Sho'ta frowned when the kit barely managed to eat half of the bowl that Z'shi had prepared before carefully pushing the bowl away in a clear sign that she was done. Even Z'shi's best puppy eyes had no effect as the kit let out a soft sigh and slumped back against him. He worried for a moment that she had passed out but Z'shi was calm, his eyes fond as he watched her. She must just be sleepy then.

Meeting Z'shi's eyes, he gave him a significant look, shifting his purr into the one he used to get the littles to sleep on their respective home planets. Thankfully, his mate immediately understood, starting up the soft croon that was guaranteed to put any kit or nestling to sleep within a handful of clicks.

The combination worked its magic yet again, the kit leaning harder against him until they were completely out. He kept purring for another couple of clicks until he was certain she was fast asleep. Letting his purr die out, he listened to her even breathing, taking comfort in the fact that they'd take care of her from now on.

After a couple of clicks, he asked quietly, "She asleep?"

Z'shi leaned in close, seeming to be listening to her breathing as well. "Yeah. She was fighting it hard but she was exhausted. Poor nestling, I wonder how long she's been here."

Sho'ta grimaced, swallowing down the snarl that wanted to escape. "Longer than she ever should've been. It's at least a lunar cycle of steady travel to reach Terra at full speed if that's where she was taken from. These slavers are merchants though, there's no way that they'd make that sort of trip for a single Terran. So either there are more Terrans or they made several other stops along the way. So we're probably looking at a quarter solar rotation at the very least, if not four or five lunar cycles. I have no baseline for Terrans, but she feels much too light to be a healthy weight. She might've been struggling with this injury for cycles now."

Z'shi went and fetched their dinner trays before sitting down next to Sho'ta, careful not to bump the kit, even as he fed Sho'ta his ration before taking a bite of his own. "Could she be hollow-boned? There are some sentients that have those."

He shook his head, accepting another bite of the flavorless mush. "No, her build is wrong for that, she's too solid. If she had hollow bones, she'd be built lighter. And I've never heard a whisper that Terrans are hollow-boned or delicate. No, she must've lost weight during her captivity, because I hope to the universe that she was not this thin back on Terra."

His mate turned grim for a long moment. They both knew that other species could neglect or abandon their young, something that was unthinkable for Raptoras and Panteras. If a parent could not care for their offspring, for whatever reason, the entire kin and community would come together to help raise the kit. It was what made them stronger and helped them overcome all the challenges that existence brought them.

Z'shi visibly shrugged that away. "No matter which way it was, we have her now. We'll make sure that she's safe and cared for, wherever she may end up at." He tilted his head, his expression mischievous. "After all, you've already pretty much imprinted on her, right?"

Sho'ta sighed and grumbled wordlessly but couldn't contradict Z'shi. He didn't know why but he had imprinted pretty hard on the kit, as soon as he realized that she was one. He blinked as he realized something. "We don't even know her name."

Z'shi stood and moved a few feet away, stretching out his wings to their full length and holding the stretch, probably checking them for damage from the earlier fight, now that they knew that the Terran wasn't going to attack them or take advantage of any vulnerabilities. He sassed, "Well, I'm certainly not letting you name the chick, you have atrocious naming skills. There is no way I'm letting you call her something like blue eyes or freckles."

Sho'ta was appalled by his mate's blasphemy. His naming skills were just fine, thank you very much. But they were for pets and plants, not for kits. "I'm not going to treat her like a pet. She already has a name, thank you very much."

Z'shi grinned at him. "Yes, she does, but she clearly can't tell us what it is yet. And don't tell me you weren't tempted."

Sho'ta idly carded his hand through her hair, grimacing at how tangled it still was. "I wasn't, honest. Kit or nestling is fine until she can tell us what her name is."

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"But..." prodded Z'shi.

Sho'ta caved, "She smells like night-blooming jasmine at sunset."

Z'shi cooed, coming over and joining him in his task of fully untangling her hair. "That's so sweet. Well, if she doesn't like her name or can't tell us, we can always offer her that for her name."

Grateful for Z'shi's understanding, he focused back on the kit. She was the priority now. Still, he couldn't help but wonder what her name was. He bet that it was as pretty as she was.

