The next chapter is up! Enjoy :)
A couple days go by, and there doesn't seem to be much communication going on between them.
But then, Kata'nu has been very busy as of late at the training grounds with the rowdy Unblooded youths. This is probably the one thing he hated about mating season.
The young hormonal males can't keep a handle on themselves. So, it was up to some of the Blooded and Elites to keep them occupied at this time.
If the young males went unchecked, quite a few could either become severely injured or killed while trying to attempt to court or mate with a female. Because said females are not looking for young inexperienced warriors who have yet to go on their first real hunt.
So, if it a young and rambunctious male tried to put the moves on one of them, the youngster would get quite fucked up by the taller and stronger female.
The clan also came up with this arrangement at the training grounds to keep female servants of other races safe.
Because unlike yautja females, many of the alien females they had here were not really strong enough to fight off the advancement of one of their males.
At least Kata'nu was relieved that Julie was steering clear of the training grounds or surrounding areas like he asked.
Last thing he wanted, was for her to get hurt by a young and inexperienced teen. And there have been cases where some of the youngsters do skip out on this 'special' training in favor of moseying around town.
Kind of equivalent to a teen skipping out on school for the day or playing hooky.
If caught by one of the other Blooded or Elites in town, the elder more experienced hunters may ream the youngster/s out before dragging them back to the training grounds by their very short dreads.
"Father, you good? You seem distracted as of late." Came the voice of one of the teens.
Kata'nu shifted his gaze from a group of Unblooded handling weapons to the young male standing before him.
It was one of his eldest sons, Kv'var-de. Right now, the shorter orangish yellow yautja was giving him a questioning look.
"I'm fine Kv'var-de. Just...have a lot on my mind, I guess. If you're ready to spar though, then let's go." The older warrior stated.
The youngster nodded then followed his father to one of the nearest rings.
It would have to be close combat sparring, seeing as all the rings were in heavy use right now. A large amount of Unblooded and some Blooded, along with some Elites were utilizing it right now.
The pair faced off against each other and poised their ki'cti-pas towards each other.
Though quite young, Kv'var-de was showing promise as a good hunter. In about three months' time, Kata'nu along with a few others will be sending him and a few other Unbloodeds off on their Kainde Amedha Chiva.
After a few moments of circling about, they charged each other and began to trade blows with their weapons.
Kv'var-de may not be as big or strong as his father, seeing as he is still growing somewhat. But he was very quick and maneuverable on his feet.
The youngster was also very strategic and quick on his feet as well. This edge usually gave him the advantage during sparring matches with his friends and some of the other Unbloodeds.
"So, I hear you went and got yourself an ooman servant. How is that working out for you?" He son asks.
Kata'nu snorted, then made a jab at his son's left side.
Kv'var-de quickly maneuvered to the right and narrowly missed getting jabbed by the weapon. This was nothing new, they were quite used to chatting and sparring at the same time.
"I see, word travels fast. And now everyone knows." The larger male stated.
"Grandmother kind of let it slip last time I saw her. The twins know too." The youngster replied.
"Speaking of, have you seen your brother and sister? I heard the twins have been coming here a lot lately to train within these last few months." Kata'nu inquired.
Twins were a rare commodity among the yautja. Kata'nu happened to be one of the few males in the clan that actually sired a set of twins with a female.
Both were born strong and healthy. And both were quite the handful when they were small pups. Luckily, as they aged, they started to mellow out.
"I saw Sakana earlier, training with a couple of older females. I have yet to see Kuhjade though. I can imagine he is around here somewhere though." Kv'var-de said.
Kata'nu was a little skeptical though.
There were a couple occasions, where Kuhjade had actually skipped out on training and left the training grounds. A friend of the older warrior told him he spotted the wayward youth along with two others fooling about in the northern part of town.
Kuhjade got a thorough scolding for it the first couple times.
But that didn't mean, he always listened. Of course, Kata'nu made it clear after the second time that he would kick his ass if he found him out and about during mating season, when he's not supposed to be.
