ChichichiChitsa!

The Gadui Kanati woke up beside his mate as the sunlight filtered into their large hut. Pale sky orbs looked around the structure, marveling at the size of it. Ever since he had come to live in this tribe over a year ago he had become so used to smaller huts that this one seemed unimaginably large. Soon enough though it wouldn't just be him and Liliana taking up the space. Soon, there would be pups running about on the dusty ground. Nayati smiled, able to picture the small bodies wrestling around on the floor. He couldn't wait to see how many there would be, what they would look like. The Utina could not wait to become a father. It was something he had always dreamed of and now it was so close. Thankfully he was a patient man, otherwise the days that still stretched out before their birth might surely drive him mad.

The hunter rose carefully and quietly from the blankets, not wanting to disturb Lili. She needed all the rest she could get to keep her body, and those of their growing pups, strong and healthy. He looked at her lovingly for a few prolonged moments before grabbed his bow and quiver and draping them both across his broad chest. Nayati exited his hut and blinked rapidly at the new morning light while his eyes adjusted to the brightness. Dew still lay heavily on the ground and the village was only beginning to show the stirrings of life. He was often one of the first to awaken and enjoyed these quiet moments in the dawn of a new day.

A familiar scent caught in his coal nose and made his brows knit together with confusion. He knew that scent well, but how was it here? Nayati quickly looked around, half-expecting to see a ghost, but there she was, as real as the hut he had just emerged from. "Chitsa!" The Utina waved his hand in the air to grab her attention as he walked up to her. "What are you doing here?" He was glad to see his old friend, of course, but he could not help but be completely perplexed as to her presence her in the satellite tribe.

Chitsa wears the grumpy pants :o Also I figure that he would know she was mated, but if not let me know and I'll change it

Nayati was quite happy to see Chitsa, even if he was surprised and confused to see her here, but it seemed that she was not so thrilled to be greeted with his appearance. There was no smile on her face, instead a scowl that he knew all too well but had not often been meant for him. She spoke his name coolly as she turned back to face him and he could not help as his ears folded back apprehensively. Had he unknowingly done something to cause his old friend displeasure with him? It certainly appeared that way, but for the life of him the Utina could think of nothing he could have done since he saw her not long ago to make her react as such to him. She responded to his question though, she he figured he would follow that strain for a moment before asking her what ill he had done to make her so standoffish. "I am certain Dawali is pleased to have you here, as I am." Something didn't add up though, Chitsa had a mate. Had he traveled from the Great Tribe with her? If he had, where was he right now? An uneasy feeling settled in his gut, but at the moment he was uncomfortable to ask anything that might have as dark an answer as he feared.

"I am doing well. I am actually about to become a father." That statement was often said with a large smile on his face, but Chitsa's continued iciness had frozen such a thing from his strong features. "Is there...something I have done to offend you?" It was the only reason he could think of to explain the way his childhood friend was acting towards him, even if he was wholly ignorant of how he had come to be on her bad side.

Okay, coolio :3 This came out longer than intended >.>

It appeared there was nothing he could say or do to thaw the chill that she was sending his way. It was not surprise that Chitsa could react to something or someone in this way. Nayati had seen many get such treatment from the Amara woman in fact. He reflected briefly how funny it was, the differences there were in the Amara family between men and women. Dawali was a mild tempered as a soul could be, and yet his eldest daughter and younger sister were fiery things, easy to anger. The Utina had learned to dance with the easily shifting moods of Asha and Chitsa as they had all grown up together and prided himself on the fact that he could almost always stay out of the way of their wrath when it came. Now he was unexpectedly caught in the sights of Chitsa's disapproval.

At least the blue-eyes Amara was not one to beat around the bush, so he would hear whatever it was he had done to displease her right from her mouth. She said she was not offended, but disappointed, and Nayati's head tilted to the side as his brows knit with even more confusion. Though that expression was soon replaced with one of complete and utter shock as Chitsa explained his trespass. She knew how he had felt about Asha? He was stunned. He had thought no one had known the true feelings he harbored for Dawali's daughter, for he had breathed not a word of it to anyone. As the shock wore off though the old feelings of hurt that had stung him when Asha had left this tribe without a word returned and he looked seriously as Chitsa's back. "Yes, I followed Asha here, but when I arrived I barely saw her. Then one day she was just gone. No words of goodbye, not anything. How else was I supposed to interpret that? She gave me silence and I took it as her answer." True, he had never actually asked a question, but if Asha had wanted to be around him, she would have. If she had felt the same, she would have stayed.

"I did not expect what happened. Not with Asha and not with Liliana, but they happened. What is, is." He could not make Asha love him anymore than he could control the direction of the wind. Liliana had loved him, and he had grown to love her as well.

