The next chapter is up! Enjoy :)

They have been on Planet Wer'sah now for a few days now.

And thankfully, within that time they haven't hit another skirmish with one of the planet's other in habitants. Of course, Raelyn didn't mention this to Bhu'ja because she didn't want to jinx it.

Danger aside, she enjoyed the outings he has brought her on so far.

Even the ones that in her mind didn't seem all that safe. Like the one time he brought her within distance of an active volcano. Though he assured her, that he hasn't seen any major eruptions since he's been coming here. At least not from this particular volcano.

At the moment, it was just lazily spewing out some lava from the top to a deserted alley down below.

She recalls her trip to Hawaii one year with her friends. Well, somewhat of a trip. It was more like a work trip seeing as they had dance performances there.

But when she wasn't performing there, she was able to do some day trips in between with a small group of fellow ballerinas. And one of those trips she did see Mt. Kilauea from afar.

It too was just lazily spewing some lava from the top at the time.

Still, Raelyn told him if she saw what looked like one little hiccup coming from it, she was high tailing it the hell out of there. He got a good chuckle from that remark.

Today would be a bit of a different schedule for them today. Because today was to be the first day that Bhu'ja would go out for one of his 'daily' hunts or a day hunt.

"What you looking to hunt today?" She asks, as she watches him suit up.

"I may go looking for either a gri'stei or pol'yah. Both are large and quite dangerous." He told her.

"Be careful out there, ok?" Raelyn said, with some worry in her voice.

If it were anyone else that told him that, he'd snort and grunt in annoyance.

But this was Raelyn, his good friend and companion. Someone he was gradually starting to see as being more than that. Whether he realized it or not.

The pale yautja walked over and gently cupped her cheek.

"It'll be fine. I've been here enough times to know its dangers. And I know to be careful." Bhu'ja assured her.

The young woman reached up and placed her small hand over his and gave him a small smile.

"I know, just habit, I guess to say something. I think it has to do too when you told me how your kind are avid hunters who go looking for the biggest and most dangerous prey. It irked me a little when you said there are quite a few who don't come back. But I feel I've gotten to know you well enough these last couple months to know, that won't be you." She stated.

She watched him train many of times since she came aboard his ship. The guy was like a fucking ninja. If a ninja were a seven-foot five-inch alien warrior with advanced tech and badass armor.

"This is true. Though it mostly happens to younger hunters with less experience under their belts. Not to say it can't happen to Blooded warriors or Elites. It's just not extremely common with the higher ranks though.

But as I said a littler earlier, I'll be back by dinner time, when the sun gets lower in the sky. Hopefully, with at least one good trophy." He informed her.

"Well, good luck out there. From what I've seen so far on this world, I don't think you'll have too much trouble. Place seems to be crawling with a lot of wildlife with at least half of it being very dangerous animals.

It was still shocking yet fascinating watching that pair of carnivores' charge and corral that herd of grazers before moving in on a tiny group that got separated from the rest of herd.

It was like being part of a live documentary on Animal Kingdom. And at least we were watching from a safe distance, so we were not in the danger zone. Observing it all like that makes for a pretty neat experience on how the life cycle works among animal species." She said.

He nodded, "Yes, though that's just how it is everywhere, even on my world. That just happened to be a first time for you experiencing it. Because it's not something humans see daily throughout their lives. Which tends to be common among advanced races that don't have to fight and scrap for survival."

This is true. Humans don't outwardly fight and kill other humans for survival or food each day. At least not in the more advanced and civilized countries.

The only ones that do kill outright are criminals. And then of course, occasionally the police or soldiers kill. But for most, it's not something they do experience.

She walked with him to the ship's exit and bid him goodbye.

Then she decided to go to the kehrite for a little while and train a bit. Bhu'ja has already taught her a lot since they started her training. Even during their trips to these last couple worlds, after their days of exploring ended, he would take her to the kehrite and try to get in at least an hour of her training.

An amused grin appeared on her face when they took some of her training outside of the ship, so he could finally show her how to properly use the projectile weapons.

