Chapter One

Tapping on Pandora's Box

Delighted shrieks tell me that HD is chasing Mahpiya again. I can hear them coming through the cavern passage toward home. He always slows way down, letting her run gleefully ahead, her small chubby legs nimbly negotiating the rough cavern terrain. A scream lets me know she's been caught and then I see her joyful face as she's lifted over the guardian rock at our door.

"Did you have fun?"

"Yes, Mama! See all the fish we caught?"

HD holds up a bountiful string of shining fish as he enters, dripping water onto the rock floor.

"Hey, you guys did great! Will they go to the kitchen, or do you want to prepare them here?"

"Fixx heerree. Shooww Mahpiya howw."

I grab a stack of large, still fresh, leaves and fan them out over the table. "There you go!"

I'm so glad they don't have scales to go flying everywhere. He's intent that she learns survival skills. Nothing wrong with that but I don't relish the day they bring home a large animal for her to gut and skin. Have to figure a way to ask them to keep that outside. At least these things don't stink like fish.

Mahpiya's five year old fingers already expertly weld the small knife. It's the dining knife that HD gave me to eat with when we first met and it's perfect for her small hands. She knows how to sharpen it too! When not in use, it's sheathed in thick leather on a belt at her waist.

Carefully guided by HD, she cuts open each fish and guts it neatly out onto the leaves. She leaves the head, knowing the cheek flesh will be the most succulent morsel to enjoy. Imitating her father, she's tried most things raw but HD has acquiesced to my insistence that she eat animals cooked. When the fish have all been prepared, she washes her hands and then sees to the fire that she and her father built before they went out.

I watch her chubby fingers hold the long stick and swirl the coals, remembering how she and HD made a stone and clay hearth a year ago upon the broad rock that juts into our cave. HD declared the ventilation good there and, sure enough, it carries the smoke swirling upward to exit through cracks in the ceiling. I remember her little hands plastered with mud as she carefully patted it into the spaces between the stones. Even now, she inspects it frequently and patches it whenever a chink appears. HD told her that keeping it in shape was her job and she's taken the responsibility most seriously.

The smell of roasting Abuela fish permeates the room – a light savory scent. I slice some crunchy tubers into a bowl to round out our meal. Mahpiya carefully tends the skewers of fish balanced over the coals. It doesn't take long for them to cook. With an air of grown-up accomplishment, she brings a skewer of perfectly done fish to the table while HD carries the rest.

"Thank you, Mahpiya. Thank you and your father for providing our lunch."

She beams, "Welcome, Mama. Daddy and I always catch food." Her little face is so earnest! HD gives her far more responsibility than I would have. Yautja children learn to do so much at an early age. He watches over her carefully. I can find no fault in what he's doing. She's certainly precocious though!

"Mahpiya, I believe your father has plans for this afternoon."

Mahpiya looks expectantly at her father and he rumbles. "Heelpp buiiild fenccee."

"Aleki is going to actually try corralling them?"

"Yes. Neeed strrronnggg fencceee."

"What's crallng, Mama?"

I enunciate the new word carefully, "A corral is way to keep an animal inside a small area. You create it by building something called a fence around some grass. Then you put the animal inside the corral. That way we don't have to go hunting it. When we need it, it's right there and we don't have to run after it. So, to put animals inside a corral, it's called corralling."

She nods wisely, softly mouthing the unfamiliar word. "Can I watch?"

"We'll go see it when it's finished. You and I are going to visit Auntie Marie and Uncle Pranav this afternoon. Okay?"

"Okay!"

After eating, HD and Mahpiya carefully bank the fire while I stack the dishes in a bucket to be taken out and washed. Then, Mahpiya collects the leaf wrapped fish gut bundle.

"What shall we do with that?"

"Bury in garden?" She looks up, her long black hair sweeps past her shoulders now.

"Yes! That's right!"

HD touches her face with a knuckle in what I've learned is his kind's intimate gesture to a child. Then face wraps me for a goodbye kiss and is off to help build the animal enclosure. That's going to be one hellofa fence. I can't begin to imagine what will keep a Dino Bird enclosed. And then how will they catch some of them and get them in there? Boys and their toys.

"Let's go!" I lift Mahpiya and her fish bundle to the top of the rock and then clamber up after her. Jumping down, I help her to the ground, grab my bucket and off we go, my daughter out in front where I can keep an eye on her.

"Chores first! Then Auntie Marie's."

