Over the next few days the Huntress asked the other Wraith to find every one of those small toys they could, and if they couldn't find anymore, they were to make some. The more she practiced controlling them, the more she wanted to alter the design, so she sat down with the Keeper and they figured out how to make more. She had the smooth outer coating replaced with a rigidone that would sink deep into whatever it struck. The orbs acted like small flying blades that she could not only use for defense but offense as well. Once she activated them, no one but Emeth ever dared to get anywhere near her.
Within a few weeks the Huntress had turned a toy into a deadly weapon that responded to her thoughts. The sight was unlike anything most Wraith had ever seen, so little by little they started to watch her practice with them. Every day until she learned the limits of her control over these devices she practiced with Emeth by her side. By the end of the 2nd week, the Huntress was calling them her Eyes because she could use them to extend the range of her perception by an amazing amount. Emeth had even came up with the ideal of caring them around on her clothing, and he had a special cloak made that she could land and disconnect almost 100 of the orbs, easily.
The Matriarch was highly amused by the Huntress use of the toy and allowed her to return to training. Everything was improving as well as could be expected, until the very end of the fourth month of pregnancy, when she woke up screaming in the middle of the night. Emeth was panicked when the Keeper rushed into her room. The Keeper pushed Emeth aside and placed his hand over her enormous belly, after a moment she finally calmed, a small bit.
"It's too soon." the Huntress could barely whisper. The Keeper growled as he examined her with his sense's.
"We can wait no longer." the Keeper growled after her distress did not stop. "We must take her to the Hive." he growled as he pushed his arm under her back to lift her. "Prepare a transport, immediately." by the time he was finished speaking the door to the room was closed behind Emeth. He went ahead of them to ready a ship to return to the Hive. It was only a few minutes later when the Keeper arrived in the docking bay with a distressed Huntress in his arms. It took little less then 30 minutes to return to the Hive and another ten to reach the maturation chamber. By the time the Keeper could lay her in the thick waters of the maturation pool he had to pry her claws from his neck as she cried out in pain.
Several more Wraith had joined them on the journey and a few more tried desperately to get the chamber online.
"The Hive is not accepting her, I don't understand." one of the wraith howled with frustration. The keeper growled as he motioned his Second to stay at the females side while he went to the controls himself. Once there he growled a few times and slammed his hand against the console.
"It has been calibrated for her genetic code, there is no reason..." the Keeper words trailed off as he searched through several more calculations on the screen.
Emeth stood in the thick liquid used to support the female's body while she laid in the maturation chamber. He watched as the Wraith fussed around them, yet some how, he did not care what they were doing. When he took the Huntress's hand in his, his could feel her pain, her struggle against the Hive. She was still panicked and she had no ideal what was happening. Emeth leaned in very close to the floating female, who was still distraught.
"Kayna. You are not alone." Emeth made sure only the Huntress could hear him.
"Emeth." she gasped as she reached for him, only to be taken over by another pain soon after.
"You must let the hive help you." he spoke loud enough to drown out her cries, and it got many of the other Wraiths attention around them. "Do you not trust us?" he questioned her. She turned to him and nodded in-between her pains. "Then you must let us help you. Let the Hive aid you." Emeth gently touched her cheek and then everything started to hum around them. Every Wraith stopped what they were doing an all attention turned to the Huntress and Emeth in the pool of liquid in the middle of the room.
A moment after everything started to buzz, the lights got brighter and the liquid began to flow around the pool. The chambers of liquid on the walls bubbled and the hive released several tentacles under the water, that found their way to the Huntress back. The tentacles acted like umbilical cords, connecting her directly with the Hive itself. Emeth didn't need to hold her, she floated easily in the liquid, it was so thick, like amniotic fluid. The Huntress calmed when everything began to hum and the Hive began suppling her with nourishment.
When the Keeper returned to her side, Emeth bowed his head submissively. The keeper turned his attentions to the female and placed his hand on her belly as it bobbed in the liquid. After a few moments, he then checked her pulse and breathing as she fell unconscious in the fluid.
"They are stable." the Keeper finally answered the tension in the room. After several sighs and a few hisses of relief he continued. "She can not leave this chamber until after the birthing. The risk is too great."
