. She shut her eyes and breathed deeply, catching the scents of fresh fallen rain and all the flowering trees of the jungle nearby. She surveyed the grounds between the connected complex of buildings.
The terrace was rather full of sopping wet and barely clad Yautja who had clearly also not given the storm any thought.
They were all going about their business, and only a few nearby really even glanced her way once she appeared.
She stepped towards the edge of the patio with reservation; it was easily a sixty foot drop to the terrace below. She glanced from the stone slab edge of the massive terrace between the building, across the grassy lawns, and backup along the scaling wall of the complex R'chnt lived in, scanning the staggered patios and stairs that protruded from the sloped side before her gaze shifted up towards the sound of echoing weapons clanging against each other.
Unable to see all the way up to the castle- tower-like spire where the kehrite was, K'Shai soon headed up a stone slab set of stairs towards the top.
The stairs grew decidedly narrower and steeper as she neared the large gazebo-like fighting platform, but she could see well enough into it from where she was while she decided if she wanted to tackle the steeple ascending stairs the remainder of the way. The kehrite above her head had no walls, but it was capped in a spire, atop which sat a massive skull of a beast she had not yet learned the name for.
She could see four or, perhaps five, Yautja working their way around the sparring space as they clanked their weapons together. Sounds in the distance echoed up from time to time, and she assumed it was the roar of entertained Yautja probably still partying from the night before.
K'Shai contemplating ascending to the top of the stairwell again, focusing back on the view she had into the kehrite, where she could just see R'chnt's elbow as he held his ground for a moment, near the open edge of the arena.
Set up on a round podium, with only a narrow stairwell etched into the side that went practically straight up more like a ladder, the kehrite was clearly not intended for safety.
One slip up, and an unlucky Yautja could find his way plummeting a solid five meters to the base of the landing below. Hardly enough to damage a full grown Yautja, but certainly enough to gain a few laughs from one's opponents and bruise an ego or two. She assumed that was rather the point.
A little harmless fun for the Yautja was only more fun when someone got bloodied and embarrassed. If the unlucky warrior continued on his slide off the narrow landing under the kehrite, he might end up scaling toes up towards the next landing, which was a walkway between buildings easily another thirty meters down.
That, K'Shai thought, might inflict a bit more damage, and the height was more than enough to cause her pause and reconsider scaling up to the top at all.
While she remained on the widest portion of the stairs before they narrowed up to the kehrite, she scanned the valley once again, realizing the spectacular view she was suddenly treated to, especially as the sky continued its pastel prismatic show.
Her presence did not take long to go unnoticed and as R'chnt called to her and she looked up, her eyes settled onto five Yautja all staring down at her, probably wondering what she was looking at, and whether or not she was going to ascend the rest of the way.
Sensing her hesitation, and knowing full well she had demonstrated uneasiness around heights, specifically edges, R'chnt dismissed himself from the group for a moment and scaled down the stairs out of the kehrite.
He could have just as well jumped, or climbed down the vertical wall, using the small grip holes that littered the stone slabs for just that purpose, but he knew K'Shai lacked the proper talons for such climbing and her bones were far too weak to handle a jump of that height. She watched him climb down the stairs, perhaps gauging how to navigate them herself – not an easy task while carrying a child.
"Come, K'Shai," he invited and extended his hand towards her, which she readily accepted.
R'chnt pulled his shoulders back and stood tall as his mate moved to him. She scanned his armor and body, noting minor evidence that he had been struck several times during his spar. It was a good spar, and the blood slowly leaking from nothing more than minor scathes was evidence of that. The bruises and slashes on his opponents, on the other hand, displayed proof that he was winning.
K'Shai deposited the infant into his offering grip and with another gesture of his free hand, she followed his indication to climb into the tower with the other four warriors he had been enjoying sparring with.
He followed her up promptly, easily gliding up the stairs with one arm delicately occupied and K'Shai, as she tended to do frequently, stopped nearly immediately into the kehrite and studied her surroundings.
The tower was high; scary high. She never realized just how acrophobic she was until she met someone with a propensity for picking the highest, and narrowest, possible place to perch. R'chnt was perfectly content sitting or even crouching, well balanced over his solid feet, on edges of buildings six stories high.
She had thought perhaps that was as high as he would reasonably go, and it wasn't so bad when she was on the solid footing of the rooftop, but when the opportunity arose for him to climb to a tiny ledge ten, twelve, or thirty stories above the ground, he did it just as readily, and would look quizzically at her as he tried to figure out why she was unwilling to join him.
From all that she saw so far on the homeworld of the Yautja people, there was no lack of anything high to climb to.
The Yautja, she had decided, were part spider, part cat, and completely without any sense of self-preservation at all. They could cling onto nearly any surface they could dig their talons into just a little, they could balance on a tight wire wearing full body armor, and since they could jump or fall from great heights without serious, or any, injury, they had no trepidations about climbing up to them in the first place.
The kehrite on the tower was smaller than most of the other ones she had seen. With five full grown and armored warriors in it, even without walls, the open fighting space seemed a little tight. It was obvious the gathering of elites and elders were practicing highly developed techniques.
The weapons they carried, all the same type of sparring staff, and the ornamentations around the kehrite, not to mention the fact that it was literally the highest point in the whole Clan all implied that it was for a specific purpose, for use by a very small and select group of the C'lan's highest elites.
K'Shai retrieved A'ryin'di from R'chnt and gazed at the incredible view off the kehrite tower.
The others watched her in silence as R'chnt paced near to her like a lion on patrol, pointedly making his case without a word. K'Shai scanned the Clan city from the highest possible vantage point.
