It was good to have K'luha's eyes on him again. K'ile hadn't thought about that before. She'd been around, but she hadn't really looked at him like this since he'd left her on their way back from Gridania. Like the sun had been shining, but there had always been a shadow on him.
"K'yohko doesn't know anything about kids." K'ile's statement was a quick snip into the silence that K'luha had left for him. The Tia watched K'luha's eyes and leaned close to her, speaking softly and trusting K'luha's ears to hear him. "But this child would be different, because they would have a /father/, not just a Nunh."
"K'yohko knows how to make children." K'luha corrected lightly, a small smile curling onto her pale lips. Her tail flicked upwards cheerfully behind her. It wasn't a no. It sounded very much like a yes, actually. "But I can teach you that." The former huntress kept her gaze steadily onto K'ile's eyes, feeling warmer than she had in quite some time, despie the cold breeze of the night.
K'ile leaned his head slightly back. His ears twitched. "All men know how to make children. There's nothing special about that."
K'luha frowned faintly. What sort of response was that anyway? Her ears flicked downwards a bit, but she shifted forwards closer to K'ile. "Then show me that you can."
Breaking his gaze from K'luha long enough to glance back in the direction of the cooking meat, K'ile said, "I'm preapring the feast for tonight." Then he looked back to K'luha, trying to catch her eyes again. "I'm going to do this right, and beat K'yohko. Tonight. Then I'm all yours."
K'luha watched his gaze shift away back towards the feast, and clawed back the desire to throw K'ile on the ground. She pressed a hand back to her chest and clutched at her shirt. Her lips twitched, unable to decide if they should hold a scowl or a smile. Her mismatched eyes locked back onto K'ile's eyes as soon as he turned his head again. "Tonight?" K'luha muttered. "You're still hurt. And K'yohko is just recovered." She let out an aggravated click of her tongue, her eyes glancing in the direction of K'yohko's tent. "If you don't win, I'm taking you anyway." K'luha shifted her eyes back to K'ile with a narrowed gaze. "So don't get too hurt."
At that, K'ile couldn't help a small, nervous chuckle. The way she made it a threat, it sounded like something he should be afraid of. And maybe he would be, if it were someone other than Luha. Someone he were afraid of hurting or being hurt by. But he wasn't afraid of that with Luha. Except maybe her hips.
Still, her agression pushed against him. So he pressed back against it. "I don't plan on losing, so you just plan whatever you want." Then he lifted hs hands to her neck, holding her head still while he kissed her.
K'luha smirked faintly. She couldn't help but think K'ile shouldn't be encouraging her. The woman relented and eased into his touch, into his kiss. Her ears and tail perked up visibly, pleased with the show of affection. Although it pained her to do so, she lightly pulled her head to the side, breaking the kiss after a moment. "Well if you're going to do that, I'll take you now..." she muttered quietly, glancing up to catch his eyes this time.
K'ile pulled himself back at that, though K'luha's scent followed him, and he could smell the mood about them both. He felt like he should be smiling, but an intimidated frown forced its way onto his face. His ears stood up on his head, directed towards K'luha. "That wouldn't be... No, after is definitely better."
K'luha scoffed lightly, following forward with a gentle glide of her body. Her tail shifting behind her, moving in a strangely sultry manner. "Then you'd better run, because I'm not a very patient woman right now. Tahj is with the other huntresses and my tent is empty." The woman raised her brow at K'ile, licking her lips and observing him like one might observe their prey.
His eyes distracted by her tail, K'ile stepped back the way he had come. he couldn't smell the fires, meat, or even the salt over K'luha's enveloping scent. "You wouldn't want to tire me out before my fight." K'ile managed, weakly.
K'luha chuckled deeply in her thoart, stepping forward again so she might reach out to gently grasp one of the straps K'ile so pitifully wore like a shirt. "Oh, but I would."
"No you wouldn't. We need to do this right." K'ile backpedaled further, trying to win his way free of the woman's enveloping scent so he could make his escape.
K'luha stepped forward after K'ile, her hips swaying widely with every step. She smirked just as wide as her hips swayed, sharpened teeth peering lightly back at K'ile's retreating form. "You're tempting me K'ile."
"That's now what I think I'm doing." K'ile turned his eyes away. His ears twitched. "It's not what it sounds like I'm doing. I don't think."
