It was good to be home. It was even better to have A'ryin'di and El'tude home as well. It made sleeping at night easier, and even though K'Shai still woke with anxiety, sweat, and phantom labor pains, a quick but quiet little tiptoe in the chambers where the children slept put her at ease before she found R'chnt and tucked herself back into his warm body.
The days passed more and more easily and K'Shai found herself easily slipping back into a normal routine. Train, hunt, eat, mate, repeat. W'rsa made himself readily available to join them, to the point that he was practically living in a wing of the house, not that he was often inside at all. R'chnt and W'rsa kept themselves occupied together for hours, if not days, hunting on the massive territory that was his personal hunting estate, which allowed K'Shai time with both children.
From time to time, Sa'ruch-de, E'jul, and Lot'kdte would often join them, which also made for nice diversions. A relaxed, content group of training, sparring, and hunting Yautja males, without the pressures or schedule of being on a ship, or needing to constantly display themselves for the sake of trying to intimidate potential challengers or impress potential mates made for a completely different dynamic to them.
On one particular night, the Yautja males were out in the rolling back yard, surrounding the bonfire. K'Shai was inside gathering the offspring together to join the group while the 'aseigan scurried about bringing the hunters the fruits they had prepared and the freshly butchered bount of the hunt that would be the meal for the night.
"Ok, come on now, let us join the group," she said once she gathered the offspring together.
She turned about and stopped quickly with a slight shriek.
"Oh! W'rsa. Impressive," she said with a little chuckle.
She had not seen him or smelled or heard him, and the children were simply too busy just being children to notice or care.
"K'Shai," he said with a deep dip of his mighty, red-hued head. "I did not intend to startle you. He produced from behind him, a shining brilliant blade he gripped in his right hand. K'Shai knew it well; one of the many fine weapons that R'chnt had collected from countless hunts. It was so heavy she could barely lift it with all the power of two arms, let alone actually wield it for anything actually useful.
Still, K'Shai liked the look of the fine blade. It's handle might well have been made of solid gold for all she knew; the color was right and it glistened. It had small marks through the hilt that made it look like it was encrusted with jewels, though the marks were actually fine cuts that somehow just glistened.
"Just putting this back," W'rsa explained briefly and continued forward into the training kehrite.
K'Shai hustled out of the room with the children and towards the fire and was greeted on the way across the sprawling lawn by R'chnt, who seemed truly exuberant. He strode over towards her bellowng her name and their children's in his deep, impressive voice. El'tude echoed back a throaty growl that was far deeper and more resounding than a youngster of his age should have been able to produce and R'chnt seemed even more thrilled at that.
They headed towards the rest of the group and were soon after joined by W'sra, and the night of dining, singing, storytelling, and drinking commenced with a very unique of blood-thirty jovialness that only Yautja could produce.
"This….this was the wound that nearly took my leg off. The thing's pauking claws were as big as my arm. It snared into me," Lot'kdte said, trying to make the story sound unnecessarily more impressive than it already was. His words sort of drifted off, almost as if he realized he was not actually trying to impress a mate.
"I was sure I would be a one-legged hunter after that," he finished abruptly with a joking tone.
"And yet you lived through the injury. You are far too stubborn to die from such a simple creature's attack." E'jul added.
The others chuckled a bit, and K'Shai drew a small smile, scanning from the group of males to her offspring playing tackle not too far from the bonfire, near to the creek but not near enough to be in danger
"Simple creature!?" Lot'kdte huffed, clearly perturbed by the suggestion. Then he agreed, "but I am stubborn. That's why I'm alive still after all this time, and why R'chnt allowed me to train with him."
"How so?" K'Shai asked
Lot'kdte huffed in amusement, and R'chnt simply tsked his mandibles and shook his head slightly.
"He would not stop coming back." R'chnt announced, making the group chortle out in laughter.
Lot'kdte raised his chin a bit, as if trying to subtly whisk away the laughter, vaguely acting as though it didn't bother him really. He quickly changed the subject as he glanced over to the children playing.
"They will no doubt grow up to be powerful hunters!" He said with a slight raise of his hand with a mug in it; a toast perhaps to impress R'chnt, or maybe K'Shai. She wasn't sure but she brushed off the comment with nothing more than a nod of her head.
Lacking apparently in the response he seemed to desire, Lot'kdte stroked his lower right mandible, which was well gnawed away. His skin healed in a pitted fashion after an explosive injury to his face, making it look like it had been gnawed apart by little ohr'tka.
"K'Shai what do you think of the other humans, then? Not quite the hunters you've turned out to be, perhaps?"
"What other humans?" She questioned sharply with a sort of what are you talking about annoyance in her voice as she paid more attention to the children nearby who were suddenly getting a little too rough.
A bit of a silence fell over the crowd and Lot'kdte looked up in a half stunned gaze. He deep greenish yellow eyes bounced quickly to R'chnt as if to ask if he had said something he shouldn't. K'Shai responded in silence by glaring to R'chnt, seeking some insight into Lot'kdte's question. What other humans? She said to him in silence that he heard loud and clearly.
He had not told K'Shai of them; for there was no need. She was busy with building her position and creating her life and place amongst the Yautja people. If she concerned herself with the affairs of others, he knew she would get distracted. But, it seemed the time was upon him.
