"Face me, Peleon!" I shouted across the white crystal flats with my battle axe drawn.

Blood for blood, my mate... I will be silent no more!

"You saved the lives of my pups, and I am grateful," I approached the Ancient as she stood on the perimeter of a razkur scrimmage match. "But it is nowhere near enough to atone for the death of my brother!"

She turned to me as the surrounding razkur and Zhaguai spectators vacated the area.

"You and I must shed blood in the name of Tharu."

It was not my intention to interrupt the razkur's competition, but this matter had been deferred for far too long. Also, I refused to disappoint Eh'kt and miss his ceremony.

Peleon howled and stepped forward, extending a pair of katanas and flexing her long black claws in the sunlight.

The blindfolded razkur warriors sparring among the echo-filled crystal shards paused their daggers and rotated their ears in our direction.

Peleon and I walked away from the small crowd while maintaining a fair distance from each other.

The taste of Eh'kt's tongue swirled against my own, lingered in my mouth.

I did not wish to end a life today, but my mate's ambrosial scent emboldened my flesh to engage in any method that would bring an honorable end to this conflict.

"I see you, Peleon," I made an official overture to combat.

The Ancient jut her chin and thwipped her long quills in acceptance. There was no evading the subject of Tharu ever again.

I caught my reflection staring up at me in the smooth crystal slab under my feet.

The deep crimson scales, our red eyes... His mane was long and red at the tips, just like mine. But most of all, I missed his smile.

That day I froze, facing the jaws of a beast four times my size.

We were taking a break from spearfishing and decided to start a horn-butting competition.

I'm not sure how long we were goofing off, but I recall Tharu's flush cheeks and both of us panting from running back and forth through the river current.

I was returning to the shore to get our spears because Peleon buzzed our gauntlets that she was on her way and we didn't want to get caught playing when we were supposed to be gathering dinner.

Then out of nowhere, the vau'puk leaped out.

My first thought was that I was dead and the best I could do was to yell for Tharu to run while the beast was preoccupied with ripping me apart.

I couldn't save Tharu. Not even by sacrificing my life.

My twin brother ran in without hesitation. I'd never witnessed an act more valiant and foolish.

At the time, we were older and larger than my boys, but we were still at least a cycle from earning our first weapons and we had certainly never taken on a creature of that power or mass.

I had long since come to terms with my weakness. We were unDreaded pups without weapons who weren't yet allowed to hunt carnivorous prey unsupervised. He and I did what we could to protect each other, but in that moment nothing could have improved the outcome.

It took hundreds of cycles to find some measure of balance but there remained one individual I couldn't forgive.

"Speak his name," I growled at Peleon

"He was Tharu," the Ancient's golden eyes were cold and quiet.

There was a small crowd of onlookers to our right, but the Zhaguai among the group directed the razkurs to give us a wide berth along with a few off-duty officers shooing people to disperse.

Peleon lowered her eyes. "And he died too soon."

Fury boiled within my skin.

She omitted my brother at every stage of honor throughout my life and never even bothered to note his death date in the official records, AND THIS IS ALL SHE HAS TO SAY!

RRRRAAAAAHHHHHRRRRRRRR!!!

I emptied my lungs and charged, only to find my bearer swinging her arm high and overextended like an amateur. It was simple to parry, but the mistake was so glaring I didn't take the easy and very exposed opening at her head.

We parted and planted our legs for a second clash.

What the fuck is wrong with her?

Peleon was ancient, war-forged, and merited a hundred times over.

Zhaguai don't get old and feeble like non-Nexus species. We aged into lethal perfection.

Was this a ploy?

She trained Tharu and I that scheming had no place in personal duels. The tactic was ill-fitting and dishonorable.

I roared again, calling her to raise her blades with purpose.

But instead, Peleon lowered her head in defeat and released her katanas. Then she dropped to her knees with her throat on display, welcoming me to end it quickly.

"Stand!" I restrained my axe. "I will not cut down a coward!"

"You must," Peleon didn't flinch. She just sat there, as though I were a Reaver delivering judgment. "This is what I am. I cannot change."

I half felt the urge to take her head in the name of Jahaa, solely to punish her dishonorable surrender.

"I have waited and prayed to Av'dona for this day, Shale," Peleon let her arms hang to her sides. "Your discipline has stayed your blade for far too long. My path is beyond repentance."

I marched to her with my blade sharp and thirsty for justice.

"Tharu did not die quickly!" I hovered with my axe in the air.

"He got pale, and quiet, and he was scared," On my Blood, it took all my strength not to give her exactly what she wanted. "He killed the vau'puk with only a pair of pup's claws and gave everything of himself to claim his first and last true victory."

Peleon opened her mouth, "I am–"

"And you said NOTHING!"

I spun away and howled at the sky, tossing my axe aside and digging my claws into my forehead.

"I failed," Peleon did not rise. "I am unworthy."

