"K'Shai, remain here." R'chnt announced the following morning after the two shared a meal.
K'Shai was sitting on the grass not far from the stairs, watching A'ryin'di exploring her world in much the same manner as K'Shai herself did, touching everything, wandering off, and putting things in her mouth that she should not.
It was a nearly constant job, unless the child was sleeping, to monitor her and make sure she didn't eat anything that might make her sick. K'Shai smiled in amusement at her own childlike actions, feeling relieved that she was finally well after much abdominal turmoil.
Yautja, of course, did not have quite the same sensitivity to sour foods, just as they did not have as much of a proclivity for illness. They were certainly an example of survival of the fittest, for only the inherently strongest could even stand a chance at breeding, which ensured natural elimination of most genetic defects, weak immune systems, and frail bones.
A'ryin'di certainly showed no fear of injury as she crawled faster and further with each day, making K'Shai understand on a very personal level the reason for females to raise their young in the mei'sa.
The job was difficult and challenging, although K'Shai was grateful to have R'chnt nearby and willing to be a father. She glanced at him in surprise as he commanded to remain where she was with the obvious intentions of leaving himself. He was in full armor, but not hunting armor. He was adorned in H'ptau'asa, formal presentation armor, complete with a flowing cape adorned with symbols of the Clan and his bloodlines.
"Where are you going?" She questioned with surprise and surveyed his sturdy body, noting how the gold embellishments of his amor and the bright red cape contrasted so vibrantly against his grayed skin and locks.
"To the Clan City to attend to matters. K'Shai you and the child remain here. You are safe here."
Feeling a little excluded, she grimanced and returned her gaze to A'ryin'di, without really giving the matter a second thought, but just before R'chnt got out of sight around the corner of the house, K'Shai had gathered up the baby and scurried after him.
"You know, it's been quite a while since I've been to the mei'sa. Maybe it would be good for A'ryin'di to get a little playtime with some of the other babies."
"If you wish, K'Shai," he said softly with a little bow, obligingly allowing her to move past him.
When they were on the transport pad, K'Shai sat as usual, watching the trees and every creature she saw climb, jump, or fly past them. The vehicle moved along at a pleasant pace. So very much unlike a ride in a taxi cab around New York City, which felt cramped and rushed or stopped all together, the hovering pontoon looking transport pad with its brightly glowing blue-white propulsion system glided along just a few feet off the ground at a steady, smooth and easy pace, making viewing the changing scenery easy as well as providing plenty of time for conversation, although there seemed to be little of that at the moment.
"Is something on your mind?" She asked of R'chnt, who sat like a statue in one corner, rigid and distant.
He glanced at her, but said nothing.
"You have barely said a word to me all morning. You look like there's something wrong?"
Again, no response.
"Is this… Clan business you got all dressed up for something to do with me… or… or the baby?"
"No, K'Shai, this is not a matter concerning you."
She pressed her lips together and grimaced, partially relieved, yet, despite his words, concerned.
"Well, it sure seems to concern you. What is it?"
"An offense to the Clan has been committed, and the matter must be handled."
"An offense? I'm not sure I understand what you mean?" K'Shai questioned.
R'chnt again remained silent, almost as if he was angry and stewing in the corner.
"This is my Clan, too, right? So doesn't that mean I have a right to know if there's been an offense to it?" She barked demandingly, trying to draw the matter out of him more sternly.
"I must address S'aruch-de's dishonor. He must be punished."
"What?!" K'Shai exclaimed in alarm, practically jumping up from her perch on the support rail that ran between the banisters of the transport.
"You can't be serious?"
R'chnt glared at her in surprise and explained more clearly.
"K'Shai! What he has done is against the entire Clan. It defies our ways, it dishonors our Gods. It is not the Path of an honored Yautja. He committed a crime and he has lied about it for over two centuries."
"See, this does involve me. If not for me, he never would have told you that, and you wouldn't be going to Neh'rti now to have him punished." K'Shai grumbled angrily.
"What kind of punishment will it be exactly?" She asked quietly after a brief moment of silence.
"S'arcuch-de will be stripped of Honored status within the clan. His possessions – armor, ship, trophies – will all be destroyed before him, he will be branded Bad Blood, and outcast to be hunted."
K'Shai felt sick to her stomach and finally did get up from her make-shift seat. She stomped to the control panel and slammed her hand down firmly on it, gripping A'ryin'di tightly as the vessel slammed to an unexpected halt. R'chnt lurched forward, gripping the hand rail for a little support, but as K'Shai glared at him, he halfway looked like he would much rather jump over the handrail and leave the searing presence of his clearly angered mate.
