"I do not understand why you object, mother." Sar'uch-de said with a hint of irritation in his voice.

"No, I'm sure you don't!" Irate, K'Shai rebutted. "Take her back to where she belongs! I will have no more of this."

"Mother, I… "

K'Shai howled to silence her offspring, red faced and fuming.

"There will be no more discussion of this, Sar'uch-de. Take her back where she comes from, where she belongs." She howled, pointing to Kelly and gesturing away from Yaut.

The pair spat back and forth in Yautjan while Kelly's eyes followed the heated argument like a close-quarters game of tennis.

"Hey, listen, I…" she finally spoke in a shaking voice. "I don't know.. What's going on here, but I don't mean to cause strife like this. I just…" she paused looking between Sar'uch-de and K'Shai. "I want to be here. Your son… he has been so incredible. I know you understand because you…"

"That is enough!" K'Shai spoke firmly in Kelly's native tongue. How suddenly the words popped back into her mind when she was furious, she thought. Curious.

"I just… I don't understand. Have I done something wrong?" Kelly tried again.

K'Shai gritted her teeth and turned back to Sar'uch-de and continued on.

"What is the plan here? Why did you bring her here?"

Dumbfounded, Sar'uch-de clearly had no acceptable answer. K'Shai continued to glare at him until he responded in some fashion.

"We have spent this time together exploring the stars, different worlds. It has been incredible sharing this with Kelly, just as you and Father shared your lives together."

"Sar'uch-de, you do not understand a thing about what it was like for your Father and… and myself. You cannot have her here, or try to… to… bring her into the Yautja fold. You cannot do this. No one must know of this. No one must know you brought her here."

K'Shai began to slowly calm her words, though she still spoke firmly.

"You cannot understand, and you cannot put her through… you can't do this."

"So, you do not want her here? Another human in the mei'sa, someone to teach what you have learned? She wants to learn, she wants to see." Sar'uch-de tried again.

"Absolutely not, and you will not put her through any of this. You must bring her back to where she belongs."

"So, it was acceptable for you and Father, but…"

"Don't you dare even remotely try to presume you understand anything about the circumstances about what I and your Father dealt with. Believe me, I am well aware of the stories all about how R'chnt simply just whooshed me to Yaut without a care in the world and now I'm an Honored mei'sa mother. Those stories; they aren't even one tenth…. One hundredth… of what it was like, and you will not put her through that." She flared up again pointing directly at Kelly.

Kelly once again stepped forward and attempted to reach out to K'Shai and place her palm on her shoulder, to which K'Shai instantly yanked her arm back and glared at Kelly with a definite don't ever touch me unless you want to lose your hand look.

Wide eyed, with a gasp, Kelly withdrew, clearly seeing something incredibly non-human standing before her.

K'Shai turned to face the red-haired woman, seeing the shaking frightened little girl before her she once knew.

"You must return to Earth." She said plainly and clearly to Kelly.

"Listen, I'm… I'm sorry.." the woman said in a quivering whisper, looking between Sar'uch-de and K'Shai. "I don't know what I've done wrong here, or how I have offended you? I just want to…"

"You want to be with my son?" K'Shai growled. "You want to explore the stars," she taunted with a sarcastic tone, only passingly surprised at how quickly her English was coming back to her when she was infuriated. "You want to live here? On this world? With the aliens you wrote about in your books?"

Kelly looked stunned. Silent, she simply starred with a dropped jaw.

"Do you want to be killed? Is that what you want?" K'Shai growled harshly.

When she received no retort from Kelly, K'Shai straightened her body, pulling her chin up a bit, suddenly channeling her mei'sa matriarch stature and combining it with a hint of both Clan and Hunt Leader that she had never encountered before.

"I asked you a question!" She hissed.

Kelly raised her eyebrows and shook her head, as if suddenly realizing there was a conversation happening that she was expected to respond to.

