Not Quite Noghri

The days on Honoghr vary from cool and crisp to hot and mucky, thanks to its odd atmosphere. When approaching the planet from space, it seems dead and like an old wasteland, which it is. However, there are a few patches of life on Honoghr, though not much.

Since Honoghr's existence, it has been an unlucky planet. It seems to suck in all kinds of terrible things, and very literally. Constantly, ships have been crashing on the poor planet; at least one ship every ten years. The Noghri, the native beings of Honoghr, have concluded that there must be something wrong with the gravitational field of their planet, because whenever a spaceship tries to enter the atmosphere and land, something terrible happens and it spins wildly out of control, crashing. All of these numerous crashes have ruined the ecosystem of the planet, killing most of the plants and animal life.

But all of the crash-landings combined would never be able to compare with one that the planet would have to suffer in the future. During a period dubbed The Clone Wars, a particular ship will crash, releasing toxic chemicals worse than all the planet has already been exposed to before. But this event is farther in the future, and it will ruin Honoghr, which is only half-dead at the moment, to the extent of it never being able to recover.

However, for now, there are still areas of the planet that have wondrous life sprouting from them. But the great Noghri leaders have banned these sections, trying to protect them from getting destroyed. They plan on finding a way to spread the life back over the planet again, but little do they know that when the great crash happens, most of the places that still have some life will be gone. So, unfortunately, all the Noghri clans are kept secluded from these areas, the Clean Lands, and they are forced to live in places where there are no green plants and the air is polluted with dangerous gases.

Out of the many crashes that have devastated the planet, there has been one survivor until just recently. That first survivor was a middle-aged man, according to himself, and he taught the Noghri his language, and in turn, learned theirs, until he died of the gases that had been consuming his insides. The Noghri taught his language, which he called Basic, in all of their school systems, and it was a necessity to know it. They explained that if they were ever able to leave the planet safely, the knowledge of this language would be essential to them. So they learned it, and it turned out being very helpful when they later found another survivor.

A little girl named Minae entered the Honoghr system where Honoghr and its three moons reside. She was traveling with her parents, and their ship crashed, further devastating the land. But the tiny child survived, and she was raised by Sabakakan of the Kihm'bar clan, who was, luckily, very fluent in Basic. Despite the fact that she learned about the Noghri culture and language very quickly, with the help of her Noghri guardian, Minae could never fit in well. And this is a story of her life on Honoghr.

"Nakha mir'aerush ei'nukh laemus!" A gray-skinned creature with a flat nose, large black eyes, and a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth hissed, slamming open a door. A young girl, probably ten years old, with long brown hair, green eyes, and extremely pale skin sat up in her bed, screeching.

"Maet jur'ilm!" I'm up! she shouted in something between an odd purr and a hiss, kicking back her covers and jumping onto the icy-cold wooden floor.

The gray creature hissed something back at her again, then added, in a more soothing voice, "You'll be late, and today you have a test. I want you to do well because I care about you. So, next time, don't go to bed so late."

"But I was studying!" the girl cried, also switching languages. But the creature looked at her with stern eyes, and he left, leaving her to get dressed as quickly as she could.

The girl hurriedly slipped on an all-gray skirt and shirt, then pulled on a dark gray coat, adding a final touch by tying a gray cloth over her hair. Grabbing her books, she kissed the creature on the cheek and then ran out the door like a crazy person.

Upon entering the cold, foggy streets, she was noticed, as always. She was the only human, as far as everyone was aware, so all sorts of looks came her way. By now, everyone in her clan, and some others, knew who she was, but it never stopped the stares.

The girl ran through the dusty streets, her brown hair waving in the wind and her gray clothes flapping against her body. Finally, she reached a building with a few exquisite sculptures decorating the walls and swung open a door that had gorgeous carvings lining it up and down.

She dropped her books on her desk and collapsed into the chair, panting.

"Kaelush, Minae... " Hello, Minae, one of the young gray-skinned creatures said, with a wicked smile crossing its face.