"K'ile~" K'luha called softly, slinking forward again. "You'd better run."
Wait, did she want him to? Wouldn't that be rude? But she'd said... And he really did need to finish the... And the fight was going to...
"Uhm. Okay." K'ile bolted.
K'luha sighed lightly as he ran off, flicking her tail backwards. "Shit... I better not have fucked that up for myself..." she grumbled a bit and stepped back towards her tent.
Once K'ile was a good ways away from K'luha, but not quite back to the fire yet, he slowed. Once he went back and started cooking, it was probably all he would be able to do for the rest of the night. Meanwhile, K'yohko had wanted to talk to him.
Standing in the camp as new stars began to spread thorugh the sky above him, K'ile smirked. K'yohko thought he was going to mate with Luha that evening. He probably wanted to talk to K'ile to let him know that his woman would no longer be supporting the challenge. But things weren't going to go how K'yohko expected them to.
K'ile turned his gaze around the tribe. Then he turned to start towards K'yohko's tent. He might as well let the Nunh make a fool of himself. It wouldn't take long.
K'yohko stood heavily, holding the fabric of the makeshift door open to let K'zhumi out. He gave a small nod of his head to her as she left before once more retreating back into the dark cool emptiness of within. It was a small tent, large enough for three at most. The inside was mostly empty, almost sterile looking. Only a few things lay about its confines; K'yohko's weapons, a few different pieces of clothing that had been givne to him, and of course a large bedroll. He sat alone with his back to the entrance, closing his eyes once more in his usual deep meditation.
K'ile could smell K'zhumi's passage, but it made sense to him. The Nunh would have to be at his strongest. Otherwise, K'ile's victory wouldn't mean anything. Having little concern for whatever K'yohko was doing inside, K'ile positioned himself directly in front of the man's tent. Hands on his sides, K'ile bent forward and shouted, "Hey K'yohko! You busy? Bet you're not!" His tail swished back and forth behind him.
"You may come in, if that is what you are asking, K'ile Tia." K'yohko's voice called back strongly. It seemed to have returned to its ever deadened and monotone call, ringing through the quiet of the night like a courel's call.
"That's not what I was asking." K'ile pushed his way into the man's drab tent regardless. "I was just saying that I suspected there were no women in the fruitless Nunh's tent."
"You just missed K'zhumi, and the rest are on the hunt." K'yohko replied smoothly, keeping his back to the other Tia.
"K'zhumi doesn't count when she's just hear to lick your wounds." K'ile flicked his ears at that. He stopped just inside of K'yohko's tent and dropped into a crouch.
K'yohko held a response on his tongue for a moment before giving out a long breath. Words that needed not to be said should be given to the wind. The nunh took another moment before he finally glanced behind him at the Tia. "I am surprised you came. You certainly took your time getting here."
K'ile's brow dropped, "Unlike some people in this tent, I have things that I do for this tribe. I was busy. And I'm not like those daughters of yours, terrified by any syllable of sound you make."
"It is a daughter of mine I wished to speak about." K'yoho turned his entire body around finally, facing K'ile squarely and keeping his hands in his lap. "How well is it that you know K'nahli? Has she ever confessed anything to you?"
K'ile leaned away, his ears laying back on his head. That hadn't been what he'd expected. "She's spent some time trying to teach me how to use a bow. I don't think she's ever formally confessed anything to me." K'ile leaned forward again, sniffing the air for some indication of K'yohko's concealed mood. "Are you worried I won't make a very good Nunh for her?"
"I worry for her, and for K'mih. I think you will be a fine nunh for them however. But I worry K'nahli and K'mih will never mate. K'nahli is too willful and K'mih lacks a will entirely." He sighed a bit, revealing a faint touch of frustration with the girls. "But K'nahli confessed to me something tonight that vexes me beyond all else. It makes me believe that... you have been right. That I am a poor Nunh." He frowned a bit, wrinkles forming heavily on his forehead.
"Girls with bad fathers are going to have problems." K'ile spoke completely without pity for the man. He didn't need any. "But I don't think you need to worry about their wills. K'nahli will figure herself out, and K'mih's got plenty of will when people are coddling her."
"K'ile Tia. I wish to entrust you with something, but I must know that you will not speak of it outside of this tent. Is that something you can do for me? If you never did a single thing for me again, that would be alright so long as this knowledge I wish to say is kept secret." K'yohko leaned forward, narrowing his gaze sharply at K'ile.
