AN: A pair of reviews to This story and "Loki's Daughter" Reminded me that others are just as invested and passionate about these stories as I am. Which got me writing and posting again. I should have a chapter for "Loki's Daughter" Shortly. Thank you all for inspiring me to create.
So'nja slowly crept down the spiral staircase. The Red headed Yaut'ja needed a long moment to process everything that had just happened. About halfway down she paused, waving her hands from the top of her head down letting her powers wash over her. She discovered some time ago that she could mimic the effects of the cloaking field. It was every bit as good. She didn't use it on her first ritual hunt because she knew she was being watched. Plus she wanted to be a part of her people and how they had originally hunted. However it felt nice to be hidden again from prying eyes.
As she reached the bottom of the stairs she opened her senses fully. The huntress did not put on her bio mask though. Every so often one needed to make sure their senses were sharp. Without the use of Technology.
She knew she was looking for someone but she didn't have her thermal vision. She did catch the scent of some plant oil and the various things that went into making all those rectangular objects Silver had on his numerous shelves. A grin spread across her faux mandibles. The hunt was on.
A quick vault over the statue and the hunter was loose. A fleeting thought of the sentience and perceptiveness of the statue crossed her mind. However, it was just as quickly gone in favor of following the scent.
It didn't take long to find static prey who wasn't used to a huntress of her caliber obviously. So'nja quickly found the source of the scent. It was a female teen with bushy hair, pale skin, and a dusting of freckles. The prey was hiding in a shadowed corner with a good view of the stone creature. If she hadn't vaulted over the stone construct the prey would have seen the statue move, even if she hadn't seen her come out of Silver's office.
Slowly, the huntress edged along the wall. Whether her cloak was perfect or not didn't matter. One always hunted as if prey had the advantage. The Crimson huntress let out a series of soft clicks. It had its intended effect of startling her prey. Slowly edging behind the prey her grin spread further across her faux mandibles and she let her cloak drop. The crimson huntress watched her prey look down the corridor for the sounds of the clicks but never thought to look right behind her. At least until a low grumble was heard right behind her, which caused her to jump and scream.
A gravely chuckle was the only response So'nja had for the clearly frightened girl. Maybe this planet would be a bit of fun until she could get off this backwater. Yaut'ja humor with rare exceptions was a far cry from subtle.
The young huntress did notice the bushy haired girl did have a slim stick of wood in her hand and the vaguest hint of ozone. At least someone on this planet had some teeth and the reflexes to use them. That hint of Ozone reminded her of her own powers, when she held effect for too long.
"H-hullo.." the bushy one stuttered. The voice sounded dusty, like it wasn't used often. So much for teeth but maybe potential. So'nja sighed to herself.
Enunciating every syllable of this seemingly slow language, She returned the greeting. "Hello."
So'nja waited for a moment, once again cursing to the Great Hunter the need for diplomacy. All the while praising those that had the patience for a hunt with so minimal a reward. As the silence stretched into tension a ghostly bird drifted down the stairs from Silver's office.
"Ms. Granger as I am sure you are outside my office and have met our guest, would you please be kind enough to show her around. Several things must be discussed about our new guest and the school. Finish at the entrance to the lion's den. Professor McGonagall will meet you there and introduce our guest. It has been decided she shall take accommodations with Gryffindor. Professor McGonagall will explain the rest then. Have a good evening."
The ghostly bird vanished soon afterward. So'nja was too astonished to draw a blade. Her brain finally kicked back in and she turned to the only person nearby hoping for answers. "What was that?"
It was only after she had let out the words and the confused look on the other girl's face, that she realized she had slipped back to Yaut'ja. Heaving a heavy sigh she vaguely waved an arm where the thing had been. "What that?" She cursed in her head again. She didn't know how bad she was but she certainly felt the drag of having to translate everything.
So'nja watched as the other girl's eyes opened wider in realization. "Oh, that was a Patronus, I read about them in a book." The girl began to rattle off facts so fast even So'nja's translator had trouble keeping up. What snippets her translator could parse out went over her head anyway. Reaching across the space, she quickly placed a hand over the other girl's mouth. "Stop."
