The next chapter is up! Enjoy :)
A few weeks went by since the meeting with the Elders.
And Natalie started to notice her usually flat tummy was starting to get a hard, pronounced pooch to it. So far, she has had two doctor's visits with one of the healers.
The one she saw was named Nei'hman. Guan was also there at times, working along with some of the other healers. He assured her he was good and had monitored and delivered many pups throughout the last five decades as a senior healer.
While her pregnancy may have been a little unusual to the older male, he still tried to treat it no different than any other pregnancy.
At the moment the pup was the length of her pinky finger. Which surprised her because at this time she was only around two and a half months along.
But then they reminded her that yautja pups grow a little more quickly in the womb than ooman pups. And while her and Yeyinde's child was a hybrid, it still seems to be growing faster than an ooman fetus.
At this rate, Nei'hman predicts the pup could be born somewhere near the end of the seventh month or possibly the beginning of the eighth month.
As they monitor the fetus's growth, he will be able to get a more accurate due date for the couple.
And despite only being a little more than a couple months along, the healer told her they can already confirm the gender of the baby. But before he could tell her, Natalie stated she didn't want to know and wanted to be surprised.
To the healer it was an odd request. Usually, the expecting females prefer to know.
At first, Yeyinde was thinking about asking Nei-hman out of earshot of Natalie for the gender. But the more he thought about it, he rather be surprised too.
At this time, the couple was walking through town again. There was somewhere Yeyinde wanted to take her. When Natalie inquired where they were going, he just said, 'You'll see'.
They must've been walking for ten-minutes now. Before he brought them to a stop in front of a small one-story building.
Yeyinde led her through the sliding doors inside.
Natalie looked around and noted there were a small handful of halls that branched out from the main entrance inside. And a lone yautja female stood up from her desk and approached them with a small bow.
"Good evening, and welcome to the Spa & Bath House. And what are we looking to do today?" She asked politely.
"We are looking to use one of the baths. Preferably the one with qee'tah flower and min'ulla abstract. I also called earlier and booked an appointment to get the Life Mate Mark for myself and my mate." Yeyinde stated.
She nodded and pressed a few buttons on a holographic screen on her desk. What looked like a list popped up and she scrolled through it.
"I see, you are Yeyinde correct?" She inquires.
He nodded, "Yes."
"And are you looking to utilize one of the bath houses first or would you like to receive the mating marks at this time?" She asks.
"The bath house will do first, thank you." Yeyinde replied.
"Sure, follow me please." The female said.
The couple followed her down one of the halls on the left. Then she led them to one door, where she tapped in a code on a pad next to it. The door slid open, and they were blasted with heat and humidity.
Natalie noted it looked like a large, heated pool and there were currently several other yautja in there using it.
"Here you are, and if you need anything let me know, my name is Ta'roga. And I hope you enjoy your stay here today." She cordially said.
Odd how this female didn't seem to mind Natalie in the least and seemed very polite.
She walked through the door with Yeyinde and entered the area.
"Yeyinde? What is this place? Looks like a pool." Natalie surmised.
"It is a spa and bath house. This is one of the bath houses. I booked it for us. I didn't tell you because I wanted it to be a surprise." He admitted.
Natalie's face lit up with a smile, "Thank you, that is so sweet. And this place looks great."
He smiled down at her, "Your welcome. Come, I'll take you to the small storage space area first. It's over there behind that door."
The young hunter led her over to it on the right side of the large room.
When they went inside, there were rows of small storage compartments. Yeyinde picked one for them and started to strip. Natalie looked at him in surprise.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Need to strip. Can't go in with clothes on." He stated.
Really? She didn't realize that all the yautja in the heated pool were naked beneath the water. Her cheeks tinged pink.
"I guess you guys really don't believe in bathing suits here, do you?" She lightly teased as she started to slowly pull off her top.
"What's a bathing suit?" He asks, clearly a little confused.
Natalie chuckled at his confusion, "It's a small thin covering that humans where in pools and at the beach."
Yeyinde cocked his head, "What's the point in that? Sounds like a waste and irrelevant. Why wear something that will just get soaked?"
She continued to chuckle and shook her head as she pulled off her loincloth and sandals.
"That's just how it is on Earth, Yeyinde. Public nudity is frowned upon, and people can get arrested for it. Only places you can be naked in public are at nude beaches and resorts." Natalie explained.
He grunted; it sounded a bit absurd to him that authorities would arrest you for being unclothed. You won't find anything like that happening here.
Yautja were always very comfortable with nudity. It was nothing to be ashamed about.
He placed their clothes in the small storage compartment. And guided her out of the small room and back into the bath house area. Natalie placed her small hand in his and he led her to one area of the pool.
But the two of them stopped when they heard someone call out Yeyinde's name.
Yeyinde's attention went to the voice in question and to his surprise he saw Kv'var-de sitting on an underwater bench a little further down. He had a female with him. Most likely a mate.
There were different bath houses within this vicinity. A few were for females only, others were only for males, and then there were baths that were coed, those were the ones meant only for mated couples.