"Your brother better be here. If I find out he skipped out again, he's getting a beat down for it." Kata'nu grunted.
Kv'var-de almost winced upon hearing that.
Normally his father can be quite lenient when it comes to his offspring. But there were still times some of his siblings and half siblings tended to push the older male's buttons.
In turn, he taught them a lesson and put them in their place.
Then he would inform their mothers of what occurred, only for them to get a second ass kicking from their mom over the matter.
Thankfully, these occurrences don't happen frequently. Out of the seventeen pups he sired, only a tiny handful indulged in pushing the envelope with him.
"Hopefully, your right. I can always go look for him after we finish sparring. Maybe find Sakana again and ask if she's seen our brother." Kv'var-de offered.
"Thanks, I'd look myself. But I'm scheduled for weapons training with another group of Unbloodeds a little later." Kata'nu said.
The teen nodded, and they continued their sparring.
Meanwhile with Julie...
The young woman was having some fun exploring the area outside of Kata'nu's dwellings.
Instead of going to the market area, she went into the opposite direction and started exploring another end of town that she has yet to see.
Kata'nu wasn't kidding either. The area their clan inhabited was huge. And all the new sights were doing a good job at keeping her mind occupied from the growing conflict within herself.
That conflict happened to involve a certain large red yautja male.
Ever since what occurred between them the other night outside in the sparring ring in his large backyard, she finds her emotions have been warring with each other a lot.
A part of her so badly wants to give in and take the plunge with him. While the other half kept screaming at her all the ways it wasn't such a good idea.
In truth, she just didn't want to get her heart broken.
She couldn't help but feel her life was still a big, jumbled mess. It has been ever since she was brought here. And these growing feelings towards Kata'nu were just adding fuel to the fire.
Julie also wanted to figure out the right time to tell him that she was ready for the procedure that would extend her life span.
Because let's face it, the longer she puts it off, the more nervous she will become awaiting for it to take place. She rather just rip off the proverbial band aid and do it.
Originally, she didn't really want to go through with it.
But there were some new reasons on why she changed her mind. One involved being able to travel and see so many new places she could only ever dream of seeing. And many of them could take a lifetime to do. Especially, when it comes to amazing places like this.
Another reason...had to do with him.
Julie didn't want to fathom what it would be like having to grow old before Kata'nu. She feels it would just be something that would hurt them both in the long run.
Perhaps, it was the small part of her that does wish to be with him that was the driving force behind the decision.
She had just passed what looked to be an entrance to either the jungle or perhaps a park. Before she realized she has traveled quite far, and it occurred to her that she got turned around and wasn't too sure of where she was.
Julie looked around her, trying to see if she could retrace her steps.
But it was a little hard to do. There were quite a few large bodies around obstructing her view. Quite a few yautja and some alien servants were still walking about the large dirt paths.
None of them seemed to pay her any mind though.
She wandered about for several more minutes. Occasionally bumping into a few others as they passed. Julie had to bite the inside of her cheek when someone stepped on her foot in passing.
Julie still continued on through the crowd.
Until she came across a clearing off to the right. It looked to be a path that led off of this main one. Hopefully, it's not as busy as the path she was on. She may just lose it if another elbows her in the side as she passes them.
After about four minutes, she let out a sigh of relief when she finally made it to the other path.
It looked much narrower than the path she was on. Dense jungle and a few metal dwellings littered the sides of the path. And it looked like there was hardly anyone on it.
'It may not lead me back home. But it may put me on the right path. It may cut back to the way I came. After all, these dirt paths are not to unsimilar to the roads and streets back home. Like streets, the paths all seem to interconnect at each end like a normal road.' She thought.
Julie stepped out of the busy pathway and onto the new one.
As she drew further away, it became quieter. And there appeared to be very few yautja on this path. It was quite a switch, going from super busy to nearly dead.
This path was clearly not a main path.
There was really more jungle lining it than dwellings or any other kind of building. If anything, it was a nice change of pace. It actually seemed more peaceful, and she didn't have to worry about bumping into others.