"Well… No…" she whispered with a questioning tone as if she was unsure of what response she was supposed to give.

K'Shai turned to her offspring.

"You have no idea what you are asking. Not just of her," she grumbled in Yautjan, pointing to Kelly then to the air around them, "but of all the Clan, the people, your family. You have no idea what you will do to her if you do not take her back to her proper home immediately."

"Tell me, mother. Why?"

"I am telling you to take her back, and that is all you need to know."

"Look, I…" Kelly interjected. "Sar'uch-de and I… we have been to wonderful amazing worlds," she started with a romantic glimmer in her eye and voice. "We have… I have seen things I never imagined. It's so beautiful out there… and here. I just want to see your world. See how you live. I want to learn the place you have come to call home for almost twenty-five years now."

K'Shai stood flaring her nostrils, clenching her jaw so tightly that her mandibles were creating ripples in her cheeks and then thinned her lips into a smirk and stalked close to Kelly with the same ferocity of a lioness edging into a lone zebra foal before its final strike.

Kelly immediately diverted her eyes; the first sensible thing that had occurred since this situation began, K'Shai noted.

"Look at me," she said in a fierce whisper.

Kelly strained to pick her eyes up and make contact with K'Shai fiery green eyes glaring at her.

"You can not be here. Whatever you expect, or think is going to happen here, it is not."

Slowly, Kelly's eyes diverted from K'Shai's face down her arms, body and towards her legs, then made their way back up to her face.

"You do not know what you ask, and neither does my youthful son. You must return to your home."

"I'm just…" Kelly whispered submissively, "I only want to learn. To see and understand."

"You have seen. You must leave." K'Shai growled.

K'Shai turned to her offspring again. "Return her to where she belongs."

"Allow her to be here a few days, Mother. That is all. I will bring her to the estate and…"

"You will do nothing of the sort." K'Shai hissed venomously. "Get her off this world, take her back to hers immediately."

Just at the moment where K'Shai thought vaguely about forcing Kelly back into the ship and taking her back herself, at the very precipice of when the tension might well have snapped, K'Shai's communication panel lit up and for a flicker of a moment, her thoughts were diverted by the most inopportune hail.

"Yes!" K'Shai growled annoyedly into her arm panel.

"Are you able to return to the estate, K'Shai?" R'chnt's voice asked with his usual calm demeanor.

Somehow, there was always just enough serenity in his voice to settle her; it was perhaps what he did best.

"There is a matter I wanted to discuss with you." He added.

K'Shai sighed deeply and turned back to Kelly and Sar'uch-de with a glare.

"There is a matter I very much want to discuss with you as well," she retorted. "I will be along shortly."

She turned back to her onlookers and once again growled a firm command for Kelly to be taken back to her own proper world. As she made her way off towards the city and ground transport pad, she looked back numerous times checking to see if her offspring had listened to her and returned to the ship to take his would-be mate home.

She did indeed see them returning to the ship, but somehow, the fleeting notion that Sar'uch-de was not about to simply take Kelly back kept nagging at her.

She stewed in silence as she made her way to the hunting estate, curious to know what business R'chnt had called her back for, but focusing more on what her youngest offspring was up to. She could not help but look at the locator readings on her gauntlet at least half a dozen times during the trip out to R'chnt's hunting estate. Sar'uch-de's vessel was still firmly planted where she had left it, and she found herself growing more irritated with each glance.

Upon returning to the estate, she found R'chnt sipping from a mug on the terrace at the front of the house. He seemed rested, calm, content, and she almost hated to tell him her news. She took a deep, slow breath, greeted her mate and Leader, and instinctively glanced about, noticing that there was no one about.

"Hello my mate. What matter did you wish to discuss?"

He sipped his mug and put it down on the table next to the throne-like chair he surveyed his grounds from.

"I was thinking we should go on hunt! Perhaps off to the shores of the western territory?"

