To Be Human

Out of Options

"No." Nahuel used the human word, startling Sampson and Tokala both. He ignored their shock and stared at Aeryn's still, pale face, almost willing the Human to wake up and tell them all that everything was alright. Without Aeryn, their hopes of resurrecting their ship were as good as dead as well.

"You don't understand. I want to save h...I want to save him as much as you do." Sampson nearly sobbed, inexplicably emotional. Tokala watched his young ward with anxiety, a growing certainty that he was about to do something very stupid and dangerous.

Again Nahuel shook his head and said, "No." he walked over and touched the seeping wound on Aeryn. "Hero." he then said, using the strange sounding word Aeryn had uttered.

"Don't." Tokala suddenly spoke, language beyond Sampson. "You can't risk your life like this. The human isn't worth the Baguera!" he warned. Nahuel looked at his Master, eyes pleading.

"You know I can save Aeryn! We need to extract the poison before it's too late!" Nahuel whined, ears folding back and tail tucked against his leg. To the Elder Pantharni, these were obvious expressions of distress and spoke more than the words did. Nahuel had made a vow to protect this Human, and even if the promise was only to himself, failing to keep it would tarnish his honour.

Tokala snarled in frustration, his muzzle and fangs alarming Sampson. The elder Human grabbed a scalpel off her sanitizing table and pushed herself between the injured child and the aliens. She was old and willing to trade her life for Aeryn's. Even if shortly after Aeryn would die anyways, the brave child deserved to spend the last minutes of life not being molested by aliens!

"Hero." Nahuel repeated the word again, drawing Sampson's attention to him.

"Get her out of here so I can do this without being stabbed in the back!" Tokala ordered the younger Pantharn.

"Yes Master." Nahuel agreed, his pupils widening out as he felt relief flush through his system. He looked at Sampson and in a movement that the older Human couldn't follow, grabbed the scalpel out of her hand. He then wrapped his arms around her body, pinning her in place and bodily picked her up. Sampson screamed and put up a fight that was impressive for her age. Naheul had planned on taking her right out of the room but he found it impossible to move with her thrashing so. One hand was clamped over her mouth to minimize the sounds she could make and the other three were fully occupied with holding her in place without hurting her. "Shhh.." he tired to soothe to no avail. He finally turned so she could see what Tokala was doing to Aeryn.

While they had struggled, Tokala had stepped forward and tore the fabric of Aeryn's shirt more so he could bare the wound. It was a lash mark, maybe six inches long and not very deep. The edges were red and puffy from the poison though, and he could smell it beging to taint the Human's system. The Pantharni had evolved with the Lampards in their environment and had thus developed a resistance to the poison these Humans obviously lacked.

Tokala sniffed to make sure the Human wasn't too far gone to help and realized that his sensitive nose picked up something very strange about this Human. He pushed it aside and focused on running his sandpapery tongue over the torn flesh. The small fleshy barbs of his tongue dug into the wound, drawing a faint groan of pain from Aeryn as he sucked the poison out of the blood. It was an acrid taste to his sensitive tongue, like glue and battery acid mixed with sulfur. He spat mouthfuls of the foul stuff into a metal bowl he saw. It was a strange shape but it held the poison well.

As soon as Sampson saw that the aliens weren't hurting her patient, she stopped struggling. Instead she slumped in Nahuel's arms and started to cry softly. Nahuel worried that he had hurt the frail elderly alien, but her scent was that of relief, not pain. She seemed to care deeply for the injured Human and was greatful to see Aeryn being rescued.

Tokala ran his tongue over the wound a few more times but there was no longer a taste of foul poison. He moved away from the no longer pink and puffy flesh, using the fluid Sampson passed him cautiously to rinse the taste out of his mouth. He swished and spat until his muzzle slid away, telling him all traces were gone. While he did this Sampson was stitching up the weakly moving Aeryn while the aliens watched.

That task done, Sampson turned back to the aliens, eyes bright with unshed tears. "I misjudged you and I am sorry for that." she sucked in a breath, calming herself. "Thank you for saving Aeryn." she paused, obviously thinking over her words carefully. "This world would be a lot less bearable if Aeryn were to die." she stated simply, her love for the injured Human evident for both Pantharni to smell. "I'm going to keep Aeryn under observation but I think you two should get back to Tavir. He needs to know what happened to Aeryn...." she trailed off, realizing that these aliens would be unable to tell the Human anything. "Bollocks and damnation." she cursed under her breath. "Alright, I'll go with you and we'll bring him back here. Better that he sees for himself that the idiot child survived another impossible odds." with that she gestured the aliens out and locked the door behind her.

They marched briskly to Tavir's door and she rapped at it, impatient to get back to her safe rooms. Even an old woman such as herself wasn't safe from some of the more desperate men of this facility. After a brief moment Tavir opened the door and saw Sampson. He frowned, then his eyes flicked to the still blood spattered aliens behind the old woman. Even his dark skin paled.

"No." he breathed, assuming the worse, and without waiting to hear otherwise, he pushed past them all and ran for the infirmary. Nahuel automatically jogged along beside him, by now getting into the habit of following Aeryn or Tavir whereever they went. Tokala walked at Sampson's slower pace, needing a moment away from his ward. The language barrier kept him from being able to easily ask the questions that were burning in his mind but he needed to take advantage of this brief moment without the young Pantharn around.

He rested a hand on Sampson's shoulder, gesturing for her to stop for a moment. The elder woman frowned at him but allowed him to halt their progress. He took a deep breath through his nose to ensure no one was within hearing distance and once reassured, looked at Sampson. "Aeryn..." he trailed off trying to remember the specific words the Human had used the other day. He finally remembered it and tried to form the word with his mouth. "Aeryn female." he stated. He had tasted it on the Human's blood, the musk of a young female.

Sampson stared at him in horror, then shoved him against the wall, surprising him with her strength. "Never say that again." she demanded, voice low and rough. Tokala could smell her anxiety burning. "You tell a single soul what you just said and you condemn Aeryn to a painful death. No one can know." she hissed, looking around to make sure that there wasn't a soul in hearing distance.

Tokala nodded, understanding the elder woman's concern. Aeryn herself had told them what happened to the females in this place. She and her uncle were playing a very deadly game, concealing her gender like that. It made sense that the resident healer knew the truth, but Tokala had no way of assuring the older woman that their secret was safe with him. The natural protective instinct of all Pantharni males had already flared to life, compelling him to protect Aeryn as if she were his own Tribe.

Tokala grabbed Sampson's shoulders gently with one set of hands. The other hands held hers gently. "Safe." he stated, not knowing the human word but the Human seemed to understand sanyways. Then much to his surprise Sampson started to cry softly, shoulders shaking. He pulled her to his furry chest, offering the comfort of his body.

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A/N: Short chapter, I know. But it felt right to end it here.

So, did any of you guys guess this before hand? I wasn't sure about revealing it so early but it just worked right now. So one of the aliens knows Aeryn's secret, but the other one is still ignorant. How do you think Nahuel will take the truth?