She must've been walking along the path for some time now.
It didn't take her long to realize she had yet to see any other paths branch off of it. It appeared to only be going one way. Which really wasn't a good thing. And here she hoped to find a path that branched off of it to the right. So much for that.
The further she went, she started to feel a sense of unease.
Most would write off the feeling as just being silly or paranoid. But her years of training taught her that she should always trust her gut. And right now, it was a getting a little more knotted as she walked along.
There haven't been signs of others on this path for the last few minutes now. Until she heard the sounds of familiar clicks and grunts from several yards ahead of her.
Julie tried not to think anything of it. Of course, there would be yautja walking about on this path. Obviously, she wasn't the only one to occupy it.
Her thoughts were confirmed, when she saw a small group of three seemingly yautja males walking down her way on the opposite side of the narrow path. They appeared to be chatting amongst themselves.
As they drew closer, she noted their appearance. While tall, they still seemed shorter than the average male and seemed to have smaller muscle composition. She also noted they lacked hardly any status rings, and their dreads were very short, barely touching the top of their shoulders.
The young woman froze up a little.
She's been here long enough to know that these guys were most likely UnBlooded youths or teens. And while she has only seen a small handful since coming here, Kata'nu pointed them out to her and showed her the differences between younger and older males.
The older males of his kind were clearly bigger, more built, and had longer dreads with numerous status rings littering their locks.
Julie tried not to stare and was about to turn around, when she noticed they stopped in their tracks. It didn't help that when she glanced at them, they were staring at her.
They appeared to be giving her looks of curiosity.
Then the wind kicked up a little and it blew towards them. That's when things seemed to slowly take a turn. Their mandibles flexed a few times, indicating they were scenting the air.
The three teens were talking among themselves as they traveled down the path.
"I'm still unsure this is a good idea. Ducking out like this again. We should probably head back to the training grounds, before someone catches us again." Said the dark yellow one in the middle of the trio.
"Relax, Kuhjade. The place was very full today. The Blooded and Elite Warriors are going to be too busy with most of the others to notice just three UnBlooded missing from their ranks." Etah'-dte said
"Besides, there are most likely not any females around here. Most of them are more likely in the busier parts of town trying to hit up older hunters." Ghardeh piped in.
Though as his friends tell him this, Kuhjade is still unsure.
He was starting to regret getting dragged into this and leaving the training grounds. No doubt, if his father finds out again, the older male will kick his ass all up and down the main path for all to see.
They were only walking the path that led away from the training grounds for a few minutes. Hardly anyone was on the path.
Then they suddenly came to a stop as they spotted not a female yautja but an ooman female.
They eyed her curiously and looked her up and down. She was very petite as far as humans go. They probably would've nearly thought her a child if they didn't see the outline of her perky breasts from beneath her top.
"Wonder what this ooman is doing in these parts and alone." Ghardeh says.
Kuhjade gazed at her.
She had long dark hair and light blue eyes set in a small oval shaped face. To most, she would've seemed rather cute with her small and dainty looking features.
But like his friends, he wonders why she would be down this path and on her own. Surely, she knew where this path led to.
They felt the wind kick up as it blew from her direction to theirs. That's when all three young males caught whiff of something. They flexed their mandibles taking in the scent.
It was very sweet and...intoxicating.
Didn't take long to recognize such a tantalizing scent. It was clear she was in heat and in prime condition for breeding.
As they inhaled more of her lovely scent, their blood started to boil, and their hormones were beginning to fluctuate. Pretty soon, it won't be long before their instincts take over completely and urge them to mate the female.
Hot blood started pumping through their being and most of it started going to one place.
The three of them started to approach her. But as they walked a few steps towards her, she turned around and started walking away. They caught a whiff of fear coming from her mixed in with her sweet scent.
It didn't deter them though.
And at least two of the males started to advance on the retreating female. The only one who was reluctant to do so, was Kuhjade. He clearly didn't like where this was going.
Yes, he will admit her lovely scent was very tempting. But it seemed pretty clear she was not interested in mating.