She could see clear across to the horizon, far above the trees, across the wide river and massive falls, where her eyes curiously scanned along the wall and pyramid structure she had seen of the mei'sa.
From what she could tell so far above the ground, the mei'sa was a massive complex far larger than she had realized.
The wall around it was simply massive, and the campus of buildings, all interconnected in the same style as the buildings within the Clan city, covered a large section of ground, but were surrounded on every side by a massive expanse of jungle and fields, all within the walls. K'Shai felt her heartbeat feverishly as she surveyed the mei'sa.
Although the mei'sa on the Clan ship was also separated by levels and doors, and adult males were not welcome, somehow, it still felt different; connected to the rest of the Clan. Looking now upon the territory of the mei'sa, so vast she could not see the other side of the wall that kept it cut off from the rest of the Clan's territory, it seemed so separated; so ominous.
It was not, nor could it be, home. Nothing about it felt right, yet she knew that she would be required to adapt to life in the mei'sa as she had on the ship.
It was one thing, she thought, to be part of the mei'sa on the atoll. Without R'chnt aboard, it was at least company, and she had learned much from the females. However, now that she and R'chnt were together and their daughter born, she was not about to spend her life cut off from him except for breeding season.
A'ryin'di had been born barley over one Earth week ago, and already it was evident R'chnt was learning the ropes of becoming a capable and protective father. The idea of being separated from him, having the baby grow up without ever really knowing her father, was so foreign, so unnatural to her.
She eyed the mei'sa like it was a vile thing, certain that she would never truly be a part of it. She had gone through enough with the females just aboard the Clan ship. She decided she did not need the harassment and difficulties from the females in the mei'sa that had not yet met her, or more chastising remarks about her small and inferior baby fit to be nothing more than 'aseigan.
R'chnt watched her survey the mei'sa territory quietly. Her eyes locked onto it as she contemplated it curiously. She would adjust to her new role and new life easily, he was certain. He knew she was reluctant to leave his side, and in quiet truth, he was equally as reluctant to see her leave it.
Having his mate with him, available to him, and in need of him at all times was unlike anything he had ever expected or imagined. Having his child with him, though completely unnatural, was something he was learning to adapt to.
K'Shai had adjusted to the mei'sa on the atoll and she would adjust to life as a female Yautja on the homeworld. She would also, he knew, split her time with being with him while he returned to his typical duties and business between hunts.
K'Shai had much to learn still, but he clicked proudly as he watched her survey the scope of the mei'sa, knowing she would learn it all well.
"It's more beautiful than I realized," K'Shai muttered after she had absorbed the full scope of the lands of the mei'sa.
She grimaced, and eyed R'chnt, somewhat annoyed with herself that she even admitted that much aloud.
"So that's where…" she had started to say, but her attention turned again to the roaring sounds that began echoing up from the city so far below once again.
The others were drawn back to action by the sound, and all started exiting the kehrite through whatever means they preferred, each one nodding to the others before dismissing himself.
"What is going on?"
"Come, K'Shai," R'chnt directed her, extending his arm. "It is time for nau'chak-thwei'nk. The trials have begun."
She took a deep breath and followed where he led. They descended off the platform below the kehrite tower, scaled down the stairs embedded into the angled slope of the pyramid and migrated down the tiered mountain side until the finally entered within sight of the stone-hedge kehrite at the center of the clan. It was packed.
As they drew closer, the sounds of the crowd, cheering like they were at a concert, grew louder and louder. Once they entered the perimeter of the crowd and pushed down an aisle, K'Shai had found the roaring sounds of the spectators, and their combined musk overpowering.
She and R'chnt worked their way through the raging crowd, which was continually getting bigger as more hunters filed into the arena. Yautja moved aside to let R'chnt, who postured defensively and glared powerfully as he moved through the crowded aisles, pass through, with K'Shai just inches before him, baby cradled tightly in her arms.
She could feel her nerves fray immediately, just from being in the crowd of hunters. The gathering was rumbling and stomping so hard the ground vibrated below her feet, and the bass levels of their husky voices made her body tremble.
The musk they emitted- charged with adrenaline and testosterone – nearly choked her.
She had realized some time ago that she had become more sensitive to the natural h'dui'se of the Yautja body as her pregnancy had continued on. She suddenly realized the effects lingered in her, almost as if her body was simply infused with Yautja-ness from carrying a halfblood baby.
It was one of many new sensations to get used, she quietly thought as she was directed by R'chnt towards a clearer section of bleacher- like rows. They joined several dozen other elders and elites in the less crowded section and as K'Shai looked around from the elevated perch, it struck her; she was in a stadium and this was a sporting event.
In the stage-like arena, well in view from high up the sloping sides of the stonehenge style coliseum, two young hunters stepped into the ring.
Neh'rti was positioned front and center on one end of the circular space, flanked by the female members of the ruling council and a dozen other females, all of whom flickered their eyes towards K'Shai for a fraction of a moment before turning and muttering amongst one another until they returned their focus to the youngbloods entering the ring.
On the other end of the arena, the male members of the ruling council were standing, watching keenly. With them, the leader of the hunting pack the two youngsters belonged to watched over his students keenly as they each vied for improved positions.
K'Shai listened to the call for the challenge to begin; a bellowing roar from both competitors as they moved carefully and tactfully around the circular elevated platform that was the kehrite. Yautja standing in the pit area looked up to see the fight, all banging on the edge of the arena's floor, howling and chanting. As the two hunters moved into each other, the chant from the spectators sounded almost like music.
"Will they be fighting to the death?" She asked R'chnt.
"No, K'Shai." He said casually. "These are trials only, to prove a hunter's worth."
