VII

Whatever Ava was doing didn't only affect Conet. It had a strong effect on all the Jivka. They had all looked at her like my fellow hunters looked at me. Ready for orders. She had implied what she had done with Conet was considered an insult among her people. One she had not ment to make but one she had made nonetheless. The Guardians had been very curious what she had done. They knew better than to rush a new arrival all at once.

My Anima had walked with me to the dwelling without complaint. I debated walking up the ramp with her and flying us both up. Flying won. Like most of the premium dwellings mine was carved directly into the mountain. I had fought hard for the home. A home that was shockingly bare for my Anima.

She held onto me tightly. Her legs wrapped around my waist while her arms went around my neck. I feared my Anima was afraid of flying. I couldn't fault her for that considering she didn't have wings. My two brothers had found their Anima years ago. Neither female had wings. One loved flying. Whenever Jiksi had time off work you could catch the two them flying together.

As I landed on the balcony landing I noticed her eyes were silted but looking around. All Asura could handle high winds but it hadn't occurred to me her eyes might be too delicate for that. "Here we are," I said. I let her walk in first, deciding to let her explore and explain as we went. Having my Anima here and seeing my dwelling sent fear through me. It looked like and any other single males dwelling. Smooth bare walls with minimal anything.

"Any furniture or decorations you want to add you may. Vinci can help with anything that takes more delicate details." The cave was completely bare. She went from one empty room to the next. The rooms closer to the entrance were ment to be gathering rooms for when she had other females over. As the Great Hunter's Anima any she chose to associate with would have higher status.

Almost every female would stop by to see what she had done with the place eventually. All of them would give her a couple weeks to get settled and start the process of making the dwelling hers. The biggest restroom was ours. The first two rooms served almost no purpose until a mate moved in. The third room was where our Restroom was.

The room left plenty of room for my continued growth. Drake Asura never stopped growing. She walked into that room where the others she had only glanced in. In the center of the room was a large sunken circle. The entire bottom of which was lined with heating plates. They were in rest mode for now.

"This is our restroom," I said. Which she laughed at.

"I think our idea of restrooms is different big guy," she said laying her hand on one of the heat plates. "Although these tiles would make blankets unnecessary."

"Do human have a different definition of restroom?" She began to walk toward my chest with drawers. "It holds my adornments. Vinci is making one for you now. It should be ready by tomorrow."

She looked towards me, while she ran her fingers over the top of the chest she didn't open any of the drawers. "A rest room for humans is where we... release waste. This here is what what call we would call a bed room as we normally sleep in beds. For humans with better status and money our rest rooms are called shower or bath rooms. Bath rooms being the ones with the highest status. Humans have to wash fairly regularly at least once a week although more is preferable. The lowest ranked human have washrooms." Her nose scrunched up in disgust. Whatever a washroom was I would make sure not to do so.

I never would have thought that a single room in human households showed status. Considering what she said about washing it made since that a family unit would have such a room in the home. I would make sure she received one.

"So Bathrooms are status symbols for humans."

She nodded walking toward me, "All rooms that humans may have an outsider in are a symbol in status. Actually anything that is shown to outsiders for any reason are a status show. Be it clothes, house, or Kira... Well for you it would be Jivka instead of Kira."

"Did you have a Kira?" If her people had a beast similar to our Jivka then it must have hurt her to leave it behind.

She smiled up at me. There was something sad about that smile. "No, I never had a Kira." She walked past me into the hall and on to the next room. Something about her walking away from me hurt. She seemed so much smaller. Even smaller than when she had stood before me during the ceremony. The way she was walking made me feel lonely.

"Kira were considered important?" I questioned. My dwelling had the two empty rooms towards the front and nearly a dozen at the back. I had always wanted a large family with five or more younglings. I wondered how long my Anima would take before she wished for the first one. Right now I had to stay focused on convincing her to stay.

Even so I was hit with a pang of longing. Would they have my coloring or her golden tone? Would they have scales like me? Be tail less? I was pleased to realize I didn't mind the idea of them looking like her. I found myself hoping they looked like her. Another dozen of my Anima running around the dwelling would be an overload of cuteness and beauty when I came home.

"Kira are the foundation of human warriors on Ethem, my home world. I was five when my family realized I had the mental strength to ride and command the Kira.

I really am sorry for linking with Conet. Normally it's not a problem for couples to link with their partners Kira but it is considered impolite to do so without asking first. I hadn't meant to disrupt the entire group where the Jivka stay. I was only trying to say hello to them and they were so focused on me." She was looking at me head on now. Her attention solely on me. Her brows where drawn down.

"I do not mind that you linked with Conet. I do not know what linking is though. Or why a warrior who would need a Kira to be considered a Warrior never received one." I had set her bag down back in the restroom.

"Humans, well some of us are able to use low latencies of Telepathy. It varies from person to person. Those with strong potential to be warriors are those capable of communicating in feeling or images," I felt my eyes widen, "Warrior families are common as Warrior parents have a better chance of having Warrior children. I was a mistake though. My mother had declared she was done having children as she had provided her assigned mate with enough to safely continue the line and legacy.

As she had done her duty she was free to seek the pleasure of the males she had actually wanted. I was raised by my Father but he does not share my blood. Officially I am not part of the family, as such I do not share in the family blessings. I was treated well enough while I was younger but once we realized I was subconsciously linking with the Kira my family bred and raised..." she trailed off. "I was deemed a threat to my older siblings position and was denied training and the Kira my strength should have afforded me."

"Simply because as a child you did something you had no control over?"

"The average child will start linking when they are ten, around the start of puberty. The younger a child is when their ability shows... the stronger they are. I do not share my father's blood so I would be a threat to all of his children."

"So you are stronger. Should you not have been protected by the rest of the Clan?" I was angry at what she was implying.

"I was a threat to everyone's children. A strong child needs more resources to grow properly. The stronger the Telepathy the bigger the pack we can control. Given what I know I would not have been riding any old Kira. I would have needed Kegan to reach my full potential."

She had been pushed down for years! For what? To keep the order? Such a thing was unheard of here among the Asura. If we could tell a child would be stronger from a young age the whole clan would see that child grew to his or her full potential no questions asked. I would have to speak with the elders to see if we could fix this. She seemed shocked that I was angry. Instead of saying anything she continued looking around.

"Please do not be upset by how it looks now. A barren dwelling is typical for an unmated Asura male. We normally spend months or years courting a female, decorating the nest as we do. For now we will get you the essentials so you'll be comfortable."