"R'chnt! You can't do this!" She howled. "He told you that in confidence. He was trying to help you… or help me… or maybe just finally tell someone what he did."
Silence greeted her ears again, so she tried another way.
"He was filled with guilt, and he loved that woman. He did what he did because he was young and angry and… stupid. It isn't right. What he did is a crime, and it was wrong of him to do it, but can't you understand why it happened?"
R'chnt tipped his head and slightly dropped his chin. He clicked his mandibles and finally formulated a response.
"K'Shai, I have pondered this all night. There are many factors to consider about S'aruch-de's actions, but in the end, he was guided down an Honored Path and chose to turn away. He has dishonored himself, his heritage, his progeny, and the Clan."
"R'chnt… please reconsider this. Please. He was trying to help…me. And you. And our child. He has a solid status in the Clan because of all the proper hunting he has done. He has never stepped away from the Honorable Path in all this time, right?"
"K'Shai, he has hidden behind a lie. He has lied to his Elders, his peers, Neh'rti herself, and to me."
"So he came to you to try to help you understand- to tell you about his experiences so you could know- and that means nothing?" K'Shai protested again. "If someone threatened me, or killed me, would you not go after them?"
"Of course I would, K'Shai!" R'chnt snapped a little defensively. "But only them. Killing the unarmed, the unworthy, the sick, injured, weak, or young – that is not an action of an honorable Yautja."
"Well then," K'Shai sneered as she sulked back to her sitting rail. "I guess no one in this whole Clan has any Honor then."
The deep, foreboding growl that emananted from R'chnt was her only response. It was an angered sound; a sound that said very clearly she had offered him an insult and if she was anyone else he would have responded to her words with a bloody, perhaps even deadly, challenge.
"Every single Yautja in this Clan has killed innocent, young, old, sick, weak. ALL of you." She growled defensively. "It was your people that brought the hard meat to Earth in the first place, and each individual person in this Clan directly killed human beings that were just trying to protect themselves. I watched so many people die as my world was destroyed. I watched children die. I watched pregnant women die. I could have been one of them. I watched my entire world get destroyed and my life get turned completely inside out, all because of the Yautja and mighty K'aunte Dar'een Clan."
Fuming, K'Shai finally clenched her jaw shut and tried to settle A'ryin'di, who had begun to rattle anxiously, alarmed by her mother's emotional state.
"K'Shai…" R'chnt grumbled, at first with a tone as if he was going to protest, but then he paused and softened slightly as he paced and surveyed her with his eyes of solid gold.
"You have changed my world as well. I have done things I never imagined I would ever do. Had someone ever told me I would have found a human mate, I probably would have killed them for insulting me."
"Probably? More than likely, I'd imagine," K'Shai said with a soft chuckle and grinned.
R'chnt eased his expression, spreading his upper tusks into a small smile as well.
"Look," she said before he could respond. "I know what S'aruch-de did on Earth was wrong. It was horrible. I can't even imagine just walking into a village and killing everyone. But… I do know a thing or two about human beings. We haven't changed that much in the last couple of centuries… really in our entire existence.
Humans are fearful and dangerous. I have no doubts at all that they would have hunted down S'aruch-de and Ming Li endlessly. They would have probably tortured S'aruch-de in much the same way you plan to have him tortured. But in the end, he would have died as well. He was trapped on Earth after all, and he had been there for months and didn't harm a soul until they killed the woman he loved. Her own people killed her.
He did what he did out of anger and heart ache, and it appears that he's been living with that guilt and pain for centuries. He never returned to Earth. He could not even bear to go back to the planet, until his Clan left him no choice, so he returned and fought with honor along side everyone else and tried his best to undo some of the damage the Yautja caused. Maybe doing that, he saved a few lives, too, and maybe he repaid his sins in the eyes of your gods. Either way, he has lived with the pain of his own actions and the loss of his love all of his life and he still stood with honor and acceptance despite it for all this time.
Now you're going to tear all that down and have him humiliated, dishonored, and killed when all he was doing was trying to help both of us.
I just don't think that seems very fair."
R'chnt said nothing as he contemplated her words the entire rest of the ride to the Clan. K'Shai had given him much to think about, and so had S'aruch-de. Before the Earth War, R'chnt had no questions about the Honorable Path of a Yautja, and what was right and what was dishonorable. He had a simple, purposeful, and absolute belief about the Honored Way and the Hunter's Path.
