Chapter 35: Problems

Red was running through a burning building, searching for him.

“Lentil!” she called.

The building had stalactites. They coalesced in the center of the room before crumbling. Hot magma erupting from them as they shattered in every which direction.

She couldn’t find him. She never found him.

Something brushed her tail, she spun around, only to have the world shatter from the movement. She was falling now, and falling. Her wings wouldn’t work, no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t flap them hard enough. In fact they seemed to weigh her down, trapping her. She gnawed at her left wing. It broke off her spar like a twig. She gnawed at the other, it cracked into thousands of pieces. She could fly now, but where. All that was was darkness, infinite darkness. She felt herself submerging into a liquid, and re-appearing in a cave. She was in that lake of that forgotten cave. The water started to bleed, turn red. Lentil was there, by the water, watching it as it turned red.

She tried to get out of the water, to swim towards the shore and run to him, but the water was too thick, it dragged her down. She was submerged in the darkness again, unable to surface.

She awoke to Allonsi’s pain of her clawing on the walls. Sorry. She could see the scars from the other nights her nightmares had caused Allonsi pain. She had tried setting her bed up in the middle of the room, away from the walls, but then she would just fall off, waking on the floor, which caused her pain, and sleep deprivation. At least Allonsi could sleep through her clawing, usually, when she slept, which was once every week or so judging by the koveran levels of this area.

In a normal conversation, a friend would ask how the other was feeling, but Allonsi could gauge emotional status through the neural interface. Red was feeling better. She had been talking to Hannah about the things that had happened, and about her nightmares. She was suffering from post-traumatic stress, but Hannah said that Red didn’t have to worry. It was normal after a critical incident, and Red’s life was laced with critical incidents. It was almost a mutual therapy with Hannah, as she had some strange stories to tell too while she hid up above.

Then there was Mart. It was still difficult for Red to talk about him, or think about him. She felt abandoned, but Hannah assured her that she would find someone eventually. “Vorchans live a long time. There’s no rush.”

“Did you ever…?” Red asked. Hannah’s ‘office’ was a soft bed that Red could lie on, and a chair off in the corner by the door. A holosystem was set up, and there was a desk with a terminal at the opposite end next to the bed. Hannah had purchased the systems herself, not wanting to tax Allonsi’s production, though Allonsi had insisted that she produced much more civic material than needed at this point of her maturation anyways.

“I did. I’ve played that game.” Hannah said.

“Did you win?” Red asked.

“Depends on what you’d define as winning.” Hannah replied.

Red thought about that. “Was he nice?”

“He was.” Hannah said, not elaborating.

Red started thinking about Mart again. “Mart was nice.”

“Inter-species relationships are complicated, Red. The chemicals are completely different, the physical triggers, the rituals.”

“Then why did I love him?” Red asked. She was getting very comfortable with the word now. The last few sessions she’d refused to even venture on the topic of Mart.

“He saved your life, and for a Raumen he was… nice.” Hannah seemed to be staring off past the floor, thinking of something. Red wasn’t sure if it was Mart Hannah was visualizing.

“Well,” Red continued, “They don’t have to be complicated. I could have been just as good a mate as a Raumen female. I’m sure. Better even – I can fly, they can’t fly! And I have a tail! Tails are cool!”

Hannah nodded idly, taking a deep breath. “I’m glad you can talk about it comfortably.”

“I feel better. It’s not my fault. I’m attractive. Right?”

Hannah nodded.

“And I did have a good time with him. He…” Red look away again.

The counsellor was paying attention again, noticing Red start to fade, her countenance falter. “He what?”

“I didn’t tell you of our last night together.” Red said.

“Oh?”

Red was staring off now, her tail swaying back and forth calmly, remembering the melody. As she remembered it, her neural interface routed the song through the chamber speakers. Her imagination turning to reality was too much, however, and she immediately shut the song down, burying her snout in her paws. “I wish I weren’t a Vorchan.” she sobbed, looking at her wings with disgust.

“I don’t think he left because you were a Vorchan.” Hannah said.

“Then why did he leave?”

“Because he has a dangerous life, and he cared for you too much to throw you in the middle of it.”

“Then why doesn’t he change?”

Hannah sighed, “Impossible to change men. They’re stubborn, unreasonable, irrational…”

“Clumsy too! And a little daft.” Red giggled.

“There’ll be a lot of men in your life, Red. Acquaintances, lovers, interests. Get used to the way they act. The sooner you do the better for you.” Hannah said.

Red laughed, gliding off the bed. “Thanks.”

“Anytime, Red. If you wanna talk I’ll be researching here. Allonsi has a lot of interesting data in her databanks.”

“Pfft she stole it all from Flames! I wish I could just download stuff into my brain.”

You can access my databanks anytime you’d like, Red.

Pah not the same!

Just accept that your cognitive faculties aren’t on the same level as us Beems. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Allonsi transmitted.