"Five other humans returned to hunt with the Yautja." R'chnt confirmed.
"What?" K'Shai questioned in exasperation. "You mean, I'm not the only one!"
"You are not, my K'Shai," R'chnt responded.
"Why had you not told me?" She questioned him openly before the group, who were all stunned silent in mild shock.
It was typical female Yautja behaviour to exhibit superiority over males; but it was not typical Hunter behaviour to question a Leader on why he did or did not do a particular thing; especially in front of a group of fellow hunters. They all looked as if they simply didn't know what to do or where to look. At R'chnt? K'Shai? Perhaps their feet? Perhaps get up and dismiss themselves. They all seemed torn between their choices while K'Shai stood and stared down R'chnt with a silent demanding in her voiceless questioning.
"Are...are any of them…." suddenly, she softened her stance and voice, "female, too?"
R'chnt swayed his head softly from one side to the other.
"No, K'Shai. Five human males joined a hunt leader named Rg'thr who is of the clan Rhe-dak."
She immediately gave him a quizzical look; having never heard of that clan. R'chnt understood the question in her eye again. He was well experienced at reading her facial expressions and body language and now did it so naturally and easily, he could have a complete conversation with her without her ever saying a word. He explained that the clan he mentioned originated on the other side of the world. It consisted of only a few members days, which is partly why they were willing to take on extra recruits, and the five human males seemed interested in the part; happy for a chance to kill just about anything, so she had been told.
"They have never been back to the homeworld at all. Rg'thr has been hunting with his band of miscreants." Lot'kdte added in after R'chnt had finished speaking
W'rsa finally chimed in with a sneering tone in his voice. "You mean his whole clan, don't you? What are there left, eighteen?"
With a nod, Lot'kdte added in, "It is not a wonder they never returned to the homeworld. Their small territory is meaningless and has been claimed already by a stronger clan."
"I wish I knew…" K'Shai said softly.
"There are some Yautja, some Clans, some territories you, as a Kaunte Da'reen simply should never smudge yourself to encounter. They are some, K'Shai. They hunt without honor. They are of no consequence to a female of this Clan such as you.
Dissatisfied with such a response and the whole situation, K'Shai quickly headed off to tend to the children. They were clearly getting tired as they became noticeably more cranky and loud. She dragged them off to rest, despite their hissing and combatting her nearly every step of the way. Soon, they were asleep and K'Shai herself sat and rested in her chambers.
She wasn't sure when she had fallen asleep exactly, but when she opened her eyes, the sun filled the room and the birds and insects were buzzing and chittering away outside as always. R'chnt was splayed naked in bed next to her, resting comfortably with one of his hands wrapped around her forearm, and she couldn't help but smile as she sat up and looked at him, and his simple gesture, over.
He shuffled, feeling her move her arm within his grasp and awoke quickly, but not with alarm. It was a little thing she had come to almost forget had changed in him; he would rest peacefully next to her now. There was a time; so many years before, when he would barely sleep at all and was at high alert even when was asleep with some uncanny ability to somehow be fully aware while sleeping. It was such a strange thing to think that a powerful and deadly killer could sleep with all the relaxation of a sheep surrounded by wolves, but then again, the lifestyle certainly did warrant it.
"So what today, my Leader?" K'Shai said with a gleaming smile and a tone of love.
He responded in silent turn, practically lunging on top of her. She laughed and welcomed his advances, taking deep, slow breaths full of his scent and letting herself enter a state of tense yet relaxed, ease yet excitement. It did not take long for her to be wet enough to welcome him, and it did not take long for him to eject himself fully and completely.
R'chnt catered to K'Shai that time, wooing her into more eager breeding throughout the day, as he kept her well fed and happy near the river while the children played not far off. Well into the evening, as the second sun was nearly set, and R'chnt had pleasured himself, and K'Shai for the third time, she noticed that he seemed to nearly totally affix his unstaring gaze at the children, now resting peacefully after a long, hard day of playing
"What is on your mind, my Leader?" She asked.
"They are strong offspring, K'Shai. They will represent our blood well." He said with an ounce of pride and a hint of hesitation, as if there was something more he did not want to say.
He was not terribly good at the human way of "beating around the bush," though he seemed to have certainly learned the behaviour from her when she would often bite her tongue and not speak something that was difficult or delicate to say.
"What is it?" She tried to coax him with a little nudge.
He continued to hesitate, and suddenly, K'Shai's heart sank a little, feeling as though she knew what he was trying to get at with her. It was something she had heard time and time again."
"You want me to take them back to the mei'sa, to leave them there and learn to be proper Yautja…" she stated with a tone of fact more than question and, an obvious overlay of disagreement.
"Our situation is unique, K'Shai." R'chnt said cryptically. "Never before in my life would I have imagined myself being a father to young. The thought is… unheard of."
k'Shai sighed and squeezed her eyes shut, not particularly liking where this conversation was headed.
"Did Neh'rti say something to you? Did she tell you I have to bring them back to the mei'sa? Like I'm what…? Not allowed to have my own children with me?" K'Shai started up into nearly a rant. "They are ours, R'chnt. They are ours to raise the way we want, and they are half human after all. I am human. Nothing will change that no matter what."