Since he had met K'Shai, everything changed, and he stewed silently trying to sort out the confusing and conflicting thoughts in his head. Nothing was absolute anymore, nothing was well defined and simple.
All matters had become complex and difficult and as K'Shai, clearly disappointed with him, departed from the transport for the mei'sa, he considered her view on the matter and was left with a difficult choice, the direction of which he decided upon on his way to the council hall.
Hours passed and K'Shai, still stewing angry over what she knew was going to happen, watched over A'ryin'di with some other sucklings, mostly tuning out comment after comment about how quickly the child was growing, or how her skin was different looking than a Yautja's or how her scent was so strange. It did nothing to improve K'Shai's mood as she watched her daughter absolutely convinced her child was beautiful and there was nothing remotely different about her than any other of the sucklings she was crawling around with, save for rate of growth.
A'ryin'di's skin was notably lighter than all the others, but it had gotten consistently darker as she aged. It was well tinted with shades of reds and golds, as opposed to the mostly peachy pink color with faded rosy markings when she was born. Her locks were little tiny nubs, just as black as any young Yautja's.
Her still toothless mouth was gummy pink just like any other Yautja's and she certainly had a Yautja appetite.
K'Shai could feel the baby's gums getting rougher every day, or perhaps it was just her tender nipples getting more sensitive to the long suckling sessions that the baby demanded; she could not be sure, although she did rather hope that perhaps the baby would be ready to eat some soft foods soon, yet another difference between species.
It was pointed out several times that Yautja suckled until their teeth were in and they could eat solid foods. K'Shai grimaced at the idea of having her skin shredded apart, and decided a more normal human middle-step between nursing and eating was warranted. Besides, she thought defensively; it was not their business how she raised her baby.
It was evening before the echoing sound of drums reverberated up through the Clan City, catching her attention. K'Shai could see the flames of pyres filling the distance with an amber hue; a typical sight in the Clan that she had almost forgotten about.
The tops of the totems around every kehrite and large pyres in the center of town were always lit at night. It added a beautiful back drop to the great meal served every evening, and there was always music to be heard, along with Yautja singing; at least their version of it, which did not exactly sound like the singing K'Shai was familiar with.
There was something different about the drum rhythm this night, though. The music that played was not casual and energetic; it was not preparing for one of the also-frequent dances in which hunters would howl around the fires and gloat in their own power over the universe. It was solemn and dramatic, and it worried K'Shai instantly.
"What is going on?" She asked a couple young females who were headed out to the City themselves.
She knew she already knew the answer, but still she had a need to ask.
"The Clan Council has issued punishment to an honored hunter for accusations against him."
K'Shai's heart sank and her throat closed up. She felt weak and shaky and sad and angry all at once. She wanted to hide in a bed chamber with the covers up over her head and cradle A'ryin'di tight against her the entire rest of the night. She wanted to scream and unleash her anger on R'chnt for his decision, which was wrong; just as wrong as S'aruch-de's actions on Earth so many years ago. She did the exact opposite.
Before the young females got too far towards the transport pad, K'Shai passed off A'ryin'di, who was half asleep and full and well played enough that she was satiated for a while, and jogged after them to join them. She rode into the heart of the Clan city in silence, barely responding to the conversation, because she did not want to reveal what she knew as it became clear that the girls did not know the details of the accusations; only that there was a need for punishment.
"Do you know what that punishment will be?" K'Shai did ask, curious to know the extent of what she was about to walk into.
"That will depend on the severity of the crimes, and if the accusor or the accused are guilty."
K'Shai stopped, halfway off the transport pad. "What do you mean by that?"
"Accusing any blooded hunter, especially an honored hunter, of a crime that is determined to be unfounded, is punishable too." One said.
The other added in, "the punishment will match the severity of the crime accused."
"So you mean to say that if someone brings a hunter's crimes to the attention of the Clan, they may be punished too?"
"Of course, K'Shai."
K'Shai felt so weak in the knees she nearly fell the rest of the way off the transport pad. She immediately felt ready to vomit and stood shaking on the spot as she waited until the other two had walked away before she tenderly stepped towards the center of town. Each step closer to the gathering crowd was almost too much to bear as her mind worked into exhaustion contemplating the possibilities.