What to do now. It was only noon, she should get some food. Food was good. It was lonely in the lounge. They were in a close orbit over Emerald, so at least the view was decent, the light blue haze of the upper atmosphere making Allonsi look like she was flying in a sky. That is until you craned your head up, and away from the planet. Then you saw the endless sea of stars. When she finished eating, she went to the shuttle bay and grabbed the exo-suit she had decided to keep (Mart had never asked for it). It was the only way to really fly.

She flexed her biomechanical wings, and made sure all the clamps were snug and not misaligned, the last time her tail had wiggled free and she had lost nearly all control, plummeting into a lake by the Gaia Strip. That wouldn’t happen this time, however.

The bay doors opened, and she leapt through, tucking in her wings and diving towards the planet. The neurovision guided her, showing her when to flare her wings for the aerobrake, and warning her when the thermal levels rose too high. She was a true Blackwing now, able to fly across the stars. She barely even needed the oxygen, or the pressure seals.

She scanned for home. A lot of her siblings still lived on the planet, and she enjoyed showing off her exosuit. Uncle Gaius had been dubbed the exosuit caretaker, and he generally did a decent job of keeping it away from the meddling kids, well except when he didn’t. Then he generally did a satisfactory job of not getting crushed by the suit.

Red liked Emerald a lot more now. She liked the smell of the small lake in the cave, and enjoyed the sunset and sunrise. She enjoyed the heat of the sun in general. It was summer here now, and the planet was teeming with life. Villages had been set up near the river basins and shorelines. There were at least a dozen now, crawling with brave Vorchan pioneers that were dead-set on starting a new civilization. Soon there would have to be a council, and elected leaders. She didn’t envy Darnell or her father, as everyone would be turning to them for guidance.

She decided to do what most young Vorchans did. Hunt for mates, and to hunt for guys she had to go places where there were a lot of young, male Vorchans. For some reason she felt she had to gauge her attractiveness now, and – if nothing else – the smell of male pheromones might distract her from losing Mart. Also, an excuse to socialize was good. Vorchans never socialized, they were very reclusive creatures, really liking their caves…

So she flew to different villages, looking for Vorchans that appeared to be doing interesting things. She didn’t have the courage for any one-on-one conversations, so she decided to search for groups. It was the third village that caught her eye. There were several Terrans gathered around a Desert, who seemed to be preaching. They were all young, and big. It was disappointing to not see any Vulcans here, or Blackwings, though Blackwings were a rarity.

“A Vulcan joins us!”

“Blackwing…” Red corrected.

The Vorchans looked at her wings. She tucked them in self-consciously. It took her less than a minute to feel like an outsider, and to feel like this was a horrible idea, but she persevered, keeping her distance while listening to her plans.

It was a hunting trip! They would be embarking towards the mountains to the north. The Vorchans all knew each other very well, and hoped to gather other Vorchans along the trip. One of them joked about possibly coaxing some Vorchanesses out of their caves, but then met Red’s gaze and looked away swiftly. She wasn’t completely sure what that meant, but then she remembered guys generally made no sense, and felt at ease again.

So away they went, somewhat sceptical of Red’s flying abilities. She had half the wingspan of most of them, but she didn’t let that hinder her will, at least.

She managed to keep up for a while, but finally stopped by a rock, panting. They were at a higher altitude now, Allonsi confirmed it, and she blamed the thin air for winding her. One of the Vorchan stopped to stay with her, a younger Terran. Ha!

“Tired?” the Terran asked.

“No.” she panted, curling up by the rock.

She liked this Terran. His wings were massive, and his scales hadn’t hardened yet, meaning he was about her age. His eyes were a dark dark brown, and he had black and light brown stripes patterned over his brown hide. Terrans were designed for environments like these, and were very powerful. They were the stereotypical Vorchan. She wondered what he was thinking at this moment as he stared at her.

“What your name?” he asked.

“Red.” she replied.

“Nice name…” he said, looking out at the small hunting group that were now specks in the distance.

“You could catch up to them if you want. No need to wait for me.”

“It’s dangerous here.” he said.

“I’ll be safe.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“No.” Stay! “What’s your name?”

“Lenin.”

“Lenin?”

“Yeah.”

“Nice.”

“A name’s a name.”

“Indeed.” she was already getting bored. Lenin wasn’t very interesting. “What do you do, Lenin?”

“Hunt.”

“For what?” Red asked.

“I like gnarbeasts. Leocats are nice too, if you can catch ‘em.”

“I see.”

“What do you eat?”

“Lobster.” Red replied.

“Where do you get that?” he asked.

“By… water…” Red replied.

“Interesting…” It really wasn’t. Red wanted to go home now. She contemplated bringing her shuttle down to bail her out.

“Let me know when you’re ready to embark. I’ll wait around ‘til then.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I do, it’s my job in the flock. I make sure nobody is left behind.” he said.

“Ohh.” Damn, so it wasn’t interest? This made her interested. “Is that all?” Red asked, trying to sound at least a little seductive. At her age it was difficult.

The Terran sort of regarded her for a moment, cock-eyed. “Yeah.”

“Well, I think I’ll laze around for a bit. I like the sun.” she said, lying on her side and sprawling out a wing.