"Maet sirg'ush yikotta ei'nukh..." I've got a surprise for you, it purred, still with that same twisted smile. Minae raised her hand and immediately started biting her fingernails, nervous, when an older, female, gray creature yelled "Sha'vah!" instructing them to be quiet.

"Today we are having a test in Basic," it purred, switching dialects. Some of the young creatures, Noghri, thought for a while before they understood what the teacher had said. But Minae knew right away, for she understood Basic better than the Noghri language.

The teacher handed out the tests, and Minae picked up her writing tool and began answering the questions easily. Words such as "maet," I, and "ei'nukh," you, were easy for everyone, and Minae quickly read the sentences in Noghrese and scribbled out their translated meanings in Basic. When she got to the part of translating Basic into Noghrese, it was a bit more difficult, but she was a wiz at it. Smiling, she finished her test and handed it in.

When her classes were over, Minae packed up her books as quickly as possible, wanting to get out before Hinukh could find her again. She knew the surprise he was talking about would not be quite that; as usual, he would torture her, trying to challenge her to a fight because of his superior warrior skills. That was one of the things Minae hated, because Noghri were natural fighters, but no matter how much she tried, she was weak and terrible in battle.

So, when the time came, Minae ran out of the classroom and started walking as fast as her legs could carry her home. Upon entering the main roads, where it was the coldest and foggiest, Minae was stopped by an ear-piercing hiss. She didn't want to turn around, but when a small gray hand with still-developing, though already sharp, protruding claws was placed on her shoulder and sharply spun her in a half circle to face its owner, Minae bit her lip to try and stay calm.

"Ei'nukh keush vir'quaem vir ad maenush." You didn't come to see me. "Kelern ei'nukh ei'sukh cupi'sh sirg'ush?" Don't you want your surprise? Hinukh growled at Minae, who was shivering because of fear and the cold air. She wanted to say something defensive, to fight Hinukh and his cronies that were now coming up behind her, but she was too scared, too frozen, and too weak.

Hinukh cleared his throat and gave an odd attempt at Basic. "As an honorable Noghri, I challenge you to a fight. To preserve the tradition of Noghri warriors." Minae should've been able to say something about how she wasn't a Noghri, she was a human, but all her life she had been trying to fit in with the others. She constantly dressed in gray to look like them, and she spoke their language with ease. She wanted to be a Noghri, to take after her beloved Sabakakan, so she adapted as many parts of the Noghri culture as she could. However, Noghri are skilled warriors, assassins, and hunters, and they have superior fighting skills. They can identify a person by their smell, they have even more enhanced senses, and they have razor-sharp teeth and claws. This is where Minae stuck out like a sore thumb. She could not fight at all, and she was very weak physically. It could have been the rough conditions of the atmosphere affecting her human body, like it did to the earlier survivor, or she could just be destined to be weak. She believed the latter.

Hinukh flexed his muscles and balled his hands. "Let us fight, nobly, as Noghri."

Minae wiped a loose hair out of her face and took a deep breath. Hinukh swung a fist at her, but she ducked, and he missed. Ha! she laughed to herself. Maybe she was getting better. But Hinukh was quicker than her, and as soon as she stood back up, his gray fist came flying at her shoulder, and as they heard a nice loud crack when he hit it, Minae fell to the ground, moaning.

"Nothus," she cursed at him, lying on the cold, wet dirt.

But he just laughed. "I see you are unable to get back up, so I am, once again, the more noble, honorable, and stronger Noghri." Hinukh brushed himself off, and continued, "We shall fight again another day."

"Ei'nukh nothus. Nothus nothus nothus!" Minae said quietly, as he and his friends walked away.

Hinukh heard her when walking away, and, while smiling, returned a curse, "Caenis!" then continued on.

Minae bit her lip, keeping back the tears, and stood up painfully, clutching her shoulder. Slowly, she limped home, where Sabakakan would be waiting for her.