What if the determined punishment was the dishonor, banishment, and hunting to the death that R'chnt had described? What if S'aruch-de is found to be free of dishonor, and R'chnt instead is punished for accusing him? What exactly did R'chnt tell the council? What was going to happen next and what would happen in the hours, days, years to follow?
She felt queasy, nauseous and suddenly her legs became unbearably heavy. The walk to the stage in the middle of the bustling Clan city seemed to take ten times as long as normal. She pushed her way through Yautja that were eagerly anticipating bloodshed with a savage thirst, feeling even more angry and sick as she drew nearer to the stage.
To the tune of the foreboding beating of drums, soon, Neh'rti and a dozen other elders and leaders of the council paraded out onto the stage. Among them, R'chnt stood tall, proud, and elegant in his highly formal armor and flowing red cape. He appeared completely unconcerned, which did not alleviate K'Shai's concerns. She could not help but feel as though he might not know what would be in store for him if the determination was made that S'aruch-de was falsely accused.
Of course, she immediately chided herself. Naturally R'chnt knew what his own people's justice system was like. Presumably, the decision of S'aruch-de's punishment must have already been made, which could account for why R'chnt seemed nonchalant about the whole thing. The punishment must have been favorable to him, which meant that S'aruch-de likely was going to be stripped of honor and humiliated, and finally hunted down and butchered. That did not sit well with K'Shai either, so she continued to silently fret until Neh'rti finally spoke.
"An accusation has been made against the honored hunter S'aruch-de, son of S'au-dach-de." She said in a resonating voice that forced a silence amongst the entire crowd.
"All Blooded hunters are Honored, and as such all are expected to abide by the training they have received, the laws of our people, and to always bring honor to the Clan and to their own bloodlines." She emphasized certain words, and K'Shai couldn't help but notice how Neh'rti seemed to glance to her every time she said them.
"R'chnt! Step forward," Neh'rti commanded and R'chnt did as directed, coming up to the edge of the stage, so close that his toe claws dangled over the side, but he was well away from Neh'rti, who paced like an annoyed lioness back and forth across the heavily decorated grand stand.
"The Honored Elder Leader has brought forth the charges against S'aruch-de for bringing dishonor to our Clan."
Neh'rti paused and surveyed the Yautja hoarded all around the stage, all of whom remained eerily silent. S'aruch-de looked sullen; still and calm. His hands were bound and he had a chain around his neck with three guards posted around him holding his bindings.
"It has come forth that in a failed hunt, S'aruch-de allowed himself to carelessly be witnessed by his own prey." Neh'rti said with a grumble. K'Shai frowned and eyed her warily, then looked to R'chnt.
"We are Yautja. We are hunters. We are silent, careful, and are to remain unspotted by any who are not our prey. We do not leave equipment behind. We do not allow our prey to capture us. We do not carelessly stride about a hunting land without concern of being seen. All are taught such things, all are expected to oblige by this simple rule. If you cannot hunt without being seen, you are not a hunter. Clearly, S'aruch-de did not learn this expectation, or he did and failed to honor his own leader's training."
She turned on him, fully satisfied with her condemnation of his actions.
"Foolish enough to be seen, and foolish enough to tell the tale over too much drink," she muttered with a disapproving head shake.
She nodded harshly towards the guards, two females and one male elder, all of whom stepped forward, bringing their bound quarry with them. R'chnt stood idly by and did not move from the spot where he was called forward.
The trio of guards brought S'aruch-de up to nearly next to him and Neh'rti announced, "For the dishonor recognized, S'aruch-de will be punished accordingly. Let this be a reminder to our honored hunters, our Blooded, that you must always bring honor to the Clan on your hunts, so your trophies and bloodlines and progeny will ensure a strong Clan that follows the Path of the Gods."
Neh'rti indicated once more to the trio of guards and they dragged S'aruch-de towards a totem. They strung him up by his hands from the angled top part of the pillar, hoisting him up with a winch until his feet were suspended more than a meter off the platform. Neh'rti herself proceeded to stride prominently towards him, stopping only to retrieve a coiled whip from one of the females waiting nearby.
Twenty times the whip lashed down upon S'aruch-de, spilling and splashing blood in a distorted circle all over the stage, totem, and spectators in the front. The little barbs that fully encircled the metal rope whip ensured that the damage was severe each and every time, pulling apart S'arurch-de's skin in bits and chunks. The crowd holwed and hooted their approval; S'aruch-de made no sound. R'chnt never moved, not one inch.
