Chapter 29 Pt.2- Third person omniscient

On a list of ways Skylar expected to wake up the next day, dangling a few hundred feet in the air with only a much thinner version of a harness holding her was not on there. She dared not breath as she spun agonizingly slow in circles. "Kweide?" She spoke in a hushed tone as her gaze shifted upwards, fully expecting that perhaps she just rolled off during the night.

Instead, she saw the massive body of a serpent winding its way down to her alien companion's resting form.

Panic filled her chest as each harsh breath of air drew her further from her senses. She had to think, not just for her sake but for Kweide's too. Her eyes darted to and fro as she searched desperately for a way to help.

When her eyes landed on one thing, the only thing, she sighed. She had hoped for more than the wild coconut -or at least what she thought was a coconut- hanging from the tree limb near her.

With a deep inhale she debated her plan of action, she could call out to Kweide, but then the serpent might strike the moment he moved. Her best bet was to distract it first.

She began swinging herself lightly as she tried to reach for the coconut, her fingertips brushing against the hairy shell as her arms pulsed in pain from the hard stretch. Above her the rope made an odd noise, signaling a possible break to come.

But she was not giving up. Skylar was a quitter more often than not, but she couldn't afford that right now. Kweide couldn't. With one last push she grabbed the coconut and ripped it off the branch, hurling it up towards the serpent's face like a quarterback as she yelled, "KWEIDE!".

As if on cue, his wrist blades shot out and he leaped upward to slam them through the panicked serpent's head. Like always, he was lethally quick and accurate.

When the snapping jaws finally stilled Kweide unhooked his blades and let the body fall to the forest floor below. "Ooman!" His voice was less than pleased.

"This...was a plan wasn't it?" Skylar stared at his tense posture, she had royally angered him. This was the second time she had messed up. He would not -regardless if the metal watch bird's presence was not there- forgive a third.

She covered her face with her hands as she dangled precariously above the ground. The plan was too obvious now but in her defense he hadn't clued her in on it. She had only worried he would die.

Kweide said nothing, but he did pull her up and set her on the branch.

That was fine with Skylar, having to deal with facing yet another mishap on her part was enough shame. Tears blurred her vision but she kept them back, there was going to be no crying on this hunt. She had vowed to do better once and she could try again. She had time.

"Come." Kweide crouched and re-tied the harness quickly, "There will be more kills." He was doing his best to have patience with Skylar but it was running thin with her string of failures. She'd only done what was fair for the first battle, but the second kill she had ruined. What was Kweide to do with that? He could not punish her but that did not mean the others would refrain. If she didn't want them both to be turned into a laughing stock she needed to up her effort and control.

Skylar nodded as she held onto him, "Okay," she said. She was focusing now, one breath in and another out, repeat.

When they reached the bottom Kweide cut the "ropes" free. Their direction was theirs to take, but which way with his novice human hunter?

He looked down to Skylar, she needed something on a fairer playing field to start. Land animals were the best for her. "Inland" He pushed her in that direction.

"Say what now?" Her brows furrowed as she started walking.

"Inland ... deeper." How was he supposed to tell her that? It was a tricky word and one he knew he hadn't taught her. "Just move." He'd have to settle on that for now.

"We have a ways to walk correct?" She tilted her head innocently as they continued.

"Yes." His reply was curt.

"Then you have time to teach me that word!" Seeing his hesitance she began to beg, "Please Kweide." She blinked her large eyes, her mind was screaming for him to say yes. Language was the love of her life. "Pretty please?" She added with a sheepish smile.

He should have known what she had wanted from the start, she was predictable when it came to knowledge. She always wanted more. "I do not know what your "pretty please" means, but I shall do it." He huffed. He kept his eyes ahead, "Listen carefully, I will only go over it once And only this word." He growled just to make sure she knew he meant business.

With a fond half smile Skylar nodded, "Whatever you say Kweide."

Regardless of what he had intended, he ended up going over that word and many, many others.

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"NOW! NOW!" Kweide roared as Skylar thrust her spear into the jugular of the same animal she was wearing. Half of her was horribly saddened by having to kill such an animal, the other half was just glad it hadn't smashed her into a bloody mess of vein filled pulp.

Its angry bellow's gurgled into silence as it succumbed to its injury and fell to the ground. "Please rest easy now. You fought very well." Skylar panted, she did not wish to bring shame to herself but she could not let the poor beast die without some form of thanks. Her arms ached as she rubbed the creatures side in comforting circles, it didn't last long though, within seconds the movement there stilled and she sighed. Now that the fear for her own life and the adrenaline were winding down she wasn't sure what to do with herself.

"Ooman!" Kweide's voice -for once- was void of irritation. Instead she heard something akin to pride. He walked over to her side and patted her head, "Proud." He said as he squatted near her kill to admire it. "You did well, very well."

