Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
A very light sound filtered into her head and K'Shai pressed her eyelids tightly together, inhaling deeply through her nostrils. She pressed her thumb and forefinger onto the bridge of her nose and shifted with a muffled groan until she was sitting up over the edge of the bed as she opened her eyes. Her downward gaze had affixed itself onto the source of the ticking sound; R'chnt's heel claw rapping at the stone floor as he moved across it.
The sound stopped once she shifted upright. She raised her eyes upward, scanning R'chnt's half-armored, leather bound body. In lieu of lower body armor, his legs were wrapped with leather bracers from his ankles to his knees. His armored belt panels dropped over his thighs, while his forearms were wrapped in the same type of carefully knotted leather bracers. His chest and back were wrapped in leather straps that would support weapons in the loop style sheaths upon them, but he was currently without weapons.
He was casually dressed, without hunting armor, but still prepared for a decent spar if the opportunity presented itself.
"No training today? I thought you had training today." K'Shai questioned as she situated her gaze on the window next to her, which was not in the location it should have been.
The moment she spoke, she realized she was not where she should have been. R'chnt was obviously casually relaxed, carrying his daughter in his arms as she slept, but they were not home. She looked around the room and R'chnt simply stood and sturdy and surveyed her in silence while K'Shai evaluated her situation.
She was in a comfortable bed; larger than the one she had become accustomed to. The room they were in was larger, and far more ornately decorated with the traditional skulls and bones, weapons and even jewelry; anything that impressed the hunter or caught his attention during a hunt. The giant window next to her still had the same breeze blowing in, and she could see the same colors streaking across the sky as with any other Yautja dawn, but the scents were different and the sounds were drastically different.
There was no clamor of a full city echoing up; no sounds of Yautja growling voices or roars of effort from spars. K'Shai could not hear metal chiking of weapons banging together, or dull thuds of things hitting the stone pillars or ground. She did not perceive any of the hustle and bustle of a city full of people who required almost no sleep; so much like her former residence of Earth that was a city that never slept. She had simply learned to tune out the busy sounds of traffic and voices at all hours of the night then, just as she had learned to tune out the sounds of the Yautja city very quickly.
Now, though, for all its similiarities, the space she was in was so different that she found herself holding her breath just to try tune in the sounds that were absent. She could only hear animals; lots of animals howling, barking like dogs. She could hear the high-pitched chirps that one might think were coming from birds; she did at first.
The noises were from a small reptilian creature that looked like a gecko, but hopped like a grasshopper and chirped with all the happy splendor of a canary. She could hear insects rubbing their legs or wings together to generate various tones of hums as they called to one another, and of course the caws and cackles of the many variety of birds. She definitely heard sounds like raspy barking.
"Where are we?" She asked finally as she returned her gaze to R'chnt once again.
He tipped his head sideways slightly, gazing at her quizzically as if surprised by her question. His tone in response was equally as quizzical, and a little humored.
"Home, K'Shai. This is home."
She furrowed her brow and looked again to her right; shifting her long black beaded hair away from her hazel eyes, so her view was unencumbered as she rose out of the gold colored satin-leather sheets. She strode softly over to the glass-less window in the side of the white-stone walled structure and peered out onto a very different view than she had grown used to. The massive waterfalls in the distance that roared with a deeper fury than the mighty Niagara were gone. She could see only trees in its place, and she was not looking at the tops of them from a high hilltop view.
Instead, she was looking up at the tops of the trees and as she looked down, she realized there was only about twelve meters or so to the ground below the window. The trees looked the same as she had become familiar with; giant deep green leaves large enough to wrap twice around her body, with purple veins and large grape-like cluters of massive white and pink flowers that would each give way to satchels of highly nutritious seed nuts. The deep geen grass below the window swayed easily in the gentle breeze, catching the morning sunlight off the whitish tips of each blade.
She turned back to R'chnt, questioning him with her gaze; a look he knew well enough that he simply answered without any verbal cue.
"This is my home."
K'Shai widened her eyes and then squinted her lids together quickly before she continued on scanning the oval room. She found her feet, guided by her curiosity as if beyond her control, slowly making their way across the room, past R'chnt and A'ryin'di, and out of the door frame. She gazed her way around another elaborately decorated, oval shaped room, taking note of sitting furniture; leather wrapped, padded, sturdy wood framed chairs large enough for her to consider loveseats, tables, cabinetry, furry hide carpenting, plateware, stocked platters of food on one tall table along the wall.
It was a proper living room, fit for any house regardless of planet. It was comfortable and warm, and heavily decorated in trophies worthy of an elder such as R'chnt. To the back right of the room was another connected round room; this one was a familiar kehrite and she could see a rack of training spears on one wall. She paid it no mind as she scanned her eyes towards another arching door frame towards the back left.
She walked across the living space towards the door and stopped and gaped in awe. She turned back to R'chnt, who simply stared on at her. He knew she surveyed the sights before her in every new situation she was in for their beauty as a hunter would survey terrains for potential sources of danger, hiding places for prey, and various paths for travel. To K'Shai, the beauty of a place seemed to more important and she, without fail, would stare and gasp and whisper her praises of every little detail of what she saw.
Now, he watched her adopt very much the same look upon her face as she had the first time she saw the stars from outside of the cloud cover of her own world. It was the same look she had when she stepped into the jag'd'atoll and the same look she had over and over during the last few weeks on Yaut. He imagined that it was a look that she would bear fairly often as he exposed her to all manner of new planets and stars and beasts and spectacles. Such things, he thought; how they amazed her so.
She turned from him again and stepped out of the doorway onto a marble-esque stone terrace before a familiar drop of stairs that descended the entire way to the ground. Just as grand and bright and brilliant as the entrances to the mei'sa pyramids, and some of the more important buildings around the clan city itself, was the main entrance to R'chnt's home. Like any Yautja abode, the main terrace and stairs to the entry were situated on what most humans would consider the back of the house; with either no, or only a small entrance from the front.