"The fights will be for positions in hunting packs; youngsters trying to impress a new Leader if their's has been killed, or show they are ready for a new position in the Clan or in their Leader's presence." Another added in.
She nodded understanding.
"Will you have such trials?" She asked to R'chnt again, knowing full well he had lost at least four of his own hunting pack in the war.
He nodded briskly. "I will. Later. Lower packs fight first."
"How long do these trials last?"
"As long as they must, my K'Shai. There will be many now that so many have been lost and new positions must be claimed." R'chnt answered back just before a roar piped up from the crowd and all of their eyes cast towards the arena once again.
As she scanned the two competitors, locked arm in arm into each other like two buck elks with their racks intertwined, each one trying to out-muscle the other, K'Shai could tell immediately that though both young, one of the two hunters was clearly a little older.
He was a bit larger, carried himself a bit more confident than his opponent and had just a bit more muscle tone rippling through his barely clad body. The younger opponent dug his claws into the grated floor, clearly trying to get a better grip as the larger Yautja buckled down and pushed.
Each bellowed out a throaty challenge before they finally both broke apart with a snap, ending the stand off. Each challenger moved in cat-like circles, pacing the arena while the crowd continued their chant.
Suddenly, the smaller one, getting on a quick offensive, lunged forward and clearly caught his larger opponent off guard with a change of trajectory. The smaller male, instead of charging forward like a linebacker, hit the ground and slid towards his opponent's ankles.
As the bigger Yautja sprung up off the ground, with obvious intentions of landing sideways in a safe spot, the youngster headed him off from the ground. The smaller Yautja reached his body to an impressive new length, clearly anticipating what his opponent would try to do. He managed to grab his opponent's ankle mid air and pulled him down hard to the plated floor.
The already standing crowd bellowed in delight as the first spattering of blood leaked onto the floor of the kehrite and down the side into the spectators. The larger Yautja had clearly cracked his head from the hard fall.
Though bleeding, it was apparently not a significant injury.
The opponent jumped up quickly and was met with an immediate uppercut from the younger Yautja, who had sprung up almost too quickly for K'Shai to even follow. With another quick strike, the bigger hunter was down again, landing hard on his side and halfway sliding out of the arena.
K'Shai noticed a sudden pause from the crowd as they watched, clearly on edge wondering what would happen next to the down hunter. K'Shai watched with wide eyed interest, feeling the vibe from the crowd that they were ready to explode in either cheers or jeers.
She suddenly felt as if she was at a sports car race and the crowd was simply waiting for a wreck to happen; they didn't care who wrecked what, but they just wanted it to happen.
In a flicker of a moment, the spry younger hunter leapt over and finished the job. He grappled the downed opponent by the ankles as he clearly dug his claws into the side of the platform to stop from sliding completely off.
With a quick lift, like he was caber tossing in a Highland game, the smaller hunter used a combination of strength and leverage, grappled the larger one by the angles and lifted him heels-up right out of the arena completely. He clattered into the crowd below to a resounding bellow of roars and howls.
"I guess he's out." K'Shai said with a laugh.
"A fighter must stay in the kehrite to remain a challenger, or forfeit the match." R'chnt told her over the howls and jeers.
"He can't just climb back in and go to round two?" She asked, causing a rumbling chuckle from the other elders who had heard her.
R'chnt remained silent, but he did not need to answer; she had clearly been given the answer. He tipped his head to her and gave her a one-tusk in the air smile; a half grin that had inflictions that covered everything froma sneer to an aren't you cute type of look, depending on the body posture and facial expression that supported it.
This time, K'Shai had the rather blushing feeling she fell into the latter, but she smiled back to R'chnt all the same and nudged her body playfully into his.
She watched battled after battle, grateful for the fact that for once she was not the center of attention. While many of the fights were fairly light-hearted and between sparring pairs of two young hunters vying for the same rank or position, or else between a youngster and a more experienced hunter simply to test if they were strong enough to even earn a place in a particular hunting group at all, the crowd still clearly lusted for blood.
Some of the battles ended quickly; some took longer. Some ended with a bruised ego; some ended in broken bones. Either way, blood was most definitely shed.
As the hours slowly ticked on the fights grew more intense. K'Shai found herself transfixed by the spectacle of it all, even howling and rooting along, feeling the lifted by the energy of the crowd. She needed to pee, but ignored her bladder entirely.
'Aseigan made their way through every so often with platters of food, which they placed on pedestals near the ends of the aisles. She noticed that only the particular section she was in with R'chnt had such pedestals and received such service; the rest of the crowd, if they wanted to eat had to leave and get their own food at one of the many cantinas in the Clan, and miss their sports show.
It was not until A'ryin'di fussed enough to let K'Shai know she was hungry and in need of cleaning that she finally departed from R'chnt with a kiss on his cheek, drawing in wildly curious gazes from everyone around them.
He remained behind in the bleacher section as K'Shai made her way to a bathroom and found a small group of females that she recognized from the shipside mei'sa.
She joined them and nursed A'ryn'di, but not before catching an 'aseigan with a platter of fruits scurrying past so she could get something to munch on while she cared for the baby and listened to the conversation around her.
The females were discussing some of the fighters with about as much enthusiastic interest as a giddy group of school girls ranking the boys in the class.
She smiled as she listened, realizing that the females had a measurement system that was not at all different than anything K'Shai knew. For a moment, her mind flickered to her life in high school; how different it all was before the Earth was destroyed, before its population was decimated, before its way of life was changed completely.
She snapped back into the conversation before her mind flooded with sadistic images of hordes of writing black serpentine exoskeletons and metallic teeth; just as she realized her heart was speeding up and her hair stood on end and her skin felt suddenly clammy.