The Terran sighed and lied down next to her, trying not to show his impatience. “You really don’t have to worry about me.”

“I’ve seen gnarbeasts around here big enough to swipe a hatchling, not to mention leocats, those are sneaky. Sometimes you don’t see em until they’re on you, and they have no qualms attacking bigger things.”

“I’ll hear them coming.” Red said.

“You do have long ears.” the Terran observed. It was a very neutral observation, no disgust or interest at the idea of long ears.

“What about my long ears? And I’m not a hatchling. I’m… six!” Red lied.

“Six is young.”

“Mature, and healthy. You don’t look much older.”

“Yeah but I’m a Terran. We’re born stronger than most races.” he said matter-of-factly.

“Are you now?” Red asked hotly.

“Yep.” he was staring up at the sun now, wings tilted over his face to shade him. It made it easy for Red to get on her feet and sneak up from behind.

“So no Vorchan could overpower you, then?” Red asked.

“Nope.”

Red pressed both of her forelegs down on his shoulders, staring at him from above. “Are you ready to fly?” he asked.

“What? Sure. But I think you underestimate me. Blackwings are big, and strong.

“You’re not that big.”

“I will be. I’ll grow up to be as big as you, maybe bigger. Blackwings are powerful.”

“Maybe. I don’t know much about Blackwings, but I always assumed their wings were black. You look like a Vulcan to me, and Vulcans are usually pretty small. They have to be, to live in their little volcanoes…”

Little volcanoes… she really didn’t like Lenin anymore.

“How am I not a Blackwing! My body is black!”

“And red. Like a Vulcan.”

“Pah, the red accentuated the black.”

“The black augments the red.” he retorted.

“No it doesn’t! I’m a Blackwing!”

Lenin scoffed, and pulled out from beneath her paws, getting on his feet and kicking up a lot of dirt in the process, making Red cough. Face to face, Lenin loomed over her, nearly twice her height. His wings were huge, even retracted. She stared at him in a somewhat stunned reverie.

“You’re not a Blackwing.” he said condescendingly.

That was it, Red lunged at him, knocking Lenin on his back. The fact that she actually forced him on his back surprised her. She wondered if he let him do that. She instinctively clamped down on his neck until he went limp, expressing submission. That was a quick submission. “I am a Blackwing!” Red growled.

“Vulcans are violent…”

“BLACKWING!” she roared, going for his neck again, only to be blocked by one of his wings. The massive webs smothered her, and she clawed at the sensitive membrane.

Lenin yowled and snarled at Red. Red roared back. She could see he meant business now, his eyes slits as he sized her down. “If I’m a Vulcan you should have no difficulty defeating me!”

“If I’m a Vulcan, me defeating you will drive you mad.” Lenin replied, recovering his composure.

“Why is that?”

“I know how female Vulcans are…”

“I am not a Vulcan.” she insisted, lunging at him.

He pressed himself back with his wings. “Vulcan…”

“AM NOT!” she shot a wisp of flame at him. He shot out of its way by beating himself up in the air, and then dive-bombed her. The force of him knocking into her sent her flying back. He was over her, paw for paw. She couldn’t get out of his grip.

He opened his mouth to reveal a row of sharpened fangs. He started snapping at her neck.

“Ok I submit.” Red said, suddenly terrified of the idea of having Lenin’s fangs around her neck.

Lenin roared at her, clamping down on her neck. She cried out plaintively. He wouldn’t let up, and she could feel herself blacking out. Vision started fading first, then sound. She kept whimpering, and Lenin finally let go. She stayed still, lying on her back, breathing very heavily.

“Ok, so you’re not a Vulcan.” Lenin admitted.

“Blackwing.” she growled.

“Yes, a Vulcan wouldn’t be dumb enough to take on a Terran. But you Blackwings are irrational.”

“That’s right, us Blackwings. Wait – we’re not irrational!”

“Now no more attacking me. I’m not here to play dominance games with you.”

“But that was fun!” Red admitted. “More fun than I’ve had for… a while!”

“Right, let’s go.”

“I don’t know. I’m tired, and my neck hurts.”

Lenin let out a long sigh, “I’m never taking straggler duty again…”

It was night time by the time they caught up with the group. They had already been sleeping for some time when Lenin and Red had finally arrived.

“Great.” Lenin whispered, “Now all the spots around the fire are gone.”

“For you.” Red said, lying down between two of the larger Terrans. “I’m small.”

Lenin glared at her, settling a bit farther from the flock and closing his eyes miserably.

The next morning it was Lenin nosing at her to wake up. She really didn’t like this whole trekking thing.

“Today’s a hunting day!” exclaimed their leader, who was called An’rar.

The other Vorchans growled in excitement, whipping their tails. Lenin accidentally whipped Red’s thighs, which earned him a nip in the foreleg that he piously ignored.

“Can you hunt, at least?” Lenin asked after all the other Vorchans had flown off, most in groups of two or three.

“Sure. I can hunt…” Red said, not remembering the last time she’d hunted.

