Grace of An Elder

Chapter 38

"You want to do what?!" T'ahrou spooned a glob of bio-gel onto her side, allowing the substance to cauterize a portion of the wound. "Are you mental?"

Dahdtoudi kept her gaze on the vaulted ceiling of the ship as the male continued to service her injuries. "Keep your voice down..! I'm telling you this in confidence." Her grey eyes turned to look at the pilot from her prone position; he didn't seem to take notice of the two warriors, but she knew Yautja had enhanced senses compared to those of humans. "Besides," she continued as she returned her focus to the younger male, "it makes more sense than anything else."

"How does that make any sense to you?"

"The clan will not recognize me as one of their own, whether I am blooded or not. They will still see me as pyode-amedha. No one will take me as a mate, so it's my best option."

T'ahrou shook his head in disbelief at what he was hearing, his tresses arching with the movement. "And this makes you believe that they will freely offer their seed for artificial insemination?" She said nothing, and the male clicked in irritation. "That is not our way, Dahdtoudi..! Yautja mate for life. They only reproduce with their claimed mate. The process of which you speak is unnatural."

"It is my only-"

"If you feel that the clan looks down on you now, just imagine how they will feel about your petrie dish offspring that was conceived without a proper mating ritual..!" The female lay silently now; she hadn't considered that when she'd made the decision. "And what's worse, you let the fantasy distract you from your mission..!"

"That's not it, T'ahrou." A low growl rumbled in his chest as he waited for her to continue. "I was trying to decide who I might ask...and how to convince them to agree."

Another trill of annoyed clicks left his throat as he finished sealing her wound and moved to sit at her side, the girl opting to remain flat on her back as she gazed upward. T'ahrou crossed his legs as he changed positions and looked at her with intense amber eyes. "I will tell you now, you will not have many options." Dahdtoudi nodded in agreement before a bemused chuckle left her pink lips.

"I like to think I could take any male of my choosing...I would just have to kill him first." The devilish grin that revealed her pearly white teeth sent an uncomfortable chill throughout T'ahrou's body, and he fought back the urge to cringe at her words.

"Is necrophilia a common practice among your species?" She shrugged, and a disgusted trill of clicks sounded from his throat. "Your cultural beliefs are disturbing, Dahdtoudi."
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"Elder, the ship is returning." Tah'kath waited patiently for further details but was unaware that he had been holding his breath.  "Two of the Young Bloods survived, though one sustained notable injuries." He nodded in understanding but did not move from his spot in the landing bay. When still he remained silent, the piloting master clicked awkwardly before bowing his respects and quickly moved away.

"If Dhadtoudi is the one who was injured, mother will be furious." Tah'kath nodded in agreement with his son's words as the thought of an angry Daih'kea flashed through his mind...though it did nothing against the image of his sorrowful mate hearing that their youngest had survived an attempted assassination just to be done in by hard-meat scum.