While one did not typically touch a Yaut'ja mandibles. She had observed humans touching others' mouth areas. The reason for now was beyond her. However she felt comfortable enough doing so in this case. "Simple. Not speak human."
The bushy haired girl made a soft sound of comprehension and then began repeating things very slowly. The crimson huntress let off a series of tired clicks in the back of her throat. Clearly exasperated to any of her predatory species but not the humans apparently. Again she placed a hand over the other girl's mouth. "Not stupid. Not understand big words."
The bushy one now had a look of consternation upon her face. As if she did not know what to say. So'nja watched for several long minutes as she opened and closed her mouth. Finally a gusty sigh of defeat or acceptance, it was hard to tell with her birth species, the busy one simply said, "It's very advanced magic. My name is Hermione Granger by the way. Professor Dumbledore asked me to show you around."
With a grunt of acknowledgement at Silver's orders and a nod to her temporary guide, "I So'nja. Lead hunt. I follow."
If her mothers could hear her mental cursing they would have been proud of her colorful use of the Yuat'ja language. Keeping a careful eye on the young human who was trying to sound out her name, She noted there was again the struggle with the subtle clicks and intonations of her name. A growl was forced to be repressed as Hermione gave up and butchered her name. "A pleasure to meet you Sonja."
So'nja followed the girl half paying attention. Letting her equipment record the conversation for letter playback and translation. The girl was back to gibbering like she was trying to impress some alpha. They went up and down various flights of stairs. Although some times by going up they seemed closer to the ground. She once again really wished she had a full hunter's wargear. Her kit was a basic ritual kit. None of the advanced sensor suites. Not that she would have access to a scout ship's satellite on this backwater mudball.
She was already starting to miss old Brute and her new hellhound puppy Rampage. She missed her mothers and her clan. She should have been feasting right now. Instead she was stuck in this stone concoction who knew how many lightyears from her clan ship. When they stopped by the astronomy tower she gazed longingly at the stars she did not recognize.
It took her several minutes to realize her guide had asked her the same question now a third time. "You are from out there aren't you? I mean it makes logical sense. Your attire, your language, and your habits aren't like anything I have read about on earth. Even Wayland and Yutani Tech aren't as advanced. My parents were looking at some new laser dental drills last summer."
"Yes. Clan lives among stars. Travel star to star. Hunt." She reached up and waved from one end of the night sky to the other before looking at her guide. She gave a series of clicks and an inhuman odd tilt of the head. She wondered how a race could exist so trapped on one little world.
Looking like she wanted to ask a dozen questions in one breath her guide closed her mouth again and led them back down from the astronomy tower and they eventually to a grand staircase that ran up and down the central section of the school. They had proceeded down a half flight and were now on a landing between two floors. The young hunter was staring at all the paintings in fascination when she suddenly felt something grab her arm and pull her back. She was about to whip out a blade and growl when she finally noticed the stairs were no longer there.
"Her guide grumbled loudly. "Just great, the stairs are usually too tired and lethargic to move this much at night. Now who knows how long we will be stuck here."
Looking over the now empty space in the air, she turned back to her guide with a manic grin. Her guide was firmly pressed against the wall and away from the edge. "Simple. Jump."
With that simple statement she leaned forward, pushed off lightly from the edge with one foot and plummeted. She heard a shriek behind her. Not bothering to look up she held one arm close and the other out lightly running a gauntleted hand along a railing to another platform. Bleeding a fraction of her gravity induced speed. Pulling her feet in together she barely felt her toes touch a railing and her knees flexed. Leaning back she reversed her momentum enough to gain a lateral flight over a set of stairs floating in mid air. Tucking into a backflip, she focused her eyes on the ground as she had been taught and at the last second flared out all her limbs. Each absorbing some of her inertia. With a simple spring she was on her feet and looking up at the girl who was near sixty feet above her.