"She will not agree to this easily." one of the other Wraith stated in return.
"Our Huntress no longer has a choice in the matter. I will remain with her to be certain of this." the Keeper was starring at Emeth who was retreating slowly from the pool once he freed himself of the Huntress grasp.
"You will return to Conclave and inform them of her condition." the Keeper glared at Emeth as he bowed in compliance, then he turned his attention to the other Wraith in the room. "The rest of you. Maintenance of this chamber is now, this Hives highest priority. Are we understood?" he let out a growl and everyone in the room scattered, only a few remained to monitor certain outputs quietly.
******************* ( go to her, again )******************
The Wraith was right about her objections to staying in that pool but she was so exhausted she was only able to argue for a few minutes at a time, and her Keeper was easily able to keep her calm. Emeth retuned to her side after he informed Conclave but was constantly sent away by the Keeper. In order to maintain control of the Hive, one of them had to be present among the crew. At least thats was what Emeth was told, repeatedly. It was nearly a month later when the Keeper finally summoned Emeth back to the Huntress side.
The Keeper cleared the room when Emeth appeared in the doorway of the maturation chamber. When the room cleared the Second in command entered to find his commander pacing around the pool in the middle of the room. The Huntress appeared to be unconscious, which was how she spent most of her time. Even thou the Hive supplied nutrients directly to her blood stream and even thou it cleaned out the harmful toxin's, she barely had any strength to remain awake. All of her strength was sapped as soon as she had any, by the litter of young she still carried.
"You summoned me, commander." Emeth said with a bow once the door closed behind him. The commander paced around the pool again before answering.
"I should have expected this." he growled.
"Commander?" the Second in commander questioned. The larger commander stopped with a sigh and turned to his Second in command.
"She has been calling for you. It would seam she would have you at her side, instead of me." the commander's voice was thick with irritation. When the smaller wraith gasped at the revelation the commander growled and continued. "It was I who placed you at her side." the commander took a step toward the younger Wraith.
"Commander, I..." the Second in command submitted to his commander's anger.
"Do you think me such a fool?" he growled but did not wait for an answer. "I can plainly see that you have bonded with her." the larger older commander stalked around his second in command who was submissively bowing in respect. "Have you bedded her as well?" the commander demanded.
"I would never." the Second in commanded growled back. "She is not mine. It was you that could not be trusted with her." the Second dared to meet his commander's eye.The two wraith growled fiercely at one another until a moan from the pool next to them, broken the tension. The commander took a long toned sigh and turned his attention to the restless Huntress.
"This ritual has had an effect on all of us." the commander calmly growled as he watched the Huntress stir in the fluid beneath him. "Go to her."
"Commander? I would not know when...." the Second in command questioned his commander but was cut off.
"You will know. Just as you knew how to connect her to the Hive when I did not. You will not fail her, of that I am certain." the commander turned to face the smaller wraith one more time. "But do not forget, I am never far from her side. "the commander growled. The two Wraith nodded, then the larger commander left the Huntress in the charge of his Second in command.
**************** ( her time )*********************
The Second in command stayed with the Huntress for nearly two months, never once leaving her side, before everything on the Hive suddenly changed. He was going over various calculations when the lights all around him flicked, some of the power was being diverted to an adjacent chamber. A few seconds later the Huntress let out a howl that brought every Wraith in the room to their knee's.
"Summon the commander!" Emeth shouted as he jumped into the pool next to the Huntress. Her whole body convulsed as she cried out and he tried to steady her. The entire ordeal lasted only a few minutes then she calmed as she drifted in and out of consciousness.
"It's time, where is the commander?" the Second in command howled as he took the Huntress hand in his. When he touched the Huntress he could feel her distress, she fought the Hive, still thinking it was too soon. Emeth long out a sigh and leaned in close to whisper in her ear.
"You can not fight this Kayna. The Hive can only help you if you let it. It is your time, you must let go." Emeth growled when she gripped his tightly.