"Do you think it's right though? I mean... is it right what I did?" Skylar kept her eyes on the ground as she stroked it's harsh fur. Was it wrong?

Kweide had to take a moment to calm his pleasantly boiling emotions, the hunt was a primal feat and it stirred all Yautja into a fierce need for blood to be shed. He breathed deeply and shook his head to clear his mind.

When he was regathered, he dropped into a kneeling position in front of the soon to be trophy, "What is right to you? Or to Yautja?" He could not answer both questions for her, he knew how different she was as a human.

"For me..." She felt bad, this should be a question for herself not for him. It wasn't fair to drag him into her internal foil.

It may have been the harder of the two questions but he continued, "Even for you... I believe it is right. You would have died if not for defending yourself against its attacks." He pulled out his dagger and held it out to her. "It would have shown you no mercy, this was a battle for life. In the hunt it is such a battle every time. Nature lacks the compassion you Ooman's so often wield"

She seemed hesitant to take comfort in his words. The idea of the hunt for Yautja was all about honor. They lived and died by it, they earned rank by it too. What would she have to do for her freedom? She could fight for her life, but when she actually had to seek out prey... what would she do then?

It was no longer a question of if she was physically capable, Skylar had pulled through so far. But rather, if it came to it, could she hunt just for the sake of the hunt? "What happens to the bodies of what you kill?"

"The hunter decides, but most do not go to waste. If it is edible, it may be dispersed to the clan. The bones are the hunters to do with as well as furs." He touched her kill again with a sort of reverence. "The trophy's are a testament to both hunter and prey. Only kills a Yautja is most proud of become a trophy."

She could respect the sort of care they had for the after but what made the hunt so feverishly exhilarating for them and just so exhausting for her? She didn't feel any thrill staring at the kill between them,not in the least. "I -" She stopped and sighed, there was no explaining this to him. Not with the metal bird hovering nearby.

Kweide followed her gaze, he wanted to hear what she was thinking but perhaps they should wait a moment more. He lifted the knife again, as if preparing to work with the kill and the metal bird shut itself down. "Speak now."

"I don't enjoy this..." She admitted, eyes on the dead beast.

He studied her in silence. She was human, but plenty of humans enjoyed the hunt. Perhaps it was the way they had been hunting. So far there was no choice in what she was doing, no prey selection, no gain besides a tooth, maybe human's needed more. She'd been fighting not truly hunting. "Try the hunt once more, if it does not satisfy you. I will not ask you to participate more than you have to."

As much as her dislike for the hunt shouldn't have bothered him, it did. Not in anger but in another less describable emotion.

She looked skeptical, "are you certain?" That kind of deal seemed hard to manage in Yautja society. With a firm nod of his head she felt better. Their deal didn't stop her from having to hunt but it did lighten her load, that was enough for her. "Deal." She held out her hand and he tilted his head. "It's a handshake, it makes a pact." She giggled a little as he reached out in mimicry.

She shook his hand first, just a little movement as she waited for him to reciprocate. Much to her surprise he did so in the most delicate matter.

"Deal," he repeated back to her in his own garbled voice. Their bargain was set.

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"So, how does this work now?" Skylar looked up at Kweide with a raised brow. The beast she had fought before was netted and dangling high in a tree where they had left it. If Skylar was to hunt once more she would need all the advantages she could get, which meant no giant body hanging off her shoulders.

"You hunt your own way." He pointed in the distance and motioned for her to walk. She was in charge now, whether that was for better or worse was up to her.

Despite what she should be thinking about, what she really wanted was to be able to take a break and eat, was that too much to ask for? She stared hungrily at the weird alien creature she had killed, she hoped that thing was edible later. "Okay...on we go then." She turned around to pick a direction, any way would work as long as it wasn't too far off. She doubted anything had stuck around though since she scared the herd of cat-rabbit's away.

As expected, the forest remained empty for the longest. There were no sounds except for the quiet rustling of leaves and the woosh of the breeze that caused them. She was beginning to lose confidence until a rather abrasive sound of clanking reached her ears.

She followed it, making sure Kweide was in tow behind her. "Stay close please." She didn't want him disappearing on her right before her -hopefully- last fight. He nodded and she slunk forward to peer through the bushes.

On the other side were the creatures she hated most, the blue feathered deer that had attacked Kayla. Not the same ones obviously, but more of their kind. Was it wrong to project her pain and anger on a whole species? Admitably, yes, it was incredibly wrong. But as she looked at the creatures vicious duel she could only feel contempt.