K'Shai felt nauseous and sick, but not for the bloody reasons before her. She moved well enough away from the stage to avoid being splattered. Unlike the Yautja who seemed to relish the idea, K'Shai had no desire for "front row" spectating to be covered in bodily fluids. She found herself turning away from S'aruch-de as he endured the punishment delivered to him, and focused instead on R'chnt, standing squarely and unmoving on the edge of the stage.
R'chnt was looking towards S'aruch-de, but not really looking at him, more like through him. His eyes were so affixed on whatever distant point he was staring at, she doubted that he even realized she was staring at him. K'shai herself was not aware that her face had drained of all color and her heart was pounding erratically and wildly in her chest. No one else paid it any mind either, but the terror streaking through her had nothing to do with the blood bath on the stage.
When it was all over with, the Council simply left. Neh'rti departed and R'chnt soon followed behind her; all the hunters turning their backs on S'aruch-de and leaving him on the ground where he had been cut down; left to lay in a pool of his own blood. K'Shai stood motionless for a while, waiting to see if anyone was going to try help S'aruch-de, but none did. She found herself wanting to tip toe towards him when R'chnt moved in alongside her and touched her arm, redirecting her attention.
"Let him lay." R'chnt said simply.
K'Shai eyed him widely and threw herself into his arms, gripping him tightly, breaking down into tears. No one seemed to pay it any mind as they departed to eat and drink and swap stories as they pleased. In a few moments, K'Shai and R'chnt were alone in the square before the stage; most of the Yautja had departed for the cantinas to the fire-lit buffets, or to the kehrites to burn off their excitement over the punishment. S'aruch-de laid motionless, chest heaving in agony.
"R'chnt!" K'Shai said in a crackling whisper. "What did you do? Why did you…."
He clicked a soothing sound and stroked her face with his solidly padded thumb.
"K'Shai, do not be upset. S'aruch-de has been punished, but he lives. As you wished. He will not be hunted. He will not be killed."
"Because you lied." She gasped in a dreadful whisper so deep into his ear that only he could hear the terrible words.
She eyed him with sheer worry. "What if they find…"
He ticked his mandibles briskly and cocked his head.
"Speak no more of this K'Shai!" He grumbled. "Come, let us eat."
He guided her towards an already full table near to the buffet area and glared at two youngbloods who had seated themselves at an Elder's table trying to impress their friends a few tables down who were all watching eagerly. Even over the bustle of the crowd, R'chnt could hear their friends sneer and mock as the two youths went scurrying away at his approach, and he couldn't help but to tick an upper mandible sideways in an amused grin. K'Shai had noticed it, and smirked quizzically at him as she sat down with her plate in hand, but barely touched the food atop it.
She was worried, he knew. She worried frequently, and he pondered once again, if that was simply a human habit. It seemed to him like such a waste of energy. She worried for S'aruch-de being punished; a fate she did not want to see him endure. Absolved of that, now K'Shai was clearly worried for his own well being, knowing – or at the very least surmising – that if the full truth was ever uncovered, he would be killed right along with S'aruch-de, after first being stripped of status, honor, possessions, and fully and wholly humiliated before the entire Clan, embarrassing not only himself, but his entire bloodline, including K'Shai and now A'ryin'di as well.
The weight of his actions was great, but was certain that the secret would, eventually, die with him, S'aruch-de and K'Shai, for who would speak of it and alert the Clan anyway? He surely would not. S'aruch-de recognized what R'chnt had done and why, knowing full well that he needed to be punished for his crimes. K'Shai, for fear of what would happen, would certainly never betray him. Thus, the matter was closed and handled.
"So, what will the do'guth do now? Without a ship, he cannot hunt alone. He will be forced to seek a Leader."
K'Shai, having been watching R'chnt sit quietly clearly distant in thought, tuned back in to the conversation she was not really paying attention to.
"S'aruch-de can still hunt?" She asked in surprise."
One of the Elders at the table sneered and growled, nearly choking on his throatful of drink as he did.
"If anyone will allow him to be in their group, K'Shai. He has been dishonored before the Clan, but he has not been stripped of honor. He can still redeem himself as a hunter."
"The Leader who takes him on will be responsible to ensure that he never dishonors the Clan again," another added. "If it happens again, the punishment will certainly be exile and death. For S'aruch-de and the fool leader who takes him on."
"So…" K'Shai considered. "His… crime… did not warrant him to be stripped of his honor, but he did lose his ship?"
"He is no longer regarded as an elite hunter, K'Shai. He is to start anew; much as a youngblood." A third elder added.