"Where is Keeper? Please...Emeth..." the Huntress barely whispered those words before another wave of pain hit her. Second leaned up an looked around the room, the commander was still not present. Emeth howled as the huntress fingertips sank deep into the flesh of his arm, she even cut throughhis thick leather jacket. He was unable to pull himself free of her grasp until the pain passed, then he made certain not to allow her hand to grip anything else remotely vulnerable. As he did this, the Commander charged into the room.
The commander didn't say a word when he entered, he just looked at his Second in command who had avery painful expression on his face, then he took control of the main monitoring station in the room. He growled for a moment as he went over the reading's, then when another wave of pain hit the Huntress she growled even louder.
"It was the Huntress that summoned you, not I commander." the Second in command groaned as soon a he was able too. The Huntress cries where only seconds apart and the entire room flickered with each contraction she experienced. The pool was alive with tentacles, as they flowed all around the fluid connecting with nothing and completely ignoring the Wraith.
"Clear the room!" the Keeper howled as he slid himself into the fluid filled pool next to the Huntress. "Stay." he glared at his Second in command quietly, who nodded in concession. It did not take long to clear the room, Queens usually detested having males around during their birthing cycle. But when both commanders stayed behind with this one, it wasn't questioned given the unique circumstances that surrounded her.
"One of us must monitor the Hive." the Commander growled once the room was clear. The Second in command nodded and immediately went to the console. The commander carefully set one hand on her belly and the other he gently touched her cheek.
"This is not you first birthing?"Emeth asked when he saw the commander narrowly avoid the Huntress grasp.
"No." the commander growled irritatedly.
"Then you know why she is fighting the Hive?" the second in command questioned.
"She is human, this is not her way." the commander sighed. "We must find a way to reassure her, quickly." his irritation quickly returned with her pain.
"I couldn't reach her. Commander?" Emeth voice rang with concern, only to be cut off by a growl from his commander. The larger Wraith turned all his attention to the distressed female next to him.
"Keeper." the huntress whispered when she felt him close. Her mind was clouded, her thoughts confused, the lives within her were at risk if she did not allow her body to release them. The commander leaned in close to her wrapping his mind around her as best he could. When she pushed him away again he howled with anger and gripped her tightly.
"You must!" he growled. "The Hive can care for them now. You have done all you can." the Keeper calmed his tone but kept the sternness of his voice. "You must let go." his voice cracked with pain.
"I'm not..." the hunters tried to respond to him, but she couldn't find the breath. He just grinned and moved his hand to her chest.
"Let me help with that." the Keeper leaned back with a howl and he pushed his own strength directly inside her, as much as he could spare. The Huntress let out a wail of her own that brought Emeth to his knee's as well. After several long seconds that felt like minutes, everything flicked around them and the fluid in the pool began to change color from clear to red.
The Keeper let out a sigh of relief as the Huntress continued to cry out in pain. She pulled him so close he couldn't focus on anything but her, as one life after another left her flesh. As each life was sensed by the fluid around them the tentacles in the pool snatched it up and transferred it to a pod in the adjacent room. As each pod came online, Emeth announced it.
"There are twenty pods online and stable, commander." Emeth said relived after nearly six hours of monitoring everything around him. The Huntress had released the Keeper when the last life was gone from her body. The commander quickly checked her life sign's, she was alive, barely. When he was certain she was stable, he slowly released her and climbed from the pool. The two Wraith stared calmly at each other, enjoying the silence for the first time in several hours.
"Commander?" the Second in commanded finally asked.
"She is alive, but my connection to her... is diminished." he groaned calmly as he looked at the female still floating in the red fluid. The Hive was slowly filtering out the excess blood but it would take time.
"Should we release her?" Emethquestioned him.
"Do not!" proclaimed his commander. "This birthing was extremely difficult, she will need the Hive's aid to recover." the commander was much calmer with his statement. "She will sleep for some time, possibly days. I would have one of us with her when she wakes." the Second in command looked to his commander confused. "We should tend to our own needs, so we will be able to tend to hers when she wakes." the commander said calmly as he double checked the monitoring station's read out.
"She should not be alone." the Second in command remarked calmly.
"She is not alone, she is surrounded by her young now." the commander said as he moved next to his second who was starring at the unconscious Huntress. "We are not the only ones who care for her." the commander looked in his Second's eye as he spoke. Emeth the Second in command submitted to the stronger wraith and bowed. After several more minutes, he found himself having to answer the questions of several Wraith outside the door to the maturation chamber.