Natalie looked down the edge of the pool and spotted a very familiar yautja.
"Is that Kv'var-de?" She asked.
"Yep, and he brought a mate along. Looks like it's Adilgashii." Yeyinde told her, as they started heading down to them.
They were situated in a smaller enclosed area of the pool that looked a lot like a jacuzzi that branched off from the rest of the pool.
Kv'var-de and his mate were the only one occupying it at the moment. Until Yeyinde and Natalie made their way over to them. The young hunter got in the steep tub first then helped his small pregnant mate in.
For most yautja, when they sat down on the bench, the water level tended to come up to just under their chests. But for Natalie, all you could see was her head sticking up above the water line.
The three yautja couldn't help but find it amusing.
"She's so small and cute." Came an electronic female's voice.
Natalie's attention turned to Adilgashii. The light creamy colored yautja female gave her a soft smile.
"Hi, I'm Natalie." She said.
"I am Adilgashii. Kv'var-de told me quite a bit about you. Between the training and food fight, sounds like you had a good time on the drop ship." The female said.
Natalie smiled, "Yeah, it was. Yeyinde and Dachande are good teachers. Learned quite a bit in my short time training with them. The food fight didn't hurt either."
"Only hurt Larja-Thwei's pride." Kv'var-de joked.
Yeyinde trilled at his friend's joke. Even the two females thought it a bit funny.
"Ehh, he needed to find a way to loosen up anyway. That male is wound a little too tight at times." Adilgashii replied.
"Just a little?" Natalie teased.
The cream colored yautja chuckled, "Ok, you got a point. He needs to remove that hard meat queen's humongous skull from out of his ass."
Natalie laughed a little at that. No wonder why this female was with Kv'var-de. The two of them were jokers. And that's what probably drawn them to one another.
"We tried, the damn thing just won't budge, right Yeyinde?" Kv'var-de teased.
Yeyinde trilled, "Nope, it's good and wedged in there."
"So, I take he's always just been a bit of a hard ass then?" Natalie said, with laughter in her voice.
"Always, since we were all pups. He's always had a serious no nonsense personality. He tried courting me a couple times. But I just wasn't interested.
I like my males more laid back and funny." Adilgashii purred the last part while running her hand over the tresses at the back of Kv'var-de's head.
The yellowish red male yautja smiled and purred back to her from where he was sitting.
A small, amused smile decorated Natalie's face.
'They really do look cute together.' She thought.
The cream-colored female then turned her attention back to Natalie.
"So, Natalie, when is your pup due?" Adilgashii asked.
"Nei'hman said probably between seven and eight months. It's a little hard to pinpoint it accurately right now. Because human females gestate at nine months, not seven like yautja females." Natalie explained.
The female cocked her head, intrigued.
"Really? That's quite a long time. Especially, since oomans are not as big as yautja. I would've thought the gestation would be shorter for your kind." Adilgashii replied.
Natalie shook her head, "Nope, nine months is the magic number for us. Though some humans do deliver healthy babies in their eighth month. But that doesn't happen all the time.
There are sadly also instances where babies can be born even earlier than that. But they are considered premature, and those are the ones that need to be constantly monitored during their stay in the hospital."
"That is sad when that happens. Premature births can happen among yautja females as well. Though thankfully, it's not very common. When it does occur though, we do have amazing healers and tech to keep them alive." She said.
"When are you due, Adilgashii?" Yeyinde asks.
Natalie looked from him to the other female.
"Your pregnant too? Congratulations." The young woman said.
"Thank you, and like you, this is also my first." She proudly addressed.
"Is it your first too, Kv'var-de?" Natalie asks.
The other male shook his head, "This will be my third. I already have one son and one daughter."
The four of them continued to relax in the soothing water that smelt very floral in nature to Natalie.
From what she learned, her and Adilgashii looked to have similar due dates and both of them could be possibly giving birth around the same time. Which was nice, because then her baby could have a play mate close in age.
They sat in the small section of the pool for nearly three hours. Before Yeyinde told them they had to leave at the moment because they had an appointment.
Natalie gave him a confused look.
"Appointment? What appointment? And why didn't you tell me?" She asked.
"It was another part of the surprise. I booked an appointment to have us get the mating mark. Remember, I told you about it? It's a special mark one gets inked into their skin signifying their position as life mates." He reminded her.
Yeah, she remembers. And she did agree to getting one. Especially, if it meant no one will challenge them for the right to mate with Yeyinde or someone to challenge him for her.
The marks would signify that they were taken and will have no one else.
"Really? That's great! Congratulations!" Adilgashii told them.
Everyone knows about the mating marks. Though very few had them because there were very few Life Mates within the clans. But the ones that sported them, did so, proudly.
"Guess these mating marks are a great deal then like you said." Natalie said to Yeyinde.
"Yes, they are equivalent to...what is it oomans do again when they are mated? They exchange little metal bands that go on their fingers? Yes, it's equivalent to that.
The mating marks indicate that you're his and he's yours."Kv'var-de said.