At the mei'sa, the sprawling main entry of any of the five main pyramid buildings all faced towards the massive grassy lawns of the rolling hillside courtyard that served as both training arena and playground for the youth. R'chnt's home as she had come to know it thus far, opened up to face the stone terraces between the buildings of the entire complex that was adorned with scattered training arenas of various sizes and proper to the needs of Blooded hunters, unlike the vast open spaces of the mei'sa.
As K'Shai stepped out onto the white stone patio of R'chnt's home, she gazed in what seemed like never-ending awe at a vastly different sight before her. Like some rolling estate, the view stretched before her in the form a neatly tended lawn of bright green, white-tipped grass in a long strip wider than the large mansion-sized home before which she stood. The main stretch of grounds disappeared out of her sight at a slight drop far in the distance.
A tree line of tall, giant-leaved mighty trunks marked the edge of the jungle to her left. To the right K'Shai eyed a stream, a few feet wide that flowed just meters from the edge of the house. It ran some distance away where it dropped out of sight over a rock face. K'Shai could just hear the running-water sounds that could only identify a waterfall, though surely nowhere near the one from the clan city.
The barking noises that had echoed in through the windows had grown louder and far more deliberate as she stepped outside. She scanned the treeline, as if the animals she heard were running freely in the jungle and might jump out at any minute. She surveyed the edge of the jungle long enough that R'chnt stepped forward, bumping in behind her and clamping one hand over her shoulder in a reassuring fashion.
"I don't understand, R'chnt? I thought we were at your home already?"
He chuckled quickly, softly.
"K'Shai! When I am in the Clan, that is my home. When I am not, this is."
She glanced up widely at him and then cracked a brimming smile as she returned her gaze to the beautifully colored dawn sky, the bright grass, the gentle breeze, the soothing sounds of the waterfall.
"Well, I like this a whole lot more!"
She stepped down the steps confidently and marched through the lawns, evaluating the stream and it's rocky footing and the jungle on both sides of the property. She glanced to R'chnt, who followed along in silence carrying A'ryin'di in his arms just often enough as her instinctual maternal nature told her to assess the needs of her offspring. R'chnt watched her gaze around her, suck in the sights, and still turn a careful eye to her baby.
Even though she rested safely in his arms, there was still apparently a need for K'Shai to feel alarmed. Why, he could not be sure. She was safe, the child was safe; this was his home. This was the stately abode that he had earned for his age, experience, trophies, mates, status, and abilities. He watched K'Shai explore the terrain, following along casually behind her at enough distance to allow her to explore for herself until she had walked the entire length of the stream until it curved into the jungle, which she did not enter.
Instead, she turned her attention across the grassy lawns and began the march clear across to the other side. K'Shai glanced to the jungle every time the wind blew a leaf, or a creature flew or leapt from a limb. She seemed wary, highly alert; which was both good and bad, R'chnt thought. It was, of course, prudent for any hunter to be hyper aware of their surroundings at all times, always, but K'Shai seemed agitated.
He chittered a slow tone from time to time, attempting to reassure K'Shai that she was a new, but safe, place. The sound soothed A'ryin'di, but did little to sooth K'Shai. She would stop and glance to him, offer him a thin smile, but return to her wary watching of her surroundings with jumpy skittishness in a moment.
Finally, they reached the other side of the expanse. K'Shai thought, that if not for the soft swaying grass that barely reached past her ankles, the field they had just walked around could have easily been some kind of crop field. Her mind drifted to thoughts of walking through dying fields of corn and beans that seemed to stretch on endlessly while she and her friends did all they could to survive.
This grass, so sweet smelling and soft, she thougth about removing her sandals just to feel it under her toes, was nothing like those lifeless fields of unattending crops on a world ravaged by the hard meat, but the size of the field was at least similar. It was like a massive courtyard that stretched for a mile behind R'chnt's home, and easily covered a quarter of that distance from end to end, with a stream and jungle on one side, jungle at the far end, and more jungle on the other long side they approached now.
"What is that sound, R'chnt?" She said as she slowed down at the edge of the jungle, noticing a wide dirt path between the trees that was clearly intentionally constructed.
"Ch'huk," he responded simply.
K'Shai glanced at him quizzicly.
"What is a…." she started to ask, but then turned away from the question as her attention was directed back to the path in the jungle.
The raspy barking sounds echoed numerously, growing so loud so quickly that K'Shai could barely hear herself speak. She alertly tip toed onto the trail head and walked warily along the path until she stopped and stared at the sight before her with a gaping jaw. She glanced wide-eyed to R'chnt who looked on with a relaxed jaw; tusks neatly folded.
She looked back and scanned the buildings before her more carefully as she crept around them warily.
"These are barns." She mumbled to herself as she looked at the single-level smutty white units before her.
There were three, each one looking like a staccato bungalow. They were all separated by several hundred feet and behind each one was a fenced off section of jungle. The far end of the fence line disappeared out of view, but the three paddocks shared fencelines between them. The fencing looked like thick metal plating with small holes, not like any kind of animal fencing she had ever seen, and nothing like the wall around the mei'sa which had the look of concrete at initial glance.
The raspy barking of the ch'huk continued to echo, louder and louder and more and more as K'Shai inspected the small buildings, but did not enter. Suddenly, as she walked between the middle the furthest building, a door opened suddenly at the front of the unit and she jumped. R'chnt growled from a few dozen feet behind her and K'Shai barely met the eyes of an 'aseigan before his dropped to the ground. The 'aseigan stared down with so much force, it was as if his eyes were made of weights, pulling his head, neck, and shoulders along with them until he was practically furled in two.
He was scrawny and gangly and two things were immediately apparent to K'Shai. He was young, barely beyond what a human would consider a teenager, and he was terrified. R'chnt immediately berated him for disturbing them. The reprimand came so fast and so angrily it caught K'Shai off guard. The 'aseigan scampered away the moment he had a chance, trying to avoid the fury of hs elder owner. K'Shai had the distinct idea that had R'chnt's hands not been preoccupied carrying his child, he very well may have beaten or killed the 'aseigan for doing nothing more than appearing out of a doorway.