Mahpiya leads the way to the communal sink where dishes are washed. She hands each one to me as I scrub them clean and stack them. Then, bucket washed and reloaded with clean dishware, we hang it on our spot near all the others, to pick up later, and head to the garden.

I keep a wide ended digging stick in the crotch of a tree. Mahpiya knows where to find it and runs ahead, waiting impatiently for me to join her. "I don't walk as fast as your Dad does." Grabbing the stick, I dig a deep hole and Mahpiya drops her bundle of soon-to-be fertilizer inside. Showing great enthusiasm, she helps me bury it.

We inspect the crops briefly and gather a few vegetables to take back with us, as well as some for Pranav and Marie. "Mama?" A small quiet voice warns me that my daughter has been thinking.

"Yes, dear?"

"Daddy walks big. Bigger than you. Bigger than me. Why?"

"He's much bigger. Have you noticed that he is much taller than I am? Certainly much taller than you."

She nods her head.

There's no time like the present.

"Have you noticed other ways that Daddy is different than you or me?"

She nods again, "Daddy eats raw meat! We eat cooked."

"Yes, that's true. Anything else?"

Mahpiya looks thoughtful, very much like her biological father, Daniel, in this moment.

"Daddy has a big mouth."

"Well yes, he does." I suppress laughter at her innocent insult. "Is it like your mouth or mine?"

"Noooo," she imitates him perfectly, but in her light high voice. "Bigger. I wish my mouth was like Daddy's."

"Now that would be something! Yes, Daddy's mouth is different than ours. We have one set of jaws that open up and down." I demonstrate. "Daddy has jaws like ours, but over them he as another set of jaws that open sideways." I use my fingers to mimic.

"Yes," she agrees. "Like that." She brings her hands up near her face and tries to imitate me. Then, her face still serious, she asks the eternal childhood question, "Why?"

"Why is Daddy's face different than ours?"

"Uh huh."

"Daddy comes from a place different than Abuela. It's far, far away. All the people there look like Daddy."

"Oh," she replies and seems satisfied for now. "Let's go see Auntie Marie!"

Free of her fish waste bundle, she scampers ahead as I jog to keep up. "Mahpiya! Slow down!" Obediently, she backs down to a walk. We leave the sunshine and go back into the torchlight of the main cavern. Maypiya knows the way and treks down the corridor that leads to Pranav and Marie's home.

"Auntie Marie! Uncle Pranav!" She chirps, "May we enter?"

An answering cry of "Mahpiya!" from Marie lets us know we are welcome.

"Hi Marie, Hi Pranav! How's Junior?"

Marie, putting a finger to her lips, points to the bed where Pranav is lying, eyes closed, with sleeping baby Pranav Jr. on his chest.

"Awwwwwww." I murmur.

Mahpiya automatically drops her voice to a whisper, echoing, "Awwww."

"Let's go outside," Marie beckons. "He's down for his afternoon nap and Pranav won't move until he awakens." Then laughs, "Honestly, sometimes I think the nap's for him."

We move back into the hallway and then into the main room before resuming conversation.

"He's so precious, Marie! Six months now?"

"Eight! I'm weaning him. I can't believe how time has flown. I'm thinking about trying to get pregnant again when he's a year."

"With Seneca?"

"Yes, if he's willing. I'm going to talk with him soon."

"That's great!" I notice that Mahpiya is all ears.

"What do you think about that?" I ask her. "Auntie Marie wants to have another baby. Then Junior will have a new brother or sister and you'll have another cousin."

Mahpiya ponders for a moment. "Okay. Can I play with new one?"

"Of course you can," Marie assures. "You can help Pranav and me think of a name for it!"

"I can?"

"Yes! Your help would be wonderful!" Mahpiya's squeal pronounces her joy at the idea.

We decide to take in some sun and walk by the ocean. Mahpiya can run farther ahead here, where there is nothing to obstruct my view of her. When something in the sand catches her eye, she stops to collect it, filling the pockets in the little cloth dress that I've made for her. Underwearless, she flashes us now and again when she bends over.

"She's growing out of that," I observe.

Marie comments, "She's so mature for her age!"

"That's HD's doing. He's raising her in many ways like a Yautja child is raised. They caught fish today and she cleaned and cooked them."

"Amazing! She's going to be very self-sufficient."

"That's the idea. HD wants her to be able to fend for herself in case the need ever arises."

"Not a bad idea."

"I agree. And she's thriving under the responsibility he gives her. I had no idea a child that young could do all the things he's teaching her to do."

"Do you think she's getting enough time to be a child?" Marie sounds concerned.