"K'Shai!" R'chnt huffed, trying to interject.
She flared up a bit, defensive and angry over the entire argument she had just played out in her head.
"When A'ryin'di was born," he finally got a word in. "I refused to leave the room; I just wanted to be there with you, as I believed you wanted."
K'Shai softened immediately, and nodded with a reminiscing appreciation of how R'chnt most certainly did stand up against Neh'rti right there and set the tone for the future of his children by showing that he would be in their lives.
"I did want that. I wanted you there, and i want them here with us until they are ready to go be hunters or whatever else they choose."
R'chnt glanced at her with a sort of shocked look.
"What else do you think they would choose?" He asked in alarm, as if the very notion of them not being hunters was unfathomable.
"Well, I mean to say, they don't have to choose to be hunters." K'Shai tried to lightly clarify, suddenly beating around that bush again as she stumbled over forming her words "I mean, they could… could… decide to… Just what are you saying, R'chnt? That they are obligated to become hunters?"
He raised a palm, in an obvious gesture to get her to stop.
"K'Shai, K'Shai," he dismissed. "They will likely choose to be hunters. They must become Blooded first. But they are different. As you say, they are half Yautja and half human and nothing can or will change that. They are neither better nor inferior to full blooded Yautja…" he paused and looked at her. "Or full blooded humans.
They are both, and they are neither completely. They are different and they have had a different start in life. And I have had a different life than I believed possible."
K'Shai huffed and nodded in complete agreement. "So have I, R'chnt."
"I remember thinking I could never be a father, but you demanded it…" his voice trailed off and she smiled.
"And you've done pretty damned well with it so far!" With a laugh, she added, "you know… I didn't think I would ever be much of a mother. I didn't even know anything about raising a human baby, let alone the offspring of a mighty Yautja Leader."
She nudged into him delicately.
"So we've gotten some serious raised mandibles from people, but I think we've done pretty well so far!" Her voice trailed off and softened, her gaze dropped to an unfocused position somewhere between where they were sitting and where the children were sleeping.
"They are our children, R'chnt. Our only children."
He nodded an agreement.
"We have done well." He stated succinctly. "And they have much to learn."
"They will," K'Shai whispered in confirmation.
"A'ryin'di and El'tude must learn as Yautja, but they are not Yautja. They are different. They are growing faster; they are smarter and more capable. They can be the strongest hunters in our Clan."
R'chnt started. K'Shai held motionless, clearly waiting for more from him because he obviously wasn't done. She simply listened as his voice turned reminiscent.
"When I was young, my Leader taught us many things. He of course, taught us how to hunt, to fight, to be an Honor to our clan. I teach this to my youngbloods under me, too. Some, like W'rsa, stick with me to learn more. All Yautja wish to live and fight and die with Honor, to create progeny and be the subject of song and story. We all strive for it; those of us strong and able to be hunters.
But not all hunters learn the same ways, or the same things. Some learn to fight and that is it. If they are lucky, they live long enough to breed once, maybe twice, and then go off to try to prove how great they are and get themselves killed."
He spoke quickly and dismissively, as if the subject was just a casual one not worth the effort to speak it.
"Do you know what is more important, K'Shai, than just to hunt and breed? THe most important thing that a hunter truly needs to be great?"
K'Shai thought about it for a moment.
"Intelligence?"
R'chnt spread his mandibles into a wide, satisfied smile and a deep nod.
"Intelligence! Indeed. K'Shai a truly smart hunter needs to know how to truly think - to survive. So many youngbloods today, K'Shai, they learn to rely on awu'asa so much, they forget they have a brain they should learn to use first. My Leader taught us this. He would send us on hunts in the mountains, in the cold, with nothing more than a spear. We had to learn to truly survive. The ones that did, that returned off the mountain after a hunt with a trophy, meat, and merit; they are the ones that truly learned to survive.
Have you ever really watched the youngbloods spar, train, or hunt, K'Shai?"
She shook her head slowly, thinking about it. She had surely seen plenty of youngbloods, from the mei'sa ages, right up through blooded young hunters fighting on Earth. She had seen them, but not really watched them. She certainly knew nothing of how they trained beyond a sparring arena.
"They track prey with awu'asa. They need to make a camp - a fire- they use their awu'asa. They cannot navigate the ground or the stars without it. If a youngblood has lost their way, simply use their awu'asa to find the path back. Awu'asa can do everything for a young hunter…. Or an old one," he sneered. "But it cannot make a hunter learn to use his intelligence. It seems so long gone now are the days of actually looking around at your surroundings, studying your prey, learning the terrain.
The youngbloods today just pull up a good hunting location on the computer, program their ship to take them there, and have every necessity catered to them by awu'asa. So long as they come home with the biggest trophy, they win mates, and the mates are happy; the Clan is happy. But what of the actual hunt? It is just a changing art now that will ultimately weaken each and every Clan on the planet, K'Shai.
