Kausmak
KausmakAmaurai's Will With the sun on her back, Anea trecked through the paved neighborhoods of Tunai which were nearly vacant. It was the time of day when most were in the town buying and selling and socialising so for the time being, she was in peace and safe from being trampled by tall reptilian natives, the Tanauk. As she passed each home which strongly resembled Earths 'super adobes', she wondered what the inhabitants were like. She passed one where an older Tanauk woman was sitting in a chair out on the grassy strip in front of the home. The woman nodded to Anea and she returned it before realizing she'd done it. A small, short furred animal paced along the inside of the fence that surrounded the grassy strip but didn't utter a sound like a yappy Earth dog would have. It watched her go and she tried not to let it's freaky stare get to her. She shuffled onwards towards the town no longer bothered by the dirt and leaves that blew onto the paved road and stuck to her feet. She'd worn sandals her first week there but quickly learned they were too loud and disruptive with the way they smacked on the ground, even when she walked among the giant reptiles with their hoof-like toes. In time her feet would become rough and callused and even small rocks wouldn't bother her. It was nice knowing she could be so lax with her feet and nobody would care. None of the Tanauk wore shoes and they certainly didn't need them as an Ostrich would have a look at their feet and declare them to be rough and ugly. They aren't so awful but did resemble the feet of Tapirs but covered in rough bumpy skin. She neared the Fifth ring of the town which was arranged in rings like a giant ripple. The innermost ring was where the leaders converged with the citizens, a town hall if you will, with public service buildings making up the rest of the ring. The very center varied town to town, city to city. Tunai had an oasis in it's center complete with lush grass, tall trees and a 'man'-made spring which flowed down the hill into a pond where it was sucked back up to the top and was open to the citizens for swimming. The second ring was where the shops were, most of which privately owned with one or a couple of shops you could find in another town. The third ring was comprised of restaurants, the fourth was made up of services like home repair or gardeners and the like. The outermost ring was made up of recreational locations. As she got closer to the outermost ring, she could hear children laughing and playing on the playground near one of the entrances into town. For a moment, she stopped and watched the children play and parents socialize. She searched the faces for
anything new but they were all Tanauk. As far as she knew, she was the only non-native in town. Anea then moved on towards the second ring without stopping. The crowded street was almost too much for Anea to handle. If not for the fact most of the people on it were cold blooded, she might have already given up. She didn't really care about how desperately she needed groceries, they could wait until the much cooler evening but the only reason she was even out when she was, was because she was meeting up with a friend, a native to the planet, to pick up a few things. The tall reptilian aliens, though she was truly the alien, hardly seem to notice her as they passed. A few ran into her but did apologize. She returned the apology and stumbled along the best she could but she was massively relieved when she reached the entrance to her friends shop. She stepped in was instantly enveloped in near silence as well as the powerful smell of freshly harvested vegetables. Glad to finally be somewhere quiet and somewhat empty, she wandered between the isles slowly looking at each bin as she passed. She recognized only a few of them and knew how to cook even fewer. She was shifting a radish like thing between her hands when her friend, Noekakatu, called to her from behind the counter. She hefted a crate onto the countertop, "Anea! Hey, glad you made it. I was beginning to think you got trampled." She laughed stiffly and put the veggie down, "Well if I had been, I might have decomposed before everybody got done apologizing." Noekakatu rolled her eyes harmlessly, "You'll get used to it. Probably start doing it too." "I think I already have and I've only been here half-a month." She said then stopped before the counter. "Is this it? she asked, pointing to the crate. "Yep. There are three of each but once they start growing, you'll have more than enough." Noekakatu said and lifted the cloth fro over the lumpy contents. Anea stood on her tip-toes and peered in to see rough, brown round things with long leaves sprouting from the top, football sized yellowy-orange things wrapped in its own lettuce like leaves and long, smooth brown things that resembled the fruit of a Kigelia, or, 'sausage tree' but with black bumps all over it. "Great. Should probably learn how to cook these." Anea said as she picked up the block-bumped veggie. Noekakatu picked one up as well, "Well first and foremost, you have to peel these. The black bumps are toxic when eaten but if mixed with powdered Unguja, makes a really good sealant." Anea pulled her lips taught and placed the vegetable back with the others. "I dunno if I wanna eat something that makes sealant." To that, Noekakatu laughed. "I'll show you and you can try it. It's pretty good so I wouldn't want you to hate it before you even got to taste it." Before Anea could respond and wearily