K'Shai sank down next to him, feeling her body relax a bit as she pressed into his warmth and listened to his strong heart beat for a moment as ear fell to his chest.

"No Clan Council business at the moment?" She cooed.

"Nothing they cannot handle without me for a while," he assured her

She shut her eyes and for a moment, tried to calm the unrest in her, almost forgetting that she had any matters of her own to discuss with him.

"I think that sounds perfect." She said.

"In fact…" he began again, slowly. "I was thinking more about that seafront. The spot near the cliff line."

"You mean, where we killed that little quatza-rij… without armor?" She playfully questioned.

"Without armor? I think if I recall, we were without garments!" He retorted equally as kitten-like.

"Oh, right, it's all coming back to me now," K'Shai added with a smile

"What about it?"

He took a deep, slow breath and looked about his estate.

"I have had this estate for many years, K'Shai. I earned it through my hunts and stature. It has been a good hunting grounds, plenty of fresh meat and difficult beasts to hunt."

"It is." She echoed. "Wait… it has…? What is going on?"

He looked at her and pulled his mandibles back into a smile.

"I think it is well time we build a new estate in new territory, for ourselves and our future generations should they earn it. The manor would face the ocean on one side, the jungle on the other."

K'Shai beamed, suddenly forgetting completely about any other matter.

"You asked me this as if I would say no?" She laughed and threw her arms around him. "How did this come about?"

He waved a hand dismissively. "A suggestion during the Clan Council meeting."

"So, is someone taking this estate?"

"There have been several who have expressed desire. It will be a good change, K'Shai. When you are not at the mei'sa, You can be there to enjoy the beaches as you like."

She smiled, stunned.

"I really don't know what to say." She gasped through her wide grin.

"Tell me what you want. It shall be done." R'chnt puffed his chest and said proudly. "Whatever it is my mate wishes, she will have."

K'Shai's mind suddenly drew a blank.

"I can't think of a single thing… I don't know. I mean….. A terrace to view the ocean like you said. I think a big food prep area would be good. When our offspring do have the chance to visit, it would be nice to have more room."

R'chnt nodded deeply.

"Of course, there will be a large kehrite inside and out. I think I shall have one built on the bluff of that cliff, as well." R'chnt said with a wispy sound eagerness in his voice.

"What brought this on exactly?" K'Shai asked softly.

He pressed his palm against her face and looked down at her, spreading his upper tusks into a simple smile.

"It will be a good change. The eto are already starting on it."

K'Shai bellowed out a gleeful laugh and shook her head.

"Knew I would not exactly say no, did you?" She asked playfully.

He gripped her tightly around her waist and lifted her up to him. She draped her arms around his shoulders and pressed her face into his whitening locks for a moment before he slipped her back down to her feet.

"Now, you had said you had a matter you wished to discuss with me?"

K'Shai huffed grittily, suddenly letting the anxiety she had been feeling well back up inside her.

"It's Sar'uch-de." She started, slapping her hands against her thighs in exasperation.
"I don't… I just can't… R'chnt… He… He…" she stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence.

A moment ago, her mind was wonderfully free of though, just happy feelings at the notion that her mate was building them a new beach house. Now, her mind was so cluttered with overlapping thoughts she could not even manage to speak any of them, or separate them in her head.

"K'Shai…" R'chnt purred, seeing her anxiety and tension quickly peak. He directed her with a gesture to sit and she threw her hands up and paced around, refusing to quiet her body or mind.

"You don't understand…" She growled.

"You have not told me yet what it is that I cannot understand!" He protested. "What has you so enraged?"

"Sar'uch-de!" She howled in annoyance. "He brought Kelly here."

"What? What are you saying?" R'chnt questioned.

She flung her hand towards the north, "they are at the landing zone, with that ship he acquired, and she's aboard. He took her from Earth. Apparently they've been together for months, just flying around the galaxy."