"K'Shai, are you not going to go remain in the mei'sa?" One of the females finally asked.
She shifted her gaze, looking through the gaggle of onlookers before she finally saw them.
"What?" She stammered.
"You really are going to keep your offspring out of the mei'sa? Neh'rti will not…"
K'Shai, soured, barked back interrupting. "It's only a few days. It's fine. This is how humans do things; it works for us. Neh'rti knows that this is what I want."
Clicking and trilling, the females expressed their disagreement. One of them snapped quite deliberately at K'Shai with a biting tone.
"Do you not realize we are not human and you are not on Herth."
Glaring, K'Shai did not respond. Her eyes shifted to the backs of some males not too far away, who were all watching the fights. She scanned them and noticed the Yautja with the narrok she had met the day before.
She realized she knew the dog's name and not its master's, but as she watched him glancing towards her, she could not help but feel like he was sizing her up.
Uncomfortable under the unbreaking gaze of the mighty Yautja, K'Shai dismissed herself again, casually from the females and strode confidently back to where she had left R'chnt's company, without any regard to the male who eyed her up.
She glanced around the packed arena, full of howling spectators cheering on their barely-clad gladiators, calling for blood from all of them. She spotted W'rsa nearby, just a few rows down from them and in the same section.
She also noticed Sar'uch-de nearby, a gathering of familiar females in their own section, watching with various levels of interest depending on the presence of the males competing, and L'ruch far on the other side amongst other elder workers who had earned their right to enjoy the spectacle of the hunters sparring, from the lowest level on the farthest edge away from Neh'rti's own elevated, throne-like platform.
The irony K'Shai noted, was that humans at events tended to pay the most to be in the pit seats, while for the Yautja, those seats were for the lowest ranked and lesser castes. Higher ranked hunters and the Honored Elites and Elders all had viewing positions farther up in the rows, which allowed them better views of the arena without the addition of being splattered with blood, sweat, and saliva.
The fights continued on without end and the crowd seemed equally endless in their needs to see them. Match after match, hunter after hunter, matters of who hunted under what Leader, and what position they filled were settled in blood-splattered agreements.
Whatever Leader supervised each matter as it applied to him all seemed satisfied by the results without question. None of the fighters were killed, but a few suffered bone-breaking injuries. Every one of them left the arena either willingly or by being thrown out of it, with bruises and gashes.
The winners seemed completely satisfied; the losers appeared rightfully ashamed. K'Shai noticed how either party almost always gazed around at the females watching them, clearly either hoping they were impressed or concerned they were not.
When K'Shai had her fill of the day's activities, R'chnt escorted her to his home and remained there while she slept and ate.
He kept company with four other Elders out on the patio throughout the entire rest of the rotation and only joined K'Shai in the bedroom right as the first of the two suns, the last one to set, was rising back up after its very brief drop past the horizon.
K'Shai joined him again in the bleachers to watch fights, realizing that they had gone on without end throughout the entire rotation.
The only interruption to the fights were prayer and su-te, which K'Shai and R'chnt observed. As the rotations passed, K'Shai found the routine to be the same. The challenges continued on in the main kehrite without end.
The fights gradually grew more involved and intense as youngbloods, having sorted out their new positions and rights and status, gave way to the experienced hunters. Higher hunters who were vieing against each other for improved positions, trying to impress new Leaders, or even pitting for position as second in a hunting pack, fought far more vigorously. They inflicted severe damage to one another, and the fights, K'Shai noticed, were far less likely to end with someone being ejected from the arena.
Each opponent seemed to have their own command of the kehrite's limited fighting space, and used it accordingly. K'Shai realized that the only true rule was not to leave the kehrite for any reason. This left the field wide open for how each hunter fought, and the more experienced fighters – especially the losing ones- were not opposed to pulling out a blade unexpectedly to try to catch their better off guard.
"Isn't that ….cheating?" K'Shai asked of R'chnt during one of the spectacles.
"Each hunter must defend for themselves. If they get injured because their opponent does something unexpected, it is their own fault."
K'Shai smirked at him and drew her lips back into a wide grin.
"W'rsa, did you have to fight like that for your place?" She asked of him later, over a meal in the main cantina during dinner.
"Of course, K'Shai. It is how a place is earned." He responded with a deep nod of his powerful, ridged head.
"It seems like it never ends. Everyone seems to have to fight for their place all the time." K'Shai observed.
"My K'Shai, as do you." R'chnt responded simply.
She fell silent for a moment and surveyed him, and glanced about the table to the Yautja guardedly eating their meals.
Although R'chnt would willingly offer her food from his plate and drink from his canteen, bring her food directly, or allow her to snack off his plate without concern, she did notice that all Yautja, including him, had a way of sort of hovering over their platters with an aggressive glare and keen awareness of what was going on around them.
Like a lion eating a meal while a hyena paced nearby, the Yautja seemed to always be wary of who was near them and how close they were, as if they were directly threatened.
K'Shai thought about it all for a moment. Everything about the Yautja, all of them, always came with an aura of rigid alertness.
R'chnt was typically a light sleeper, and would spring to alarm immediately as if a threat was always around him. Though he was composed, powerful, and well experienced, he still maintained a certain level of ever—ready tension all the time, except for when he was totally relaxed in her quiet company when he allowed himself to purr and rest at complete ease.
Every time any Yautja was around another, especially when a male was around a female, the level of alert defensiveness was so thick it was practically tangible.
The Yautja truly did always fight for their positions; always show wariness that what they had might be taken away, challenged, by any young up and comer who thought they could best a superior. Although the regulated spars that had been taking place all week were not death challenges, the Yautja still were all on guard.