Youngbloods simply rely too much on machines and armor and support from technology and when it fails, they die. They lack the skills necessary to really survive and think that the hunt is only about the glory of the kill, the elevated status and the chance to mate. The hunt.. The true hunt, is about survival, being wise enough to be truly the strongest and the best. It is a test of mettle, endurance, ability to survive under conditions you cannot always predict. Surviving is dirty, gritty, and sometimes bloody. It lacks the ease and appeal of just using awu'asa to do everything. It is ugly and not as glorious as so many think, so the youngsters today just do not learn these things; they skip learning the essentials of the hunt, and today's Leaders simply do not teach it. Like none of it matters."
"I would have thought after the hunt on Earth, it would have served a greater purpose to make our own youths realize that they must be wiser."
K'Shai smiled softly, listening to R'chnt's rant with a strange sense of understanding. Somehow, this conversation sounded a little too familiar to K'Shai, and she had visions of being a young girl, sitting somewhere vaguely familiar to her from days that now seemed so long past. She could hear practically the same speech ringing through her ears from her uncle, as she could recall staring down at a little screen in the palm of her hand and scrolling through endless nonsense.
She had indeed, learned to survive, and R'chnt's words made sense to her immediately. She nodded to him in understanding.
"It is good that your Leader taught you these things, so you can teach others, like your offspring." She said simply, then questioned. "What happened to him, R'chnt?"
"He hunted for many years, long after he stopped training youngbloods. He had reached nearly five hundred years old and was still hunting. He disappeared two centuries ago. I had taken a small search party to look for him. We assumed he died, but wanted to return his body to the Clan for an honored funeral."
"Did you find him?" She asked.
He shook his head slightly. "We found wreckage of his ship in the mountains on the world C'urhe-da, but never did find him. It was obvious, though, that he did at least die in a fiery blaze as he would have desired, of course."
She smiled softly. "You know, most humans wish to die warm and comfortable in their bed from old age after a good, long life. I suppose that most Yautja just wouldn't think much of dying of old age in bed like that, would they?"
R'chnt tipped his head towards her, and ticked up one upper mandible.
"I suppose…" he said with a soft pause, "that would depend on who is in bed with you."
She smiled widely and let out a little giggle, then snuggled up into his arms, watching the moons continue along their paths and the children sleep.
By the time the morning suns were up, and the children with them, the next steps forward had been decided. R'chnt and K'Shai had gathered a very small pile of supplies, and the youngsters were eagerly watching with keen eyes, demanding to know what was going on, and excitedly trying to inspect the two small satchels that were being loaded.
"This is a p'rtuja blade," R'chnt announced as he held up a small knife that was barely longer than his fingers. "It is perfect for removing pelts from prey…"
K'Shai listened as he dictated what each of the four blades he packed up were to the children, and was quite certain when she had learned what the p'rtuja was for, he made her quite aware that it was his blade of choice for skinning all manner of prey - including humans.
"No, that isn't for right now," K'Shai scolded El'tude as he tried to pluck the much much larger k'utai blade from the satchel after R'chnt described it as a useful killing tool that could easily be thrown to cover distances and still strike down prey.
Once the show and tell packing session was done, the group strode off on foot. They carried with them only the supplies in the two bags; four blades, some medical equipment for field first aid, a small supply of meats and fruits, enough to get the children through at least two days, and water, enough for the four of them for several days along with a decent stash of juiced a'gha fruit, the sweet nectar that could sustain them all for days if they really ran into trouble.
The rest of it; every meal, every drink, every fire, would be hand hunted and hand made for the remainder of their adventures. They carried with them no armour, no awu'asa of any kind, not even any type of communicator for emergencies. Nothing. R'chnt did at least inform W'rsa of what the plan was in as vague fashion as typically possible for a Yautja male, and he only did it because K'Shai had insisted that at least someone knew they were heading out into the wilds of Yaut for an undetermined amount of time. We will be as long as we will be, were R'chnt's curt words of dismissal to W'rsa. Couldn't possibly be any more vague than that, K'Shai thought with a smirk to her lips and slight shake of her head.
A'ryin'di and El'tude took off down the familiar paths through the jungles beyond the home readily. It was hard to tell by looking at them that A'ryin'di was the elder child. El'tude was of equal height to her, and much larger and stronger than any male his age. A'ryin'di, as she grew, was starting to physically compare to females years older than her in height and build.
But they were both still young children who did not know much about true survival, navigating terrain, or hunting, and all of it showed as they ran through the jungle, happily climbing into the trees and trying to jump from one to another all the while being scolded by one or both of their parents for making too much noise, not paying attention, scaring off any potential prey to eat, and ensuring that if there was prey to hunt and kill them, every single one of them would know exactly where to find the group.
K'Shai smiled as she walked along listening to R'chnt continually remind his offspring of the hunters they will learn to become and of the proper ways to navigate the jungles. It wasn't until the group reached a drop off that the children finally really honed into their father's words. They walked to the edge of a plateau and the view beyond them, of jungle and lake and moons and planets in the very near distance, was something K'Shai had seen once before. A'ryin'di had as well, though she was likely too young to remember.
They reached the edge of R'chnt's territory. Beyond the drop off was open space of the Kaunte'Dareen clan, as well as properties of other hunters.
"Will we run into any of those hunters, do you think?" K'Shai asked a little nervously.
