Harsh Last Words

Chapter 3

The hot water threatened to lull Kennedy to sleep as she sunk into the healing bath. Her muscles relaxed slowly, thanks to the particular oils she had added to the water. Bubbles that foamed up helped to hide her nudity in case another wanted to join the public bath. It was late, way into the evening cycle, as the yautja called it.

It would be a surprise if anyone were to join her.

Kelsey's body was sore after another long day of training with Juta in self-defense. Even scrubbing the sweat and dirt off was a challenge. The Elder was easier on her because she was human, but he was no less gentle in having her learn to correct her mistakes no matter how many times she made them. Hitting the hard mat over and over again also was a good lesson to not fuck up.

There was no real possibility of winning against a yautja, so Juta taught her evasion. Yautja had weaknesses that could be exploited. Taking advantage of them, however, was quite the challenge.

Juta was swift for his size. He was already a ghost on his feet but in movement?

It was incredible!

This guy was more than a thousand years old but had the speed and agility of someone in the prime of their youth. Yautja seemed to grow stronger and better in skill as they aged, becoming titans in their own regard. It was evident why Juta had won the title of Clan Leader to his people. The guy was a beast in battle. She had seen him help train kids, and it was a dazzling display of everything the yautja sought to become.

Being forced to interact with others had also helped lessen the automatic fear she had felt a month ago. It was hardly there now after what Juta called 'immersion therapy.'

She no longer worried someone would attack or attempt to hurt her. Na'zeiru had seemingly vanished, anyway, with Juta telling her not to worry about him anymore. The way he spoke made her think that the asshole wasn't alive anymore, but she still swore he was there in the shadows sometimes. An instinctual part of her was forever changed.

The yautja were no longer boogeymen but complex beings.

Kelsey settled down once her hair was cleanly rinsed out, enjoying the warmth and trying to escape her thoughts. She allowed herself to relax enough to close her eyes.

Only ten minutes had passed in peace before she heard the soft sound of feet shuffling through the bathhouse. They were intentionally making noise, something only Juta would do. Seeing him here so late was strange, anyway. The Elder was typically busy in his study at this time of night. He was a night owl. She had learned that after sharing a living space with him since she began defense training. Every night, he would be at his desk into the wee hours of the morning.

"Juta, I thought you returned home to start on the usual stuff," Kelsey greeted, choosing to keep resting her eyes.

It was the voice that responded that had her snapping them open in surprise.

"I am not N'Juta." a familiar male voice replied.

Standing at the edge of the bathing pool was U'Kaida. He had a clean towel tucked under his arm and a soap bottle in his hand. Shockingly, he sported new scars with a few of his locs sliced off at the tips; they were already slowly regrowing. The male wore large, ragged scars that ran across his chest like something had nearly torn him apart. It was shocking that he stood before her so calmly and collected, as if nothing had happened while he was away on his hunting trip. Apart from that, he was exactly how she remembered him, minus some extra bulk he had put on his body.

She couldn't help but feel a flare of arousal seeing him standing there unabashedly nude. While she had always been curious to see what a yautja cock looked like, she was disappointed to see it absent as usual.