K'Shai howled feverishly and paced angrily. R'chnt stepped over to her and abruptly put his large hands onto her shoulders, squeezing her into motionlessness.

"What are you saying?" He asked deeply.

"He has taken her from Earth, and now she is here. I told him to leave immediately and bring her back to where she belongs, but they are still there. They haven't left."

R'chnt looked off towards the North and back to K'Shai.

"Come."

It was well past nightfall when they made their back to the most remote landing zone that the Kaunte Dar'een territory had to offer. Sure enough, the ship was still there. K'Shai's tracking scan had not malfunctioned. Her offspring had not listened to her at all and as soon as she saw him coming out to face them, she howled.

"Why are you still here?"

Sar'uch-de poised into his most submissive position he could; if his chin could have tucked any deeper into his chest he might have cut an artery in his heart. He put his palms out towards her, showing her he was not looking for a fight, and also trying to get her to stop the rage she directed towards him.

"Mother, let me explain."

"There is nothing you need to explain. You think I can't possibly understand why you might have done this? Wrong. I lived this!"

Kelly tiptoed out from the corridor behind Sar'uch-de. R'chnt watched her approach with a rather dissociated gaze, as if there might well have been anywhere else he wanted to be than right there.

When he stepped forward and growled, everyone in the room stopped motionless and fell silent.

"This cannot be, Sar'uch-de. You must not bring her here. It is as your mother has said. She must be returned to Earth."

"I only want…" Sar'uch-de tried to protest.

His mighty sire cut him off succinctly.

"You are young. You well may have been Blooded, but you are very much a youngblood. Your breeding gives you a respectable position in your Clan, but you have much more you need to accomplish. You cannot bring this human here, and expect her to do as your mother did. Live in the mei'sa, mate, bear your young."

"Sar'uch-de," K'Shai finally whispered, calming herself for the sake of the tense situation. "There is much you do not understand. You believe, because you been raised on the stories, that I was simply accepted, because of your sire's position and status in the Clan.

I will admit that under the specific situation I came to be with the Yautja, there was perhaps a bit of acceptance and maybe even sympathy. But… it was not easy. It was not like the stories you've been told. I nearly died many times. The mei'sa is not an accepting place."

She tried to explain.

"I was very young, much younger than Kelly is now. I had… perhaps even… less time simply being human than she has now. Her life is on that planet. And I know how … how … exciting.. this all is for her. She has had the chance to see things she has never imagined; but she is human. She has position and friends and a life that you have taken her away from and expect her to simply adjust to this world and this life. She will not be able to do that."

"Mother… you do not know that …" Sar'uch-de tried again.

"You will break her down if you keep her here. The longer she is away from what is familiar to her, what is home. She will break." K'Shai growled undisputedly.

"I can't pretend to know what you're saying, but I can only guess," Kelly stepped forward timidly, again trying to plead her case; staying well out of reach of K'Shai and warily eyeing R'chnt.

"You don't want me here. I can't understand why. I just thought… if you please give me a chance." K'Shai eyed the red haired woman silently.

"K'Shai… I… One of my the greatest memories I have is of being saved by R'chnt… you, me, my mother… we were all saved. You saw what the Yautja were back then when no one else could. Why can't you see that now in me?"

K'Shai stepped close to Kelly; so close it made her clearly cringe, and properly bow her head, breaking eye contact in submission.

"You can not stay. You do not understand. This can not be, and must not be. You must return to Earth. What you have seen and done up to now is yours. This is not a place for a human. Just as Earth is no place for a Yautja."

"You don't think of yourself as human anymore do you?"

"I stopped being human long before I left Earth. You were too young to know, to understand. And you are too human to be here," K'Shai grittily informed Kelly.

"You do not understand what it is you are asking, and sadly neither does my misguided offspring." She emphasized.

Kelly, looking flabbergasted, gaped her jaw despairingly at K'Shai.

"I just… don't understand." She mumbled defeatedly.