R'chnt reiterated a warning to the young 'aseigan to remind all of them never to appear in the presence of K'Shai again; they were not to disturb the house, the child, or K'Shai in any way while she was there. The message was clearly well understood and the 'asiegan ran off looking like he realized he had just escaped with his life by pure chance.
As the 'aseigan made his way hurriedly out of sight, K'Shai finally retrieved A'ryin'di from her sire's arms. The baby stirred at the unrested growling of her father and despite being distracted, K'Shai's maternal drive kicked in. She pulled the baby in close to her chest and reassured her, swaying her hips smoothly and rubbing the baby's back with light pats until the child was quelled. While she moved about in small motions, K'Shai edged closer and closer to the heavy metal fencing, which was easily ten feet tall.
The baby settled, nuzzling her gums against her mother's breast in an unsuccessful attempt to suckle through the leather coverings over it.
"Just a little bit, Baby," K'Shai whispered with another few soft bounces to sooth A'ryin'di further.
K'Shai eyed the fence before her; solid and forboding. She did not know what a ch'huk was, but she wanted to see. The raspy barking sounds continued to echo, though the number and volume of them had quelled. She assumed the ch'huk were making them and must be some kind of dog. The high, thick fencing implied the animals were strong and probably able to jump only so far, and likely they could not climb since the paddocks were in no way covered through the jungle canopy; it was obvious there was no concern about the animals getting out over the fence.
She peered through one of the holes in the fencing, holding her breath for a moment as she did so in order to better listen to the jungle within the metal cell. From what she could see through the hole, which was almost large enough to look through with both eyes, there was nothing but vine-covered tree trunks shooting high above her head.
She shifted her position to a different viewing hole and again saw nothing but pink jungle flowers blowing softly in the breeze and vines crawling up the tree trunks. K'Shai glanced to R'chnt, who looked on, silently allowing her to explore and satisfy her curiosity, as if he could conjure up a ch'huk because she knew he knew she wanted to see one. She smirked her lips together and turned back to the viewing hole, trying a third time to spot one, when she did catch some movement that drew her attention.
Far up in the branches high above the paddock a large snake-like creature slithered its way through the leaves, wrapping its body around one extending limb as it made its way along one limb to the tip and then stretched across and caught onto another limb of an adjacent tree. The nearly white-bodied creature was not all that dissimilar to an albino python, and despite its incredible length and hefty girth, it was a gentle and non-venomous animal that fed mostly on the fist-size insects that fed on the sap produced from the flowers on the ends of the branches.
It was certainly not a ch'huk, K'Shai thought quickly so she returned to peering through the hole and between the trees looking for the mystery barking animals. Her eyes followed the leaf and twig and vine covered black dirt ground scanning for any signs of paw prints or disturbances in the brush that could be what she searched for. She tried to hone her Yautja-trained senses that R'chnt was always trying to instill in her. This would be a perfect time for some finely honed visual acuity to kick in, she thought.
Then, finally, she noticed movement between the trees and her eyes settled on the spot of the rustling bushes. She held her breath, anticipating the moment that the elusive creature finally revelaed itself, and unconsciously tighted A'ryin'di to her breast for protection, despite the massive wall of solid metal in front of her. What came into view was far beyond the size she was expected. The creature was about the size of an average grizzly bear she was quite sure. She gasped when she saw it stalk through the underbrush, stop, stretch its nose into the air and chuff out the raspy barking call.
"R'chnt! What is that?" She questioned.
"As I have said, K'Shai, it is a ch'huk."
K'Shai turned quizzically towards him as if he had not understood her question.
"Well… why are they in pens? Do you own them?"
R'chnt nodded quietly and shifted his position closer towards the fence, staring right through the sheet of metal at the animal far away in the enclosure.
"They are for my use, yes." R'chnt said, hinting that the animals, which looked rather like narrok only significantly larger, powerful, though less agile.
The animal seemed to respond to the voices beyond the metal plank fence. For a moment it silenced, then turned its heavyily horned ridged head and bellowed out a huffing bray. K'Shai found her gaze so transfixed on the animal's beak-like slotted lower jaw that she barely perceived its furious charge. The bellow was clearly warning call, and it was the only warning. The ch'huk charged immediately and caught K'Shai so off guard that she gasped and stepped back from the fence.
She heard a loud crash on the other side, barely five meters from her, that could only have been the sound of the ch'huk's powerful horns slamming into the metal plating. The animal had the power of a bull and the sheer body size of a triceratops. K'Shai quickly became unnerved at the proximity between her and the baby and the massive creature on the other side of the wall.
"What do you use them for?" She questioned sharply as she simultaneously slid behind R'chnt for more protection as if the solid metal fencing was not enough.
"Are they like…. For farming or something?"
R'chnt chuckled, drawing out a humored purr as he turned towards K'Shai and clamped a hand down on her shoulder, both supportively and directively. He assisted her in turning and departing the area as he answered her questions.
"K'Shai, they are for training. They are prey. Excellent hunting. Challenging to kill and hearty meat."
She glanced up to him but said nothing and he continued on.
"Most of the meat you have consumed has been ch'huk."
"Does everybody raise them?"
"The clan keeps a large herd for the 'aseigan to serve. Private herds like this are for the highest of elites. Only ten of us in the clan have them."
"Well, I suppose at least it's not like they're pets or something. They seem pretty aggressive."
R'chnt chortled and repeated. "They are excellent for training. Very challenging to kill."
"And you just hunt them yourself? For fun or to keep tuned up or something?"
"To train. A small group of other hunters may join me. Such as W'rsa and a few others. When there is a long span between hunts, yes, the ch'huk help keep us sharp."
"How many do you have? Have they ever gotten loose?" K'Shai began to barrage R'chnt with questions as they walked back to the house.