K'Shai realized that in her own way, she was, as R'chnt had said, fighting for her position. She cast her eyes around the cantina and felt herself flicking her gaze towards Neh'rti's table.
She had been keeping her eyes carefully away from Neh'rti, S'ridi, and the table of females just across her left shoulder. Even with her gaze turned away, A'ryin'di cradled warmly against her chest, K'Shai could feel the casted glances from the table.
K'Shai was fighting for her place at R'chnt's side, under protest from Neh'rti herself. She swallowed and dropped her gaze to the sleeping baby in her arms, as she instinctively nudged into R'chnt a little more when her nerves suddenly tingled while she thought of the conversation with S'ridi earlier that day.
Each day, K'Shai took some time to meet with S'ridi and the other females. Although none with suckling infants were out of the mei'sa, it was still comforting to K'Shai to nurse her own offspring in the company of the females. She was grateful for S'ridi's willing friendship, but each day, the conversation was also the same; a reminder to K'Shai that her place was in the mei'sa with the child.
"It is proper. It is expected. Females do not…" she began factually, but K'Shai cut her off with an annoyed sigh.
"We're doing just fine. R'chnt is perfectly content with the baby in his home. He's been an excellent father. He hold her. He watches over her. Over both of us." She said informatively.
"The baby's too young to know the difference and we're not causing any problems. None of the males care that we are here. They are all just… curious about us. They don't mind us at all. They think it's just all so…unusual, but they are fine. Everything is fine. S'ridi, I know what I'm doing."
"I do. It's fine." She added in emphatically, just to be extra convincing.
S'ridi flared her tusks. A Yautja with flared tusks could mean any number of things. Technically, K'Shai observed, even the simple smiles R'chnt offered her frequently, were nothing more than flared tusks.
To a human who didn't know better, the gesture could be considered hostile. To the Yautja, the same was true for K'Shai's own smile; pulling the lips back to expose the teeth, to them, was no different than a dog curling its lips aggressively.
It took time and understanding before each was able to interpret the look of the other, and understand its context. The intention of any Yautja facial expression was backed up always by a combination of body posture and subtle changes in the expressions of the eyes, brow ridges, and cheeks.
The look on S'ridi's face was currently somewhere between a sneer and a disappointed grin.
K'Shai, reading the look, immediately changed her posture, sighed again, and added in with a forced agreement.
"I have seen the mei'sa from the view on the top of the mountain. I am curious to see it from the inside. I will bring A'ryin'di there, just once the trials are over. They have R'chnt's attention now, and I've been learning about what is going on. Today is the day R'chnt's group will be determined."
The trials had been going on for five rotations; K'Shai imagined quietly that there was just no way they could possibly go on any longer. Every youngblood had proven his place, every honored hunter had done the same, and today had started the challenges of the Elites.
The elite Yautja; older than youngbloods, more experienced that honored hunters, were vying for the highest ranked roles below their Leader. A few of them were contesting to become Leaders themselves, proving themselves to elders and amongst each other.
Today's fights concerned R'chnt directly as a few of the currently leaderless elites would be vying for positions under his lead. After the trials were complete and the matter of positions throughout the clan settled, R'chnt had said he would begin training her along with his new hunting pack as the upcoming breeding season lingered nearer.
Things were going along smoothly; the world was unique and beautiful, and its people proud and strong and honorable. They were adjusting to K'Shai just as she was adjusting to them. She was curious about the mei'sa, and was willing to admit it, but she had many trepidations
S'ridi let the matter drop and K'Shai dismissed herself, making her way back to R'chnt in the same high row of bleachers. She noticed familiar faces as she walked through the crowd; two of them specifically stood out to her.
She saw S'aruch-de, watching her with his single eye, his other one now well healed over, and his cheek bearing only thin white streaks of scars. She also noticed the tall hunter with the narrok. He eyed her, standing quietly and tall in the aisle making sure that everyone went around him and his animal with a wide berth. She felt her skin crawl under his gaze and was glad to tuck into R'chnt's shadow to watch the fights.
When it was time, R'chnt descended to a platform on the far edge of the kehrite, where the Leader supervised the fight between the candidates vying for positions under him.
R'chnt left K'Shai in the bleachers, ensuring her safety to the Elders still around her; friends that he trusted at least enough to keep well away from K'Shai and create an intimidating enough barrier to keep fools at bay.
As he walked down to the kehrite, he passed W'rsa, just a single column over to their right, close enough to K'Shai that he could be immediate back up if needed.
He noticed S'aruch-de just a few rows down from W'rsa, and although he stiffened at the thought of either of them having to, or needing to, step in for her, realizing they would not be protecting her for him to reclaim her, he at least was content enough to leave her in their sights.
K'Shai had drawn in much attention, more so now that she was actively living in his home in the Clan, with an offspring she was clearly well-suited to caring for. K'Shai was making for an excellent mother, despite her concerns over her inexperience, and knowing full well that she could be re-bred, with a breeding season nearing upon them, R'chnt was alarmed by the attention her sweet scent was drawing.
There would be many challenges, he knew. As he approached the kehrite and took to his supervisory spot, the challenge at hand drew in his attention as two impressive honored hunters stepped into the ring.
Both of them had their share of scars from their successes on the alien world, and both of them were looking to etch up in status to Elite, to hunt under R'chnt. When he was told that more than one-hundred thirty fighters would be competing for the four positions he had available in his hunting pack, he realized that the challenges for him alone would likely take up an entire rotation.
The winners of each match would ultimately face each other until only eight were left. The winners of the final bouts would have proved themselves through the ranking competition and be accepted in his hunting pack.