"That is correct. You do not." K'Shai reiterated harshly, then, seeing a heaping wealth of sadness building in Kelly's eyes, she softened a bit.

"How well do you remember that night R'chnt saved the three of us?" K'Shai asked.

"I think very well. I remember being tied up. I remember being so scared. I remember him, and the others freeing us. I remember thanking him, and most… most of all… I remember watching you fall asleep in his arms. You had been so scared. I remember how frightened you were, and then how…. comforted you were that night. I wrote about it; that story in my first book; you know K'Shai, it's easily the most famous story. I think it's what made you so famous on Earth. You know you're famous, right?."

K'Shai huffed.

"And that means what? You saw our welcome party." She snarled. "I do not belong there any more than you belong here. Your home is there. Mine is here."

"Wait…" K'Shai turned to R'chnt, hearing an echo ring into the ship.

Clearly the others heard it as well because R'chnt and Sar'uch-de both turned out towards the exit door near the loading ramp. Sar'uch-de jumped over to the control panel, tapping it open, and the sound outside instantly grew louder.

On any planet, in any culture, there was no questioning the sound of a blaring alarm. The sound only meant one thing; the Clan city was on high alert. Sar'uch-de glanced towards his parents and cursed under his breath. Immediately K'Shai and R'chnt exchanged concerned glances and then looked towards Kelly.

"Who else has seen her?" K'Shai suddenly barked to Sar'uch-de.

Sar'uch-de, looking rather stunned, professed, "Mother, no one. No one else knows she is here. Is that for us?"

"W'rsa…" R'chnt immediately beckoned into his control panel. "W'rsa, what is happening?"

"The mei'sa!" His excited voice announced. "A Q'atza-rij in the perimeter!"

K'Shai and R'chnt exchanged alarmed glances and darted towards the ground transport,

with Sar'uch-de quickly following up behind.

"You stay here!" K'Shai bellowed to Kelly as she tried to jump onto the platform as though she would not have been noticed.

Kelly withdrew instantly and turned to look at the ship's waiting door behind her. On the transport, there was no discussion. The three hunters rode in silence, and K'Shai wondered exactly what was going through the minds of Rchnt, Sar'uch-de, and even Kelly at that moment.

K'Shai herself debated whether it was better that the alarms were due to the beast that had broken the perimeter of the mei'sa or not. The alternative being that the alarms were due to an unwanted alien on the planet; admittedly a bit of an overreaction, but still.

The ground transport was halted outside the gates of the mei'sa, which would typically not be opened for any adult male wishing to gain entry. Thus, they were not. However, there was no need for K'Shai to open the gates either, for the group of eager young hunters ready to defend their mei'sa and the females within, and no doubt impress those breeding females, were all headed towards the west end of the campus.

It was no short distance from the main gates to the far west end, but K'Shai felt as if she might as well have had wings as she sprinted along with a number of alarmed hunters, racing to get near, and stop, the beast. Beyond the wall, inside the mei'sa grounds, K'Shai could hear howling and roaring; a combined effort from the beast within and the female hunters trying to stop it.

As they drew nearer to the breach, though, K'Shai thought what she heard sounded much more like an all out battle.

C'jit!

The only thought that could enter into her mind when she rounded the turn was purely that.

There was a massive part of the wall that protected the mei'sa simply demolished. Wide enough to fit one angry Q'atza-rij, for sure, but in fact, there were two. Two giant males with their spiked armor plated heads and wrecking-ball spiked tails were locked in battle inside the perimeter of the mei'sa. They were taking trees and walls down as they went, and the sentry gun getting off rounds at them did little to deter them, but it did seem to annoy them.

The Q'azta-riz were a very true challenge for any Yautja. Young hunters that were challenged with facing them for their Blooding hunts, or for proving status and moving up, nearly always took them in full armor and in groups, usually of three.

