Part 8

They carried the supplies to Tira's den, and were re-joined there by Naz. The rest of the day was a traveling hunting class. Menak taught perhaps half the time, Tira a quarter, and Jena a quarter, though Naz and the children were encouraged to offer their thoughts to every discussion. Naz, Menak, and Tira carried most of the game, and the work was accomplished quickly. Jena managed to make more than half the kills, and the rest made about equal contributions.

As night was falling they were bagging an old lone wolf and an adolescent goat that Jena had killed. The wolf had been stalking the goat, and neither had been aware that Jena was stalking them both until the wolf made his rush and closed his jaws on the goat. At that moment Jena had leaped out of a nearby bush and killed them both with two clean strokes. Because it was a continuing hunt, congratulations were offered in hand signs and in the near-silent whispers of a hunting party, as were all conversations thereafter.

"How do you do it?" Pina asked Jena as they loaded the bagged kills onto Menak's and Naz's packs.

"How do you mean?" Jena returned.

"I mean ... Well, take no offense when I say that Menak and Tira both obviously know much more about hunting than you..."

"None taken." was Jena's giggled whisper.

"But still," Pina continued, "You are obviously a better hunter than either of them. Especially your stealth, it is so beautiful! I do not see how you manage to disappear into the plants like that, or why the animals do not notice you!"

"Hm. I do not like to boast, or to give my secrets away." Jena mused. "Menak, why do you think I am so successful at the hunt?"

"Well Pina, Jena is good at seeing where the vegetation is thick enough to hide her, she has a knack for seeing the path of least resistance through that vegetation, and of minimizing the sound and disturbance of the plants caused by her passage. Compared to all of us except Tika, she is very small, which helps to minimize the evidence of her movement. She is very good at using the motion of the plants when they are pushed by the wind, moving when the plants around her are blown in the same direction she is moving, and pausing when they are not. This fools the animals' ability to detect her motion out of the corner of their eye. She watches her prey closely and constantly, viewing the ground ahead of her in her peripheral vision and testing it by feel, and moves faster when her prey is looking away. She is good at predicting the movement of her prey, and at stalking to where if is going to be, rather than to where it is. Her strikes are perfectly timed and almost perfectly accurate.

"Have I left anything out, Jena?" Menak finished.

Jena grinned, and almost laughed. "I have a secret. Pina, smell me."

Pina moved closer, carefully scenting the air with her eyes almost closed.

"I smell nothing unusual."

"Are you sure?" Jena smiled. "Take a good reading of my scent, I do not mind."

Pina closed her eyes, slowly leaning toward the older girl, breathing slowly in through her nose and blowing her exhalations quickly down through pursed lips, until her nose touched Jena's forehead.

"Sorry." Pina said as she leaned back and opened her eyes. "Still, I do not smell it."

Raz stood close to Jena and asked; "May I?"

"Yes."

He gently took her by the shoulders and turned her into the moonlight. Though two and a half years younger, he was half a head taller than Jena, and as she looked up at him her face was fully illuminated by the moon. He slowly leaned toward her, breathing cyclically as his sister had done to maximize the scent, until their faces were an inch away. His eyes remained open, and he observed her closely.

"Open your mouth." he whispered.

She did.

"No, I am sorry. I mean breath in and out through your mouth, please." he asked.

She did, and he leaned even closer, till their mouths were only half an inch apart.

Suddenly her heart hammered in her chest as she thought that he meant to kiss her, and that she very much wanted him to do so. She was almost about to lean forward the half inch that separated them when he moved to the side, scenting her neck, her ear. His nose and lips were not quite touching her, his breath warm against her skin. His scent was strong in her nostrils.

He lifted his hands from her shoulders and gently took her head in his hands, tilting it down and toward him. Her hands reflexively rose to his chest to keep her balance, as he nuzzled her hair and scalp.