It would be a feat, he thought quietly as he stood on the podium and watched the first pair make contact, for any of the needed hunters to survive through so many spars, each one progressively more difficult than the previous ones. The hunters who would rise to the top would have most certainly prove themselves capable and fierce warriors. Of course, their trials would hardly end with that.
R'chnt knew, as the first pair tore into each other, each trying to put on the best, and bloodiest show that much of the number of competitors vying for a chance on his hunt had more than just a little to do with the notoriety he and K'Shai received.
He had more petitioners for his hunt than any other single leader or elder in the Clan, a fact of which his comrades on the council informed him of earlier this morning. It was one reason why his challengers had been put off to the very last; they would take the longest and new challengers were petitioning for his acceptance right up until the start of the trials that morning.
Bout after bout, the hunters all vied for their opportunity to work their way into the top four places.
R'chnt remained dutifully in his position, though he surveyed K'Shai watchfully while also monitoring the spars, evaluating each warrior on their presence, form, training, strength, abilities, and honored respect of the rules.
K'Shai from time to time disappeared into the company of the females, which relieved R'chnt from watching over her and warily eyeing up the males around her; though he did pleasantly notice that the group he had left her with engaged with her respectfully in conversation.
The trials continued on throughout the rotation, and by the time the the highest hours of the night came, the kehrite was lit up with an amber glow under the twinkling sparkle of the moons and stars far overhead.
K'Shai had grown weary, though she remained in the bleachers with the other elders, comfortable, and happily rooting on the apparent winners of each and every match. The final four bouts were nothing short of a spectacle.
How each of the last eight fighters had managed to survive the entire rotation through spar after spar and still have enough stamina left, despite gaping wounds and broken bones, to continue to vie for their place in R'chnt's hunting pack, was truly awe-inspiring.
She had been surprised to learn that even after the trials of the day, the warriors that were still standing had merely won the right to hunt with R'chnt; none of them were vying for a particular rank in his group. More challenges, all supervised and carefully honed by R'chnt, would determine each hunter's position and entitlements in the hunt, and those challenges, K'Shai was assured, would be equally as bloody.
"R'chnt himself will draw their blood when they fail to perform a task." One of the elders said gleefully, certain that the winning Yautja would find themselves facing a difficult challenge. He then turned to K'Shai.
"So tell me, K'Shai, has he begun training you?"
She looked at him casually. "Yes, he's been training me."
She noticed him immediately survey her again from head to toe, scoffing lightly.
"No, K'Shai, does he train you, not mate with you?" He laughed, causing a hearty chuckle from the others around them, and K'Shai to blush.
"He has been training me." She repeated before she cast her eyes back to the kehrite upon a great bellow.
The crowd roared; the final winner of the final challenge had made himself known. Four battered, bruised, and bloodied warriors all stood lined up before R'chnt, proudly carrying themselves despite exhaustion and injuries. Each one earned the right to train with him, hunt with him, and they could proudly boast if they choose, that they were part of the single most coveted Leader's pack.
"…and they can all try to see how close they can get to you before he kills them." Another elder added.
K'Shai shot him a dirty look.
"They may not have that chance," another noted, and K'Shai quizzically glanced at him, before her eyes scanned back to the kehrite and the stadium fell disturbingly quiet.
Alarmed, K'Shai cast a glance to Neh'rti who was on her feet, watching from her own podium, glancing from R'chnt at the foot of the kehrite to K'Shai, warily eyeing the fighting arena and her.
The narrok owning hunter, I'eilun-de, as he was identified by the onlooking elders, climbed into the arena moments after the last of the four winners vacated and R'chnt had turned to exit the observation platform. R'chnt barely touched a foot onto the surface of the kehrite when I'eilun-de scaled up the wall from the pit and onto the grated metal floor.
His narrok remained obediently on the ground, but ever watchful; completely focused on her handler like a properly trained guard dog waiting for its next command.
I'eilun-de moved into the center of the kehrite, and without a moment's reservation, he arched his back, stretched his arms and bellowed a challenge to the death. R'chnt had barely even turned around enough to even acknowledge a challenger when he repeated the gesture, howled and the two titans charged at one another.
The only sounds in the entire coliseum were that of the echoing roar dwindling away into nothing and both warriors snarling from the backs of their throats as they barreled across the arena into one another.
K'Shai gasped, somewhere between shock, fright, and worry, and immediately darted towards Neh'rti, noticing that almost every head turned her way as she left the ring of elder males that had been encircling her.
R'chnt bellowed his acceptance of the challenge and moved in, immediately offensively. I'eilun-de, he knew, was no fool. He had been surveying R'chnt for days, and carefully eyeing up K'Shai.
The nature of the challenge did not even need to be stated aloud; it was evident enough by the call to the death.
He knew his opponent was as equally capable as he.
Though slightly younger, I'eilun-de was no stranger to cunning, intelligent prey, difficult hunts, surviving immense dangers, and brutally commanding over challengers against him. He was worthy of respect in the hunting field and the sparring arena, and R'chnt knew just as much that he could not dare to underestimate his opponent in the slightest, or he would open himself up to defeat.
"What is going on, Neh'rti? Why is…" K'Shai asked in a whispered alarm, having ran over to the podium Neh'rti was surveying the fight from.
She glared down to K'Shai, some four meters below her mighty crowned head and flared her tusks in sheer annoyance.
"The challenge has been made, K'Shai. I'eilun-de intends to kill your R'chnt and take his place and his properties."
"They're fighting over me?" K'Shai muttered in a worried whisper and turned her attention back, in horror, to the arena, watching two equally matched elders square off against each other with ferocious brutality.
R'chnt collided into his opponent, knocking him first, drawing first blood. I'eilun-de staggered backwards after the impact, clearly misjudging R'chnt's power and strength, underestimating the absolute rage that fueled his first strike.