I couldn't stand to look at her, my bearer, on the ground, kneeling in disgrace.

"Every Dread since that day has been a search for an adversary powerful enough to end me," Peleon confessed. "But I understand now why Av'dona withheld what I desired. My death belongs to you, Shale. Brother of Tharu."

All I could think of was my pup's faces, how their little eyes shined whenever they were in Peleon's presence.

"I do not want it."

Blood was not enough. I'd had my fill, and I didn't want to make my family any smaller.

Peleon opened a small custom compartment on her left gauntlet. Inside, rested two little novice daggers.

"I replay that day over and over in my mind," she plucked the pup-sized weapons out and laid them in her palm.

I once received a pair exactly like them.

These were meant for Tharu.

"I was late meeting you at the river because I refused to accept craftsmanship that was anything less than perfect," Peleon tinked her claws on the tiny blades. "Your first blades were ready, and I wanted to present them to you two along with a surprise trip to Hitce that I arranged with your sire."

It was difficult to look at the reflection of my red scales on the metal. My eyes got wet, and I had to pull my face away.

"It's not an excuse, just the timeline of how things happened," my bearer explained. "There was a nominal flaw in the original angle and I insisted it be corrected. Had I accepted the blades as-is and been on time, you and Tharu would have been armed and I would have been present to protect you."

My bearer closed her eyes and sighed.

"Av'dona blessed me with two powerful warriors and I was not prepared to raise them."

My chest ached from the sight of my once indomitable bearer proclaiming weakness. This was worse than any result I imagined from initiating this challenge, including cutting her head off.

"All too often, I intentionally put you two at odds. With every hurdle you would overcome and confirm my superstitions," the Ancient closed her fist around the tiny blades. "Both of you were worthy and capable of bringing great honor to Clan Celcho."

A thick blue droplet seeped from her hand.

"It was my failure as a bearer and a teacher that killed Tharu," Peleon looked up at me. "And nearly you too, when I forbid you to speak of his death."

Her blood dribbled on the white crystal beneath her knees.

"I told myself, designating you as the more worthy would embolden you, encourage you to push harder. But I was wrong..." Peleon, probably for the first time in her life, prostrated with her face to the ground, weeping and shaking.

I had forgotten... not only had I lost a brother. Peleon lost her son.

"You stopped speaking, and the fire vanished from your eyes," my bearer spoke with her face down. "If it wasn't for your sire, I'm certain I would have lost you as well. It was right that you chose to be Dreaded with Jahaa instead of Celcho."

I remember...

When I sought out Groon, a member of Jahaa, to become my oath-sworn mentor for the final cycle before my first Dread, Peleon didn't contest my intention to leave Clan Celcho. Any other bearer would have throttled her offspring for committing such a blatant insult.

I expected her fists when I made the declaration, but she said nothing and I wrote off her silence as apathy.

Peleon sat up and left her face wet. Then she unbuckled a large black satchel from the back of her belt.

It was an old vau'puk jawbone.

"I carry him with me, always," Peleon held up Tharu's trophy. "I am not worthy to mount it properly."

I crouched and took the bone when she handed it to me.

"I know a place of honor. If you are willing to part with it," I looked into my bearer's golden eyes and knew her pain was sincere. "Mourning Crow constructed a small shrine to Tharu in our home on Sahei. It's a tradition from her sire's tribe, to help Raven Tide and Crazy Wolf know him and give him a place in our family."

A single tear slid down Peleon's face.

I wasn't sure why the thought suddenly cropped up in my mind

Peleon never produced any pups after me and Tharu.

"I was wrong about the Zhaguai heart. Yours and Tharu's," Peleon laid her failings in the open. "Your hearts beat for each other and it made the two of you stronger. I see that same strength in your pups."

Our choices impact their path...

Less than an hour ago, I was prepared to disembowel my bearer for daring to speak of my sons.

But perhaps there remained many more lessons for her to expose and pass on...?

What was it like for my pups to witness me raise my voice at my mates and hear my rage with their keen razkur ears?

My bearer was venerated beyond compare within the Nexus, but she was far from perfect.

I think I have always known this ,and it was the kindling for my hatred.

"There is still much I do not grasp about your... triad," Peleon unclamped one of her gauntlets and pulled a dagger strapped to her thigh. Then, as an initiate supplicates to a prospective blood-oath mentor, she sank the blade into her forearm and sliced a five-rotation swirl up to her elbow.

"I want to understand," she stretched her bleeding arm out. "If you are willing to teach me."

I stood up and scratched a deep gash into my palm, and then squeezed my fist above her extended limb.

"Take from me and embrace the code of a pure path," I let my life's blood pour into the groves she had carved and bid her to stand. "So that you may rise and claim your place among the worthy."

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Translations:

vau'puk = large wild cat-like creature

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Next: the final showdown... Mourning Crow vs. Bold Step!

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Thank you for reading.

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~A. E. Shelly (a.k.a. Oloo)