Cryten stood at the edge of the plains, and watched the sun set. It had been a warm day, but most of the Kin slept through it. He wasn't used to anything here - the daylight was harsh on his eyes compared to the constant soft white of the Den. The heat and the chill of night and the stinging winds were unknown to him for the same reason - he was born and bred in the Healing Den, and had never truly left it.

The stars were so bright. He wanted to relish every moment, good and bad, that he had here. The sunset was brilliantly orange - there was talk of a volcano somewhere on the southern hemisphere that blew ash into the air. And while Cryten had studied such things at the Den, learning all about geology and such - he'd never seen a sunset like this, and he feared he never would again.

The endless glimmer of the Zekiran's colony ship on the eastern horizon comforted him in a way that nothing else could. Especially - that other unmoving dot that hovered far to the south-west. The Human space ship. The Zekirans had not yet managed to make full contact with the ship, but he knew they were trying.

Another thing they were trying to do was to fit in with the Kin. Some of them did it better than others, really. There was Plavia, who looked so much like Kin that they didn't even bat an eye at her height (Zekirans ran tall - she was no exception). And there was Kami... She wasn't a Zekiran, however - she had big falcon wings and was known as a Katri. She was some kind of shifter, immortal like many of those Zekirans.

Cryten absently wondered - if Baeris and Kalkin were as immortal as they seemed, if Cynonix and Tess hadn't seemed to age in years - what did that make he and Tyss? If they remained planet side, would they age? Or was their heritage enough?

He blinked and cleared his vision. All this thinking in a place designed for action? That wasn't acceptable! He saw a batch of the kin guys heading out to hunt.

He gave a whistle, and it looked like Dijo nodded at him to come along. Cryten slipped down to the grassy savannah from the rocks. Twilight was not generally the time most Cheetahs chose to hunt, their vision was best in broad daylight. However, there was a kind of antelope that ran through the place at this time of evening, and they intended to get a couple of them for feasting.

Cryten listened with his ears as well as his mind. Several of the Kin there told him that his mind was exceptionally open to things, but to watch for mental attacks. He'd reminded the Kin that all the Sangers everywhere - himself included - had some kind of weakness to mental powers.

It looked like Iryudyo had perked up at that, but Omaciyu had always managed to keep the tall violent Kin away from both Tyssix and himself. Cryten didn't know quite why - but obviously if Oma did something it was on purpose.

The group of Kin consisted of Dijo, Utori, Ihnala, Mihve and Cryten. Mihve slipped into her feline shape, and Ihnala seemed to watch her with interest. Cryten smiled a bit, and kept up with the group silently. In the short time they had been on Planet Twenty and at the Plateau, Cryten's physical prowess had grown strongly. He would never quite be the deadly hunter that Iruydyo or Hala could be, but he definitely stood his own ground and could catch enough to prove his worth.

Dijo held his hand up, and the others stopped in their tracks. Since he was a soundshaper, he was inherantly aware of the surroundings - everything whispered on the air came to him. He obviously heard something. Dijo gave a tiny flicker of his tail, and Cryten could feel him using his powers.

Somehow, Dijo was making the air go silent around them as they moved through the high, brown grasses. As the light from the sunset faded, the group got more and more keen on their prey. Cryten saw it in the distance.

The animals were large, but their group was hungry and numerous themselves. Antelope barely described the animals - they had tall horns on their long faces, and slender legs tipped with sharp hooves. But they were solid bodied, with long, thick necks. Dangerous prey - and beautiful. Their fur was a deep shade of slate blue, almost charcoal colored. It would be used for all manner of nice clothing later on, if not by the Kin, then used by the Zekirans expertly.

But first they had to take one or more down. Preferably without really damaging the hide too much, if that was their aim. Cryten pulled his knife from his belt. He had earned a nice sharp silver blade and meant to keep it his. Dijo paused again, and the group split up at his slight mental command.

Cryten couldn't help but notice that Ihnala followed Mihve's four-pawed shape around to the north. Cryten and Utori were sent south, and Dijo continued down the middle. He was slightly closer to Cryten and Utori, so he tried to keep up his cone of silence as long as he could. It was apparently a new use for his powers, so he was still apt to exhaust himself or have it cut out on him. Practice made perfect, and Dijo was diligent at his work. They trusted Ihnala and Mihve to be silent hunters.

