21

We mostly just sat around for the journey to the desert lands, and finally a yautja voice came over the intercom, which I could roughly translate to that we were arriving.

"Come. We must be presentable to arrive." Makane said, patting my hip before standing up. I put my armour back on and smoothed my hair down, and we walked out the room to meet the others at the ship's door. Lu'tekke only glanced at us to make sure we were there, and Weri'te ignored me. Purre'de let out a quiet chuckle, knowing we'd been up to something.

"We must be respectful when we land. This clan takes offence from us very easily." Lu'tekke said, adjusting his chest plate slightly.

"Keep an eye on the ooman then, she will ruin this." Weri'te grunted and Makane shot him a very angry look.

"Weri'te, respect." Purre'de hissed and smacked him in the chest.

The shorter yautja finally looked right at me, frowning.

"I am only saying the truth. You are ooman, you do not know these things like us."

"I do understand things, you know. I want to help." I replied and he let out a half scoff half chuckle.

Lu'tekke shushed us all, before the ship shook slightly as it landed.

"Quiet, we are about to meet them." he said firmly.

We all hushed, and the door hissed open to reveal a terrain of deep orange sand, going on for miles. Lu'tekke walked out and we followed and outside the ship was the start of a clan settlement. It was different to ours, these huge tent-like structures made of carved stone and a dark metal. Another group of yautja were waiting for us, presumably the leader of this clan and his counsel.

The leader was a similar height to Lu'tekke, with a dusty brown and yellow skin and dark eyes. His dreads were decorated with rings of what looked like bone, and he had a belt made of different skulls, including human. He grunted at Lu'tekke, a greeting of sorts. Lu'tekke gave one back and they stepped forward and spoke in their language.

The leader's eyes suddenly fell on me and he stopped speaking, staring hard at me. Lu'tekke noticed and said something to him.

"You have an ooman in your clan, Dto?" the leader questioned, calling Lu'tekke the clan name.

"She is a mei-jadhi. You will treat her with respect." he replied firmly. The desert leader chuckled but didn't say anything else.

"Come, we will discuss in the Counsel tent." he said, turning sharply and starting to walk. Our small group followed, with a couple of the desert yautja walking behind us, whether it was for protection or a threat, we didn't know. The clan settlement here was dusty and windy, and we were glared at by any other yautja in the streets.

We walked into a large structure, their Counsel building containing a long table and chairs, the walls decorated with trophies and weapons. We sat down with the desert clan, and the leader stared at me again.

"I am Saru'ke, ooman. This is yautja business, you will be silent." he said before looking at the others and they began to talk in their language. I glanced at Makane who was sitting beside me, and he patted my hand. Lu'tekke and Saru'ke spoke for a while, before they decided to take a break to eat.

A few other yautja came in, seemingly Unblooded, with platters of food and set them on the table. A couple stared at me, not used to seeing a human alive around yautja.

"Move along, she is just pyode amedha." Saru'ke ordered, and Makane growled slightly.

"Do not call her that." he spat, and both of them flared their mandibles at each other before Lu'tekke smoothed it out.

Food was served, and an Unblooded set a plate of things in front of me.

"Ki'whe." I thanked softly, and the Unblooded looked surprised I knew how to speak his language. He just nodded slightly and walked away. I looked at the food, recognising a few items. It all looked quite nice, and I picked up my cutlery to start eating. I could feel Weri'te watching me but tried to ignore it. Just as I went to pick up some food, he lunged across the table and picked up my plate, then proceeded to throw it at the wall, food and ceramic going everywhere.

Everyone stared at him, Makane looked furious.

"What was that, pauk-de?" he growled, standing up with mandibles flared angrily.

"She was going to die." Weri'te snarled back, making Makane pause.

Lu'tekke frowned and looked at me then at Makane.

"Die? How?" he asked.

"I saw an Unblooded put something on the food." Weri'te grunted, looking over at Saru'ke. He didn't say anything for a moment.

"Speaking is over for the day. You will be given rooms to rest for the night. You leave tomorrow, do not bring the ooman back here." he said, glaring at me. Lu'tekke frowned and stood up, and they argued in their language while we left the room and were taken through the settlement to another building. Makane insisted I be in the same room as him, and we were given a room with a bed and bathroom for the night.

"I didn't just ruin things, did I?" I asked, taking off my armour. Makane shook his head, and followed suit with his own armour.

"No, Saru'te is just like that. Come, lay." he replied. I sat on the bed with a sigh, before I was pulled to properly lay down with him. He chittered in content, tucking me against him.

"That was why I did not want you coming. You could have been drugged or killed." he said softly, nuzzling his mandibles into my hair.

"I just want to help the clan." I mumbled, stroking his dreads which made him chitter again softly.

"You help the clan enough already. Ite'ri likes that you offer to help with the young." he mumbled back, his hand slowly rubbing over my waist. I smiled softly, helping Ite'ri and the other women of the clan with the children was becoming one of my favourite activities when Makane wasn't around.

"Yeah... I guess so. I just hope what happened earlier doesn't ruin anything that Lu'tekke planned." I said, closing my eyes.