He straightened her up, letting his hands slide softly down her shoulders and arms. He made a slight lifting motion with his thumbs inside her elbows, and she lifted her arms. He crouched a bit and scented her left armpit for a few seconds, moved slowly over her chest, and lingered over her right armpit for over half a minute, then licked it, his tongue broad and flat, with an upward stroke that covered her entire armpit. She shivered a bit, and he closed his eyes as he thought about her taste.

He went to one knee, placed his left hand inside her right knee, and gently lifted her leg high. She gave a little yelp of surprise and grabbed him by the head and shoulder to steady herself, and hopped a bit on her left leg till she had her balance. Jena's breathing was a little jerky as Raz carefully scented her vagina and anus.

Jena suddenly realized that the entire party was silently watching this performance, and that Pina was smirking. For the first time in a life spent without clothing, Jena suddenly felt naked. Her heart was hammering in her chest so loud she was sure everyone there must be able to hear it.

Raz lowered her leg and stood up. Jena kept her hands on his shoulders, her gaze lowered.

"She has no scent." Raz stated, firmly but quietly. "None at all. My nose is not the best in the zone, but it is pretty good, and I tell you a wolf could not scent her from downwind and ten feet away. It is a tremendous Gift." There were quiet murmurs of comprehension from the group.

He began to turn away, but Jena quickly embraced him tightly, her chin on his shoulder, making a quick, desperate sounding yelp. Her face was a storm of emotion and confusion, whereas his held only confusion. Jena caught Pina's gaze, found understanding there, and silently pleaded.

"He is not doing it on purpose." Pina whispered, with a shrug and a rolling of eyes that indicated the magnitude of her brother's foolishness. "He has scented you like you were a valuable specimen, and he does not understand at all."

Some understanding dawned in Jena's eyes, and she gave Pina a quick nod.

"Wha..." Raz began, his arms trapped at his sides by Jena's desperate embrace.

"Raz." Jena whispered tightly, cutting him off. "You feel like a man to me. And you smell like a man. And ... And you have made me sexually aroused."

"Oh." Raz said stupidly, in the moment before her words had penetrated his brain. Then understanding dawned, bringing new confusion.

Jena's arms relaxed their grip on him a bit, and she began rubbing her knees together a little.

Raz's hands slowly went around her waist, and he suddenly realized how good she felt in his arms. So small and soft and warm, shivering slightly beneath his hands, her hair against his cheek, her round little breasts pressed to his chest, her hard little nipples almost scratching him. He let his hands slide down onto her bum, and he was amazed how wonderful it felt. The softness of her tummy was making a little rubbing motion against his...

Suddenly he pulled his hips back six inches, and out of contact with Jela.

"I..." he whispered, and choked up a bit. He swallowed, and tried again. "Now I am sexually aroused as well, I think. But I am nine, I have not reached puberty..."

"My son," Naz whispered from beside him. "Jena's puberty is powerfully upon her, and her sexuality is on a hair trigger. Though you did not plan it, your scenting of her gave her a series of sensations that would arouse almost any woman. She is also giving a powerfully pleasurable series of triggering stimulations to you right now, and she has awakened your latent sexual instincts, though you have not reached puberty. As well, you are big for your age, and are closer to puberty than most your age."

"Naz, could he, just, touch me, a little? Please?" Jena breathed, sounding like she was on the verge of crying. She had used a firm pressure on Raz's back to urge him to straighten, and resume pelvic contact with her, but she was careful not to rub against him.

"What do you think, my son?" Naz whispered.

"Naz-Father," Raz stammered, "She is so ... beautiful, and, I just want to ... to do the right thing."

"Honorably spoken. It is early for your first sexual experience, but it has already begun. The instincts are awakened in you both, and it would be best if they were allowed to fully run their natural course, in a healthy manner.

"We will give you some privacy for thirty minutes. We have an instinct to seek an isolated, safe place for sexual pleasure, because we are so vulnerable to being hunted while we are being sexual. This place is isolated, but not safe, so we will form a perimeter to ensure your safety.

"You will not penetrate each other, either vaginally or anally, and do not cheat on this rule even by so much as a fingertip. You have worlds of pleasure available to you with kissing and caressing and other forms of body contact. You must both promise to be gentle to each other, and to do nothing that could cause pain.

