"It is your right," admitted Da’kea, not at all sure how things turned out this way. "But it is also within the female’s right to deny you."
"With all due respect, Elder. That decision is to be determined by the female and not you," ca yet another voice from the crowd. Da’kea stretched his neck from side to side, praying to the Dark Lord for patience. These younglings were quickly getting on his nerves.
"I will contact the female and see if she is willing to humor your request," said Da’kea after a mont. "I will not speak for you, but neither will I speak against you. That is the best that I can offer."
"Fine. But we expect to be presented within the next few hours," snapped the first male.
Da’kea pulled on all the patience he had learned as a hunter to not remove the other male’s spine from his back. "Everything will or will not be done on the female’s tiline. Not yours. Clearly, Pahn’thill was too lax with you to think you had any right to demand anything from any female."
When the twenty or so males just stood there, silent, Da’kea clicked his tusks. "Now, I have so responsibilities to take care of before a presentation is done. If you will excuse ," he said calmly, even as every cell in his body pushed him to lay waste to all these males who thought they were good enough for the female.
"Of course, Elder. We look forward to your good news," said a previously silent male as he bowed his head. Da’kea nodded his head in return before spinning around and heading to his quarters.
----
The first thing he did as soon as he closed the door behind him was to lock it and bring out the reflective surface to see why no one comnted on the changes. Within clicks, the surface of the far shimred before turning reflective, showing the bare room of one of the most important Elders.
The walls were a dull brown color, and the entire room had nothing more than a simple bed, a desk and chair, and two doors, one just to the right of the entrance and the other one on the far wall. The first door led to the bathroom, while the second one was his kill room. Because of his high status and the fact that this ship was his own, he was the only male to have his kill room attached to his quarters. All the other males that were currently on the ship were forced to share a much larger kill room with all the other males.
However, the image of himself that was reflected back was not one that he expected to see. He looked exactly as he had before he was chosen. He had a brief mont of panic, thinking that everything that happened in i Xing’s ship was nothing more than a fantasy, but he could feel a pull that was never there before. An itch under his skin that no hunt could cure.
No, he was chosen. So maybe this was his suit protecting his mate in its own way. If males started to visibly change, it would beco clear to the older generations what was going on. And then the massacre would happen all over again.
Even at 619 years old, he was still not old enough to have experienced what the universe was like when the Ethawainians walked among the species.
But at least that explained why no one comnted on his new look. He didn’t have one.
Walking over to the table and chair, he opened up the communications tablet built into the table and made his first call. Might as well get the most annoying one over and done with.
"Speak," ca the grunting of a female. Since it was a video link, Da’kea was ’treated’ to the sight of a female being serviced by multiple males, each one trying to prove that they were the best so that they would be the only one to offer their seed.
Thankful that he still had his helt on, Da’kea closed his eyes, not needing to be exposed to that sight.
"Today, at approximately 1724, Pahn’thill issued a dominance challenge to another female. At 1739, she was beheaded," he said as concisely as he could. There was a commotion and several protests on the other line, but he refused to open his eyes to see what was going on.
"You want to say that again?" hissed the female, and Da’kea opened his eyes to see a naked female sitting at the desk in front of the monitor and four males lined up along the wall beside her bed.
"Today, at approximately 1724, your female offspring, Pahn’thill, issued a challenge to another female, and at 1739, she died as a result of that challenge," repeated Da’kea, his tone never changing. It might have been his biological female offspring, but that was the first ti in almost 400 years that he had ever t her.
"Where is the dead body of the other female?" sneered Ai’to as she leaned back in her chair. "I can only assu that she is dead as well."
"She is not dead," replied Da’kea, refusing to even flinch at that idea. The female in front of him was worse than any ryklys. Any sign of weakness and she would attack without hesitation.
"And why not? As the seed doner, it was your responsibility to look after her during her hunt," snarled Ai’to, causing so of the males along the wall to shiver in fear.
"And as a male, it is forbidden for to be involved in a challenge between two females," replied Da’kea.
"Blah, rules," responded the clearly irritated female. He really felt bad for the males that would need to deal with her after this. He would not be surprised if so of them lost their lives as a result. "You should have killed her after the battle then when she was wounded."
"That would also be against our sacred laws," answered Da’kea. "But I was informing you simply out of courtesy. Now that that is done, I will let you continue on your... hunt."
"You now owe a new female offspring. I expect you to make yourself available to within the next two rotations," said the female right before closing the connection.
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