The sudden outcry of a word that didn’t get translated startled Kiyrtin. "Huh? What?"

"Get off me!"

"What's wrong?"

"When is your next melt-molting?" Nadine pressed without acknowledging his confusion.

"Err, on the risk of repeating myself: what?" What kind of question was that? Why would anyone ask that out of nowhere?"

"Your next melt-molting, when is it due?!"

"How would I know?"

"How WOULDN'T you??!! It's your body!!"

"And? Do you know when you will have to go to the toilet the next time? It just happens when it happens, everything else is the doctor's job," he retorted as he climbed off her back. Well, what he said wasn't entirely true. He had been waiting for his first molting to occur for quite some time now, it was frustrating that it took him so long.

Still, what exactly was she going on about? Did she want him to get off because she was finally getting tired? But why ask about his molting cycle then?

"Shit! Shit, shit, shit! Maybe..." She palpated her clothes. "No, too soaked already, crap!"

"Is there a problem, Milady?" One of the guards asked, not having missed the alien girl's apparent panic.

"You!" she shouted looking at them. "Your armor vests, do they absorb liquids?"

"Err... no?"

"Damn it! What else could we..." She ran to the nearest bush, ripped off some leaves, and gave them to him. "Can you try to wipe yourself dry with those?"

"Nadine, calm down! What by the First Ones are you going on about?!"

That at least seemed to halt her. The alien girl hesitated for a moment, before swiping one hand over her left arm and raising her spread fingers. Small, clear droplets dribbled down.

"See that? That is sweat. My body produces it to regulate its temperature, that is the main reason for my high endurance."

Right, the stuff had cooled him down as well. He remembered his main problem being his body heating up, but if she could prevent the problem like this, it all made sense.

"Neat," he commented.

"Certainly, but here comes the not-so-neat part: this stuff dissolves your carapace!"

A long silence, filled with blank stares from both him and the guards followed.

"You... you are messing with me again, right?" he finally managed to ask.

"DO I LOOK LIKE I'M JOKING RIGHT NOW??!!"

No, she definitely didn't. When she was teasing him, she was always calm and collected. In fact, he couldn't remember any point where she seemed as panicked as she was now. But... could this really be true? If so, what was going to happen to him? His entire front body was full of her sweat! Looking at the leaves in his hand, he tried to wipe it off. But while he did manage to get the bigger droplets, the wetness as a whole stayed.

"I can't get it off completely."

"Do you really have no idea when your next melt-molting is?"

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"No! I didn't even have my first molting yet. All I know is that it's supposed to happen in the near future."

That much, he mainly knew because the maids wouldn’t shut up about it. The first molting meant reaching adolescence after all, while the second one meant entering adulthood. Nadine took a deep breath, seemingly trying to calm herself down.

"Okay, to be fair, we don't know for sure if it actually is the sweat, we just got there by process of elimination. Let's hope "near future" means within the next seventy days or so, then the new shell should've already finished forming. Said Doc. If that's the case, you'll just end up molting sooner than planned. In fact, Doc theorized that I can only dissolve your exoskeleton when it's already getting soft due to molting being close, but I'd prefer not to test that one."

"So... what now?"

Nadine looked at the ground and dejectedly shrugged.

"Back to the shuttle, back to the palace, get you checked up ASAP, and while doing so hope for the best I guess. Have you recovered a bit?"

"I should be able to walk the rest of the way."

As they got near the clearing where they had landed, Nadine abruptly halted once again. He was just about to ask, but as Kiyrtin followed her line of sight, he saw it himself: a cariyca, possibly even the same they had seen before, was right in front of the shuttle. Its left side pointed towards them, while the head was buried in the passenger space.

"What is that thing doing there?" Kiyrtin asked, doing his best to keep his voice low this time.

"Don't know, maybe we're not the only ones who like guthra fruits?"

"But why is the door open in the first place?" one of the guards added quietly, but with audible anger. "What is our pilot doing?"

To that, Nadine seemed to squint her eyes. Kiyrtin wasn't exactly sure what that was supposed to achieve.

"By the looks of it: sleeping."

Seriously? he thought. So much about guarding the shuttle. Then again, this was a unique chance.

"Well then, go for it."

Surprised, Nadine turned her head toward him.

"You sure? We're kind of in a hurry."

"It'll take us multiple invas to get back anyway, now give it at least a try so this wasn't completely pointless. I don't feel any different, I'm probably fine anyway."

Huh, did he really just say that? He hadn't really thought about his words, but in retrospect, it didn't really sound like him. After a moment, Nadine nodded.

"Okay, I'll give it a shot."

She then turned to the guards.

"I know I said I'll do it myself, but if I don't hit right, I might just wound it. In that case, please finish it off. I don't want to cause it to unnecessarily suffer. If I miss and it runs, leave it be."

She then pulled the boomerang out of her scabbard and slowly edged closer toward the cariyca. however, she was still over a hundred lynes away when she stopped. Despite their situation, the only thing Kiyrtin felt at the moment was curiosity. After having held it himself, he was intrigued to see how the fancy stick was supposed to kill such a large animal. It was an open field, so she clearly didn't plan to just drop it on its head like he originally thought. But what else could she do? It was so primitive with no mechanisms, he still didn't understand how it was even supposed to be a weapon. Especially considering how far away she still was. She had shown him how to use it, sure, but he apparently had done something wrong. However, she had never told him what it was supposed to look like, only that ideally, she needed to hit the head or neck. The former was impossible right now as the head of the creature was inside the shuttle, but a bit of neck was still visible.

Seemingly unfazed by the still large distance to her prey, Nadine assumed the same pose she had taught him and held it for a moment. Then, like a spring that was wound up to its maximum let loose, her arm snapped forward and let go of her weapon. The boomerang flew, no, shot forward, spinning so fast it almost looked like a disc. In an instant, it had bridged the distance. But the alien girl's aim had been off, instead of the neck, she only managed to hit the loin.

Not that it mattered. With a force that rivaled a kinetic canon, the weapon smashed into its target. The blunt impact was so brutal that the cariyca's body around the point of collision burst open, causing its blood to splatter against the hull of the shuttle. With a loud cry, the large animal stumbled back, but his body no longer had the integrity necessary to support its own weight. With an ugly cracking sound, it fell on its side, causing the tear in its loin to rip open further. As it hit the ground, a large portion of its organs were pushed out through the gaping hole, and with them, the remainder of its life force quickly left it as well. Only a motionless cadaver remained.

Whether its quick death was caused by the injury itself or something else, Kiyrtin couldn't tell. Thinking straight, in general, had become difficult at the moment. He just stood there frozen and stared motionlessly at the scene, trying to comprehend what he had just witnessed. The very same was true for the guards left and right of him, and even Nadine herself. However, the alien girl seemed to regain her composure quicker than him.

"Ah, right. I, uh, kinda didn't consider that this thing was made to kill earth animals."