When Minae reached the door to Sabakakan's house, she took her hand off of her aching shoulder and straightened her posture. She wanted Sabakakan to be proud of her, and being beaten and hurt was not the way to do it.

"Hi Sabaky!" Minae sang, entering the house.

"Kae'l, ush'lo!" Hi, little one! Sabakakan greeted her, embracing her strongly. When he hugged her, Minae tried not to squirm, hiding the pain that her shoulder was feeling.

"How was your test?" he asked with a curious expression, while Minae took off her large gray coat.

"Just fine," she smiled.

"And the rest of your day?" Sabakakan purred, returning the smile.

"Terrific," Minae said with a slight crack in her voice.

"I've got some good news for you," Sabakakan said, sitting down at the table. Minae followed him, and he continued. "This afternoon there's going to be a fighting tournament at the building by the dukha. Only ten people are chosen to fight each year, and you were selected!" He grinned, showing all of his terrifyingly sharp teeth.

It took her a while to fully understand what Sabaky meant by this, but when she did, she only wanted to die. First of all, she wasn't a good fighter at all. Second, her shoulder was badly injured because of Hinukh already. Hinukh! His uncle was in charge of the annual fighting tournaments. Obviously, that's why she was to be included in the event. Hinukh would fight her, of course, and defeat her right away, shaming Minae and Sabakakan.

"I'm honored," Minae said, forcing a smile.

Sabaky patted her shoulder, causing her to wince slightly, and stood up. "You have three hours to rest, and then we'll leave. I'm so proud of you!" He hugged her, and Minae attempted to be happy. When he left, she just stretched out on the couch and tried to relax.

"Ekh cui'ush okhul, Minae nu'sho Kihm'bar!" And the other fighter, Minae of Kihm'bar! A very short and burly dark gray Noghri introduced Minae and Hinukh, who, of course, were paired to fight with each other. Minae was ready to cry, but she had to try and look intimidating, not weak and fearful, which would be difficult to do.

When adult Noghri have fighting tournaments, lu'ushkhanil ukhae, their fights are to the death. But, luckily for Minae, this was only a small one where when someone is down for five seconds, they lose and get punished by spending the night hanging by their feet in the Caera Lu'kha, a damp, underground cave where there's no light at all, and criminals have been said to hide out there. Even though this tournament was for children, the punishment for losing a fight was still severe, as it always was with the Noghri.

The announcer Noghri gave the signal to start, and Hinukh immediately lunged at Minae, in the exact same manner that he had earlier that day. Minae had an automatic reflex to duck, but he knew she would do that, and this time he crouched down and swung his fist at her other shoulder, and with a much larger crack than before. Minae opened her mouth to scream in pain, but she refused to let anything come out. Do it for Sabaky! she thought to herself, and she jumped two and a half meters into the air, landing behind Hinukh.

Hinukh's muscle-filled gray body spun itself around to face Minae again, and he sent another punch at Minae. She had finally gotten over the shock of being able to jump so high when she realized that her opponent was about to hit her again. She glanced over at Sabakakan quickly, whose face was filled with worry for her. Minae was suddenly overwhelmed with pity for him, because here he was, a great and honorable Noghri, burdened by a young human girl who could hardly even fight, and fighting was something that the Noghri held close to them. He would be humiliated by her, but she just wanted him to be happy.

"I'll do this for you, Sabaky," she whispered, so quietly her lips barely moved.

When she finally looked back at Hinukh, he was just about to hit her face. But she didn't try to physically stop him; she simply whispered, "No."

Hinukh's hand seemed to change direction in just a fraction of a second, and it flew past Minae, a foot away from her head. Hinukh was shocked. She was right in front of him, so how could he have missed? He balled his other fist and attempted to hit her again, but once more his arm was sent away from her face.