Currently, a small army of hunters had gathered and all their presence seemed to do with the already agitated male beasts, was to spur them on even more. Whatever their problem was that had caused the fight; no doubt over a mate most likely, they were now beginning to turn their focus on the inconvenient hunters surrounding them.

K'Shai noticed as she drew nearer that numerous hunters were already bleeding, some severely. One of the animals turned its attention only briefly to the gun terret tower and wasted no time slamming its massive head into the stone pillar that supported it. It hit the tower once, twice, and a third time before several hunters were able to draw its attention away.

The other Q'atza-rij charged into action, taking advantage of the fact that its opponent was distracted. It slammed right into the abdomen of the beast, and pushed it sideways into the already damaged tower, which succinctly crumbled and collapsed as hunters below scattered to avoid being crushed.

The Yautja, K'Shai included, leapt into play, trying to kill the beasts, or at least get near enough to them to damage them. A plasma blast shot past K'Shai's head, near enough she could feel the heat singing her hair. She turned and glared at the hunter who had fired without considering where his fellow hunters were standing. The blast did not do much but burn a small spot into the armory hide of the animal. It did not even seem to notice, for it was so engaged with its opponent.

After what seemed like an eternity of trying to get near enough to the fighting animals to get into a worthwhile damaging attack position, the hunter hoard seemed to be the only ones to be drawing injuries. Occasionally one hunter might manage a good blow, but they were usually subsequently flung away by a tail or charged off as the two animals continued to clash.

K'Shai, for a brief moment, found herself standing very near to Neh'rti and half a dozen other females who all coordinated an attack under the Clan Leader's guidance. Neh'rti howled her directives and the group moved in and out precisely as directed, successfully at least getting the animals to move away from the perimeter wall, and back out into the jungle.

As the two titanus animals fought, they broke trees down and sent hunters scattering trying to avoid being hit. Those very same trees also served as wonderful launching points for the agile Yautja to ricochet onto the backs of the creatures, which then successfully distracted both of the animals from each other and focused them onto their unwanted riders stabbing through through their back armor plates.

Plasma blasts continued to shoot occasionally, usually by a new hunter freshly appearing on the scene who figured he and only he had the intelligence to fire at the beast and single-handedly end the situation. They were sorely disappointed each and every time. There was a trick to the Q'atza-rij; a trick K'Shai and R'chnt knew quite well.

The only real soft spot that could severely damage them was into the armpits of the front legs. Getting to that spot successfully was a challenge enough when the animal was charging straight at an attacker; one reason they were always hunted in groups. Getting to the weakest spot of the beast while it was fully enraged and trying to kill its equal opponent as well as the hunters surrounding it; was proving to be almost impossible.

Neh'rti kept her slowly growing group at it, though. Hunters fell into place, both male and female, including R'chnt and W'rsa, and S'aruch-de who were on K'Shai's far left. The working group of multiple leaders and different leadership styles and qualities all began to fall into line and work under the guidance of Neh'rti who was the clear dominant force of the group.

It was rare to see Neh'rti even so much as spar. K'Shai had, in fact, suddenly realized, that she had actually never seen Neh'rti fight at all; a private female, she preferred to keep her sparring out of sight of audiences, so vastly unlike most Yautja. Though she had heard plenty of her accomplishments. Seeing her move and command, leading, it was obvious why she rose to Clan Leader.

She pulled the various hunter groups together with her solid command and doubtless skill and the two target of the very exciting afternoon, were quickly realizing that their attention needed to be more fully focused on their unwanted assault rather than each other.

One of the beasts took advantage of the other's misdirection and snapped its beak-like mouth at the other's hock and sunk so deeply into it, the sound of bone breaking was loud and unmistakable. The wounded animal howled in pain and turned its attention away from the hunters and back to its over confident opponent, which provided a much needed opening for the hunters in the right position for a fatal strike.

