"Nothing can live forever. That is why we have the stories. That is the eternal life."
N'tani listened to the matriarchs as a fire nearby crackled. The mei'sa was quiet right now; a rare moment without the bustling of juveniles all day and night. It was, admittedly, a welcome break. While much of the night was spent simply soaking in the hot pools quietly, eventually the conversation turned to ancient stories and songs of the Clan.
Ten generations of daughters' daughters' daughter still had a memory that had been passed down. To many, it was legend. To many, it was fiction. To others, only the faintest hint at all displayed a long diluted genetic characteristic that was unique only to the Kaunte Dar'een Clan.
Sometimes, a new offspring was born with eyes that were not a typical color for any Yautja. Occasionally, the skin took on a lighter shade or lacked pigmentation completely. Stories abound of hunters of old, ancient tales now, that had been born somewhat smaller than common for a Yautja; perhaps they lived, grew, and died more quickly.
The lineage was well documented in the archives; in fact, the bloodline had its own special book just for itself. N'tani had visited the archives years ago; she had seen the book and read the history of her lineage. When she was a youngster herself growing up in the mei'sa, she barely believed it. She would often analyze herself looking for any hints of the unique bloodlines that ran through her veins.
Those differences, though, were mostly at such a minute genetic level that N'tani really never saw any differences. Some of the other youths called her rhy-tu secretly behind her back; mocking her tresses that were just a touch lighter in color than usual, more of a reddish brown than pure black.
Being compared to a Yautjan rodent that bore a strip of light fur around its head and neck was enough to keep N'tani enraged enough to ensure her strength, worth, and value to the Clan was not overlooked. Her scarred body had proven over and over that she was a capable, honored huntress of the Clan.
She was often annoyed as a youth, but soon came to understand the pride that others of her special genetic lines took in knowing their rich and unusual heritage.
That heritage played ever so deeply on her mind now more than ever as she absent-mindedly stroked her uncomfortably swollen belly.
"What stories she will come to know…" N'tani said the other mei'sa matriarchs.
"I am sure when she meets this world, she will make many of her own stories." One of them responded.
"She has a rich heritage; a special bloodline, as her mother before her and her mother's mother's mother."
N'tani had chosen well for her first mate. She had selected a hunter who had proven himself to be a cunning survivor, intelligent and fierce. Ehr-ude, young and vigorous, took it with pride that his first mate had been one of the famous ancient heritage.
Just as she began to ponder the life that her offspring would have, the baby kicked at her mothers' insides with a force that was proper for a fearsome, powerful Yautja huntress.
N'tani howled and looked at the matriarchs.
"It's time!"
The matriarchs, N'tani's mother's sister and her own offspring, both experienced with childbirth assisted N'tani through the process. They
helped her get into the position in the Yautja way, and urged her to push.
They had well forewarned her that childbirth could last for quite some time. Often enough, Yautja offspring seemed to fight even against birth itself. N'tani was ready as she could be for this battle, but nothing, it turned out, had really prepared her.
"Ready!" One matriarch prepped.
"Now," the other, who was in position near N'tani's knees, urged.
Quickly, and with significantly less commotion than she had been warned of, the labor was complete.
The matriarchs gasped in surprise, or disbelief; shock or sadness, N'tani could not be sure. In the moments after birth, she could hear no sounds; no sounds of life from the offspring that had emerged from the womb. N'tani felt a disappointment suddenly. Perhaps the breeding with Ehr-ude had failed. There was a fleeting moment of pure silence. The offspring made no sound, and neither did the matriarchs.
"N'tani", said one of the matriarchs. "The Payas have provided you a gift."
Suddenly, before N'tani opened her eyes, she heard a soft gasp fill her ears, followed instantly by a high pitched shriek so foreign, she was absolutely sure no Yautja could make such a cry.
The child was raised up and for the first time N'tani's eyes set upon the little thing. It was so unexpectedly delicate; so odd looking. So unique. The offspring was tiny; vastly undersized by the standards of Yautja babies and wickedly pale. It was so small that it barely filled the hands of the matriarch that now handed it off to its mother.
Its body did bear a lacework of mottled markings in shades of yellows and greens that bore a striking, though pale, resemblance to Ehr-ude's own colors, but nothing much else about this offspring would make anyone think it was bore of a Yautjan womb.
She was a female. That much was at least obvious. She lacked outer mandibles completely. She had fine hair growing from her tiny little head that clearly were no Yautja tendrils.
The offspring continued its high pitched wail until N'tani took her into her arms and purred a soothing sound to the unusual newborn. Responding to her mother's tone, the baby stopped her racket and within a moment after being placed just properly, the fragile looking child latched onto her mother's teat and suckled quietly.
N'tani and the others stared in wild wonder at the offspring so alien in appearance it very well may have been born on the human world instead of Yaut. It was amazing, and so very odd at the same time; a genetic throwback to a nearly lost heritage, so diluted into the Yautja veins now, it had almost been forgotten except for those stories.
Cradling her offspring proudly, as the realization of what this child would mean to her legacy, N'tani spread her mandibles widely in a smile. She knew that this child would make many stories.