He realized she was obviously concerned for the safety of the offspring, given the relatively close proximity to such dangerous animals. An appropriate concern, he considered, though unwarranted. Still, it was a reflection of K'Shai's ever present and always strong motherly protectiveness. Out of the safety of the mei'sa, there were many dangers. R'chnt reassured K'Shai that they both would be safe, though he remained silently aware that it was going to ultimately fall on his shoulders to make certain of that. He was ready and prepared for such a challenge. K'Shai was strong enough as it was; some reassurance was clearly all she needed.
As he watched K'Shai settle in to the accommodations, tend to the child, explore the home and grounds, swim in the river, dine, and finally fall asleep as the rotations passed, he became ever satisfied with her condition. By the third rotation, he found her back to her normal self, smiling contentedly as she felt the warm waters of the river run over her shoulders while she laid back on a rock.
He walked to her, wading into the shallow stream which barely blanketed his ankles and approached the large flat rock bed under the waterfall that had quickly become K'Shai's favorite spot to bask in the sun. She had told him she found the sound of the water dropping down onto the rocky surface soothing. Clearly, judging by her change in demeanor as each rotation passed and she grew more comfortable, she was well soothed.
She barely bothered to open her eyes just enough to offer him a quick glance and return to resting her elbow over her eyes. She groaned gently and shifted slightly on the rock as he stepped in next to her and squatted down. He purred softly and placed his plam lightly on her branded body, stroking her from her chest to her thigh in a slow sweep. K'Shai's lips pressed into an amused smile and as R'chnt's hand tickled past a sensitive area, she busted out in a bellowing laugh.
Without a spoken word, R'chnt simply spread his tusks into a smile and continued to survey K'Shai as she gripped his hand and then proceeded to carefully inspect his hands and fingers. She ran her own fingers over his hands, through his fingers, stroking them lightly and simply staring at them with a happy grin on her face as she traced his faded gray speckles and stroked her hands lightly up his arms.
R'chnt bowed his mighty head towards her and gently groped her fragile skin with his powerful tusks, carefully dragging them from her well-healing shoulder over her breasts and down to her belly. K'Shai took a deep breath and exhaled with a gasping groan, bringing one knee up as she returned his groping gesture and ran her hands over the sensitive quills along his jaw. R'chnt responded in stimulated return with a playful purr. He stroked her more firmly, but still carefully. He ran his hands over her body, growing both more fevered and more firm with every stroke, but he still remained warily careful with her.
He did not wish to push her too hard again; the proper Yautja mating was done. There was no need for any type of display now; he just wanted to enjoy the feel of her around his shaft once again. He stroked his hands gently over her shoulders, tracing just between the black-branded tattoos on her body and the dissolving purplish yellow bruises around her bite wounds; carefully handling her in those sensitive areas to reassure her that he was not going to harm her, and to confirm with her that he could still touch her.
She braced up at first, as he touched her, but after a few gentle strokes, K'Shai relaxed and eased her body. She sat upright next to him and spent a long while carefully inspecting his body with her hands before moving in closer to him and pressing her lips agains his skin. In a moment K'Shai, devoid of her chest coverings, was straddled over R'chnt's lap. He dropped down onto the rock and absorbed her touch, growing ever more aroused by the feel of her wet, warm body pressed against him.
There was an irresistible appeal to her sweet, soft, warm skin; the scent of her body and hair now so very much infused with Yautja aromas it made her an enticing combination of alien and familiar. Though it had been six rotations since they last mated, entirely too long in R'chnt's opinion, K'Shai, in a moment had returned to the vigorous passionate lust he had come to expect in her. She was swooning, gasping and huffing in time with his every touch, as her body heated and flared up before him like a beast that needed to be quelled.
R'chnt heaved deeply, emitting a low, aroused rumble that communicated to K'Shai without words or physical touch. K'Shai stretched her body against R'chnt's, pressed her lips into him, reached down and removed his loin coverings and toppled slowly atop his body as he leaned back along the rock.
He remained still for her, allowing her to explore and arouse his body as she so pleased, simply enjoying the pleasures of her touch and the feel of her wetness growing as he ran his hand between her legs. She grappled his hardness, stroking it so firmly and feverishly it made him want to roll his eyes ino the back of his head. His tusks spread apart in pure enjoy
She was ready; a perfectly conflicting combination of relaxed and aroused and as she heated up, she moaned and hummed and announced her desires to be satisfied until he could not contain himself anymore. He growled deeply and shifted his body, pushing K'Shai off his lap as he positioned himself on his knees. Without any hesitation, K'Shai turned her back towards him and knelt before him.
He roared mutedly and grappled her, drawing her back into his stomach as he stretched her body over his and inserted himself into her. She moaned in satisfied pleasure as she settled her wetness over his shaft. The pair lost themselves in each other's body heat and panted breaths until each one in turn howled delight at the tingling eruption within their bodies.
K'Shai, satiated and relaxed, moved out from under the showering mist from the waterfall and returned to the grassy shore where she seated herself next to the baby, tending to her needs as they both relaxed on the shore in the company of R'chnt, who, rather like a lion overseeing his pride, remained alertly protective of mother and child.
He remained in such a way for rotation after rotation, watching over K'Shai and their offspring, surveying her for anything amiss. Slowly, he restarted her training from the basics that she well knew, and watched her progress quickly into more and more dififcult and new maneuvers. K'Shai delved into sparring training with full vigor, which pleased R'chnt. She started taking more and more to weapons training and he would often find her at practice on her own accord. If she was not tending the child or working on her sparring, she was almost certainly exploring the terrain.
R'chnt and K'shai explored together, as he noted that she was obviously most comfortable with him, as was the next time she more fully explored the ch'huk pens and one of the beasts charged the barrier.
"I don't know how you hunt those!" K'Shai said in a gasping breath as she reeled away from the spot where a massive slamming sound had just echoed.
"K'Shai," R'chnt grumbled dismissively. "You have faced the hard meat. Ch'huk are for simple training; they are far easier to kill."