"Wait, where you two going? If she's walking away, she's clearly not interested. Let's just go back before anyone does something they will regret." Kuhjade said, trying to talk some sense into his two friends.
"Stop overlooking it, Kuhjade. For all you know, she's simply playing hard to get. No matter, we like games, and we like a challenge. Plus, she wasn't wearing a collar. So, she probably doesn't have a current Master." Etah'-dte said.
Julie sped up her walk quite a bit, trying so hard not to break out into a run.
'If you ever find yourself in a situation with another yautja, do NOT run from them. Only prey run away from us. And you don't want to be viewed as prey to them. Because they will give chase.' Kata'nu's words echoed in her mind.
This is one of the first important things he told her when they landed here.
But the more they seemed to be advancing on her, the harder it was becoming not to run away. Then she remembered something important.
'My Wristband!' She thought.
She quickly looked down at her left forearm. Dread sunk into the pit of her stomach when she realized it was not there. Julie surmised she forgot to put it back on after her bath before she left Kata'nu's dwellings.
'Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! Now what the hell am I supposed to do!? That wristband was basically the only thing I had to ward off other males!' Julie thought.
The young woman clenched her fists and gradually sped up more.
She fears she may have no choice but to engage them. Even if she were to run, she doesn't believe she can outrun these guys. The former marine may have no choice but to stand her ground and fight.
Even if it may be futile to do so. Perhaps one Unblooded she could gain the upper hand on. But three of them? It definitely seems unlikely.
Julie only took a few more steps before she finally stopped and turned to face the three teens tailing her. While she was nervous, she was also pissed that they were pursuing her.
"Stop following me and move on." She snapped at the three youngsters.
They halted in their tracks when she whirled around and snapped at them with her fists balled at her sides.
"I told you guys, she wasn't interested." Kuhjade pointed out.
But it looks like his friends ignored him though.
"Just want talk, female." Etah'-dte said in broken English.
"Well, I don't want to talk. Was just going home." She replied.
The medium green yautja cocked his head a little to the left.
"Where home? No collar." He said.
"I forgot my wristband at home. Now, if you please, just leave so I can resume my walk home." Julie stated.
The brownish beige one on the left then spoke up.
"Don't believe you. Come with us instead." He said, his English a little better than his friends.
"I'm not going anywhere with you three. I can tell you right now, Kata'nu will be pissed if you try anything." She snapped.
Upon hearing his father's name, Kuhjade perked up.
Julie tensed up a little when the dark yellow yautja male in the middle of the group took a step towards her.
"Did you say, Kata'nu? You're his new servant?" Kuhjade said, in flawless English.
She was surprised to hear this young male speaking English as fluently as Kata'nu did.
"Yes, I am."
Etah'-dte grunted, "Don't believe. Kata'nu no take servants."
"My father did take on a servant recently though, Etah'-dte. Grandmother told me and a couple of my other siblings he did a few weeks ago." Kuhjade corrected him in their native tongue.
Ghardeh snorted, "She still could be lying. For all we know, she is saying that to save her own ass. If she were his, she'd be wearing his symbol."
"Exactly. No more talking, let's just take her. Her scent is too tempting to pass up and her body ready to be mated." Etah'-dte snapped impatiently.
Julie started to grow a little more nervous when she noted at least two of the males seemed to be getting an erection. She could see it tenting beneath their loincloths.
The green one took a couple steps towards her, purring as he went.
But the young woman would have none of it. She slammed a front kick into his erection. He dropped to his knees with a pained roar, which was abruptly cut off when she slammed a right jab to one of his eyes.
She then quickly kicked to the instep of the beige one when he quickly approached her with a menacing growl. He went down to a knee after she kicked at the side of his knee, hard.
Then she turned around and took off down the way she came.
Kuhjade was both surprised and amused by what just happened. Surprised that she executed some efficient hits and amused that the hits sent both his friends down to their knees.
'I really am beginning to believe she speaks the truth. Only my father would choose to have a female this feisty.' He thought to himself.