That was quite fun and interesting. Especially, during the time she set off the net gun unexpectedly. She wasn't fully paying attention or watching where she was pointing it, and the net flew out towards Bhu'ja.

He let out a surprised bark and quickly dove to the side. The net barely missed him as he did this, and the net ended up in a cluster of bushes.

Afterwards he gave her a look that screamed, 'Really!?'

Raelyn apologized profusely, but shortly afterwards, she could barely contain her laughter. The look on his unmasked face when he saw the net headed his way and how quickly he dove out of the way.

That was probably one of the fastest times she'd seen him move.

It wasn't until after the fact he informed her just how incredibly danger those nets can be. He showed her a demonstration on a nearby fallen tree.

Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head when he shot the net out at the trunk, and once it connected, it tightened and retracted to the point the trunk became nothing but wood chips.

After that, he was a tad hesitant to let her try the spear gun or plasma caster. He was wondering if it was a good idea to show her how to use the smart disc and shuriken.

He did, however, lend her some of his throwing knives. And it turned out, she was quite good with them.

Bhu'ja had inquired if she had thrown knives before. And almost laughed that she accredits her slight efficiency with them from all those years of throwing darts at a dart board back home.

Raelyn had always been very good at the game of darts. She just had naturally good aim with them and beat out many acquaintances and some friends at the game.

At this time, she made it into the kehrite and jumped up into the elevated ring.

She started off with hand-to-hand techniques first. She especially wanted to try and work on some moves she was struggling with and see if she could make some improvements.

Then from there, once she got tired of hand-to-hand, she'll move onto some weapons.

Bhu'ja began his trek through the jungle. He knew where the prey he was currently looking for mainly frequented. The young Arbitrator hopes to find a large challenging male of either of the two main species he was looking for.

The more he thought about it, he wanted to gain an exceptional trophy and present it to Raelyn.

Sometimes, a male that was very interested in a female, would provide her with one of his best trophies, to show his interest in both her and in hopes of courting her.

Presenting them with a trophy didn't happen very often. It was usually, the male would introduce the female to his collection of skulls, that would show if they were interested in them enough to find the male worthy of courting and mating.

The four females he has courted in the past were thoroughly impressed by his collection. Especially, his hard meat queen skull, and the two large warrior skulls on either side of it.

And of course, they were impressed by his extensive collection of bad blood skulls. Because to many in yautja society, there was nothing more dangerous than the rogues of their kind.

'I wonder if a skull from a gri'stei or pol'yah will be good enough. Perhaps I should strive for something a little bigger and stronger. Maybe a cy'wyr or a drag'go.' He thought.

Well, he has the whole day to figure it out. He can still hunt the animals he was currently gunning for. And if he could stumble upon something bigger and more challenging, that would be nice.

Back with Raelyn, she had been going on with her training for a while now.

She was panting as the heat and humidity of the ship got to her, like it always did after a while. But she was at least happy with how the training turned out.

The young woman had managed to work out some of the kinks in a couple of the fighting moves she had struggled with before. And once she felt she was pleased with how they have been turning out, she took a break from hand-to-hand combat and moved onto the weapons wall.

She took down a combi stick and moved back towards the center of the ring.

Raelyn gave it a few slow experimental twirls. Before she started to make some slashing and jabbing motions with it. She danced around with it in her grip as she went.

Bhu'ja had always told her, never to stay in place while fighting with an opponent. It's always best to move around and stay on your toes.

The young woman could laugh at that last part of the remark. Her whole life revolved around her being on her toes a lot as it was. That's just how it was in ballet. Especially, pointe' ballet.

Still, she took his words to heart and always tried following his advice and instructions as best as she could during training.

When she felt like she had enough of the combi stick, she put it back and exchanged it for a short sword. It was her other go-to weapon besides the combi stick.

Raelyn did the same thing, practicing some sweeping moves with it, all while moving about slashing and stabbing at imaginary opponents.

She only was at her weapons part of training for a half hour. By then, she felt like she got to the end of her limit with her training for the time being.

She was hot and sweaty and wished to take a bath and get clean.

So, she put the short sword back and left the kehrite and headed back down to Bhu'ja's room. Or at this point, it was more like 'their' room now.