It was Neh'rti who was in the best position and she did not waste a single moment. K'Shai stepped round, prepared to be a back up for the Clan Leader who had leapt quickly and easily into the air, using all of her inertia to dive her spear deep into the thorax of the already injured Q'atza-rij. Moving quickly, K'Shai prepared to send her spear into the beast the moment she had the right path, but the animal had other intentions.

Perhaps it was overconfidence; underestimation. She couldn't be sure. It all happened entirely too fast.

She had killed one of these gigantic creatures while naked, with R'chnt at her side. Surely a small army of Yautja on the defense could bring down the animal which already had injuries and one of its six legs broken. Surely after being impaled in the most vulnerable spot in the underplating inside the front leg, it would drop quickly, while its opponent continued its own onslaught.

Apparently not.

K'Shai only just raised her spear to strike when the critically wounded beast swung around into Neh'rti, herself, and at least a dozen others that were nearby with such ferocity and lightning speed, all she was really aware of was the sound of crunching and tearing. The Q'atza-rij had charged into them, wildly flailing its heavily armored head side to side while trampling anything in its path.

K'Shai felt something slam into her; the wind left her lungs and as she gasped for air, she slowly realized she was some distance away, watching the struggle ensue through a liquid red curtain over her eyes.

She tried to wipe it away, but it kept seeping into her vision again and again, and finally it was just easier to keep her eyes closed. She cradled her abdomen instinctively, holding as tightly as she could as she laid propped awkwardly against a tree and let the war happening beyond her eyes play out.

Eventually, whispers and murmurs stirred her into somewhat of a self-awareness. She moaned throatily and tipped her head towards the sounds, opening her eyes slowly to the sound of a very familiar high pitched whimper type of sound. L'ruch's face was so close to hers that she could barely focus on anything beyond one starch white tusk and one glistening little bead in his gray locks that jiggled softly in front of her brow.

"Ah! You have awoken. You may want to remain asleep," he suggested jokingly.

"What…. Where…"

A familiar grumble approached and L'ruch stepped back warily, with a little, properly submissive bow as R'chnt came into view.

"Did we win?" K'Shai asked.

R'chnt huffed.

"That depends."

"On what?" She questioned.

He turned slightly and there, lingering in the room in the far corner was Sar'uch-de, A'ryin'di, El'tude, and distantly behind them all, Kelly.

"What is going on? What is she still doing here?" K'Shai growled to R'chnt as she tried to move and collapsed back down to the bed.

She realized she was at the hunting estate, and the offspring appeared to be having some kind of conference while Kelly the red-haired human simply looked on at the room full of aliens around her.

"Much has happened, K'Shai," L'ruch filled her as he returned to hovering over her so closely as he inspected her.

She glared at him, but he did not budge from his awkward hovering position as he scanned his way down to her abdomen.

"What?"

"You and R'chnt now have something else in common." L'ruch started. He turned to follow K'Shai's gaze towards Kelly and L'ruch hit such a high pitch note in his throat K'Shai thought the stone tiles on the floor might crack.

"Ah! I meant that," he said with a poorly hidden tone of delight as he pointed more directly towards her abdomen. "It seems that this is how our relationship started, just a different patient."

K'Shai looked down and for the first time, realized that her abdomen had been severely

Injured. There was a huge, star shaped puckering skin fold and streaks expanding all the way across from the center. She glanced at it, and let her shoulders flop back down to the bed as she grimaced.

"Few hunters manage to survive such an encounter with a Q'atza-rij and live to speak of it." L'ruch added as R'chnt lingered.

"Alright, hold on." K'Shai growled through gritted teeth. "What happened?"

"The beast trampled you, K'Shai. This," L'ruch indicated to her puckering injury again, "was from being stepped on. Its claw dug into you. I believe from what I was told, you were carried quite some distance."

"Wha…" she started. "Stepped on? Stepped on?I".

There was something disappointedly unglorious about nearly being killed due to being stepped on by a Q'atza-rij.

"How long have I been…" she started.

