Chapter 24- Kayla

Kayla had felt more content walking beside H'chakde that particular morning then she normally did. Something about having a little greens added into her diet once again, helped her mood quite a lot.

The first week or so on the ship, Kayla had not minded eating mostly meat. She never had much of a craving for vegetables when she was one earth. But she had begun to grow worried for her health with her unbalanced diet.

At least now her body would have a chance to adjust itself. She would need all of her strength in the coming days, and weeks.

H'chakde stopped a moment outside a door before he ushered Kayla. It didn't take but a moment for the light scent of herbs and cleanliness to fill her nose. When it had she became more sure of where they were. They were in the medical bay for another one of Kayla's check ups.

Kayla kept her eyes to the ground as she walked toward the medic. Him barely noticing her as his attention remained glued to his charts on his big screen. Kayla couldn't tell exactly what the charts were of, and she didn't have the time to exam them further.

With a tilt of his head, the medic gestured for her to sit on one of the examination tables. Kayla edged toward it slowly before climbing onto it. When she was nice and comfortable, she leaned back. Letting her legs swing back and forth while she sat.

All the while she ignored the stinging sensation in her torso. It was much more tolerable than it had been a few days prior. Instead of feeling like an entire horde of wasps was covering her torso, it was just a slight pinch.

Kayla let out a sigh as she looked up, only then noticing that H'chakde was no longer standing in the doorway. She tilted her head then spoke. "Um. . .Do you know where H'chakde went?" She asked, looking to the medic from the corner of her eye. He had to understand at least a little of what she said.

"I do not." He answered simply, not taking his eyes from the charts. "I am not his keeper."

Kayla nodded slowly, turning her attention back to the door. H'chakde hadn't left her alone with the medic before. She only shrugged before looking at the ground.

After a moment or two later, the medic finally came over to her table. He set some things on the little stand next to Kayla before pointing to her little poncho. "Lift, so I can check." He said.

Kayla straightened herself up before lifting her covering. Making sure it was enough to stay out of his way, but still keeping herself covered. She really disliked the poncho H'chakde had given her. It was difficult to do much of anything during training without flashing the ship. For some reason it never seemed to bother him, or most of the yautja anyway.

It was even worse if you threw the sorry excuse for a skirt into a mix. If it hadn't been for the extra shorts Kayla had packed all those months ago. She would have been walking around the ship with an almost completely bare bottom.

When the Lar'ja-Thwei pulled away, Kayla let the poncho fall. She took a moment to straighten it as best she could as he turned back to his screen. "How do they look?" She asked as he began inputting something.

"Good." He responded before looking back at her. "I was told to tell you, you'll be staying with my sister." He said, the sentence in broken english but Kayla was able to fill in the blanks.

She looked at him, confusion written over her face. When she opened her mouth to ask why, he cut her off. "Your keeper is hunting, she will watch you while he's gone." He explained.

Kayla nodded, a sense of relief filling her. She hoped the females of their species would be much smaller, and less angry than H'chakde was. Some time away from that hostile atmosphere would do her good.

It was an atmosphere Kayla could learn to thrive in, she had to throughout her life. But after months in it, it grew tiresome. Very tiresome.

The sound of footsteps on the metallic floor brought Kayla out of her thoughts. She looked up, and regretted it almost instantly as her hazel eyes met a pair of deep red ones.

This yautja was tall, she towered over most of the other being in the med bay. Her skin was a burnt orange, with dark yellow spots splattered over her. Her tendril like hair reminded Kayla much of H'chakde's. They were long and reached down to her waist. When she tilted her head, Kayla remembered herself and looked back toward the ground.

"You are kayla?" She asked as she stepped closer. Kayla nodded, but didn't move her eyes up to look at her.

"That's me." She said, just as a hand wrapped around her forearm and yanked her from the examination table.

"Good!" I am R'kadekna." The tall huntress exclaimed. Her tone much more cheerful than what Kayla was used to hearing.

"R'kadekna." Kayla repeated, trying to burn the name to her memory.

She nearly tripped as she was pulled from the med bay and into the hall. Thankfully she was able to regain her footing after a moment. So she was able to hobble after R'kadekna instead of being dragged.

It didn't take Kayla long to recognize the path they were taking. From the looks of it, and much to Kayla's disappointment. They were heading toward the cafeteria.

"I have many stories to tell you ooman Kayla of my hunt." R'kadekna said. Speaking to Kayla as if she were talking to an old friend. "But first, let us eat." Kayla didn't have time to protest, or argue before the finally reached the cafeteria.

As they entered, R'kadekna let go of Kayla's arm, and allowed her to follow behind her. The atmosphere of the room seemed to shift, it wasn't completely quiet but wasn't as loud as it had been. It resembled the same air that seemed to follow R'kadekna around the ship. Kayla couldn't quite place what it was, and stopped struggling to do so.

Kayla stole a glance up at the rest of the room. None of the other males met R'kadekna's eye or even looked in her direction. Their attention remained glued onto the food in front of them. She wouldn't have found it strange, if R'kadekna hadn't been looking at them. Her eyes would linger on one of them for a few moments before she continued looking around.

From what Kayla had seen of the yautja, this would have resulted in a fight. It was the most blatant way to challenge one of them, to look at them the way R'kadekna had. Most fights she had seen started this way.