"Would you like some quick tips on technique before we leave you?"

"No thank you, Naz." Jena answered quickly, her voice a little steadier. "I know enough, and the instinct will guide us."

"Ah. I think it will." Naz said, smiling in the moonlight.

As he and the others turned and began fading into the forest, Jena whispered; "Naz, all of you, thank you."

"Yes, thank you." Raz added.

The others waved and smiled in response, and as they were left alone Jena finally took her chin from Raz's shoulder and kissed him, softly and hesitantly, but fully. He returned it, and they slowly sank to the soft, mossy blanket of life that was the forest floor.

Thirty-seven minutes later, Raz's text message scrolled across the others' screens, saying that he and Jena were ready to go.

Naz's returning message said that they'd finished hunting this area, and that they would now make their way silently back to Tira's den, while keeping their present spacing constant by monitoring their relative positions on screen.

Tika flashed, asking if she and Pina could close the circle a bit and come back together. That was granted, provided that they maintained relative silence, which meant that they would have to cup the other's ear with their hand and whisper directly into it if they wanted to talk.

Raz and Jena realized it was excellent group hunting training, and also a considerate way to provide them some more privacy on the way back.

It was seen on the screens of the group as they crept through the forest that Tika and Pina stalked a little faster than the rest, then paused as they whispered in each other's ear for a few moments, then hurried on to catch up and get ahead to do it again.

Raz and Jena lagged behind consistently, as they were stalking through the jungle together while holding hands. When they were close to the clearing their course intersected the path, and it was no longer necessary to be as stealthy. Their fingers still entwined, Jena walked leaning against him and smiling, and seeming half asleep. Raz asked if he could carry her, and at her assent he picked her up in his arms like an infant, surprised at how light she felt.

They were the last to arrive at the firepit. Tika and Menak were setting up the spit, while Naz and Tira decided which of their prey would be kept for their consumption, and which taken to the trading post.

Raz walked over to the spit, enjoying the warm wash of infrared against his legs that the stoves gave off.

"Do you want to put me down, or sit down?" Jena asked sleepily.

"No thank you." Raz murmured. "This feels so beautiful." He rocked her from side to side a bit and smiled down at her, cradled in the circle of his arms, her cheek snuggled against his chest. "You are so soft, and so warm, and you seem so trusting of me. It makes me feel very protective of you. And you feel so small and light, being able to hold you this easily makes me feel powerful, like I were a man."

"Mmmm ... You do feel like a man." she crooned, rubbing her palm over his flexed pectoral muscle.

Pina approached them, smiled, and checked their expressions. Their smiles were open and easy, Raz's bright, and Jena's sleepy.

"Well done." Pina told them. She gave them each a kiss on the cheek, hugged them both, and went to help with dinner preparations.

Finally Raz began to tire, and he sat on one of the logs, Jena seeming asleep in his arms.

When there was no more to do except wait for the food to finish cooking, everyone gathered around the logs.

"I take it things went well between you and Jena, my son." Naz said with a warm smile. "Would you feel comfortable talking about it?"

"Hey, Beautiful..." Raz murmured down at Jena.

"I am not asleep, just very relaxed, and feeling very beautiful, and safe, and warm. You can tell them if you wish." Jena murmured with a sleepy smile, her eyes still closed.

Raz smiled down at her for a few more seconds before looking around at the smiles of the group.

"After you left we lay down and kissed, and we ... caressed one another intimately, and that was as intense and pleasurable an experience as we felt we wanted. I think it was even better for her than for me, but I doubt that will be so when I have fully reached puberty. And I think that is all I will say about that.

"Then, when our time was up, it did not feel right to just stand up and go, so we just kissed and cuddled for a few minutes till she had her breath back. Then she washed me down and dried me with water and cloths from her pack, and it felt so nice, I had to do the same for her. That is why we were late. Sorry. Next time, I will have to allow time in the schedule for after-play and washing."