"They look they are made out of solid metal as thick as that fence. You must have to kill them with a cannon."
He chuckled again.
"They are for spear training K'Shai!"
She looked at him with her wide-eyed gaze that he immediately knew meant she was doubting such a thing could be accomplished, and further, that she could not do it. He curiously watched her as they continued to explore the grounds around the pens and the finally out into the jungle, following the river the whole time. They moved slowly, as K'Shai was still familiarizing herself with the terrain, which also meant stopping to inspect every plant and flower and insect and animal they encountered whenever possible.
He used the time, instead of getting annoyed at the slow progress they were making, to instead simply contemplate her behavior and ponder what had happened in the rotations prior that had made her so upset. She seemed utterly content now, as she sat with A'ryin'di and nursed, and then started up again to continue exploring. She still continually doubted her own abilities yet they were proven and growing. He wondered why, and contemplated if such things were simply human nature.
It seemed that back on her own world, she did not have such doubts and fears, but such thoughts only seemed to plague her, along with the nightmares that disturbed her sleep, only after the war had been completed and she was safer than ever on the Clan ship and now on the home world.
"Look at these!" K'Shai called to him, disturbing him from his thoughts as he held still while crouched on a large boulder.
He tipped his head and surveyed her as she approached, A'ryin'di in one arm and her other hand was occupied by a small collection of nu'ja berries.
"These are blueberries!" K'Shai said excitedly and then returned her gaze to the berries in her hand when he did not respond.
"I mean… they look like blueberries."
He spread his tusks into an amused grin.
"K'Shai! Those are nu'ja. They are not for eating."
She looked at him suspiciously, certain that he did not understand what a blueberry was, and absolute in her belief that the fruit she had in her hand was indeed them. She tenderly sniffed the fruits again to verify her assumption, and then held one between her thumb and forefinger, carefully biting into it despite R'chnt.
Her face lit up and she smiled at him.
"Blueberries!" She exclaimed, then paused. "Well, sort of… the inside is really yellow. And they're a lot harder. They do taste a little different. But they're pretty much blueberries."
After eating just a few, the taste of them convinced her that maybe R'chnt was right and the fruits, despite looking like blueberries, were not for eating. By the time they returned to the home for some rest, K'Shai was feeling quite unwell, and was grateful to find the home empty while she spent a solid half hour hovering over the wash drain in the bathroom.
"Where are the 'aseigan, anyway?" She asked as she finally felt well enough to pull herself up off the floor.
R'chnt, who had been standing nearby in case she needed assistance, while holding A'ryin'di, helped her up. "They are obeying my orders. They have been told only to enter the home when no one else is inside. I have warned them to remain out of sight and away from you."
She glanced at him in surprise, but then smiled, realizing his commands to the 'aseigan were for her own safety.
"I'm going to go lay down. I'll take her, I'm sure she could use a rest, too." K'Shai retrieved the baby from his arms and disappeared down the corridor to the bed chamber.
R'chnt prepared himself drink and meat and headed to the terrace. As he sat and watched the suns move across the sky, listening to the animals chirp and howl and call from the jungles surrounding his home, he realized that he had never had his home so quiet. He nearly always had at least one, if not ten, fellow hunters to spar with at any one time at his home. They would stay for days and nights, and together, the Yautja would train, spar, and hunt. Somehow, though, the difference, just felt right, and he absorbed the quiet, and considered his sleeping mate and child.
It caught him by surprise, then, when the nearby computer beeped, alerting R'chnt that his perimeter sensors had been activated by the resonance frequency of a transport pad. Someone was approaching; an uninvited visitor.
He turned and watched the transport pad approach from down the path, stop at a respectful distance and the sole passenger aboard the pad depart. R'chnt found himself quite surprised by who the visitor was. S'aruch-de made a proper greeting to R'chnt, well aware that he was being watched by the wary elder the moment he so much as entered the surveillanced property limits.
"I will speak straightly," S'aruch-de started upon the questioning growl that accompanied the more-tightly-than-common-courtesy hand clamp onto his shoulder from R'chnt.
"I came to find out how K'Shai is doing?"
R'chnt eyed him suspiciously, paused and thought back to a question he had once intended to ask S'aruch-de and did not have the chance, then turned and gestured them both onto the terrace. S'aruch-de remained proper and respectful; paying just enough attention to R'chnt's trophies to acknowledge their value and by default, his power and status. It was a careful and calculated gesture that did not go unnoticed. In every way possible, he was trying to convey to R'chnt upmost respect, the slightest bit of fear, and also an obviously unwavering concern for K'Shai. R'chnt could not understand the nature of such a concern.
"K'Shai is resting now," R'chnt started as he sat into his large chair and poured another mug of drink. S'aruch-de seated himself in the smaller chair just to R'chnt's left and likewise poured a drink upon R'chnt's subtle acknowledgement that he may do so.
Knowing full well that her immediate status was not exactly what S'aruch-de was inquiring about, R'chnt continued, filling him in on facts, though he was not sure quite why.
"She has been doing well. Each day, she seems to grow more content. The child is growing larger and larger, crawling now, actually."
S'aruch-de looked at him in surprise, clearly astonished that such a young suckling would be crawling already. It was unheard of, and R'chnt knew well that A'ryin'di was growing far differently than any Yautja child.
"K'Shai tends to her carefully and trains and explores the grounds and jungle."
S'aruch-de remained quiet, his eyes scanned the wide, skull adorned door frame just past the both of them, then shifted across the grounds as well. He listened quietly as R'chnt detailed what was clearly K'Shai's curious nature; everything from the first time she saw a ch'huk to her daily exploration of the jungle and how she must stop to inspect or otherwise chase, catch or survey every different form of bug and bird and leaf on the planet.
"She will make a fine hunter some day, of that I have no doubt. She certainly has a natural drive to familiarize herself with her environment." R'chnt chuckled. "Even if not in her best interest."
After a brief moment of silence, he looked S'aruch-de in the eye.