“Good. Let’s go.”

“Who said I’m hunting with you?!” Red growled.

“Well you can’t hunt on your own. Village rules.”

“I’m not part of your villages.”

“Well you either follow village rules or you leave.” Lenin said sternly.

Red didn’t like Lenin again. “Fine then.” she said, flying off.

“But you can’t leave!” Lenin growled, “Because then I wouldn’t have a partner!”

“Join one of the other groups!” Red said.

“Oh come on, don’t be a whiny Vorchaness.” Lenin scolded.

“I’m not being whiny!”

“You’re being a killjoy! Now let’s hunt!”

“I’ll hunt you in a second.”

“You tried that, didn’t work.”

Red glared at him.

“You try it again and I’ll suffocate you.” Lenin warned.

Red lunged at him.

Lenin sighed, spinning around and swiping her with his massive tail.

She awoke to Lenin licking the massive gash on her side.

And now you have a fractured rib. Allonsi said. Do Vorchans have to be this violent? Can’t you just take him out for some coffee? Or show him a nice nebula?

I don’t like the way he… beats me. Red growled.

There’s always a bigger Vorchan.

But I can beat him. I know I can. I just need to find his weak spot.

He’s a Terran, they barely have any weak spots. Allonsi said, bringing up Terran schematics.

Well find me one. I want to dominate him!

Why?!

Because – I don’t know okay? I do! It’s fun! I want to dominate something! I’m tired of being a kid.

Well that will have to wait now. That injury will take at least a day to heal, even with bemicytes. And it will hurt.

“Oh no.” Lenin muttered, looking very embarrassed.

“What is it?”

“I think I fractured your rib.” he said, nuzzling her rib, only to have her yelp in pain, “Yep, I did. I’m sorry.”

“I’ll be fine.” Red hissed.

“But I told you not to attack me. Why do you keep attacking me?” Lenin asked.

“Because you annoy me!” Red snapped.

“I didn’t do anything!” Lenin pleaded.

“I know, it’s annoying.” Red replied.

“What?!”

Red didn’t say anything else, nibbling her tail as she curled up on the side that didn’t have her injured rib.

“You girls make no sense.” Lenin muttered.

“Neither do guys.”

“No, we actually do!”

“Don’t.”

“Right. Well I’m finding food because I’m starving. I’ll be back after I eat.”

“What about me?” Red asked.

“Well you should have thought about that before you attacked me. I’ll be back… maybe.”

“What?!” Red cried, seeing him start flying off. “Wait!” He was out of range, “Bastard!”

He left me! Red cried.

Well… yeah.

I didn’t do anything.

What? Red asked, Don’t start! Just because I wanted to make him whimper under me doesn’t mean he should be all violent. A gentleman would have let me win.

He did… the first time.

Whatever. I don’t need him. I’ll just sit here and enjoy the sun… and maybe sleep.

The fire was ash now, she shot a burst of flame at it to revive it, only to have the flame incinerate everything. Gah.

You have a really powerful flameburst. Allonsi observed.

I really need to learn to gauge it.

Don’t practise aboard me.

Red let out a puff of flame, trying to keep it as low an intensity as possible. It was more air than fire. She toyed with her fire abilities for a while until she felt she couldn’t make any more, and then decided to get some sleep. It was early in the morning and she’d barely slept anyways. The life of a primitive Vorchan was tiring. The hunting groups would be back soon anyways.

She awoke to Lentil’s snout pressing against the back of her neck. She could recognize his scent now, as well as the stench of blood. “What?” Red asked. “Full?”

“Yes, I caught a gnarbeast.” he bragged.

“Good for you.” she muttered, keeping her back turned.

A dead leocat fell in front of her. She stared at it. “And I brought you that.”

She loved leocats. They were one of the tastiest animals out there, and this one looked plump. “Whatever…” she said, pretending not to be interested.

She expected Lenin to say something, but he had already walked over to the dead fire, staring at it.

That Vorchan made no sense, she thought, deciding to eat before the others came. Lenin flew off as she ate, coming back with firewood in his talons. He did several trips, and had a neat pile set up by the time it started getting dark.

Red stared at the leocat skeleton idly, “Where is everyone else?”

“I don’t know, sometimes they go out for days. But it’s fine here. We’re near the Durang river, so there’s plenty of game nearby.”

“I see.”

“I’m really sorry about your ribs.” he said.

“Whatever.”

“I really am. I don’t… I’m not – well no one ever played with me before. I have no siblings, and I grew up alone.”

“Oh?” Red asked.

“Yeah, and I – yeah…”

“And what?” Red asked.

“Nothing, just I’m not experienced in the whole games thing. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“It’s okay, I’m no good either. The only reason I didn’t hurt you is because – well, you’re strong.”

“Thanks.” Lenin seemed to glow at the compliment. “You too.”

“Ha. You don’t have to lie.”

“When I let you clamp my neck you really did make me submit. You have a really good deathgrip.”

“Well I hunt a lot of leocats, and they generally need a strong clamp.” she said.