Now Hinukh, and everyone else, was just utterly confused. In a rage of anger, Hinukh jumped at Minae, ready to bring her painfully to the floor. As soon as he jumped into the air, what seemed like an invisible hand pushed him back, making him land on his back. Minae could hear loud gasps, and Hinukh's uncle cursing, though she was shocked herself. What had just happened? The question was racing through her mind, and the whole event had seemed so unreal. It was like a dream, and she really wasn't conscious when it was happening.

Was it her who had somehow caused Hinukh to miss so many times, and later pushed him back? But she didn't remember ever touching him. After a few Noghri had picked Hinukh up and dragged him away, they all began to discuss what had happened. No one thought it was Minae who had done it; they all just assumed that something must have been terribly wrong with Hinukh.

Minae slowly started walking away. Since all the attention was on Hinukh, she could easily slip by, and Sabakakan ran down to greet her.

"MINAE! That was incredible! I can't believe what happened!" he said, raising his arms in amazement.

"I can't believe it either," she replied, not knowing what to think.

Sabaky took her by the arm and led her out the door. "Let's go home and celebrate your, um, victory!" Minae obediently followed him, also not knowing if it should be considered a victory or not.

It had been an extremely tiring day, and Minae couldn't wait to sleep. Her small body couldn't handle much more, and both of her shoulders were aching with unbearable pain.

But whenever she'd think about what had happened earlier that day, during the fighting tournament, she couldn't even notice the pain because she was so deep in thought. When her brain started hurting too much to think, and she remembered the pain in her shoulders again, Minae decided it was time to go to bed.

After slipping on her long, gray nightgown and putting her hair in two braids, Minae crawled into bed and pulled the covers tightly around her. The mattress was so comforting, and the blankets were so puffed-up and soft. Even though her day had been a long and confusing one, she fell asleep quickly and happily, dreaming right away...

So dark... So very, very dark. The air was filled with smoke and chemicals, and Minae was sitting on the floor, coughing. She was still in her nightgown, but she didn't know what had happened. Was this Honoghr? The air had never been this bad before; she could barely see a few feet ahead of herself.

Lies! Minae cried to herself. All lies! Don't lie to my people! She didn't understand how she knew the black figure was lying, and how she even knew what was happening in the first place, but she just knew. Her people, her family, were being lied to. This dark figure wasn't going to make her planet better - he was going to keep it sick!

Wait, what's this? A new thought entered Minae's head, and she knew what else was going on. Now the black figure was saying that, in return for helping them clean their planet, they should work for him... as assassins, hunters... No! Don't use my family! Minae didn't know any of the Noghri she could see, yet they were still her family. Minae hoped that Sabakakan wasn't going to be living in this era of lies... He wasn't. She knew he wasn't, and she was thankful, but these were still her people that were being cheated.

Minae woke up, gasping. Scrambling out of bed, she ran out the door to check the air. It was the same as always, though not as filled with smoke and fog as it had been in her dream. When she started getting odd looks and being laughed at since she was in her nightgown, Minae crept back inside and sat down on her bed.

She knew it had been a dream, but why would she dream such a thing? Could it have been a vision from the future? Was all of that really going to happen? Shaking her head to get rid of the thoughts, Minae just got dressed and went to the kitchen for breakfast.

When she arrived, Sabakakan was sitting at the table already, and with a solemn look on his face. "Lae gael'sh?" What's wrong? Minae asked, pulling out a chair to sit down.

Sabakakan shook his head, frustrated. "There are some things going on between the Kihm'bar clan and the Bakh'tar clan," he replied.

Minae reflected thoughtfully on the name of their clan: Kihm'bar. When she had crashed on Honoghr, she could only speak a few words, since she had been at the ripe age of one. One of the few things she knew was her name, Kinomoto Minae, and Sabakakan, who volunteered to keep her, was of the Kihm'bar clan. The two had always thought it was such a perfect coincidence that her family name was Kinomoto, and his Kihm'bar. The two names were so similar, and they both assumed it was destiny.

But now was not the time for happy memories, because the look on Sabaky's face was not a good one. "Early this morning the clans declared war on each other, and fighting has already started," Sabakakan continued.