"It is …rather humiliating." Another chuckled.
"But, that is one thing all youth are taught from very early on in the mei'sa." The second Elder followed up.
"Yes…" K'Shai said with a nod.
"The prey are deadly, the prey are fierce. The prey will try to outsmart the hunter, so good hunters need to always remain diligent. Not one, but ten steps ahead. Make no sounds, remain unseen, leave no scents, nor tracks. Never alert your prey to your presence until you intend to kill and only then, alert only the prey you target. Reveal yourself for the kill, for the great challenge, and disappear into victory. Leave nothing behind but the remains of the unworthy. If captured, be sure that nothing lives to tell the tale."
She recited verbatim the lesson she had heard over and over and over in the mei'sa time and again for months, being drilled into the minds of the youngsters. No one replied for a short while and in the silence, K'Shai stewed over those words and then blurted out before she could stop herself.
"But… I mean.. literally everyone on my home world saw Yautja. They hunted alongside you. We all.."
"That was a unique situation, K'Shai," R'chnt added in with a growl that suggested strongly he wanted the conversation to turn a different direction. "The Earth war needed to be faught, the damage was done long before any honorable hunter set foot on the planet. And now, as a result, Earth and humans have been banned from hunting. No honorable Yautja will ever hunt them again."
K'Shai nodded in understanding.
"Well, S'aruch-de's punishment was warranted. And probably no Yautja will ever want to hunt with him either. He always did prefer hunting alone."
"Can't he just … go back to hunting alone?" K'Shai asked with raised eyebrows.
One of the elders across from her shook his head. "He violated Clan law and the Yautja way. He has proven himself unworthy of hunting alone. He will be with a Leader from now on if he is to hunt again."
"Will you take him on, Pruch-de?" Someone at the end of the table chortled as he sipped from his massive mug of drink.
The Elder across from K'Shai shook his head slowly.
"No," the elder retorted with a distinct gurgling of his drink as he scoffed the idea. "With my first hunt young bloods?! I want them to learn to be proper hunters, not shadow a disgrace."
"The matter of S'aruch-de's Leader has already been decided. It was decided by the council as part of the punishment." R'chnt added grumbily.
K'Shai looked at him and picked up on the glare in his eye.
"He's hunting with you?" She questioned.
"He is." R'chnt responded simply with a defensive growl that was enough to terminate the conversation.
K'Shai shot him a wide-eyed stare, but said nothing on the subject any further. The others, far less adept at reading her facilar expressions would not have noticed the shocked questioning look. R'chnt said nothing to her, but did offer up a plainly noticeable by anyone look that said he was done with the conversation. The elders quieted down on that matter and took to discussing their future plans. A short while later, K'Shai and R'chnt departed.
K'Shai thought about the events of that evening the entire time as she sleepily found her way back to the mei'sa to retrieve A'ryin'di and rejoin R'chnt on the transport pad back to his home far in the fields and jungle beyond the city. She remained silent, contemplating the seriousness of what R'chnt had done; lying to Neh'rti and the rest of the clan, all because she had implored him not to take the matter to the council in the first place.
She surveyed him, poised mighty and strong, straight backed and perfect posture as he remained motionless and quiet for the ride back home. She had wanted to say any of the dozens of thoughts that were running through her mind, but she could not come to bring any of them to the tip of her tongue. She wanted to let him know she was angry with him for his need to simply be so proper and true to Yautja honor by having to bring S'aruch-de's crimes to the council in the first place. She wanted to tell him she was glad that he did ultimately lessen the severity of the charges against him, and that she was angry all the more for potentially putting himself in serious jeopardy if anyone found out.
She decided, as he had told her earlier, that the matter was done and no more should be said of it. So, she tried to switch her mind to thoughts of just about anything else. She tried watching the moons above the transport vessel; she tried spying the variety of creatures in the trees they passed. She tried contemplating her schedule for the next day and even thought about how she needed to give her hair a good washing with the honey scented oils she had recently discovered that pleased her.
Nothing truly distracted her from the uncomfortable thoughts that entered her mind as the idea of S'aruch-de joining R'chnt's hunting pack played on her mind. Before she retreated into the bed chambers for some much-needed rest in the early hours of the morning, K'Shai did finally stop and turn to R'chnt.
"So, what happens now? Do we go on a hunt?"
He surveyed her as she stood near the entry door, holding the sleeping child in her arms and tipped his head considering her for a moment.