"If you truly wanted to know the condition of our Queen, then you would have gone to command. I'm certain they are updating the entire Hive on the current situation from there!" the Second in commanded howled at the barrage of wraith in the hall. When he saw most of them retreat irritatedly he continued more calmly. "All lives are stable, currently. Now I am certain you have duties to attend to." the Second in command growled calmly as most of the Wraith nodded and moved out of his way.
************ ( Because you are My Queen )*****************
It had been nearly a week since the birthing and there was still no sigh of consciousness in the Huntress. The other Wraith feared it was the Hive alone that kept her alive, and her Keeper was frustrated because he couldn't reach her. Once again he left her in his second in command's care. It had been 6 days since the birthing, and 2 days with Emeth at her side agin, when even the Second's frustration boiled.
"Out! All of you!" he stood up and yelled suddenly, there was only three Wraith in the whole chamber at the time but all of them dropped what they were doing and quickly left the room. After several minutes Emeth took the unconscious human in his arms, careful not to pull her from the Hive.
"Kayna." Emeth called to her, but he felt nothing only emptiness. Emeth closed his eyes and allowed his forehead to fall against her's, he could see only darkness, then his mind stepped into it.
>"Come back to us."< he called out into the darkness. At first he felt nothing so he pushed and he pushed farther and farther into the darkness until finally he got an answer.
>"Why?"< the darkness cried back at him.
>"We need you, the Hive need's it's Huntress's."< the wraith growled back, but he couldn't pin her mind down, she continued to run from him.
>"They will never allow wraith-kin to live. We both know this. What reason do I have to fight?"< the darkness shifted randomly all around him.
>"We do not know that. Your young are blessed because their Zah'ren is stronger then any other." < the Wraith growled into the darkness.
>"To be raised as Wraith, they do not need me."< the voice was nearly broken, and Emeth finally figured out its location. He reached out with his mind and he was right, the Huntresses mind was hiding in the darkness, and he caught her. He wrapped his mind around hers as she tried to push him away, but she was weaker then she had ever been. He could easily encase her mind with his own.
>"I need you, Kayna"< he whispered as she struggled with him.
>"Don't, we promised."< she pushed back.
>"Then come back." < he purred. >"You have fought so hard, I can not let you give up now."< Emeth clung to her mind, and finally she relented to his hold.
>"My own parvana is lost to me. My honor is lost to this hive. I can not find comfort in..."< her mind could not suppress the pain, and turmoil it felt. >"I can not even have you, the one who truly has earned my affections."< her mind tortured itself with an unending cycle of negative thoughts, each one burring her deeper and deeper in the darkness around them.
>"Some things can not be left unsaid." the Wraiths mind growled as he tried to calm her.
>"Emeth?" she questioned him.
>"Since the first moment your mind touched mine, I have chosen you. Not because you would be my mate, but because you are my Queen."< the Wraiths mind purred around her as she slowly started to focus on his words. >"Most Wraith live life times, never knowing a Queen worthy of severing, let alone one worthy of a bonding. You have an entire hive willing to serve your every need, and you are not even Wraith."< he tried to laugh at the irony in it.
>"Thats what doesn't make sense. Im inferior, there is no reason..."<
>"Enough!"< Emeth cut her off. >"You still do not see why we have taken this risk. Why, you are unique, among your kind." < the Wraith purred as he closed his mind even tighter around her. >"Then let me show you."< his mind released around her in a flash and she embraced his mind in return.
It was unlike anything she had ever felt, there was so much information all at once. Emeth had lived lifetimes compared to a human life span. There were more lifetimes than she could count, and more emotion then she could sort through. Emeth focused on certain emotions, he wanted her to feel everything he knew, the pain and pleasures of his life.
>"Don't say it."< he growled when he felt her mind merge with his own. >"My name is the only honor left between us."< he purred.
>"Emeth."< she called to him. >"I can't...I didn't...Emeth.. I..."< her mind clung to his as if he was all that existed. >"It's to much."< she cried out. The Wraith released her, they both fell back into consciousness. The Wraith staggered backwards until he found the edge of the pool, then he looked up to see the Huntress body gasp and struggle, for the first time in days. He quickly shook off his own fatigue and returned to her side.
