H'chakde 

The time after the blooding hadn't been as celebratory as H'chakde initially hoped. Between Kayla healing, and her worrying over Skylar's health, there hadn't been time for the usual festivities the yautja held, or time to relax. Even now, while Kayla was in the medbay checking on her friend, he was setting up the room to house a couple of extra guests. Time he would have spent planning a hunt with Kweide.

This was a task he had been working on for the better part of the day. Rearranging, making room for Kayla's trophies and installing hooks to hang her armor and weapons. It was a semi-permanent arrangement, just something she could use till she could get home once again. She had mentioned getting Skylar home, perhaps since they both made it out, his ooman would want to follow.

Once he became satisfied by the organization, and hook placement, he turned his attention to other matters. Specifically, the bed situation. He would be taking the mattress that was once Kayla's, while her and Sklar took his.

He pulled some of the extra blankets from the mattress off and tossed them toward the bed, he wouldn't have use of them anyway, and they were needed. Kayla had very particular instructions on making the place suitable for Skylar, and Skylar's other. . .friend.

He took up one of the more plush furs and folded it before placing it on the floor on the side Skylar would lay. Far away from him and Kayla as the room could allow. He feared little in his life, and that thing was part of the small list. If it weren't for how stressed Kayla had been, there would have been more of an argument. However, that stress was unnecessary for her.

Turning back to the bed, he began adding his own little flair to the blankets. Taking the two largest furs, he formed a nest-like shape on the bed. Hopefully, Skylar would find it comfortable, and that it would prevent her from rolling off and onto the steel floor.

He added the pillows next put in a way that would properly cradle Skylar's head. Hopefully it'd make it easier for Kayla to give her friend food and water.

H'chakde turned at the sound of the door sliding open, Kayla slipped in, walking toward the table littered with her trophies. She wore a splint around her calve, and her patched up cuts were already healing. They would make fine scars, H'chakde was certain of it.

Kayla slumped against the chair before allowing herself to lean against the table. H'chakde wouldn't be surprised if after all this she grew ill again. There hadn't been a moment absent of excitement or stress.
"How is Skylar?" He asked, abandoning his work and coming to sit beside Kayla. She lifted her head only enough to turn it so only her ear rested against her folded arms.

"She's-" Kayla took a deep breath before continuing, her gaze flicking up to meet his. "Alive, she was asleep when I left, thankfully the surgery went well. I'm not sure how she'll be when she wakes up. She's- torn up about Kweide."

"They seemed close," H'chakde pushed back a loose strand of hair from Kayla's eyes. "She will heal from it, the same as she will her other wounds." He still understood very little of ooman emotions, but he did know things like death affected them differently.

"She will, it may take awhile, years even but that's normal." Kayla's brows furrowed as she reached out to put her hand over his. Her thumb softly rubbing along the space between his thumb and pointer finger. "How are you holding up?"

H'chakde shook his head, "I didn't go hunting, so I am not-"

"No, no himbo." She shook her head giving him a brief weak smile before it fell. "I mean about Kweide."

Something unfamiliar settled in his chest, a feeling he couldn't quite name. It was like a long hunt, days of tracking that resulted in his prey slipping through his fingers, but worse. A different emotion overshadowed the unfamiliar one. a feeling he was more acquainted with that didn't linger on all that wouldn't be, but all that was. Pride. "I am-" He struggled to reach the words, but the look on Kayla's face pressed for him to try. "Not, happy about losing him, but I am delighted for him. He's followed the black warrior and now hunts with Paya, something all my kind wish for."

"That makes sense, I hope you'll join him one day."

"Thank you." His eyes turned to the trophies scattered on the table. The serrated tail of the queen the part where it had been cut cauterized, and one of the young of the hard meat. "Why did you choose these?"

Kayla lifted her head as she followed his gaze, a thoughtful frown pulling over her face. Her hand on his remained while her free one moved to fiddle with them. "I wanted the tail of the creature that caused this." She gestured to the wound on her arm with a shrug, "but I didn't think it worth it at the time, because of their blood and all. The other thing though-" She gave a dull snort. "I just thought it looked a little funky. Kinda wanted to turn it into an armor piece, if I can drain the blood from it that is."

"We can find a way." H'chakde assured her, doing his best to asses how they could do that exactly.

"Where theres a will there is one." She pushed herself up from the table and H'chakde moved to follow as she began to strip her armor off, leaving her in only strips of cloth that covered her breasts and her loin cloth. Setting the armor on the table beside her trophies, she began to stretch, wincing before stumbling a little. H'chakde reached out, placing a hand on her back to steady her.

Kayla's head turned up to meet his gaze, usually this would be seen as a sign of challenge with his kind, but the soft lilt of her gaze took away any notion of that from his mind. She leaned closer her lips pressing against his lower mandible so softly he barely even registered she had done so.
The confusion on his face must have shown because Kayla let out a quiet laugh. "This is a sign of affection called a kiss, don't worry though you can't catch cooties."