“So you do hunt!” Lenin exclaimed.

“Of course!” Red replied, though she didn’t tell him about the fact she’d been pampered by a starship the past half a year or so… though that opened up a lot of other stories that she really didn’t feel like telling to a commoner like him.

“So… are we still friends?” Lenin asked, stepping closer. Red noticed he had been keeping a nice nine foot distance from her at all times.

“Since when were we friends?” Red snarled.

Lenin retreated to his safe distance, looking back at the firewood, and up at the setting sun, “Right… well…”

“I’m kidding, still friends!” Red exclaimed, biting his side.

“Ow…”

“It’s how we express love! Really!” she joked.

Lenin bit at her ear, but she pulled away with a laugh. He lunged at her, pressing her on her back, gently. “Do you have siblings?” Lenin asked.

“Yes.” Red said, trying to squirm free of his grip. “And we played all the time when we were younger.”

“You’re pretty good.” Lenin said, smothering her with his wings. She wriggled onto her legs again, pulling out of his grip.

“I really should stop, I need to heal. I should be a lot better by this morning.”

“I hope so. This is just our first hunting stop. This is a long trip. But it’s a lot of fun. We visit a lot of interesting places along the way.” Lenin said.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, like the Valley of Death, the Twin Cats, the Diamond River.”

Allonsi zoomed in on each location. They don’t look that nice from up here.

It’s different when you actually have to travel there, Allonsi…

Right, effort… Allonsi did a lazy roll, going back into a low-power state.

“The Valley of Death, huh?” Red asked.

“Oh yeah. Scary name right? It’s called that because of the winds. Nearly impossible to fly through. You either fly over or walk, and flying over is hard, the mountains are high, very high.”

“I could do it…” Red said.

“Me too!” Lenin replied instantly.

Red laughed, pressing into Lenin’s side. She didn’t want the games to be over. He pawed at her snout, she revealed her fangs to try and bite, but he pawed at her with his other arm, now. She couldn’t bite both paws at the same time, and pushed back with her wings, wincing slightly at the pain in her ribs.      “Sorry!” Lenin said again.

“It’s not your fault! Well it is… but – it’s okay.”

Lenin pulled up beside her, risking wrapping a wing around her. She pressed into his side, lying down.

“Are you tired?” he crooned.

She nodded, closing her eyes and enjoying the large wings. Lenin was nice. She could get used to Lenin. Wasn’t sure about the whole mate thing, though. He was no fearless pirate, or starship captain.

Red awoke the next morning to Lenin getting up. He had fallen asleep next to her, his snout pressing up against her paw. It had amused her the few times she woke during the night. Sleeping outside was strange. If it weren’t for Lenin she doubted she could have been able to do it. Vulcans needed the security of cave walls. Oh no, now she was thinking like a Vulcan.

The fire was burning, and there were three other Vorchans here now. They were slightly older and conversing amongst each other. They were very friendly to Lenin, and the four of them starting chittering at each other excitedly, tails up and about.

The sun had barely risen, and Red really missed the warmth of Lenin’s wing, but the fire would have to suffice. She relocated next to it and closed her eyes again.

“Dabus!” she heard Lenin roar, followed by a paw pressing down on her back. It forced her to exhale, and wreaked havoc on her injured rib.

“Vulcan!” exclaimed her assailant.

“Black…wing.” she huffed.

He turned her on her back and started sniffing her intently.

Uh Red… Allonsi transmitted anxiously, He’s checking you.

For what?

“Ha!” the Terran laughed in Lenin’s direction, flying back to the group.

For… err… you know, genetic material.

Oh I see. Oh poor Lenin! Now they’re going to make fun of him for not ‘getting lucky’.

Getting lucky? Oh I see. Allonsi didn’t like this topic too much, though she did betray a little excitement whenever Red got close to Lenin. I wish I were old enough to go hunting for mates. It looks so fun! Feels so fun! Just a year or so I think…

Hmm. He’s coming back. Red observed. “Dabus. I’m warning you!” Lenin called after him.

“So you’re Dabus!” Red observed, getting up on all fours now.

“That’s right.” Dabus sneered. “Get used to saying it!”

“Why’s that?”

“’Oh Dabus… Daabus, Dabus!!’”

Red felt the instinct to cower, but fought it, taking up a more defensive stance. Her wound hurt from the force Dabus had put on it, but she felt combat-capable.

Dabus growled.

Red hissed back.

“Oh come now, Vulcan. No need to be all resistant. I need to show Lenin how it’s done. You see he’s not the best when it comes to the whole mating game.”

“Oh?” Red asked.

“Not at all. He’s gone on this tour every year since he’s been old enough, and not once has he even gotten close to a nice Vorchaness. So we figured we’d give him this one as a freebee, but he’s taking far too long. It’s my turn now!” he lunged.

Red felt her adrenaline levels rise ten-fold as she shot out of his way. “Your turn?”

“To try and win you over!”

“By what, attacking me?”

“Well, sort of. You young ones always resist at first, but you’ll be grateful when it’s over!”