"I could feel you, not just feel you, I knew everything you knew." she pulled the Wraith close to her side as she still floated in the fluid. "Emeth if I could feel you, could you feel...?"
"You are not my Parvana, you can not bond with me." the Wraith purred as his forehead fell against her's.
"That doesn't mean I cant care for you." she barely had the strength to lift her own arm but she finally found the Wraith above her with her hand. When she touched his neck, he let out a pleasurable purr in acceptance. "You have stood at my side longer then I have known my own parvana. No one deserves my affections more then the one soul that I can not give them too, you must know that." the Wraith could easily see the females emotions where far beyond her control.
"That is why I will never leave yourside, my Huntress." the Wraith purred calmly. The female tried to grip him but was she was far too weak to keep a hold of his wet leathers, and slowly she fell back into unconsciousness. The wraith checked her vital signs they were much stronger than before and he could still sense her restless mind subtly in the back ground, she will recover, he thought.
*************** ( faith )*********************
The Huntress would need to recover allof her strength before returning to conclave, so she wasted no time,as soon as she was able to walk, she took Emeth to a sparing room, onboard the hive. The first week Emeth refused to aid her, claiming all her devices had been left in Conclave and they lacked the materials to make more. Sometime during the 2nd week of her recovery Emeth finally gave into her demands and presented her with her cloak of a thousand eye's as he called it. There was not 1k devices on it only a hundred or so but it sounded better and they laughed about it. It was good to see her laugh, her distress had been increased when she learned the condition of her young.
Every morning she would walk the halls of the maturation chamber singing to them. It was of little concern to the wraith that her young was under the complete care of the hive, but it concerned her greatly. She was told this was how it was among Wraith even though wraith-kin had never been nurtured by a hive to their knowledge before. Among wraith, newborns where cared for by the hive, in maturation pods. Until her young where able to eat for themselves, which could take more than a full year. The Hive would not release them until they were mature enough to survive on their own. Each morning after she was able, she walked the small halls of the maturation chamber singing or humming for almost an hour before she would allow Emeth take her to eat herself. It broke her heart not to be able to touch them.
After she ate she tried to get Emeth to spar with her but at first he refused. It made the days long and full of frustration. When Emeth handed her, her cloak she knew he would finally allow her to practice. She dragged him strait from the maturation chamber to a sparring room and locked the door.
"What if it was them?" she asked calmly after the door sealed behind them.
"Huntress?" Emeth questioned her.
"What if it was never me?" the huntress asked calmly. When the Wraith next to her let out a laugh she struck his chest with the back of her hand. The Wraith purred softly and took her hand in his.
"There is but one way to know for sure." he answered her calmly. She took a breath and nodded in agreement. When she took a step but he did not follow her she turned back to him.
"Stay with me." she whispered to him, and he took a step towards her. The Huntress stood facing Emeth in the center of the room. The Wraith placed his hands on her waist and she gripped his neck as they focused on one another.
"Something is missing?" the Huntress said frustrated after several minutes of trying. The Wraith let out a chuckle.
"Yes, the flow of life within you. You must find your focus without it." the wraith purred as the huntress tried to calm her frustrations.
"It was them, then." she stated coldly. the huntress fear that all her mental strength over the past few month's was due to her pregnancy, not her own ability.
"I will hear no more of it." the Wraith growled and she gave him her full attention. Emeth leaned into her and whispered in her ear. "Can you not feel me Kayna?" he questioned her.
"Yes." she gasped.
"I can feel you..." the wraith purred. "I have never known a will as strong as your's, or a resolve as fierce as the one you possess." his breath caressed her neck as he spoke.
"If it was not for your faith in me, I would have no strength at all." she whispered then took a deep breath. Emeth could feel her mind start to focus and after a few more deep breaths the devices stated to buzz around them and he growled with pleasure. "Not a word." she groaned a she turned all of her focus to controlling the devices all around them. The first practices were the hardest, but Emeth let her push as hard as she could and she quickly recovered her strength.