Tyssix was still in awe of the place, the people, and their dragons. Temih hadn't exaggerated when she told the group of her home land's expanse. To the north and east there were the Lion Pride lands, the edges were blurry and would become more firm with the dragons presence. What lion in their right mind would try invading a cheetah's hunting ground when there were a dozen or more fierce - and huge - dragons to defend it?

From the top of the plateau, Tyssix could see just everything. Her heart fluttered, she'd never climbed so high. She had flown on a dragon's back many times of course, but this was so completely different! The plateau was gigantic!

"How do you patrol it all?" She asked, and Omaciyu shrugged.

"We do it better with the dragons, now," he replied. "It was difficult. This range we chose was very large for our group."

"You'll grow into it," she said. "I know it. I promise." Tyssix grinned widely, such a human gesture. She realized that the baring of teeth was not Kin-friendly really, but still hadn't really caught on to what their signals should be.

To Omaciyu though, it didn't matter. She could be shaved and have her tail clipped for all he cared - she was paying attention to him and only him among the group. The Tribe had already increased by two, his precious Temih's pair of girls. But now? With the others?

The centaur-shaped ones bothered this eldest of the Powered Kin cheetah tribe. They ran on four legs, yet still had arms and an upright body... queerly there were those who wanted such things in their lives. He would have to live with it. The Zekirans would help them defend their planet, and he had to admit that having a ship on their side was far more important than worrying about whether the next generation of cheetah Kin had four legs or two.

"What are you thinking about?" Tyssix asked. Typical woman.

"I... Find myself wondering about the next generation, Tyssix," Omaciyu said, his voice full with something Tyss could not identify. "If we are to survive, we must dilute ourselves."

"I'd like to think it makes your tribe stronger," Tyssix said, disappointed. She was painfully aware of her half-human heritage, but Omaciyu had never brought it up before.

"It will, in the long run..." Oma sighed. "But it is also such a change. We are already changed from our parents and grandKin. We with these powers of ours." He held his hand out, and an invisible furrow of force sped from his fingers across the ground. Where his telekinetic blast went, it left a trail of moving reeds and a big dust plume. "So now we further distinguish ourselves from our old Kin by being all the more new."

Tyssix tilted her head, "I guess. I see so many different people at the Healing Den, I don't even think about it any more. I mean, people there tell me that if I were at some other place, folks would stare at me funny."

"As they did for our kind, when we paired off with our dragons," Omaciyu indicated, "most of us were alone in our ... fur. Some tell stories of how strangely varied the hatchings were, but the rest, we were at places alone. Humans everywhere."

"You don't like them," Tyssix stated, "I understand that. It would be hard for me to hate my mother just for being human." She paused, "I hated her for other reasons, you know. Teenage girl reasons."

To her great surprise, Oma gave off a round laugh.

"I know that has its place in every society, Kin or human." He said. "I have to wonder, what will my offspring think of me."

The way he said it made Tyssix furrow her eyebrows. He sounded so... desperate? Disappointed? Resigned?

"Don't you think they will respect you and love you?" Tyssix said - so far from the admission of her own teenage angst regarding her mother. Omaciyu turned and looked at the young kin-like girl beside him. Her heart fluttered and she looked away.

"I believe they will grow to do those things, yes, but ..." He sighed again, "in the mean time, of course, keeping a Tribe together is just as important as raising a child. Perhaps more so. And I hope that they could forgive me for having to take the time away from them to do it."

At that, Tyssix paused. "That's... I suppose that's true. But in the end, they will have to keep the tribe together too - everyone does."

Omaciyu knelt on the rock they were standing at, and pushed his claws into the soft sandy stone. "Do you know what I miss?" He asked. He didn't really wait for Tyssix to respond, when he said, "I missed watching Temih's children grow up."

With a gasp Tyssix realized something - then spoke aloud, "I did see it. It was wonderful. Fun - dangerous. You don't seem jealous of Ivo."

"I am jealous of Ivo, none the less," Omaciyu stated, darkly. "But there is obviously nothing I can do about that now. His offspring have helped save our tribe, and I must be grateful for that."

"But you don't have to like him, or that fact, right?" Tyssix replied. "I know. And you resent the Zekirans for bringing in their own blood. It's hard - but you can't have expected Temih to choose one of you over all the others."

"Not for her whole life, no," Omaciyu said. "We do not bind one another to single mates, like humans attempt to."

"Hah!" Tyssix laughed suddenly, and startled Oma. "You don't know the right humans, then. My mother and father stay together because they love each other so much... But grandmother? I have three aunts and two uncles - and one of those uncles is Kalkin's son. They both drift around like crazy. Most dragon rider humans do that. It's a survival thing, just like here."

"Is it?" Said Oma, standing again. His poise and straight back were almost towering to Tyssix - the way he carried himself with care in every step impressed her.

"I think so," she said, looking away from him.

"Do you think that we Kin can love the same way that humans do?" Omaciyu asked. That surprised her even more than his laughter a moment before.

"I... I have to think you do," Tyssix said.

"Then why did you come here? Did you come looking for love? To have someone, as your mother found your father?"

"I don't know," Tyssix said. "I came here because I thought I could help your Tribe. I don't think I made a mistake."

"You do not want to fall in love with one of us, do you?" Oma said. "You do not fit in here quite as well as you would like to."

That was true. Tyssix had seen how well her brother hunted, how many friends he'd made and how he'd proven himself time after time. Maybe she was rash in coming here. And since she had no particular psionic powers, she felt even more out of place.

"Do not feel like that," Omaciyu said, hesitating but then drawing his arms around Tyssix's shoulders. "I ... am a rather powerful empath, remember? Your goal here, to help us? I think it is a worthy one. I hope that you stay long enough to see the fruits of that effort."

It wasn't that Oma had exerted any of his emotion control over her - Tyssix leaned back into his slender body, and closed her eyes. "I will. I don't think I could go back and admit defeat to my mother anyway."

That elicited another laugh from the elegant leader of Twelve and One. "I would never want you to go through that indignity!"

"You don't know my mom!" Tyssix said. "But she had to let me go here. So I won't disappoint anyone." She bit her lip. "Omaciyu, I know you love Temih - but she's not here with you. I am."

"I can see that," he breathed.

"She might never be here for you," Tyssix stated, carefully. How could she guard against his empathy? She chose not to. Instead, she let herself fill with the wonder and the pleasure of being near him at all. He hugged her shoulders tighter.

"I know that," Omaciyu said, quietly. "Let us leave her out of this conversation, then. Shall we?"

"I believe that's a good idea," Tyssix said.

In the late of the afternoon, Omaciyu claimed his tribal right - asserted his genetic means... Believed that - with the heat of passion and Tyssix's mind assuring him that it was true - he could fall in love with someone else.

***