K'ile frowned, letting his head lilt to one side. "I can't promise to do something before I know what it is, but I'm not a gossip. I don't run around talking about people."
K'yohko seemed vexed by his lack of an answer. His ears twitched incessently atop his head, and his tail curled up around his side. "I cannot tell you if you cannot promise this for me."
The Tia rolled his eyes. "Okay, little Yohko. I promise not to tell anyone your secret."
"K'nahli said she was in love with me." He frowned deeply, his ears pressing to the top of his head. "I do not know how or why or even if it is true, but she professed it as truth to me."
K'ile snapped his head back. "What? Uhm. In what way?"
"Not the way a daughter should care for a father." He shook his head roughly and reached back to rub at the back of his neck. "In an incestual way."
"Oh." K'ile's ears turned sideways on his head, and his tail flipped back and forth behind him. He laughed at that, eyes on the ceiling. "You are so... Well." He dropped his gaze back to the man. "So what are you going to do about it?"
"I..." he gripped roughly at the back of his neck and forced himself to breath out. He slowly released his neck and set his hands back into his lap. "If I loose to you, then... she could not care for me anymore. Could she? I must do something to spare her... "
K'ile shook his head. "That won't change anything." Then he thrust a finger at the man, pointing violently at his face. "And don't you DARE think about losing to me on purpose. If you don't give this fight everything you have then being Nunh means nothing. Not to you, not to me, not to this tribe and not to your daughters."
K'yohko recoiled slightly, for the first time seemingly affected by anything K'ile had done or said. "I realize that K'ile and yet... I would do anything to save K'nahli from myself." He stood impatiently and paced back and forth in front of his uncle. "And yet if you were nunh, would not much be fixed? K'nahli would be forced to give up on me, K'mih would have a mate, K'luha would be happy, perhaps even K'rahto would begin challenging you..." K'yohko grunted before forcing himself to sit still again. "I will... give this fight my all. For your sake. And the tribe's sake. But please, you must help me figure out how to convince K'nahli to care for someone else."
Watching the Nunh with a vexed expression, K'ile shook his head. "My being Nunh isn't going to fix anything. I can help K'luha put herself back together, but that's still going to be hard. I'll help the tribe and the women by giving them more children, but it's still going to be hard. I don't think K'nahli and K'mih will accept me as their Nunh."
"If you beat me fairly, would they not be impressed enough to do so?" K'yohko asked almost nervously. The idea that they would still not accept K'ile if he defeated K'yohko seemed to be a concept utterly beyond the Nunh.
"That's not how it works. They're young. They can wait for another Nunh. Decades if they want. Or just never mate." K'ile brushed at his face with the back of his hand. His ehadache was beginning to come back. "K'mih doesn't like me."
K'yohko resumed his vexted expression and scratched at the back of his head again. He didn't have a headache, but he was beginning to develop the urge to go find K'zhumi again. "Why doesn't K'mih like you? Can we make her like you?"
"She doesn't like me because she likes you, and I don't like you, so she doesn't like me." K'ile shrugged. "We could make out at the feast. Then she'd know we're okay."
 "... Would that really help?" he leaned forward, unable to discern if K'ile was serious or not. "I'll do it if it would help."
"No that won't help." K'ile shook his head, but chuckled. "By Azeyma's eternal light, Yohko, you really don't have any idea, do you?"
"I don't." K'yohko frowned again and sat back, clenching his hands together in order to remain as still as possible. "My daughters elude my ability to reason. They have ever been whispers in the wind and leave me grasping at nothingness." He grunted somewhat irritably and pulled his ears back. "I am not too proud to admit when I am floundering."
"You shouldn't have any pride around me. I've never respected anything you've done, and I'm not surprised to hear you admit that you have no idea how to be a parent to the children you probably should've never had." K'ile spoke sternly, but it was both untrue and overly cruel. There were, in fact, some things he respected about K'yohko. None of them came into play here, though. "Listen. Get over K'mih. She's not a problem. If she doesn't want to mate, she doesn't have to mate. That's her own business."
