The next chapter is up! Enjoy :)

Yeyinde walked down the hall on his way to his brother's room.

He's unsure whether or not he'd be looking forward to this talk. Bakuub has been pretty quiet since they first conversed after bringing her aboard.

Mainly with his brother, it meant something was bothering him. And when confronted about it, the conversation can go either way, good or bad.

He wasn't walking long when he actually spotted his brother up ahead down the hall. Bakuub was walking down towards him.

"Brother, can we talk?" Yeyinde asked once Bakuub was in earshot.

"Funny, that's what I was coming to get you for." Bakuub replied.

Then the older hunter came in step next to his brother, making Yeyinde turn around and walk beside him.

"Where to?" Yeyinde asked.

"The bridge. This is quite private." Bakuub said.

The two of them walked in silence for the next few minutes on the way to the bridge. Both passed Guan on the way and gave him a nod. The dark smokey grey colored yautja nodded back and continued on his way.

Yeyinde and Bakuub finally made it up there after five-minutes of walking.

They came to a stop on the middle of the bridge. It actually overlooked a good portion of the kehrite. You can see everything going on down below.

Yeyinde smiled a little when he saw Dachande showing her how to do some moves with the ki'cti-pa. He noted Kaail and Kv'var-de even stopped what they were doing to watch them.

Bakuub didn't miss the smile that appeared on his brother's face as he looked down below.

"I'm assuming this talk has to do with your ooman friend." Bakuub stated.

Yeyinde's gaze went from Natalie and Dachande to his brother.

"Yes, I have concerns for her for when we land on Yautja Prime in a few days. I also want to know if you have in fact contacted our father and informed him about her yet. Whether you have or not, I'd still like to talk to him myself." Yeyinde replied.

"I wanted to earlier when you first brought her aboard. But I haven't. Honestly, I don't know how to brooch the subject with him. I also think it may be best if he heard it from you since you're the one to bring her aboard.

He'll also want to know what happened to you these last few months. After informing him that I lost contact with you, I believe he thinks you to be dead." His brother said.

"I feel like that will be just as hard to explain to him just like I would have to explain Natalie. The fact that I was captured and held imprisoned for nearly four months, that may be seen as weak or disgraceful.

No doubt, he may be disappointed to hear that I allowed for such a thing to happen to begin with." Yeyinde admitted.

Bakuub placed a hand on his younger brother's shoulder.

"Had you been there and never made it out, that would've been viewed as weak. But you escaped and destroyed whatever evidence they had of you in the process. You took out many oomans in the process as well to get out of there.

Probably more at a time than anyone else on this ship.

So no, Yeyinde, you were not weak. You may have found yourself in a bad situation when you got captured. But you've endured, and you did eventually find a way to escape.

And as I said, I found your pod and saved your trophies for you. So, you're not going home completely empty handed. Those were some nice skulls you have to add to your collection. And I have no doubt, your growing trophy collection will capture a few females' attention.

I am very proud of you, mei-hswei. You may have made a mistake. But you fixed it. Don't look at it as any type of failure, because it's not.

Even the best hunters will still make mistakes sometimes. It doesn't mean he is weak or unworthy though. We just continue to grow and learn from our mistakes.

And even if it didn't seem like it when we came to get you, I was elated to know you were still alive. When I thought you dead, I was very upset and distracted quite a bit.

It's why our friends came together to organize a hunt over on Planet Syn'tax. Help get my mind off of your death. We had just finished up there, when I received your S.O.S.

I know you worry our father will judge you for your capture. But I assure you, he will just be happy that you are alive and well and made it out of there." Bakuub assured him.

Yeyinde was a bit surprised when his brother told him how upset he was when he thought he had perished on Earth.

But then, they were always close growing up. The two of them were the youngest out of five pups. And being only about three years apart, made them close.

They trained and learned together. And went on many hunts together after Yeyinde successfully passed his Kainde Amedha Chiva.

But hearing now how Bakuub felt, was not something he'd thought he'd hear his brother to own up to. It wasn't common to show emotions for a fallen comrade or fellow hunter. It was frowned upon to do so, since they were supposed to be hardened warriors.

But when it's a sibling whom your close with, Yeyinde likes to think it's understandable.

He almost lost Bakuub once during a hunt. And he felt a great amount of anger and some fear when he and Guan practically had to drag him back to the ship, barely alive.

Luckily for them, Guan was a good healer. And he and a couple other healers worked round the clock to patch him up and save him.

"I am sorry to worry you like I did, Bakuub. But at least it's over now. I made it out and back to the ship and now we're on our way back home." Yeyinde said.

Bakuub nodded, then looked down below to where their friends and the ooman female was.

"It won't be easy for her, Yeyinde. Her life may not be completely in danger due to our laws. But it doesn't mean she won't face any type of prejudice and ridicule from others among our clan.

She may start to feel unhappy and miserable after a while living amongst us. I do hope you realize this." He told him.

That wasn't far from Yeyinde's mind. He already had an idea that she may not be well received. But Natalie was his friend, and she helped him out in so many ways during their time incarcerated.