"We live and learn, my son, and I think you have both had a good experience. Your thinking about the state of your sexual development is wise as well. For now, enjoy what feels enjoyable, and do not rush the rest. You are a big husky boy, and your type usually enters puberty early, but you likely have at least another year and a half before you do."

"Hm. I could find out." Raz mused.

"You could find out what?" Naz inquired after a moment.

"I could learn, with a fair degree of accuracy, exactly when I will enter each stage of physical puberty and adulthood, or how tall I will be at any given stage of my life, or how much I will weigh. I can have a picture made that could show me almost exactly what I will look like when I am sixty, or one hundred years old. There are physical development labs that specialize in learning such things. The biology of it is not difficult, given the necessary database and equipment."

"I need to know that!" Tika called out suddenly. "I mean, I do not need to know what I will look like when I am old, that is just weird! But I need to know when I will reach puberty, and how big I will be when I do, and I need to know when I will reach adulthood, and how big I will be then! And I need to know if I will lose my Gift!!!" she shouted, shaking in her agitation.

"Yes, I wish to know these things about myself as well." Jena said, coming fully awake in Raz's arms.

"I do as well, but we should be careful." Pina said. "The Meds we have visited do no genetic work. But the tech world has its own dangers. Once you allow yourself to be genetically analyzed, your code is known. Biologically active substances can be made that only affect you, and they can be either beneficial or harmful. And you can be cloned. If your code is stolen, you can be cloned without your knowledge, and it has been known to happen. Your genetic existence becomes dependant on the honor and security of your genetics lab, and most techs guard their genetic information carefully."

"But I need to know!" Tika repeated insistently.

"Raz, how would this process be done?" Tira asked.

"Well, first we order the process, grant the necessary permissions, and pay the credits such a service will cost. Then our growth and medical records and samples of our blood would be sent from our local med to the development lab we have chosen. They would perform the analysis, and report their results to us by encrypted dedicated downlink. If we wished, they would then either return our samples and analyses to us, or destroy them. The whole process should not take more than three hours."

"Hmm. I think we should do this." Tira stated. "But we should get Davdan to arrange it for us."

That is wise." Naz agreed, and Menak nodded his approval.

"Tika, I do not want to get your hopes up too much, my friend." Pina said with a gentle smile. "Growth and puberty are well understood, but wild talents like yours are not. They will tell you when you will reach puberty and adulthood, and what size you will be, but they may not be able to say whether you will lose your Gift."

"Yes, but it is worth the chance!" Tika insisted.

"Yes it is, but I do not want you to risk being hurt by disappointment. There are many possible results."

"She is right, love." Tira said, giving Tika a caress on her neck and shoulder. "You should try to put it from your mind until the results are known."

"I will try, but it will be hard!" Tika protested. "Could we ask Davdan to tell the techs to hurry?"

"That we can do, love!" Tira laughed, placing the call to Davdan.

"Tira!" Davdan answered in a video window. "How are things going?"

"Lo Davdan. I have things to tell you, but first we would like your assistance with something." Tira responded, and outlined what they wished to know, their concerns about genetic security, and Tika's extreme impatience.

"Hold a moment." Davdan said, and her face was replaced by the logo of the Brahman Region Elder's Enclave. A minute later she was back. "You will have to go to your local med for identity verification for the legal documents. Here is the address of a lab whose honor and security I can vouch for. Call them from the med, they will be expecting your call.

"Now, what else do you have to tell me, before I give my own news?"

Tira told her of the meeting with most of the zone at the trading post.

"Ah, you did well." Davdan granted. "You told them no more than you had to, and got them all behind you as well.

"Loral is a good man. His purpose there, as Leader of the Elders of the zone, was to keep things harmonious among those he has responsibility for, and to prevent at all costs the dividing of the zone into factions. Feuds have a nasty way of reducing a zone's productivity and stability. Now he will support us, because you have united the zone in support of us, and so our efforts can only increase their morale.

"By stressing your love for Menak and your previous relationship with me, you have ensured our good standing in the zone, and that our presence will not be felt to be intrusive.

"And you have shown your neighbors Tika's danger in a way that neither risks them, nor makes them feel threatened.