"Why are you here? What is your concern of K'Shai?"
"She is… unique." He answered simply.
For a flicker of a moment, R'chnt was sure that S'aruch-de was nothing more than an interested party; yet another neck for him to sever. He tensed up, alert and ready and S'aruch-de very clearly picked up on the h'dui-se filling the air. In a short moment, R'chnt was sure he could see the blacks of S'aruch-de's eyes before they were quickly diverted towards the floor and as he tempered himself and collected his thoughts, he decided a different approach could be necessary.
He growled a low rumble deep in his throat before he spoke, and the sound accompanied the words out, making his already baritone voice drop another pitch.
"You are a young…. But well accomplished hunter, S'aruch-de. Your trophies and scars speak for themselves of your accomplishments. You are well on your way to becoming a Leader one day if you so desire; though you prefer to hunt alone, it may not be something you choose to do."
R'cht paused again and S'aruch-de said nothing.
"I once asked you if you have ever seen a human before," he continued. "You said you had never hunted on Earth before the war. But you did not say you had not seen a human. Speak straightly, then, S'aruch-de. Why are you here?"
Shifting in his seat and trying to figure out where to look exactly, it was obvious that S'aruch-de was about to enter into uncomfortable territory.
"I admire your boldness, R'chnt." He finally responded. "Of course, I know of your feats, your hunts, your status. You are an Honored Elder. There are few who would dare challenge you. Maybe someone else bold, someone cocky, someone too ignorant to know better. The prey you hunt," he glanced around the weapons and trinkets and skulls that adorned the terrace and continued on.
"…the trophies and your own scars; they are all testament to your fierceness. But K'Shai; I think she is your greatest testament to that. To bring her here, for what she is; it is far braver than I could ever have been. I admire it. And you. And her."
R'chnt shifted this time. "S'aruch-de, what exactly is this about? What do you know?"
"I know I never could have brought her here; brought a human home to Yaut. I know that she is yours. I do not mean as nehpti or even as a trophy. I mean that her heart – her very soul – is yours, and yours to protect. And this you must."
R'chnt bristled and surged with conflicting responses. His tempered rationale kept him seated instead of immediately leaping from his chair and pommeling S'aruch-de for such words. R'chnt thought about it for a moment longer, realizing that there was nothing but genuine concern for K'Shai in his statements. S'aruch-de was not implying that R'chnt was unable to care for K'Shai, he simply seemed to be relating to the situation somehow, with a hint of regret and perhaps jealousy in his voice.
S'aruch-de continued.
"She is strong; that much is obvious. But she is more delicate than you realize. She is not Yautja, R'chnt, and no matter how powerful she may be, she will always need your care, support, and protection. You must always protect her, Leader."
The way he emphasized the idea of protecting K'Shai gave R'chnt pause. It was not a natural notion for any Yautja to think of protecting others. Besides females protecting their young until they were mature enough to commit to hunting training, the Yautja were not by nature protective of each other. It was known, natural, and accepted that each Yautja mut live their own Path guided by the Gods and meet whatever fate in whatever way, as was chosen for them. The Honorable Yautja met that fate vigorously, not timidly, not by hiding behind another.
It was one thing for a group of hunters to work as a team, but quite a different thing for a hunter to specifically alter tactics to save another; especially if such a thing would put his own life at risk.
Yet, from all he had seen and knew of the human race, their beliefs were the exact opposite. He had witnessed and lived it first hand; how the humans grouped together for protection and relied upon one another. He watched individuals face fire, destruction, weaponry, and the hard meat, risking his own life to attempt to save another.
As he thought about it, he realized his only reaction to such a thing was to think how stupid it was; the life of the weak was meant to be claimed by the gods. Yet, he knew that K'Shai was far from weak although she relied on him, and now here was S'aruch-de confirming such things. Then, it occurred to R'chnt.
"You speak of such things, how could you know this of her? Has she discussed this with you?" He grumbled, his voice carefully bordering between jealousy anger and insulted rebuttal.
S'aruch-de clearly picked up on the tone as he shifted uncomfortably before responding.
"I know, because I have … experience with such matters."
R'chnt fell silent and still, surveying the one-eyed, scar-faced hunter before him. S'aruch-de was a prominent hunter, just a bit beyond half of his age, but well on his way to a solid position in the Clan. He had endured a mighty injury during the Earth war, but prevailed and proved his bloodlines worthy of breeding this season.
"Explain." R'chnt stated simply.
S'aruch-de puffed up his chest, inhaling slowly, as if taking a moment to mentally prepare himself for a trying pattern of exercises. He tensed and braced his body, looked around to scan his surroundings.
"R'chnt, I almost always hunt alone. You know this?"
He nodded. "You currently stand in a good position to become Leader yourself now, S'aruch-de, if you were to choose."
S'aruch-de offered nothing more than a flick of a tusk; the equivalent of a dismissive hand wave.
"I have always preferred hunting alone. After my own training and Blooding, I could not wait to be able to go alone, do things my own way, and learn my own way. I was proud and bullheaded, not terribly unlike any other youngblood. But, unlike most other youngbloods, I had been privileged enough to be granted my own shuttle after four days of trials.
"It was not terribly big at all, but it was mine. I spent most of the first few weeks simply making repairs to it, and of course, giving special care to the trophy display case."
S'aruch-de reminisced proudly, while R'chnt remained silent.
"When it was ready finally, I took to the stars, absolutely certain I would hunt every form of dangerous prey in the universe and return to the Clan with my trophies and take mates. And, for a few months, I certainly did just that. I hunted. I hunted for meat and prize and from planet to planet I survived with little more than minor scrapes. Hardly worthy of a hunter's glory, but still good hunting.
Then, I decided I needed more of a challenge."
He paused and R'chnt waited during the rather long wait, stiffening his shoulders and clenching his tusks together.
"I did something only a fool would do."
"You went to hunt humans," R'chnt filled in the blank.
S'aruch-de nodded deeply, almost a little embrassed.