I'eilun-de, with a deep gouge in his chest from the power splicing punch R'chnt delivered, did not waste any time recovering from the attack. He spun out of the backwards motion and immediately ejected a single dah'kta blade from a housing mounted under his left arm.
With a savage and strike, I'eilun-de lunged at R'chnt, who narrowly avoided the blow, sidestepping the attack, and grappling his other arm in a single move. R'chnt dropped to the ground, timing his offensive return perfectly.
He twisted his grip on his opponent's currently un-weaponed forearm and as he tried to strike out again with the single blade, R'chnt yanked him successfully off his feet with a powerful upward thrust.
R'chnt, like a lion circling a downed wildebeest, paced the oval fighting space, watching I'eilun-de intently. It looked like the fight was done; like I'eilun-de was down and R'chnt could take the killing strike, cutting off his head while he was hunched over.
K'Shai eyed the next moment with held breath and wide eyes. There was a moment where everyone seemed simply to stop moving, like the entire spectacle of the kehrite coliseum came to a bated halt.
R'chnt did not fall for the simple ploy. I'eilun-de was soon up on his feet, single sword-like blade swinging. With one single perfect step, R'chnt drew his own well favored sword; a weapon the likes of which he had spent hundreds of years honing his skills with.
K'Shai had seen R'chnt spar with a sword. He was a cunning and elegant swordsman with training and experience that spanned centuries and was influenced by dozens of cultures.
As she watched him glide around the kehrite powerful and smooth, his weapon clanking against his opponent's in perfect rhythm, K'Shai realized one thing; I'eilun-de was every bit as capable and seasoned as R'chnt.
The two of them danced around in synch, each perfectly matched and clashing violently. It would be a beautiful sight, two titans both strong, elegant, and fierce, displaying absolutely synchronized skill, if they weren't trying to kill each other.
They growled and roared and grunted and the sounds their blades striking into each other, causing sparks to fly, echoed up over their voices.
Suddenly, I'eilun-de took a careful dodge directly into R'chnt, who side stepped as if he anticipated the strike ten moves before. R'chnt had known it was only a matter of steps before a thrust was made. He countered and locked his arm around his opponent, successfully rendering the weaponed hand inert.
I'eilun-de, not submitting in the slightest, countered the attack with a twisting motion. He turned around, spinning in a full circle, and striked at R'chnt as he did so. R'chnt felt the burn of I'eilun-de's claws streaking across his own chest. Second blood was drawn, in a nearly matching fashion.
Given another situation, I'eilun-de would have been a worthy and fearsome addition to his hunting pack, R'chnt though briefly as he moved away from the strike and glanced at his own bleeding chest.
There was no question of the warrior's prowess and skill.
Unfortunately, R'chnt thought as he moved in again to counter his opponent's strike, this was not a trial, this was not a petition to enter his group or learn from him; this was a death challenge to claim ownership of K'Shai. Fueled by the fire the thought of what he would do to her if he touched her, R'chnt howled and drove harder into I'eilun-de.
Unsurprising, his opponent met his powered attack with equal force. K'Shai watched intently, worrying about what the outcome would be, and when it would be, given that both of them were similarly sized and equally as equipped to continue the match with no apparent end in sight.
It was a stalemate; a moving, slashing, whirling, metal-on-metal chinking stalemate. Both warriors were bleeding the same, both warriors were defending the same, both warriors were countering the same.
The waiting crowd, still far too silent for K'Shai's preference, spoke of the intensity of the match; the silence was an anticipation, and K'Shai knew they were anticipating that someone's head was going to roll, literally.
It was just a matter of how, when, and whose it would be. And then, it happened.
R'chnt and I'eilun-de whirred around each other, forcefully thrusting, withdrawing, spinning and clashing their blades together in a jaw-dropping powerful display.
The two of them were clearly equals in nearly every way. Then, I'eilun-de, pulling off a stunning half-twist lead in the air, landed on one knee, and sliced at R'chnt.
He knew he was well matched, there was no question. I'eilun-de was pressing hard, and performing at his maximum capability; but R'chnt could also sense that he was tiring, too. He was pressing feverishly, forcefully trying to get the upper edge, and R'chnt remained collected and composed.
It was subtle, but there was just enough of a strain on the part of his opponent that he knew the match was going to come to a close soon. When I'eilun-de dropped to his knee for the second time in the match, R'chnt was certain he was tiring, but there was also the distinct possibility he was trying to trick R'chnt to move in for the killing blow.
Unwilling to give up his winning edge, R'chnt did not attempt to strike, and this time I'eilun-de knew he would not.
His downed opponent struck so quickly R'chnt barely managed avoid serious impaling. The blade mounted under his opponent's forearm did slice his thigh deeply, and R'chnt howled and immediately countered with a clubbing attack with the hilt of his own sword.
I'eilun-de, hardly shocked by the side swiping blow doubled back and regrouped nicely, with great prowess, displaying his well-earned rank, R'chnt noticed. Then, it all fell apart.
R'chnt moved in, noticing a gap in I'eilun-de's tactic, and struck into him with a severe blow. The curved and jagged tip of his sword glided smoothly into his opponent's abdomen and locked into place with its reverse barbed tip, doing its job nicely.
I'eilun-de howled and spun around, pushing his body both off the sword tip and into R'chnt. He hit hard into R'chnt; their awu'asa clanking together dully and both dropped to the ground.
Somewhere in the fray, I'eilun-de withdrew a second, short blade with his previously unarmed hand and lodged it backwards right into R'chnt's chest.