She simply flared her faux mandibles in a triumphant grin. Leaning up against a section of wall she waited for her guide to make her own much slower way down. She took the moment to run a few diagnostics on her suit systems. Power was good. It was already cold on this backwater. Her security device was still secured and armed. As an Alpha mandate she would have to keep all her tech out of these humans hands. At any cost.
She knew her life was a gift from the Great Hunter. Never would she consider demeaning her lifer Her clan's life, or death by not fighting till the very end. A Yaut'ja should go down in history as either an old hunter claimed only by the Great One or cursed by whatever prey species had bled deeply to take down a Yaut'ja.
Finally after an interminable wait the bushy haired guide made it to the bottom of the grand stairs. So'nja knew she was probably getting the dressing down of a lifetime for her stunt. She just couldn't understand it. Yet it sounded similar to her mothers.
Finally having ranted herself out. Or realizing she wasn't being understood her guide took over again. "This is the great hall where meals are served." And with that the tour resumed.
Eventually they reached a portrait of an indolent rotund woman in a lurid pink dress. So'nja had to fight the urge to growl at the depiction of someone so unfit as a hunter or predator. She doubted if she was ever real the woman in the picture would make fitting prey for a suckling. Wisely she kept her opinions to herself as her guide had a lengthy chat with the portrait.
It wasn't long before Old Battleaxe showed up. "Miss Granger. Sonja. It would seem we are ready to introduce you to your new house and temporary accommodations."
Battleaxe turned to the portrait which swung on silent hinges and a room beyond was revealed. So'nja was certainly enjoying all the secret passages, entrances, and hidey holes. It was a hunter's paradise. Too bad none of these weak young things were good prey.
Stepping into a room suffused with crimson and gold, So'nja noted about a fourth of the prior group's population was in the room. Those of Blue Green and Yellow were not represented. A clan sub-structure. Something she thought she could understand.
"Gryffondors." Battleaxe began without out preamble. "Due to strange circumstances still being investigated we find ourselves with a fourth champion. She has requested accommodations within our houses and the Sorting Hat suggested she would find like minds with the house of the Lions. I expect you all to treat her like a member of the house and should I hear of any mischief, you all are aware of the consequences." The huntress noted old Battleaxe sent a particularly withering glare to a group of boys with orange red hair. "As her chronological age puts her at fourteen but an apparent potions accident has her registering as 17 she will stay with the fourth year girls. For now she will attend class as a fourth year unless a better curriculum is ascertained at a later date. If you have any questions, my office is always open to my cubs."
So'nja noted a slight softening to old Battleaxe on the last statement. Yes very clear a second line Alpha to old Silver. She could grow to like this woman. Said woman turned to her, "Sonja, I leave you in the capable hands of Miss Granger and the Prefects. I will see you at breakfast tomorrow morning. Get some rest. It looks like you have had a long day."
What followed was a small whirlwind of introductions and simple conversation dn deep observation. A pair of boys curled up together. Looking to be on the older side of the spectrum. Young ones looking barely older than a suckling. Small badges with a 'P' on them. Leaders of some kind.
Everything fit with what she guessed. This was a school of similar people as herself but with diversity in many things. This wouldn't be too arduous to deal with until she could be rescued.
Eventually she found herself in a room with several beds. One looking to have been recently added. If the lack of personal objects around the nightstand and wardrobe was to be believed. The rest all looked liked lived in spaces.
"I guess this one is yours." Hermione stated simply. So'nja poked the soft thing and looked at it confused. "You lay on it." Hermione demonstrated with her own bed pulling back the blankets.
Shaking her head. She started to undo a pack on her lower back and unpack part of her camping gear. Mostly a hammock she strung between the high points on the canopy bed frame. "To close ground."
She heard her guide start to ramble more questions but as old Battleaxe had guessed she was tired. Setting a mild proximity alarm, she drifted off to sleep. Her serpent shifted to lay curled up on her torso. A subtle shift Hermione did not notice.
Tomorrow would be a new hunt. For now those rest was a well earned trophy.
AN: Reviews are the life blood of writers!