"Of course we might. This is what makes true hunting so challenging; you cannot know what you will encounter. We must be prepared for everything, yes?" R'chnt used the moment as a learning lesson.
It seemed to get the children's attention as they quieted down immediately and followed obediently behind R'chnt and before K'Shai, clearly apprehensive about having gone farther from home than they had ever been. By the time evening fell and they made camp the children had transitioned from the excitement of starting a fun playful adventure in familiar territory to quietly listening and learning as they worked out that they were not going home any time soon and were now in unfamiliar territory.
"Come," R'chnt announced to the group once the camp was set.
K'Shai and El'tude had gathered up suitable kindling firewood while R'chnt and A'ryin'di scouted the terrain and showed back up to camp with freshly killed prey, enough to feed them all while they were at it. The group gathered around where the camp fire would be, and the long wait was on until El'tude, who was in charge of fire for the first night, successfully managed to start the fire without the use of the self-igniting starters R'chnt did bring.
Day after day, the group did much of the same; they walked through the jungle, using every possible opportunity as a learning lesson. K'Shai, as well as the children, grew in their knowledge day after day, learning from R'chnt and living off the jungle. They stalked, hunted, skinned, and cooked their prey each day or they did not eat. The youngsters, much to K'Shai's surprise, adapted exceedingly well to such a life. They didn't complain when they were hungry, or expect their parents to do a better job at bringing them food; they savored the opportunity to truly learn to use blades and their body and the wind as cover and track scents in the air.
They were far more naturally adept at following their father's lead than K'Shai, but even so, living and hunting in such a way only helped to hone her own senses and abilities.
After many rotations, she even found herself running a bit faster, moving with more ease over the terrain, climbing into trees higher and with less apprehension than she had before and scaling up or down cliffsides smoothly and quietly like it was meant to be done.
Of course, the children took everything to the next level. So much like the familiarity of sibling rivalry, each one had to try to outdo the other, and they did from time to time, fall out of a tree, start fighting, or disturb prey and cause the whole group to miss a chance to eat. It was all in mostly fair play and fun, and K'Shai and R'chnt only scolded them when their behaviour caused too much chaos in the natural order of the jungle around them.
Each child seemed to take great pride in inflicting a wound on the other or in climbing higher, running faster than the other, and such was the Yautja way. Still, they were learning together and through each error or injury, they were learning lessons that young children in the mei'sa could never truly understand.
"Mother," A'yrin'di questioned one night as the group settled into a cave for a meal. A storm raged on outside, but in the deep rocky hollow, it was dry and warm around the fire and the hunt before the storm moved in had been plentiful. It seemed that even tracking prey had gotten easier for all of them.
"Is that what humans do on Earth as well?"
K'Shai smiled softly and raised an eyebrow. The children rarely ever questioned on any subjects relating to humans or Earth, and K'Shai suddenly realized that she simply never really discussed it. The offspring of course knew the basics; their mother was an alien and her world called Earth was far away. No Yautja would travel to it again, and such a pairing was unique. The rest of their days and lives were based on being Yautja and living as Yautja live.
"Well, no. Not really." K'Shai answered briefly.
"Humans do not hunt?" El'tude asked quickly, with a hint of surprise in his voice.
K'Shai stammered to find words, while R'chnt sat quietly watching her work it all out.
"Yautja and humans live very differently."
"What is Earth like?" A'ryin'di questioned and both children turned their full attention to their mother, creeping a little closer to her as if that would make them hear all the better.
K'Shai thinned her smile a bit and glanced to R'chnt who clearly was not going to offer any input, direction, or support in this matter. It was only natural, she supposed; that they would finally someday grow curious about where this alien half of their genetic makeup came from. For the last few months, they had been learning through intense connection, all about their own natural world, and they were growing to understand the Yautja people and their ways; but they knew nothing about humans or their ways.
As K'Shai thought about how to answer, she realized she really did not know how to answer. It had been years since she had been to Earth. She had no idea how her people lived anymore or what the planet was like. Had they rebuilt? Did they all become hunters, or did they resort back to their previous ways? Did they build greater technologies and get cars back going on the streets, and simply move forward once more with a life that was familiar and comfortable to them, or did they make a full change and become something different? She had no idea. She vaguely thought that perhaps it would't be the worst idea ever to go to Earth with the children so they could experience it for themselves.
Perhaps one day, she thought.
"Earth is… quite a bit different than Yaut. Most of it is cooler. There is only one sun and one moon. It is smaller. But it has as varied of terrain as Yaut. There are mountains and deserts and jungles and snow."
"Snow? What's that?" El'tude questioned with a scoffing tone like the word was just made up.
"Snow is… " K'Shai paused. How exactly does one describe snow? She never thought about it.
"Here on Yaut, far to the East, in the high mountains of the Lo'tai, there is snow. It occurs only where it is coldest." R'chnt added.
K'Shai didn't realize there was anywhere on Yaut that got cold enough to see snow.
"It's soft and flaky and cold, and covers the ground when it is cold," K'Shai added, building on that start.
Until they grew too tired to inquire any further and fell asleep, K'Shai continued to stumble her way through answering natural, but difficult, questions. She never realized that speaking of her own home planet would be so difficult, but how really does one explain to an alien child such things?
