Survival

My eyes were wet as I took in the amazing scenario. The new ship had contained family, two relatives that had left when I was so young so I couldn’t remember them. But they looked so familiar at the same time, and it felt right to be with them. My mother cupped my face in her hands and stared at me.

“Oh, Marion, you’re so beautiful!” she whispered as she took a step back. “And so tall! You take after your father.”

“Is father here?” Leona asked. “Eldon called for him right after your name…” Her voice was hesitant and my face fell, unsure of how to tell them.

“He was with me, but… We ran into trouble on another planet, and he died defending our group,” I managed to explain. Neither of them seemed to react too much, but I guess that wasn’t much of a surprise. It had been almost twenty years since we had last seen each other, so they had probably come to terms with the fact they’d never see me or father again.

“He was very brave. It was him who ran off our spaceship and back into the building to find you amongst the other new-borns. I already had Leona in my arms, and… our ship’s door closed before he could get back on, but I watched him get into another spaceship. I knew you two would be okay,” mother told me. “I never gave up hope that I would see you two again…”

“I think you have a good reminder of him, though. You look like him, with your lighter hair and slightly more square face,” I remarked. Leona smiled and gave a small nod.

“That’s what all of the Kasiens who knew him tell me,” she said.

“Do you have a male that we should be meeting? Leona has mated, and what a fine young male he is,” my mother spoke again. “Are those his weapons you are looking after?”

“Oh, no, these are mine,” I answered, regretting the words once they were out of my mouth. It was highly unlikely they had changed like Otto’s ship had, and their facial reactions proved that they were the same as my group. They disapproved of my male-like actions.

“Yours? What do you mean?” my mother questioned.

“Oh, are you required to aid with hunting? Are there not enough males here?” Leona suggested. “Is that why you have some tattoos too?”

“Well, I do help with hunting; I was hunting when your spaceship came down,” I replied as I shifted my weight on my feet. “But I also go and fight with the males too. So these weapons are used for both. My tattoos tell stories of war, like the males’.” I awkwardly repositioned my bow on my shoulder, feeling their judging brown eyes glaring at me.

“You can’t fight; you’re a female,” my mother stated as if I was stupid.

“Some females in this group do fight. We have skill and-”

“Do you have a mate?” my mother repeated and I hesitated.

“No, but-” I started, being cut off by a disappointing shake of her head. There was nothing wrong with not having a mate yet! Quite a few other Kasiens in my group were older than me and were still unmated! And at least I was dating someone, even if it was secret!

“Well it’s no wonder, if you behave like that!” she retorted with a gesture to my weapons. I frowned, hardly able to believe that so suddenly my own mother was rejecting me. “Females are useless if they don’t mate!”

“It doesn’t matter to me, especially because I’m contributing so much with helping our race in another way,” I countered, trying to keep my voice calm.

“I’m sure things are different here anyway,” Leona butted in, putting a hand on our mother’s shoulder. “Shall we get out of the rain now?” She led mother away to the middle cave where everyone seemed to be gathering, but I stayed where I was. The rain didn’t annoy me since I was already soaked from keeping watch. I just didn’t want to be with them. Never had I expected a family reunion, of sorts, but of course I had wanted it to go a lot better. Why did my different lifestyle always have to get in the way?

I stayed away from the celebrations and sat in the top of a tree opposite the caves, keeping guard and looking out for any humans or other threats. The rest of the Kasiens, aside from a few other warriors, were under shelter and enjoying meeting new friends. Children were running around outside or showing each other new toys while the elders watched. Everyone was full of joy, aside from me. I felt so empty. Finally I had family, but they didn’t even like me. Was I really that unlovable?

“Marion? Marion! Get down from there!” I snapped out of my depressing thoughts to see Toby standing on the ground, looking up at me.

“I’m keeping guard!” I yelled back, wanting to stay by myself doing something useful.

“You’ll get sick if you stay for any longer! Come on, someone else will take your place!” he called back. I sighed, knowing he was right, and climbed down the tree. Soon Toby put an arm around me and hurriedly led me into the single female’s cave where I slept. “Change into something dry and then come back to my cave. We need to talk.” He gave me a quick comforting rub on my arm and then left. I shuffled to the back of the cave where many clothes were kept and changed into something comfortable and warm behind the small barrier we had constructed to hide our bodies from any prying males. Once I was done, I stuck to the side of the rock and walked away from the celebrating Kasiens and into the unmated male’s cave, seeing Toby alone at the back with a fire.

“What do you want?” I asked as I sat next to him.

“I want to know why you’re so sad when you finally have family again,” Tobias answered in a low voice as he reached behind him and picked up a blanket. He wrapped me in it and pulled it tight across my front, flicking my wet hair on top of it. “I hope you’re not sick… You should have come in earlier.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not.”

“I know,” I whispered. I glanced up at Toby and saw he was waiting, so I felt safe to speak up in the empty cave. “My mother and sister don’t like me. I’m a useless female because I fight and hunt and protect our race, and because I don’t have a mate.”

“You are the most useful female I know,” he countered kindly.

“You don’t have to say that.”

“It’s true. You’ve saved a lot of lives out on the battlefield, you bring home a good amount of food each hunt, and you can still do some female tasks. Besides, quite a few of us are still unmated. You’re not outrageous or anything,” Toby countered, chuckling to himself at the end.

“I am to them. They won’t accept me for who I am. First you and the rest of the group, and now them and their group… I can’t go through this again…” I said quietly, tears starting to fall.

“Hey, you won me over, right? And almost everyone in our group has accepted you. You can do it again,” Toby reassured me as he stretched his arm across my shoulders. “Just give it some time. It’ll sort itself out.” He placed a kiss on top of my head and pulled me further into his body. His heat, the fire and the blanket made me feel a lot better, as did his sweet words. He didn’t need to say all of that, but he had. And Toby had said that I had won him over. At least that was something to be happy about.