K'yohko kept his face still, although he wanted to wince at K'ile's words. Was this the truth he was meant to hear? That none respected him? That he should hever never done his duty as a Nunh? His expression was schooled and firm. He couldn't allow his own doubt to betray him. This conversation wasn't supposed to be about himself. It was about K'mih. But mostly, K'nahli. "Fine, then K'mih is not the problem. It is K'nahli. How do I get her to give up her feelings and give them to someone else?" he snapped back towards the Tia, impatient for an answer it seemed K'ile was so ready and knowledgable to give.
"I don't know." K'ile shook his head. "Losing the challenge to me won't change her mind if that's honestly how she feels about you. She's young, though. Kids her age, even those as careful as K'nahli, say a lot of things about their feelings that just aren't true."
K'yohko's ears perked up lightly, but he was careful not to let his face betray his hope. "You think she was lying? Or just confused?"
K'ile looked to one side, and then back at K'yohko. "Maybe."
K'yohko inhaled deeply, letting his ears return to a more normal position. "I could believe such a thing...." After a moment's pause he looked back to K'ile. "I will hope as much for now."
"I'll have a talk with her." Kile pushed himself up, standing. "But you need to promise you're going to do your best to win."
I've already promised that much, K'ile." K'yohko seated himself more comfortably and rolled his shoulders a bit to ease some tension that had settled there. "I will fight you with all of my strength."
"Fine then. Are we done?" K'ile found a certain bitterness weighing down his words. Perhaps just out of habit. "I have a feast to prepare."
"We are." K'yohko called back stiffly, turning his back to the tia once again in order to take up a comfortable position to meditate in.
K'ile stepped towards the door, and there stopped, glancing back to K'yohko. "If you helped prepare the feast, it could go a long way to reminding people that Nunh challenges are normal and important, not about conflict."
K'yohko paused and glanced back towards K'ile, a bit surprised but keeping the look of surprise from his face. "I thought you wanted nothing to do with me."
Rolling his eyes, K'ile flicked his tail. "Oh, don't give me that pouty kid act. I'd thought you'd grown out of it."
K'yohko's ears twitched faintly, his tail sweeping around to settle into his lap. "You also don't remember the trouble I had cooking the feast for my challenge."
K'ile shrugged. "You can be lazy if you want." He walked out of K'yohko's tent.
K'yohko narrowed his gaze a bit as K'ile left. "Asking me to cook his own feast for him and he calls me lazy..." he muttered faintly, shaking his head and returning to his meditation.
"K'yohko doesn't know anything about kids." K'ile's statement was a quick snip into the silence that K'luha had left for him. The Tia watched K'luha's eyes and leaned close to her, speaking softly and trusting K'luha's ears to hear him. "But this child would be different, because they would have a /father/, not just a Nunh."
"K'yohko knows how to make children." K'luha corrected lightly, a small smile curling onto her pale lips. Her tail flicked upwards cheerfully behind her. It wasn't a no. It sounded very much like a yes, actually. "But I can teach you that." The former huntress kept her gaze steadily onto K'ile's eyes, feeling warmer than she had in quite some time, despie the cold breeze of the night.
K'ile leaned his head slightly back. His ears twitched. "All men know how to make children. There's nothing special about that."
K'luha frowned faintly. What sort of response was that anyway? Her ears flicked downwards a bit, but she shifted forwards closer to K'ile. "Then show me that you can."
Breaking his gaze from K'luha long enough to glance back in the direction of the cooking meat, K'ile said, "I'm preapring the feast for tonight." Then he looked back to K'luha, trying to catch her eyes again. "I'm going to do this right, and beat K'yohko. Tonight. Then I'm all yours."
K'luha watched his gaze shift away back towards the feast, and clawed back the desire to throw K'ile on the ground. She pressed a hand back to her chest and clutched at her shirt. Her lips twitched, unable to decide if they should hold a scowl or a smile. Her mismatched eyes locked back onto K'ile's eyes as soon as he turned his head again. "Tonight?" K'luha muttered. "You're still hurt. And K'yohko is just recovered." She let out an aggravated click of her tongue, her eyes glancing in the direction of K'yohko's tent. "If you don't win, I'm taking you anyway." K'luha shifted her eyes back to K'ile with a narrowed gaze. "So don't get too hurt."
At that, K'ile couldn't help a small, nervous chuckle. The way she made it a threat, it sounded like something he should be afraid of. And maybe he would be, if it were someone other than Luha. Someone he were afraid of hurting or being hurt by. But he wasn't afraid of that with Luha. Except maybe her hips.