Julie ran as fast as she could, trying to put as much distance between her and the young males as possible.
She's hoping that she'll eventually run into someone on the long dirt path that could help her. She knew well enough that the younger yautja defer from the older ones and wouldn't dare challenge an older, more experienced hunter.
Then she heard the booming footfalls of the youngsters behind her.
And it only took several seconds for them to gain on her. Sadly, she knew it too. Julie would most likely not make it much further before at least one of them grabs her.
The young woman made the mistake of looking behind her. She was startled to see that they were less than fifteen feet away from her and closing.
Julie looked a little too long. Had she shifted her gaze ahead of her sooner, she would've saw the fairly large root sticking out of the ground in front of her. And she was headed right for it.
She shifted her blue gaze to the front of her at the last moment and as she did, her foot caught the protruding root, and she found herself flying forward.
She let out a short gasp combined with a tiny yelp as it occurred. Then she found herself landing hard on her front on the dirt covered path. The wind was knocked out of her from how hard she landed.
Julie clenched her jaw and tried to suck in some more oxygen as she pushed herself onto her hands and knees.
She got in a few slow and steady breaths before she heard the booming footsteps come to an abrupt stop behind her. Then she heard a couple of menacing growls.
She froze and slowly turned her gaze to look over her shoulder. That's when she caught the pissed off gaze of both the green and beige colored yautja. While the dark yellow one quickly looked between the other two with a concerned look.
"You pay for that, ooman." Etah'-dte growled.
He went to take a step towards her. But a hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"That's enough, Etah'-dte, Ghardeh. Let's just head back to the training grounds and leave her." Kuhjade grounded out.
Sure, he had a hard time like any other Unblooded male controlling their hormones and sex drive. But that didn't mean he would lose his senses enough to mate a female against her will.
Etah'-dte snarled and shook his friend's hand off. Then he and Ghardeh started to advance on her once more.
Kuhjade was about to intervene, when a very loud and imposing roar stopped the three youths in their track and made Julie cringe at the volume of the sound.
It came from a couple yards ahead of her and her head snapped around to look at the source.
Her eyes widened when she saw a rather imposing large yautja male with rippling muscles. He scowled and trudged over to the group, mandibles flaring in displeasure.
As he drew closer, Julie made note of his appearance.
The male actually had a similar reddish complexion to Kata'nu. They also seemed to share the same bright yellow eyes and intimidating height.
Kuhjade automatically knew who it was and knew he and his friends were screwed now.
"Cjit." He muttered under his breath as the older male stomped over to them.
"What the pauk are you three doing out here!? Get your sorry asses back to the training grounds now before I skin you all alive and hang you from these trees!" The older male bellowed.
The three youngsters straightened up with wide, fearful eyes.
"We're...we're sorry, Sir. Won't happen again." Etah'-dte said.
The older male grunted, before his steely gaze shifted to the dark yellow young male.
"I expected better of you, Kuhjade. Clearly, you didn't learn from the last two times you were caught outside of the training grounds during the mating season." He snapped.
Kuhjade averted his gaze to the ground and lowered his head.
"I'm very sorry, Uncle. I know I shouldn't have gone. Whatever punishment you or my father wish to dish out, I deserve it and I'll take it." He said.
The older male continued to level the teen with a look.
"Just go and take these two back with you. Now." He grounded out.
Kuhjade nodded. While the other two teens bowed their head in submission.
Then the trio of teens turned around and started walking back to the training grounds. It was quite clear they were in hot water now and will definitely be receiving some form of punishment once they return.
Julie watched the exchange from the ground, before slowly hauling herself back up to standing. She lightly rubbed a hand over her tender front and dusted off the loose dirt that clung to her bare stomach.
"You shouldn't be out here, female. You're awfully close to the training grounds where most of our Unblooded are at the moment." The older male stated.
Yet another yautja that spoke perfect English. It was odd how some could barely speak it while others spoke it like it was their first language.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know. I got turned around and got lost. Was trying to find my way back home when this all went down." Julie says.