"Yes, you did well, as well as I could have done. And they received it better from you than they would from me. Because you have lived there eight years, they consider you one of their own."

Davdan paused a moment, then resumed. "My news is this; the permits have been granted for the Elder Enclave House, but it will not be placed where I thought. Rather that being over the transport tube than runs under the far end of Naz's new territory, it has been decided by those who study wetland habitats that it should be farther from the marsh on the edge of the lake. My Enclave house will now be placed at the border between Tira's and Naz's territories, which is good for us, as it will be central in the four territories you control. A short feeder tube will connect the house with the local transit tube.

"I have delegated many of my duties as an Elder and as a fighting judge, but not my status as such, and it has been assumed by the other Elders here that I plan to enter the in-active period of my retirement! It has been assumed, since I have reserved the hall of the Enclave in six months' time, and invited many Great Fighters and Elder fighting judges to attend, that I will have a great retirement party! As I have done nothing to either confirm this or deny it, they have graciously offered to pay for supplies, the staff, and the rental of Enclave house facilities I have requested, out of this Enclave's annual financial surplus! Ha! Ha ha ha!"

Davdan cackled her hilarity for a moment, then re-centered her train of thought.

"Raz, your participation has been fully approved, and you will have blueprints in your e-mail at any moment."

"Davdan, when will we break ground?" Raz asked excitedly. Tira turned her screen to him.

"Six days, my boy. I think that will give you enough time to add whatever re-design you wish." Davdan chuckled.

"And is that Jena I see in your arms? Growing up fast, boy?"

"It is, Elder." Jena answered coyly, then slid her arms around Raz's neck and kissed his cheek before smiling at Davdan through the screen's camera.

"Ah, you are hunting in the Children's ground, Jena?" Davdan teased.

"I could not help it, Davdan. He made me feel so beautiful. He will be a great man, and I think I would be wise to have him in the bag now, while he is easy prey."

Raz's dark skin blushed almost purple, while Davdan cackled gleefully, and slapped her knee. "You may be right, girl. But both of you remember, the emotions of the young change faster than the wind, and you are both likely to feel completely differently in two days."

"Perhaps ... No." Jena stated, her resolve firming. "He is mine now, and I will not let him go. I will win his heart, and I will love him, and he will love me. And I will be his woman, and I will bear him beautiful children. He has only to find a way to beat me for mating rights when we are adults."

"When the time comes, Beautiful, I will find a way." Raz said softly.

"You listen, Jena." Davdan said firmly. "You are an Adolescent, and he is a Child. If you decide to use your femininity upon him, he will not have a chance to resist. Yours is the responsibility for this. If you steal his heart, and then find that your own feelings for him are not as strong as you thought, it could hurt him very, very badly. If you hurt him that badly before he becomes an Adolescent, I will act in Judgment against you. If you cannot act responsibly with the power of your sexuality, you will lose your own Adolescence, and have to earn it all over again. If you win his heart, it should be because you have proven yourself worthy of it over time, and not because you have stalked it like prey! Now, you will take a few days and think hard about your feelings, before speaking again of important decisions best left in the future!"

"Yes, I understand, Davdan. I do not want to risk hurting him." Jena answered contritely, then changed the subject.

"You mentioned the four territories we control. Jela-mother and I thought this morning that she and Naz could keep their old territories as well as their new ones, since Dern is dead and Baya has abandoned his claim. We would then have enough hunting territory to really push our abilities, and to train hard as hunters."

"Ah, that is good thinking, as well as good luck." Davdan mused. "However, your mother's old territory is still across the river, and Naz's old territory is still across the zone. Travel time is still a factor. Naz," Davdan said, and waited a moment while Tira re-oriented her screen on him. "See if you and Jela can trade those territories for closer ones. If you can get two more adjacent to the four, for a group of six territories, they would be worth keeping beyond the six months."

"Good thinking, Davdan." Naz agreed. "I will see what we can do."