Howling in agitation, R'chnt grappled I'eilun-de off of him, shoved him hard, nearly knocking him out of the arena, which would have ended the fight and resolved the matter at hand, though sadly, would have left his opponent alive, humiliated and forced to choose between dishonored banishment or killing himself publicly.
R'chnt much preferred to kill I'eilun-de himself, and settle this, and ideally any and all other matters on the spot. He stood up growled, sword at the ready, waiting on his opponent, who was now tiring and quickly losing composure, to regroup and try again.
I'eilun-de scrambled to his feet, away from the edge, and whistled. The crowd gasped and rumbled, some displeased by the tactic I'eilun-de was attempting, some expecting to see R'chnt falter, some too stunned by the display before them to even know who to root for.
Many, K'Shai noticed, cast their eyes towards her as she focused with a clenched jaw, watching the arena without blinking.
The narrok leapt into the arena upon her master's call. It leapt from a complete standstill up a distance of easily six or seven meters without any delay, springing up on its powerful, somewhat oversized hind limbs.
For a large and bulky creature that had the look of a bear mixed with a gorilla and the skin of dinosaur with a head crowned in horns that would instill fear into a triceratops, it was jaw-droppingly impressive to such agility.
With all the fearless power of an eaglerly trained attack dog, it jumped into R'chn't knocking him forward and biting firmly into his left shoulder. He roared loudly and bright green blood poured down onto the metal surface, running down his back and side and covering his lower leg and foot.
K'Shai gasped as audibly as the rest of the crowd. She cast her eyes worriedly to Neh'rti, as if doing so might urge the Clan Leader to intervene to stop the fight before R'chnt was killed.
The narrok snarled and shrieked a sound not too different than the terrible shrill calls that haunted her memories every time she shut her eyes. Drowning its call a moment later was a simultaneous howl of inspired victory from I'eilun-de and purely aggravated annoyance by R'chnt.
In a moment almost too fast to follow, R'chnt swung the narrok off his shoulder, over his head and sent her clattering her down belly up in front of him.
He ejected his dha'kte writst blades from his right arm while the sword he clutched in his left hand helped to hold the animal down, and powered the dual blades down through her skull. A dark stream of blood, which appeared like a deep ocean blue to K'Shai, oozed out of the animal and pooled up, running off the edge of the platform.
I'eilun-de howled in sheer rage and charged at R'chnt, who swung his sword, ready for the overhead attack leapt up, howling, and countered the assault furiously.
The kehrite floor quickly turned fluorescent green as blood poured down onto it while the two challengers pitted into each other, each wielding weapons in or on both hands.
R'chnt was bleeding heavily, the dead narrok was acting like a speed bump near the edge of the platform, and I'eilun-de's own profuse bleeding added to the nearly complete coating over the floor as the two savagely danced a death dual.
R'chnt moved quickly, avoiding a strike from I'eilun-de and in a half turn, he managed to slam his wrist blades into his opponent's abdomen, successfully impaling him just above the hip.
I'eilun-de hovered, caught off guard by the unexpected blow. R'chnt felt his own hide stinging in pain as he realized his opponent had landed the entire blade of his secondary weapon through his left side, between two ribs.
Growling deeply, R'chnt heaved and withdrew his wrist blades from his opponent's quickly limpening body and forced him to his knees.
"Challenge me for my K'Shai?" He snarled quietly as I'eilun-de huffed and spat up blood onto his toes.
"Is she…. worth this?" He asked weakly through a spattering cough.
R'chnt's eye's widened completely thrown off by the question as his opponent surveyed him, the fight completely gone from him. He raised his sword and paused.
"Yes." He responded simply, and offered his opponent a nod; a slight hint of respect that was well earned before he slammed the sword down upon the back of his neck.
In one quick strike, I'eilun-de was severed and the metal plating under R'chnt's feet pooled up with hot Yautja blood, glowing in the dusky darkness of night.
He looked around, staggering slightly from the beating and injuries, and noticed K'Shai now approaching him. With a mighty howl that filled the kehrite, the Clan city, and drowned out the silence of the crowd R'chnt displayed himself proudly, unphased by the puncture hole in his side and the blood pouring from his shoulder and abdomen.
He stood tall, bowed deeply to Neh'rti, who returned the gesture, and then hopped off the platform to greet K'Shai with an equal bow, purposefully displaying a typically well-hid submissive side before the spectating crowd.
"Come," he said simply, pulling himself tall.
He stepped down the aisle, pointedly putting her in front of him. K'Shai clenched her jaw and kept her head high, just as R'chnt did the same.
He turned and eyed some 'aseigan who were already moving in to clean the kehrite up. The crowd of spectators mostly began to part, but a few remained and simply watched the pair stand in the aisle as everyone else moved well around them.
R'chnt paid attention only to the 'aseigan and only long enough to find one of his own making his way over towards his master. R'chnt's 'aseigan had been well on the other side of the arena, so it took a few moments. K'Shai simply watched and waited.
"Take that to my dwelling." R'chnt ordered, with a nod towards the dead narrok still laying on the floor of the kehrite platform barely fifteen meters from the carcass of her master.
He said nothing further to the 'aseigan, who merely bowed and turned to tend to his assigned duties. R'chnt turned towards K'Shai, pulled his back straight, which not only made him appear proud, strong, powerful, and confident, but to K'Shai who knew well enough, knew he did it also in response to pain and exhaustion; forcing himself to posture defiantly, knowing they were both being scrutinized. K'Shai couldn't help but feel the burn of Neh'rti's glare as she stood, still looming on the overlook platform above the arena.
"Tonight," R'chnt announced with proud and unmistakable victory in his voice, "we dine on narrok meat. Come my K'Shai we shall celebrate this victory."