accept her friends offer, the door opened again and a young male entered. Noekakatu greeted him and they began to chatter in their native tongue. Anea quietly drifted away from the counter to look at a few bowls of seeds but wasn't able to yet read the labels. She hadn't fully learned the native tongue or read it so a part of her having become such good friends with Noekakatu was her ability to speak Omnilingua which started out as a kind of pidgin when Earth humans first made contact with species of other planets and morphed over time becoming a sort of 'space portuguese'. When she turned, Noekakatu and the male had disappeared but the swinging curtain made it clear that they went to the back. For a moment she looked, unsure of what to think or assume. Surely it wasn't as bad as she thought, she was probably just being perverted, right? She knew Noekakatu had a mate, thus the 'katu' at the end of her name, and that male wasn't him. She said and did nothing and simply tried to read the labels the beast she could. Moments later, the door opened again and in came Amaukatu. He looked around briefly then spotted Anea and approached. "Hello Anea, Noeka is where?" he asked, his attempt at Omnilingua was rough but better than it had been. Hesitantly, she turned and pointed just as Noeka exited with the male. Anea expected Amaukatu to be confused or agitated but he looked pleased to see her as well as the other male. They chattered in Katayo for a moment then Amaukatu and the other male departed either together or just at the same time. When they were alone Anea turned to her and asked, "He wasn't suspicious that you were in back with another male?" Noekakatu stared for a second, surprised seemingly, then laughed, "No, not at all. It's different here than Earth." She replied while they returned to the counter. "That male, Onokatu, is my mates younger brother." She began, the Katu made it seem obvious to Anea that he and Amaukatu were related in some way. "Ono can smell Amaus scent on me so even if he were a complete stranger he would have known that I have a mate and not to try anything funny." Anea leaned on the counter and glanced at the door. She hadn't gotten to learn about this part of their lives and wanted to know more and so didn't want some customer to interrupt. "Do males always...stand down from you guys?" Noekakatu shook her head. "Very bold males..bulls, they'll make advances even if a female wreaks of a recent mating. Or if they're desperate but males don't usually get that desperate unless the female is in season." she said matter-of-factly. Anea was blushing slightly trying not to think of some guy hitting on Noekakatu or Noekakatu and Amaukatu mating. She wouldn't admit it, but it was somewhat difficult to keep Amaukatu out of her mind like that. Part of the reason she chose Kalaan was because she found the males, Tanauk, Akaun and Azuralu,
strangely attractive. Amaukatu was no except but she knew very well that he was off limits, even in her mind. She figured her loyalty to her friend was sufficiently strong since the deity hadn't intervened and so must know that Anea was no threat to her friends bondship. "What happens if a females mate finds out" Noekakatu leaned on the counter with her weight on one of her four arms. The second pair beneath the weight bearing arm relaxed on the counters surface while the first arm on the other side rested on her hip, the one below it reached across her body to rest on the counter as well. "Used to be the males would fight but that was ages ago. Now they just sorta..talk it out. It could escalate to a fight for any number of reasons and it's not uncommon, especially if she's in season or if the other has been making advances repeatedly." Anea nodded and pulled her lips taught again. She wondered if Noeka could tell she was thinking about Tanauk males fighting and what that might look like. The idea of males fighting over her made her want to giggle but she forced it down and looked out the door pretending to have seen somebody coming in. After a moment of silence, Anea turned and grabbed the crate, "Well, I'd better get going. I've got more stuff to buy." "Where are you going to put it when your hands are full with that crate?" Noekakatu asked. Anea looked down at it then shrugged, "I'm just getting small things. They'll fit into the crate and these veggies aren't already heavy anyway." "Well, alright. See you later." she said then laughed again slightly and Anea knew why. The expression didn't make much sense to them because it sounded more like it was implying they were going to have a vision about the other person that took place in the future when humans use it simply to say that they anticipate or plan on running into or meeting up with that person again later. Anea nodded then turned to leave. Lucky for her, the door could be pushed open to exit which made sense considering customers were more likely to have their hands full going on than in. It took a moment for her to find a break in the stream of pedestrians and when she did, she immediately felt overwhelmed and lost again. She looked around for the nearest sufficiently vacant ally to cut through to get to the third ring which would be a little less crowded but was between her and the fourth ring which would be basically open and mostly free of pedestrians. She was so focused on finding and escape route that she hadn't noticed that the stream had diverged. She continued to walk until her crate rammed into her chest and the force knocked her off balance. She couldn't wheel her arms to catch her balance so she only stumbled back a step before falling, the veggies tumbling over her face and onto the ground around her. For a moment she was slightly shocked but she came to quickly