Red was getting a little scared now. She looked at Lenin for help, but he was being held down by the other two Vorchans.

“I don’t think so. You lose. I’m not interested. You’ve been rejected. Go back to your friends now.” Red said.

“We’ll see!” Dabus pounced again. Red lunged out of the way, but he used his wings to alter his trajectory, tackling her.

She started clawing and kicking now, scoring a lucky hit that forced Dabus to get off and resume circling. “You’re a good fighter!”

“Blackwings generally are, and we’re also very selective.” Red hissed.

“You might be blacker than most Vulcans, but I’ve seen Blackwings, you aren’t a Blackwing.”

“I am!” Red cried.

“You’ve got too much red on you, Red. And you’ll have more if you don’t start being friendlier.”

“Piss off!” Red snapped.

Dabus lunged again. Red jumped back, but Dabus’ little trick with his wings caught her again. This time he had all his weight on her body, keeping her from kicking or pawing. She was completely trapped, her paws pressed up against his chest in a desperate attempt at pushing him off her.

“This is wrong!” Red growled.

“Give in, hun!” Dabus growled.

“You’re scum. Let me go!”

“Sorry. Trust me, you’ll enjoy it! They always do! If not I promise to… make it up to you somehow.”

He rubbed up against her very intimately, his snout pressing up against hers.

She opened her mouth, whimpering for him to stop, he would succeed in mounting her eventually, and this really wasn’t how she’d envisioned her first mating session to be like. She’d expected candles, a dance, dinner, holomovie…

She roared in sorrow at the memory, and managed to get a grip on his neck with her jaws. She clamped down hard, making him gasp in surprise. She twisted and grinded with her teeth, forcing him on his back. She was on top of him now, pressing deeper and deeper into his neck with her teeth.

His fight for getting inside her was now a fight for getting her out of him as the taste of blood unlocked a rage in her that forced her incisors deeper and deeper.  He was wailing in fear now, wailing for survival. Finally Red let go and Dabus scurried to a safe distance, twelve feet away. His neck was bleeding profusely.

“You’re right!” Red exclaimed. “I did enjoy that!”

The other Vorchans roared at her, but Red roared back and began an approach, her fangs bloodstained from her last battle.

They looked at each other, and decided to run for it. Lenin bit one in the tail as they retreated. “That’s right!” he yelled, “Bastards!”

“That was amazing! What a thrill!”

“He almost…”

“I know, that woulda been bad.”

“That would have been horrible!” Lenin cried, hugging her. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. I feel a lot better now. That was what I needed! I love you commoners and your feral ways. That was so… so raw!” Red roared in triumph, making Dabus flinch. He had lied down because of his wound, whimpering slightly.

Lenin kept hugging and nuzzling her, nearly in tears.

“It’s okay. I’m okay, Lenin.” Red said, pushing him away gently.

He licked her snout and stared at her like a pet that had completely failed his master.

She laughed, “Really, it’s okay.”

He finally seemed to calm down, shaking slightly. “Okay.”

Red licked back. “Oh that got me excited!”

“That was the most terrifying moment of my six years.” Lenin said.

“I’m fine. I needed that. Oh I really needed that. I feel so… so Vorchan.”

Red flew over to Dabus, looming over him victoriously. He stared up at her plaintively. “What do you want, Blackwing… let me suffer here in peace.”

“I warned you, Dabus. You don’t piss off Blackwings.” Lenin said.

“But thanks for the fight, Dabus. Really! I needed a fight!” Red roared again.

Dabus looked away, only to get tackled by Red. He growled in protest as she clamped down on his neck, licking his wounds and lapping up that sweet blood. He finally stopped resisting, going limp after realizing what she was doing.

He moaned as he nearly lost consciousness to her expert wound-tending. “There.” she finally said, letting go of his neck.

“Thanks…”

Red could see a very hot glare from Lenin out of the corner of her eye.

“What!” she snapped at him. He flinched from the sudden eye contact.

“Nothing.” he said, instinctively bowing his head and avoiding eye contact, staring at the ground.

Oh she liked this. Who was the dominant one now! She roared again. “Do you want your neck clamped too?” she asked.

“Yes – I mean no…” Lenin replied, backing away.

“Thought so.” she laughed, watching the two submissive males with delight. This was how it should be. For some reason she felt her mother would be proud of this.

Her day got even better when the three Vorchans returned with peace offerings. Two had carried a gnarbeast over and the third had a leaper. Leapers didn’t taste too good, but were pretty big. It was an impressive haul. They laid the food before her, apologizing profusely for Dabus’ actions.

After that, she had become the center of attention, sleeping right by the fire with the other Vorchans setting up around her, telling her about themselves whenever they had the chance.

The next morning the Vorchans matched her pace and didn’t protest once at the reduced speed. Surprisingly, they covered a similar amount of ground, needing significantly less rest stops. After a few days, Red knew the other Vorchans quite well. There were nine in total. Dabus talked to her often now, as did his three friends: Marcus, Oenson, and Shon’rin. She even found them pretty funny. Marcus was quite the charmer too, and always had a flattering remark ready.