Still, her agression pushed against him. So he pressed back against it. "I don't plan on losing, so you just plan whatever you want." Then he lifted hs hands to her neck, holding her head still while he kissed her.
K'luha smirked faintly. She couldn't help but think K'ile shouldn't be encouraging her. The woman relented and eased into his touch, into his kiss. Her ears and tail perked up visibly, pleased with the show of affection. Although it pained her to do so, she lightly pulled her head to the side, breaking the kiss after a moment. "Well if you're going to do that, I'll take you now..." she muttered quietly, glancing up to catch his eyes this time.
K'ile pulled himself back at that, though K'luha's scent followed him, and he could smell the mood about them both. He felt like he should be smiling, but an intimidated frown forced its way onto his face. His ears stood up on his head, directed towards K'luha. "That wouldn't be... No, after is definitely better."
K'luha scoffed lightly, following forward with a gentle glide of her body. Her tail shifting behind her, moving in a strangely sultry manner. "Then you'd better run, because I'm not a very patient woman right now. Tahj is with the other huntresses and my tent is empty." The woman raised her brow at K'ile, licking her lips and observing him like one might observe their prey.
His eyes distracted by her tail, K'ile stepped back the way he had come. he couldn't smell the fires, meat, or even the salt over K'luha's enveloping scent. "You wouldn't want to tire me out before my fight." K'ile managed, weakly.
K'luha chuckled deeply in her thoart, stepping forward again so she might reach out to gently grasp one of the straps K'ile so pitifully wore like a shirt. "Oh, but I would."
"No you wouldn't. We need to do this right." K'ile backpedaled further, trying to win his way free of the woman's enveloping scent so he could make his escape.
K'luha stepped forward after K'ile, her hips swaying widely with every step. She smirked just as wide as her hips swayed, sharpened teeth peering lightly back at K'ile's retreating form. "You're tempting me K'ile."
"That's now what I think I'm doing." K'ile turned his eyes away. His ears twitched. "It's not what it sounds like I'm doing. I don't think."
"K'ile~" K'luha called softly, slinking forward again. "You'd better run."
Wait, did she want him to? Wouldn't that be rude? But she'd said... And he really did need to finish the... And the fight was going to...
"Uhm. Okay." K'ile bolted.
K'luha sighed lightly as he ran off, flicking her tail backwards. "Shit... I better not have fucked that up for myself..." she grumbled a bit and stepped back towards her tent.
Once K'ile was a good ways away from K'luha, but not quite back to the fire yet, he slowed. Once he went back and started cooking, it was probably all he would be able to do for the rest of the night. Meanwhile, K'yohko had wanted to talk to him.
Standing in the camp as new stars began to spread thorugh the sky above him, K'ile smirked. K'yohko thought he was going to mate with Luha that evening. He probably wanted to talk to K'ile to let him know that his woman would no longer be supporting the challenge. But things weren't going to go how K'yohko expected them to.
K'ile turned his gaze around the tribe. Then he turned to start towards K'yohko's tent. He might as well let the Nunh make a fool of himself. It wouldn't take long.
K'yohko stood heavily, holding the fabric of the makeshift door open to let K'zhumi out. He gave a small nod of his head to her as she left before once more retreating back into the dark cool emptiness of within. It was a small tent, large enough for three at most. The inside was mostly empty, almost sterile looking. Only a few things lay about its confines; K'yohko's weapons, a few different pieces of clothing that had been givne to him, and of course a large bedroll. He sat alone with his back to the entrance, closing his eyes once more in his usual deep meditation.
K'ile could smell K'zhumi's passage, but it made sense to him. The Nunh would have to be at his strongest. Otherwise, K'ile's victory wouldn't mean anything. Having little concern for whatever K'yohko was doing inside, K'ile positioned himself directly in front of the man's tent. Hands on his sides, K'ile bent forward and shouted, "Hey K'yohko! You busy? Bet you're not!" His tail swished back and forth behind him.
"You may come in, if that is what you are asking, K'ile Tia." K'yohko's voice called back strongly. It seemed to have returned to its ever deadened and monotone call, ringing through the quiet of the night like a courel's call.
"That's not what I was asking." K'ile pushed his way into the man's drab tent regardless. "I was just saying that I suspected there were no women in the fruitless Nunh's tent."