And then, softer than a feather's kiss, she heard the keening cries of a small animal, a baby animal. Curious, Skylar peeked out to look closer. There, under the protection of large and thick tree roots lay a fawn of sorts, it was crying helplessly under its mother's belly

The doe(if you could really call it that) was crouched atop her offspring, sides bleeding and looking terrified and furious in a way only a protective mother can.

It didn't take long for Skylar to piece together what was happening. She'd seen enough nature shows to know this was the equivalent to bear mating habits. If a male grizzly happened upon a female with a cub he'd kill it to try and send her into heat to produce his own offspring. This doe was fighting for her babies life as the bucks fought over her.

"These. I want to hunt these." Skylar whispered, she stayed hidden as they butted antlers again. Call it a hero complex, but it was about time someone stepped in to help out. No one was going to lay another antler on that little baby or its mother.

There were so many times in her life where she could do nothing. Where she was helpless and doused in confusion. She had the chance now to stand up, to save.

"Alone?" Kweide asked, the two battling creatures were massive. Could she really handle that?

"Don't you want to join in?" She hadn't thought he would let her do it alone in the first place, that made her task a lot harder, but still doable. She'd have to play this like a human to succeed.

She didn't have to worry though, Kweide wanted to, he was itching for the chance to take on the bigger of the two males, with a firm nod he presented her spear to her again. She'd earned the weapon after such good use with it.

"Could I use the tooth as well?" Skylar pulled out her serrated trophy and adjusted the grip in her hands.

She had more than earned the right to that choice too. "What you do with your trophy is your own decision." He motioned for her to continue.

Skylar nodded and began surveying the scene, out in the open she wouldn't last long, those deadly sharp antlers would be her undoing. She needed one of them to come to her instead. "Kweide-" She paused when she noticed he was gone, it seems he was hunting by himself.

With a shake of her head she sighed and refocused, what had she learned from Kweide that she could use? Or better yet, what had she learned during her time with Elder Porcupine? She ignored the pang in her chest at the thought of him, she didn't need to think of missing him right then. Instead, she recounted the training she had been allowed to witness.

Would any of it be useful? There had been a smaller Yautja -still leagues above her- he was perhaps seven feet tall but used his size to his advantage during fights, well that and his superior weight. Unfortunately she didn't have his body mass, but what she did have was a much shorter stature than the feathered deer. She'd go for the legs, take those out and it would be harder to move quickly. She'd need that advantage.

The blue deer were back to attacking the tree instead of each other, it seemed killing one another would have to wait until their main goal was eliminated. The doe let out a sound of indignant rage as she kicked out at the larger one's face. It backed away quickly to shake the pain off before continuing with the brutal onslaught.

Her and the baby's safety relied on the massive dark roots sheltering them from the ferocious storm of antlers outside. Despite the strength of such a tree, it's roots began to weep a lilac purple ooze from damage. The aging tree was bleeding for the desperate life hiding under it.

Skylar picked up a small rock, there was no better way to get her target than to piss it off in her direction. "Leave them alone you big dumb brute!" She prayed that years of wii-sports would have some effect on her aim. Surprisingly, maybe it did, or she was just incredibly lucky because that rock flew true and then it landed square on the larger bucks face.

'Oh.' She gulped as it's bellow of rage and fury sent a shiver of apprehension down her spine. It was the bigger one(the one she had wanted Kweide to deal with) but she wasn't backing down. -Not that she could anyway.-

With a furious grunt the angry buck barreled towards the trees where she was. Her eyes blew open wide but she remained crouched in the bushes, he would have to go past her and the first move was crucial. As the beast pushed through she slid out her tooth and made a move to slice it's ankle tendon. She missed.

The tooth cut open the back of it's calves instead and it turned down towards her with another bellow.

Skylar didn't miss a beat, with her wired mind she was able to respond in an enough time to sling out her spear sideways to block the antlers from above. Its grunting face was only inches away but it could do nothing to her as long as she kept it's most dangerous weapon away from her delicate skin.

When it grew tired of trying to fillet her, the buck backed up and swung his rack in the air. If not for her tight hold Skylar would have gone flying, instead she came face to face with it as she dangled off the ground. Eyes wide open in surprise she swung her legs back and pressed her feet to the tree behind her. The buck was still frozen in shock as she pushed herself off the tree and flipped onto its back, "HOLY FRICK!" Skylar laughed as she landed, she couldn't believe she had actually done that.

Her excitement died when she realized she was facing the wrong way, the deer began wildly grunting and thrashing, bucking hard to try and up-heave her. She popped into the air and almost fell off it's back when she spotted something to grab. Desperate for a hold she wrapped her hand firmly onto the spear still lodged between the buck's antlers. She screamed in both fear and anger as she pulled herself up and locked both her hands onto the spear. This was going to be the ride of her life.