“We should arrive at the valley tomorrow!” An’rar exclaimed. “We’ll try and make it in a single run tomorrow. I believe it’s possible, especially with the Blackwing’s endurance-oriented flying strategy.”

The Vorchans agreed, and smiled at Red. She blushed, looking down at her tail sheepishly. It was getting dark, and there was some gossip among the group about Linseng. He was a younger Terran that had snuck off. A lot of them assumed he’d found a mate in a cave somewhere. There was some debating as to whether they should leave without him the next morning or not. Finally Ror’ior and Tyre agreed to go off to the cave he’d located and confirm if he was with a mate or not. If he was, they’d leave him to his privacy and continue on, if not, they’d make sure he made it back to their flock before morning.

Red was tired. Dabus and his friends were sleeping around her, smiling when she made eye contact with him. She suddenly realized she hadn’t spoken to Lenin for a while. Why wasn’t he being more assertive? He was all the way off on the other side of the fire.

“Smart.” Red commented, sneaking over to Lenin when the others had fallen asleep.

Lenin awoke with a start, ears perking up. “What is smart?”

“You used me as bait, to get them away from this side of the fire. Now you can sleep as close to it as you want! No competition.”

“Yes, right, that was my plan all along.” he sounded depressed.

“Are you alright?” Red asked.

“Fine.” Lenin replied, turning his head away and closing his eyes, “I’m tired, we have a long trip tomorrow.”

Red lied down next to him, falling asleep.

She awoke the next morning to the cold morning wind. The sun hadn’t come up yet but the fire was out. The Vorchans were gathered around An’rar. Ror’ior, Linseng and Tyre were still missing.

“What do you think is keeping them?” Oenson asked.

“I have a few ideas…” Dabus said with a wink.

Red noticed that they all smirked at the joke except for Lenin, who just glanced at Red and then looked down at his paws. His tail was running across the ground so hard he might as well been cultivating.

“We should still check on them.” An’rar said. “They could be in trouble.”

The Vorchans agreed, and they flew out for the cave.

Red flew with Lenin. He was acting strange, and it made her curious.

“What is it, Lenin?” But whenever she asked, Lenin would shoot down her queries.

“Nothing.”

Red sighed and followed on his left flank. An’rar roared when the cave was in sight.

“There they are!” he called, seeing the Vorchans down below by the cave entrance. “I’ll talk to them.”

He dove down to the cave while the rest of them glided up above.

“Maybe the girl was a Blackwing.” Marcus suggested.

“Maybe.” Red replied, noticing the four Vorchans had formed up around her again.

“Well if she’s even half as stunning as you I don’t blame them for spending the night.” Marcus continued.

The others laughed slightly, Red smiled, enjoying the flattery. At least these commoners had learned some manners.

“She bites someone and now you’re all all over her.” Lenin scoffed as he swooped by.

“Oh Lenin, don’t be jealous cuz we’re her friends too!”

“Come fly with us!”

“Yeah Lenin!”

Red smiled as Lenin flew by again. “I’m alright. I’m gonna check up on An’rar.”

“You do that.” Marcus said, pulling closer to Red.

“So tell me, how did you get such a nice deathgrip?”

“Oh Marcus… I’ll be right back.” Red sighed, pulling away from the group of friendly Vorchans and following Lenin.

The Vorchans talked amongst each other, not following. That would look too desperate, of course. They had to at least pretend they weren’t completely infatuated, right?

Yes that’s totally why, Red. I like the world you live in! Allonsi mocked.

Red infused the neural band with a bit of scorn before pulling up next to Lenin and An’rar. They were talking with the three Vorchans that had flown off.

“You guys are making no sense.” An’rar sighed.

“No sense?” Ror’ior asked.

“No sense!” Linseng repeated.

“Sense…” Tyre commented.

“Look, we’re going to head off for Death Valley now. It’s only a few hours away.”

“Death Valley…” Ror’ior said.

“Yeah.” An’rar replied.

“Yeah…” Tyre echoed, looking at Red. They were all looking at Red.

“Nyx!” they sang.

“I’m not – no that’s my mother.”

“Nyx Nyx Nyx!” they repeated in chorus. “I love you Nyx!”

“I’m not Nyx!” Red hissed.

They all lunged at her with the same fervour Dabus had lunged with earlier. Red shot herself up in the air. They spat at her. She cried out as the globules hit her. It burnt like acid.

“Ethologes!” An’rar yelled, firing a flameburst at one of them.

Lenin unleashed with his own wall of fire while taking up a defensive posture next to Red, who was writhing on the ground in pain. “Get it off!” she cried.

An’rar grunted as the acid hit him, knocking him out of the sky.

“We have to flee.” Lenin hissed, pushing his snout under her neck for support. She struggled to get on her legs, limping away from the Ethologes.

“Nyx!” They called, getting closer and closer.

Red stopped running, turning around to face her attackers.