and looked up to see who she had run into. She gripped the crate tighter when she realized this Tanauk wasn't like the rest. They certainly were not dressed like the others at least. She realized then that a small crowd now was watching as other reluctantly continued on around them clearly wanting to see what was about to happen. She looked back up at the tall figure but the sun wouldn't' allow her to see their face and what it was they were feeling. "S-sorry! I'm sorry I wasn't watching-" She began but stopped when the figure suddenly knelt before her. She then got a look at their face and a chill ran down her spine. They were evidently a somewhat young male Tanauk but their face was dusted white and they had deep red-brown marks around their eyes trailing down either side of their nose, two smaller marks running down their forehead and stopping between their eyes and the same marks running beneath their cheekbones as if to emphasize or dramatize them. Even darker lines ran from the bottom apex of their eyes to their cheekbone and up from the middle of the length of his jaw. What really caught her eyes, though, were the two sets of silvery studs on each side of the bridge of his nose. He also had two pairs of bony nubs growing on his chin which was typical for Tanauk males but like Amaukatu and Onokautu, he wasn't yet growing the pointed, bony growths from the temporal part of his skull She froze, scared and embarrassed. He suddenly extended his hand which she saw was generously decorated with bracelets of all sorts and his fingers with rings. His long claw like nails were typical of his hand but made her uneasy anyway. She had to almost peel her hand from the create which squeaked from the sudden lack of pressure and slowly extended her hand. He nodded once, assuringly and she sat up so she could better hoist herself to her feet. The moment their hands locked, their palms pressed together, she felt his grip lessen for a split second but then return. All the while she had been looking at his face which changed expressions at that very moment. Just as briefly as his faltering grip, his eyes widened and the corners of his mouth turned down but in a blink he looked off to the side and helped her up to her feet. She tried again to apologize, "I'm very sorry if I hurt you-" He looked directly at her and spoke but the sound of his voice took her so off guard that she didnt' quite catch what he said. She did know that it was not Omnilingua. He took back his hand and bowed his head, his stare having long since left her, and he quickly departed. Anea stood with the crate in one arm and her other hand still slightly extended. She was confused as hell but also very embarrassed and was sure had accidentally insulted a very important figure. She snapped back to reality again and glanced around to find that they were all still looking, but now they seemed more surprised. She
held the crate against herself having forgotten her vegetables, and was frozen in place. She opened her mouth but didn't know what to say. Should she ask what happened? Who he was? What she'd done? She uttered a helpless stammer but but saved from further embarrassment when Noekakatu appeared beside her with some of the veggies in her hands. She quickly dropped them into the crate and gathered up the reset all the while hurriedly speaking to the crowd in Kalaan. She practically shoved Anea through the crowd but said nothing for the long fifteen minutes back to Aneas home. Once they were inside, Noekakatu grabbed the crate and set it on the counter then ushered Anea to the couch in the living space. For a long moment, Noekakatu said nothing but just looked at Anea with her hands over much of her face. Anea couldn't tell just how deep in shit she was. Finally Noekakatu spoke as she shook her head. "Only been here a month and already-" She broke up, clearly stopping herself upon realizing that what she was going to say could have come off worse than she meant it to. "What? What did I do? I didn't just earn a death sentence by running into like..the king or something..did I?" Noekakatu shook her head quickly then sat opposite to Anea. "Nono, you know we don't have kings. That was a Shaman. Well...a novice shaman but a Shaman none the less. " Knowing just how significant they were to the Tanauk, Aneas stomach dropped into her gut. "Oh no..Is your deity mad at me now?" Her friend just exhaled and paused before saying, "I don't know, but his reaction to you was..strange. We all saw it though he tried to cover it up." They both were quiet for a moment then Anea spoke up, "How will I know if I've done something wrong? Can I redeem myself if I did?" Again, Noekakatu shook her head and her own lips were pulled taught. "I don't know but somebody has to have the answers and I figure somebody is going to give them to you or explain, especially after something like that." Anea pulled her knees to her chest and looked through the window leading into the street half expecting to see some soldiers coming for her, but it was just about empty save for a Tanauk youngster scraping at something on the street. "Just...stay here where they can find you. Don't worry, they're not going to march in here and execute you, that's not how we do things here. Most likely they'll take you somewhere to explain or will explain it to you here. Stay calm, don't leave, and if they allow it, let me know what they say, okay? I gotta get back to the store, Amau is there watching it" Anea nodded and Noeka hugged her reassuringly before quickly exiting. For the rest of the day Anea couldn't focus on anything and found herself zoning out, mostly through the window. When she came-to, she realized she'd been having a strange feeling like a presence
during her zone-outs. Fearful for her well being, she crossed the living space to a small, opalescent crystal mounted in smooth stone and shakily touched her fingers to it. She instantly felt it warm beneath her touch but only where her skin met the ordinarily cool crystal. "I'm sorry for whatever disgrace I brought upon the Shaman..I should have been watching where I was going! Please, if I did anything to-" she began but stopped when she felt a wave of warmth and calmness wash over her. She gazed at the crystal then lifted her fingers away when the feeling began to subside. Without another word, she backed to the couch,climbed onto it, then promptly fell asleep.