As she entered the room, Raelyn began to remove her clothes. Then she approached the wall compartment and waved her hand over it.

The compartment slid out of the wall to reveal her outfits. During her stay here, Bhu'ja had managed to make at least seven in total. They were a pretty basic style, but they were for the most part different colors.

She pulled out the light pinkish brown outfit and took it into the bathroom with her.

Raelyn set the folded-up articles off to the side of the bathroom and approached the giant inground tub to start it up. It still never ceases to amaze her how pretty much everything here was motion activated.

The water started shooting out from the multiple jets that lined the wall of the large tub. And once it was filled about halfway, she went in.

Another thing she liked, was that Bhu'ja also showed her how to adjust the temperature. And after spending all your time on a hot humid ship that doesn't seem to go any lower than eighty-five degrees, a cool bath or shower was a blessing.

As she leaned back against the smooth siding with a sigh, she wondered what else she could do here.

Unfortunately, besides working out in the kehrite, there really wasn't much to do on your own. It was easier when there was someone else to talk to.

Bhu'ja did try to show her how to play some games on his desk. But a good portion of the games needed two players. And the ones he showed her that were meant for an individual player still baffled her.

The directions to many of the games were not all that easy to understand. Except for maybe one or two of the games.

But she could only play games for so long before she quickly tired of them.

An idea hit her. But a part of her is unsure if it's a good idea. It involved her going outside. Not so much to leave the premises to explore. But just hang around outside of the ship in the sun and take in the scenery.

He had moved the ship to another location just yesterday afternoon.

And where they currently were at, was next to some large, beautiful waterfalls. They were at best, just under one-hundred meters away from the falls.

They did stop there for a little while during their exploring. And Raelyn thought it was one of the most beautiful sights she has seen since he brought them here.

She definitely wouldn't mind going back.

'It's not far from the ship at all. And I can always bring a couple weapons with me, just in case.' Raelyn thought.

With that in mind, she finished up her bath and got out to dry off and change.

A part of her is wishing now she held off on the bath. Because she wouldn't have minded going for a swim in the shallow pond the waterfalls poured into.

The water was crystal clear, showing many small, harmless but beautiful looking alien fish. The pond was considered too shallow and small for any aquatic predators to inhabit it, according to Bhu'ja that is.

The small pond itself fed out into a small, narrow stream near the back of it.

She dried off and put her clothes on. Then she grabbed her leather travel bag that she uses on her exploring trips to hold her food and water.

Raelyn headed down to the kitchen area first, to fill her bag with some dried-up meat jerky strips, some naxa fruits, and a water bottle.

Then she headed down to the kehrite to grab a couple weapons. She also grabbed the chest plating to her own armor that was hung up off to the side of the weapons wall and skipped it on.

But that is all she put on. For this short trip, she felt like she didn't need to be decked out in full armor.

She did bring her mask along too. But she didn't put it on. She carried it at her side. Raelyn only intended to use it if she heard any animals moving about through the foliage out there.

The infrared vision mood in her mask will help her see the animals hidden in the brush. And it will show her the size of the animal and give her an idea if it's a large dangerous predator.

Raelyn grabbed a combi stick, short sword, and one of the plasma pistols. She then attached them to her armor.

Afterwards, she finally set out. It was nice that Bhu'ja gave her the codes to lock and unlock the doors to this place, even the ship's entrance/exit door.

He even showed her the other day the buttons to press to cloak the ship.

She approached the exit door and typed in the code to the keypad off to the side. The door slid open a couple moments later and the small ramp deployed and hit the ground.

Raelyn exited the ship. She made sure to lock it and made sure it stayed cloaked before she left for the waterfalls.

Thankfully, they were very easy to find. They were easy to spot through the trees because they rose higher than most of the trees and poured out of a couple large opening in a rock formation that made up a steep cliff.

The waterfalls for directly west from the ship and again, a little less than a hundred meters away. The place is a little secluded, and she likes to think she'd be able to get out of there and back to the ship with very few obstacles in the way, if she were to hit trouble.

Until Next Time ;)