Omaciyu paced the same way for every birth. He had that charm built in, though, that made him seem so fatherly to everyone - sometimes stern, sometimes adoring... But usually he made the decisions and he was the one who decided that the tribe was going well.

Of course, when Temih went into labor she took all his attention. Tyssix tried to stop him from being so nervous, but that was hardly going to work.

"You know, someone might think you still love her," Tyssix purred into Oma's ear, and he first scowled, but then laughed.

"I do, Tys, and you know that."

"And I know why too - but aren't you jealous?" Tyssix said, and looked at the father of Temih's third cub, Utori. The pair were young - the same age, though - and Omaciyu's hands should have been full with Xyma, but the infant was being tended by the doting Dijo. For all his parading about, Dijo certainly made a good foster mother...

"Will it be a girl, or a boy," Tyssix asked, "that's what you're worried about."

"Well do not worry too much more," Temih said, from the edge of the room. She held in her long spotted arms a new bundle - still faintly wet and covered with the grey-tan fluff of all Kin cheetahs. "He's a boy."

There was a faint sense of disappointment on Oma's muzzle, but Temih was quick to say, "don't think that all girls would be good, Oma - think of what would happen in another ten years, when there are no males of their age?"

"... good point," He said.

Tyssix beamed, though. "He's the first truly full blooded Kin in the tribe," she said. Tys glanced at Tovih and her sister Mihve - both with their own young children, both boys. Tyssix had so far given birth to the only female child.

Yet by now, the Zekirans who were either shapeshifters or cheetah-kin appearing, had been more integrated into the Tribe for the time being. Their culture was different, but the few Zekirans who had spots and tails (and sometimes way too many limbs to go around, as they were on all fours with upright 'taur torsos too) had grown fond of these short-lived cheetah Kin.

A stormy relationship with the violent Iryudyo and the extra-fast Plavia was obviously going somewhere genetically beneficial. The four-footed CoLeran had clearly been wooing Hala in his time near the Plateau. Others were springing up here and there. And Tyssix's brother Cryten was hanging out a lot with that tall skinny Zekiran girl Wildstorm. What was up with that?

Dijo came in with the year-old Xyma, holding her gently and looking for Tyssix. "There you are. She's been wondering where you are, and why I'm not you. I can't understand it..."

Laughing, Tys took her child back, and went to sit with the other mothers. It was a den full of smells and sounds - then a wailing mew noise pierced everyone's ears.

"Now now..." Temih said. "Shhhh, here are your sisters. And you are an uncle already," she giggled. Motherhood suited this Kin, Tyssix noticed.

"What is his name?" Tyssix asked quietly.

"Tomi," Temih said. "He's got a strength in him, and can you feel his mind?"

"Already!" Omaciyu said. "Congratulations," he added. Temih nudged up against the elder and purred a thank you to him.

Tyssix knew that she'd never feel the child's mind - not like the Kin would. It made her feel a bit sad. Even her own daughter had powers that she herself could never understand. It still made Tyssix feel a bit out of place. Her brother had somehow managed to manifest some kind of weird power - that made her feel even a bit jealous.

But here she was, with the only current female child in the Tribe. She whispered while cuddling the girl, "what will you do when you are older, hmn, Xyma? Will you do great things?"

"Of course she will," said - surprisingly - Temih. "She's your daughter, and she's Oma's legacy. What I give to the tribe is so different from what he wanted me to do."

It wasn't lost on Temih or the others that Omaciyu was in the room when she said that.

"But... I can't stay here, myself," Tyssix said at last. She looked at her beautiful sparkling spotted child. "She'll be here for me instead."

Temih stood, and smiled broadly - a human response on an unhuman face. "Kelssyroth says it's time for you to follow in your ancestors' footsteps."

"What?" Tyssix said, "what does that mean?"

"It means you should talk to Kelssy." The kin said, "I will take care of Xyma while you are gone, and when you come back to us, you will be different. Perhaps you will choose to stay."

Tyssix blinked. This was more than Temih had really spoken to her in months - their involvements with males seemed to be at cross purposes, so they avoided one another. But here...

"I can see why you love her so much," said Tyssix, smiling back. Omaciyu took Xyma from her mother's arms, Tyssix smothering the little kin-girl with kisses and purring before she left.

She then made her way to the dragon flat - recently cleared of all the mud and muck from the typhoon's last passage.

The dragons were waiting. Temih's dappled brown and green female Kelssyroth tossed her head proudly.

I know - you are thinking that you do not know where to go. I think I know where to take you. My rider will not be coming with us, but I know the way. First we will go to your home though. And Cryten should come along with us.

"Won't he be too much for you? With me along?" Tyssix said.

I can handle you both to the Den. Then, you will find your own rides.

Tyssix watched as Kelssyroth rose into the sky and circled, then she located Cryten and dove toward him. Shortly, Tys saw the dappled female rise back up, but she was followed by the Zekiran woman, Wildstorm, too.

They lit onto the dragon flat, and Wildstorm slunk nearer to Tyssix.

"I know you aren't all that fond of me," she said, pushing her hair behind a long ear. "But I'm ... Well, frankly I'm having his child," she thumbed toward Cryten, "so you're gonna have to get used to me being sort of family."

"Everyone is having babies," Tyssix laughed. Suddenly she threw her arms around the startled Wildstorm, "congratulations."

"So that means you aren't coming along with us," Cryten pointed out. "When we get back, it'll only have been a few days." He looked up into the sky, and his calculating mind would remember every detail so they could predict their return properly.

Wildstorm would have pouted, but she'd never actually had a baby before - at least not recently in her millions of years, and not one which was immortal. She had never bothered to try again, she'd been largely too busy keeping her father out of trouble. And that was a handful most of the time.

"You keep Tresis -" Cryten started to say, but Wildstorm interrupted him.

"Out of trouble, yes I will."

She flew off, toward the small Zekiran set of huts that bordered the plains and was a base of operations for their local dealings.

Though Kelssyroth's body was narrow and her size somewhat small, she could easily carry the two half-human cheetahs. It was odd that since Temih had said what she did, Tyssix didn't feel in the slightest that she was doing the wrong thing by leaving her young daughter behind. She'd be back very soon "their time" anyway.

Tys and Cryten stepped up onto Kelssy's shoulder, and the dragoness took to the air again. She swept around the area once, and then vanished into the dark Nexus.

***