X

Kira woke slowly, more comfortable than she had been in weeks. As much as she hated the harsh light, the cells got cold at night without it. She hadn't been warm enough to truly sleep in what felt like forever. Or had she passed out from exhaustion? That had happened a few times now, her body too tired and injured to function without rest, just collapsing and leaving her sprawled wherever she had fallen.

But no, if that had happened, she would be feeling the cold metal of the cell floor underneath her and she didn't. Instead, whatever she was resting on was warm and soft, lifting and falling slowly as if it were someone breathing. She froze as she realized that, her brain slowly whirling to life and playing back everything that had happened the day before.

When she froze, a soft, inquiring rumble filled the air. She knew that sound.

Her eyes flew open and she met bright gold eyes mere inches from her own. She let out a sharp gasp, regretting it immediately as pain lanced through her throat, although it was less than it had been even just the day before. She started to scoot back but gentle hands caught her from behind, keeping her in place as a concerned trill sounded behind her.

She carefully craned her head so she could see who was behind her, only to get a glimpse of a bright wing. Oh, right. The alien-angel. Uh, Zashi. Which meant that the one looking at her must be Shouta. A quiet huff drew her attention back to the one in front of her and she stared at his concerned expression for a second before closing her eyes and counting slowly to three.

When she opened them again, he looked pleased for some reason, letting out a soft chuff. Confusion filling her, she reached up to brush a strand of hair back, to give her hands something to do and give herself a moment to catch her breath. However, she frowned when she didn't feel any hair in her face. Her hair always went every which way when she slept, there was no way that it had suddenly managed to become tidy overnight when she hadn't had access to a hairbrush in months now.

Suspicion filling her, she glanced at the pair that were quietly talking before slowly reaching up higher. Sure enough, after a moment, her questing fingertips encountered what felt like the beginning of a braid. Moving slowly so as to not startle the pair, she brought her other hand up and slowly started feeling her hair. She had no idea how they had managed it without waking her, but her hair had been elaborately braided and carefully coiled into a bun, every single strand corralled and tended. She couldn't feel any hairpins, so she had no idea how they'd managed to get it to feel so secure.

She turned her head a couple of times to test it, but nothing moved. However, unlike the few times she'd attempted to put her hair up into a bun to get it out of the way, it wasn't uncomfortable or pulling at her scalp or neck. Reaching back and feeling the nape of her neck, even those annoying fine hairs that always got caught and pulled painfully had been skillfully smoothed up with the rest of her hair.

Allowing her hands to fall, she stared at them as she tried to figure out what was going on. She had fully expected to die yesterday. Had almost welcomed the fact where she was so tired, hurting, and hungry. She had not expected to be taken care of so gently by a pair of aliens. They had tended her wounds, fed her, and had even taken care of her hair and watched over her while she'd slept.

Which, might've come off creepy in some situations. But for some reason, their care felt very parental. Did they think that she was a child of some sort? She hadn't needed tending since her mother had passed away when she was ten. She would have to find a way to inform them of their mistake, that she was considered an adult by her kind, so they wouldn't feel betrayed when the truth came out.

Still, she couldn't say that she hated their kindness.

A gentle prodding drew her from her thoughts and she jumped off of the cat-eared one, blushing furiously. She should've gotten off as soon as she'd woken up, not lingered and played with her hair.

A gentle hand patted her hair and she jumped, her heart pounding as she whirled to face whatever the threat was, only to find Zashi standing there looking sheepish with his hand still outstretched awkwardly. Pressing her hand to her heart in an attempt to calm its racing, she gave a shallow bow, hoping that she looked properly apologetic.

Zashi gave a quiet chirp and nudged her back up until she was standing straight, so she took that to mean that there were no hard feelings. Before she spiraled about what to do now, Shouta gently nudged her hand with his tail. The softness of the fur distracted her for a brief moment before she managed to remember that he wanted her attention for something.

Looking over, she watched as he slowly reached down and touched his toes, taking the time to get a good stretch without straining any muscles, before straightening up just as slowly. Then, he gave her an expectant look.

Looked like exercising was the first task of the morning.