"Oh no!" Minae whispered. The Noghri clans of Honoghr had a very long line of blood rivalry, but Minae had never lived during one of the big fights. Minae could tell, though, by how Sabaky had said this, that this was going to be a big war.

"Are you going to have to fight?" Minae asked quietly.

"Of course!" Sabakakan straightened up. "I am a Noghri, and I will fight." He continued. "Speaking of which, there is a big meeting being held to organize us, and I should get going."

Sabaky stood up, and Minae did the same. "You will go with a group of Noghri children, where you will hide out until the fighting is over," Sabakakan said with a slight crack in his voice. Minae hated pride, and wished the Noghri didn't have to be so full of it.

Sabaky grabbed some of his things and had Minae do the same, and then he walked her over to where some of the children were starting to group.

"I'll miss you, Sabaky!" Minae cried, hugging her father-like Noghri. "Don't get hurt! Come back soon! Please! Stay safe!"

"I will try my best," Sabaky replied, and Minae could see something like a sparkly liquid running from his eyes.

"And I'm sorry for shaming you and for being a bad daughter. I know you would've preferred to have your own Noghri family, and not some human girl. I'm really sorry." Minae pulled away from their hug.

"Lae?" What? "How could you say that? It is not good to say these things before we depart, and when it might possibly be the last time we ever see each other again. Besides, those words you say are not even true."

Minae was crying harder now, and she ran up and hugged Sabaky again. "I love you!"

"And I love you, my child." They had one final hug, and then Sabakakan left Minae, heading out to fight.

"This fighting is stupid!" Minae said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Couldn't they just prove their skill in a civilized way?" she continued, stomping her foot on the ground, beginning to act more like a little kid.

"You wouldn't understand." Minae turned around to see who had answered her, and it was, not surprisingly, Hinukh. His face was very pale and he looked extremely tired and worn out. Minae wanted to burst out laughing, saying he deserved it, but calmed herself down.

"And why am I not able to understand?" Minae questioned.

"Because you're not Noghri." Hinukh simply waved his hand and walked away, acting like he didn't care. Minae wanted to slap him, because she was constantly trying to be like the Noghri, and he knew it. The sudden burst of childish energy that Minae had felt for the past few minutes was gone, and she was back to her normal, sad self.

All of the young Noghri were being led to somewhere safe, while their parents and relatives were fighting to show their warrior strength. Up ahead from Minae some very, very young Noghri were having a little fight, pretending that they were in the war. One of them was pretending to be from the Bakh'tar clan, and the other still of the Kihm'bar clan. Now they were rolling around in circles, but the adult that was leading everyone didn't stop them, since Noghri were supposed to fight.

Finally the children were stopped, and their leader told them that they had arrived at their destination. Minae could smell something different in the air; something much more... pure. She quickly followed the older Noghri, and when they turned a corner, they were now standing in a place of great beauty that most Noghri had never seen before.

"Tul Krae'l Ushlil!" The Clean Lands! a young Noghri shouted.

Minae was shocked; they had finally reached the Clean Lands! She'd only heard about it, how it supposed to be the first step in the reconstruction of Honoghr, but most people had never seen it before. Minae ran inside and breathed in the clean air, and new smells were reaching her nose. All around her was a bright and vivid color of green, and trees that rose high into the sky.

Minae picked a leaf off of a bush, admiring the color that was so alive! She'd only seen green in clothing, but never such a bright green. It was so beautiful! In addition, there was fruit on the trees and in the bushes. Minae picked off what she remembered being called an apple and moved her finger across its waxy surface. The apple was bright red, and it looked very juicy. Green and red were colors that were full of life, compared to the dark, simple colors that she saw every day.

The apple looked so delicious and so inviting! Minae opened her mouth and took a big bite into it, and the crunchy and juicy piece felt cool in her mouth. It was fresh! Some juice slid down the side of her chin, and she wiped it off, laughing. She had eaten apples before, but they were always dry apples that were supposed to last a long time, since no plants could grow in the gaseous places where they lived. This apple was right off of a tree, and it tasted absolutely perfect. Smiling, Minae wished Sabakakan could be with her to enjoy this moment. She had never been somewhere so alive, and she knew this is where she belonged.