"You will train first, K'Shai. There is more to teach you before you are ready."
"But I …" she began to protest but quieted.
She had thought she was ready; after all, hadn't she been in training all this time? Of course, it occurred to her that in that time, she had barely learned to handle a training staff, had not even utilized yet a real blade, and had her jaw broken just on accident. Although she was well behind in training than even a youngster in the same period of time, she knew R'chnt knew best and was wise enough to be patient for her own sake. She retreated to the bed chambers silently wishing she could be a little more patient herself; she wanted to go out and prove she could do it.
In the morning, she awoke rather lazily, slowly getting herself up and going after tending to the baby and her own body. If she kept track of time, she imagined she probably just whittled away two hours of the morning before she ever set foot outside and had not seen R'chnt at all. She could hear him, though. The rumbling growl of his exertions that echoed up through the windows told her he was training.
Sure enough, she found him spinning and dancing circles, fighting the air, glistening in sweat as the dual suns, well up above the horizons now, basked the vast green lands in heat. She huffed as she stepped outside and felt the humidity and heat soak into her. The house, though with no real "air-conditioning" as a human would know, stayed at least somewhat cooler than the outside temperature thanks to the breathing material used to construct it. Not quite stucco, though it looked similar, the larger-than-cinder-block-sized bricks did at least cause the house to be cool enough to be comfortable.
R'chnt had had cold water installed into the home at the same time he had the workers on the clan ship do his hunt vessel, so one of K'Shai's definite indulgences was to make the washroom as simply cool as possible by filling R'chnt's basking tub with ice cold water instead. He had grown accustomed to her unusual tolerance of colder water than he could take some time ago, and said nothing when he walked in to the room to find it easily twenty degrees cooler than his body needed.
Once she completed that particular ritual in the morning, amongst other things, she made her way outside to be immediately hit in the face with the sweltering heat that conflicted so dramatically with her cool skin she thought it might break. She huffed in a deep breath, tightened her grip on A'ryin'di a little and stepped into the full blaze of the two suns, watching R'chnt spin and whir and come to a full halt to acknowledge her presence.
"Come, K'Shai," he said, tucking away the training spear neatly into its leather holster strapped across his back.
She stepped down to him with a thin smile, swaying her hips casually as A'ryin'di stared in chittering wonder at the world around her. Her father reached for her and took her up into his mighty arms. K'Shai cocked her head at him as she deposited the baby into his hands.
"What do you want to do?" She asked coyly.
"We are going to train, come." He instructed and turned towards the path into the jungle without further dialogue.
K'Shai followed him down the trail to a familiar clearing between the jungle edge on the other side of the ch'huk paddocks and the cliffs to the west. The plateau offered up a beautiful view of the falls from the back side. The straight cliffs bordering it, rocky and strong, were beautiful but intimidating towering so high above her, and the easily thousand-foot-plus drop to the basin far below was equally as intimidating.
As A'ryin'di grew stronger and more confident in her crawling and adventuring, K'Shai kept a careful eye on her each time they ventured into that clearing. Now, R'chnt watched her alertly while also watching K'Shai, taking her through training step by step.
"You are going to climb," he said in a low rumble.
She gawked at him with wide eye waiting for a joking trill to follow his words, but it never did.
"What?!" She finally asked, craning her neck simultaneously to follow the high cliff wall before her up, evaluating for easily the hundredth time just how tall it really was.
"What do you mean climb?" She questioned demandingly as he remained placidly quiet, with his eyes momentarily on A'ryin'di.
"I thought we were training!" She urged again. "Like… with weapons?"
"You will be carrying weapons while you climb."
K'Shai stared at him with a look that she hoped conveyed defiance and refusal and not the dumbfounded deer-in-the-headlights look she figured she probably was giving him as he eyed her up, clearly acknowledging the imprint of fear in every little inch of her face.
"R'chnt… I can't possibly. Humans just….. I mean… why would I even..." she began protesting in incomplete sentences and R'chnt grumbled a low tone to quiet her.
"K'Shai, part of your training is to do such things. On a hunt you must know, without hesistation, how to utilize the terrain to your benefit, how to think and act and outwit your prey on its own territory. You spend much time analyzing your lands, I see this all the time. Tell me, what do you see?"
K'Shai huffed, feeling a combination of annoyed and defeated.
"Beautiful views and an impossible wall that I am not climbing."