Cryten felt Utori's mind 'knock' on his. Nodding, he indicated that he was listening.

Try to keep low, since I have the spear I'll run high. But watch for their hooves!

Trying to keep his mind open and clear, Cryten asserted, You don't have to tell me twice!

They heard a slight rustle in the grasses, but it was another of the antelope. There were half a dozen of them the next time Cryten looked around. He didn't see Utori, nor Dijo. But he could make out the dark shape of Mihve as well as the pale sandy yellow of Ihnala, beyond the herd's narrow rut.

He felt Dijo's mind say, Do not try for the one in the lead - his horns are too big for us.

Second and third? Asked Ihnala quickly.

Third and last, Utori commented.

If he could have, Cryten would have confirmed Utori's choices. It looked as though those were the best to try for anyway - one had a very slight limp, and the other was distracted by the female in front of him. Cryten was proud of the way he'd learned to judge such things.

Third and last, yes, Dijo said, NOW!

Utori's spear went out so fast that Cryten could hardly see where it'd come from. Ihnala and Mihve both lept at the last one in line - Ihnala's power of hypnosis and mind stunning bringing it to a full stop even before they left their cover. Dijo had spun around and scattered the rest of the herd of Stormhoof antelope, so they wouldn't try to defend their other doomed members. What felt like a thunderclap echoed through the area - more of Dijo's powers with air. The seven other antelope bolted, and left the third and last ones vulnerable.

The one with the limp was grazed by Utori's first blow, and while he was regaining control over his spear, Cryten moved in under the beast. Its hooves were quick, but that limp gave Cryten an idea. He slipped himself near the damaged limb, and plunged his knife deeply into the joint just under its body. The antelope shrieked, tossing its head back and forth, but Utori took that moment to drive his spear into it's neck - cutting off its air, killing it shortly. It kicked a bit, and Cryten stayed clear of that.

Mihve and Ihnala escaped getting gored by the other male's horns - it was just older than a yearling, with small but sharp foot-long sabers. Mihve held on with her teeth, snarling and growling, kicking hard with her hind paws at the leg below her. Finally it gave out, and Ihnala swept his sword down narrowly grazing Mihve's hair and cutting the animal's head clear off. Surprised, Mihve shifted back to half-cat instantly and took her teeth off the animal's neck.

"Jackass! You could have killed me!" She shouted, but there was a look on her catlike face that said volumes to Cryten. She loved this as much as anyone else. Cryten worried less about her reaction to the violence of Ihnala's attentions, than how to describe the way that she was related to himself. Ivo-was-not-Kalkin, yet, perhaps his father was? Or no - his great grandfather or something... Hmn... And he was still alive, that one. So, whatever.

Cryten picked himself up and dusted off Utori's shoulders. "Good job," he said. Dijo scampered back to the group and tittered with glee.

"Such good kills! This will be a pleasure to take home! Eew," Dijo turned his eyes to the mess that Ihnala had made of the creature's neck and head. "You can carry that part, and you'll have to stay clear of it's bloody trail..."

"Shouldn't we clean the kills here?" Cryten asked. That got a couple odd looks from the rest. "Well, we are the predators in this area, but there are others too. I'm sure they'd like some guts or bloody entrails, right?"

"Eww," Mihve said, "you're so right - I don't eat that crap. Dijo? You can't just squeeze the guts out of them, can you?"

The elegantly not-quite-manly Dijo gave her such a look of disgust. Ihnala turned and started opening the guts of their kill, so Cryten began to do likewise with the other. Shortly they had removed the less desirable innards - keeping the heart and liver, kidneys and such, but losing the bile and intestines. No one was interested in the lungs, but they would keep the bladders for future use - airtight containers like that could hardly be wasted, even if they were kind of gross to think about.

Cryten laughed at that thought. He'd grown up in a healer's paradise. With all the biology books, anatomy lessons and real life practice that he could stand. There weren't many things that could gross him out.

The one time they'd 'accidentally' handed him a gall bladder and told him it was a delicacy, was the last time he believed that line of crap. He almost refused to eat anything that he himself hadn't seen killed and cooked. He was used to having meat cooked - but now out here it was hardly necessary. And, he noticed how active he could be if he lived on raw meat and the occasional root or grass.

This was the life. He would go back to the Healing Den - but he would go back a warrior, hunter, adult.

How his sister fared, this night, was a bit differently...

***