"You just missed K'zhumi, and the rest are on the hunt." K'yohko replied smoothly, keeping his back to the other Tia.
"K'zhumi doesn't count when she's just hear to lick your wounds." K'ile flicked his ears at that. He stopped just inside of K'yohko's tent and dropped into a crouch.
K'yohko held a response on his tongue for a moment before giving out a long breath. Words that needed not to be said should be given to the wind. The nunh took another moment before he finally glanced behind him at the Tia. "I am surprised you came. You certainly took your time getting here."
K'ile's brow dropped, "Unlike some people in this tent, I have things that I do for this tribe. I was busy. And I'm not like those daughters of yours, terrified by any syllable of sound you make."
"It is a daughter of mine I wished to speak about." K'yoho turned his entire body around finally, facing K'ile squarely and keeping his hands in his lap. "How well is it that you know K'nahli? Has she ever confessed anything to you?"
K'ile leaned away, his ears laying back on his head. That hadn't been what he'd expected. "She's spent some time trying to teach me how to use a bow. I don't think she's ever formally confessed anything to me." K'ile leaned forward again, sniffing the air for some indication of K'yohko's concealed mood. "Are you worried I won't make a very good Nunh for her?"
"I worry for her, and for K'mih. I think you will be a fine nunh for them however. But I worry K'nahli and K'mih will never mate. K'nahli is too willful and K'mih lacks a will entirely." He sighed a bit, revealing a faint touch of frustration with the girls. "But K'nahli confessed to me something tonight that vexes me beyond all else. It makes me believe that... you have been right. That I am a poor Nunh." He frowned a bit, wrinkles forming heavily on his forehead.
"Girls with bad fathers are going to have problems." K'ile spoke completely without pity for the man. He didn't need any. "But I don't think you need to worry about their wills. K'nahli will figure herself out, and K'mih's got plenty of will when people are coddling her."
"K'ile Tia. I wish to entrust you with something, but I must know that you will not speak of it outside of this tent. Is that something you can do for me? If you never did a single thing for me again, that would be alright so long as this knowledge I wish to say is kept secret." K'yohko leaned forward, narrowing his gaze sharply at K'ile.
K'ile frowned, letting his head lilt to one side. "I can't promise to do something before I know what it is, but I'm not a gossip. I don't run around talking about people."
K'yohko seemed vexed by his lack of an answer. His ears twitched incessently atop his head, and his tail curled up around his side. "I cannot tell you if you cannot promise this for me."
The Tia rolled his eyes. "Okay, little Yohko. I promise not to tell anyone your secret."
"K'nahli said she was in love with me." He frowned deeply, his ears pressing to the top of his head. "I do not know how or why or even if it is true, but she professed it as truth to me."
K'ile snapped his head back. "What? Uhm. In what way?"
"Not the way a daughter should care for a father." He shook his head roughly and reached back to rub at the back of his neck. "In an incestual way."
"Oh." K'ile's ears turned sideways on his head, and his tail flipped back and forth behind him. He laughed at that, eyes on the ceiling. "You are so... Well." He dropped his gaze back to the man. "So what are you going to do about it?"
"I..." he gripped roughly at the back of his neck and forced himself to breath out. He slowly released his neck and set his hands back into his lap. "If I loose to you, then... she could not care for me anymore. Could she? I must do something to spare her... "
K'ile shook his head. "That won't change anything." Then he thrust a finger at the man, pointing violently at his face. "And don't you DARE think about losing to me on purpose. If you don't give this fight everything you have then being Nunh means nothing. Not to you, not to me, not to this tribe and not to your daughters."
K'yohko recoiled slightly, for the first time seemingly affected by anything K'ile had done or said. "I realize that K'ile and yet... I would do anything to save K'nahli from myself." He stood impatiently and paced back and forth in front of his uncle. "And yet if you were nunh, would not much be fixed? K'nahli would be forced to give up on me, K'mih would have a mate, K'luha would be happy, perhaps even K'rahto would begin challenging you..." K'yohko grunted before forcing himself to sit still again. "I will... give this fight my all. For your sake. And the tribe's sake. But please, you must help me figure out how to convince K'nahli to care for someone else."
Watching the Nunh with a vexed expression, K'ile shook his head. "My being Nunh isn't going to fix anything. I can help K'luha put herself back together, but that's still going to be hard. I'll help the tribe and the women by giving them more children, but it's still going to be hard. I don't think K'nahli and K'mih will accept me as their Nunh."