The young yautja is also not blind to the fact that he has developed a soft spot for the small ooman female.

She was quirky and feisty. And said and did many things that amused him. Then at the back of his mind, he thought of the times to when they shared a cot together.

And he couldn't deny that he enjoyed her soft body pressed against his.

Yeyinde wanted to chalk it up to the fact he has yet to mate, and it was his hormones. But the more he got to know her, he's wondering if that really was the case or if it was something else.

"Believe me when I say, I have thought about the outcomes for her. And while I don't like to think about her being unhappy there, I don't want her to die either.

I worry, the Elders may see her a considerable risk because she knows so much about me and our kind already. That they may kill her for it. Either that or it would be one of two options for her.

If I had to guess, for her; it would be either die or live among them and never return to Earth. Because let's face it. What other options could there be?" Yeyinde inquired.

Bakuub thought about it, and Yeyinde certainly had a point. No matter the outcome, she couldn't return to Earth. Plus, Guan did fill him in about what he found in her blood while he was treating her.

It was shocking to hear the oomans would does her with his brother's blood, just to see what it would do to her. And it looks like it was doing something to her, according to their friend.

Even after Guan released Natalie into his brother's care, he was still looking over samples he could scrabble from her as he patched er up.

He hasn't given them anything new yet since. But stated her body was reacting in a rather interesting way to the changes due to the blood being introduced into her system.

"Sadly, I agree with you. That could possibly be her only options. And I know you don't want me to say it. But...perhaps you should've left her to die instead of subjecting her to what could await her on home world." Bakuub admitted.

Yeyinde didn't want to agree with his brother, even if he had a point there.

But after all they been through, he just couldn't let Natalie die. By the time he had broken them out of that place, a bond was already forming between them. And she sure as hell didn't deserve what happened to her or leaving her to die like that.

"I understand, brother. But after all the hell we endured together. I couldn't leave her behind or let her die like that. It's why, I made the decision to bring her aboard when you came. It just...didn't seem right to leave her out there in the middle of the forest to slowly bleed out and die alone like that. It just would've been...wrong." Yeyinde confessed.

Bakuub held onto every word his brother said. All while closely studying his posture and facial features. And he can't say that he liked what he was picking up from Yeyinde.

"If I didn't know you any better, brother, I'd say you care about her more than you lead on." Bakuub pointed out.

Yeyinde narrowed his eyes at the older hunter.

"Just what are you implying, brother?" He quipped.

"Only that I think with Mating Season steadily upon us, that you're not thinking rationally. I think your hormones might be doing the thinking for you. And right now, it's concentrated on your ooman friend.

Which isn't good, Yeyinde. Northing good could come of a matchup like this. What you need is to feel the experience of a yautja female on home world. And you will, once we dock there in a few days.

Then maybe, you'll start thinking a little more clearly." Bakuub pointed out.

Yeyinde bristled at his brother's implication.

"My thinking is clear, Bakuub. And it has nothing to do with Mating Season being upon us." The younger hunter argued.

"You sure? Because most would say you already went above and beyond saving this ooman female. I wouldn't be surprised if our father saw it too. Once you tell him the full story." Bakuub stated.

Yeyinde felt like it was an outrageous implication.

"I don't know how to make this anymore clear to you. She. Is. My. Friend. Nothing is clouding my judgement. She helped me with escaping. And for that I felt like I owed her a debt. And I returned the favor by saving her life." He countered.

To most, it sounded like a hunter stating his point. But Bakuub knew his little brother. He strongly feels there is more to it. Even if Yeyinde is not aware of it yet.

"Regardless, I think it may be better that you contact our father and inform him of the situation with your ooman." He stated.

The younger hunter hated how his brother kept referring to Natalie as his ooman. As if she were his pet or property. When she was neither of these things.

"And I will. I just wanted to talk to you first. As you know, if there was anyone I could always confide in with, it's you mei-hswei. I wanted to speak with you first on the matter. Before speaking with father." Yeyinde told him.

It never did cease to amaze Bakuub how much more mature and levelheaded Yeyinde was then most newly blooded youths around his age. And that is part of what got him through his hard meat trial.

"While I appreciate it, I can't really give you any advice on the situation at hand, Yeyinde. These are unusual circumstances. Ones you will have to figure out while you're talking with father. All I can tell you is...be prepared for whatever answers he may give you." Bakuub warned him.

This is probably the most advice Yeyinde will get from his older brother. But it was still something.

His gaze shifted back down to Natalie. She seemed to be having a good time down there as she practiced twirling around a small training staff. He even heard her let out a couple laughs when she messed up a bit.

But either way, she was happy.

"Thank you, mei-hswei. And some of your advice I will take in strides. I will contact father shortly. And provide him with an explanation to both my long absence and about Natalie." Yeyinde said.

Bakuub still didn't understand his younger brother's infatuation with this small ooman female. Perhaps, it was just something he and others have yet to see.

But no matter what. He's always trusted him brother's judgement in the past.

Until Next Time ;)