"What is upsetting you, my K'Shai?" R'chnt questioned, clearly intuitively noticing that she was self-analyzing every answer she gave her children for the last hour.
She shook her head.
"Nothing," she responded softly. "I just … I guess I just never really think about Earth that much. All those questions they had. I don't know what to tell them."
"You told them all they needed to know."
She shook her head again.
"It's just all so hard to explain. It's almost hard to remember. I just get a little… fuzzy… about it all. It's like I remember hints of a life there I thought I was going to have. Then there was blackness… and then…" she eyed him deeply. "You."
"I'll never forget the first time I saw you. Fighting like you do, in the middle of a street. With the kainde amedha all around. It was…."
Her voice trailed off Her thoughts lost their way. It was so many things all at once, and that one moment led her on a spiralling whirlwind of events that she could never have imagined. As she thought back about it all, it seemed like some kind of strange dream or fantasy. Had any of that really happened? Her life was here, on Yaut, with her mate and her offspring, and the stars to hunt. That was the only life that mattered now.
She turned to R'chnt and pounced lightly into him, gripping her hands around his biceps as he readily laid backwards and let her topple him down. It did not take long for his garments to be cast aside, and she felt him enter her. She rocked her hips as hard as she could, sliding along his shaft with a satiated moanwith each exertion. R'chnt maintained a deep purr mixed with some throaty growls as he shut his eyes and savored the feelings of his mate upon her, her wetness coating his rod, making it swell and prepare to release the load it was building.
Undisturbed, the offspring slept just feet away, and he noticed how K'Shai would glance towards them and cover her mouth as if to avoid making noises. She had always preferred privacy for most things, especially mating, but her needs clearly spurred her on, because each time she realized the offspring were not going to be waking up any time soon, she would thrust harder and sit back down upon his deeper and firmer.
He could not hold himself back any longer. He released himself into her, and she stilled upon him, panting and moaning while R'chnt's body turned rigid for a moment. She gripped the sides of his abdomen; her left hand carefully embracing the scar that remained of the injury that nearly killed him.
She melted into him in a throbbing heap and without a word, nestled against his armpit. The next thing she knew, the suns were coming up, the fire was bright, and the children were helping their sire cook fish. It was the scent that caused her to stir.
A large fish with two sets of four fins each along its side, around its gills, the thing reminded her of a rainbow trout; just in true Yautja style, it was far larger than anything she might have seen once in her life. It was a delicious fish, with a peculiarly sweet tasting white meat. R'chnt had helped her keep her spearfishing skills sharp with them as well. B'oja he called them.
Breakfast was gone in no time and the camp-site was cleaned and secured and the group was off again, returning to their daily routine of walking, stalking, hunting, learning, eating, sleeping, and again and again. It was an educational experience for the offspring and for K'Shai too. Spending so much time alone in the jungle with R'chnt as her sole teacher, guide, mate, protector; he was clearly in his element.
He took advantage of every opportunity to teach them all. Every scent on the wind, every footprint in the mud, every curve of the river; all of it - it was all useful and connected and necessary to learn.
The children absorbed every bit of it, and the days all blurred together so much that she had completely lost track of how long they had been out there. She was sure that the offspring had grown at least a solid twelve inches and their bulk had tripled.
She was sure they were learning more about being Yautja than any Yautja even twice their age. The children only spoke of the mei'sa occasionally and over the last many rotations, she had definitely noticed how much less they would speak of it. None of it mattered. What would be taught to them in the mei'sa was nothing in comparison of what their father could - and was - teaching them.
The true skills they need to know to survive were being lived and learned every day in the real world. They were learning at a real-world level while the other children their age were doing the equivalent of reading "see Spot run."
A'ryin'di and El'tu-de, K'Shai knew, were destined for something far greater than she, or even R'chnt, could ever imagine.
For the moment, though; the young siblings, confident in their skills and wanting to prove their mettle, had disappeared into the jungle just beyond the shores of the beach where K'Shai sat in the sand with her feet in the ocean. She could still hear her children, and while she could not see them, R'chnt still could. That was enough.
He did see her glancing around, trying hard to focus her eyes through the trees towards the sound of their voices.
"They are safe. They are just beyond the trees, K'Shai. They are climbing, chasing each other."
She smiled, reassured. Although dangers lurked in the jungle in all forms, R'chnt was nearby and the children knew better than to go to far.
She sighed deeply and looked around.
"I like it here," she said soothingly to R'chnt as she watched the waves dance in the early morning light.
He chuckled softly.
"Oh, I knew you would K'Shai."
She couldn't help but offer him a wide smile.
They had quite literally trekked through the jungle to the very edge of the Clan territory. K'Shai knew the Kaunte Da'reen clan was large, but the actual experience of walking across just part of it, had certainly left her wit a new found respect for the true size of the Clan. How many miles, how many months, had they been gone, she could not possibly keep track of. But the beach that marked the edge of the Clan's territory was certainly a welcome site.
She had already picked out a spot to build a home; right over to her left near the cliffs - high enough and back off the shore enough not to flood; the only beach front property in the Clan, she imagined.
R'chnt stood knee-deep in the ocean watching his mate survey her surroundings.