Epic Fail, Erin are sorry :[

There had been some vain and misguided hope in him that Chitsa's temper would wane in the light of his initial argument, but of course such a thing was not to pass. Her eyes only narrowed further and she snorted. Her next exclamation put the heat of his blood to rise. Any accusation that insinuated he was lazy or did things with a half-effort were one quick way to eat at the Utina's nerves. "What, should I have followed her back and forth between tribes like a lost pup? A man can only do so much Chitsa, and it seems clear to me that Asha did not want nor need me as I desired her." It had hurt him deeply, and such was evident in his deep voice. "However someone did need my help. This tribe was small when I arrived here, there were no hunters. I stayed to help Dawali and all of AniWaya." They had needed him more than Asha. She had scorned him and he was not going to seek more of that bitter draught, especially not when he could be of use where he was.

What she said next thought lit the fuse to its end and his anger flared. Pale eyes flashed as his hackles raised. "That woman is my mate in the sight of the Spirits and is carrying my children, I will not hear her addressed so disrespectfully." Chitsa could rain insults down upon him all she liked, but Nayati simply would not stand for any scorn to be leveled at Liliana. The sound of her last few words stilled his temper some though, and he exhaled audibly. "We are friends Chitsa, but sometimes things do not work out like we might have hoped. I only hope you can come to be happy for me in the life that I have found." Even if he had ended up with Asha, he would not have given up the Utina name, but he knew better than to say so.

One of these days I'll stop sucking so horrendously, I swear >_>;

Maybe it had been foolish of him, but he really hadn't expected a fight with Chitsa over the fact that he was mated. He had wanted her to be happy for him, to be excited that he would soon become a father. She would be like an aunt to his children...that was if they could ever resolve this and her temper cooled. Nayati wanted her to be a part of his life and the lives of his pups, but he wouldn't be able to have that if she could not come to accept Liliana and the life that he had made with her. It saddened the man deeply to think such was a possibility.

However at the moment, anger was a reigning emotion for the both of them and their tongues licked at each other like spiteful flames. "I may not be able to silence you Chitsa, but do not think for a second that I will stand here and listen to you slight the woman I love!" he shouted back at her, hackles raised to their full height. It was incredibly rare to see the Utina so worked up, but his old friend seemed to know exactly what strings to pluck to raise his ire. Her voice was not so angry now though, and the words she spoke gave him pause as they struck him hard in the chest. Could she really think that he was no longer her friend? After all they had shared? "How can you say that? It was not easy. I was homesick every day for moons, miserable. The only thing that kept me here was my duty to Dawali and the tribe. I missed you, everyone back home. I still do, but my heart has grown roots here now as well." Nothing would ever make him stop missing all his family and friends back in the Great Tribe, but this was where he belonged now. Here, with this tribe and with his mate and unborn children.

holy crap, a decent reply time from me? wut? up to you if she stops to continue talking or not

Nayati was usually slow to anger, and so to see him in such a form was a rare thing. The Utina had always been a calm and even-tempered soul, so it was not unfathomable that Chitsa would be surprised at the posture of his body and the volume of his voice. His vocal chords boomed like war drums, fueled by his heated blood. He may have been a kind wolf for the most part, but it was clear that the Utina was not one should desire as an enemy.

Chitsa was not his enemy though, she never had been, and he could not imagine that ever being the case. True, his anger flared at her now, but he could never do her any physical harm. The whole mood of their exchange had changed now though, like someone had doused the two in cold water. The Amara woman stayed turned away from him as he tried to explain his own feelings to her. Was that a whine he just heard? When she spoke the hunter got the distinct feeling that this was not just about him; there was more going on that she was hiding. She began to move past him. "Chitsa..." He reached a hand out to her, but thought better of it and pulled it back. "What's going on? This is not only about me, I can see that," he spoke to her retreating back. He had no idea if she would actually stop, but he could not just let her walk away without asking.

When Chitsa paused it seemed an eternity of silence stretched out before him. When she crumpled to the ground and spoke understanding dawned on him and his broad shoulders slumped. He didn't know how this had happened, but there was no guessing it to be anything else. He saw it in her eyes and in the way she collapsed in upon herself. Nayati walked forward, closer to his old friend, but he stopped short of actually giving her any physical comfort. The Amara woman could be a testy creature in the best of times, and while she was consumed by such grief there was no telling where her boundaries might lay. "You should not carry this all on your own. You must confide in someone, or it will eat you alive." It was clear from his voice he did not necessarily mean himself. It had to be someone she felt comfortable with and of her own choosing. Nayati would do whatever he could for her and would be there for her, but he knew he could never presume to know what Chitsa would want.

She stood and turned away again, but did not flee from him like he had been half expecting. She spoke the fateful truth that he had already deduced, but then another nugget of information came that was just as shocking—Dawali's and her father was gone as well. How could these things have happened? Was there sickness running rampant in the Great Tribe again? "I cannot begin to understand your loss and grief, and I will not insult you by trying. You are not alone though Chitsa. Dawali is here for you, and so am I." He would be there for her as long as she was here, even if she would be too stubborn or proud to accept it. Nayati swallowed past a dry and scratchy throat. He did not wish to compound her problems, but he had to ask, "What is going on in the Great Tribe?" Something was clearly wrong, and he had a right to know. His family was still there too.