He knows this because he observed this ceremony once while he hunted on Earth. The hunter heard a couple oomans call it marriage. Whatever that means. But apparently, it's supposed to symbolize a lifelong bond with one companion.
Natalie's eyes widened a little.
"Really?" She inquires.
Kv'var-de nodded. Then his gaze shot to his friend.
"And hopefully, you don't drive this poor female crazy. Because if she jumps you and decides to pummel you, don't call me, I won't be able to help you." He teased.
Yeyinde rolled his eyes. While Natalie chuckled at his remark.
Adilgashii snorted, "Of course, it would be unwise to do so. One should never get in the way of an angry female who's mad at her mate. You'd just be looking for trouble. And a lovely trip to the med room along with their mate.
Anyways, let's not keep them from their appointment. Congratulations again you two. I hope to see you around again soon."
"Yeah, we'll see you around, Adilgashii. Most likely after Kv'var-de does something stupid to piss you off. That can be a tendency with him sometimes." Yeyinde joked.
Kv'var-de gave him a playful glare and grunted. While his mate just trilled with laughter.
They all said their goodbyes, and Yeyinde and Natalie left the pool.
He took them over to a stack of folded up towels and grabbed a fresh one to dry themselves off with. Then they headed to the small storage room to grab their clothes.
They left the bath house and went back up to the reception area.
Ta'roga was still at her desk tapping away at some holographic buttons when the couple approached.
"Hi, we're ready for the appointment to get our mating marks." Yeyinde told her.
She nodded, then tapped a couple buttons on the screen. And Natalie watched as she spoke to the screen. Not a moment later, another voice filtered through. After a few exchanged words, Ta'roga nodded, then turned back to the pair.
"Ok, Ki'vik'non is ready for you both. Follow me please." She said.
The female yautja led them down another hall and stopped at the fourth door on the right. It slid open and she gestured for them to head in, before turning around and leaving.
At first, they were met with the back of a male yautja who was sorting through instruments on his side table. Then he turned around to greet them with a small bow.
"Greetings, I'm Ki'vik'non and I will be giving you your marks today." He said.
Yeyinde gave him a nod. Natalie just stood there watching them exchange words in their language. He then gestured for Yeyinde to sit in the large reclining chair.
Ki'vik'non smeared a clear paste over the area of Yeyinde's right peck. Then used a cloth to wipe off the area. The male then reached behind him on the table for an instrument that he dipped into a small thing of black ink.
There was a light hissing sound as he activated it and pressed it to Yeyinde's skin. Natalie watched ho Yeyinde barely moved a muscle as he got the tattoo.
It really didn't look much different from humans getting tattoos on Earth. Even she had a few small ones on her herself.
'Hope this guy isn't heavy handed like the last tattoo artist I had.' She thought.
He was quite quick and efficient with his movements, and it didn't take him long to finish putting in the mark. After seven minutes, he flipped off the instrument and informed Yeyinde he was finished.
The young hunter sat up and looked down at the mark. Natalie moved closer and took a look at it too. It was quite beautiful. It looked a lot like a shaded in crescent moon and it had three small outlines of circles following the moons inner arch.
Yeyinde got up from his seat and Ki'vik'non gestured for her to sit down next.
Natalie sat in the large chair and watched as he swapped out needles to put in a clean one. Before he turned to her. He then looked to Yeyinde.
"You want hers to be in the same spot as yours?" He asked.
Yeyinde nodded, "Yes."
The male looked down at Natalie and tilted his head.
"Never done this for an ooman before. But I guess there's a first time for everything I suppose." Ki'vik'non joked to himself.
He then pressed a couple buttons on his wrist gauntlet, activating the translator.
"Hold still for this please, try not to move." He instructed.
Natalie nodded and laid back still against the reclined chair.
Then she heard the instrument in his hand start up again. He dipped the end into the ink then put it over the top of her right breast above the line of her tube top.
She grits her teeth a little as the mechanic needle pierced her skin. And the male went to work with the marking. He was a bit heavy handed, but he worked rather quickly.
Every now and then he'd stop and wipe away some blood as he went.
It took him around six minutes to finish her mark. Then he turned it off and wiped off a little excess ink and blood from her one last time with a clean cloth.
"Finished. You two are good to go. Just don't bathe for the next twenty-four hours. You want to give the ink time to settle deep within the skin." He instructed.
The pair nodded and thanked him for his services. Yeyinde gave him a good tip for his services on the way out.
As they exited the spa and bath house, Natalie looked down at her new mark and smiled. Like Yeyinde, hers was a shaded in crescent moon, only difference was she only had two outlined circles instead of three.
Yeyinde wrapped an arm around her shoulders and looked down at her with a smile and purred. Natalie smiled back up at him and wrapped her arms around his narrow waist as they walked down the path.
For some reason, she felt very happy. It felt like they had just officially tied the knot and gotten married. Only instead of an exchange of rings, they each sported these special tattoos.
And according to Yeyinde, unlike the ink on Earth, this ink will never fade and stay a dark prominent black color embedded in their skin for the rest of their lives.
Until Next Time ;)