"Looking for a place to build a home?" He said coolly, clearly knowing the mind of his mate like a big glowing book.
She blushed a little as she eyed him lightly.
"Maybe."
She gave a playful little stretch and removed the garments over her chest, dropping leather and metal and weapons into the sand next to her and stretched back into the sand, with a little arch in her back as she moaned.
R'chnt prowled over and crawled atop her, clicking just loud enough to be heard above the sound of the water as he traced her body with his upper tusks; making her moan and squirm. She ravaged at him, kissing him so furiously she bit his mandibles and squeezed her fingers into his biceps.
K'Shai was in her element, he thought to himself. She was happy and relaxed and easily the most at ease that he had seen her in quite some time. She was, like any Yautja, alert and tense, somewhat apprehensive of her surroundings enough to be aware of the dangers. Her senses were honed enough to detect prey in the wind or by a hint of where they tread. K'Shai had trained and trained and learned well. She was indeed Yautja; a proud and true example of a female Yautja and a mother for the youngsters to learn by.
However, she seemed to always be on alert. Always. She had trouble turning it off. It was good to feel her succumb to him and finally relax enough to enjoy herself. He did not know if the sand or ocean waters had an actual measurable effect on human physiology; a matter for L'ruch he thought vaguely. Regardless, whatever it was, she was far more relaxed when he took her to the water's edge.
She gave herself to him fully; wetter than the ocean, and moaning louder than the sounds of the waves crashing against the rocks down the shoreway until they both had reached their peak. R'chnt and K'Shai howled together in wild harmony as their bodies surged. K'Shai, tingling with orgasmic release, slid down off R'chnt's wet torso and flopped into the sand next to him, heaving her chest. R'chnt watched her breasts rise and fall, studying the body of his mate, now so very different from what it was when they had first met.
She had been pale, weak, starved, thin, but still alluring with her delicate pink skin and soft touch. Now, she was muscular, darkened from the sun, tattooed, with her hair properly braided and beaded. She was Yautja in a human body, he thought. He allowed himself to ponder over her curiosities for a moment, when a shrieking sound arose from the jungle.
K'Shai was up and running with lightning speed; grabbing up a spear as she nimbly leapt to her feet. In just a few strides, R'chnt was overtaking her with his ground covering stride. They leapt into the jungle, K'Shai calling to her children in a near-panic as she heard a mighty bellowing roar echoing up from the trees. Her heart sank a little as she could not hear the wails of her children.
She was barely thinking, only reacting, yet she could not help but fear the worst; for this bellow was not from some angry Yautja enemy, not even a ch'huk. This bellow was from something much much worse; a thing that was usually hunted by trios of Blooded hunters looking to make a name for themselves, or hope for a chance at Leadership should they live.
"K'Shai! Left!", R'chnt called out and she barely had time to react.
She jumped towards her left, rounding in a circle around the best before them, and when she got a clearer view for the first time of the massive creature, she completely understood why the wall around the mei'sa territory was as large as it was.
The Quatza-rij was utterly gigantic. It was nearly as tall as the trees it was moving through; bigger than a hard meat queen, and a hundred times more fierce. The things' face looked like it was heavy armored; it's beak-like mouth opening wide to reveal steel-like teeth. It had two pairs of eyes, large black ones and smaller gold ones; which immediately allowed it to see the two, naked things approaching it with only pitiful spears in their hands.
The mighty beast turned and howled; wringing its tail and stomping down a clawed three-toed foot. Its skin, such as it was, shimmered so oddly beautifully in the sunlight as the creature's tail whipped into trees and knocked leaves loose enough to allow more sunlight to shine down. It had a pearlized blue, pink, and orange hue to its hide that almost seemed to glow and change colors with each movement of muscle and skin.
K'Shai found herself momentarily pausing just to gasp. The spear in her hand, so thin and frail looking compared to just one toe of the thing before her seemed completely useless. She could not imagine three Yautja with full armor killing such a beast. She could not imagine ten Yautja with cannons killing the thing. She most definitely could not imagine two naked hunters with just a spear each killing it; but it was standing just between her and her offspring.
As she rounded closer towards tit, she could see her offspring nestled behind a downed tree using it for cover; but hardly hiding. They were watching the Quatza-rij with trepidation but readiness, like they were waiting for their parents' cue to leap in and help bring the beast down.
"Stay down!" K'Shai hollered to her offspring and simultaneously drawing the creature's focus completely onto her.
"K'Shai!" R'chnt called to her, alerting her as if she did not already see the fifty foot tall animal stomping towards her.
She suddenly realized that he was quickly giving her directive; there was an opening for her to attack. He leapt in and jumped right onto the creature's tail, at the base near its rump while K'Shai barely gauged that under the thing's left forearm was a soft area that her spear could have easily slipped into and done damage- easily, had she not completely missed the moment.
It whirred around to attempt to dismantle its unwanted rider, and in a flash, R'chnt disappeared from eyesight completely. He had slid down the other side and already stabbed into the beast's flesh with his spear. The Quatza-rij howled and spun around and R'chnt, still clinging to the base of the tail, was now suddenly right in front of K'Shai.