R'chnt, obviously amused although that was not her intent, sniggered a bit as he stepped over to the base of the cliffside that rose up into the clouds. He deposited A'ryin'di at his feet and she nearly immediately began inspecting the rock wall before her, grappling small stones off it and hanging on to larger stones that outweighed her by one hundred times.
As the baby investigated the wall, K'Shai fell into silence watching her hybrid daughter suddenly do, on an instinctual level, what Yautja do naturally. A'ryin'di put her little toe claws onto one small ledge jutting out from the side and began climbing. She made it, slowly, all the way up to the waist level of her father before he protectively picked her up and put her safely on the ground.
K'Shai pressed her lips together and scanned the wall again. Fearless, completely ignorant of what could happen, her daughter had begun to do what she refused because of all the things that might happen. That, she supposed, was human nature. It was so much easier to never take a risk, because it was safer on solid ground.
As R'chnt had once told her in one of their many debates about the differences between their cultures, humans valued life so much they forgot how to live, and feared dying so much yet, they had already died without realizing it.
So, K'Shai turned her eyes back on the wall and considered it again. Suddenly, instead of an intimidating solid wall that was unclimable and certain death waiting, she noticed the many rocks that jutted out. At first glance, the cliff side looked to be like a five-hundred-foot tall sheet of slate that was smooth as glass. Upon scrutiny, she noticed the many jagged edges that her baby daughter had found and began navigating almost instantly.
The climb was definitely much like a rock wall from some kind of fitness center, only a hundred times taller and still far more intimidating. The lack of a safety net or harness was terrifying, although she imagined what the response would be had she suggested using one. R'chnt stood by quietly and waited.
K'Shai stepped forward and traced her fingers along the wall.
"Now what do you see?" He asked as he moved in behind her.
"It's not sheer. Not like I thought. There's a lot to hold on to. But…"
He growled and she silenced, huffed, and craned her neck upward again.
As she grabbed the first protrusion and hoisted herself about a foot off the ground, she shut her eyes for a moment, certain she was going to regret attempting the climb. Exactly how far did he expect her to go? All the way? Was that even possible?
Trying to clear her running mind, she took another step, carefully grappling a rock and moving up. She scanned the wall with each step, looking for the best footing. She moved up once, then twice, and then two more came quickly and before she knew it her feet were over R'chnt's head. She had made it eight feet up the cliff in a few efforts and she smiled, quite proud of her accomplishment. She moved up once more, her bare toes at the edge of her sandals helping to grip a little better onto the rocky ledge.
"Good, K'Shai. Now come down."
"What?!" She said with exasperation. "I just got up here! I thought you wanted me to go up!"
"All the way on your first try? That would be something, K'Shai. If you can learn to climb up, you must also learn to come down."
"Isn't there an easier way down when you get to the top?"
"You would rather climb all the way up just to hope there's an easier way down?"
K'Shai giggled at the absurdity of the statement, but yet somehow going up no longer seemed quite as terrifying as trying to come back down.
"You know, when humans do this sort of thing they…"
"K'Shai!" R'chnt growled with a slight hint of annoyance. "You can never be sure there is an easier anything on a hunt. Perhaps you climb to the top of this cliff and there is nothing but more cliff on the other side. Either way, you must climb down. Why do you hesistate when you are doing it?"
"Because I…." She started to reason, but quieted down, grumbled in protest and looked down towards him to try to scan for her way down.
"What do I do?" She asked. "I don't think I …"
"Don't think." He said in agreement, clearly mis-interpreting what she was getting at. "Let it come to you naturally."
She huffed loudly, protesting wordlessly. There is nothing natural about this, she thought. A'ryin'di seemed utterly amused by all that was happening around her. She giggled and chittered joyfully and repeatedly climbed the wall up to the level of R'chnt's waist before he pulled her off and put her down so she could do it again and again. In the time it took K'Shai to climb eight feet, A'ryin'di had already climbed three times that amount.
K'Shai glanced down and found a rock ledge to drop her foot on to. She felt secure enough that she lowered one hand to a jutted-out rock. Pleased with the successful placement of two extremeties, she reached her other hand down and gripped another rock and lowered her second foot down to a ledge she spotted.
"Oh!"
She missed the ledge and slipped off the wall, landing firmly in R'chnt's solid arms. She eyed him warily and offered him a sideways smile.
"I told you I will not let you get hurt. K'Shai, you must trust me."
"So, when I get halfway up and fall, you're going to catch me?"
"K'Shai, by the time you get halfway up this wall, you will not fall. But I will always catch you."