"Good. Pina," and again Davdan paused while the camera was aimed, "Supercomputing time is usually booked months in advance, and all my credits cannot get you any in less than eighteen days. At that time you will have the use of forty percent of the cycles of a Cray 971 at the California Institute of Technology, for eight hours a day, for twenty-seven days. The hours are during the night in California, but during the day for us. Then you will have the entire use of the Cray 971 for thirty-four days, and then you will have the use of a bridged bank of five 971's for as long as you need them.

"I have hired you eight of the twelve staff you requested, and the first one available will report to you by a corporate link tomorrow morning, the rest over the next week. One of your choices turned you down, a Vladimir Yolovitch, and Henri LesPouce has yet do decide. I disallowed Selong for financial stupidity, and Talopolous for instability caused by a drug addiction. You gave me two alternates, who have yet to decide, so I need at least one more, and perhaps as many as four."

"Yes yes yes yes yes!" Pina screamed, dancing in joy, then grabbed Tira's screen for a moment to kiss Davdan's image with a loud lip smack. "Five! Fiiiiiive bridged Cray 971's! Gods above, Davdan, you are so great! And as long as you got Walters and Jaminsky, the others are less important."

"Jaminsky is the one reporting tomorrow, Walters in three days." Davdan said.

"Excellent." Pina paused and thought for a moment. "I have no more alternates researched. The rest of my staff should be more young post-graduates in physics, astronomy, cosmology or mathematics. They must be quick programmers, and they must be freethinking and creative. And no one with a mathematical I.Q. of less than one sixty-five! I hate waiting for people to catch up. If you would be so kind as to find enough of these people to round out a staff of twelve, I will worship you until I die, Davdan!"

"I do not think that will be necessary!" Davdan laughed.

"Menak," she paused again till the camera was re-aimed at her great grandson. "Midor has been talking to people in this zone in preparation for moving here, and so people here have learned you will be leaving to join Tira's training group with me in the Vishnu. This has re-enforced the rumor of my in-active retirement, and it is assumed you will move there to keep your doddering, dying great-grandmother company as she fades from life! Ah, it is so funny, I am slain, I tell you!

"At any rate, I was asked to tell you that all of us are formally invited to the Christmas gathering of the River Zone of the Brahman Region of the Great Indian Forest, and that people here are looking forward to meeting your new group. I think they will take the opportunity to express their respect and affection for you, and their regret that you are leaving.

"Now, unless there is more to say? No? Good. I will join you there the day after tomorrow. I must leave here soon, or my activities will prove the rumors false, and that would be inconvenient just now.

"Give my regards to Jela, and wish her good healing. My love to you all."

"Good hunting, Davdan!" Tika called, and was echoed by the rest.

"Bah!" Davdan said in happy exasperation, and ended the call.

"Well, it smells like our meal is ready." Tira stated. "And it seems that after we have eaten, we should go to the med, and see Jela, and speak to..." she checked her screen. "Rupinder Chandras, Medical Geneticist at LifePredicters Professional Corporation."

They visited Jela first, though Tika was obviously squirming with impatience.

Tika's impatience was put off for a few moments by the opportunity to show off her new weapons to Jela. She posed with them and smiled like a model in an advertisement, while Raz described them. He caught Tika's mood, and tried to sound like a commercial announcer.

Then Tira related the news of the day to Jela.

"I am glad that those of the zone hold my actions in the death of Dern to be honorable." Jela mused. "I have been invited to Dern's remembrance ceremony, and it was made obvious that all of her heirs agreed in inviting me. As well, many I know have wished me good healing, and congratulated me on my victory."

"Ahh. I think all of us here have wanted to congratulate you on your victory," Menak said, "But we were unsure you would be comfortable with that, until the death of Dern had settled.

"Now, I do congratulate you on your victory. It was well and honorably fought, and it took great determination to make the final strike, after the knee injury."

She thanked him, and others of the group took the opportunity to offer their congratulations as well, particularly Jena.

Jela was about to speak further, then her eye was caught by Tika's impatient bouncing.

"As to these tests to see how our young will grow ... Jena, do you really wish to know these things?"