"If you beat me fairly, would they not be impressed enough to do so?" K'yohko asked almost nervously. The idea that they would still not accept K'ile if he defeated K'yohko seemed to be a concept utterly beyond the Nunh.
"That's not how it works. They're young. They can wait for another Nunh. Decades if they want. Or just never mate." K'ile brushed at his face with the back of his hand. His ehadache was beginning to come back. "K'mih doesn't like me."
K'yohko resumed his vexted expression and scratched at the back of his head again. He didn't have a headache, but he was beginning to develop the urge to go find K'zhumi again. "Why doesn't K'mih like you? Can we make her like you?"
"She doesn't like me because she likes you, and I don't like you, so she doesn't like me." K'ile shrugged. "We could make out at the feast. Then she'd know we're okay."
 "... Would that really help?" he leaned forward, unable to discern if K'ile was serious or not. "I'll do it if it would help."
"No that won't help." K'ile shook his head, but chuckled. "By Azeyma's eternal light, Yohko, you really don't have any idea, do you?"
"I don't." K'yohko frowned again and sat back, clenching his hands together in order to remain as still as possible. "My daughters elude my ability to reason. They have ever been whispers in the wind and leave me grasping at nothingness." He grunted somewhat irritably and pulled his ears back. "I am not too proud to admit when I am floundering."
"You shouldn't have any pride around me. I've never respected anything you've done, and I'm not surprised to hear you admit that you have no idea how to be a parent to the children you probably should've never had." K'ile spoke sternly, but it was both untrue and overly cruel. There were, in fact, some things he respected about K'yohko. None of them came into play here, though. "Listen. Get over K'mih. She's not a problem. If she doesn't want to mate, she doesn't have to mate. That's her own business."
K'yohko kept his face still, although he wanted to wince at K'ile's words. Was this the truth he was meant to hear? That none respected him? That he should hever never done his duty as a Nunh? His expression was schooled and firm. He couldn't allow his own doubt to betray him. This conversation wasn't supposed to be about himself. It was about K'mih. But mostly, K'nahli. "Fine, then K'mih is not the problem. It is K'nahli. How do I get her to give up her feelings and give them to someone else?" he snapped back towards the Tia, impatient for an answer it seemed K'ile was so ready and knowledgable to give.
"I don't know." K'ile shook his head. "Losing the challenge to me won't change her mind if that's honestly how she feels about you. She's young, though. Kids her age, even those as careful as K'nahli, say a lot of things about their feelings that just aren't true."
K'yohko's ears perked up lightly, but he was careful not to let his face betray his hope. "You think she was lying? Or just confused?"
K'ile looked to one side, and then back at K'yohko. "Maybe."
K'yohko inhaled deeply, letting his ears return to a more normal position. "I could believe such a thing...." After a moment's pause he looked back to K'ile. "I will hope as much for now."
"I'll have a talk with her." Kile pushed himself up, standing. "But you need to promise you're going to do your best to win."
I've already promised that much, K'ile." K'yohko seated himself more comfortably and rolled his shoulders a bit to ease some tension that had settled there. "I will fight you with all of my strength."
"Fine then. Are we done?" K'ile found a certain bitterness weighing down his words. Perhaps just out of habit. "I have a feast to prepare."
"We are." K'yohko called back stiffly, turning his back to the tia once again in order to take up a comfortable position to meditate in.
K'ile stepped towards the door, and there stopped, glancing back to K'yohko. "If you helped prepare the feast, it could go a long way to reminding people that Nunh challenges are normal and important, not about conflict."
K'yohko paused and glanced back towards K'ile, a bit surprised but keeping the look of surprise from his face. "I thought you wanted nothing to do with me."
Rolling his eyes, K'ile flicked his tail. "Oh, don't give me that pouty kid act. I'd thought you'd grown out of it."
K'yohko's ears twitched faintly, his tail sweeping around to settle into his lap. "You also don't remember the trouble I had cooking the feast for my challenge."
K'ile shrugged. "You can be lazy if you want." He walked out of K'yohko's tent.
K'yohko narrowed his gaze a bit as K'ile left. "Asking me to cook his own feast for him and he calls me lazy..." he muttered faintly, shaking his head and returning to his meditation.
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