Survival

The new ship’s Kasiens had settled in nicely. Things were a bit cramped now, but some males were working on building new shelters to help alleviate the pressure. The new Kasiens were very helpful though, always offering to do chores, to aid in the hunts, to watch the children, and many other little things that were beneficial. The only times I saw my mother and sister was when Tobias would force me to sit with them and talk to them over a meal. He was certain that time would bring us together, and that we just needed to adjust to suddenly having each other. I really hoped he was right.

A bit of time passed, and resources started to dwindle. The constant fish supply we had was becoming considerably smaller, and barely any plants were available for eating because of the cold weather that they couldn’t thrive in. We were also taking too many animals from the land. Their herds were considerably smaller, and were avoiding the usual meadow that we hunted them in. We started travelling to nearby islands to get our food, and started limiting the size of the portions everyone got. Sometimes it didn’t seem worth it. In my opinion, all of the energy expended flying to another island, hunting, and taking the animal back to our caves, was not compensated by eating the animal. We were better off not going, but Tobias didn’t see it like that. The group needed food and nutrition, so that’s what he provided.

We even started going to battle again. They were multiple day journeys, consisting of one to go back to our original spaceship, another to fly to the humans and fight them, then another of resting at the old spaceship and then flying back to our new home. We’d bring back any supplies that we could, but there wasn’t much left to scavenge. The humans appeared surprised to see us back so soon, but they still fought back well and took a few lives. There was damage done to their ship and population too, but sometimes it felt like we were making little progress and suffering the most. Things weren’t looking good for us. I didn’t know how we were going to survive for much longer.

Just when I was really concerned for our existence, things became worse. Adara gave birth. After being in labour for a whole day, her daughter was finally born and was healthy. But that meant that we needed more supplies. Adara needed to be kept well fed and warm, and so did her child. Everything seemed to be getting dedicated to them, and others were becoming skinnier, hungrier, and more upset. Not to mention there was a screaming baby at times throughout the night, so we were also becoming tired. I had hunted a turkey with my bow and arrow, so brought it back to camp and went straight to the cave that Adara lived in.

“Marion, you shouldn’t have…” she smiled while cradling her baby. I set the bird down by her fire and gave a casual shrug.

“It’s all right. You need it,” I replied honestly. Even though I was hungry, it felt good to be doing something beneficial.

“Would you mind looking after Leta for me? Loukas is sick of babysitting, and me and my mate just need a break,” Adara sighed.

“Oh, well, I guess I could. What do I do with her?” I asked, really uncertain. I had never handled a child before, and hardly ever watched other females when they had children.

“Just hold her outside, let her get some sun and fresh air. She was recently fed, so should be pretty quiet,” Adara informed me as she held out her arms. I scooped up her baby and got her comfortable in my cradling arms. Adara gave me an encouraging smile, so I walked out and left her to cook the turkey and have some peace and quiet. Once outside, I headed over to a secluded spot around the corner of the caves. It was near the fishing spot where there was a large group. Some males were fishing, and some females were enjoying the sun and doing craftsmanship. I took a seat on a rock and looked down at the baby, watching her move her arms slowly and try to look around. She was so cute! I smiled at Leta, watching her stare out at the trees to her left.

I really admired Adara. She had obviously contributed to our race like a female ‘should’ by having a child, but she also was a skilled warrior. I didn’t know how she did it. Obviously actually having a mate helped a lot, and she was a bit older than me, but otherwise we were pretty much the same. We had a huge desire to fight and to not be a typical female who did chores. She was such a strong Kasien, and yet, she had produced something so wonderful: a baby. I wondered if I could ever do something like that. Could I ever be someone who was a strong defender, but who could still have a family? Just the thought of family made my stomach sink, so I focused my attention back onto Adara’s child.

Leta was now gazing up at me, seemingly mesmerised by something. I smiled and touched her hand, causing her to grasp onto one of my fingers with all of her might. It took me a while to get her to let go, but eventually she did and she laughed. Leta continued to make soft noises as she played with my fingers, clearly enjoying herself. She was such a sweetie. Never had I liked a baby so much. Either this was one special, or I had grown up. As soon as I had thought that, I noticed she was just staring at me.

“What are you looking at?” I asked the baby, making her giggle at me. Her tiny hands came up to my face, so I leaned down and let her grab my nose. She burst into a fit of laughter and let go of me, so I sat back up straight, noticing there was someone on my right. I looked up and saw Toby beaming at me.

“Having fun?” he asked with a chuckle, making me smile back.

“More than I thought I would be,” I admitted, seeing he was holding a bag with fish in it. “How much did everyone catch?”

“Just this, unfortunately. It’s not enough,” he sighed, taking a seat next to me. “A lot of it will go towards feeding that little monster as well, so I think a few of us will be going hungry tonight…”

“That’s awful,” I whispered, looking back down at the so-called monster. I wondered if I would be one of those who wouldn’t be able to eat as much. Lately I was very hungry, probably because I was doing a lot of work. “She’s not a monster, you know. She’s gorgeous and fun.”

“You’re just saying that because she stole your nose before,” Toby said. We laughed for a bit before I fell silent and watched Leta again.

“I like her. I never thought I’d like a baby so much, but I do,” I admitted, hoping he might understand to some degree.

“That’s very nice to hear. What happened to your un-female-like attitude?” he asked with a slight tease in his voice.

“It’s still there… I’m not against all female stuff, I just wanted to fight,” I explained with a shrug. “This is a nice female thing.”

“I agree. When I have a child, I want to spend a lot of time with them,” Toby said, also watching Leta. When he has a child… So he definitely wants one, and he wants to be with me, so it would be our child… I smiled, liking the sound of that. It made my stomach flutter. Then I realised what we’d have to do before we had a child. We’d actually have to mate. I would have to be romantic with someone who had been my friend for my whole life. I didn’t know if the thought was exciting or weird. I couldn’t think any more about it because Toby kissed my cheek as he put his arm around me. I straightaway felt worried. There were many other Kasiens so close to us; surely one of them had spotted that suspicious behaviour!

“Toby! What if someone saw that?” I gasped. He just chuckled and repeated the action.

“I don’t care…” Toby whispered, staring at me with a massive smile.