“Red!” Lenin called, digging in beside her and unleashing a burst of flame at one of the Ethologes. It bounced off their scales, barely causing any damage. They seemed to have twice the immunity Vorchans had to fire.

They shot another volley of acid at her. Lenin shielded her, taking the hits. “Agh that burns!”

“Lenin!” she cried, moving in front of him and preparing a flamestrike. Her entire body felt like it was glowing as she unleashed the globule of energy. The flash blinded her, but the Ethologes were gone.

“You did it, you scared them off!” Lenin winced.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it burns but it’s not too bad.”

“It looks like it’s meant to stun.” Red observed, noticing the scales weren’t too badly charred.

“I guess so.” Lenin said, calling for An’rar.

“Wow, you took them out.” An’rar exclaimed. “You’re quite the Vorchan.”

“I did?”

“Aye, incinerated ‘em. Could see it quite clearly from my angle.”

“I guess I got lucky.” Red said.

“You’ve got quite the firebreath.” An’rar complimented, smiling seductively.

“Oh not you too.” Red laughed.

Lenin rolled his eyes and flew off.

An’rar nudged her, eyeing her friendlily. “So where ya from?” he asked.

Red rolled her eyes and flew after Lenin.

“We get attacked…” Red panted, finally catching up with him, “Nearly die…” she continues, “And then you just fly off. Why do you keep flying off?”

“I don’t know.” Lenin replied, landing. Red landed next to him.

“Are you jealou—“

“NO!” he snapped.

“You’re jealous!” she exclaimed. Nobody had been jealous of her before. This was great!

“I’m not… I just don’t like the way they completely ignore you until you become the flavour of the month, and then treat you as some sort of trophy to acquire.”

“They’re just being friendly. I earned their respect!”

“Yeah you did, too much so. Now they’re all over you.”

“It’s nice.”

“Yeah…” Lenin didn’t look too pleased.

“Aww c’mon, you know you’re my favourite!” she said, pressing up against him.

“Yeah…” he didn’t sound too comforted by that either, seemingly distant.

“I can’t ignore them, Lenin!” she growled.

“I just wish they’d back off.” he said.

“Why?” she asked.

“I told you why!” he took off again, flying towards Death Valley. “Death Valley… sod that, now we’ll probably be heading back to our village to warn everyone.”

“I already—I mean.” Allonsi was already relaying the information to Thanatos, who told Darnell, who was notifying all the village chiefs.

“What?”

“Well… nothing.”

“You already what? Have a mate?”

“No! I don’t have a mate! I’m mate-less. All alone.” she sang, not seeming to be too bothered by that fact at this moment. Having gauged her attractiveness and being very pleased with where she stood.

Lenin hesitated, and then licked at her fangs. She actually noticed this lick, taken aback slightly.

“Right…” Lenin stared at her for a while, not sure where to go from here, “I should head back to the village. Three of our people died today…”

“Yeah…” Red said, still a little stunned by the lick.

Oh come on, Red. It’s pretty obvious he likes you!

I know… but do I like him?

Allonsi transmitted a nice image of the two of them entwined, Well do you? How does that image strike you?

You’re… artistic. Red said, wagging her tail.

“You should head back too… I’m sure you have—“ Red tackled Lenin, licking at him relentlessly, then kissing him, locking jaws, enjoying the pain of his incisors and the subtle taste of blood. When they unlocked jaws she growled at him instinctively, nuzzling his chest.

Lenin growled back, wrapping his wings around her. “I’m sure you have people you have to warn too.”

“It’s all been taken care of.” she crooned. “You don’t have to go anywhere.”

“It has?” he asked.

She nodded, very content lying on top of him.

“How has it been – they called you Nyx…”

“My mother.”

“What?!” Lenin’s surprise made Red jump off him.

“What?” Red asked.

“You didn’t even tell me? All this time I thought you were from around here. Some nomad just looking for a home. I didn’t think – I didn’t think you were… that’s. How could you go around pretending to – what… I…” Lenin was lost for words.

“How does who I am change anything?” Red asked.

“It changes everything!”

“It just makes things better!” Red argued, pressing up against him. He didn’t embrace her this time, staring off into space.

“You… that explains everything.”

“What?”

“The way you… play with us.” Lenin sneered, pulling away.

“What?” Red asked again.

“Look. I thought you were really a lost, helpless Blackwing. But I should have known. Nyx was the only other Blackwing. Why didn’t I realize that. I’m so blind.”

“How does it matter?” Red asked.

“It matters because you’re powerful. This entire time I thought I could do something to help you, but you were just playing around. I risked my life for you when you have… spaceships and guns and… three Vorchans are dead and you didn’t do anything to save them!”

“I didn’t know!”

“You should have! You’re royalty, you’re responsible! That’s despicable!” Lenin hissed.

Red called in her shuttle. “To hell with you, then.” she hissed.

“That’s right, go fly off. Stay out of my life. Stay away from my village! We aren’t toys!”

Red ran into her shuttle, in tears again. Why do I bother?!?!?!

She broke down when the ramp doors closed, and sobbed all the way back to Allonsi.

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