Purple blood poured down. The strike definitely did damage, but certainly not enough to do little more than aggravate the already enraged beast. R'chnt bellowed to her again and this time she finally leapt into action.
K'Shai ran towards the creature and stabbed anywhere as close as she could to the armpits under each leg, making little nicks but hardly doing the amount of damage that
R'chnt, who was working the opposite side of the animal again, was doing. K'Shai stabbed again and again at the underside of the creature while it whirled and turned and roared and struck at them both with its tail and clawed feet.
As K'Shai tried to work her spear into usefulness, she danced around under the beast trying very hard to avoid being stomped by its feet. She thrust her spear forward once more and the tip of the spear got caught in the armor plating outside of the small hollow she was trying to hit. All of a sudden, she was weaponless, and she stumbled backwards, with her children just behind her.
Immediately, the offspring channeled up all of their Yautja blood and howled, jumping forward to attempt to intimidate the Quatza-rij with the all the Yautja fury their still growing-lungs could possibly muster. The animal certainly took noticed, though it was hardly given cause to think twice. It stepped forward, taking a thumping landing as it half-way leapt towards the three tiny dots before it that would likely become lunch.
K'Shai noticed, barely, R'chnt heaving himself up behind the animal's shoulder, climbing onto its back, spear in hand. She only had a millisecond of a view of that, before she turned towards her offspring and howled at them.
"Stay back! Do not move!" She growled with far more Yautja fury than they displayed and they both noticeably trembled on the spot, clearly more shaken by the fury of their mother than the massive animal stomping towards them.
K'Shai growled and rolled aside, trying to avoid being stomped while also taking a long note of the animal's beak-like muzzle coming towards it. The lines of sinew that laced it massive jaws were glistening as its tongue tipped up towards the roof of its mouth and it let out a wild shriek.
"K'Shai! K'Shai!" R'chnt called her attention. "Spear! Deep! Hit the heart!"
She pulled herself back together and without thinking, she rolled over and grabbed up the spear that had been lost. She noticed R'chnt fully distracting the Quatza-rij by embedding his wrist blades through the spiny ridges along the back of the thing's head. All that accomplished, as intended, was to annoy the animal; causing it to pull away from the children and K'Shai. It tossed it's head wildly, trying clearly to dislodge the blades, and R'chnt right along with them, from the back of its skull.
The diversion also caused the animal to pull back so fully that it tipped its entire chest into an exposed position, and K'Shai's eyes locked onto the purple trail of blood from under its left foreleg, where she had been knicking a hole open into it slowly but surely. The work she did had opened a hole in the only soft spot between the armor plating, though "soft" hardly seemed accurate.
K'Shai howled and straightened the spear, running forward to propel herself; eyes locked on the animal's bleeding armpit. As he drew near, she jammed the spear as hard as she could into the injury; digging it as deeply as she could. The animal spun down on her, knocking her sideways with its other foreleg. She howled as she felt ribs break and her skin rip open. She could hear R'chnt howl loudly from somewhere, but had no idea where he was.
K'Shai, running on pure adrenaline, propped herself up and spotted her spear again, which was still sticking out of the Quatza-rij's armpit. She ran towards it as best as she could and noticed then that R'chnt was standing in a smiliar position on the other side, lunging forward already with his spear, most certainly on target under the animal's other armpit.
Together, they both pushed their spears up. K'Shai thrust it so deeply into the animal, she could feel the bones of its ribcage changing the trajectory as she did so. The animal howled in clear agony, wailing a sighing cry as it shuddered and withdrew in a staggering series of steps.
R'chnt, relentless in his attack thrust his spear as deep as it would possibly. K'Shai lost grip on hers, for it was too far into the animal to even hold onto anymore, and far too slippery lathered in purple blood. She folded in half, bracing her palms on her knees as the massive beast before her toppled down onto its chest.
It thrashed its head abruptly, forcing K'Shai to reposition herself, and R'chnt quickly leapt to join her. Ary'in'di and El'tude crept foward as the crowned head of the Quatza-rij came to a standstill and it released two final sighs of defeat before all life left it.
K'Shai toppled to the ground, trembling after scanning over her offspring for signs of injury. She noticed as she collapsed, that R'chnt had been scraped and torn up as well; he had a flap of skin hanging from his thigh. It was only then that she even recalled they were both still unclothed; just finished mating.
The concept of killing a Quatza-rij with no armor, no garments, and simply a spear was entirely too much for her to focus on at the moment. It overwhelmed her to the point her head hurt, and she shut her eyes. Only opening them again when she heard voices announce themselves.
"R'chnt?!" One of the voices said with sheer shock.
K'Shai looked up to see R'chnt approached six hunters that had appeared out of the jungle. She felt her mind dizzily trying to keep up with the whirlwind conversation of the hunting pack that had heard the commotion and thought they were in for the hunt of a lifetime.
"The two of you killed it with spears? Naked?"
K'Shai heard that part of the conversation quite clearly, along with the sheer disbelief in the tone.
"Come," R'chnt said to El'tude, and A'ryin'di after the six hunters had finally stopped their barrage of questions. "Let me show you how to skin one of these."
K'Shai sat and composed herself, nursed her injuries, and watched R'chnt teach his children.