"I do. They play together all the time. And she and I play, and work together too. I think her life is fun and balanced. We often make games out of chores."

"You'll have to give Pranav and me tips. Because I very much like how she's turning out. Pranav does too."

"It is nice. She's fun, obedient and I've never had to punish her. I wish my Mom had raised me like that! I was always in trouble as I remember."

"I bet you were. Me too!"

Mahpiya comes running back. "Mom! Look what I found!" She holds out a sandy paw with a piece of metal in it.

"Let me take a look at that."

Turning it over several times in my hand, I realize its origin. "It's from the ship. HD's ship that blew up. This used to be part of the artwork on the walls." I hold up the piece so Marie can see. See? It's part of a masked Hunter head."

"What's Hunter head?" Mahpiya questions.

"You know how Daddy sometimes wears his mask?" I gulp.

She nods, having learned from HD that suffices for a 'yes'. "Well, this is from a picture just like that. Just like Daddy wearing his mask."

"Where's the rest of the picture?" She innocents.

"In the ocean, I think."

"Why?"

Marie gives me a look of 'you're in deep doodoo now'.

"Well, Daddy, and all of us, came here to live on Abuela in a large ship. It's like a big room that flies through the air." Her face fills with wonder at my explanation. "After we all got off it, the ship had a problem and it exploded. It broke and fell apart, into the ocean. So, sometimes, a piece like this washes up in the waves."

"Oookaaaay." I hand her back the piece and she pockets it.

"Well done," Marie mutters under her breath. "There's going to be more someday."

"I know," I reply cheerfully as Mahpiya bounces away. "I try to give her just enough to satisfy her curiosity without opening Pandora's Box. "In time, I'll tell her all of it."

"ALL of it? What about HD hunting people? Killing people?"

"Someday, when she's mature, she has the right to know all of it. I'd rather her hear it from us that from somebody else."

"Good thinking," she agrees. "Was she imitating HD with her drawn out 'okay'?"

I laugh, "She was. It happens occasionally. She also doesn't always speak in complete sentences. I don't know if it's because of him or because she's five. I don't mention any of it because I think if I did, she'd do it all the time. She idolizes him."

"Poor girl, she's going to be so disappointed there are only human males when she comes of age."

"Marie, how do you think of such things?" I ask in mock exasperation.

"I'm clever!" She responds. "Speaking of that, uh, how do you guys manage? I mean, how do you two manage to find any privacy for the important things?"

I grin, "Why do you think we use you and Pranav as babysitters so often?"

"You just remember that when Pranav Junior's older! We'll have to trade kids back and forth every other night."

"We can do that," I smile. "How long do you think it will take them to figure out why?"

"In Mahpiya's case, I'd say maybe next week," Marie smirks.

"She is scary smart sometimes. Let me show you the most important thing HD's teaching her." We walk up to where my daughter is picking a large spiral shell out of the sand.

"Mahpiya," my serious tone gets her full attention, "What do we do if we see others like Daddy, but like when he's in his armor and mask? Show Auntie Marie."

Delighted to put on a show, Mahpiya prostrates herself on the ground, arms stretched out, with face against the sand. Marie gasps. "And how long do we stay like that?" I ask.

"Until they leave."

"What if they do this?" I poke her back and she remains completely still, showing no reaction.

"Very good, Mahpiya!"

"Can I get up now?"

"Yes!"

She hops up and resumes digging at the shell.

"Holy Shit," Marie says under her breath. "The thought of that horrifies me. She's so little – what would they do to her?"

"HD says they'd do nothing. It's very dishonorable to kill children or women. It's the men they'll go after, or possibly any woman who tries to fight them. He's teaching her to be as passive as possible in the face of Yautja threat. Everyone has to teach their children this, Marie. Will you help me make them understand?"

"I will! How old was she when you started teaching her this?"

"Three. We didn't teach the whole thing all at once. We started with teaching her to assume that position whenever we asked. Once she could do that – we built on it."

"Junior's the next oldest child. Will you help me teach him?"

"Absolutely! And maybe we can make a class of it to show what Mahpiya can do and how he learns it. That way the other mothers can teach this too."

"Great idea! Submission class. Kinda sounds kinky. Have you ever asked HD to tie you up?"

My face flames instantly, "Marie!"

She laughs, "Your chain is so easy, my friend."

If she only knew. HD's been asking me to tie him up – when the time comes – Yautja mating season. He says it will be soon, in a few months. He can feel it inside. Good Lord, Marie may have to take Mahpiya for a week!