"Where is home?" He asks.
"I live with a yautja named Kata'nu. Though he is not home at the moment. He's actually at the training grounds." She replied.
She saw his eyes widen briefly.
"So, you're my brother's new servant. Didn't think we'd meet this way." He stated.
Julie's mouth gaped a little and her eyes widened at his response.
"Brother!? You're one of Kata'nu's brothers!?" She blurted out.
It certainly explained why this male and Kata'nu looked quite alike.
He nodded, "Yes, I am Ku'dlak. One of his younger brothers."
Ku'dlak than gave her a cursory glance.
"Where is your collar? They wouldn't have readily engaged you if you had it on." He told her.
She clenched her jaw a little when he mentioned collar. It still rubbed her the wrong way that many servants here wore collars.
"Of all times, I incidentally left my 'wristband' at home." Julie quipped.
"I see. Well, let's go then. I'll escort you back." Ku'dlak says.
He then gestured for her to follow him.
The young woman was hesitant first after everything that just happened with the other three younger males. But then he did just save her from them and he was Kata'nu's family.
And since he knows the way back to Kata'nu's home, it be dumb not to take up his offer.
Julie sped up and walked beside the large male. He slowed down his stride a little so the petite ooman female can keep up.
"Thanks, by the way. Don't want to think about what could've happened had you not showed up." She said.
"I doubt my nephew would've done anything. Not so sure about the other two though." Was his reply.
She was taken aback a little with that last statement.
"Nephew? One of those teens were your nephew? Which one?" She asks.
"The yellow skinned one. His name is Kuhjade, he is one of Kata'nu's sons. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time he skipped out on training. No doubt my brother will be disappointed to hear he skipped out again." Ku'dlak told her.
For a huge clan, it was a surprisingly small world. What were the odds she ran into not one, but two more of Kata'nu's family? It was certainly all mind boggling.
Though unlike Ku'dlak, this Kuhjade didn't seem to resemble Kata'nu all that much. Not with his yellowish complexion and light green eyes.
'Must look more like the mother.' She randomly thought.
Though it was just a somewhat sad reminder that Kata'nu had been with many females and had many kids out there running around.
It was one of the many reasons why she feels she shouldn't get involved with him. The last thing she wanted to be, was another female that was there to give him another kid.
Ku'dlak noted the small ooman female became rather quiet.
"You alright? You suddenly became very quiet." He stated.
Julie snapped her gaze in his direction.
"What? Oh, yeah. I'm good. Like I said, just still a little shaken from what had just taken place not a few minutes prior." She replied.
Though that was only half true, if anything.
He was silent for a moment, before speaking up.
"I'm sorry that happened. But as long as you remember to wear your wristband, that shouldn't happen again." He assured her.
"Yeah, doesn't help that I rushed out of the house without my wrist comp as well. If I had it, I could've contacted Kata'nu to let him know I got lost." She said.
Julie was mentally kicking herself for forgetting the two most important things she should've dinned before leaving his dwellings.
At least, now she knows, that she makes sure not to forget again. Especially, if it meant they will keep her safe when Kata'nu isn't around. She really should consider herself lucky that Ku'dlak came when he did.
Though, she didn't miss the fact that it did look like Kuhjade did try to diffuse the situation. She didn't miss it when he placed his hand on the green skinned yautja, trying to stop him from advancing on her when they caught up to her.
She recalls his comrade didn't seem happy about it either as he roughly shrugged it off with a snarl.
In a way, the young woman hopes at least his punishment won't be as severe. Perhaps if she told Kata'nu he tried to stop the others, he may go easy on him. Julie may pass that along to Ku'dlak to pass the message onto his brother when he sees him next.
They talked quite a bit as he walked her back. She was surprised at just how far she wandered from Kata'nu's dwellings.
It also gave her plenty of time to ask the large male more questions when it came to this special procedure that she would have to partake in to extend her life span.
Hopefully, it will help put her growing nerves at ease.
Until Next Time ;)