But happiness never seemed to stay with Minae for long, because she dropped the apple when she heard yelling. Other Noghri were running into the Clean Lands, shouting a battle cry.

Minae hid behind a big bush while other Noghri children also ran away. What was all this about? Children were never attacked during these kind of competitive wars. Since Noghri were much more honorable than that, then why were they there?

One of the newly-arrived Noghri, most likely from the Bakh'tar clan, was looking around, and Minae ducked right when he looked in her direction. But it was too late, and he saw her hiding behind the bush.

He jumped over the bush and grabbed her, his claws slightly piercing her pale skin. As soon as he got ahold of her, all the Noghri quickly left, and he joined them, as if they had accomplished their mission.

Minae was screaming, but the Noghri carrying her clamped her mouth shut and showed off his claws, just daring her to scream again. Minae promptly shut up and literally fainted with fear.

"Yush yikotta fyur!" We've got her! a Noghri loudly exclaimed, setting down a small human girl on a table.

"Maet hush ei'nukh ukh kaeh'li fyur!" I told you not to kill her! an extremely large, burly Noghri growled.

"We didn't. I think she fainted," the Noghri who had put the girl on the table pointed at her, showing that she was still breathing. "I guess it's just something that humans do."

"Good." The big Noghri cracked its knuckles and sat down next to the girl.

"Get me some water to wake her up," it demanded, holding out its hands.

"We don't have any. Sorry," one of the Noghri shrugged. The Noghri who seemed to be in charge sighed loudly, and he turned back to the small girl.

The Noghri placed his hands on the girl's arms and lifted her up into the air, and then hissed something unintelligible at her. Her eyes opened immediately, but as soon as she saw them standing around her, she started to faint again. But the Noghri shook her before she could, keeping her awake.

"Lae?" What? she whispered.

"Good. Now stay awake." The Noghri let go of her and scooted back a bit. "I'm Saekh. And I've had you kidnapped."

"Laeeeeee?" she shrieked again. "Huh? Am I dreaming?"

"We wanted to take something valuable from the Kihm'bar clan," Saekh started, and for a moment Minae felt very special, but then he continued. "We figured that you don't mean a lot to them, since you can't do much --" Minae lost all her feelings of specialness and became depressed again "-- but we thought that there might be some things that a human could do that a Noghri couldn't."

Minae laughed. What could she, a feeble human girl who couldn't fight at all and was very weak, do better than the Noghri?

"But we also have heard the you are not a very good fighter and can't accomplish many tasks." Now Minae just felt plain old hurt. "However, your fingers are small, and unlike ours, you don't have useful, sharp claws. Our claws are good for fighting, but not for constructing weapons. We thought it was time to starting battling with tools, rather than just our muscles. But our claws stop us from building things well, so we thought you could do it for us."

After many threats and small punishments, Saekh and his companions were finally able to force Minae to build something. She had never built a weapon before, of course, but they had thorough instructions for her that were easy to understand. Minae kept thinking of ways to booby-trap the bow and arrow that she was constructing, but there were at least two of the Noghri watching her at a time, and she wasn't skilled enough to think of any ways to do so.

They were right about Minae being able to build the weapons better, though. The arrows and bow that she was almost done making required some thin, stronger-than-string lines that her delicate fingers could handle easily, while it was hard for the Noghri to manage.

When she finally finished the first bow, and three arrows to go along with it, Saekh took it outside to test it.

"What are you going to test it on?" Minae asked, scared. She hoped they wouldn't bring it right away to the others and try and shoot at the Kihm'bar clan from far away.

