What Is a Sehlat?

Posted on Sat Feb 11th, 2017 @ 5:35pm by Captain Rueben Gregnol

Mission: Mission 3 - Negligence
Location: Bajor
Timeline: MD -07 14:00
1511 words - 3 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Sanuye was lying beside the spreading branches of an old-growth tree with one arm beneath his head. Cinon, the warm bulk of Cinon, the massive Dusai who was his constant companion and friend, lay sprawled beside him. Both had been asleep, enjoying the peace that came with being away from the city, when a sound brought them both awake. For Cinon, that meant raising his head and turning his muzzle toward the intruding noise; for Sanuye, that meant rolling to his feet in a single fluid move. One moment asleep, the next awake and alert. He pulled a small rod out of his pocket and held it in his left hand.

He turned toward Cinon and gestured; the Dusai got to his feet and moved off, radiating agreement and growing concern. Sanuye could feel it coming back to him through the bond they shared. Fighting nearby. He moved, whisper quiet, threading his way through the trees and flattened at the top of a small rise, to get a better idea of what was going on below.

Jeassaho walked with Rueben, they had accidentally met up and Rueben was desperately trying to talk to the small Engineer but she didn't want to know. The man was talking rapidly in a foreign language that sounded completely out of place on Bajor, it was harsh and dominant. Jeassaho spoke back just as rapidly before she pushed him away making the man stop dead in his tracks watching her walk away. He had never been shoved by the small woman before.

"Jea!" He called but the woman ignored him. She didn't want to talk anymore, the time for talking had been back on Vulcan when he had been stalking her.

Sanuye watched the interchange, restoring the small rod to its accustomed place as he did so. He slipped quietly away, intending to return to his makeshift campsite, when the Dusai set a series of rapid fire images to him. The woman's path through the woods and the sehlat that had made her home in this less traveled section of woods with her young cubs. He sent instructions to Cinon in his native tongue and then made his way toward her, paralleling her path from above and then soundlessly jumping down onto the path a few feet from her.

He spread his hands wide, a gesture that on many worlds indicated no harmful intent, and brought one finger to his lips. "Sehlat ahead," he said in heavily accented Federation Standard, "this way." He pointed toward a low rise a few feet to the right.

Jeassaho jumped as the man appeared in front of her not having been paying attention properly. The small woman didn't move an inch as he pointed to the right. "Sehlat?" Jeassaho demanded in a tone that spoke of the fact she was tired and didn't want to deal with men at all.

"It is the right word, no?" He spoke in a low whisper, the deep baritone rumbling in his broad chest. "I will fight her if you wish."

"I don't know what that is!" Jeassaho said firmly with a roll of her eyes. She didn't know what a sehlat was but it sounded like she likely didn't want to meet it. "I guess it is bad? I wasn't going far, i am just going for a walk to clear my head." Rueben had that affect that every time they spoke he managed to chisel away a little at the wall she had built to protect herself from him. By the Deities why had Keera thought Rueben was what she needed and then disappear on her.

Sanuye chuckled as he indicated again that they should up onto the rise. "They can be ...aggressive ... they will fight. And this one is a mother with young cubs. Best to go around her."

"Fine." The Betazoid was being stroppy and she knew it. "Lead the way." She suggested following him when he up the small hill. What an odd man? She thought as she tried to read his mind. He seemed like he just wanted to help, nothing more than that according to him thoughts and feelings on the surface.

He led her up onto a low rise and dropped to a squatting position, pointing with one hand in the direction of the sehlat's den, before turning back toward her. "Do not be alarmed. Cinon is returning."

The Engineer didn't say anything as she realized a sehlat was a beast native to Bajor finally. How silly of her not to have realized sooner.

The great Dusai, massive in size, his silky, jet black fur gleaming with health, approached from behind them, radiating calm and good will. Cinon moved with a grace that belied his size, claws carefully retracted, and let the woman feel tendrils of his concern and care brush against her mind. He followed that with images of himself and Sanuye, walking, sleeping, and playing which caused Sanuye to chuckle softly in response to the Dusai's blatant overtures of friendship.

"What is he?" Jeassaho demanded having never felt emotions from a beast before. It was something she didn't like to do to say the least, animal emotions were just too wild and the unknown for Betazoids.

Her reaction flooded through the link and Sanuye stiffened in response. He made a quick gesture; once he had used those same signals among his own caste but that was a subject he had resolutely put behind barricades in his mind. Cinon whuffled softly, rose, then walked over and plopped down against the Azhadi's leg. "He is Dusai," Sanuye said. "More than ... beast ... sentient ... but different." He stroked Cinon's head while the Dusai radiated comfort through the link they shared, and felt himself relax again. "No one knows where they came from. Cinon only gives images of world after world but no home place."

Jeassaho looked at the beast one more time and nodded firmly. "I am Jeassaho." She murmured holding out her hand in a human gesture. "And you are?"

"Sanuye," he said as he cocked his head to one side. He mimicked her action but did not actually touch her hand. "Is this a greeting among your people?"

"No." Jeassaho laughed a little at his mimicking. The stress of the encounter with Rueben leaving her a little as she took his much larger hand in hers and shook it. "I am not human. I am Betazoid." She admitted blinking a little to show him her onyx eyes that showed she was different from humans.

He grinned in response. "I am ... many things, I think. My world you would know as Sumiko IV though we called it Kulath and I am Kulathi. I have been traveling this Federation of yours for a year or so," he said and then added helpfully. "I am not human either. So we will not speak of them, eh? I do not know Betazoid ... but I feel your mind brushing against mine. Is that the way of your people?"

The former Starfleet Officer vaguely remembered the planet but it had been a long time ago, it wasn't one of the well known planets or species. "You are not a federation member planet." Jeassaho remembered vaguely thinking they were a deeply traditional planet with very engraved customs. "We are telepathic yes," She pulled back her senses trying to not carry on but it was hard when he felt so interesting.

"Telepathic," he repeated. "I am still learning the words. I am too ... telepathic ... though the conversation has been limited of late." He turned for a moment to scratch behind Cinon's ear and offered her a rueful smile. It had been more than a year since he that terrible, fateful day when he had laid his sword before the Imai's feet and walked the long way to the spaceport. More than a year since he'd let down his mental shields at all and hadn't been tempted until this very moment. Slowly, hesitantly, he let down the very outermost shield so that she could if she wished stand on the doorstep of his mind if she wished. Only a tendril of who he was but for him, it was the first hesitant step toward life behind the world he had known.

Jeassaho nodded, she could feel the openness of the man. His culture was obviously as open as hers. "I should go. My Captain will be looking for me." She admitted stepping back to leave.

He nodded and rose with her. "I will walk with you," he said quietly. "At least out of range of the sehlat."

Jeassaho smiled a little. She didn't think she could stop him even if she explained that she was a Starfleet Officer or that she currently worked on a ship that required her to be tough. Finally she nodded with a small thank you, it was easier.

And in that, she was entirely right.

OFF::

Lieutenant Commander (LOA) Jeassaho Kea
Engineer
SS Mary Rose

Sanuye
Azhadi Warrior
Currently Lodging in the Woods

Cinon
Dusai
Lodging Wherever Sanuye Does