"I had barely been a Blooded hunter for a year. Truth be told, now that I know better, my Leader was not even that capable of a teacher." S'aruch-de chuffed. "I barely knew what I was doing and had only hunted the hard meat once, and found no comparable prey. But the human world was very close to where I was hunting and I was ready. Or so I believed."
"As I entered into the system…"
S'aruch-de paused again, reminiscing of the events in his own head with a "that was the dumbest thing I've ever done" type of glimmer in his eyes.
"… I realized entirely too late that I had failed to keep up on the maintenance needs of the shuttle before I left the last hunting. The indicator light for the heat array had malfunctioned once before, and when it turned on again, I disregarded it. A simple bad sensore. There was nothing wrong with the heat array, because that I did fix two worlds before.
And then, just as Earth grew large in my portal and I was surveying the cartography for a good hunting place, the heat array started on fire. I could not suppress it in time and by the time I had managed to tackle it at all, the fire took out the engine. The shuttle was pulled down onto the planet in a blaze.
To this day," he chuffed again, "I still have no idea what happened exactly. I just remember feeling extremely hot inside the shuttle and watching the mountains of the world become entirely too close entirely too fast."
"When I woke up, I was in a small structure. Of course, I could barely move and I was in tremendous pain. My first reaction was that I had been captured, and was being restrained and sedated. I was sure the animals that inhabited that world were going to torture me while I was injured.
As I gathered my thoughts more, I took in my surroundings. It was quiet and warmed with a fire. There was a flask of water and a tray of meat next to me. My wounds, which I realized fairly quickly were severe, were clean, wrapped… my broken leg was supported with wooden rods strapped to me.
I realized I could not move because… well…I could not move. Not because I was restrained, but because I had many broken bones and it hurt to even breathe. My armor had been placed carefully in a corner within easy reach. It was badly damaged, and I was too weak upon waking up to even care about trying to signal the homeworld for someone to come get me. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have anyway, because the whole thing was too embarrassing. The mighty hunter forgot to address an issue and crashed and nearly got himself killed. It was not exactly something I wanted to report to the Clan.
So, I waited. I waited for anything to happen. I kept my spear near me, and I just waited. And when I could wait no longer, I slipped back into unconsciousness. For rotations, this would happen. I would wait for whoever was holding me, but each time I awoke again, there was fresh food, fresh water, fresh bandages.
Finally, I was able to remain awake long enough to come eye to eye with my caretaker."
S'aruch-de gave a long, uncomfortable pause and R'chnt allowed him all the time. It was obvious that he was drawing a painful memory that went far beyond the physical pain of some broke bones.
"She was beautiful." S'aruch-de finally whispered.
"She tended to me. Carefully. For days, for weeks. She kept me hidden away from her own clan in that little hut near the river, because she said I was safer there. Can you believe that, R'chnt? She wanted to protect me. I was the mighty hunter and here was this little tiny human barely one third my size and she was worried about my safety and protection.
At first, in truth, it offended me. Who was this creature thinking I even needed her help? She should have left me there to die. But as the rotations passed, and she never failed to check in on me with each one, I realized she meant me no insult at all. She was simply doing what she thought was best for me."
S'aruch-de spoke slowly as painful memories surfaced. He spoke as though each word brought him agony. R'chnt could hear embarrassment, regret, and pain in his voice, but S'aruch-de continued on, and R'chnt absorbed the tale he told.
"She taught me her language and when I was strong enough she escorted me through the countryside, helped me find my way. She even brought me to my ship; or what was left of it. I do not know how I survived; or why. And I certainly do not know how she managed to get me all the way to that hut by herself." He stopped for a moment and quieted, then, thoughtfully reminscient with a whispered tone of deep pain, he continued on.
"I could fit her entire head, neck, and part of her shoulders in my single hand, and yet she got me so far away from that crash, safely, to hide and care for me when she had no idea what or who I was or what I would do upon awaking.
It seems like pure stupidity, but one thing I learned is how in stupidity, there is immense strength, and in immense strength there is also great stupidity."
R'chnt said nothing. He tusks were tightly clenched and he stared nearly unblinking at the incredible story, waiting for S'aruch-de to simply continue at his own pace. Clearly there was more to tell, he was sure. He had never heard of another Yautja who had such an experience on Earth, and vaguely wondered if S'aruch-de had even told anyone.
"R'chnt, I lost track of time in those hills with her. She was incredible. She was a warrior, a tracker, a gatherer. She could farm the land and hunt her prey and it was months before I even realized that was she was living two lives."
R'chnt tipped his head curiously.
"She was hiding me, protecting me. She would be gone for many hours every day. I usually only saw her at night." He paused. "Protecting me? Can you imagine? She believed she needed to protect me. But it was me that was supposed to protect her." He growled in an angered tone before composing himself and continuing.
"One day, she took me on a walk through the hills and valleys of the land and we came to an overlook. Her clan was there, just down a very worn path that she had been walking every single day to watch over me while I healed. 'They cannot find you,' she had said to me. Her concern was that her Clan would not tolerate me. She feared for my life. I could not understand how she could take it upon herself to save me, help me, protect me. That evening, as we were walking back towards the hut, she tripped and fell."
S'aruch-de's gaze changed as he paused again in his tale. He was no longer even looking at anything physically in front of him; his eyes were focused on a distant memory far in the back of his mind.
"It was minor, but I… for reasons I cannot understand… reached down to catch her. She landed backwards into my arms and her head pressed against my chest. For months she had been caring for me, changing bandages, bringing me food. I walked with her, I even sparred with her and taught and trained her as I grew stronger; and yet, until that night, I never really touched her. When she shifted backwards like that into me, and I inhaled her scents, felt her soft skin… it was like she overpowered me.
I lost all my will and we mated. That night and every night there after. I did not even try to repair my communications console. I simply wanted to be with her….."
His voice drifted again.
"… she was so beautiful. So fine and delicate and strong and honorable. So much like your K'Shai. So much more honorable than a fool like me."