Now unable to throw her in the small space, the buck reared up and backed his way out into the open on two legs. "ERRRAAAHHH!" Skylar let out a guttural cry of fury as she held on.

In that moment, across the open space, Kweide paused what he was doing to watch. The smaller buck was dead at his feet while his chest heaved up and down from exertion. His dark skin was leaking phosphorescent green blood in several places along his torso, sometime during the fight his chest plate had been discarded to make it more challenging. But the thrill of it all paled in comparison to seeing Skylar's furious expression on the back of the large buck. For the first time, she looked fierce, deadly, and something else that caused his blood to rush faster along with the pumping of his heart.

Skylar screeched when the creature tried to throw her again, they were both weakening, but she didn't have to be stronger or faster. She simply had to do what humans do best, outlast it. When it gave one last final throw, she let it toss her, using that moment to yank her spear out with her and falling to the ground.

They stared, beast and Human, prey and predator, hunter and hunted. The deer was exhausted, that much was obvious as it panted in front of her instead of attacking. She glared at it as she tried to catch her breath.

Although her limbs were burning from use, when her eyes fell to the doe still shivering behind the roots she pushed herself to her feet, determination coaxing her tired body into motion.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Skylar yelled in the buck's face as she wielded her tooth again and charged, it lowered its head and began galloping with the last of its energy. They were giving all they had towards each other.

Kweide's eyes widened in surprise as he let out a small roar of shock. She'd be killed! He could do nothing to interfere with her hunt though, the honor codes demanded he not step in. They'd made that mistake once, they'd not be allowed that error again.

Skylar charged straight towards the bucks lowered head, but she was not playing chicken. With a growl she dropped to her knees moments before the razor sharp antlers would have impaled her, the blue buck's eyes passed over her in what felt like slow motion, they were wide with shock and then resigned as her tooth trophy sank deep into its chest.

The sheer velocity of the impact caused the great beast to skid several feet with Skylar in tow as she held to the tooth. It gave a grunt or two before dropping down to it's knees on top of her. They were both still.

"Ooman!" Kweide approached slowly, he had become unsure of the outcome when she did not throw the kill off of herself immediately. "Ooman!?" He tried again.

She did not respond.

After a tense moment of silence he quickly flipped the buck off of her to reveal her reddened face beneath.

She sucked in a gush of air and started coughing. Kweide tilted his head as she smiled sheepishly up at him, "He was heavier than I thought." With a groan she sat up and pushed herself onto her wobbling legs. She was exhausted.

Kweide almost responded with a purr of pride and amusement but the whirr of the drone brought him back into focus. They were not alone and he did not need the other Yautja making any rash judgments of their own. Instead he gave her a hearty thump of approval on the back. He could do that much at least. She had earned it.

When she looked over to the doe she saw her crouching even lower over her baby, there was nowhere to run if either Skylar or Kweide attacked her. But they were not going to do that. Skylar would fight Kweide if she had to.

She looked up at him, she didn't really believe he'd try anything though. That just seemed too out of place for the honorable Yautja.

"Hey girl, shhh it's alright," She began to coo softly to the doe and approached without her weapons on her. "Come here sweet thing, it's okay now. You can go." She gently nudged Kweide away to the border of the area as she kept calling for her.

The doe's wide eyes looked between Skylar and the exit to freedom, she was obviously scared, there was no way her baby could move fast enough to slip past and that mothering instinct demanded the doe not flee.

With gentle coos and tender words Skylar approached, her empty hands bared for the doe to see. "It's alright, it's alright sweet thing." Of course, when the doe began to bleat she stopped moving. She didn't want to startle the already haywire mother.

It was after several tries that she did get close enough to coax the mother into sniffing her hand, when neither reacted badly they both came to a respectable distance from one another.

Skylar pat the doe's heaving side and watched as her and her baby galloped off without so much as a glance back.

"That was hard to do wasn't it Kweide?"

Somehow during her struggle to coax the mother out of the roots, She hadn't noticed him disappear.

It was nearly fifteen minutes after she was done and now resting on a thick root that he returned. "Where did you-" Her jaw fell open as he carted the head of her previous kill to her and dropped it by her feet.

"We should return to the ship, we do not have time to transport both kills. Is this a worthy trophy for you?" He gestured to the head, it was ultimately supposed to be her decision on what she took but he had tried to avoid them taking too long. They'd done enough hunting for this trip and a storm was coming. A bad one. The waters would be rising dangerously high.

"It is." Skylar gave an almost smile before she picked the skull up and tottered over to her other kill. She wasn't going to be able to carry this one either was she?

When she began to reach for her tooth blade the carcass was lifted into the air under Kweide's arm. "I will carry it."

Skylar stared up at him with disbelief before a grateful smile wormed its way across her face, "Thank you, Kweide."