"Six rotations." R'chnt said as he stepped back towards her, making L'ruch retreat again.

"Six!" K'Shai echoed

"Much more, much more to tell…" L'ruch started muttering until he caught the glare of R'chnt and instead put his focus into a nearby computer console.

Slowly, Sar'uch-de and the other offspring began to warily approach the bed, surveying their mother from a safe distance.

"What else could possibly be happening?" She asked with a bite.

"Neh'rti has died." A'ryin'di said grimly.

"What?" K'Shai retorted with shock.

"Last night. Her injuries were severe. Seven others were killed; four on the Clan council." R'chnt added factually.

K'Shai, for a moment, remained speechless, trying to make a sound but there was nothing that could come to mind.

"Mostly everyone by now knows of her arrival as well," R'chnt added, obviously talking about Kelly.

K'Shai took and held a deep breath and tried to channel away her frustrations over that particular situation.

"So what happens next," she asked as she forcefully pulled herself up to a sitting position. "With the Clan? How does a new Clan leader emerge?"

"There is much happening to that right now. Her presence here is not helping anything either. It seems some people think my bloodline does nothing but cause trouble these days."

With that, K'Shai burst into a much needed bout of laughter, which clearly caught the rest of the group, including W'rsa who had just entered, off guard.

R'chnt chuckled as well, and acknowledged W'rsa, who approached and nodded to K'Shai.

"You're awake. In just the right time, as well." He said.

"In time for what?" She asked naturally.

"There has been much… debate." A'ryin'di added casually.

"Of this, I have no doubt," K'Shai grumbled.

"The Clan council shall be decided on today, and from there, a Clan Leader."

"There are many who want A'ryin'di to be the next Clan Leader." El'tude said finally, with a hint of pride.

K'Shai looked at her offspring with wide eyes.

"I have petitioned. Today, I meet my challengers." She said with a confident nod.

Her eyes bounced from R'chnt to her offspring, then to the back of the room where L'ruch lurked and far behind him, Kelly watched with both a slight hint of fear and look as if she was trying to take notes on events she could not understand spoken in a language she did not know well.

"And what of her? Why is she still here?" K'Shai snarled as she began to stand up, trying hard not to grunt, groan, and topple over

S'aruch-de shuffled on the spot and leaned slightly in Kelly's direction.

"Mother, I.. I wanted to bring the matter up to the Clan Council but it's…"

"No. Absolutely not." K'Shai instantly snapped.

"You are not understanding, and clearly trying to ignore every word I say. There is a reason I have told you to take her back to Earth. There is a reason she cannot stay."

Seeing S'aruch-de tighten his stance, posturing as if for a half a moment, he almost thought about flat out getting into a physical fight with his mother over the matter, K'Shai changed her tactics.

She softed and eyed Kelly.

"Come here," she beckoned the young red haired woman in proper English."

"What have you to say of this life here on our world? Amongst the Yautja people?" She asked Kelly.

Kelly's eyes shot back and forth from person to person in the room and finally back to S'aruch-de.

"It's unlike anything I imagined. When I …. When we… were visiting other worlds, it was all just incredible. I want to learn, and I want to see, you understand. I find the Yautja to be absolutely amazing people. Strong and powerful. But also... " her eyes dipped slightly to show humble submission.

"... visceral and far more… wild than I expected."

K'Shai's eyes settled onto Kelly as if they were drilling right into her, and the gaze clearly made the human woman feel uncomfortable enough to drop all eye contact completely.

"Do you wish to remain on this world? My son's mate? Mother to hybrids? Has he spoken to you of what you will endure? The trials and tests? The rigor of this life, so unlike that which you know of Earth."

"It is definitely different. Not what I expected exactly." She said with an unquestionable tone of trying to sound convincing. "But I'm ready to learn what's expected."

K'Shai raised her eyebrows.

"Good." She said and glanced to A'ryin'di.

"Because you will see what that means exactly."