"As it happened; inevitable it was, I suppose; I was discovered. Her clan came for me and she… she did not want me to hurt them. She pleaded for me to simply leave. We would leave together. She was willing to abandon her people simply to be with me and protect me from them and protect them from me.
So we fled.
We remained in hiding in the hills for three days before they found us. I was with her. We were bathing. She was in my arms. She was smiling about something, and now I cannot remember what our discussion was. I cannot recall ever before feeling so intoxicated by a female. I was lost in that moment, just holding her. I never saw her clan approach. I was not paying attention. I was not protecting her.
When the arrow was cast, it pierced through her so hard that I felt the tip of it against my chest before I even realized what had happened. She died in my arms in that river."
There was a lengthy pause. R'chnt remained quiet, certain that there was more to the story, and waited again for it to continue.
"The river turned to her blood and still I held motionless, cradling her; stunned by what had happened. Finally I turned on the approaching group. There were ten humans, maybe twelve. Each one of them met my wrath in return for their deeds. With my bare hands, I tore them all apart.
By the time the evening fell, I had tended to her body, and I sat watching the skinless corpses of the group of her clan, debating between returning to my ship to make repairs and finally call for a return vessel, or simply staying on that spot until I died.
I suppose I should have done either one of those things, for they both would have been better options than the path I followed that night."
R'chnt moved, for the first time in what he realized was mostly the entire length of the tale S'aruch-de unfolded before him. Casting him a questioning gaze that S'aruch-de clearly understood, he continued on.
"You see, R'chnt, I have no honor. None. All of these years, I have hunted and gained position and status, but I am a fool and unworthy. Had I been an honored Yautja, I would have found my vengeance there that day by the river. Had I been smart, I would have done what she needed of me in the first place. I would have protected her the same as she tried to protect me.
What I did that night assured that Cetanu will never call for him to be amongst the honored dead. I will spend my eternity in the place for Yautja lower than eto. For I did not satiate myself with the blood of the ones that killed her. I did what no honorable hunter who dares call themselves Yautja would do.
I returned to the village that night and I took my revenge.
I killed them."
R'chnt eyed S'aruch-de warily before finally asking with a deep grit in his voice. "Killed who?"
The Yautja, intimidating in size, with his well appointed variety of armor, weapons, and trophy sashes, suddenly took on a look of embarrassment, unworthiness; a look the 'aseigan commonly adopted as they submitted to anyone stronger. It was a look that conveyed that they were simply ashamed of not being a proper Yautja. S'aruch-de's voice dropped into a hush.
"All of them." He said barely above a whisper.
He remained silent for a moment, then finally looked R'chnt directly in the eye and clarified.
"I went to the village that night. I killed all of them. Every last one. Male, female, child, elder. They all met my wrath that night, and I…. I have not been an Honorable Yautja since then. I have hunted and received honors I do not deserve, and I have been silent on this matter for nearly two centuries. I have never told this tale to anyone, and I have certainly never been back to Earth.
When I was finally picked up, after I got my communications transmitter repaired, I told a tale of poor hunting, and an unworthy world with unworthy prey, and had it not been for the engine failure, I would have overlooked the planet entirely. I lied, and I continued to lie every day from then until now to you, R'chnt.
I could never have been as brave as you, to bring her here. You brought K'Shai here; you stood beside her and petitioned for her to join the Clan and you have defended and cared for her, and even adopted some of her customs; you open your home to her and the offspring. You are far braver and mightier than I could have ever been.
But you must know that I was a fool. I failed to protect her. You must not let that happen with K'Shai. She is strong, but she is also weak. She will always rely on you for protection. She is not like a Yautja. She will not think or act or do the same as a female Yautja and she cannot be treated as such. She is special; unique. This is your duty."
Flaring slightly at the subtle accusation that he was incapable or ignorant of the tasks and challenges he was faced with, R'chnt considered all that he had just heard, and silently pondered his next action. S'aruch-de had confessed a crime that would warrant him being cast as bad blood, hunted down and killed. He was not the warrior R'chnt had come to understand he was, for he had kept his tale hidden and had committed such an offense in the first place. S'aruch-de waited in as motionless quiet as R'chnt, simply waiting for any type of response.
Angered by the dishonor of the hunter before him, a part of R'chnt wanted to cast the hunter down and notify the arbitrators to come handle the matter of the bad blood in the Clan. Considering his own feelings towards K'Shai, and imagining if she was harmed, R'chnt also could find himself understanding S'aruch-de's actions. It was an unusual internal conflict that R'chnt could not settle in the silence there on the terrace as the second sun set.
Finally, he considered, what if S'aruch-de was right? What if he had wrongfully simply presumed that K'Shai would be, act, and do, as a Yautja female would and her breakdown had been pushed upon her by him and his own ignorance. In trying to protect her, he was breaking her. In trying to
The silence was broken, but not as S'aurch-de, nor R'chnt, had expected.
"What was her name?" K'Shai asked in a teary whisper.
Both Yautja males jumped, startled. They both rose to their feet in surprise, each realizing that in that very moment, they were both so lost in their own thoughts, that neither of them realized anyone had snuck up on them. Given a different situation and circumstances, either of them, or someone with them could have been killed.
R'chnt clicked and softly bowed his mighty ridged head as he eyed K'Shai, who carried A'ryin'di with her, supported on her hip.
After a moment to gather his thoughts, S'aruch-de finally responded.
"Ming Li."
K'Shai remained silent, lingering in the doorway between the terrace and the kitchen. She said nothing and as A'ryin'di stirred restlessly, she deposited the child onto the ground and surveyed her as she crawled around.
"You remind me very much of her, K'Shai."
K'Shai looked up and scanned S'aruch-de before shifting her gaze to R'chnt.
"I appreciate you being brave enough to tell your story finally," K'Shai said graciously.
S'aruch-de nodded deeply while R'chnt remained mostly silent until the visitor departed for the night.