Tah'kath was told as a pup that the eyes were a doorway leading to the soul. While responding to a kiande-amedha (xenomorph) attack on a human farming settlement, Tah'kath finds a surviving child whose eyes seem to hold the stars themselves. Against...
T'sha're walked along the row of seventeen cages which contained one hellhound per cage. Most of his hounds were used for hunting purposes, though he did have a handful that were used for tracking (mostly to track down Young Bloods that suddenly stopped communicating with the clan while on their hunting trips). He never named his hounds, because to name something was to grow attached to something. You could never afford to be attached to your hounds. Often they would die hunting large prey, or they would sustain some great injury with long-lasting effects and they would have to be euthanized.
One of the hounds had been defective at birth; it was not aggressive like the others. It was a very affectionate and passive creature. T'sha're reasoned it must have been born with some sort of mental disorder. Normal protocol for a hound such as this would be to euthanize it. The catch was that when T'ahrou came to examine the latest batch of hound pups, his human counterpart had joined him. The defective hound trotted over to the soft meat and began demanding her attention, and she had complied.
When Dhadtoudi had learned of the hound's impending doom, she looked as if she would skin T'sha're right then and there. "You can't do that, it's only a pup!" That had been her argument.
"The creature will not serve its purpose to me. I have no use for it, and I will keep nothing that will not prove useful." She had argued with him for nearly an hour before she caved an volunteered to take the hound off his hands. "What use have you for a hound, pyode-amedha?"
"I have more use for this one than you seem to. Yes or no?" He had relented to her stubbornness under the condition that she provide food for the creature. If he had no use for the hound, he definitely wouldn't use his resources to keep it alive. However, after the Elder's death, T'ahrou had been the one making the trip since Dhadtoudi was helping care for her mother when Zaiyu was otherwise engaged (which had been often), and T'sha're had told the warrior that it wasn't worth the time for him to venture out and care for the hound. Instead he had opted to fill in himself as a courtesy to the daughter of the deceased.
He had been doing just that when he received the transmission from T'ahrou. He was tossing large chunks of meat into the defective specimen's cage and speaking to it as Dhadtoudi often did. "Nracha-dte," the hound which had previously been lying on his belly perked up at the sound of his given title. T'sha're tossed a chunk of meat into the cage, but Nracha-dte simply lay his head back down between his front paws. "Nracha-dte, eat." The creature looked up at him with its amber eyes and let out a low huff. "Then starve, imbecile."
It was then that the transmission cane through. 'Dhadtoudi is missing. Meet us at the markets. Bring the hounds.' T'sha're stared at the transmission for a long moment as the message sank in. He had heard rumors that a group had been forming to try to remove the soft meat from the clan, but he hadn't believed they held any validity.
T'sha're moved to release three of his tracking hounds and was about to head out when he looked over at Nracha-dte one last time. "Come, Nracha-dte." He released the locking mechanism on the creature's cage and Nracha-dte rose to his full height before stepping slowly into the open air and stretched his limbs. "It is time to repay your debt." ———————————————————————
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"Why would you bring that thing, T'sha're?" Zaiyu stared incredulously at the defective hound that was pulling hard against its chain restraint. Instead of waiting for a command like the three larger hounds, Nracha-dte was determined to go towards the fields of tall grass that served as the border to the jungle area of the planet. His incessant whines and whimpers were already driving the three Yautja to their wits end, never mind the larger hounds that had since given up on trying to correct the bad behavior with vicious snarls and powerful snaps of their jaws.
"I had doubts myself, but I feel that if any of them stand a chance at finding the soft one, it is him...stupid as he is, he always makes it known when the female is near."
"I don't think he's doing so well with the crowd." T'ahrou mused. Zaiyu trilled in agreement as he offered out Dhadtoudi's bio-mask to the three larger hounds, but the smaller one refused to take the scent marker. Just as the three larger hounds seemed to catch on to the trail, Nracha-dte snapped free of his restraint and took off for the fields, the remaining hounds trying desperately to chase after him.
"I told you he would be able to track her." T'ahrou ignored T'sha're's snide remark as he took off after the triggered animals, Zaiyu and T'sha're hot on his trail.