But Saekh simply pointed to a tree, then lifted the bow and grasped the string. Another Noghri handed him an arrow, and he tilted the bow and nocked the arrow, aiming at the tree. The string of the bow was just touching the bottom of his chin as he held it up high, then he pulled back the arrow and string, holding his breath, and finally let go. The arrow broke through the air and hit the tree with a nice ping, right in the center of the trunk.

"Ush'hae." Perfect, Saekh purred.

"We'll need at least five more bows, and dozens more arrows. Enough bows for all of us here, and plenty of arrows for us to shoot as many of the Kihm'bar as we can," Saekh said, motioning for everyone to return inside where Minae could start working again.

But Minae stopped in her tracks and raised her voice. "I won't make anymore. That's my family you're using these against, and I won't let you do that."

Saekh turned around a raised the arrow again, pointing it at Minae.

"Go ahead and kill me," she said quietly. "I don't care if I die. I'm not needed."

"We could use you for making the bow and arrows, but we don't really need you, so you're right. We can still do it, it'd just take longer." Now Saekh pulled back on the string and the arrow again, and actually let go.

As much as Minae wanted to die sometimes, she felt that she was needed now, or at least in the future, so she couldn't be killed just yet.

When the arrow was halfway between Saekh and the area where Minae was standing, it turned around in mid-air and went flying right back at its sender. It was the exact same thing that had happened during the fight with Hinukh, and Minae wasn't sure if she had caused that or not. The arrow pierced into Saekh's arm, and Minae screamed, not liking the sight of something sticking into someone's body.

Saekh cursed something very, very, VERY loudly while falling to the ground. "You idiot!" he yelled. "I was aiming it a few feet away from you to try and frighten you, I wasn't actually going to hit you! And what the --" Minae tried to ignore his curses "-- was that coming right back at me! How'd you do that?!"

Minae saw it was her chance to run, so she did. She didn't know where she was, but she ran anyway. She could hear them following her, so she ran faster and faster, then finally jumped over a rock to hide, but found she was actually jumping from a cliff that just happened to have a rock at the top of it.

She wouldn't let herself scream because then they would know where she had gone, but she noticed that where she was falling down to was the Clean Lands, and there was a nice, green bush directly below her.

Finally Minae fell into the bush, getting scratched and hurt badly, but jumped out immediately and ran under the coverage of a tree, in case they decided to look down. After about five minutes of standing against the tree, holding her breath, finally Minae thought it was okay to move. She slid down to the ground and took a deep breath, looking at the scratches that had made it through her long sleeves, and feeling the ones that were covering her face.

"I knew something as wonderful as the Clean Lands couldn't be perfect. Nothing ever is," Minae whispered, staring back at the bush that had scratched her. But at least it had broken her fall, which was a plus.

Suddenly she heard footsteps crunching through the leaves on the ground, and she crouched down again, and then peered from behind the tree. Seeing who it was, she stood up with a large sigh of relief. "I'm so glad it's only you guys," she smiled, brushing more dirt off of her shirt.

"Not a single wound! Look at me!' Sabaky smiled proudly.

"You deserve an honorable medal!" Minae laughed, hugging Sabakakan.

What they originally thought would be a horrible months-long war between two clans had ended in simply a day. The Bakh'tar hadn't chosen the best time to declare war, since most of them were out of shape, and the Kihm'bar defeated them gloriously, in battles that lasted only minutes. They had killed many of the Bakh'tar clan with their bare hands, and though there was quite a few of the Kihm'bar killed, it wasn't as great an amount as the other.

After Minae had stumbled into the Clean Lands again, the group of Noghri children that she had started with found her and punished her for getting away from them, though they happily told her that the fighting was over, and the Noghri of the Kihm'bar clan were more glorious warriors than the Bakh'tar.

Minae didn't tell anyone about what had happened, and neither did Saekh and his companions, since it would be very embarrassing, but Minae was just happy that Sabaky was safe and prouder of himself. He had been describing a lot of his killings to Minae, some that she tried not to hear since she hated gruesome stuff, but when they finally went to sleep that night, Minae was happy. Somewhat, at least...