Her height might have been what made them hesitate. She did tower over most of them, and looked strong enough to chuck a good few of them.

Much to Kayla's surprise, she felt herself relax, if only slightly. This was something worth noting indeed.

It didn't take long for them to grab their food and to take a seat at a table. Kayla had wanted to tell R'kadekna that she had already eaten not that long ago. However she didn't want to offend her.

Kayla sat there eating slowly as she listened to R'kadekna recount to her the events of her hunt. From what it seemed, she had been gone a long while, she had only returned a few days prior.

The beast she had spoke of seemed almost unkillable to Kayla. But R'kadekna spoke as if she had killed the beast with ease. Granted there had been some struggle from what Kayla could gather. The tall huntress seemed to enjoy that about her hunts.

"That must have been difficult to take on." Kayla commented once R'kadekna had finished.

The huntress let out a satisfied purr as she ate the rest of her meal. "It may have been." She said. "But any trophy earned, must not be earned easily." R'kadekna stood, and Kayla followed suit.

They both began walking from the cafeteria, and began the path to the training grounds. However before they got there, R'kadekna took an unexpected turn and began leading Kayla down a hall. One that was unfamiliar to her.

"R'kadekna?" She questioned trying her best not to look up at the huntress. When R'kadekna looked down at her, Kayla continued. "Where are we going?" Kayla asked. "I haven't been down this way before."

"You have not?" R'kadekna inquired with a tilt of her head.

Truthfully Kayla hadn't been on most of the ship. H'chakde only went to three places on the ship, the training room, cafeteria, his own room, and the med bay. He didn't seem to care to take Kayla anywhere else.

The ooman tilted her head as a thought crossed her mind. R'kadekna seemed to like her, more than H'chakde did, and didn't seem to to mind walking around with her. Kayla could use this to her advantage.

"Could, could you maybe show me around?" Kayla asked. "If I'm supposed to become part of the clan soon, it would be best to know the ship a bit more." She explained looking up at R'kadekna for a moment. "I feel like you'd be better at showing me around then H'chakde, he doesn't leave his room much."

Kayla prayed R'kadekna wouldn't pick up on her hidden agenda. Or notice that she was trying to feed into the huntress's ego. She needed this information more than anything, and it wouldn't do if R'kadekna got suspicious. But as her chest puffed up with pride, Kayla knew she had done well.

R'kadekna grabbed Kayla's arm, and began pulling her along once again. "I will." She said before muttering something in her language Kayla couldn't quite gather. However what she could tell, was that it was an insult. Directed at H'chakde.

'Does she dislike him as much as I did?' Kayla asked herself. All while trying her best to burn as many of the halls she was lead down to memory. This place was a maze.

R'kadekna took Kayla to many rooms. None of which seemed important for her and Skylar's escape, but Kayla burned to memory nonetheless. Every detail had to hold some importance.

One room in particular had caught her attention. It was a rather large room with the remains of what looked like a giant screen. There were only a few yautja in this room, none of which turned to look at them. They were all too busy bothering with the screen that was being fixed.

The next room that peaked her curiosity was one filled with cushions and many creatures. All of varying moods, some tired others excited to see some yautja enter the room.

Kayla tilted her head as she looked over all the other creatures. Some looked vaguely humanoid, while others were not. There were no humans among them, save for maybe herself.

"This is where servants to important Yautja are kept when they are away." R'kadekna explained, before the two began moving to another room.

"Are Skylar and I the only humans here?" Kayla asked, picking up pace so she was walking beside R'kadekna.

The huntress tilted her head a moment as she thought. "I am not sure." She admitted with a shrug. "But you are the most talked of I am sure." The sentence was in broken english but it wasn't hard to piece it together.

"Why?" Kayla pressed further. Was it because of her hunt? She found it unlikely. Compared to everything else that could have been going on around the ship. Kayla thought her hunt wouldn't have been very noteworthy.

"Because of who you serve." R'kadekna spoke of the matter as if were simple. "You are punishments, for their mistake. They had to get you, but because of the rules they couldn't harm or force anything."

Kayla blinked as she snuck a glance up at R'kadekna, before returning her gaze to the ground. There were so many emotions simmering in her. Relief was one of the major ones however among a sense of understanding.

Things made so much more sense. Like why Kayla wasn't beaten to a pulp for throwing attitude at H'chakde so often. And now his fellow trainers words made more sense. They both were indeed in situations they didn't like being in.

Kayla thought anger should have been among the feelings she felt, but it wasn't. For so long she had carried the blame for her and Skylar's situation. And it was partially her fault, she was the one who decided to go off trail. but a lot of it was H'chakde's as well. Having to share the guilt felt better then taking it all.

"What did they do?" Kayla asked hesitantly, this would be her last question. She didn't want to ask too many. Even if R'kadekna seemed more talkative than H'chakde, how much more would she be willing to say?

"They disrespected me." R'kadekna said, a low growl burning in her throat.

They both fell silent after that. Kayla was content with the information she had, there would be plenty to tell Skylar when they met again. Maybe it would be enough for Kayla to make up for her past mistakes. Especially regarding the ship bay, but she could only hope.