"Is that another one of your ooman diseases?"

Kayla scrunched her face, regret crossing it. Was it the kiss? Did she truly not know if he could get sick? "No,no it's not. It's a joke thing kids say."

H'chakde had more questions, but Kayla looked too tired to answer any of them. He leaned forward, pressing his mandibles to her cheek just as softly as she had done her lips.

"There you go, you got the spirit." Kayla said, planting another kiss on the same spot before pulling away. She limped toward the door her hands going to the leather strips that held her ponytail. Pulling them free she shook her head before running her fingers through her golden hair. She looked wild, with her hair strewn about her shoulders half covering her face. "I think we should hurry and grab Ferdinand. Don't wan't Lar'ja-Thwei to get impatient.

"Yes." It was hard to keep the hesiantce from his voice, but H'chakde managed. He followed out into the hallway, following her toward what was now Skylar's room.

The halls were more crowded then usual, the excitement of the blooding had not yet died down completely, now more of a rumble then the roar it once was. Mainly the newly blooded warriors still celebrated, parading around the halls adorned with their trophies. Some turned to look at Kayla as they passed, some with jealousy, others with the same pride H'chakde felt. A good few however, looked at her in a way that he was all too familiar with.

He had looked at some of the females the same way after he had been blooded. A calculated gaze wondering how he could win them over come mating season. A growl rose in H'chakde's throat, jealousy fueling the sound.

Kayla was a newlyblooded warrior, the same as them, but she was above them. She had aided in killing a queen hard meat. The trophies they held now were not worthy of her.

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"Lay her on the bed." Kayla said, keeping the door open for H'chakde as he pushed through. He held Skylar in his arms as gently as he had Kayla after she had gotten her translator. Kayla followed after him, adjusting the pillows to make things more comfortable before he lowered the injured ooman down.

H'chakde began setting up the medicines Lar'ja-Thwei had given them, while Kayla gathered water. Both items were placed down on the table that they had situatied near the bed within easy reach for both Skylar and Kayla.

"It this good?" He asked looking at her after he had finished fluffing Skylar's pillows. Kayla thought for a moment, her eyes roaming over the set up. H'chakde could almost see the list in her mind forming as she checked things off. Eventually, she nodded.

"For now, later we can get her some broth but thats for after she wakes up. She'll need to eat, but solid foods might be hard for her to get down." Kayla grimaced walking over to the other end of the bed and flopping down on it. She winced a little as he body made impact, lifting her injured leg to rest it on the bed beside her. Her other swung lazily as she softly hummed to herself.

Following her movements, H'chakde sat down on the edge of the bed beside her. He leaned back, ensuring he could better look at her face. Her eyes were closed, a strand of hair covering part of her face. Reaching out, her tucked it behind her ear, the movement making Kayla open her eyes momentarily before they closed again.

"Thank you," she muttered "For helping with Skylar today."

"It was nothing."

"Good, she'll need our help for at least a few more days, I can handle most of it, but I may need your help changing bandages and being my not so little errand boy." She teased softly nudging him with her leg.

"Whatever is needed to get her well, even if caring for her little. . .pet is on the list." H'chakde said, referencing the creature Skylar had called Ferdinand. His only assurance that he would sleep during Ferdinand's stay was the sleeping arrangements.

"Honestly I don't know why you guys are so afraid of him." Kayla's teasing tone didn't let up. Her eyes slipped open as she met his eye, just like before no challenge laid behind her gaze. "I'm sure you could squash him if it weren't for the threat of Skylar's wrath."

"I'd rather face a queen Kiande amedha with nothing but a knife than fight him." With the queen he might actually stand a chance of winning. "You have not seen him fight."

"Yeah, yeah." Her gaze moved from him to the room around them, her eyes going from the shelves, to the new hooks. "You've changed things."

He followed the direction of her gaze, "Only temporarily, I thought it'd be suitable for you to have a place to hang your armor until we leave for earth." Though he didn't know if she'd be able to take any of it with her, he might keep them up just as a reminder of her.

"I hope you wouldn't mind keeping them long term." Kayla lifted herself up a little, enough that she could rest the side of her face on her arms. "I'm planning on sticking around."

"Why did you not say anything sooner?" Words couldn't begin to describe the joy he felt. If she was staying, did that mean Skylar was too?

"Didn't think there was a point to, until I passed the hunt thing." She said with a small shrug. "But yeah I'm staying."

"We'll have to work on getting you proper weapons then, and your own shelves for your trophies. Unless you want to display some on hooks as well." He gestured to his own mounted kills for reference.

"Sure, one thing at a time though." She leaned over planting her lips on the top of his head before she settled back against the bed. Yawning, her eyes slipped closed again. "Let's get Sky better, then we can work out everything else."

"One thing at a time." He agreed, pressing his mandibles against her cheek like he had done before. After double checking Kayla, and Skylar were comfortable, he settled into the mass of furs on the ground.