Seeking Salvation

Through the Gaps

A ship landed- one in each spot where there were the most stories of the River Lady, each one holding a team of 3 young Yautjha each, and a small team of their more successful clan brothers to help with building.

They had decided to build a small "home" for the White Woman, one near the rock shaped like a tree upon the river bed, and one near the abandoned ship that held the "dead end" where she seemed to vanish. At each one, the younger yautjas would be left to watch over the buildings and wait for the fabled woman to appear. They had brought provisions for themselves and had been given provisions to leave at the finished buildings, and a few offerings from their clans' brothers who could not come to be a part of the collection, to lure her out.

From the stories, no one seemed to remember when she may have been collected. And for that matter, never could any of them come up with when she had been placed on the planet. But they predicted that she had been on the planet for many Hunts, as she had helped many of them without a word.

It had been deduced that she perhaps did not know the language or that perhaps time on the Game Preserve had rendered her need to speak as obsolete. She never came with companions to their aid; neither domesticated animals nor befriended prey. Some voiced that perhaps she knew their language, as they had spoken to her and she reacted appropriately if not shyly to their words; one Clan-Brother swore he asked to use her lap to rest his head and she complied and another contested that he asked her to assist him in moving and she did so.

"Ok, so then what?" One of the younger new-bloods asked his older clan-brother, "What if she doesn't come?"

"We are hunters." His Clan-Brother voiced, "We will wait, and if she does not come to us, then we will find her." The Younger one wordlessly continued to help his brother carry a large beam towards the river. And he worried.

Among the gathered and openly shared oral stories and myths of the woman, was one of two clans-brothers. One had been wounded and the other had gone after him. The White Woman had found the wounded Yautjha and had attempted to heal him as his clan-brother came out from the shrubbery and saw his brother swing a blade towards the woman, who jumped back from harm and pulled away from him as he began to get up. The wounded yautja acted aggressively towards the White Woman, even as his clan-brother openly protested the mistreatment of the mythological child-bearer- and she fled them both.

The wounded Yautjha died. Because he had acted ungratefully towards the being. And his clan-brother remorsefully shared the story and urged his brothers to not repeat the actions, concluding that perhaps, despite being friendly and helpful, she was also aware that she could be harmed.

The youngblood thought of this only because within his team was a more violent Yautjha that he feared would scare off the woman and make it that much harder to catch her. "And if one of my clan-brothers moves to harm her?" He asked as they set the log down among a pile of others, while their brothers worked on a foundation of the house by pouring a quickening liquid into a framed-out mold, with 4 tall pillars of wood to serve as the base for the small home.

"Ensure that she is not harmed, young one." The Older clan-brother advised, "And tell the Leader of their transgressions." The young one stood a moment and watched their brothers work on the foundation with his clan-brother, something that had to be done before any more construction could be done.

"What if the prey here attacks her while we wait?" The youngblood asked again and the elder one looked at him,

"You are to bring the White Woman back, alive and unharmed." The older hunter growled firmly, and when the foundation had finished drying, they all pitched in to help build the small 'home'.

They had decided to go with a quick design, reminiscent of the homes some of them had seen on Earth. With four pillars, they build around it to give it a sturdy floor with enough square footage to go around the pillars and make something that could be referred to as a "Wrap-around porch" with no railing, then made the walls tall enough to easily accommodate one of their ilks and strong enough to hold against the varying climate conditions and seasons that the game preserve displayed. They then made a roof, sturdy, and strong, to keep off the rain from entering the small 'home' and gave it windows that they covered in the very finely-tanned hides of some of their kills, to keep out the heat of the day.